Entries tagged with “Richard Moore”

Conditions on Death Row

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Dec 05, 2024

Hidden Casualties: Executions Harm Mental Health of Prison Staff

In March, Oklahoma offi­cials asked the state’s high court to increase the time between exe­cu­tions from 60 to 90 days, cit­ing the​“last­ing trau­ma” and​“psy­cho­log­i­cal toll” of exe­cu­tions on cor­rec­tions offi­cers. But Judge Gary Lumpkin dis­missed these con­cerns, telling offi­cials that prison staff need­ed to​“suck it up” and​“man up.” A few weeks lat­er, Brian Dorsey was exe­cut­ed in Missouri after the gov­er­nor ignored the pleas of an unprece­dent­ed 72 corrections…

Executions

Methods of Execution

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Feb 06, 2024

South Carolina Supreme Court Hears Arguments on Constitutionality of Electrocution and Firing Squad, Considers Scope of Secrecy Law

On February 6, 2024, the South Carolina Supreme Court heard oral argu­ments in Owens v. Stirling, a case in which death-sen­­tenced pris­on­ers chal­lenged the state’s elec­tro­cu­tion and fir­ing squad exe­cu­tion meth­ods as uncon­sti­tu­tion­al. A South Carolina tri­al court had pre­vi­ous­ly held an exten­sive evi­den­tiary hear­ing and issued an injunc­tion against use of those meth­ods based on the state’s con­sti­tu­tion­al pro­hi­bi­tion against​“cru­el,”​“unusu­al,” or…

Executions

Executions Overview

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Methods of Execution

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Sep 09, 2022

South Carolina Trial Court Rules in Favor of Death-Row Prisoners Challenging Execution Methods

A South Carolina tri­al court has issued an injunc­tion pre­vent­ing the state from car­ry­ing out exe­cu­tions using a fir­ing squad or the elec­tric chair, rul­ing that those meth­ods vio­late the state’s con­sti­tu­tion­al pro­hi­bi­tion against​“cru­el, unusu­al, and…

Executions

Executions Overview

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Methods of Execution

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Aug 18, 2022

South Carolina Court Set to Rule on Prisoners’ Challenge to Electric Chair and Firing Squad Executions After Completion of Methods of Execution Trial

A deci­sion on the con­sti­tu­tion­al­i­ty of South Carolina​’s new­ly adopt­ed exe­cu­tion meth­ods now rests in the hands a tri­al court judge after lawyers for death-row pris­on­ers and the South Carolina Department of Corrections (SCDC) pre­sent­ed four days of con­flict­ing expert tes­ti­mo­ny about the amount of pain suf­fered dur­ing fir­ing squad and electric…

Issues

Methods of Execution

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Aug 04, 2022

As Trial in South Carolina Execution-Method Challenge Begins, Review of State’s Death Penalty Reveals System that is Biased, Arbitrary, and Error-Prone

As the tri­al chal­leng­ing South Carolina​’s exe­cu­tion meth­ods began on August 1, 2022, a review of the state’s death penal­ty by the Greenville News revealed a pat­tern of dis­crim­i­na­tion, geo­graph­ic arbi­trari­ness, and high error rates in the imple­men­ta­tion of the pun­ish­ment. In a two-part exam­i­na­tion, reporter Kathryn Casteel ana­lyzed racial and coun­ty demo­graph­ics on death row, rever­sal rates in cap­i­tal cas­es, and the tim­ing of death…

Issues

Military

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Mar 06, 2020

News Brief — Recent Death-Penalty Decisions Through March 6

NEWS (3/​6/​20): The United States Court of Military Appeals has upheld the con­vic­tion and death sen­tence of Timothy Hennis, fol­low­ing his acquit­tal in North Carolina on the same charges. The court’s rul­ing, issued on February 28, reject­ed Hennis’ chal­lenges to the mil­i­tary court’s juris­dic­tion to try him for a May 1985 rape and…