death penalty

January 8, 2021 1

Gender Bias in Capital Cases: Punishing Traumatized Women with Death

(Source) Introduction Women make up the minority of the death row population in the United States and globally. In the United States, women account for only fifty of the over 2,600 individuals living on death rows around the nation.[1] The unique problems female capital defendants experience both before and after their capital sentences are overlooked and forgotten, in part because of the infrequency with which the death penalty is sought against women. This piece explores a few of the specific common themes in the cases of women facing the death penalty in the United States. We specifically focus on the effects of trauma, mental illness, and gender bias in legal proceedings, on female capital defendants. We also discuss Lisa Montgomery’s case as an example of how these themes all play out in real-life cases. Lisa is the only woman on federal death row and faces execution on January 12, 2021. Much of the information in this blog post is based on the authors’ analysis of the cases of women on death row though publicly available records, information gathered from DPIC’s databases, communications with women and their attorneys, and analysis of women’s trial transcripts. All analysis is on file with the [read more]

September 4, 2020 0

Denying Indigenous Sovereignty: The Execution of Lezmond Mitchell

(Source) On August 26th, 2020, the United States government executed Lezmond Mitchell, the only Native American on federal death row, continuing the Trump administration’s aggressive reinstatement of federal executions after a seventeen-year delay. Mr. Mitchell was pronounced dead at 6:29 PM. Mr. Mitchell’s execution was the 1523rd execution in the United States since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976 and the fourth federal execution in 2020. Two days later, the federal government executed Keith Nelson, who was pronounced dead on August 28th at 4:32 PM. With the federal death toll at five people, the federal government has carried out more executions in the past two months than in the preceding fifty-seven years. They plan to carry out two more by the end of September. There are many problems with the way the federal government has been going about killing the people on its death row, and Mr. Mitchell’s case is no exception: as with the other people whom the federal government has executed, the global pandemic is still raging, and several of the victims’ loved ones opposed Mr. Mitchell’s death sentence. Further, there were real concerns about Mr. Mitchell’s culpability compared to that of his co-defendant, who did not [read more]

July 17, 2020 0

The Machinery of Death: The Federal Death Penalty’s Reinstatement is Arbitrary, Capricious, Illegal, and Cruel

(Source) Introduction In the early hours of July 14th, 2020, while most people were asleep or just starting their days, the Federal Government executed Daniel Lee Lewis, jumpstarting the return of federal executions. The federal government executed Mr. Lee despite myriad procedural and legal deficiencies. Mr. Lee was executed without a new warrant allowing the execution to occur on July 14th. His warrant listed July 13, 2020 as the execution date. Mr. Lee was strapped to the gurney for over four hours as last-minute legal issues were resolved but was pronounced dead less than an hour after his final legal issue was resolved. The loved ones of the victims publicly opposed his execution and were disregarded in their efforts to witness the execution without compromising their health in the midst of a global pandemic. In many regards, Mr. Lee was a typical capital defendant. Prior to his conviction, his life was riddled with trauma, mental illness, and interactions with the juvenile detention centers. There was widespread consensus that his co-defendant was more culpable and Mr. Lee maintained his innocence in the murders through his last words. His trial had sentencing problems and concerns about ineffective assistance of counsel. When [read more]

November 29, 2011 0

Forcing Treatment to Force Execution

In 1986, the Supreme Court officially barred carrying out a death sentence on an inmate who had gone insane on death row—a rule that has long been part of the common law. Modern treatments are effective at eliminating many symptoms of insanity. So should we allow states to forcibly medicate inmates in order to execute them? [read more]

November 10, 2011 1

Resistance and Recantation: Ruminations on the Execution of Troy Davis

Professor Blume argues that that the resistance of those involved in the initial prosecution of defendants to admitting mistakes can be made and the suspicion of recanted testimony ultimately led to the execution of Troy Davis, even though substantial doubt was raised as to his guilt. [read more]

October 20, 2011 1

How Our Law Executed Troy Davis

You’re on death row. Seven of nine original eyewitnesses have recanted. How do you avoid execution? Suzy Marinkovich digs deep into the legal doctrines that led to Troy Davis’s execution. [read more]

The Issue Spotter