Ohio Governor Commutes Tibbetts’ Death Sentence
August 10, 2018
Saying there were “fundamental flaws” in his sentencing, Ohio Gov. John Kasich commuted Raymond Tibbetts’ death sentence to life without parole late last month. The
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In Brief: August 2018
August 10, 2018
In St. Louis, six civil rights organizations filed an amicii brief with the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals last week on behalf of Charles Rhines
While We’re on the Subject. . .
August 10, 2018
In his book, Making Habeas Work: A Legal History, Eric Freedman analyzes how essential the writ of habeas corpus is to a free society, going back
DPF to Honor the Reverend James Lawson at Southern California Event
August 10, 2018
On Sunday, September 23, in Los Angeles, Death Penalty Focus will honor the Reverend James Lawson, a civil rights icon whom Dr. Martin Luther King,
Acclaimed Documentary “The Penalty” Coming to California in September
August 9, 2018
From the team behind the award-winning One For Ten comes a feature documentary to lift the lid on the human cost of the death penalty
Pennsylvania’s Broken Death Penalty
July 13, 2018
A state commission appointed to study Pennsylvania’s death penalty system released its report late last month, almost five years after its original deadline. The 280-page
Gov. Brown to consider Kevin Cooper’s innocence petition
July 13, 2018
Two-and-a-half years ago, Kevin Cooper’s lawyer, Norman Hile, submitted to Governor Jerry Brown a 235-page clemency petition, pleading for advanced DNA testing of evidence from
DA Elections: “We’re taking from the shadows a vitally important elected position”
July 13, 2018
In terms of the criminal justice system, it can be argued that the most important locally elected official is the district attorney. So, in last
Two condemned men; two classic clemency cases
July 13, 2018
Next Tuesday, 34-year-old Christopher Young is scheduled to be executed in Texas for the 2004 murder of a 55-year-old convenience store owner. Exactly three months
Japan executes seven men in one day
July 13, 2018
Last Friday, Japan executed doomsday cult leader Shoko Asahara and his six followers, who had been sentenced to death for the sarin gas attack on
In brief: July 2018
July 13, 2018
Scott Dozier In Alabama, AL.com reports that eight death row prisoners are dropping their lawsuit challenging the state’s three-drug lethal injection method because they have decided
While we’re on the subject . . .
July 13, 2018
In a New York Times op-ed, “What Happens When Prosecutors Break the Law?” defense attorney Nina Morrison focuses on the case of Suffolk County, New
California Gov. Gavin Newsom to Close Death Row
February 11, 2022
California’s death row, the largest in the Western Hemisphere, will be dismantled. Gov. Gavin Newsom announced last week that a two-year-old pilot program will be
In brief: February 2022
February 9, 2022
In Alabama, Matthew Reeves was executed January 27, despite having an intellectual disability. Reeves was killed by lethal injection because he failed to choose a
Alabama Executes Matthew Reeves
January 28, 2022
Alabama executed Matthew Reeves last night despite the fact he had an intellectual disability. His execution was the second state killing yesterday after Oklahoma executed
Oklahoma Executes Donald Grant
January 27, 2022
Oklahoma executed Donald Grant this morning, less than 24 hours after the U.S. Supreme Court denied a stay on Wednesday afternoon. He was killed by
Teaser for a Kevin Cooper documentary is now streaming
January 10, 2022
“In his Defense,” a documentary on the Kevin Cooper case, is in the works right now, and California filmmaker Kenneth Carlson has released a teaser
While we’re on the subject . . .
January 10, 2022
In his editorial in Verdict, Austin Sarat says there is such significant “new progress in the effort to abolish America’s death penalty,” that it’s “not
In brief: January 2022
January 10, 2022
In Texas, the oldest person imprisoned on death row is scheduled to be executed on April 21. Carl Wayne Buntion, who is 77, has been
Executions and death sentences at near record lows in 2021, DPIC reports
January 10, 2022
“The death penalty in 2021 was defined by two competing forces: the continuing long-term erosion of capital punishment across most of the country, and extreme
Idaho governor denies commutation for Gerald Pizzuto, Jr.
January 10, 2022
Gerald Pizzuto, Jr. is 65 years old, dependent on a wheelchair, diabetic, and on hospice care because of advanced bladder cancer. He suffers from the
