Equal Justice Initiative

On August 17, 2009, the United States Supreme Court, in an unusual and important mid-summer action, ordered a federal district court to hold a hearing and determine whether new evidence shows that death row inmate Troy Davis is actually innocent.

On August 11, 2009, North Carolina Governor Beverly Purdue signed into law the Racial Justice Act. The legislation recognizes the potential for racial bias in the administration of the death penalty and seeks to limit the influence of race-based discrimination in capital cases.

H. Thomas Wells Jr., president of the American Bar Association and a partner in the Birmingham office of Maynard, Cooper and Gale, called for a thorough, government-sponsored study of state's death penalty system to address much-needed reforms in how Alabama imposes capital punishment.

On June 26, 2009, Etowah County Circuit Judge Allen Millican sentenced Glenn Holladay to life imprisonment without possibility of parole. The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals overturned Mr. Holladay’s death sentence earlier this year, ruling that Mr. Holladay cannot be executed because he is mentally retarded.

On June 25, 2009, the United States Supreme Court held that prosecutors cannot use forensic reports as evidence in a criminal trial without giving the defendant a chance to question the analyst who prepared the report. The decision reaffirms the Sixth Amendment right of criminal defendants to confront witnesses against them.

On June 18, 2009, the United States Supreme Court held that prisoners have no right to obtain DNA evidence for testing that could prove they are innocent, even if the prisoner pays for the testing himself.

On June 10, 2009, the Peter and Patricia Gruber Foundation announced that it will award its 2009 Justice Prize to EJI Executive Director Bryan Stevenson and to the European Roma Rights Centre for their "tireless advocacy of human rights for individuals belonging to oppressed groups that historically have not had an effective voice in, or access to, the justice system."

Alabama lawmakers recently passed a new law that requires the state to collect DNA samples from everyone who is arrested for a felony, including children. The law, which passed on the last day of the recently-concluded legislative session, also restricts access to DNA testing for people convicted of a capital offense and reduces the opportunity for a wrongfully convicted person to prove his innocence through DNA evidence.

The Alabama Department of Corrections granted its first medical furlough to Omar Rahman under a new law that allows for release of some geriatric, incapacitated, or terminally ill prisoners.

Willie McNair was executed last week after courts refused to review the trial judge’s decision to sentence him to death even though the jury decided he should be sentenced to life imprisonment without parole.