Entries tagged with “Michael Nance”
Research
Jun 27, 2022
Supreme Court Preserves Death-Row Prisoners’ Ability to Challenge Execution Methods in Federal Civil Rights Lawsuits
In a 5 – 4 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed the long-standing practice of using federal civil rights suits to challenge state execution methods. The Court ruled in favor of death-row prisoner Michael Nance, rejecting Georgia’s contention that such challenges must be brought in federal habeas corpus proceedings when the death-row prisoner proposes an alternative method not authorized by state law. A contrary ruling would have severely limited challenges to execution methods. Matthew…
Issues
May 02, 2022
Supreme Court Hears Arguments in Death Penalty Cases that Could Limit Access to Federal Court Review
The U.S. Supreme Court has heard argument in two death penalty cases that present highly technical legal issues that could profoundly affect the extent to which prisoners convicted in state courts will have meaningful access to federal review of their cases. In two of the last cases to be argued before Justice Stephen Breyer’s retirement at the end of the Court’s term, the Court on April 25 and 26 considered Nance v. Ward, a Georgia case about the proper way to challenge execution protocols…
Research
Methods of Execution
,Jan 20, 2022
U.S. Supreme Court to Review Two More Cases on Death-Row Prisoners’ Access to Federal Courts
The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to review two cases concerning the scope of death-row prisoners’ access to the federal courts in litigating the constitutionality of their convictions and sentences or the method by which states seek to execute them. On January 14, 2022, the Court granted certiorari in Nance v. Ward and Shoop v. Twyford. Nance is a Georgia death penalty case concerning the process by which prisoners may bring challenges to state execution practices. Shoop is an Ohio death…
Issues
Apr 26, 2021
Capital Case Roundup — Death Penalty Court Decisions the Week of April 19, 2021
NEWS (4/21 – 4/23/21) — Texas: The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit has ruled against Texas death-row prisoners in three separate capital appeals. On April 23, a split panel of the court upheld a conviction and death sentence imposed by an all-White jury on Andre Thomas — a Black man — for killing his wife, who was White, and two children. Although three of the jurors who were empaneled expressed strong opposition to interracial marriage, Thomas’ defense counsel did not object to seating…