EJI has provided legal representation to over 170 death row prisoners and won new trials, reduced sentences, or exoneration in dozens of cases. EJI produces the Alabama Capital Postconviction Manual, Alabama Capital Defense Trial Manual, and EJI Legal Quarterly, as well as the Legal Update e-newsletter, for scores of attorneys who provide legal representation to capital defendants and death row prisoners. EJI hosts training programs for lawyers, operates a clinical training program for law students, and issues reports on capital punishment and other criminal justice issues.
News
September 18, 2008On September 17, 2008, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals struck down Alabama prisoner Herbert Williams's death sentence because his appointed lawyers failed to investigate and present basic facts about Mr. Williams and his life history, especially the extreme abuse inflicted on him as a child. The court also directed the federal district court to address the merits of Mr. Williams's claim that the prosecutor unconstitutionally excluded African Americans from his jury.
September 8, 2008In a decision released on Friday, September 5, 2008, the Alabama Supreme Court reaffirmed that juror misconduct claims may be raised for the first time in a Rule 32 petition.
March 20, 2008On March 11, 2008, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the district court’s judgment granting Alabama death row prisoner James Charles Lawhorn a new sentencing trial because his trial lawyer was ineffective.
January 25, 2008The Alabama Supreme Court reinstated death row inmate Jarrod Taylor’s appeal from the dismissal of his Rule 32 petition and held that the Court of Criminal Appeals erred in dismissing Mr. Taylor’s appeal based on purported problems with his volunteer lawyer's signature on the notice of appeal.
August 16, 2007James Borden challenged his capital murder conviction and death sentence in a timely Rule 32 petition filed in 2001, in which he argued
inter alia that he was ineligible for the death penalty because he was mentally retarded, that his trial lawyer provided ineffective assistance at both phases of his capital trial, and that jurors engaged in misconduct. While the petition was pending in the Rule 32 trial court, the United States Supreme Court issued its decision in
Atkins v. Virginia, 536 U.S.
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