Entries tagged with “Toforest Johnson”
Policy Issues
Innocence
,Jul 03, 2024
The 200th Exoneration Underscores Critical Flaws in the U.S. Criminal Legal System; Other Innocent Prisoners Remain on Death Row
Since the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark ruling in Furman v. Georgia (1972), 200 death-sentenced men and women across 30 states have been exonerated. Analysis from the Death Penalty Information Center reveals these individuals have collectively spent 2,621 years in harsh prison conditions for crimes they did not commit. On average, death row exonerees spent 13 years under the sentence of death before their exonerations, with some individuals spending more than 40 years fighting to prove…
Policy Issues
Innocence
,May 21, 2024
Alabama District Attorney Files Amicus Brief in Support of New Trial for Toforest Johnson
On May 20, 2024, Jefferson County, Alabama District Attorney Danny Carr asked a circuit judge to grant a new trial to Toforest Johnson (center), an Alabama death row prisoner whose conviction DA Carr believes is “fundamentally unreliable.” This extraordinary request is the latest in a series of appeals for Mr. Johnson, who was sentenced to death in 1998 for the 1995 murder of Jefferson County Deputy Sheriff William Hardy but has always maintained his innocence. “A thorough review and…
Policy Issues
Innocence
,Apr 25, 2024
Articles of Interest: Juror Who Sentenced Toforest Johnson to Death Now Believes He Is Innocent
Monique Hicks, one of the twelve people who served on the Alabama jury that convicted Toforest Johnson and sentenced him to death, said in an op-ed published on April 22, 2024 that she now believes Mr. Johnson deserves a new trial. Ms. Hicks recounts the new evidence that has come to light in the case and writes, “My role in the wrongful conviction of an innocent man keeps me awake at…
Policy Issues
Innocence
,Prosecutorial Accountability
,United States Supreme Court
,Oct 02, 2023
Supreme Court Denies Certiorari to Two Death-Sentenced Men with Credible Innocence Claims
On October 2, the first day of its new term, the Supreme Court denied review in two high-profile death penalty cases: Toforest Johnson and Robert Roberson. Both men have long maintained their innocence and have garnered broad bipartisan support for their innocence…
Policy Issues
Innocence
,Prosecutorial Accountability
,Apr 19, 2023
Alabama Death Row Prisoner Appeals to U.S. Supreme Court, With Support from the District Attorney and Trial Prosecutor
On April 17, 2023, lawyers for Toforest Johnson (pictured, center), who has spent 25 years on Alabama’s death row, filed a petition for a writ of certiorari to the U.S. Supreme Court requesting a new trial. The petition was buttressed by support from the present District Attorney and from the original trial prosecutor in Johnson’s…
Policy Issues
Innocence
,Prosecutorial Accountability
,Aug 02, 2022
Commentary: Despite Strong Evidence of Innocence, Courts and Officials ‘Pass the Buck’ Keeping Toforest Johnson on Alabama’s Death Row
The innocence case of Alabama death-row prisoner Toforest Johnson (pictured, center) has drawn substantial support from former judges, jurors, prosecutors, and state bar presidents, but disinterest by current Alabama officials has left Johnson languishing on death row. So argues journalist Radley Balko in his Washington Post column on July 28,…
Policy Issues
Innocence
,Prosecutorial Accountability
,New Voices
,May 18, 2022
Alabama Appeals Court Rules Trial Court Did Not Abuse Discretion in Denying New Trial for Death-Row Prisoner Toforest Johnson
Ignoring entreaties from judges, prosecutors, and state bar presidents, the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals has denied a new trial to death-row prisoner Toforest…
Policy Issues
Innocence
,Prosecutorial Accountability
,Aug 30, 2021
Jurors who Voted to Convict Toforest Johnson Now Support New Trial
Three members of the jury who voted to convict and sentence Toforest Johnson (pictured, center) to death in his capital trial in Birmingham in 1998 are now urging Alabama’s courts to grant him a new trial. Having learned of significant prosecutorial misconduct during Johnson’s trial for the murder of a sheriff’s deputy, including the revelation that a key witness lied to collect reward money, Jay Crane, Matthew…
Policy Issues
Innocence
,Prosecutorial Accountability
,Mar 17, 2021
Former Alabama Attorney General, Appeals Court Judges Call for New Trial for Death-Row Prisoner Toforest Johnson
More than a dozen former Alabama prosecutors, judges, and state bar presidents have filed briefs in a Birmingham court calling for a new trial for Alabama death-row prisoner Toforest Johnson (pictured, center, with family members). The extraordinary filings join Jefferson County District Attorney Danny Carr in supporting efforts by lawyers from the Southern Center for Human Rights, the University of California-Berkeley Law School Death Penalty Clinic, and the…
Policy Issues
Innocence
,Jun 15, 2020
Birmingham D.A. Files Brief Supporting New Trial for Death-Row Prisoner Toforest Johnson
Jefferson County District Attorney Danny Carr has filed an amicus brief supporting the grant of a new trial to Toforest Johnson (pictured, center, with family members), sentenced to death for the murder of an Alabama sheriff’s deputy. In a pleading filed in the Jefferson County Circuit Court, Carr wrote that, “A prosecutor’s duty is not merely to secure convictions, but to seek justice,” and that duty, he said, “requires intervention in this…
Policy Issues
Innocence
,Prosecutorial Accountability
,Mar 23, 2020
Alabama Judge Denies New Trial for Toforest Johnson
A Birmingham judge has denied a new trial to Alabama death-row prisoner Toforest Johnson (pictured, center), saying he had not proven his claim that his conviction and death sentence for the killing of a sheriff’s deputy in 1995 were the product of prosecutorial…
Policy Issues
Innocence
,Prosecutorial Accountability
,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…