Close Search
Round Separator
Menu Search

Entries tagged with “Victims”

Facts & Research

Sentencing Data

,

Sep 14, 2022

BOOKS: ​“Geometrical Justice: The Death Penalty in America”

The out­come of a cap­i­tal pros­e­cu­tion can be pre­dict­ed based upon the rel­a­tive social sta­tus of the vic­tim, the defen­dant, and the jurors, apply­ing a soci­ol­o­gy con­cept known as the geo­met­ri­cal the­o­ry of law, accord­ing to the authors of a new book, Geometrical Justice: The Death Penalty in America.

Policy Issues

Innocence

,

Victims' Families

,

Dec 08, 2022

BOOKS: ​“Shattered Justice: Crime Victims’ Experiences with Wrongful Convictions and Exonerations”

In Shattered Justice: Crime Victims’ Experiences with Wrongful Convictions and Exonerations, released in August 2022, University of North Carolina-Wilmington soci­ol­o­gy and crim­i­nol­o­gy pro­fes­sor Kimberly Cook explores how crime vic­tims and their fam­i­ly mem­bers expe­ri­ence and process the trau­ma asso­ci­at­ed with the crime itself, the legal process, and the exon­er­a­tion of the per­son they once believed to be the perpetrator.

Policy Issues

Costs

,

Victims' Families

,

Aug 28, 2019

Colorado Taxpayers Paid DA’s Office $1.6 Million for Unsuccessfully Pursuing Death Penalty Against Wishes of Victim’s Family

A more than $1.6 mil­lion price tag for pros­e­cut­ing a Colorado death-penal­ty case that the victim’s fam­i­ly opposed and that result­ed in a life sen­tence has caused some Coloradans to ques­tion whether cap­i­tal pros­e­cu­tions are worth the cost. On August 14, 2019, Miguel Contreras-Perez (pic­tured) was sen­tenced to life in prison after he plead­ed guilty to the mur­der of a cor­rec­tion­al offi­cer and the attempt­ed mur­der of anoth­er offi­cer. The sen­tence came sev­en years after the mur­der and after Colorado reim­bursed local pros­e­cu­tors for legal costs in excess of $1.6…

Policy Issues

Arbitrariness

,

Sentencing Alternatives

,

Victims' Families

,

New Voices

,

Mar 03, 2006

Death Penalty Not Sought in Three High-Profile Cases

Prosecutors in Maryland, New Jersey, and Delaware have all cho­sen to seek life sen­tences in three high-pro­file mur­der cas­es. Among oth­er con­cerns, they not­ed their wish to bring com­fort to vic­tims’ fam­i­lies and to secure the pub­lic’s longterm safe­ty. The pros­e­cu­tors expressed con­fi­dence that not seek­ing the death penal­ty was the right choice in these cas­es. Maryland pros­e­cu­tors announced that they will not seek the death penal­ty for sniper John Allen Muhammad, who will go on tri­al in May. Muhammad is charged with killing six peo­ple in Maryland. Montgomery…

Policy Issues

Mental Illness

,

Victims' Families

,

New Voices

,

Dec 21, 2006

Death Penalty Will Not Be Sought for Killing at Jewish Federation

Following an announce­ment that pros­e­cu­tors would not seek the death penal­ty for Naveed Haq, who is accused of killing one woman and wound­ing five oth­ers at the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle, two of Haq’s vic­tims said they sup­port­ed the deci­sion to seek a life sen­tence. ​“The death penal­ty most like­ly pro­mul­gates fur­ther vio­lence and revenge,” said Cheryl Stumbo, who was wound­ed in the attack. King County Prosecutor Norm Maleng clas­si­fied it as ​“one of the most seri­ous crimes that has ever occurred in this city.” Layla Bush, who was…

Policy Issues

Race

,

Victims' Families

,

Federal Death Penalty

,

Sep 07, 2022

Family Members of Buffalo Mass Shooting Want Focus on Preventing Racial Violence, Not Death Penalty

As fed­er­al pros­e­cu­tors con­sid­er what pun­ish­ment to seek against the accused gun­man in the May 2022 mass shoot­ing at a Tops Supermarket in Buffalo, sur­vivors and fam­i­ly mem­bers of vic­tims of the shoot­ing are con­cerned that pur­su­ing the death penal­ty will fur­ther spread the racial hatred that fueled the mas­sacre and divert atten­tion from mean­ing­ful action to com­bat white suprema­cist violence.

Policy Issues

Race

,

New Voices

,

Mar 23, 2017

Florida Black Caucus, Victim’s Parents Urge Governor to Rescind Order Removing Prosecutor For Not Seeking Death Penalty

The Florida Legislative Black Caucus has joined more than 100 lawyers and legal experts and the par­ents of mur­der vic­tim Sade Dixon in urg­ing Governor Rick Scott to rescind his order remov­ing Orange-Osceola County State Attorney Aramis Ayala (pic­tured) from a high-pro­file dou­ble mur­der case in which she decid­ed to not seek the death penal­ty. The oth­er vic­tim in the case, Lt. Debra Clayton, was an Orlando police offi­cer. Governor Scott did not speak with Dixon’s fam­i­ly before issu­ing an order remov­ing Ayala and appoint­ing a Special Prosecutor to the…

Policy Issues

Prosecutorial Accountability

,

Victims' Families

,

Aug 22, 2022

Fort Worth D.A. Urges Reversal of Death Sentence, Saying Trial Prosecutor ​‘Blatantly Lied’ to Jury that Victim’s Family Wanted Death Penalty

The Tarrant County District Attorney’s office has asked the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals (TCCA) to vacate Paul Storey​’s death sen­tence, say­ing that his tri­al pros­e­cu­tor ​“bla­tant­ly lied” to his jury that the victim’s fam­i­ly want­ed the death penal­ty and sub­se­quent­ly com­mit­ted per­jury in state post-con­vic­tion pro­ceed­ings to cov­er up that lie.

Policy Issues

Victims' Families

,

New Voices

,

Feb 24, 2016

Mother of Murder Victim: ​“The Death Penalty Would Inflict Additional Pain on Us”

Duval County, Florida pros­e­cu­tors are seek­ing the death penal­ty for the 2013 mur­der of Shelby Farah (pic­tured), over the objec­tions of Ms. Farah’s fam­i­ly. After unsuc­cess­ful attempts to per­suade pros­e­cu­tors to non-cap­i­tal­ly resolve the case, Darlene Farah, Ms. Farah’s moth­er, pub­licly expressed her views in a recent col­umn in TIME. Farah said, ​“I do not want my fam­i­ly to go through the years of tri­als and appeals that come with death-penal­ty cas­es.” Instead, she wants her fam­i­ly to be able to, ​“cel­e­brate [Shelby’s] life, hon­or her mem­o­ry and begin the…

Policy Issues

Victims' Families

,

Religion

,

New Voices

,

Jan 10, 2018

Murder Victims’ Family Members Speak of Moving Forward, Without the Death Penalty 

Family mem­bers of mur­der vic­tims share no sin­gle, uni­form response to the death penal­ty, but two recent pub­li­ca­tions illus­trate that a grow­ing num­ber of these fam­i­lies are now advo­cat­ing against cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment. In From Death Into Life, a fea­ture arti­cle in the January 8, 2018 print edi­tion of the Jesuit mag­a­zine America, Lisa Murtha pro­files the sto­ries of how sev­er­al promi­nent vic­tim-advo­cates against the death penal­ty came to hold those views. And in a recent­ly released com­pi­la­tion of essays, Not in Our Name, nine fam­i­ly mem­bers of mur­der vic­tims share…

Facts & Research

New Voices

,

Jan 24, 2007

NEW RESOURCES: ​“Living With the Death Penalty”

“Living With the Death Penalty” is a new book that exam­ines the impact of exe­cu­tions on cor­rec­tion­al offi­cers, offend­ers, chap­lains, attor­neys, and vic­tims’ fam­i­ly mem­bers. In this book, author Courtney Vaughn, a rape vic­tim and an Educational Leadership and Policy Studies pro­fes­sor at the University of Oklahoma, offers first-per­son accounts of what it is like to expe­ri­ence the death penal­ty from a vari­ety of per­spec­tives. She explores the sac­ri­fice, alien­ation, and resilien­cy that are com­mon traits among the var­i­ous groups impact­ed by exe­cu­tions, and uses their sto­ries to provide…

Policy Issues

Victims' Families

,

New Voices

,

Nov 28, 2007

NEW VOICES: Father of Murder Victim Urges New Jersey Legislature to Abandon the Death Penalty

In a recent op-ed in the New Jersey Daily Record, Jim O’Brien detailed his expe­ri­ences with the legal sys­tem as the father of a mur­der vic­tim. His daugh­ter Deidre was mur­dered in 1982, and the cap­i­tal tri­als and appeals for the man con­vict­ed of the crime last­ed anoth­er 8 years. O’Brien stat­ed, ​“I’ve lived through the state’s process of try­ing to kill [a mur­der­er], and I can say with­out hes­i­ta­tion that it is not worth the anguish that it puts sur­vivors through….” Because of the ​“hor­ren­dous toll” the process took…

Policy Issues

Victims' Families

,

New Voices

,

Nov 07, 2006

NEW VOICES: ​“Death penal­ty isn’t the jus­tice I seek”

Bonita Spikes’ hus­band was mur­dered 12 years ago. She now works to end the death penal­ty in Maryland. She recent­ly wrote about her per­spec­tive on cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment in the Baltimore Sun. She stat­ed, in part:

Policy Issues

Innocence

,

Victims' Families

,

New Voices

,

Feb 25, 2008

NEW VOICES: Faith in Texas Criminal Justice System Shaken after Exonerations

Two recent arti­cles in the Dallas Morning News detail the lives of those affect­ed by the wrong­ful impris­on­ment of Christopher Ochoa and Richard Danziger in Texas. For some, their faith in the crim­i­nal jus­tice sys­tem has been shat­tered. Twelve years after being sen­tenced to life in prison for a 1988 rape and mur­der, Ochoa and Danziger were exon­er­at­ed by DNA evi­dence. At the time of his arrest, Ochoa, after 15 hours of inter­ro­ga­tion, gave a false con­fes­sion to the police, who fed him facts and edit­ed his final typed confession…

Policy Issues

Victims' Families

,

New Voices

,

Feb 12, 2013

NEW VOICES: Father of Slain Corrections Officer Reverses Course on Death Penalty

In a recent op-ed, the father of slain Colorado cor­rec­tions offi­cer Eric Autobee (pic­tured) explained why he no longer sup­port­ed the death penal­ty and is work­ing for its repeal. Writing in the Pueblo Chieftain, Bob Autobee, him­self a vet­er­an cor­rec­tions offi­cer, said the pur­suit of the death penal­ty in his son’s case caused an ​“unspeak­able emo­tion­al toll” on his fam­i­ly. He wrote, ​“Given what I know now, I can no longer sup­port Colorado’s bro­ken death penal­ty sys­tem. What’s more, I will work to end it to ensure that our resources…

Policy Issues

Sentencing Alternatives

,

Victims' Families

,

New Voices

,

Jan 29, 2008

NEW VOICES: Judge Calls Death Penalty ​“an out­ra­geous way to penal­ize victims”

Maryland Judge Joseph P. Manck sought to lessen the pain and frus­tra­tion to the vic­tims’ fam­i­ly by sen­tenc­ing a defen­dant to life in prison with­out the pos­si­bil­i­ty of parole instead of the death penal­ty. In choos­ing a life sen­tence for Brandon Morris for the mur­der of cor­rec­tion­al offi­cer Jeffrey Wroten, Judge Manck not­ed that appeals in death penal­ty cas­es can stretch on for years. He cit­ed one case that has been going on for 25 years and said that vic­tims’ fam­i­lies often must sit through painful retri­als, lis­ten­ing to defendants…

Policy Issues

Sentencing Alternatives

,

Victims' Families

,

New Voices

,

Nov 14, 2006

NEW VOICES: Life Without Parole Offers Prosecutors, Jurors, and Victims an Acceptable Alternative to the Death Penalty

Prosecutors in Utah have stat­ed that the sen­tenc­ing option of life with­out parole has been very help­ful in giv­ing jurors and fam­i­ly mem­bers of vic­tims a viable alter­na­tive to the death penal­ty. Salt Lake County District Attorney David Yocom not­ed that life with­out parole is often a bet­ter option to present to jurors: ​“It’s a tool for juries as well as pros­e­cu­tors and defense attor­neys, too,” Yocom said. ​“It’s an alter­na­tive to avoid ask­ing a jury of 12 peo­ple to make that deci­sion,” to impose the death penalty.

Aug 10, 2004

NEW VOICES: Maryland Families Urge Prosecutor to End Death Penalty Bid

Expressing their desire to end emo­tion­al­ly strain­ing court pro­ceed­ings, the fam­i­lies of Maryland mur­der vic­tims Betina ​“Kristi” Gentry and Cynthia V. Allen recent­ly urged Anne Arundel County’s top pros­e­cu­tor to end his 3rd attempt to get a death sen­tence for the man accused of killing the two women 10 years ago. ​“They’ve been through so much. I can’t look them in the eye and say, ​‘Nah, you have to relive it again.’ I can’t do that,” said State’s Attorney Frank R. Weathersbee after agree­ing to seek a sen­tence of life…

Policy Issues

Victims' Families

,

Recent Legislative Activity

,

New Voices

,

Feb 22, 2008

NEW VOICES: Mother of Murder Victim Testifies at California Death Penalty Hearing

At a hear­ing of the California Commission on the Fair Administration of Justice held in Los Angeles, the moth­er of a mur­der vic­tim tes­ti­fied about why she believed the death penal­ty does not serve vic­tims’ needs. Aba Gayle’s daugh­ter, Catherine Blount, was a teenag­er when she was mur­dered in 1980 by Douglas Mickey. At first, Gayle told the Commission, ​“The dis­trict attor­ney assured me that the exe­cu­tion of the man respon­si­ble for Catherine’s mur­der would help me heal, and for many years I believed him.” But in 1988, Gayle changed…

Policy Issues

Victims' Families

,

New Voices

,

Federal Death Penalty

,

Apr 10, 2006

NEW VOICES: Mother of September 11 Victim Opposes Death Penalty for Moussaoui

Alice Hoagland’s son, Mark Bingham (pic­tured), was killed on September 11 as he joined with fel­low United Airlines pas­sen­gers to ground a plane that may have been head­ed toward the White House. Hoagland is urg­ing a life sen­tence for Zacarias Moussaoui, who faces the death penal­ty for his role in the ter­ror­ist events of that day. In an inter­view with The Advocate, Hoagland not­ed that spar­ing Moussaoui’s life would hon­or ​“a rev­er­ence for all life” and that it would pre­vent some from view­ing him as a mar­tyr. Hoagland, a former…

Jul 07, 2004

NEW VOICES: Murder Victims’ Family Members Join Call for North Carolina Death Penalty Moratorium

In a let­ter to the North Carolina House of Representatives, 21 fam­i­ly mem­bers of mur­der vic­tims voiced their con­cerns about the state’s error-rid­den death penal­ty sys­tem and urged mem­bers to pass leg­is­la­tion that would impose a two-year mora­to­ri­um on exe­cu­tions while a study is con­duct­ed. ​“We are trou­bled by cas­es in which inad­e­quate rep­re­sen­ta­tion or pros­e­cu­to­r­i­al mis­con­duct led to inno­cent peo­ple being sent to our North Carolina Death Row. We are trou­bled by the ongo­ing evi­dence that our death penal­ty sys­tem is plagued by class and racial bias,” the family…

Policy Issues

Costs

,

Victims' Families

,

Recent Legislative Activity

,

New Voices

,

Mar 13, 2008

NEW VOICES: Murder Victims’ Families Testify in Maryland on the Death Penalty

Family mem­bers of mur­der vic­tims tes­ti­fied before the Maryland Senate Judiciary Committee on March 6 about the painful toll the death penal­ty has tak­en on their lives, stat­ing that the resources spent on seek­ing death sen­tences could be bet­ter used else­where. ​“I’ve watched too many fam­i­lies go through this to make me believe the sys­tem will ever work,” said Kathy Garcia, whose nephew was mur­dered 20 years ago. She con­tin­ued, ​“The death penal­ty divides fam­i­lies at the very time they need each oth­er the most.” Other fam­i­ly mem­bers of murdered…

Policy Issues

Victims' Families

,

New Voices

,

Sep 25, 2006

NEW VOICES: NJ Assemblyman Changes Position on Death Penalty — Legislator Also Lost A Family Member

State Assemblyman Nelson T. Albano of Cape May, New Jersey, announced at a forum on the death penal­ty that he has changed his mind and now oppos­es cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment. Albano said that his change of heart came after read­ing a book about Kirk Bloodsworth, the 1st death-row inmate in the United States to be exon­er­at­ed by DNA evi­dence. The book led him to the insight into that the cap­i­tal-pun­ish­ment sys­tem is flawed and should be put on hold.

Policy Issues

Victims' Families

,

Religion

,

New Voices

,

Dec 31, 2016

NEW VOICES: Regretting Execution, Murder Victim’s Family Urges Governor to Commute Missouri’s Death Row

When Missouri exe­cut­ed Jeff Ferguson in 2014 for the rape and mur­der of Kelli Hall, her father said the Hall fam­i­ly ​“believed the myth that Ferguson’s exe­cu­tion would close our emo­tion­al wounds.” At that time, Jim Hall told reporters ​“It’s over, thank God.” But, he now says, it was­n’t. In an op-ed in the Columbia Daily Tribune, Mr. Hall writes that his fam­i­ly has ​“come to deeply regret [Ferguson’s] exe­cu­tion” and appeals to Governor Jay Nixon to com­mute the death sen­tences of the 25 men remain­ing on the state’s death…

Policy Issues

Victims' Families

,

New Voices

,

Aug 26, 2008

NEW VOICES: Victim’s Brother Says Execution left him with ​“hor­ror and emptiness”

Ronald Carlson want­ed vengeance when his sis­ter was mur­dered in 1983 in Texas. But when he wit­nessed the exe­cu­tion in 1998 of the per­son who com­mit­ted the mur­der he changed his mind. In a recent op-ed in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Carlson said he had no opin­ion on cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment before his sister’s death and remem­bers feel­ing hatred and ​“would have killed those respon­si­ble with my own hands if giv­en the oppor­tu­ni­ty.” But he lat­er dis­cov­ered that, ​“Watching the exe­cu­tion left me with hor­ror and empti­ness, con­firm­ing what I had…

Feb 09, 2004

NEW VOICES: Victim’s Family Requests Life Sentence For Death Row Inmate

After con­sult­ing with the fam­i­ly of the mur­der vic­tim, Maryland pros­e­cu­tors decid­ed not to seek the death penal­ty against Kenneth Collins dur­ing a recent resen­tenc­ing hear­ing. Collins’ death sen­tence was over­turned because of an inad­e­quate defense at his orig­inial tri­al. Margaret Breeden, the vic­tim’s wid­ow, not­ed that seek­ing the death penal­ty for Collins would result in years of ago­niz­ing appeals and that her fam­i­ly is ​“tired of reliv­ing the mem­o­ries of his death every time a new hear­ing is sched­uled.” The pros­e­cu­tor, Stephen Bailey, not­ed that the Breeden fam­i­ly is…

Policy Issues

Victims' Families

,

New Voices

,

Jan 25, 2006

NEW VOICES: Victim’s Family Urges Life For Florida Man

After more than two decades of work­ing to spare the life of Florida death row inmate James Floyd, the fam­i­ly of the woman he mur­dered has suc­ceed­ed in get­ting pros­e­cu­tors to reduce Floyd’s sen­tence to life in prison for the mur­der of Annie Bar Anderson. ​“I did not want him to die, and I did­n’t want his fam­i­ly to suf­fer the mur­der of their father or their broth­er or their son. What good is anger and hatred,” said Elizabeth Blair, who took up the fam­i­ly’s effort to spare Floyd’s life…

Policy Issues

Victims' Families

,

New Voices

,

Mar 27, 2006

NEW VOICES: Victims Do Not Necessarily Want Revenge

Victims of vio­lence and ter­ror are not nec­es­sar­i­ly well served by a sys­tem that promis­es ​“clo­sure” in the form of the death penal­ty, accord­ing to a recent Washington Post col­umn by Dahlia Lithwick. Among oth­er cas­es, the author ques­tions the assump­tions in the fed­er­al gov­ern­men­t’s case against Zacarias Moussaoui as it relates to the needs of the fam­i­ly mem­bers from the September 11th attack: The death penal­ty tri­al of Zacarias Moussaoui has been tout­ed by the gov­ern­ment as a way to bring res­o­lu­tion to bereft fam­i­lies. Hundreds watch the proceedings…

Facts & Research

Recent Legislative Activity

,

New Voices

,

Jan 08, 2007

NEW VOICES: Victims’ Advocates, Prosecutors Caution Against Expansion of Texas Death Penalty

Victims’ advo­cates and pros­e­cu­tors are urg­ing Texas leg­is­la­tors to exclude the death penal­ty from new leg­is­la­tion designed to tough­en penal­ties for repeat child moles­ters. Those opposed to the mea­sure fear that threat­en­ing death sen­tences for sex offend­ers could lead to few­er report­ed cas­es of sex crimes and might even give incen­tive to offend­ers to kill their vic­tims to pre­vent the child from tes­ti­fy­ing in court. Annette Burrhus-Clay, exec­u­tive direc­tor of the Texas Association Against Sexual Assault, not­ed that nine­ty per­cent of child-sex vic­tims know their offend­ers. ​“We’re def­i­nite­ly not concerned…

Policy Issues

Victims' Families

,

New Voices

,

Feb 29, 2012

NEW VOICES: Victims’ Family Members Voice Concerns About Death Penalty

A recent op-ed in the Litchfield (Connecticut) News high­lights con­cerns about the death penal­ty as expressed by mur­der vic­tims’ fam­i­lies. Mary Healy and Jane Caron are social work pro­fes­sion­als who also expe­ri­enced a mur­der in their fam­i­lies. In their recent op-ed, they stat­ed that Connecticut’s death penal­ty does not suf­fi­cient­ly care for the needs of vic­tims: ​“The prob­lem with the death penal­ty is that it main­tains a focus on the mur­der­er when the focus right­ly belongs with the peo­ple the mur­der­er has harmed. The mis­placed empha­sis is evi­dent by the…

Policy Issues

Victims' Families

,

Recent Legislative Activity

,

New Voices

,

Jan 17, 2006

NEW VOICES: Virginia Legislators And Victims Speak Against Death Penalty

Two Virginia law­mak­ers who have had a fam­i­ly mem­ber mur­dered recent­ly spoke in oppo­si­tion to the death penal­ty. During a sen­ate com­mit­tee hear­ing on a bill to impose a mora­to­ri­um on exe­cu­tions, Senators Henry L. Marsh III and Janet D. Howell not­ed that their oppo­si­tion to the death penal­ty was based in their expe­ri­ence of los­ing a loved one to mur­der. Howell’s father-in-law was mur­dered in his home eight years ago. She not­ed, ​“Up until then, I was in favor of the death penal­ty. But when my father-in-law was murdered,…

Policy Issues

Race

,

Oct 30, 2017

STUDY: In Oklahoma, Race and Gender of Victim Significantly Affect Death Penalty

A new study of more than two decades of mur­ders in Oklahoma has found that defen­dants charged with killing a white woman have odds of being sen­tenced to death in the Sooner State that are near­ly ten times greater than if they had been charged with killing a man who is a racial minority.

Policy Issues

Prosecutorial Accountability

,

Victims' Families

,

Oct 07, 2019

Texas Court Reimposes Death Sentence in Case Where Prosecutor Lied to Jury that the Victim’s Family Wanted the Death Penalty

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has rein­stat­ed the death sen­tence of Paul Storey (pic­tured), after a Tarrant County judge had reduced his sen­tence to life because a pros­e­cu­tor had lied at tri­al about the victim’s family’s views on the death penal­ty. In a divid­ed opin­ion issued October 2, 2019, the court did not address the mer­its of Storey’s claim that his death sen­tence should be over­turned because the pros­e­cu­tion had pre­sent­ed false evi­dence and argu­ment to the jury, instead rul­ing that the claim was pro­ce­du­ral­ly defaulted.

Policy Issues

Victims' Families

,

Religion

,

Federal Death Penalty

,

Oct 27, 2021

Three Years After Attack on Synagogue, Status of Trials in Tree of Life Killings Remains Unclear

Three years after the reli­gious­ly-moti­vat­ed attack on Pittsburgh​’s Tree of Life syn­a­gogue, the sta­tus of the state and fed­er­al pros­e­cu­tions in the case remains unset­tled. As the three Jewish con­gre­ga­tions who wor­ship at the syn­a­gogue marked the anniver­sary of the October 27, 2018 attack that took the lives of eleven con­gre­gants, no tri­al date is in sight and the prospect of a cap­i­tal tri­al that many in the tight­ly-knit com­mu­ni­ty oppose con­tin­ues to delay healing.

Policy Issues

Innocence

,

Victims' Families

,

Apr 05, 2016

Victim’s Cousin in Oklahoma Death Penalty Case Speaks of ​“Awful” Guilt Upon Learning Defendants Were Actually Innocent

After Debbie Carter was raped and mur­dered in Ada, Oklahoma in 1982, police and pros­e­cu­tors told her cousin, Christy Sheppard (pic­tured) that Ron Williamson and Dennis Fritz were guilty of the crime. In 1988, Williamson was con­vict­ed and sen­tenced to death; Fritz received a life sen­tence. Eleven years lat­er, the pair were exon­er­at­ed when DNA test­ing exclud­ed them as per­pe­tra­tors and point­ed to anoth­er man who had once been a sus­pect. Sheppard, now a crim­i­nal jus­tice coun­selor and vic­tim advo­cate in Ada, recent­ly shared the sto­ry of her expe­ri­ence learning…

Policy Issues

Sentencing Alternatives

,

Victims' Families

,

New Voices

,

Aug 15, 2007

Victim’s Family Members Seek Closure Through Life Sentence

Nearly two decades after the 1988 rob­bery and mur­der of James Scanlon, his fam­i­ly now says that a sen­tence of life with­out parole for his killer — Ronald Rompilla — will end years of emo­tion­al strain result­ing from the death penal­ty and will help them to start the heal­ing process. ​“It’s time to start remem­ber­ing my dad for the good per­son he was and not always affil­i­at­ing it with Ronald Rompilla and the death penal­ty. … (I)t was time. I did­n’t think going after it again would be good for…

Policy Issues

Innocence

,

Victims' Families

,

New Voices

,

Apr 09, 2020

Victim’s Mother Joins Fight to Free ​“Likely Innocent” Death-Row Prisoner Walter Ogrod, Who Has Symptoms of Coronavirus

Saying she want­ed jus­tice for her mur­dered four-year-old daugh­ter, not ​“a closed case with an inno­cent per­son in jail,” Sharon Fahy has joined with the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office and defense lawyers in the fight to imme­di­ate­ly free Walter Ogrod (pic­tured) from Pennsylvania​’s death row.

Policy Issues

Victims' Families

,

Recent Legislative Activity

,

New Voices

,

Mar 16, 2007

Victims and Law Enforcement Support Kentucky Death Penalty Review

Legislation to estab­lish a com­mis­sion to exam­ine Kentucky’s death penal­ty and report its find­ings to the General Assembly has gained sup­port from for­mer law enforce­ment offi­cials and vic­tims’ fam­i­ly mem­bers. The bill, pro­posed by Rep. Tom Burch, would require the task force to review whether cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment deters crime, is applied fair­ly, and is still accept­able to the pub­lic. It would mark the first time in four decades that the state has exam­ined its death penal­ty laws.

Policy Issues

Victims' Families

,

New Voices

,

Jan 25, 2016

VICTIMS: Murder Victim’s Daughter Says ​“Broken” Death Penalty Doesn’t Bring Closure and is ​“A Waste”

Dawn Mancarella, whose moth­er, Joyce Masury, was mur­dered 20 years ago, called the death penal­ty ​“a waste of ener­gy and mon­ey [that] doesn’t bring jus­tice or clo­sure.” Sharing her views on the death penal­ty in a col­umn for Connecticut’s Register Citizen, Mancarella expressed sup­port for the Connecticut Supreme Court’s 2015 deci­sion declar­ing the death penal­ty ​“incom­pat­i­ble with con­tem­po­rary stan­dards of decen­cy in Connecticut.” ​“It’s dis­ap­point­ing to see that the court is re-vis­it­ing this deci­sion,” she wrote, ​“but I hope they will affirm the orig­i­nal deci­sion and leave the death penalty…

Policy Issues

Victims' Families

,

New Voices

,

Feb 11, 2008

VICTIMS: NPR Features Story of a Father Who Forgave His Daughter’s Murderer

National Public Radio (NPR) recent­ly fea­tured a seg­ment in its StoryCorps series in which a father describes how he came to for­give the man who mur­dered his daugh­ter. Patricia Nuckles was mur­dered by Ivan Simpson in 2001 when she caught him rob­bing her home. Though dev­as­tat­ed by his daughter’s mur­der, Hector Black want­ed to learn more about his daughter’s killer. He learned that Simpson was born in a men­tal hos­pi­tal to a woman who lat­er attempt­ed to drown him and his sib­lings. Simpson and his broth­er escaped, but his…

Policy Issues

Victims' Families

,

Religion

,

New Voices

,

Federal Death Penalty

,

May 30, 2023

Victims’ Families are Divided Over Death Penalty as Bowers Trial Begins

On May 25, 2023, 12 death-qual­i­fied jurors and six alter­nates were select­ed in the fed­er­al cap­i­tal tri­al of Robert Bowers, who is charged with killing 11 wor­ship­pers at a Pittsburgh syn­a­gogue in 2018. Prosecutors struck all the Black, Hispanic, and Jewish venire mem­bers. As tes­ti­mo­ny begins on May 30, some vic­tims’ fam­i­ly mem­bers have expressed sup­port for cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment, while oth­ers have objected.

Policy Issues

Arbitrariness

,

Innocence

,

Oct 27, 2022

With Federal Ruling Awaited, California Prisoner’s Autobiography Selected for Oprah’s Book Club

With a fed­er­al court rul­ing on his inno­cence claims con­sid­ered immi­nent, Oprah Winfrey has des­ig­nat­ed the auto­bi­og­ra­phy of California death-row pris­on­er Jarvis Jay Masters, That Bird Has Wings, as the September 2022 selec­tion for the Oprah Winfrey Book Club. Masters, who has con­vert­ed to Buddhism and become a tal­ent­ed author and pod­cast host in the years since his con­tro­ver­sial con­vic­tion and death sen­tence for the 1985 mur­der of cor­rec­tions offi­cer Sergeant Hal Burchfield, filed his habeas cor­pus peti­tion in fed­er­al dis­trict court in November 2020. His state court chal­lenge had…

Policy Issues

Mental Illness

,

Representation

,

Victims' Families

,

Upcoming Executions

,

Federal Death Penalty

,

Jun 16, 2020

With Litigation Pending in U.S. Supreme Court, Federal Government Issues Four Death Warrants

With a peti­tion for review pend­ing before the U.S. Supreme Court on the legal­i­ty and con­sti­tu­tion­al­i­ty of the fed­er­al exe­cu­tion pro­to­col, U.S. Attorney General William Barr on June 15, 2020 set exe­cu­tion dates for four fed­er­al death-row pris­on­ers, includ­ing three who are involved in the pend­ing case. The war­rants sched­uled three exe­cu­tions over a five-day peri­od in July and a fourth exe­cu­tion in late August. No fed­er­al exe­cu­tions have been car­ried out since 2003, and the five exe­cu­tion dates that had been set for December 2019 and January 2020 were…