Death Penalty
Former Alabama Death Row Prisoner is Free
April 10, 2012
Larry Smith was released from jail on Friday after serving more than 17 years on death row. He has maintained his innocence since his arrest and conviction in 1996. His capital murder conviction and death sentence were overturned in 2010 when an appellate court found that his verdict was unreliable because his trial lawyer did not adequately represent him. Last week, Mr. Smith pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit armed robbery, was sentenced to time served, and walked out of jail a free man.
Alabama Supreme Court Stays Execution
April 9, 2012The Alabama Supreme Court today stayed the execution of Carey Grayson, which was scheduled for this Thursday, April 12. The stay comes after a federal appeals court blocked Tommy Arthur's execution last month to consider claims that the way lethal injections are carried out in Alabama violates the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments.
Former Alabama Death Row Prisoner Receives Life Sentence
April 6, 2012Brandon Washington was sentenced to life imprisonment without parole last week following a new sentencing hearing that was ordered by the Alabama Supreme Court.
EJI Honors Children's and Human Rights Advocates Marian Wright Edelman and Wade Henderson
March 30, 2012
At its annual benefit dinner on March 26, 2012, EJI honored founder and president of the Children's Defense Fund, Marian Wright Edelman (above), and president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, Wade Henderson, with its 2012 Champion of Justice Award.
Federal Appeals Court Blocks Alabama Execution
March 29, 2012The United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit granted Tommy Arthur's motion to stay his execution, which the Alabama Supreme Court had scheduled for today. The stay was issued after the federal appeals court ordered a lower federal court to consider Mr. Arthur's claims that Alabama's method of executing inmates by lethal injection violates the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments.
U.S. Supreme Court Finds That Right to Counsel Applies to the Plea-Bargaining Process
March 27, 2012On March 21, 2012, the United States Supreme Court held in two cases, Missouri v. Frye and Lafler v. Cooper, that trial lawyers may be found ineffective in violation of the Sixth Amendment where the lawyer's performance in the plea-bargaining process causes the defendant to forgo a plea agreement that would have resulted in a lesser sentence.
U.S. Supreme Court Recognizes New Remedy for Prisoners Whose Postconviction Lawyers Fail to Raise Ineffectiveness of Trial Counsel
March 20, 2012The United States Supreme Court today decided in Martinez v. Ryan that a prisoner whose postconviction lawyer fails to adequately challenge his trial lawyer's ineffective performance may raise the claim for the first time in federal court.
EJI Continues Effort to Win Relief for Innocent Man Wrongly Sentenced to Death in Alabama
March 5, 2012
Anthony Hinton has been condemned on Alabama's death row for more than 25 years for a crime EJI believes he did not commit. EJI has been fighting to reverse his wrongful conviction and death sentence, and is asking courts to recognize his innocence and the unfairness of his trial and grant him relief. EJI contends that Mr. Hinton's case reveals serious problems with the reliability of capital punishment and the resistance to recognizing error in many cases.
Alabama Supreme Court Sets Two Execution Dates
February 22, 2012The Alabama Supreme Court has scheduled execution dates for Tommy Arthur and Carey Grayson, despite questions about the reliability of their death sentences.
Inadequate Assistance to Poor Capital Defendant Challenged in Court
February 10, 2012Last week, the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals ordered state officials to explain their refusal to pay funds approved for expert assistance for indigent capital defendants in capital cases prior to trial. The order was issued in the case of Amy Bishop Anderson, who is appealing the State of Alabama’s refusal to provide adequate funding to prepare for her capital trial.
