Death Row

Biden Commutes The Sentences Of All But Three On Federal Death Row

December 26, 2024 Victoria Valenzuela, Scheer Post. Resist! Criminal Justice and Prisons, Death Penalty, Death Row, Executive power, Joe Biden

President Joe Biden on Monday commuted the sentences of 37 people on federal death row, reclassifying sentences of all but three men to life without parole. This follows months of activists calling on Joe Biden to commute all federal death sentences. The three remaining on death row were convicted for mass shootings: Robert Bowers who killed 11 Jewish worshipers at a Pittsburgh synagogue in 2018, Dylann Roof for the 2015 shooting that killed nine people at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina, and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, for the 2013 bombing at the Boston Marathon that killed three people and injured hundreds.

From Death Row To Being Seen As Human

August 3, 2024 Kevin Cooper, Scheer Post. Educate! California, Death Row, Human Rights, Prisoner rights

Every person unlucky enough to be sentenced to death has often dreamed about getting off death row, especially those who have spent decades as a condemned person living in an inhumane and torturous man-made hell. Some have been able to leave, whether because they received a new trial or hearing, a penalty phase reversal, or they received life without parole (LWOP) in the sentencing or penalty phase of their trial or hearing. Since 1978, 30 men have gotten off death row by committing suicide; 13 were executed by the state. On Jan. 31, 2022, Gov. Gavin Newsom ordered the dismantling of death row and moving all the condemned individuals to other maximum security state prisons.

Supreme Court’s Latest Decision Devastating For Death Row Inmates

May 31, 2022 Laura Finley, LA Progressive. Educate! Criminal Justice and Prisons, Death Row, Supreme Court

On May 23, 2022, the Supreme Court issued yet another decision that does greater injustice to the US criminal (in)justice system. It ruled that state prisoners cannot submit claims of inadequate counsel to federal courts, thereby adding yet another barrier to those on death row who are seeking relief amidst serious concerns that justice was not served. In a 6-3 opinion, Justice Clarence Thomas wrote for the majority and did not defend a constitutional right, purportedly the Court’s job, but rather expressed system concerns, asserting that the federal courts must “afford unwavering respect to the centrality of the trial of a criminal case in state court” and claiming that allowing relief regarding inadequate counsel in the federal court system would encourage inmates to “sandbag” state courts.

Governor Stitt Grants Julius Jones Clemency

November 19, 2021 Innocence Project. Educate! Criminal Justice and Prisons, Death Row, Julius Jones, Oklahoma

Julius Jones has been on death row in Oklahoma for 19 years for a 1999 murder he’s always said he had no part in. Mr. Jones, who is represented by federal attorneys Dale Baich and Amanda Bass, was convicted and sentenced to death at the age of 19 and has now spent half his life in prison, waiting to be executed for a crime that new and compelling evidence suggests he didn’t commit. On Nov. 18, 2021, Oklahoma Gov. Stitt grants Julius Jones life without parole hours before his 4 PM CST execution. Twice, the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board recommended that Mr. Jones be granted life with the possibility of parole, given strong new evidence of his innocence.

Scheer Intelligence: Governor Orders Independent Investigation Into Kevin Cooper Case

May 29, 2021 Robert Scheer, ScheerPost.com. Educate! California, Death Row, Podcast, Prisoner rights

Three hours and 42 minutes. That’s how close Kevin Cooper came in 2004 to being murdered by the state, strapped down to a gurney, and poisoned via lethal injection. He had been placed in what he calls a “death chamber waiting room” and stripped of all his clothes before he was granted a stay of execution. Five years later, in an unprecedented dissent, five federal judges on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued an opinion that began: “The State of California may be about to execute an innocent man.” A rash of evidence would appear to substantiate their claim. In the opinion, Judge William A. Fletcher details multiple Brady disclosures—key information that had been ignored or actively suppressed that would compromise the case against Cooper.

First Person: Sick And Afraid Inside San Quentin

August 6, 2020 Kevin Cooper, ScheerPost.com. Educate! Coronavirus COVID-19, Death Row, Health Care, Prisoner rights

Death Row San Quentin Prison - We men and women who unfortunately have been sentenced to death and sent to death rows here at San Quentin State Prison (for men) and the Central California Women’s Facility at Chowchilla have often been referred to as the “walking dead” or “Dead Man Walking,” as made famous by the 1995 movie, starring Sean Penn and Susan Sarandon, about a death row inmate. We were called these names long before the COVID-19 pandemic came upon us all, seemingly out of nowhere. After it came on the scene, we death row inmates got a double dose of death.

Sheer Intelligence: Is California About To Execute An Innocent Man?

March 21, 2020 Robert Scheer, Scheer Intelligence. Educate! Death Row, Podcast, Prison system

Three hours and 42 minutes. That's how close Kevin Cooper came in 2004 to being murdered by the state, strapped down to a gurney and poisoned via lethal injection. He had been placed in what he calls a "death chamber waiting room" stripped of his clothes and body searched several times before he was granted a stay of execution. Five years later, in an unprecedented dissent of a ruling denying him a new trial, five federal judges on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued an opinion that began: "The State of California may be about to execute an innocent man." A rash of evidence appeared to substantiate their claim of his likely innocence. In the opinion, Judge William A. Fletcher details multiple Brady disclosures—key information that the prosecution illegally ignored or actively suppressed that could exculpate Cooper.

Death Row Saved My Life

June 11, 2018 Christopher Young, Law at the Margins. Resist! Criminal Justice System, Death Row, Prison

Christopher Young is on death row at the Polunsky Unit in Livingston, Texas, listed in 2013 as one of America’s 10 worst prisons. He has an execution date of July 17, 2018. Young, 34, was sentenced to death in 2006 for the 2004 murder of 55-year-old convenience store owner Hasmukhbhai “Hash” Patel. Young’s lawyers claim religious discrimination occurred during the jury selection process of his trial, and over 500 religious leaders signed a statement saying he deserved a new trial. In January 2018, the United States Supreme Court turned down Young’s latest appeal.He seeks clemency.

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