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Death Penalty

1268 ABA Journal Death Penalty articles.

Melanie Kalmanson dedicates pro bono work to death penalty education

When the U.S. Supreme Court handed down its decision in the death penalty case Hurst v. Florida in January 2016, it effectively changed the course of Melanie Kalmanson’s career. “That’s when my passion for these issues started, when I was seeing it in real life, living these cases, working on these cases, seeing how it affected Florida,” Kalmanson says. “The thing that really hit me was how little society knows about the reality of the death penalty.”

Oct 1, 2024 1:00 AM CDT

Lawyer chooses lethal injection for inmate who didn’t want to make decision

A South Carolina lawyer has picked lethal injection as the execution method for a client who didn’t want to make the decision because of religious qualms.

Sep 10, 2024 8:50 AM CDT

Death-penalty case was epitome of ‘extreme judicial malfunction,’ 6th Circuit says

A federal appeals court has granted habeas to a death row inmate who challenged his sentencing, holding that an Ohio judge displayed an objective risk of bias partly because he enlisted the prosecutor to write the death-penalty opinion.

Aug 12, 2024 11:15 AM CDT

South Carolina’s execution menu is not cruel and unusual, state supreme court says

The South Carolina Supreme Court has upheld a state law that gives death row inmates a choice of three execution methods: electrocution, firing squad or lethal injection.

Aug 1, 2024 3:05 PM CDT

Sept. 11 defense lawyer, winner of ABA Journal’s 2024 Ross Writing Contest, recognizes humanity of reviled clients

Updated: A former public defender who represents a detainee at Guantanamo Bay is the winner of the 2024 ABA Journal/Ross Writing Contest for Legal Short Fiction.

Jul 9, 2024 11:08 AM CDT

Top elected justices are twice as likely to affirm death penalty in election years, 3-state study finds

Politics is apparently affecting the fate of people caught up in the criminal justice system, according to a study by the Death Penalty Information Center.

Jul 2, 2024 9:03 AM CDT

9th Circuit ‘all but ignored’ aggravating factors in death-penalty case, Supreme Court says

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6-3 Thursday against an Arizona death row inmate’s quest to change the sentence that he received by presenting additional mitigating evidence about his psychological problems and childhood abuse.

May 30, 2024 1:01 PM CDT

Another state approves death penalty for child rape

Republican Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signed a bill last week that authorizes the death penalty for aggravated rape of a child by an adult.

May 16, 2024 2:14 PM CDT

Prosecutors excluded Jewish people from juries in one California county for decades, review suggests

Several prosecutors in Alameda County, California, excluded Jewish people from juries in past decades, according to the Alameda County district attorney.

May 14, 2024 3:16 PM CDT

Burdened prison staffers seeking more time between executions should ‘suck it up,’ top criminal court judge says

Judge Gary Lumpkin, a judge on Oklahoma’s top criminal appeals court, has said state prison officials seeking more time between executions have to “suck it up” and get the job done. Lumpkin said he’s not buying into the “sympathy stuff.”

Apr 3, 2024 8:48 AM CDT

DNA issues ‘cast a pall’ over murder conviction, warranting SCOTUS review, ABA amicus brief says

The U.S. Supreme Court should once again consider the case of a Texas death row inmate whose conviction was based on DNA evidence tested by a lab that “consistently and egregiously mishandled DNA evidence,” the ABA has said in an amicus brief.

Mar 28, 2024 9:02 AM CDT

Apology sanctions for misleading court were ‘mild and fitting,’ 3rd Circuit rules in appeal by DA’s office

A federal judge did not abuse his discretion when he imposed “mild and fitting” sanctions on lawyers in the Philadelphia district attorney’s office for misleading statements made when they sought to vacate the death penalty in a double murder case.

Mar 12, 2024 3:55 PM CDT

Alabama ready to help other states with ‘humane’ nitrogen executions after gas caused inmate to ‘shake and writhe’

Alabama is ready to help other states carry out “humane” nitrogen gas executions after using it for the first time Thursday to kill inmate Kenneth Smith, the state’s attorney general has said.

Jan 30, 2024 8:58 AM CST

Supreme Court doesn’t stop nation’s first execution using nitrogen gas

The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to block the execution of a death row inmate who claims that he would be subjected to cruel and unusual punishment if Alabama tries to execute him again—this time using nitrogen hypoxia.

Jan 25, 2024 10:26 AM CST

SCOTUS will hear death row inmate’s wrongful-conviction claim supported by state attorney general

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday agreed to decide whether Oklahoma death row inmate Richard Glossip is entitled to reversal of his conviction because the state suppressed evidence that a co-defendant who implicated Glossip had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder.

Jan 22, 2024 1:04 PM CST

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