Death Penalty News

Take a look back at everything that led to the fateful, controversial execution. Tuesday marked the 10-year point since the state of Georgia executed Troy Davis despite increasing suspicions of his innocence following his conviction for killing an off-duty police officer. Davis denied committing the murder throughout his prison sentence and up until he was literally on his deathbed when he sat up on the gurney to which he was strapped and looked the family of Savannah Police Officer Mark MacPhail in their eyes to repeat claims of his innocence in the 1989 killing. “I did not have a gun,” he told them before turning his attention to his soon-to-be executioners. “For those about to take my life,” Davis said to prison officials, “may God have mercy on your souls. May God bless your souls.” But according to the transcript from audio of Davis’ last moments alive, his final words were, “continue to fight this fight,” a message to his supporters and death penalty opponents who unsuccessfully ...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Hundreds of people gathered Friday night outside the Supreme Court, singing in a candlelight vigil and weeping together as they mourned the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. The large group of mourners packed the high court’s steps and the street across from the U.S. Capitol in a nighttime memorial. Dozens of people sat on the steps quietly reflecting on Ginsburg’s legacy. Scores of memorial candles flickered in the wind along the front steps of the court as people knelt to leave bouquets of flowers, small American flags and handwritten condolence messages for Ginsburg, who died Friday of metastatic pancreatic cancer at age 87 after 27 years on the court. Prayer candles with Ginsburg’s photo on them were also left on the steps. Several times, dozens in the crowd broke out into song, singing “Amazing Grace” and “This Land is Your Land” as others embraced one another and wiped tears from their eyes. At one point, the crowd broke into a thunderous applause — lastin...

Lawyers, government officials, lawmakers and parents of the victim by and large demand public execution for the convict Imran Ali in rape and murder case of 7-year-old Zainab. But isn't it enough to hand over 4 separate death sentences for conviction in kidnapping, rape, murder and terrorism charges? From the grieving mother of Zainab to Senate, there is a rising consent to publicly execute the convict. The national narrative in mainstream media too suggests it is the only way to stop crimes of child abuse. Pakistan had lifted a 7-year moratorium on capital punishments after the tragic terrorist attack on a Peshawar school that claimed the lives of 132 children. Executions were resumed for all death penalty offences, not for terror convicts alone. The call for public hangings, introduced by Gen Ziaul Haq, is primarily raised to make it serve as deterrence for future crimes. But research tells otherwise. In 2016 study titled "The Fall of Capital Punishment and th...

In the last 5 years, the Georgia Supreme Court has considered 8 cases where lower courts threw out a death sentence handed down by a trial jury. Each time, Georgia's highest court reinstated the original sentence. That result pleases prosecutors, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. But defense attorneys and capital punishment opponents say it's troubling. The cases typically involve a condemned inmate appealing his death sentence by arguing that his lawyer performed below required standards. Several appeals judges have agreed that an inadequate defense helped prosecutors reach the unanimous jury vote that Georgia law requires for the death penalty. In most of the cases, the Supreme Court hasn't disagreed that defense lawyers were substandard. But the justices overruled the appeals courts by deciding that poor performance didn't affect jurors' decisions. Source: Associated Press, November 28, 2013 Georgia: Jimmy Carter's legacy ...

The former president called for a national moratorium at a time when public support for capital punishment is at a 40-year low. Former President Carter called for a national moratorium on capital punishment in the United States on Tuesday, declaring in a speech, "We should abolish the death penalty here and throughout the world." Carter proceeded to meticulously enumerate the oft-cited ethical, financial, and legal reasons for his opposition, which are nothing new for the octogenarian; he expressed doubt about the death penalty as far back as his presidential campaigns. "Perhaps the strongest argument against the death penalty is its extreme bias against the poor, minorities, and those with mental disabilities," Carter said at a national symposium hosted by the American Bar Association at the Carter Center in Atlanta. "It's hard to imagine a rich white man or woman going to the death chamber after being defended by expensive lawyers." ...

Jimmy Carter Carter says it amounts to cruel and unusual punishment and justices should reintroduce ban that stood from 1972 to 1976 Former US president Jimmy Carter has called for a new nationwide moratorium on the death penalty, arguing that it is applied so unfairly across the 32 states that still have the death sentence that it amounts to a form of cruel and unusual punishment prohibited under the US constitution. In an interview with the Guardian, Carter calls on the US supreme court to reintroduce the ban on capital punishment that it imposed between 1972 and 1976. The death penalty today, he said, was every bit as arbitrary as it was when the nine justices suspended it on grounds of inconsistency in the case of Furman v Georgia 41 years ago. “It’s time for the supreme court to look at the totality of the death penalty once again,” Carter said. “My preference would be for the court to rule that it is cruel and unusual punishment, which would make it prohibitive u...

Troy Davis Two years ago, the state of Georgia ignored the facts, doubts and pleas of hundreds of thousands of people and killed Troy Anthony Davis. Today, on the anniversary of his execution, we rededicate ourselves to ending the immoral, biased and ineffective practice of capital punishment. For 15 years, we fought alongside Troy to clear his name for the killing of Savannah Police Officer Mark Allen MacPhail. Troy remained adamant about his innocence to his last breath. As explained in the new book I Am Troy Davis, by author Jen Marlowe and Troy's sister, Martina Davis-Correia, the case against Troy lacked conclusive evidence after many of the key witnesses recanted testimony from the time of the original trial. In the last weeks of Troy's life, the Georgia State Board of Pardons and Paroles received 663,000 petitions from people imploring the group to reconsider the execution given the sheer amount of doubt surrounding the case. World figures, including Pope Be...

Georgia Execution Chamber A death-row inmate denied clemency Monday is asking the nation's highest court to stop his execution on grounds he is mentally disabled. Warren Lee Hill is scheduled to be put to death Wednesday by lethal injection for beating fellow prison inmate Joseph Handspike to death with a nail-studded board. At the time, Hill was serving a life sentence for killing his 18-year-old girlfriend. Hill's lawyer, Brian Kammer, said he was "horrified and outraged" by the parole board's decision to deny clemency, noting that a state judge previously found Hill to be mentally disabled. Lawyers for Hill are now asking the U.S. Supreme Court to stay the xecution. The high court declined in June to hear Hill's latest appeal, but his lawyers asked the court to reconsider. Hill is asking the court to postpone the execution until it rules on that request. The case is "close to becoming a miscarriage of justice," Hill's moti...

Georgia Execution Chamber ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia was the first state to ban executing mentally disabled death row inmates, but the case of an inmate who is to be put to death next week has highlighted the state's strictest-in-the-nation standard for proving mental disability. Former President Jimmy Carter is among those who have said the state pardons board should commute Warren Lee Hill's death sentence to life in prison without parole. However, the state argues defense attorneys have failed to meet their burden of proving beyond a reasonable doubt that Hill is mentally disabled. Hill was convicted of the 1991 murder of a fellow inmate. Most states that impose the death penalty have a lower threshold for defendants to prove they are mentally disabled, while some states don't set standards at all. Hill's lawyer Brian Kammer said the high standard for proving mental disability is problematic because psychiatric diagnoses are subject to a degree of uncertaint...

The Ohio executioner known only as Team Member 17 has cancer, and a federal judge is allowing lawyers for a condemned inmate to seek details about his condition despite state concerns their request is merely meant to annoy and embarrass him. The legal battle comes amid a renewed debate over the death penalty after the execution this week of a Georgia inmate whose pleas of innocence sparked worldwide outrage. It also opens a window into the secrecy-shrouded lives of the teams responsible for putting inmates to death. States conscientiously protect their identities to shield them from harassment and questions about medical ethics. Lawyers for condemned inmates often raise 11th-hour questions in an effort to buy their clients time, and often they're successful. The information about the Ohio executioner's health is relevant because it bears on his "ability to fulfill the demands of that position," U.S. District Judge Gregory Frost said Tuesday. Inmate Joseph Murphy, ...

Troy Davis petitions being delivered The state Board of Pardons and Paroles on Monday delayed a decision whether to grant or deny clemency to Troy Anthony Davis after hearing pleas for mercy from Davis’ family and calls for his execution by surviving relatives of a murdered Savannah police officer.  The state Board of Pardons and Paroles in Atlanta is scheduled to meet today to decide whether Troy Anthony Davis is executed Wednesday.  Davis’ case has already taken more unexpected turns than just about any death-penalty case in Georgia history and his innocence claims have attracted international attention. Its resolution was postponed once again when the parole board late Monday announced it would not be making an immediate decision as to whether Davis should live or die.  Davis, 42, is scheduled to be put to death by lethal injection on Wednesday at 7 p.m. at the state prison in Jackson. He was sentenced to death for the 1989 murder of off-duty Savannah P...