Policy Issues
Innocence
,Apr 09, 2002
100th DEATH ROW EXONEREE FREED IN ARIZONA
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Tuesday, April 9, 2002 CONTACT: BRENDA BOWSER (202) 293‑6970 bbowser@deathpenaltyinfo.org 100th DEATH ROW EXONEREE FREED IN ARIZONA
Entries tagged with “Junk Science”
Policy Issues
Intellectual Disability
,Race
,Representation
,Dec 31, 2000
A State of Denial: Texas Justice and the Death Penalty
A State of Denial: Texas Justice and the Death Penalty Texas Defender Service* Executive Summary The nation is embroiled in a debate over the death penalty. Each day brings fresh accounts of racial bias, incompetent counsel, an…
Facts & Research
Recent Legislative Activity
,May 28, 2019
Amended Bill to Limit Oregon’s Death Penalty Easily Passes State Senate
An amended bill to narrow the circumstances in which the death penalty may be imposed in Oregon has easily passed the state senate. On May 21, 2019, by a vote of 18 – 9, the Oregon Senate passed SB 1013, whic…
Policy Issues
Innocence
,Prosecutorial Accountability
,United States Supreme Court
,Aug 03, 2022
Amicus Groups Ask Supreme Court to Overturn Texas Appeals Court Refusal to Grant New Trial to Death-Row Prisoner Convicted Based on DNA Testimony Prosecutor and Trial Court Agree Was False
Three groups of fair justice advocates have filed friend-of-the-court briefs asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review and overturn a Texas appeals court ruling that denied a new trial to a death-row prisoner who prosecutors and the…
Policy Issues
Innocence
,Prosecutorial Accountability
,Jan 24, 2003
ANOTHER FLORIDA DEATH ROW INMATE TO BE RELEASED AFTER STATE DROPS ALL CHARGES
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: January 24, 2003 Contact: Richard Dieter: 202 – 293-6970 ANOTHER FLORIDA DEATH ROW INMATE TO BE RELEASED AFTER STATE DROPS ALL CHARGES
Policy Issues
Innocence
,Feb 24, 2006
Another Innocent Inmate to be Freed From Death Row
The Florida Supreme Court unanimously overturned the conviction of death row inmate John Robert Ballard (pictured) and ordered his acquittal in the 1999 murders of two of his acquaintances. The Court concluded that the evidence against Ballard was…
Policy Issues
Arbitrariness
,Innocence
,Feb 01, 2007
Another Prisoner Freed After DNA Evidence Leads to Exoneration
After spending 15 years in a New York prison for murder, Roy Brown has been exonerated through DNA evidence and is free. Brown is the eighth person in New York to be exonerated due to DNA evidence in the past 13 months, more than in any other stat…
Policy Issues
Arbitrariness
,Innocence
,Clemency
,Nov 12, 2010
Another Texas Execution Thrown in Doubt by New DNA Tests
Recent DNA tests raise serious doubts about the conviction of a man executed in Texas in 2000. The tests revealed that a strand of hair found at the scene of a liquor-store shooting did not belong to Claude Jones,…
Policy Issues
Innocence
,Prosecutorial Accountability
,Upcoming Executions
,May 15, 2020
As Blood Spatter Evidence Causes Jurors to Question His Guilt, Missouri Prepares to Execute Walter Barton
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit has vacated a stay of execution for Missou…
Policy Issues
Innocence
,Race
,Oct 22, 2021
Attorneys Present Closing Arguments in Rodney Reed Innocence Hearing
A Bastrop, Texas trial court heard closing arguments October 18, 2021 on whether Texas death-row prisoner Rodney Reed should be granted a new trial in the April 1996 murder of Stacey Stites. The argument concluded the adversarial …
Policy Issues
Innocence
,Apr 19, 2005
Attorneys Seek DNA Testing In Case of Executed Texas Man
Attorney Barry Scheck plans to ask Texas Governor Rick Perry to order DNA testing in the case of Claude Jones, who maintained his innocence until his execution in December 2000. Scheck, co-founder of the Innocence Project, says Jones’ conviction w…
Policy Issues
Innocence
,Prosecutorial Accountability
,Apr 15, 2020
Beginning April 15, Death Row Stories, Innocence Files to Feature Wrongful Death-Penalty Convictions
Beginning April 15, 2020, two television series — one a new program from Netflix and the other new episodes of a returning series from CNN — will highlight stories of wrongful convictions, including some death-penalty cases. The new Netfl…
Policy Issues
Innocence
,Clemency
,Mar 28, 2022
Bipartisan Majority of Texas House of Representatives Calls for Clemency for Melissa Lucio, Facing Execution for Likely Accidental Death of Disabled Daughter
Nearly 90 members of the Texas House of Representatives from across the ideological spectrum have issued a bipartisan call for the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles and Governor Greg Abbott to grant clemency to death-row prisoner…
Policy Issues
Arbitrariness
,Innocence
,May 11, 2007
BREAKING NEWS: Oklahoma Man Freed Today from Death Row — 124th Death Penalty Exoneration
Curtis Edward McCarty, who had been sentenced to die three times and has spent 21 years on Oklahoma’s death row for a crime he did not commit, has been released after District Court Judge Twyla Mason Gray ordered that the charges ag…
Policy Issues
Innocence
,Foreign Nationals
,Mar 14, 2018
California Supreme Court Grants New Trial to Man Sent to Death Row 25 Years Ago by False Forensic Evidence
The California Supreme Court has vacated the conviction of Vicente Figueroa Benavides (pictured), saying that the forensic evidence that sent the former Mexican farmworker to death row 25 years ago was “extensive,…
Policy Issues
Intellectual Disability
,Representation
,Lethal Injection
,Mar 01, 2021
Capital Case Roundup — Death Penalty Court Decisions the Week of February 22, 2021
NEWS (2/25/21) — Alabama: The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit has denied habeas relief for Alabama death-row prisoner Charles Clark, who the trial court had sentenced to death based upon a non‑u…
Policy Issues
Arbitrariness
,Innocence
,Intellectual Disability
,Secrecy
,May 07, 2020
Capital Case Roundup — Death Penalty Court Decisions the Week of May 4, 2020
NEWS (5/7/20) — Florida: The Florida Supreme Court has upheld the death sentence imposed on
Policy Issues
Innocence
,Race
,Representation
,Religion
,United States Supreme Court
,Women
,Feb 15, 2021
Capital Case Roundup — Death Penalty Court Decisions the Week of February 8, 2021
NEWS (2/11/21) — Alabama: In a splintered vote with three conservative justices noting their dissents, the U.S. Supreme Court denied the Alabama Attorney General’s application to vacate a …
Policy Issues
Innocence
,Prosecutorial Accountability
,Race
,Sentencing Data
,Executions Overview
,Jun 06, 2020
Capital Case Roundup — Death Penalty Court Decisions the Week of June 1, 2020
NEWS (6/5/20) — North Carolina: The North Carolina Supreme Court has struck down the state legislature’s attempted retroactive repeal of the state’s Racial Justice Act, restoring the rights of approximately 130 death-row prisoners to seek …
Policy Issues
Representation
,Oct 26, 2020
Capital Case Roundup — Death Penalty Court Decisions the Week of October 19, 2020
NEWS (10/22/20) — Florida: The Florida Supreme Court has upheld the conviction and death sentence for Daniel Craven, Jr.
Policy Issues
Innocence
,May 04, 2015
Charges Dropped Against Willie Manning; Becomes 153rd Death Row Exoneree
On April 21, 2015, Oktibbeha County (Mississippi) District Attorney Forrest Allgood announced that he would drop charges against death row inmate
Oct 19, 2004
Chicago Tribune Investigates Forensic Science and Wrongful Convictions
A five-part Chicago Tribune investigation of forensics in the courtroom has revealed that flawed testing analysis, questionable science once considered reliable, and shoddy crime lab practices can often lead to wrongful convictions. Developments i…
Policy Issues
Innocence
,Race
,Jan 12, 2021
Convicted by False Forensic Evidence, Eddie Lee Howard, Jr. Exonerated From Mississippi Death Row After 26 Years
Eddie Lee Howard, Jr., convicted and sentenced to death based on the false forensic testimony of a since disgraced prosecution expert witness, has been exonerated after nearly 26 years on Mississippi’s death row. …
Policy Issues
Innocence
,Aug 02, 2005
Convictions Overturned In Pennsylvania and New Jersery through DNA Testing
Thomas Doswell of Pennsylvania and Larry Peterson of New Jersey recently had their convictions overturned as a direct result of DNA testing. Each defendant had serverd 18 years in prison. In Peterson’s case, the prosecution had soug…
Jan 08, 2001
Death Trip: The American Way of Execution (Part I)
THE NATION By ROBERT SHERILL Part 1 of 2 “Capital punishment is to the rest of all law as surrealism is to realism. It destroys the logic of the profession.” — Norman Mailer, The Executioner’s Song…
Policy Issues
Innocence
,Sep 28, 2021
Death-Row Exonerees in Ohio, Oklahoma Receive Million Dollar Payments for Their Wrongful Convictions
Two men exonerated from death row, one in Ohio and one in Oklahoma, have received million ‑dollar payouts for their wrongful convictions and death sentences. Both were tried and convicted in counties with long his…
Policy Issues
Arbitrariness
,Race
,United States Supreme Court
,Aug 09, 2016
Defense Lawyers, Former Prosecutors, and Constitutional Rights Groups File Amicus Briefs in Buck v. Davis
Five groups, representing defense lawyers, former prosecutors, and organizations devoted to protecting constitutional liberties have filed amicus briefs in the U.S. Supreme Court in support of Texas death row prisoner Duan…
Policy Issues
Innocence
,Jun 16, 2010
DNA Evidence Could Show If Texas Executed an Innocent Man
Texas Judge Paul C. Murphy recently ordered prosecutors to hand over key evidence from a 1989 murder case to the Innocence Project and the Texas Observer for DNA…
Policy Issues
Innocence
,Apr 29, 2005
DNA Evidence May Lead to Exoneration in Former Capital Case
Results from DNA testing may soon lead to the exoneration of Larry Peterson in New Jersey. He would become the first person in the state to be cleared of a homicide through DNA evidence. Peterson was convicted of a rape and murder that occurred in…
Policy Issues
Innocence
,Apr 09, 2002
DPIC Press Release: 100th DEATH ROW EXONEREE FREED IN ARIZONA
100th DEATH ROW EXONEREE FREED IN ARIZONA DNA evidence vindicates man wrongfully convicted of 1991 murder WASHINGTON, DC — Ray Krone is the 100th innocent person convicted of capital murder to wal…
Oct 21, 2004
DPIC SUMMARY: Chicago Tribune Series, “Forensics Under the Microscope”
A CHICAGO TRIBUNE INVESTIGATIVE SERIESChicago Tribune veteran project reporters Flynn McRoberts, Steve Mills and Maurice Possley, together with researcher Judith Marriott, scrutinized criminal cases including “scientific” …
Policy Issues
Race
,United States Supreme Court
,Jun 09, 2017
Duane Buck’s Lawyer Discusses How Future Dangerousness Taints Texas Death Penalty System
Thirty years ago, filmmaker Errol Morris, who directed the documentary “The Thin Blue Line,” helped to exonerate Texas death-row prisoner Dale Adams, falsely accused of murdering a police officer. During the course of making the f…
Jun 17, 2004
EDITORIALS: Dallas Morning News Says Texas’ Statute is “Wrong and Should Not Stand”
A recent Dallas Morning News editorial decried the use of expert witnesses who claim to have the ability to predict future dangerousness, a determination that jurors in Texas heavily rely on in sentencing people to death. The editorial states:
Policy Issues
Arbitrariness
,Race
,Dec 08, 2016
Experts Say Texas’ Future Dangerousness Concept Is Based on Junk Science
Since 1973, juries in Texas have had to determine whether a defendant presents a future danger to society before imposing a death sentence. But while they have found that each of the 244 men and women currently on the state’s deat…
Policy Issues
Prosecutorial Accountability
,Oct 24, 2017
False or Flawed Forensic Evidence Raises Questions About Two Texas Capital Convictions
Two recent appellate decisions by the Texas courts have thrust into the national spotlight the continuing controversy over the use of false or flawed forensic testimony to secure convictions in death penalty cases. On Oct…
Policy Issues
Arbitrariness
,Innocence
,Apr 20, 2015
FBI Acknowledges Flawed Forensic Testimony Affected At Least 32 Death Penalty Cases
(Click on image to enlarge). The Federal Bureau of Investigation has formally acknowledged that examiners from the FBI Laboratory’s microscopic hair comparison unit for decades provided flawed forensic testimony purportedly matching crime scene ha…
Policy Issues
Arbitrariness
,Innocence
,Jul 18, 2013
FBI To Examine 27 Death Penalty Cases For Potentially Inaccurate Testimony
A Federal Bureau of Investigation review of more than 21,000 cases has revealed 27 death penalty cases in which the FBI’s forensic experts may have exaggerated the scientific conclusions that could be drawn from their testimony, m…
Policy Issues
Innocence
,Women
,Jul 31, 2019
Federal Appeals Court Overturns Mother’s Conviction in Texas Child Murder Case That May Have Been an Accidental Death
Citing trial court interference in her right to present a defense, a federal appeals court has overturned the conviction of a Texas mother who was sentenced to death on charges that she had murdered her two-year-old daughter. In an unpublished, un…
Policy Issues
Innocence
,Prosecutorial Accountability
,Apr 30, 2019
Federal Court Overturns Ohio Shaken-Baby Conviction and Death Sentence Based on Withheld Evidence
A federal district court has overturned the conviction of Genesis Hill (pictured), who was sentenced to death in Ohio in 1991 for the death of his six-month-old daughter, Domika, based upon a questionable shaken‑b…
Policy Issues
Arbitrariness
,Race
,Aug 27, 2015
Federal Court Rejects Duane Buck Racial Bias Appeal
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit rejected an appeal in the case of Texas death row inmate Duane Buck
Policy Issues
Arbitrariness
,Innocence
,Sentencing Data
,May 21, 2020
First Execution, New Death Sentence During Coronavirus Pandemic Highlight Grave Flaws in U.S. Capital Punishment System
The first new death sentence and first execution since public health concerns arising from the coronavirus pandemic shuttered most court proceedings across the country have highlighted several of the gravest concerns about the death penalty in the…
Jun 11, 2000
Flawed Trials Lead to Death Chamber
Chicago Tribune By STEVE MILLS, KEN ARMSTRONG and DOUGLAS HOLT Tribune Staff Writers First of two parts. AUSTIN, Texas — Under Gov. George W. Bush, Texas has executed dozens of Death Row inmates whose cases were comprom…
Policy Issues
Mental Illness
,Recent Legislative Activity
,Apr 20, 2021
Florida Bars From Medical Practice Psychiatrist Who Repeatedly Testified that Severely Mentally Ill Death-Row Prisoners Were ‘Malingering’
A controversial psychiatrist who repeatedly testified that severely mentally ill death-row prisoners were faking their symptoms and were competent to be executed has been barred from medical practice in Florida. On March 3…
Policy Issues
Innocence
,Jul 07, 2022
Florida Supreme Court Rejects State Attorney General’s Attempt to Block DNA Testing in 46-Year-Old Death Penalty Case
The Florida Supreme Court has rejected an attempt by Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody to prevent DNA testing and fingerprint analysis of evidence lawyers for Henry Sireci (pictured) say could prove him innoce…
Policy Issues
Arbitrariness
,Innocence
,Nov 17, 2015
Forensic Pseudoscience and the Death Penalty
In light of the FBI’s acknowledgement in April that flawed forensic testimony by its expert hair-comparison analysts had tainted at least 268 cases, including 32 death penalty ca…
Policy Issues
Innocence
,Apr 18, 2022
Forensics Experts and Shaken-Baby Exonerees File Briefs Supporting Texas Death-Row Prisoner Robert Roberson’s Innocence Claim
Forensics experts and three exonerees wrongfully convicted of murder based upon junk-science diagnoses of Shaken Baby Syndrome are urging the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals (TCCA) to overturn the conviction of death-row prisoner …
Policy Issues
Innocence
,Prosecutorial Accountability
,New Voices
,Aug 15, 2018
Fox Commentator: Oklahoma “Frontier Justice” Has Produced “Wretched Record” of Wrongful Capital Convictions
Calling Oklahoma “the notorious home of ‘Hang ’Em High’ executions,” conservative commentator and Fox News contributor Michelle Malkin (pictured) has urged the state to adopt sytemic reforms to address its “wretch…
Policy Issues
Arbitrariness
,Innocence
,Prosecutorial Accountability
,Nov 05, 2015
History of Misconduct Chronicled in Oklahoma County With 41 Executions
Oklahoma County has executed 41 prisoners since 197…
Policy Issues
Innocence
,Dec 05, 2007
INNOCENCE: Another Inmate is Exonerated, After 16 Years on Death Row
On December 5, a Tennessee jury acquitted Michael Lee McCormick of the 1985 murder of Donna Jean Nichols, a crime for which McCormick spent 16 years on death row. In his first trial, the prosecution introduced hair evidence from Nichols’ car that …
Policy Issues
Innocence
,Sep 11, 2023
John Grisham on Robert Roberson: “Texas may execute an innocent man”
In an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal, novelist John Grisham recounts the flawed science that led to the conviction of Robert Roberson (pictured, with his daughter Nikki) and the inadequate legal process that has maintained that conviction.…
Policy Issues
Innocence
,Sep 10, 2007
Judge Blocks Texas From Destroying Evidence in Case of Possible Wrongful Execution
A Texas judge blocked the destruction of DNA evidence that could prove the innocence of a man who was executed in 2000. A joint motion filed by a coalition of concerned groups sought DNA testing on a hair taken from the crime scene in the case of …
Policy Issues
Arbitrariness
,Innocence
,Mar 14, 2011
Judge Dismisses Capital Murder Charges After Finding State Report “Intentionally Misleading”
On March 10, a North Carolina superior court judge released his opinion throwing out murder charges against Derrick Michael Allen, who was accused in the 1998 death and sexual assault of a 2‑year-old girl. Judge O…
Oct 22, 2003
Judge Throws Out Last Piece of Evidence Against Tennessee Man
Michael Lee McCormick has been on Tennessee’s death row for 17 years, but a recent court decision throwing out the remaining evidence against him could result in his freedom. Judge Doug Meyer ruled that tapes containing conversations between McCor…
Policy Issues
Innocence
,Oct 03, 2019
Junk Science and Wrongful Convictions: James Rytting Discusses the Case of Larry Swearingen
James Rytting, an attorney who represented Texas prisoner Larry Swearingen, describes the junk science used to convict his cli…
Policy Issues
Juveniles
,Race
,Clemency
,Upcoming Executions
,Federal Death Penalty
,Dec 08, 2020
Jurors and Appellate Prosecutor Say Teen Offender Brandon Bernard Should Not be Executed
As the December 10, 2020 execution date of federal death-row prisoner Brandon Bernard (pictured with his family) approached, jurors and a former prosecutor in his case came forward saying that the teen offender’s life should be sp…
Policy Issues
Intellectual Disability
,Mental Illness
,Sentencing Data
,Executions Overview
,Oct 08, 2018
Law Review: Junk Mental Health Science and the Texas Death Penalty
Junk science is “enabling and perpetuating grave miscarriages of justice” in Texas death-penalty cases. So concludes Professor James Acker in his article, Snake Oil With A Bite: The Lethal Veneer of Science an…
Policy Issues
Arbitrariness
,Mar 09, 2017
LAW REVIEWS: Predictions of Future Dangerousness Contribute to Arbitrary Sentencing Decisions
In a new article for the Lewis & Clark Law Review, author Carla Edmondson argues that the future dangerousness inquiry that is implicit in capital setencing determinations “is a fundamentally flawed question that leads to arbitrary and capricious …
Policy Issues
Innocence
,Representation
,Sep 06, 2016
Mississippi Attorney General Tries to Remove Defense Lawyers Who Challenged Suspect Bitemark Evidence
Attorneys for Mississippi death row prisoner Eddie Lee Howard (pictured) are seeking to prove his innocence and challenging the questionable expert bite mark…
Policy Issues
Arbitrariness
,Jan 10, 2013
Mississippi Inmate Faces Execution Despite Questionable Evidence from Overworked Medical Examiner
Jeffrey Havard (pictured) is facing execution in Mississippi despite the fact that key evidence against him came from a medical examiner who has been harshly criticized by experts in his field. Havard was convicte…
Policy Issues
Innocence
,Jul 15, 2022
Mississippi Supreme Court Denies Additional DNA Testing to Death-Row Prisoner
The Mississippi Supreme Court has denied additional DNA testing to death-row prisoner Willie Manning (pictured). Manning, who was sentenced to death in Oktibbeha County in 1994 and in 1996 for two separate crimes,…
Policy Issues
Innocence
,Sep 01, 2020
Mississippi Supreme Court Grants New Trial to Eddie Howard, Sentenced to Death by Junk Bite-Mark Evidence
The Mississippi Supreme Court has granted a new trial to death-row prisoner Eddie Lee Howard, Jr. (pictured), finding that the combination of scientifically invalid bite-mark evidence used to convict him and new DNA evidence entit…
Policy Issues
Innocence
,Oct 31, 2017
Mississippi, Pennsylvania Courts Grant New Trials to Wrongly Condemned Prisoners
Appeals courts in Mississippi and Pennsylvania have granted new trials to two men who have long asserted their innocence of charges that had sent them to their states’ death rows. On October 26, the Mississ…
Policy Issues
Innocence
,Feb 18, 2013
MULTIMEDIA: “One For Ten” Introduces Documentaries on Death Row Exonerees
One For Ten is a new collection of documentary films telling the stories of innocent people who were on death row in the U.S. The first film of the series is on Ray Krone…
Jun 01, 2003
My Nightmare — Greg Wilhoit
by Ira SaletanFriends Committee on Legislation of Californiareprinted from the FCL Newsletter, June 2003 edition FCL Development & Outreach Coordinator Ira Saletan recently met with Greg Wilhoit, who served four ye…
Policy Issues
Race
,United States Supreme Court
,Jun 28, 2017
New Podcast: Duane Buck’s Appeal Lawyer Tells Story of His Case, Discusses Future Dangerousness and Racial Bias
In DPIC’s latest podcast, NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund Litigation Director Christina Swarns (pictured, center, outside the U.S. Supreme Court following the argument …
Policy Issues
Innocence
,Oct 10, 2019
New Podcast: Texas Lawyer James Rytting on Junk Science and the Execution of Larry Swearingen
In the latest episode of Discussions with DPIC, Texas
Policy Issues
Arbitrariness
,Innocence
,Jul 23, 2007
NEW RESOURCES: Destroyed DNA Evidence Blocks Possible Exonerations
A recent four-part series in the Denver Post about evidence in criminal cases detailed how police departments across the U.S. store and dispose of crucial biological evidence. The Post examined 10 states in which authorities destroyed biological e…
Policy Issues
Innocence
,Aug 18, 2011
NEW RESOURCES: The Causes of Wrongful Convictions
The Innocence Project has launched a new multimedia resource illustrating the main causes of wrongful convictions and the reforms necessary to prevent such mistakes. This interactive t…
Policy Issues
Arbitrariness
,Innocence
,New Voices
,Sep 24, 2014
NEW VOICES: Former FBI Director Says People Were Executed Based Partly on Faulty Agency Testimony
William Sessions, former head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, recently pointed to cases of defendants who were executed based in part on faulty hair and fiber analysis in calling for changes in the use of forensic evidence…
Policy Issues
Intellectual Disability
,Upcoming Executions
,Federal Death Penalty
,Aug 02, 2020
NEWS BRIEF — Federal Government, Texas Set New Execution Dates
As July 2020 came to a close, the federal government issued two more notices of execution and a county judge in Texas reportedly issued a new death warrant for a death-row prisoner whose previously scheduled execution had been stayed.
Policy Issues
Innocence
,Nov 03, 2020
Ohio Judges Acquit Capital Defendant in Alleged Arson Deaths of His Family
A three-judge panel in Madison County, Ohio has acquitted a man prosecutors charged with capital murder for allegedly setting his car on fire to burn down his house with his wife and children inside. The judges rejected p…
Policy Issues
Innocence
,Clemency
,Dec 03, 2010
OP-ED: “Capital Punishment and Human Fallibility”
A recent op-ed in the Wall Street Journal by Barry Scheck, co-director of the Innocence Project, highlighs flaws in Texas’s death penalty system that led to the execution of Claude Jones …
Policy Issues
Innocence
,New Voices
,Jun 11, 2013
OP-ED: “DNA: A Test for Justice”
In a recent op-ed in the Baltimore Sun, former FBI Director William Sessions (pictured) underscored the importance of reliable FBI forensic analysis in convicting the guilty and exonerating the innocent. Sessions provided…
Policy Issues
Innocence
,Prosecutorial Accountability
,Aug 10, 2020
Orleans Parish D.A. Will Not Run for Re-Election, Tenure Tainted By Office Misconduct in Death-Penalty Cases
After 12 years as Orleans Parish, Louisiana District Attorney, Leon Cannizzaro (pictured) has announced that he will not seek re-election and will be retiring as D.A. at the end of this term. Cann…
Policy Issues
Innocence
,Prosecutorial Accountability
,Sep 02, 2016
OUTLIER COUNTIES: Maricopa, Arizona — “Outrageously Exploited Power,” “Crippled” Defense, and Five Exonerations
Maricopa County, Arizona imposed 28 death sentences between 2010 and 2015 and, as described in a BuzzFeed news analysis of a new report on outlier death penalty practices, “stands out for its stark exampl…
Policy Issues
Innocence
,Prosecutorial Accountability
,Representation
,Jan 27, 2021
Philadelphia Boxer Sent to Death Row by Unrebutted False Medical Testimony Released After 28 Years
Former lightweight and junior welterweight boxing contender Anthony Fletcher (pictured) has been released from prison, 28 years after he was wrongfully convicted of first-degree murder and sent to Pennsylvania’s d…
Policy Issues
Arbitrariness
,Innocence
,Sep 16, 2014
POSSIBLE INNOCENCE: Mississippi Inmate Challenges Bite-Mark Evidence
A new appeal filed on behalf of Mississippi death row inmate Eddie Howard, Jr. presented DNA evidence that calls into question bite-mark evidence used to convict him in 1992. At Howard’s trial, Dr. Michael West, a…
Policy Issues
Innocence
,Feb 08, 2017
Problems in Florida, Arizona Crime Labs Renew Questions About Reliability of Forensic Testimony
More than 2,600 Florida cases — including at least one capital case — may have been tainted by erroneous fingerprint analysis by a long-term employee of the Orange County Sheriff’s Office, according to letters sent to defense counsel …
Policy Issues
Innocence
,Crimes Punishable by Death
,Sep 24, 2018
Questionable Ruling Grants Jeffrey Havard New Sentencing but Not New Trial in Controversial “Shaken Baby” Case
Sixteen years after a notorious and now-discredited forensic witness told a Mississippi jury that Jeffrey Havard had sexually abused and shaken his girlfriend’s six-month-old daughter to death, Havard’s death sent…
Policy Issues
Race
,Mar 14, 2013
RACE: New Study Shows Racial Bias in Seeking the Death Penalty in Harris County
A new study regarding the use of the death penalty in Harris County, Texas, was released in conjunction with the filing of an appeal by Harris County death row inmate, Duane Buck. The research was conducted by Pro…
Policy Issues
Innocence
,Prosecutorial Accountability
,Sep 17, 2020
Robert DuBoise and Tina Jimerson Exonerated Decades After Wrongful Capital Prosecutions in Florida, Arkansas
A Florida man and an Arkansas woman, convicted of murder in separate cases involving junk science and prosecutorial misconduct, have been exonerated, decades after being wrongfully capitally prosecuted.
Policy Issues
Innocence
,Sep 30, 2021
Sherwood Brown Exonerated in Mississippi, 186th Death-Row Exoneration Since 1973
Sherwood Brown has been exonerated of the charges that sent him to death row in Mississippi in 1995 for a triple murder he did not commit. On August 24, 2021, DeSoto County Circuit Court Judge Jim…
Policy Issues
Innocence
,Apr 03, 2009
STUDIES: Researchers Find Root of Wrongful Convictions in Forensic Science Testimony
A groundbreaking study by Brandon Garrett and Peter Neufeld published in the Virginia Law Review explores erroneous scientific testimony by prosecution experts in the trials of defendants who were later exonerated through DNA testing. The research…
Policy Issues
Arbitrariness
,Innocence
,Aug 12, 2013
STUDIES: Texas To Re-Examine Previous Convictions for Forensic Errors
The Texas Forensic Science Commission announced it will study prior criminal convictions to determine whether mistakes were made using discredited forensic testimony. The Commission will employ DNA testing to review cases in which…
Policy Issues
Arbitrariness
,Mental Illness
,Apr 02, 2020
STUDIES — Junk Psychological Science Continues to Infect Death-Penalty Determinations
Courts are failing badly in keeping junk psychological science out of the courtroom in criminal cases, permitting the admission of psychological tests that have never been reviewed for reliability and others that have been found unreliable, a rece…
Policy Issues
Costs
,Innocence
,Jun 22, 2015
STUDY: “The Hidden Costs of Wrongful Capital Prosecutions in North Carolina”
A new study by North Carolina’s Center for Death Penalty Litigation examines the financial and human costs of cases in which, “prosecutors sought the death penalty despite a clear lack of evidence, resulting in acquittal or dismis…
Policy Issues
Innocence
,Oct 25, 2016
Supported by New DNA Evidence, Man Sentenced to Death in Virginia in 1970 Files Innocence Claim
Sherman Brown (pictured), a man who was sentenced to death in Virginia in 1970 for the murder of a 4‑year-old boy, has filed a writ of actual innocence with the Virginia Supreme Court saying that DNA testing on re…
Policy Issues
Race
,Representation
,United States Supreme Court
,Feb 22, 2017
Supreme Court Grants Relief to Duane Buck in Texas Racial Bias Death Penalty Case
Saying that the “law punishes people for what they do, not who they are,” the Supreme Court on February 22, 2017, granted relief to Duane Buck (pictured, right), a Texas death-row prisoner who was…
Policy Issues
Innocence
,Prosecutorial Accountability
,United States Supreme Court
,Jan 13, 2023
Supreme Court Reverses Texas Court Decision Based on Prosecutor’s Admission About Flawed Forensic Evidence
The U.S. Supreme Court has reversed the denial of relief to a Texas death-row prisoner whose request for new trial is supported by local prosecutors. In a two-sentence decision, the Court granted certiorari to Areli Escoba…
Policy Issues
Arbitrariness
,Race
,Apr 15, 2016
Supreme Court to Consider Hearing Texas Capital Case Where Expert Said Defendant Posed Greater Danger Because He Was Black
UPDATE: The Supreme Court docket indicates that its conferencing of Mr. Buck’s case, originally set for April 22, has been rescheduled. The Court is now scheduled to considering the case on April 29. PREVIOUSLY: On April 22, the U.S. Supreme Court…
Policy Issues
Intellectual Disability
,Race
,United States Supreme Court
,Jun 06, 2016
Supreme Court To Hear Texas Death Penalty Cases Dealing with Racial Bias, Intellectual Disability
On June 6, the U.S. Supreme Court granted writs of certiorari in two Texas death penalty cases, and will review the constitutionality of those death sentences during its next term. The two cases are
Policy Issues
Innocence
,Jun 03, 2019
Ten Years After Landmark Study, Junk Science Still Pervasive in Death-Penalty Cases
In 2009, the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) released a landmark report titled Strengthening Forensic Science in the United States: A Path Forward, in which it raised significa…
Policy Issues
Arbitrariness
,Innocence
,May 13, 2020
Texas Appeals Court Declines to Apply Junk-Science Law to Review Death Sentence Based Upon Hypnotically Assisted Identification Testimony
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals (TCCA) has upheld the ruling of a Dallas trial court that denied a new trial to death-row prisoner
Policy Issues
Prosecutorial Accountability
,Mar 31, 2020
Texas Appeals Court Rejects Recommendation for New Trial for Death-Row Prisoner
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals (TCCA) has once again rejected the findings of a trial court that a death-row prisoner was entitled to relief from his conviction or death sentence. Applying a narrow interpretation of …
Policy Issues
Arbitrariness
,Innocence
,Representation
,Jun 17, 2016
Texas Court Stays Execution of Man Convicted by Now Debunked “Shaken Baby” Testimony
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has granted a stay of execution to Robert Roberson (pictured), who had been scheduled to be executed on June 21 for the 2003 death of his two-and-a-half-year-old daughter, Nikki…
Policy Issues
Victims' Families
,Executions Overview
,Apr 10, 2017
Texas Court Stays Execution of Paul Storey Based on False Argument About Wishes of Victim’s Family
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has issued an order staying the scheduled April 12 execution of Paul Storey. The unpublished April 7 order sends Storey’s case back to the trial court to consider whether the pr…
Policy Issues
Arbitrariness
,Innocence
,May 27, 2008
Texas Death Row Inmate May Be Exonerated As Prosecution Recommends Overturning Conviction
Based on statements from the District Attorney’s office, it appears that Texas wrongly convicted Michael Blair and sentenced him to death in 1994 for the sexual assault and murder of 7‑year-old Ashley Estell. The case led to the passage of “Ashley…
Executions
Aug 15, 2022
Texas Executes Man Whose Conviction Relied on Discredited Forensics
Texas on August 17, 2022 executed Kosoul Chanthakoummane (pictured), whose conviction prosecutors obtained with discredited forensic testimony. He was the second defendant of color in less than a month to be put t…
Executions
Executions Overview
,Oct 13, 2016
Texas Executions Drop to Lowest Level in 20 Years
Texas is poised to have the fewest number of executions in 20 years. As of October, the state has executed seven prisoners in 2016, with just one more execution scheduled this calendar year. The total would mark the fewest executions in t…
Policy Issues
Representation
,Religion
,Upcoming Executions
,Oct 12, 2021
Texas Federal Court Stays Execution of Stephen Barbee on Religious Freedom Issue, Defense Seeks Review of False Forensic Testimony
A federal court in Texas has stayed the October 12, 2021 execution of Texas death-row prisoner Stephen Barbee on his claims that the state’s refusal to allow his spiritual advisor to administer last rites, touch h…
Policy Issues
Arbitrariness
,Innocence
,Lethal Injection
,Jan 15, 2016
Texas Prepares to Execute Richard Masterson While Autopsy Data Suggests Death Was Not Murder At All
As Texas readies itself to execute Richard Masterson (pictured), his lawyers have filed new pleadings questioning whether any murder occurred at all and are seeking a
Policy Issues
Arbitrariness
,Intellectual Disability
,Executions Overview
,Jan 11, 2019
Texas Prisoner Seeks Stay of Execution on Claims of Junk Science, Arbitrary Sentencing
[UPDATE: The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals issued a stay of execution to Blaine Milam on January 14, 2019] As Texas prepares …
Policy Issues
Innocence
,May 18, 2023
Texas Prisoner Seeks Supreme Court Review of Conviction Based on Debunked Scientific Evidence
On May 11, attorneys for Robert Roberson, a death-sentenced prisoner in Texas, filed a petition for certiorari to the Supreme Court asking it to reverse the decision of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals (TCCA). Mr. Roberson’s convicti…
Policy Issues
Arbitrariness
,Aug 04, 2016
Texas Prisoner Who Did Not Kill Anyone Challenges Execution, Use of False Psychiatrist Testimony to Condemn Him to Die
Lawyers for Jeffery Wood (pictured), a Texas death row prisoner who is scheduled to be executed August 24 despite undisputed evidence that he has never killed anyone, have filed a
Policy Issues
Arbitrariness
,Jun 16, 2004
Texas Relies on “Junk Science” in Choosing Who Will Be Sentenced to Death
Texas plans to execute David Harris on June 30th on the basis of a prediction in 1986 that he would be a future danger even if sentenced to life in prison. Dr. Edward Gripon testified that Harris posed a substantial risk of commit…
Policy Issues
Innocence
,Prosecutorial Accountability
,Oct 10, 2017
Texas Set to Execute Robert Pruett for Prison Murder Despite Corruption and Lack of Physical Evidence
Though no physical evidence links him to the crime, Texas is set to execute Robert Pruett (pictured) on October 12 for the 1999 stabbing death of a state correctional officer who …
Aug 19, 2000
Through Thick and Thin: On Death Row, Two Men Defied Odds With Friendship and Hope
ABC News Aug. 19 — Greg Wilhoit remembers his desperation as he was brought in to his cellblock at the State Penitentiary in McAlester, Okla. I thought, My life’s over, literally over,” he says. As prisoner 100841, Wilhoit faced th…
Policy Issues
Innocence
,Prosecutorial Accountability
,United States Supreme Court
,Nov 11, 2022
U.S. Supreme Court Asks for Record of Texas Case Where Relief Denied Despite Agreement of Prosecutor and Trial Judge that Death-Row Prisoner Should Get New Trial
The United States Supreme Court has requested the production of the appellate record of a death penalty case in which the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals (TCCA) refused to grant a new trial to a death-row prisoner despite the agre…
Policy Issues
Innocence
,Foreign Nationals
,Apr 18, 2018
Vicente Benavides, Sentenced to Death by False Forensics, to Be Freed After 26 Years on Death Row
Mexican national Vicente Figueroa Benavides (pictured), wrongly convicted and sentenced to death in Kern County, California for supposedly raping, sodomizing, and murdering his girlfriend’s 21-month-old daughter, …
May 13, 2001
When the Evidence Lies
Joyce Gilchrist helped send dozens to death row. The forensic scientist’s errors are putting capital punishment under the microscope By BELINDA LUSCOMBETime MagazinePosted Sunday, May 13, 2001…