U.S. Supreme Court Upholds New Trial for Alabama Death Row Inmate

February 2, 2012

The United States Supreme Court on January 23, 2012, denied the State of Alabama's request for review in the case of Thomas Lane, who was granted a new trial by the Alabama appellate courts because he was denied his right to counsel.

Delaware Governor Commutes Death Sentence

January 25, 2012

Delaware Governor Jack Markell last week accepted a recommendation from the state Board of Pardons to commute Robert Gattis's death sentence to life in prison without parole. Gov. Markell, a supporter of the death penalty who rejected clemency petitions from two death row inmates when he sat on the pardons board, announced on January 17, 2012, that the execution scheduled for Friday, January 20, would not go forward.

U.S. Supreme Court Grants Relief to Alabama Death Row Prisoner and Voices Concerns About Alabama's Death Penalty System

January 18, 2012

The United States Supreme Court today held that Alabama death row prisoner Cory Maples cannot be denied federal court review of his conviction and death sentence because his volunteer lawyers abandoned him during state court proceedings. In a decision describing Alabama's failure to provide adequate counsel in capital cases, the Court found that Mr. Maples could not be blamed for his lawyers' failure to file a notice of appeal, concluding that "no just system would lay the default at Maples’ death-cell door."

U.S. Supreme Court Holds Abuses by Louisiana Prosecutors Require New Trial

January 13, 2012

The United States Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered a new trial for Juan Smith, who was convicted of first-degree murder after New Orleans prosecutors illegally failed to disclose evidence that the prosecution's key eyewitness told police he could not identify anyone involved in the crime.

Alabama Black Belt Residents Allege Discriminatory Placement of a Toxic Landfill

January 10, 2012

Residents of Uniontown, Alabama, in rural Perry County filed a civil rights complaint last week against the Alabama Department of Environmental Management for permitting the Arrowhead Landfill - located in a majority-African American community - to take coal ash and other waste from majority-white communities that is hazardous to residents' health.

Alabama’s Use of Death Penalty Draws Criticism

December 31, 2011

New reports show that death sentences across the nation dropped dramatically in 2011. Executions also continued to decline. And in many states there is a growing discomfort with the death penalty as evidence continues to emerge about its high cost and unreliable imposition. Alabama, in contrast, continues to impose death sentences and carry out executions at a high rate.

Concerns about Lethal Injection Continue to Grow

December 28, 2011

Two recent decisions raise new questions about the ability of states to legally and humanely carry out executions using lethal injection. On December 20, 2011, the European Union announced new restrictions on the export of drugs used for lethal injection in the United States. And on December 9, 2011, a California judge ruled that the state's lethal injection protocol was invalid.

Alabama Man Wins Relief After 31 Years on Death Row

December 22, 2011

This week a federal court ruled that Alabama death row prisoner Billy Joe Magwood has been illegally sentenced to death and is now entitled to relief. The ruling from the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit comes after Mr. Magwood spent over three decades on Alabama's death row for the 1979 shooting death of an Alabama law enforcement officer. State and federal courts denied relief to Mr. Magwood for years until the United States Supreme Court ruled in 2010 that the case required closer review.

California Set to Debate Abolition of Capital Punishment

December 14, 2011

A coalition of murder victims' family members, law enforcement officials, former prison wardens, and advocates for criminal justice reform recently launched a campaign to place an initiative on the November 2012 ballot to replace the death penalty in California with a sentence of life in prison without possibility of parole. Public opinion is shifting in the cash-strapped state, where voters could abolish the expensive and little-used punishment next year.

Prosecutors Will Not Seek New Death Sentence for Mumia Abu-Jamal

December 9, 2011

Following the United States Supreme Court's decision to let stand an April 2011 federal appeal court order vacating Mumia Abu-Jamal's death sentence for the 1981 killing of a police officer, Philadelphia prosecutors announced this week that they will not seek a new death sentence for Mr. Abu-Jamal.