Equal Justice Initiative

On September 4, 2009, the Alabama Supreme Court reversed the conviction and sentence imposed on Marsha Colby, who was convicted of capital murder after giving birth to what doctors believe was a stillborn baby.

The United States Supreme Court will hear oral argument next week in Caperton v. Massey about whether West Virginia Supreme Court Justice Brent Benjamin violated the Constitution when he cast the deciding vote in favor of his campaign contributors, who spent $3 million to get him elected to the appellate court.

A study entitled "State Public Opinion, the Death Penalty, and the Practice of Electing Judges" and published in the April 2008 American Journal of Political Science found significant links between public opinion and judicial decision-making in states that elect their supreme court judges.

On May 26, 2008, United Nations Special Rapporteur on racism Doudou Diene heard testimony from EJI Executive Director Bryan Stevenson as part of his field mission to examine racism in the United States. Mr. Stevenson detailed evidence of racial bias against African Americans, Latinos, and other racial minorities, from the administration of the death penalty to the treatment of children in the criminal justice system.

EJI is appealing the conviction of Marsha Colby, a Baldwin County woman convicted of capital murder and sentenced to life imprisonment without possibility of parole for the death of her newborn son, despite strong evidence that the baby was stillborn.