Equal Justice Initiative

On June 25, 2009, the United States Supreme Court held that prosecutors cannot use forensic reports as evidence in a criminal trial without giving the defendant a chance to question the analyst who prepared the report. The decision reaffirms the Sixth Amendment right of criminal defendants to confront witnesses against them.

On June 18, 2009, the United States Supreme Court held that prisoners have no right to obtain DNA evidence for testing that could prove they are innocent, even if the prisoner pays for the testing himself.

Tonight Jack Trawick was executed by the State of Alabama. Mr. Trawick was convicted and sentenced to death in Jefferson County, Alabama, for the 1992 sexual assault and murder of Stephanie Gach. Mr. Trawick was the fifth person put to death by the State of Alabama this year.

• Statement on the Execution of Jack Trawick

On June 10, 2009, the Peter and Patricia Gruber Foundation announced that it will award its 2009 Justice Prize to EJI Executive Director Bryan Stevenson and to the European Roma Rights Centre for their "tireless advocacy of human rights for individuals belonging to oppressed groups that historically have not had an effective voice in, or access to, the justice system."

Alabama lawmakers recently passed a new law that requires the state to collect DNA samples from everyone who is arrested for a felony, including children. The law, which passed on the last day of the recently-concluded legislative session, also restricts access to DNA testing for people convicted of a capital offense and reduces the opportunity for a wrongfully convicted person to prove his innocence through DNA evidence.

The editorial board of the Gadsden Times, which has in the past argued for capital punishment, urged the State of Alabama to suspend executions and reconsider whether the death penalty is worth the high financial cost.

• Gadsden Times Editorial: Execution to Death Row?

The Alabama Department of Corrections granted its first medical furlough to Omar Rahman under a new law that allows for release of some geriatric, incapacitated, or terminally ill prisoners.

Seven years after he was condemned to death for the capital murder of Karen Tipton, a Morgan County jury on May 15, 2009, found Daniel Moore not guilty of the killing, making him the eighth Alabama death row inmate to be exonerated.

On Monday, May 18, 2009, the United States Supreme Court granted Alabama death row prisoner Holly Wood's request for review in Wood v. Allen (No. 08-9156).

Willie McNair was executed last week after courts refused to review the trial judge’s decision to sentence him to death even though the jury decided he should be sentenced to life imprisonment without parole.