Florida now has the lowest threshold for death sentencing in the nation
April 27, 2023
The bill Florida Gov. Ron De Santis signed into law last week will allow juries to recommend a death sentence with an 8-4 vote, the
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Oklahoma Pardon & Parole Board denies Glossip clemency
April 27, 2023
Not even the unprecedented presence of Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond, who attended the hearing to advocate for clemency for Richard Glossip, was enough to
CA bill allowing judicial review of old sentences passes its first hurdle
April 27, 2023
SB 94, which would allow judges to review death penalty and life-without-parole sentences for people who have been imprisoned for at least 20 years, passed
While we’re on the subject. . .
April 25, 2023
In his guest essay, “San Quentin Could Be the Future of Prisons in America,” in the New York Times, Bill Keller writes that “there are
While we’re on the subject. . .
March 21, 2023
“It is not for nothing that some critics refer to it as the ‘criminal legal system.’ The word ‘justice’ must be earned, and too often,
Crossing the River Styx: The Memoir of a Death Row Chaplain
March 21, 2023
“I was haunted by Russ before I even knew him. I tried to wrap my mind around what it was like to sit across from
In brief: March 2023
March 21, 2023
In Texas, corrections officials executed two men this month, Gary Green and Arthur Brown, Jr. Texas has killed five men this year. With last week’s
Texas withdraws Andre Thomas’s execution warrant
March 21, 2023
A state district judge withdrew the April 5 execution warrant for Andre Thomas earlier this month to give Thomas’s lawyers time to prepare for a
CA Gov. Newsom to turn San Quentin State Prison into “San Quentin Rehabilitation Center”
March 21, 2023
Declaring that he wants to “literally transform this place,” California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced last week that San Quentin State Prison will convert from a
Donald Spoto
February 27, 2023
Former Death Penalty Focus board member Donald Spoto died earlier this month. He was 81. His death from a brain hemorrhage was announced by his
While we’re on the subject . . .
February 27, 2023
“Justice Department standards on federal death penalty called confusing,” was the headline in a recent Washington Post article. The paper interviewed federal defense lawyers and
In brief: February 2023
February 27, 2023
The Death Penalty Information Center reports that the first state killing this year occurred on January 3, when Missouri executed Amber McLaughlin. Texas followed one
OK Rep. McDugle alleges impropriety in Glossip’s clemency denial; AG asks SCOTUS to vacate Glossip’s conviction
July 25, 2023
Oklahoma Rep. Kevin McDugle, leader of the effort to free Richard Glossip, alleged last week that the District Attorney’s Council and Pardon and Parole Board
El Paso man sentenced to 90 consecutive terms for Walmart shooting
July 25, 2023
Patrick Crusius, who pleaded guilty in February to killing 23 people and injuring 22 others at an El Paso Walmart store, was sentenced early this
While we’re on the subject…
July 24, 2023
“If you take away the arguments about cost, deterrence, and closure, what’s left other than a call for vengeance?” the Idaho Statesman asks in an
Alabama resumed executions this month
July 24, 2023
The State of Alabama killed James Barber last Friday, its first execution since Gov. Kay Ivey called for a temporary halt in November after the
OK Attorney General asks SCOTUS to vacate Glossip’s conviction
July 10, 2023
Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to vacate Richard Glossip’s 1997 capital murder conviction and return his case to a
Texas high court rejects Rodney Reed petition
July 6, 2023
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals denied Rodney Reed’s petition for a new trial in the murder conviction that sent him to death row 25
In brief: June 2023
June 27, 2023
In Oklahoma, Anthony Sanchez, on death row for 27 years, told CBS News in a telephone interview that he will reject his opportunity for a
Florida kills Duane Owen, its fourth execution in four months
June 27, 2023
Not even pleas from the Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops were enough to persuade Gov. Ron DeSantis to commute Duane Owen’s death sentence and spare
Two death row releases: an Arizona man freed after 29 years; Ohio man released after 16 years
June 27, 2023
Two men, Barry Jones in Arizona and Lamont Hunter in Ohio, walked off death row the same day earlier this month, each wrongly convicted of
