By Tanya Greene, Advocacy and Policy Counsel, ACLU at 10:58am
The state of Georgia has blood on its hands.
Last night, Georgia strapped down an innocent human being and forced lethal poison into his veins until he died. In your name; in my name, unashamed and unhesitating.
This case had most of the worst of what we have come to fear from our criminal justice system — racism, lying witnesses, shoddy police work and innocence ignored.
By James Clark, ACLU of Southern California at 12:41pm
After a day-long hearing yesterday in Atlanta, the Georgia State Board of Pardons of Paroles today denied clemency to Troy Anthony Davis, in the face of a million cries of #TooMuchDoubt. Troy is scheduled to be executed Wednesday September 21, at 7 p.m.
By James Clark, ACLU of Southern California at 7:00pm
Next week, the state of Georgia plans to execute Troy Davis despite lingering doubts about his guilt. Today is a Global Day of Solidarity when people all over the world stand together to proclaim that there is too much doubt to execute Troy Davis. Davis finds himself facing death for the fourth time on Wednesday, September 21.
Great news! Last night, the Supreme Court granted a last-minute stay to Duane Buck, who was hours away from his scheduled execution in Texas. We now await a decision from the court as to whether it will review his case, and the claims that race played an improper role in his death sentence.
In Texas, imposing the death penalty in capital cases comes down to one question: is the defendant going to be a "future danger" if he or she is not executed? Mr. Buck was sentenced to die based on testimony by Dr. Walter Quijano, who told jurors that Mr. Buck was more likely to pose a future danger to society because he is black. Dr. Quijano's testimony came in 1997, more than 20 years after Texas promised the Supreme Court that "no correlation exists between the race/ethnic background of a defendant and the probability that he will be either convicted of capital murder or given the death penalty."
Buck's attorney, Kate Black of the Texas Defender Service, said in a statement last night:
"We are relieved that the U.S. Supreme Court recognized the obvious injustice of allowing a defendant's race to factor into sentencing decisions and granted a stay of execution to Duane Buck. No one should be put to death based on the color of his or her skin. We are confident that the Court will agree that our client is entitled to a fair sentencing hearing that is untainted by considerations of his race."
Thank you to everyone who took action and sent a message to the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles and Gov. Rick Perry. We hope the Supreme Court will grant Duane Buck a new sentencing hearing. As Linda Geffin, who helped prosecute Buck in his 1997 trial wrote to Texas Gov. Rick Perry and the Board of Pardons and Paroles last Friday: "No individual should be executed without being afforded a fair trial, untainted by considerations of race."
By Anna Arceneaux, Staff Attorney, ACLU Capital Punishment Project at 3:35pm
In 1951, in response to the burgeoning civil rights movement, Caddo Parish, Louisiana defiantly raised a Confederate flag outside the entrance to its courthouse. It flies there today.
In 2009, long-time Caddo Parish resident Carl Staples, an African-American man, was summoned to jury service for a capital case. During jury selection, Mr. Staples courageously told the judge his great concern with serving as a juror when the Confederate flag flew outside the courthouse:
The State of Georgia plans to execute Troy Davis at midnight on September 21, even though he is very likely innocent.
Davis has been scheduled for execution three times before, and three times his execution has been stayed amid doubts and new evidence against other suspects. Davis was sentenced on the basis of witness testimony, but seven of nine original witnesses have since recanted or changed their testimony.
By Brian Stull, ACLU Capital Punishment Project at 5:35pm
When the United States Supreme Court approved death penalty statutes, it did so on the promise that race would play no role in the decision to execute a person. That, of course, mirrors society's moral stance. Some people believe capital punishment is just. Some don't. But we can all agree that deciding who lives and who dies must not be determined by the color of their skin.
By Anna Arceneaux, Staff Attorney, ACLU Capital Punishment Project & Brian Stull, ACLU Capital Punishment Project at 3:17pm
More than two years after the North Carolina Legislature enacted an historic law barring race discrimination in death penalty cases, Marcus Robinson and his lawyers were in Cumberland County Superior Court earlier this week to argue his claim under the Racial Justice Act (RJA). They came prepared to present statistics showing that prosecutors across North Carolina discriminated against African-Americans who had come to court willing and able to serve on juries. A courtroom of concerned citizens came to hear this evidence. Prosecutors, however, were not ready to confront it. In fact, the entire hearing centered on why the prosecutors claimed not to be ready.
Check out this great editorial the New York Times ran over the weekend, highlighting the longstanding problems with Ohio’s death penalty and calling for an end the practice throughout the country:
Governor Kasich should instead listen to Ohio’s senior Supreme Court justice, Paul Pfeifer, who helped write the state’s death-penalty law as a legislator and has called on Ohio to abolish what he calls the “death lottery.” It is time for every state with the penalty on the books to outlaw this barbaric punishment.
We've blogged about problems with the death penalty in Ohiobefore.
By Brian Stull, ACLU Capital Punishment Project at 1:05pm
An opinion letter issued on Friday by Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott is the latest chapter in Texas’s efforts to cover up its 2004 execution of an innocent man named Cameron Todd Willingham. The letter concerns the scope of authority of the Texas Forensic Science Commission (TFSC), an agency created to take a serious, objective look at the quality of forensic science in Texas courtrooms. It should be seen for what it is: just another attempt to divert attention from the scientists by the politicians.
