Mississippi Office of Capital Post-Conviction Counsel

07/24/2026

Great piece on our client Devin Bennett and his struggle to challenge his wrongful conviction. Devin's case is marred by false forensics concerning the shaken baby syndrome hypothesis as well as tainted by Mississippi's discredited and corrupt former medical examiner Steven Hayne. Devin's case is pending in the Mississippi Supreme Court currently, and he deserves an evidentiary hearing.

New evidence has undermined the forensic experts whose testimony helped send Devin Bennett to death row for his infant son's death.

06/30/2026

https://www.propublica.org/article/louisiana-death-row-prisoner-freed-jimmie-duncan?shem=isphc,

The decision affirms a lower court’s ruling nullifying Jimmie “Chris” Duncan’s 1998 first-degree murder conviction. Duncan was convicted based in part on forensic evidence that is now widely regarded as junk science.

06/02/2026

05/28/2026

https://www.wsls.com/news/politics/2026/05/28/supreme-court-rules-for-black-death-row-inmate-from-mississippi-over-racial-bias-in-makeup-of-jury/

The Supreme Court has ruled for a Black death row inmate from Mississippi who claims there was racial bias in the makeup of the jury that convicted him.

04/23/2026

https://sentinelcolorado.com/metro/pneumonia-evidence-upends-a-decades-old-conviction-in-babys-death-to-free-stephen-martinez/?utm_source=TMP-Newsletter&utm_campaign=7a792fe4d8-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2026_04_23_10_33&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_5e02cdad9d-7a792fe4d8-170572641

"My life was stopped 27 years ago along with our family's," said Estrada, who began sobbing after Luxen announced his decision.

03/31/2026

https://mississippitoday.org/2026/03/30/us-supreme-court-mississippi-death-row-jury-racial-bias/?sfnsn=mo&fbclid=IwZnRzaAQ4sOFleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZAo2NjI4NTY4Mzc5AAEe_HA6AqZ2rseeh1kBPqxgnJ3vvKoaDVSdA00MUXNfc1rK9LFLvzVOEwYqbPk_aem_ww4lqV0zkH6eN_5UGgS32Q

The U.S. Supreme Court is hearing arguments Tuesday in the case of Mississippi death row inmate Terry Pitchford. He is Black, and his appeal centers on prosecutors' exclusion of Black people as potential jurors. The jury that convicted and sentenced Pitchford had only one Black juror.

03/20/2026

https://www.cato.org/blog/public-defenders-friction-machine

If public defenders don’t fight for the person the world has already written off, our rights become meaningless. The strength of our republic isn’t measured by how we treat the powerful; it’s measured by how we treat those least positioned to fight back.

03/12/2026

More on Terry Pitchford's case that is headed to SCOTUS

The U.S. Supreme Court will hear an appeal this month from death row inmate Terry Pitchford who was denied relief by the Mississippi Supreme Court after his attorneys claimed Black people were illegally struck from his jury. A Mississippi Today analysis finds that over the last decade the state's hi...

03/06/2026

We’ve had folks ask us for a short summary about Devin Bennett’s case pending in the Mississippi Supreme Court. It is a story about junk science (the shaken baby hypothesis) and Mississippi’s discredited former medical examiner Steven Hayne.

Here is a link to a one-page summary. Please share.

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/mississippi-office-of-capital-post-conviction-counsel_bennett-summary-activity-7435852170849247232-gGaF?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAAAQ4y9AB5xIEFI8S-0GOoO0r083J_4sHn-Y