Using Nitrogen Gas For Executions Is Untested and Poorly Understood. Three States Plan to Do It Anyway.
Oklahoma, Mississippi, and Alabama have all authorized the practice in capital punishment. So what happens now?
Lauren Gill Oct 25, 2019
Missouri Executes Russell Bucklew Despite Threat of Botched Execution
His legal team had pushed for clemency, arguing that Bucklew’s previous attorneys mishandled his capital murder case.
Lauren Gill Oct 02, 2019
An Alabama Man Faces The Death Penalty For Two Murders. Could The Police Be Involved?
In March, Coley McCraney was arrested and charged with capital murder in the 1999 killings of two teenage girls. But his attorneys say he’s innocent, and are now seeking information related to alleged police involvement in the homicides.
Lauren Gill Oct 01, 2019
DNA Testing Could Save This Texas Man’s Life. But Prosecutors Are Opposing It.
Rodney Reed, set to be executed on Nov. 20, is innocent of a rape and murder, his lawyers say, and untested evidence will prove it. But prosecutors have pushed back, arguing the evidence is contaminated.
Lauren Gill Sep 26, 2019
Oklahoma’s Death Row Prisoners Are Forced Into Permanent Solitary Confinement. They are ‘Buried Alive,’ Advocates Say.
Civil rights groups demand change as other states move away from the practice of isolating people sentenced to death.
Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Sep 25, 2019
Missouri Is Set To Execute Russell Bucklew. His Lawyers Say His Case Was Mishandled.
In April, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that his execution, which experts have said will be bloody and gruesome, does not amount to cruel and unusual punishment. But problems with his case started long before that, his attorneys say.
Lauren Gill Sep 20, 2019
Harris County D.A. Seeks Execution of Intellectually Disabled Man, Lawyer Says
Kim Ogg ran as a reform-minded district attorney candidate, but her office has sought two death warrants for Dexter Johnson, whose lawyer says cannot name everyday objects and has an IQ of 70.
Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Sep 10, 2019
The Persistent History of Excluding Black Jurors in North Carolina
A statewide pattern of discrimination in jury selection has gone largely uncorrected, while lives remain in the balance, advocates say.
Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Aug 26, 2019
Sanders And Warren Just Released the Most Decarceral Criminal Justice Platforms Ever
The 2020 presidential candidates recently unveiled national criminal justice agendas that reimagine public safety and punishment.
Aaron Morrison Aug 23, 2019
An Alabama Man On Death Row Says He Is Innocent. Will He Get a New Trial?
In 1998, prosecutors failed to tell the defense that a key witness in Toforest Johnson’s capital murder trial would receive thousands of dollars in reward money for her testimony, Johnson’s attorneys say. Now a Birmingham judge must decide whether their argument has merit.
Lauren Gill Aug 22, 2019
Sentenced to Life Without Parole at 17 and Denied Freedom at 52
Richard Kinder thought he would die in an Alabama prison until the Supreme Court ruled mandatory juvenile life without parole unconstitutional. But last year, despite a judge concluding there was “uncontradicted evidence” that Kinder had worked to rehabilitate himself, the state parole board refused him release.
Lauren Gill Aug 07, 2019
Pennsylvania’s Top Cop Says He Supports Criminal Justice Reform. His Record Suggests Otherwise.
When it comes to criminal justice, advocates say, Attorney General Josh Shapiro seems intent on maintaining the status quo.
Joshua Vaughn Aug 02, 2019
In Alabama, Decades-Delayed Justice In A Double Homicide—Or A Brand New Injustice?
Police in Ozark said they solved the 1999 murders of two teenage girls using a genealogy database. But Coley McCraney‘s attorneys say that the case against their client is far from certain.
Lauren Gill Jul 24, 2019
Philadelphia D.A. Asks Court to Declare Death Penalty System Unconstitutional
Larry Krasner says the punishment is ‘really about poverty’ and race.
Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Jul 15, 2019
In Louisiana, a Messenger of Change Disregards His Message
James Stewart, Caddo Parish’s DA, continues to defend controversial death sentences that originated with his predecessors.
Jackie Lacey’s Legacy Is ‘Unfair and Discriminatory,’ Advocates Say
A new report charges the Los Angeles DA with seeking the death penalty in unjust and harsh ways.
Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Jun 19, 2019
An Alabama Woman Got Pregnant While In Jail. She Has No Memory of Having Sex.
Since 2017, LaToni Daniel has been incarcerated pretrial in a capital murder case. During that time, Daniel became pregnant, and she just delivered a baby boy. But as she brings in new life, she also faces the death penalty.
Lauren Gill May 31, 2019
Notorious Jailhouse Informant Case Resurfaces as New Orleans D.A. Race Nears
DA Leon Cannizzarro used jailhouse informant Ronnie Morgan to convict a man in the killing of five teenagers, but the case was overturned. Now, Morgan is petitioning for a prison transfer, reviving the murder case.
Lauren Gill May 24, 2019
Texas Plans to Execute a Man For A Murder He Didn’t Commit
Patrick Murphy didn’t even learn about the murder until later that day. A controversial law allows him to be executed anyway.
Katie Rose Quandt Mar 28, 2019
‘I’ve Made My Share Of Wrongs, But I Haven’t Killed No One’
California amended its felony murder law, which holds accomplices responsible for murder. But reform won’t reach a man sentenced to death in a deadly robbery—even though he was never accused of firing a shot.
Maura Ewing Feb 04, 2019
Did Prosecutors Use a ‘Cheat Sheet’ to Strike Black Jurors in North Carolina Death Penalty Case?
A single training document uncovered in a prosecutor’s files could save Russell William Tucker’s life.
Jacob Biba Sep 04, 2018
What Brett Kavanaugh on the Supreme Court Would Mean for Criminal Justice
Trump’s pick to replace Justice Kennedy would most likely undermine the rights of criminal defendants and stall progress on solitary confinement, prisoners’ rights, and the death penalty.
Kyle C. Barry Jul 13, 2018
After A Murder Conviction is Reversed, Police Chief Vows to Watch Defendant ‘Til the Day I Die’
Did a Louisiana police chief and a prosecutor cross a line when they issued televised threats to a man who'd just been granted relief by a federal appeals court in a child killing?
Max Rivlin-Nadler Jul 03, 2018
‘I didn’t lay down’: How a California man convicted of murder may have saved his own life
Death penalty mitigation offers juries a chance to see defendants in a different light.
Maura Ewing Jun 06, 2018
Inertia and the Death Penalty
Lee Kovarsky Jan 17, 2018
America Had Fewer Executions In 2017 Than In 23 Of The Last 25 Years
Why Execution Numbers Continue To Fall Off A Cliff
Lee Kovarsky Dec 07, 2017
Meet The Prosecutor Turned Reality TV Star Who Runs One Of The Worst Offices In America.
Under District Attorney Steve Wolfson, prosecutors in Las Vegas have led the nation in new death sentences, repeatedly engaged in racist jury selection, and maintained a secret bank account to pay witnesses for their testimony in criminal cases.
Dec 01, 2017
Is Mark Gonzalez The Reformer He Promised To Be?
So far, the report card on the “Mexican Biker” prosecutor is mixed.
Carimah Townes Nov 21, 2017
Houston Conviction and Death Sentence Goes to U.S. Supreme Court
Court watchers believe Justices will side with plaintiff
Larry Hannan Nov 04, 2017
“It Is So Loud Inside My Head”
The words of a mentally ill man the state of Arkansas hopes to execute on November 9th
Oct 24, 2017
Features: Sex-Shamed To Death
How Oklahoma Prosecutors Used Sex And Infidelity To Put A Woman On Death Row
Marc Bookman Oct 10, 2017
Las Vegas jury decides that a brutal murder does not justify the death penalty
John Valerio shows that violent offenders can change.
Carimah Townes Sep 25, 2017
Keith Tharpe’s Scheduled Execution Tests Our Tolerance for Racial Bias in Executions
There are two types of Black people, the juror said, and Tharpe wasn’t a “good” one.
Cassandra Stubbs Sep 20, 2017
Colorado death penalty case challenged after prosecutor bragged about his involvement
“I was your worst nightmare.”
Sep 11, 2017
Terry Williams finally gets a chance
Jessica Pishko Aug 28, 2017