Most of those originally condemned to death in North Carolina eventually received lesser sentences when their cases were concluded, according to Professor Frank Baumgartner, a researcher at the University of North Carolina. Many of those sentenced to death received a new trial because their first trial was seriously flawed. At their subsequent trials, the vast majority were sentenced to a punishment less than death, typically a life sentence. Only about 20% of the cases that were finally resolved resulted in an execution. Baumgartner used information from the state's Department of Corrections to examine what happened to those sentenced to death between 1977 through 2009. He found that of the 388 people sentenced to death, 43 were executed. Of the remaining cases, 158 were still on death row, 5 had been cleared of their charges, 6 committed suicide, 19 died of natural causes, and 12 are in jail pending a new trial, but no longer on death row. Of the defendants who received new trials, 130 were sentenced to life, 10 to a sentence less than life, and 5 were found not guilty. Another 5 received commutations to life without parole from the governor.
Sam Millsap, a former Texas district attorney from San Antonio, recently called for DNA testing in the case of Hank Skinner, who is scheduled for execution on March 24. Texas has so far refused to conduct additional DNA tests on critical evidence from the crime scene that could support Skinner's claim of innocence. For the last decade, the state has blocked DNA testing of key pieces of evidence, including a knife that might be the murder weapon and a man's windbreaker found next to the victim's body, which had blood, sweat and hair on it. Skinner's trial attorney failed to investigate another potential suspect, a man who was a relative of the victim and wore a windbreaker like the one found at the murder scene. Millsap stated, "Since 1973, 139 people in 26 states have been released from death row based on evidence of their innocence. Eleven of them were in Texas. Many of these people were freed because of DNA evidence. But DNA testing works only if we use it … It is cases like Skinner's that ended my lifelong support for the death penalty. Any system driven by the decisions of human beings will produce mistakes." Read full text below. 
On March 8, Ohio Governor Ted Strickland postponed the execution of Lawrence Reynolds, who was found unconscious in his death row cell hours before he was to be driven to the execution facility. Reynolds, who was sentenced to die for a murder in 1994, apparently took an overdose of pills despite being under a 72-hour watch that includes frequent monitoring by prison guards. He was found unconscious in his cell around 11:30 pm, and was rushed to a hospital in Youngstown, Ohio. Ohio State Penitentiary spokeswoman Julie Walburn confirmed that Reynolds was alone in his death row cell. The state has rescheduled his execution for March 16. This is the second time the state has postponed Reynolds' lethal injection. He was scheduled for execution in October 2009, but Gov. Strickland delayed executions so the state could review its lethal injection procedure following the failed attempt to execute Romell Broom. Since then, Ohio became the first state to adopt a one-drug lethal injection protocol, a method that Reynolds has challenged.
On March 4, Houston District Judge Kevin Fine granted a pretrial motion in a capital case and declared the death penalty in Texas unconstitutional. Judge Fine said the state's law violates a defendant’s right to due process because of the risk of executing an innocent person. The judge based his ruling on studies around the country and in Texas that indicated, "it can only be concluded that innocent people have been executed….Are you willing to have your brother, your father, your mother be the sacrificial lamb, to be the innocent person executed so that we can have a death penalty so that we can execute those who are deserving of the death penalty?” The defendant's defense attorneys were pleased with the judge's decision, although they believe the ruling will be appealed and probably reversed. Sandra Guerra Thompson, professor at the University of Houston Law Center, said trial judges sometimes issue rulings that are unlikely to stand up on appeal to start a dialogue in the judicial branch. While Texas has consistently led the nation in annual executions, the state has followed a nationwide trend with a decline in new death sentences in 2009. UPDATE: Judge Fine decided to delay a final ruling on the motion until both sides have a chance to be heard. The defendant's death penalty trial has been put on hold, and a hearing will be held on April 27.
On March 3, a federal District Court barred the re-prosecution of former Ohio death row inmate Joe D'Ambrosio (pictured) for the murder of Tony Klann over 22 years ago. The court had ruled in 2006 that state prosecutors improperly withheld evidence about their star witness that could have exonerated D'Ambrosio at his 1989 trial. That ruling led to D'Ambrosio's conviction and death sentence being vacated, and he was eventually released on bond pending a possible retrial. But the state delayed reprosecuting him and did not tell the court that its primary witness, their only eyewitness to the murder, had died. The court concluded that these developments biased D'Ambrosio's chances for a fair trial, and hence the state was barred from retrying him. The state may appeal this decision.
On March 2, Washington became the second state to switch its lethal injection method from the three-drug cocktail used in almost all states to a one-drug protocol. Ohio was the first state to change to the single-drug protocol after the failed execution attempt involving Romell Broom. Broom was ultimately removed from the execution chamber when the correctional officers were unable to complete the execution. In Washington, the one-drug protocol will be the presumed method, but the three-drug protocol remains an option for inmates who request it. Washington Attorney General Rob McKenna, who filed the new policy with the state Supreme Court, also asked the court to dismiss portions of death-row inmate Darold Stenson's appeal challenging the constitutionality of the state's lethal injection procedure. The state supported the constitutionality of its three-drug protocol but made the switch because "the one drug protocol is simpler… to administer, and it no longer embroils the department in the legal challenges to the three-drug protocol," according to Dick Morgan, prisons director for the state Department of Corrections.
Gaile Owens is currently on death row in Tennessee and awaiting a decision from the Tennessee Supreme Court on a request to reduce her sentence to life. Owens's attorneys have asked the state's high court to remove the death penalty because her case presents unique circumstances that warrant the rare move. Owens may face execution soon for soliciting the 1985 murder of her husband, Ronald Owens, a man she said repeatedly abused her. Sidney Porterfield, whom she hired to kill her husband, is also currently on death row. Owens accepted an offer from the prosecutor to plead guilty in exchange for a life sentence, but the prosecutor backed out of the agreement when Porterfield would not accept the same plea. Owens and Porterfield were tried and sentenced to death together, after a judge refused to try their cases separately. Owens is the only inmate on death row who agreed to a plea bargain for a life sentence.
The Death Penalty Information Center collects relevant death penalty articles that have appeared in print and on media Web sites. Our annual compilation is a representative sample of the extensive media coverage given to capital punishment for a particular year and is not inclusive of all such articles. For those interested in examining the titles and sources for this coverage, we have prepared an index of the articles from 2009 in Excel format. The index is arranged chronologically and may be sorted or searched after downloading. Each article’s entry gives its author, title, source, and date. It does not include, however, the full text of the articles listed. Click 