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Biden Fails a Death Penalty Abolitionist’s Most Important Test

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The mystery of Joe Biden’s views about capital punishment has finally been solved. His decision to grant clemency to 37 of the 40 people on federal death row shows the depth of his opposition to the death penalty. And his decision to leave three of America’s most notorious killers to be executed by a future administration shows the limits of his abolitionist commitment. The three men excluded from Biden’s mass clemency—Dylann Roof, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, and Robert Bowers—would no doubt pose a severe test of anyone’s resolve to end the death penalty. Biden failed that test.
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U.S. Supreme Court rejects appeal of woman on Texas death row for Arlington boy's starvation

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HOUSTON — The U.S. Supreme Court has refused to review an appeal from an Arlington woman on Texas death row for the starvation of a 9-year-old boy a decade ago.

A Tarrant County jury in 2006 convicted Lisa Ann Coleman of capital murder and decided she should die for the death of Davontae Williams.

Her appeal to the high court was rejected by the justices Monday with no comment.

Coleman shared an apartment with the boy’s mother, Marcella Williams, who took a plea deal to avoid the death penalty and is serving a life prison term. Evidence showed Coleman beat, bound, neglected and starved the boy, who weighed 35 pounds. An autopsy showed he had more than 250 scars.

Coleman does not yet have an execution date.

Source: AP, Feb. 24, 2014
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