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Death Penalty
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Capital Punishment Project
The Capital Punishment Project (CPP) challenges the unfairness and arbitrariness of capital punishment while working toward the ultimate goal of abolishing the death penalty. The Project engages in legislative reform, public education and advocacy as well as strategic litigation, including the direct representation of capital defendants. The project priorities include challenging racial economic and geographic discrimination in the application of the death penalty, building the case for an exemption of the death penalty to the mentally ill, improving the quality of counsel, and protecting the innocent.
> Learn more about the death penalty
> Learn more about the ACLU's Capital Punishment Project
Innocent North Carolina Man Exonerated After 14 Years On Death Row
On May 2, 2008, the District Attorney of North Carolina's Duplin County dropped all charges against Levon "Bo" Jones, who has spent the last 14 years of his life on the state's death row after being wrongfully convicted for the 1987 murder of Leamon Grady. A federal judge ordered Jones off death row in 2006 and overturned his conviction, declaring that Jones' initial defense attorneys missed critical evidence pointing to his innocence. Learn More >>
Supreme Court Upholds Lethal Injection in Kentucky
On April 16, 2006, the Supreme Court delivered the decision in Baze v. Rees. The court found the unnecessary risk of excruciating pain associated with the lethal injection protocol used for executions in 38 states does not violate the Eighth Amendment prohitibion of "cruel and unusual punishment." The Capital Punishment Project filed a friend-of-the-court brief in the case. Learn More >>
> Read the brief
> Supreme Court Upholds Lethal Injection in Kentucky
Tennessee Death-Row Client Richard Taylor Wins a New Trial On Appeal
The Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals has reversed the conviction and death sentence of Richard Taylor, a severely mentally ill man who has twice been forced to stand trial despite his illness and likely incompetence. Taylor was represented during the appeal of his conviction by the ACLU and Kelly Gleason, then a private attorney and now with the Office of the Tennessee Post-Conviction Defender.
> Death Sentence of Mentally Ill Man Reversed (3/11/2008)
> Learn More: State of Tennessee v. Taylor
New Jersey Rejects Death Penalty
Governor Jon Corzine has signed into law a measure, which passed the state legislature last week with bipartisan majorities, replacing the death penalty with life imprisonment for the most serious offenders. New Jersey becomes the first state since 1965 to legislatively repeal the death penalty, generating forward momentum in the campaign to end capital punishment nationwide, said the American Civil Liberties Union.
> ACLU Says New Jersey's Historic Rejection of Death Penalty Reflects Shift in Public Opinion (12/17/2007)
> NJ Governor Thanks ACLU (nj.gov, off-site)
ACLU Victory in Louisiana Capital Case
On October 29, 2007, the United States Supreme Court denied the State of Louisiana's petition to hear State of Lousiana v. Langley, thereby allowing the Louisiana Supreme Court's decision to stand. On May 22, 2007, the Louisiana Supreme Court ruled that the State could not retry Ricky Joseph Langley for capital murder and seek his execution. The decision reversed a Louisiana Court of Appeal ruling that would have permitted a capital defendant acquitted of first-degree murder to be retried for the first-degree count. Read more >>
Report Finds Minority Death Row Inmates Convicted of Killing Whites More Likely to Face Execution
A recent study published in the American Sociological Review found that African-American and Hispanic inmates on death row who are convicted of killing white victims are significantly more likely to be executed than other offenders. The report also finds that the political and social climate of the state in which inmates are imprisoned influences whether they will be executed or not. Learn More >>
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ACLU Calls For Greater Accountability For Unlawful Deaths In US Custody (6/30/2008)
NEW YORK - The American Civil Liberties Union today urged the United States government to heed the concerns of the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial Executions. Special Rapporteur Philip Alston, whose mission includes reporting on alleged killings in the U.S. and overseas for which U.S. government and military officials may be responsible and the failure to prosecute and punish those responsible, announced his preliminary findings after touring the U.S. at the invitation of the U.S. government.
ACLU Welcomes UN Independent Expert On Extrajudicial Executions To US (6/16/2008)
NEW YORK – The American Civil Liberties Union today welcomed a fact-finding mission to the U.S. by the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions. Special Rapporteur Philip Alston's mission includes reporting on alleged killings in the U.S. and overseas for which U.S. government and military officials may be responsible, and the failure to prosecute and punish those responsible. The ACLU calls on the U.S., state and local governments to fully cooperate with the special rapporteur.
Mentally Ill Man Receives Life Sentence After 18 Years On Tennessee Death Row (6/3/2008)
NASHVILLE – A severely mentally ill man who spent 18 years on death row and whose conviction and death sentence were reversed by a Tennessee appeals court in March was sentenced to life imprisonment today. Richard Taylor, twice forced to stand trial despite his severe mental illness, agreed to the sentence in exchange for pleading guilty to the 1981 murder of a Tennessee prison guard – a crime committed only after prison officials stopped giving Taylor his anti-psychotic medication.
Innocent North Carolina Man Exonerated After 14 Years On Death Row (5/2/2008)
KENANSVILLE, NC – An innocent man who spent 14 years on North Carolina's death row after being wrongfully convicted for a 1987 murder will be released from prison today. Jones has been represented by American Civil Liberties Union Capital Punishment Project lawyers Cassandra Stubbs and Brian Stull, along with North Carolina attorney Ernest "Buddy" Connor.
Supreme Court Upholds Lethal Injection in Kentucky (4/16/2008)
NEW YORK – The ACLU expressed disappointment with today's 7-2 decision by the U.S. Supreme Court upholding the three drug lethal injection method of capital punishment used in Kentucky and other states.
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