“After the execution of 13 federal prisoners by the Trump administration last year, we knew we had to redouble our efforts to abolish the death penalty on the federal level and urge the President to commute the sentences of the men on death row, while continuing to educate, advocate, and organize for abolition here in California and around the country,” DPF Board Chair Sarah Sanger says.
“We believe the best person to help us lead these efforts is our new interim Executive Director, Maddy deLone, who assumes her new position on Monday.”
“I’m thrilled to be working with Death Penalty Focus,” deLone says. “Because of my work at the Innocence Project, I’m familiar with the organization and its work and have been an admirer of its efforts over the past 33 years. I’m looking forward to working with the Board and staff to strengthen DPF’s ties to other abolition groups and to implement the California Committee for Revision of the Penal Code’s recommendations to repeal the death penalty, and in the meantime, reduce the size of death row.”
deLone is a non-profit organizational consultant, specializing in work with social justice organizations and their leaders. She has over 35 years of executive leadership and legal experience working for greater justice.
She was the Executive Director of the Innocence Project from 2004 to 2020. Before that, she was an attorney with the Prisoners’ Rights Project of the Legal Aid Society in New York City and a law clerk with the Honorable Robert W. Sweet, in the Southern District of New York. Prior to becoming a lawyer, she held various administrative and policy positions in New York City involving juvenile justice, public health, and the City jails, including as Deputy Director of the New York City Board of Correction, where she oversaw the creation and implementation of Health Standards.
She is a graduate of Harvard and Radcliffe Colleges, holds a Masters in Health Policy and Management from the Harvard School of Public Health, and is a graduate of New York University School of Law.
