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Arkansas Supreme Court Decision Allows New DNA Testing in Case of the ​“West Memphis Three,” Convicted of Killing Three Children in 1993

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On April 18, 2024, the Arkansas Supreme Court decided 4-3 to reverse a 2022 lower court decision and allow genetic testing of crime scene evidence from the 1993 killing of three eight-year-old boys in West Memphis. The three men convicted in 1994 for the killings were released in 2011 after taking an Alford plea, in which they maintained their innocence but plead guilty to the crime, in exchange for 18 years’ time served and 10 years of a suspended sentence. 

Maryland Governor to Sign Death Penalty Repeal Next Week

ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Gov. Martin O’Malley plans to sign a measure repealing capital punishment in Maryland into law.

Raquel Guillory, a spokeswoman for O’Malley, confirmed on Thursday that O’Malley plans to sign the bill at a bill-signing ceremony on May 2.

Maryland will become the 18th state to ban the death penalty. Connecticut did so last year. Illinois, New Jersey, New Mexico and New York also have abolished it in recent years.

Maryland has five men on death row. The measure would not apply to them retroactively. But the legislation makes clear the governor can commute their sentences to life in prison without the possibility of parole. O’Malley has said he will consider them on a case-by-case basis.

The state’s last execution took place in 2005, during Republican Gov. Robert Ehrlich’s administration.

Source: Reuters, April 26, 2013

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