Equal Justice Initiative

On March 5, 2010, the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals reversed Jodey Waldrop's conviction and death sentence, ruling that his jury improperly was allowed to consider highly prejudicial prior conviction evidence.

Reasoning that a person who brings about a change in the law should be rewarded for his effort, the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that death row inmate John Ward is entitled to a chance to prove that his state postconviction petition should be reviewed on the merits.

New EJI data analysis shows that the Eleventh Circuit - comprised of Alabama, Florida, and Georgia - has a higher per capita death sentencing rate than any other federal circuit.

The Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals on February 5, 2010, reversed the capital murder conviction and death sentence imposed on Thomas Lane because he was denied his Sixth Amendment right to counsel.

New data shows that, while other states have dramatically slowed their rates of death sentencing and executions in recent years as evidence about unreliable imposition of the death penalty has grown, Alabama's disproportinately high death-sentencing rate remains the highest in the nation.

The Alabama Supreme Court this week stayed the execution of Robert Melson, which had been scheduled for February 18, 2010, because his appeal is still pending at the United States Supreme Court. Mr. Melson was denied all federal review of his constitutional claims because his incompetent lawyer did not properly sign a pleading and filed a notice of appeal in the wrong state court.

The United States Supreme Court on January 19, 2010, issued a decision in Wellons v. Hall, a Georgia death-penalty case in which jurors gave the trial judge and bailiff sexually suggestive gifts during Mr. Wellons's trial for rape and murder. The Court wrote: "The disturbing facts of this case raise serious questions concerning the conduct of the trial, and this petition raises a serious question about whether the Court of Appeals carefully reviewed those facts before addressing petitioner's constitutional claims."

The United States Supreme Court today denied relief in Wood v. Allen, an Alabama case which asked the Court to address whether trial lawyers performed adequately when they failed to investigate and present evidence of mental retardation. The decision focused on the procedural rules that limit federal habeas corpus review and did not reach the merits of Mr. Woods's claim.

The American Law Institute, comprised of 4000 judges, lawyers, and law professors who shape and help promote consistency in the law throughout the United States, recently disavowed the intellectual framework for the modern death penalty system.

On December 18, 2009, the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals reversed David Riley's capital murder conviction and remanded his case for a new trial because the trial court allowed his jury to consider highly prejudicial evidence in an illegal manner.