U.S. Executes Keith Dwayne Nelson, The Fifth Federal Prisoner Put To Death This Year
Nelson’s attorneys had sought to have his death sentence reversed, citing critical errors by his original trial attorneys.
Lauren Gill Aug 28, 2020
U.S. Executes Lezmond Mitchell Over Objections Of The Navajo Nation
It’s the first time in modern history that the federal government has executed a Native American for a crime committed against another Native American on tribal land, his attorneys say.
Lauren Gill Aug 26, 2020
The Federal Government’s Decision To Execute Lezmond Mitchell Is A Direct Affront To Tribal Rule
The execution of Mitchell against the will of the Navajo Nation only perpetuates the U.S.’s dreadful history of colonial violence and oppression of Indigenous peoples.
Ruth Hopkins Aug 19, 2020
U.S. Executes Dustin Lee Honken, The Third Federal Execution In A Week
Honken, convicted of the murders of five people, died by lethal injection at the U.S. Penitentiary in Terre Haute, Indiana. The federal government resumed executions this week for the first time since 2003.
Lauren Gill Jul 17, 2020
U.S. Completes Second of Three Executions Set for This Week
In a 5-4 ruling early today, the Supreme Court cleared the way for the lethal injection of Wesley Ira Purkey. Lawyers had argued that killing Purkey, who had dementia associated with Alzheimer's disease, would represent cruel and unusual punishment.
Lauren Gill Jul 16, 2020
U.S. Government Carries Out The First Execution Of A Federal Prisoner in 17 Years
A late-night Supreme Court ruling cleared the way for the execution of Daniel Lewis Lee, despite his claims of innocence and his attorneys’ belief that DNA testing could show he was wrongly convicted.
Lauren Gill Jul 14, 2020
Federal Prisoner Set To Be Executed Next Week Was Labeled A ‘Psychopath’ Because Of A Faulty Evaluation Tool
A government psychologist who used the tool to evaluate Daniel Lewis Lee—who is scheduled to die Monday in Indiana—has since disavowed it. Without it, the trial judge has written that it’s ‘very questionable’ Lee would have been sentenced to death.
Lauren Gill Jul 10, 2020
After 17 Years, Bureau Of Prisons Set To Resume Federal Executions
A civil rights advocate calls the scheduled executions of four men ‘appalling’ and a return to a ‘biased, arbitrary, and error-prone’ system.
Lauren Gill Jun 16, 2020
Texas Prisoner Whose Case Changed the State’s Death Penalty Law Is Granted Parole
Attorneys argued for decades that Bobby Moore was intellectually disabled when he was sentenced to death in 1980. A U.S. Supreme Court ruling led to a change in his sentence last year and cleared the way for his release.
Lauren Gill Jun 09, 2020
Missouri Set To Execute Walter Barton Tonight Despite Claims That He May Be Innocent
If the U.S. Supreme Court or the state’s governor doesn’t step in, Barton’s would be the first execution carried out in the country during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Lauren Gill May 19, 2020
Mother Of Slain 4-Year-Old Says Pennsylvania Should Release Death Row Prisoner With COVID-19 Symptoms
Sharon Fahy, whose daughter was murdered in 1988, asked the court to release Walter Ogrod, the man convicted in her killing.
Lauren Gill Apr 09, 2020
The Texas Appeals Court Upheld This Man’s Death Sentence Despite New Scientific Evidence
The ruling is a setback for the state's so-called junk science statute.
Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Apr 01, 2020
Alabama Officials Executed Nathaniel Woods Despite Claims of Innocence. Then, Against His Religious Beliefs, They Autopsied His Body
‘It was almost like they were going to do whatever they could to demean him and take away his dignity,’ Woods’s spiritual adviser said.
Beth Shelburne Mar 25, 2020
Pennsylvania Man On Death Row Shows Signs of Coronavirus Days Before Hearing That Could Have Freed Him
Prosecutors say Walter Ogrod is ‘likely innocent’ of the charges that sent him to prison in 1996. Now, his attorney says, ‘every day a decision and/or hearing is delayed is another day that Mr. Ogrod’s health is at grave risk.’
Lauren Gill Mar 20, 2020
Texas Court Issues Temporary Stay Of Execution Amid Coronavirus ‘Health Crisis’
John Hummel was scheduled to be executed on Wednesday. The court, citing the current health crisis, has postponed the execution for 60 days.
Lauren Gill Mar 16, 2020
Alabama Executes Nathaniel Woods Despite Claims That He Was An ‘Innocent Man’
‘I think everyone involved— the governor, the attorney general, the DOC commissioner—everyone knew it,’ his lawyer said.
Lauren Gill Mar 06, 2020
Alabama Prepares To Execute A Man Whose Case Is Haunted By Claims Of Police Misconduct
Nathaniel Woods, who was convicted in connection with the deaths of three Birmingham police officers in 2004, is ‘100 percent innocent,’ the man who shot the officers told The Appeal.
Lauren Gill Feb 24, 2020
Five Jurists Said Donnie Lance Deserved a New Sentence. Georgia Executed Him Anyway.
Three Supreme Court justices and others said competent counsel could have saved his life.
Kyle C. Barry Jan 30, 2020
Arkansas Executed Ledell Lee. Posthumous Testing Will Most Likely Prove He Was Innocent, Lawsuit Says
Lee’s family wants officials in Jacksonville, Arkansas, to turn over evidence that was used to convict and sentence him to death. The family says that evidence could posthumously exonerate him.
Lauren Gill Jan 23, 2020
Man Spared From Execution After Rare Clemency Grant
It’s the first time since 2014 that someone on Georgia’s death row has been granted clemency.
Braden Goyette Jan 16, 2020
Why the Attorney General’s Concern About Crime Victims and Their Families Rings Hollow
William Barr says the government owes it to the victims and their families to resume federal executions. In doing so, he’s ignoring important facts about the death penalty—and the actual wishes of victims’ families.
Why Are Prosecutors Still Seeking to Execute People Who Have Innocence Claims and Untested DNA?
In these last two months of 2019, one man has been executed and two others are facing execution despite claims that they can show they don’t belong on death row.
Lauren Gill Nov 22, 2019
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
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
U.S. Executes Keith Dwayne Nelson, The Fifth Federal Prisoner Put To Death This Year
Nelson’s attorneys had sought to have his death sentence reversed, citing critical errors by his original trial attorneys.
Lauren Gill Aug 28, 2020
U.S. Executes Lezmond Mitchell Over Objections Of The Navajo Nation
It’s the first time in modern history that the federal government has executed a Native American for a crime committed against another Native American on tribal land, his attorneys say.
Lauren Gill Aug 26, 2020
The Federal Government’s Decision To Execute Lezmond Mitchell Is A Direct Affront To Tribal Rule
The execution of Mitchell against the will of the Navajo Nation only perpetuates the U.S.’s dreadful history of colonial violence and oppression of Indigenous peoples.
Ruth Hopkins Aug 19, 2020
U.S. Executes Dustin Lee Honken, The Third Federal Execution In A Week
Honken, convicted of the murders of five people, died by lethal injection at the U.S. Penitentiary in Terre Haute, Indiana. The federal government resumed executions this week for the first time since 2003.
Lauren Gill Jul 17, 2020
U.S. Completes Second of Three Executions Set for This Week
In a 5-4 ruling early today, the Supreme Court cleared the way for the lethal injection of Wesley Ira Purkey. Lawyers had argued that killing Purkey, who had dementia associated with Alzheimer's disease, would represent cruel and unusual punishment.
Lauren Gill Jul 16, 2020
U.S. Government Carries Out The First Execution Of A Federal Prisoner in 17 Years
A late-night Supreme Court ruling cleared the way for the execution of Daniel Lewis Lee, despite his claims of innocence and his attorneys’ belief that DNA testing could show he was wrongly convicted.
Lauren Gill Jul 14, 2020
Federal Prisoner Set To Be Executed Next Week Was Labeled A ‘Psychopath’ Because Of A Faulty Evaluation Tool
A government psychologist who used the tool to evaluate Daniel Lewis Lee—who is scheduled to die Monday in Indiana—has since disavowed it. Without it, the trial judge has written that it’s ‘very questionable’ Lee would have been sentenced to death.
Lauren Gill Jul 10, 2020
After 17 Years, Bureau Of Prisons Set To Resume Federal Executions
A civil rights advocate calls the scheduled executions of four men ‘appalling’ and a return to a ‘biased, arbitrary, and error-prone’ system.
Lauren Gill Jun 16, 2020
Texas Prisoner Whose Case Changed the State’s Death Penalty Law Is Granted Parole
Attorneys argued for decades that Bobby Moore was intellectually disabled when he was sentenced to death in 1980. A U.S. Supreme Court ruling led to a change in his sentence last year and cleared the way for his release.
Lauren Gill Jun 09, 2020
Missouri Set To Execute Walter Barton Tonight Despite Claims That He May Be Innocent
If the U.S. Supreme Court or the state’s governor doesn’t step in, Barton’s would be the first execution carried out in the country during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Lauren Gill May 19, 2020
Mother Of Slain 4-Year-Old Says Pennsylvania Should Release Death Row Prisoner With COVID-19 Symptoms
Sharon Fahy, whose daughter was murdered in 1988, asked the court to release Walter Ogrod, the man convicted in her killing.
Lauren Gill Apr 09, 2020
The Texas Appeals Court Upheld This Man’s Death Sentence Despite New Scientific Evidence
The ruling is a setback for the state's so-called junk science statute.
Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Apr 01, 2020
Alabama Officials Executed Nathaniel Woods Despite Claims of Innocence. Then, Against His Religious Beliefs, They Autopsied His Body
‘It was almost like they were going to do whatever they could to demean him and take away his dignity,’ Woods’s spiritual adviser said.
Beth Shelburne Mar 25, 2020
Pennsylvania Man On Death Row Shows Signs of Coronavirus Days Before Hearing That Could Have Freed Him
Prosecutors say Walter Ogrod is ‘likely innocent’ of the charges that sent him to prison in 1996. Now, his attorney says, ‘every day a decision and/or hearing is delayed is another day that Mr. Ogrod’s health is at grave risk.’
Lauren Gill Mar 20, 2020
Texas Court Issues Temporary Stay Of Execution Amid Coronavirus ‘Health Crisis’
John Hummel was scheduled to be executed on Wednesday. The court, citing the current health crisis, has postponed the execution for 60 days.
Lauren Gill Mar 16, 2020
Alabama Executes Nathaniel Woods Despite Claims That He Was An ‘Innocent Man’
‘I think everyone involved— the governor, the attorney general, the DOC commissioner—everyone knew it,’ his lawyer said.
Lauren Gill Mar 06, 2020
Alabama Prepares To Execute A Man Whose Case Is Haunted By Claims Of Police Misconduct
Nathaniel Woods, who was convicted in connection with the deaths of three Birmingham police officers in 2004, is ‘100 percent innocent,’ the man who shot the officers told The Appeal.
Lauren Gill Feb 24, 2020
Five Jurists Said Donnie Lance Deserved a New Sentence. Georgia Executed Him Anyway.
Three Supreme Court justices and others said competent counsel could have saved his life.
Kyle C. Barry Jan 30, 2020
Arkansas Executed Ledell Lee. Posthumous Testing Will Most Likely Prove He Was Innocent, Lawsuit Says
Lee’s family wants officials in Jacksonville, Arkansas, to turn over evidence that was used to convict and sentence him to death. The family says that evidence could posthumously exonerate him.
Lauren Gill Jan 23, 2020
Man Spared From Execution After Rare Clemency Grant
It’s the first time since 2014 that someone on Georgia’s death row has been granted clemency.
Braden Goyette Jan 16, 2020
Why the Attorney General’s Concern About Crime Victims and Their Families Rings Hollow
William Barr says the government owes it to the victims and their families to resume federal executions. In doing so, he’s ignoring important facts about the death penalty—and the actual wishes of victims’ families.
Why Are Prosecutors Still Seeking to Execute People Who Have Innocence Claims and Untested DNA?
In these last two months of 2019, one man has been executed and two others are facing execution despite claims that they can show they don’t belong on death row.
Lauren Gill Nov 22, 2019
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
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
U.S. Executes Keith Dwayne Nelson, The Fifth Federal Prisoner Put To Death This Year
Nelson’s attorneys had sought to have his death sentence reversed, citing critical errors by his original trial attorneys.
Lauren Gill Aug 28, 2020
U.S. Executes Lezmond Mitchell Over Objections Of The Navajo Nation
It’s the first time in modern history that the federal government has executed a Native American for a crime committed against another Native American on tribal land, his attorneys say.
Lauren Gill Aug 26, 2020
The Federal Government’s Decision To Execute Lezmond Mitchell Is A Direct Affront To Tribal Rule
The execution of Mitchell against the will of the Navajo Nation only perpetuates the U.S.’s dreadful history of colonial violence and oppression of Indigenous peoples.
Ruth Hopkins Aug 19, 2020
U.S. Executes Dustin Lee Honken, The Third Federal Execution In A Week
Honken, convicted of the murders of five people, died by lethal injection at the U.S. Penitentiary in Terre Haute, Indiana. The federal government resumed executions this week for the first time since 2003.
Lauren Gill Jul 17, 2020
U.S. Completes Second of Three Executions Set for This Week
In a 5-4 ruling early today, the Supreme Court cleared the way for the lethal injection of Wesley Ira Purkey. Lawyers had argued that killing Purkey, who had dementia associated with Alzheimer's disease, would represent cruel and unusual punishment.
Lauren Gill Jul 16, 2020
U.S. Government Carries Out The First Execution Of A Federal Prisoner in 17 Years
A late-night Supreme Court ruling cleared the way for the execution of Daniel Lewis Lee, despite his claims of innocence and his attorneys’ belief that DNA testing could show he was wrongly convicted.
Lauren Gill Jul 14, 2020
Federal Prisoner Set To Be Executed Next Week Was Labeled A ‘Psychopath’ Because Of A Faulty Evaluation Tool
A government psychologist who used the tool to evaluate Daniel Lewis Lee—who is scheduled to die Monday in Indiana—has since disavowed it. Without it, the trial judge has written that it’s ‘very questionable’ Lee would have been sentenced to death.
Lauren Gill Jul 10, 2020
After 17 Years, Bureau Of Prisons Set To Resume Federal Executions
A civil rights advocate calls the scheduled executions of four men ‘appalling’ and a return to a ‘biased, arbitrary, and error-prone’ system.
Lauren Gill Jun 16, 2020
Texas Prisoner Whose Case Changed the State’s Death Penalty Law Is Granted Parole
Attorneys argued for decades that Bobby Moore was intellectually disabled when he was sentenced to death in 1980. A U.S. Supreme Court ruling led to a change in his sentence last year and cleared the way for his release.
Lauren Gill Jun 09, 2020
Missouri Set To Execute Walter Barton Tonight Despite Claims That He May Be Innocent
If the U.S. Supreme Court or the state’s governor doesn’t step in, Barton’s would be the first execution carried out in the country during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Lauren Gill May 19, 2020
Mother Of Slain 4-Year-Old Says Pennsylvania Should Release Death Row Prisoner With COVID-19 Symptoms
Sharon Fahy, whose daughter was murdered in 1988, asked the court to release Walter Ogrod, the man convicted in her killing.
Lauren Gill Apr 09, 2020
The Texas Appeals Court Upheld This Man’s Death Sentence Despite New Scientific Evidence
The ruling is a setback for the state's so-called junk science statute.
Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Apr 01, 2020
Alabama Officials Executed Nathaniel Woods Despite Claims of Innocence. Then, Against His Religious Beliefs, They Autopsied His Body
‘It was almost like they were going to do whatever they could to demean him and take away his dignity,’ Woods’s spiritual adviser said.
Beth Shelburne Mar 25, 2020
Pennsylvania Man On Death Row Shows Signs of Coronavirus Days Before Hearing That Could Have Freed Him
Prosecutors say Walter Ogrod is ‘likely innocent’ of the charges that sent him to prison in 1996. Now, his attorney says, ‘every day a decision and/or hearing is delayed is another day that Mr. Ogrod’s health is at grave risk.’
Lauren Gill Mar 20, 2020
Texas Court Issues Temporary Stay Of Execution Amid Coronavirus ‘Health Crisis’
John Hummel was scheduled to be executed on Wednesday. The court, citing the current health crisis, has postponed the execution for 60 days.
Lauren Gill Mar 16, 2020
Alabama Executes Nathaniel Woods Despite Claims That He Was An ‘Innocent Man’
‘I think everyone involved— the governor, the attorney general, the DOC commissioner—everyone knew it,’ his lawyer said.
Lauren Gill Mar 06, 2020
Alabama Prepares To Execute A Man Whose Case Is Haunted By Claims Of Police Misconduct
Nathaniel Woods, who was convicted in connection with the deaths of three Birmingham police officers in 2004, is ‘100 percent innocent,’ the man who shot the officers told The Appeal.
Lauren Gill Feb 24, 2020
Five Jurists Said Donnie Lance Deserved a New Sentence. Georgia Executed Him Anyway.
Three Supreme Court justices and others said competent counsel could have saved his life.
Kyle C. Barry Jan 30, 2020
Arkansas Executed Ledell Lee. Posthumous Testing Will Most Likely Prove He Was Innocent, Lawsuit Says
Lee’s family wants officials in Jacksonville, Arkansas, to turn over evidence that was used to convict and sentence him to death. The family says that evidence could posthumously exonerate him.
Lauren Gill Jan 23, 2020
Man Spared From Execution After Rare Clemency Grant
It’s the first time since 2014 that someone on Georgia’s death row has been granted clemency.
Braden Goyette Jan 16, 2020
Why the Attorney General’s Concern About Crime Victims and Their Families Rings Hollow
William Barr says the government owes it to the victims and their families to resume federal executions. In doing so, he’s ignoring important facts about the death penalty—and the actual wishes of victims’ families.
Why Are Prosecutors Still Seeking to Execute People Who Have Innocence Claims and Untested DNA?
In these last two months of 2019, one man has been executed and two others are facing execution despite claims that they can show they don’t belong on death row.
Lauren Gill Nov 22, 2019
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
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