Capital Case Litigation & Investigative Project Inc.

08/04/2018

https://wqad.com/2018/08/03/what-does-popes-death-penalty-shift-mean-for-catholic-politicians/

At the Pope's direction, the Catholic Catechism has been revised, and now calls the death penalty "inadmissible."

06/02/2018

https://www.dmagazine.com/frontburner/2018/05/dallas-man-freed-after-17-years-in-prison-for-a-crime-he-didnt-commit/

A Dallas man who spent 17 years in prison for a crime he didn’t commit walked free Wednesday, exonerated by a confession from an executed cop killer. Dallas County District Attorney Faith Johnson apologized to Quintin Lee Alonzo, who will likely receive some financial compensation, but will never ...

04/02/2018

Case dropped against a man imprisoned for 22 years!

Prosecutors dropped charges Wednesday against a New York man who spent 22 years in prison for a double killing before new witnesses came forward and his conviction was overturned. The decision came after a judge had already overturned Calvin Buari's conviction and freed him in May. Newfound...

03/12/2018

US District Court Judge Snow ruled that media outlets did not show they had a First Amendment right to know the names of suppliers if lethal injection drugs and showed concern that drug suppliers wouldn’t o business with the state of Arizona if their identities were not kept secret. (Associated Press & Arizona Republic)

01/26/2018

Ha’im Al Matin Sharif (formally known as Charles Robbins) was released from Nevada’s Ely Prison. He walked free after spending 29 years on death row. Rater then take the case back to trial, the Clerk County District Attorney’s office begrudgingly agreed to amended charges against Sharif, and he was sentenced to time served. Sharif could have fought and gone to trial but freedom was his goal… Who can blame him?

01/02/2018

On May 11, 2017 the Florida Supreme Court ruled that Ralph Daniel Wright Jr. be acquitted of the murder conviction and death sentence for his 2014 conviction. He became the 159th person to be exonerated a released from death row in the U.S. since 1973. Mark Elliott, from the Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty said: “If an Air Force Sergeant and former Orange County Deputy Sheriff with no criminal record can be wrongfully convicted and sent to death row, it can happen to anyone!”

12/29/2017

On August 22nd, 2017, with just four hours to go before ex*****on, the Missouri governor halted the ex*****on of Marcellus Williams as the result of DNA evidence. He then appointed a special board to complete a review into the case and the irregularities discovered by defense attorneys.

12/20/2017

Charles Dicken's analysis

Just for comparison: Charles Dickens visited Philadelphia’s Eastern State Penitentiary in 1842. He later wrote: “The system is rigid, strict and hopeless… and I believe it to be cruel and wrong… I hold this low and daily tampering with the mysteries of the brain to be immediately worse than any torture of the body.” The prison remained open for 190 years after Dickens condemned it as being barbaric and some of its inhumane practices still continue to be used in prisons nationwide.

12/08/2017

Man Wrongfully Accused Reads Law Books In Prison, Becomes Lawyer And Helps Free Innocent People

*A short but inspirational read.

Jarrett Adams was wrongfully convicted of sexual assault at age 17 and sentenced to 28 years in a maximum security prison. He recently helped overturn an innocent man's conviction — in the same state that, years ago, had sentenced him to prison for

11/30/2017

Solitary Confinement is Torture!
“The anatomy of isolation is so much more than just being separated from others. This includes: social isolation, religions/spiritual isolation, racial/cultural isolation and geographical isolation. It is the screaming that never stops. Reality itself can seem to vanish under such conditions. A deliberate manipulation of conditions for the sole purpose of increasing the degree of dehumanization and isolation.”…excerpted from a letter signed by 37 U.S. prisoners held in solitary confinement.

11/04/2017

Pope to change Catechism on Death Penalty

In a move that could dramatically shift the fight to end the death penalty, Pope Frances “suggests” that the teaching of the Catholic Church should officially be changed. He said, “It must be stated in the strongest possible terms that condemning a person to death is inhumane.”
Pope, now Saint John Paul II began the process of recognizing how hypocritical it was for the Church to teach that “all life is sacred” and still support capital punishment. He issued his Evangelium Vitae which changed the Catechism of the Catholic Church to teach that the death penalty should not be used. He made public appeals for governments to show clemency and refrain from using the death penalty.
Bishops in the United States issued several statements that said the death penalty should not be used because it was unnecessary because advancements in prisons could protect society.
Pope Benedict XVI commended the Philippines for outlawing the use of capital punishment.
On May 19, 2017, U.S. Roman Catholic Bishops unanimously signed the National Catholic Pledge to End the Death Penalty so progress has been made to unify Catholic thinking about capital punishment.
Pope Francis has condemned the death penalty many times during the almost five years of his papacy: but now he made an even more significant move when he signaled that he would change church teaching to make it inadmissible. The death penalty was, he said, “an inhuman measure that humiliates human dignity, in whatever form it is carried out”, and it “is, of itself, contrary to the Gospel … God alone is the true judge and guarantor”.
Human life, he said, “is always sacred”: that’s a line Catholic leaders are very keen on, of course, but usually in connection with abortion, which it vehemently opposes.

10/10/2017

ARKANSAS COULD BEGIN CARRYING OUT DEATH SENTENCES AGAIN

A death penalty experts says Arkansas' recent purchase of a lethal injection drug - in a small amount and at a cheep price - suggests the state has found a reliable supplier to help it move 30 inmates from death row t the ex*****on chamber.

They have purchased a small batch of midazolam, about 40 vials, for $250 in cash. The prison system will not comment siting state security laws. They did however comment, "The Department is declining to address your characterizations of its suppliers. However, we remain confident in our ability to carry out these sentences once the warrant is issued," (Spokesman Solomon Graves)

In 2015 the state purchased $24,226 worth of midazolam, vecuronium bromide and potassium chloride which was enough to put 8 inmates to death.

Because of soon to expire midozolam, the Governor, Asa Hutchinson scheduled 8 ex*****ons in an 11-day period in April of this year.

Based on how much of its lethal drugs were used in April's ex*****ons, Arkansas now has enough midazolam to conduct 2 more ex*****ons, enough vecuronium bromide for 15 and enough potassium chloride for 11.