Death Penalty News

NEW YORK — Bestselling author John Grisham will release his new book SHAKEN: The Rush to Execute an Innocent Man on June 9, 2026. The nonfiction account centers on Texas death row prisoner Robert Roberson’s controversial conviction and impending execution, according to a press release from Doubleday. The announcement was made Wednesday by Grisham’s publisher, Suzanne Herz, who confirmed a printing of more than one million copies. While best known for his legal thrillers, Grisham has also been a longtime advocate for social justice. He has worked with organizations dedicated to exonerating wrongfully convicted people, such as the Innocence Project and Centurion Ministries. Doubleday said this work inspired him to share stories of people unfairly accused of crimes.

Last year with hours left to live, Robert Roberson's life was spared following a furious effort by a bipartisan group of Texas lawmakers − a development rarely seen in the hardliner state A Texas judge has rescheduled the execution of a death row inmate who won a rare stay of execution last year as prison officials were poised to administer his lethal injection. Judge Austin Reeve Jackson on Wednesday set Robert Roberson's execution for Oct. 16, almost exactly a year after the Texas Supreme Court granted him a stay on his last execution day, Oct. 17, 2024.

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A Texas man set to die this month is at the center of another push for clemency in the U.S., this time backed by several GOP lawmakers and bestselling author John Grisham, who say a father’s 2002 conviction for killing his infant daughter deserves a second look. Their pleas to spare Robert Roberson, who is set to die by lethal injection on Oct. 17, comes after Missouri and Oklahoma carried out executions last month over calls to grant two condemned men lesser punishments, underlining how rare clemency remains for death row prisoners.

Robert Roberson, an autistic father wrongfully convicted and sentenced to death in Texas based on the debunked “shaken baby syndrome” hypothesis, applies for clemency to stop his Oct. 17 scheduled execution. Bestselling author John Grisham has joined a group of high-profile politicians, lawyers, scientists and doctors defending a Texas man who is about to be executed after being convicted of a crime that never happened.

In an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal, novelist John Grisham recounts the flawed science that led to the conviction of Robert Roberson and the inadequate legal process that has maintained that conviction. Mr. Roberson was convicted and sentenced to death for the 2002 death of his 2-year-old daughter Nikki. His conviction relied on a theory of “shaken baby syndrome” that has since been discredited. After a hearing ordered by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, a Texas judge rubberstamped a brief submitted by Anderson County prosecutors, ignoring exhaustive and unrebutted scientific evidence and upholding Mr. Roberson’s conviction.

✔ Click here to Google translate the following article into your own language Bestsellerautor John Grisham greift in seinen Thrillern immer wieder brisante Themen aus dem amerikanischen Justizsystem auf. Auch sein neuer Roman "Die Wächter" enthält eine Botschaft. Es geht um Menschen, die unschuldig viele Jahre in der Todeszelle sitzen. John Grisham ist ein Phänomen. Seit gut 30 Jahren veröffentlich der frühere Anwalt, der gerade seinen 65. Geburtstag feierte, mit schöner Regelmäßigkeit Romane, die die Bestsellerlisten stürmen. Immer wieder im Mittelpunkt steht darin das amerikanische Justizsystem mit seinen Unzulänglichkeiten. In seinem neuen Roman "Die Wächter" nimmt sich der US-Schriftsteller ein besonders kontroverses Thema vor: Das Drama von Menschen, die unschuldig in der Todeszelle sitzen und denen das Justizsystem nie eine gerechte Chance gegeben hat. Im Mittelpunkt des Romans steht Cullen Post, ein ehemaliger Anwalt, der nach einer Lebensk...

Arkansas' death chamber Arkansas is preparing to execute 7 death row inmates in 11 days because it wants to carry out the sentences before its supply of an execution drug expires May 1. Judge Kristine Baker, who was appointed to U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas by President Barack Obama, will consider the legality of Arkansas' aggressive plan this week.  Since joining the court in 2012, she has made key rulings on abortion and gay marriage, but she hasn't handled a death penalty case of this magnitude. Here's a look at her background: The judge Baker, 46, earned 2 degrees from Saint Louis University and a law degree in 1996 from the University of Arkansas. From 1996 to 1998, Baker was a clerk for the chief judge, Susan Webber Wright, on the federal court where Baker now sits. During that time, Wright handled Paula Jones' sexual harassment lawsuit against then-President Bill Clinton and also reversed the death sentence...

Richard Glossip National attention is focused on the pending execution of Richard Glossip, and on his potential innocence. As a murder victim's family member, it has always bothered me that the victim and family seem to be a side note. Barry Van Treese, the victim in Glossip's case, was a victim of an awful crime. My heart, and that of my family, aches for his family. And while I cannot speak for how his family feels, I certainly have every blessing to speak for mine. My cousin was Debbie Carter, who in 1982 was raped and murdered. 5 years later, Dennis Fritz and Ron Williamson were convicted of the crime. Williamson received the death penalty. We had every reason to believe in the convictions. Over the years we suffered through numerous appeals and repeated findings of guilt. Then my family was delivered a bombshell of information: DNA testing proved that Williamson and Fritz had been wrongfully convicted. We were shocked. Debbie's justice was being ripped...

Few exonerees receive payment for wrongful convictions State compensation laws differ widely Nationwide, more than 240 people have been exonerated through post-conviction DNA testing. The National Exoneration Registry lists these among nearly 1,500 total cases in which people were exonerated due to new evidence of innocence. Laws to compensate people exonerated in such cases vary widely. -- Oklahoma is one of 27 states that have a law allowing compensation for wrongful convictions. -- The state's law provides up to $175,000 to people if their convictions were overturned due to actual innocence. The person must not have pled guilty to receive compensation. -- 12 states cap the amount exonerees can receive, including Oklahoma. 3 states pay less to exonerees than Oklahoma. -- 10 states provide for social services such as job training, health care and counseling. Oklahoma does not. -- Texas is among states with the most generous compensation laws. The state...