You are browsing the Blog for Death Penalty.
Saudi Arabia: Website Editor Facing Death Penalty (Encouraged Peaceful Religious Discussion)
Tweet Widget Facebook Like Email Saudi authorities should immediately drop all charges against the detained editor of a website created to foster debate about religion and religious figures in Saudi Arabia ...
Death Sentences in 2012 Remain Near Historic Low
Key Southern States Had No Death Sentences or No Executions, According to New Report Number of Death Penalty States Drops with Connecticut’s Repeal
Execution Changes Occur Without Public Scrutiny, Input
Officials in Texas are keeping executions going in the state in the wake of drug shortages by tweaking lethal injection rules without public input or scrutiny through changes made by one official with no medical training, a report published Thursday sh...
France Calls for Death Penalty Moratorium
Activists are marking the World Day Against the Death Penalty, and France has joined the movement. More than 50 countries continue to execute people, including the United States. Speaking this week from the French capital, Foreign Minister Laurent Fa...
Remembering Troy Davis: Questions Remain Over Whether Georgia Executed Innocent Man One Year Ago
One year ago today, the state of Georgia executed Troy Anthony Davis for a crime many believe he did not commit. He was put to death on Sept. 21, 2011, despite major doubts about evidence used to convict him of killing police officer Mark MacPhail, including the recantation of seven of the nine non-police witnesses. As the world watched to see whether Davis's final appeal for a stay of execution would be granted by the U.S. Supreme Court, Democracy Now! was the only news outlet to continuously broadcast live from the prison grounds in Jackson, Georgia. During our six-hour special report, we spoke with Davis' supporters and family members who held an all-day vigil, then heard from those who witnessed his death by lethal injection at 11:08 p.m. [includes rush transcript]
Texas Executes Man With IQ of 61; State Cites Steinbeck’s “Of Mice and Men” To Justify Killing
Last night, Texas executed 54-year-old Marvin Wilson, despite evidence that he was mentally disabled and reportedly sucked his thumb into adulthood. Wilson's lawyers had argued that an IQ test on which Wilson scored 61 -- nine points below the standard for competency -- should have saved him from execution under a 2002 U.S. Supreme Court ruling barring execution of the intellectually disabled. Wilson is the second prisoner in Texas to be executed by a new lethal injection method involving a single drug. We speak with Democracy Now! producer Renée Feltz, who has long reported on the death penalty, especially in Texas, where she has covered the state's ongoing execution of developmentally disabled prisoners. Feltz reads from a statement by the son of legendary author John Steinbeck condemning Texas for using Steinbeck’s fictional character, Lennie Small, from "Of Mice and Men," as a "benchmark to identify whether defendants with intellectual disability should live or die." "On behalf of the family of John Steinbeck, I am deeply troubled by today's scheduled execution of Marvin Wilson," Thomas Steinbeck wrote. "The character of Lennie was never intended to be used to diagnose a medical condition like intellectual disability. I find the whole premise to be insulting, outrageous, ridiculous, and profoundly tragic. I am certain that if my father, John Steinbeck, were here, he would be deeply angry and ashamed to see his work used in this way." [Includes rush transcript]
USA: Texas Man Due to be Executed Despite Evidence of Mental Disability
Headline Title: USA: Texas man due to be executed despite evidence of mental disability 03 August 2012 The Texas authorities ...
Iraq Urged to Halt Executions After 196 Death Sentences Upheld
Headline Title: Iraq urged to halt executions after 196 death sentences upheld 24 July 2012 Nearly 200 executions have been gi...
Mentally Disabled Execution Delayed
The execution of Warren Lee Hill, the mentally disabled men scheduled to be killed in Georgia in spite of a Supreme Court prohibition, has been postponed till Monday. This decision was not a stay of execution, but rather a consequence of Georgia switching the type of chemical it uses in lethal injections. This will give [...]
From Death Row to Exoneration: Fmr. Texas Prisoner Anthony Graves on Surviving Solitary Confinement
In a rare interview, former Texas death row prisoner Anthony Graves joins us to recount his experience in solitary confinement and how he was fully exonerated and released from prison in 2010. Graves was convicted in 1994 of assisting Robert Carter, a man he barely knew, in the brutal murders of six people. There was no physical evidence linking Graves to the crime, and his conviction relied primarily on Carter's testimony. Before he was executed, Carter twice admitted he had lied about Graves's involvement in the crime. In 2006, an appeals court overturned Graves's conviction and ordered a new trial, saying prosecutors had elicited false statements and withheld testimony. After 18 years in prison, most of them on death row, Graves was exonerated and reunited with his family after a special prosecutor concluded he was an innocent man. Graves is now an active member of the movement to abolish the death penalty. "My experience was hell," Graves says. "I always liken it to something that you would consider to be your worst nightmare. I had to go through that experience every day for 18-and-a-half years. And it was just no way to live." Urging an end to the death penalty, Graves says: "They're killing in your name. And I say to you, stand up and tell these people, 'Not in my name anymore.'" [includes rush transcript]
