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Activists Call on President Biden to End the Federal Death Penalty Before Leaving Office

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A conversation with Death Penalty Action Co-founder and Executive Director Abe Bonowitz. Now that Joe Biden is a lame duck president, activists are holding him accountable to make good on his promise to end the federal death penalty during his remaining six months as president. Biden’s election campaign in 2020 had pledged to end the federal death penalty and incentivize the remaining 27 states that still allow executions to do the same. While he made history as the first president in the United States to openly oppose the death penalty, there has been no movement to actually end federal executions during his nearly four years in office.

Texas | Lead Detective on Robert Roberson’s Case Now Believes He Is Innocent

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Brian Wharton, who was the lead detective in Palestine, Texas at the time of Robert Roberson’s conviction for the death of his two-year-old daughter Nikki, now believes Mr. Roberson is innocent and supports abolition of the death penalty. 

Mr. Wharton said in a video for The New York Times that there is “unassailable doubt” that Mr. Roberson is guilty.


In the video, Mr. Wharton recounts his role in the investigation of Nikki’s death, describing how he believed he was doing the right thing, but now sees that the evidence against Mr. Roberson was missing key context, including Mr. Roberson’s undiagnosed autism and Nikki’s underlying health conditions, and relied on the now-debunked theory of shaken baby syndrome (SBS). 


Mr. Wharton now believes the death penalty should be abolished. “We as human beings are incapable of producing the kind of fairness and justice required to take someone’s life,” he said.

Mr. Roberson is scheduled to be executed on October 17, 2024.

Source: Death Penalty Information Center, Staff, July 31, 2024

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"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted."

— Oscar Wilde



Location: Texas, USA
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Activists Call on President Biden to End the Federal Death Penalty Before Leaving Office

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20 Minutes to Death: Witness to the Last Execution in France

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"Death chamber" permanently closed at Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla

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