Entries tagged with “Ronald Smith”

Executions

Botched Executions

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Aug 08, 2022

Sister Calls for Investigation Into Alabama’s Botched Execution of Joe James

The sis­ter of death-row pris­on­er Joe Nathan James Jr. has called for an inves­ti­ga­tion into his botched exe­cu­tion fol­low­ing a state­ment by an Alabama Department of Correction’s spokesper­son that ADOC could not con­firm that James was ful­ly con­scious when he was…

Policy Issues

Arbitrariness

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United States Supreme Court

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Dec 13, 2016

As Supreme Court Rejects Death Penalty Petitions, Justice Breyer Renews Call For Constitutional Review

In the span of one week, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review peti­tions from six death row pris­on­ers, deny­ing them relief in their cas­es. The peti­tion­ers raised issues relat­ed to DNA pro­ce­dures, con­flict of coun­sel, a dis­put­ed guilty plea, juror bias, judi­cial over­ride, and a pre­vi­ous­ly botched exe­cu­tion attempt. In two of the cas­es, the Court allowed exe­cu­tions to pro­ceed in Georgia and Alabama. The case of Ronald Smith left the Court dead­locked 4 – 4, with enough votes…