Entries tagged with “Montez Spradley

Policy Issues

Innocence

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Prosecutorial Accountability

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Dec 20, 2019

With Newly Discovered Evidence of Prosecutorial Misconduct, Alabama Death-Row Prisoner Hopeful to Win New Trial

Alabama sen­tenced Toforest Johnson to death, his lawyers and nation­al experts say, because of pros­e­cu­to­r­i­al mis­con­duct, false eye­wit­ness tes­ti­mo­ny, and inad­e­quate rep­re­sen­ta­tion. In an ami­cus brief filed in a Birmingham tri­al court on December 12, 2019, the Innocence Project says, If ever a case bore the hall­marks of a wrong­ful con­vic­tion, Toforest Johnson’s is…

Policy Issues

Innocence

,

Prosecutorial Accountability

,

Jan 19, 2018

Innocence Deniers” and Coercive Plea Agreements Impede Death-Row Exonerations Across the U.S.

A pros­e­cu­tor’s duty, the U.S. Supreme Court wrote in 1935, is not that it shall win a case, but that jus­tice shall be done.” Yet pros­e­cu­tors across the U.S. have refused to acknowl­edge the inno­cence of defen­dants who have been wrong­ful­ly con­vict­ed, obstruct­ing release by retry­ing death-sen­tenced defen­dants despite exon­er­at­ing evi­dence, or con­di­tion­ing their release upon Alford pleas,” which force defen­dants to choose between clear­ing their names or obtain­ing their free­dom. In an arti­cle for…

Policy Issues

Innocence

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New Voices

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Nov 15, 2016

OUTLIER COUNTIES: Alabama’s Leading Death Sentencing County Elects Prosecutors Who Oppose Capital Punishment

Jefferson County, Alabama is among both the 2% of coun­ties that account for more than half of all exe­cu­tions in the U.S. and are respon­si­ble for more than half of all pris­on­ers on death row across the coun­try. It led the state in new death sen­tences from 2010 – 2015, putting more peo­ple on death row than 99.5% of U.S. coun­ties. All five of the defen­dants sen­tenced to death in those cas­es were…