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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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Former Oklahoma death row inmate accepts settlement in $32 million lawsuit

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Yancy Douglas
Yancy Douglas
OKLAHOMA CITY - A former Oklahoma death row inmate freed after a court found prosecutorial misconduct has settled his lawsuit against a former prosecutor and the state of Oklahoma for an undisclosed amount.

The Oklahoman reported Saturday Yancy Douglas accepted the settlement in the federal case in which he initially sought $32 million for wrongful imprisonment, malicious prosecution and other claims.

Douglas and another former death row inmate, Paris Powell, filed separate federal lawsuits in 2010 after their murder convictions were overturned.

The two were convicted in the fatal drive-by shooting of a 14-year-old girl in south Oklahoma City in 1993.

A federal appeals court overturned their convictions in 2009 after concluding a prosecutor knowingly used false testimony from the only eyewitness.

Powell’s lawsuit is still pending.

Source: News9.com, August 7, 2017


Former Death Row Inmate Settles Lawsuit Against Oklahoma


Former death row inmate Yancy L. Douglas has accepted a settlement in his $32 million lawsuit against a former prosecutor and the state of Oklahoma.

How much he will be paid from taxpayer dollars under the settlement was not immediately disclosed.

"The terms of it are confidential," said John W. Coyle, one of his attorneys.

Douglas, 43, and another former death row inmate, Paris Lapriest Powell, 44, filed separate lawsuits in Oklahoma City federal court in 2010 after their murder convictions were overturned.

A jury trial in Douglas' lawsuit had been scheduled to begin next week. The case was settled Wednesday.

A jury trial in Powell's lawsuit is set to begin Sept. 12. He also is seeking $32 million.

Douglas and Powell were on death row for years after being convicted at separate trials in the fatal drive-by shooting of a 14-year-old girl, Shauna Farrow.

Source: NewsOK, Nolan Klay, August 5, 2017

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