Equal Justice Initiative

On June 14, 2010, the United States Supreme Court held that a federal appeal filed after a deadline nonetheless can be reviewed on the merits if the late filing was caused by extraordinary circumstances outside a prisoner’s control. The Court ruled that Florida death row prisoner Albert Holland must be given the chance to show that his lawyer’s negligent conduct caused him to miss the deadline for filing a challenge his death sentence.

Today, the United States Supreme Court ruled that Alabama death row inmate Billy Joe Magwood's challenge to the constitutionality of his death sentence must be heard.

EJI celebrated Joe Garlock's graduation this month from our Post-Release Education and Preparation (PREP) program. Launched in 2008, PREP provides a wide range of assistance to people released from incarceration, including a full-scale residential re-entry program.

Alabama death row prisoner John Parker faces execution on June 10, 2010. EJI lawyers have filed papers in the Alabama Supreme Court asking the court to stay the execution because the trial court improperly sentenced Mr. Parker to death even though his jury decided he should be sentenced to life in prison without parole.

Following the United States Supreme Court's ruling on May 17 banning life imprisonment without parole sentences for children convicted of non-homicides, editorials and op-eds supporting the ban have appeared in newspapers across the United States.

Decision Called “A Significant Victory for Children”

(Montgomery, AL) The U.S. Supreme Court today issued an historic ruling in Graham v. Florida that holds life without parole sentences for juveniles convicted of non-homicide offenses unconstitutional. Terrance Graham, sentenced to life without parole at 17, is now entitled to a resentencing hearing. Dozens of other juveniles sentenced to life without parole are now entitled to relief, including Joe Sullivan, whose case also was argued on this issue.

Today, the United States Supreme Court ruled that the Constitution does not permit a juvenile offender to be sentenced to life in prison without parole for a nonhomicide crime. The ruling creates a new categorical rule that invalidates Joe Sullivan's sentence to life in prison without parole for a nonhomicide crime at age 13.

On April 30, 2010, Alabama Governor Bob Riley signed a new law that limits incarceration in Alabama's overcrowded prisons for people on probation who commit no new offense but technically violate the terms of their probation. The new law gives judges more non-incarceration options for addressing technical probation violations.

United States Supreme Court Associate Justice John Paul Stevens told a judicial conference audience that DNA testing has revealed that the risk of wrongfully convicting and sentencing an innocent person is increased in death-penalty cases.

EJI lawyers have filed a brief in the Mississippi Court of Appeals challenging the conviction and life sentence imposed on Dante Evans, who had just turned 14 years old when he was accused of murder. EJI argues that serious constitutional errors at Dante's trial, including the removal from his jury of people who would consider Dante's young age, require that his conviction and mandatory life sentence be overturned.