Spring 2019

Death Penalty

California Governor Announces Execution Moratorium; Orders Closure of Execution Chamber

Callie Heller, Staff Attorney

Governor Gavin Newsom announced an execution moratorium, and signed an executive order which referenced the numerous issues with the state’s death penalty, including the $5 billion spent to execute 13 people over four decades, wrongful convictions, and the overrepresentation of “people of color, people with mental disabilities, and people who cannot afford costly legal representation” on death row.

Military & Veterans

All Rulings from Past Four Years Vacated in Guantanamo Death Penalty Case

Emily Olson-Gault, Project Director

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit issued a sweeping decision that overturned years of rulings in the case of Abd Al-Rahim Al-Nashiri, the man accused of orchestrating the U.S.S. Cole bombing in 2000. The decision came in response to findings that the judge presiding over the case, Colonel Vance Spath, had engaged in an undisclosed DOJ immigration judge job search while presiding over the case.

Evidence

Judge Orders New Trial for Former Georgia Death Row Prisoner Johnny Lee Gates

Callie Heller, Staff Attorney

Muscogee County Superior Court Judge John Allen ordered a new trial for former Georgia death row prisoner Johnny Lee Gates, after new DNA testing supported his claim of innocence.

Death Penalty

Ohio Death Row Prisoner Warren Henness Receives Temporary Reprieve

Callie Heller, Staff Attorney

On January 25 Ohio Governor Mike DeWine granted a six-month reprieve to Ohio death row prisoner Warren Henness, in response to a judicial order recognizing Eighth Amendment issues implicated by Ohio’s current three-drug lethal injection protocol

Legislation & Lobbying

Numerous States Consider Repeal of the Death Penalty

Sylvia Krohn, Project Associate

In state legislatures across the country, lawmakers spent the first few months of 2019 considering whether to repeal – or reinstate – the death penalty, including in some states where bipartisan support enabled repeal measures to progress further than before.

Legislation & Lobbying

Death Penalty Law Remains Unsettled in Nebraska

Sylvia Krohn, Project Associate

Nebraska’s capital punishment scheme has been the subject of ongoing challenges in recent years, following legislative repeal in 2015 and voter reinstatement only a year later.

Bias & Discrimination

Supreme Court Refuses to Hear Racial Bias Claim, Leaving Procedural Bar in Place

Callie Heller, Staff Attorney

The United States Supreme Court denied Georgia death row prisoner Keith Tharpe’s petition for certiorari review, after the Eleventh Circuit found that his lawyers had not presented evidence of racial prejudice of a juror in the appropriate time frame, and therefore had not overcome the procedural default barring his claim.

Bias & Discrimination

SCOTUS Hears Oral Arguments in Case with Six Trials and Multiple Batson Violations

Callie Heller, Staff Attorney

The United States Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Flowers v. Mississippi, a case that has been tried several times and has amassed multiple Batson violations. Of 42 potential African American jurors, 41 were stricken by the prosecution.

LGBTQ Legal Issues

SCOTUS Declines to Review Death Sentence Imposed Based on the Defendant’s Sexual Orientation

Callie Heller, Staff Attorney

On April 15, 2019, the Court declined to review the case of South Dakota death row prisoner Charles Rhines, whose sexual orientation potentially influenced the jurors' decision to seek the death penalty.

Disability

For Second Time, U.S. Supreme Court Reverses Texas High Court in Moore v. Texas

Callie Heller, Staff Attorney

The U.S. Supreme Court intervened for the second time in two years in Moore’s case to strike down the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, this time in a per curiam decision unequivocally ruling that “Moore has shown he is a person with intellectual disability.”

Pro Bono

Wrongfully Convicted Former Death Row Prisoner Speaks at Gathering of Pro Bono Lawyers

Emily Olson-Gault, Project Director

The Death Penalty Representation Project presented a program entitled “New Frontiers in Death Penalty Cases” during the 2019 Pro Bono Institute Annual Conference, which featured a panel that included former death row prisoner Jimmy Dennis along with his pro bono counsel from Arnold & Porter, Rebecca Gordon, and nationally recognized death penalty expert and director of the Death Penalty Information Center, Robert Dunham.

Death Penalty

The Project Welcomes Staff Attorney Callie Heller!

The Project is delighted to welcome Callie Heller as the Project’s newest staff attorney.