Equal Justice Initiative

On June 29, 2010, the United States Supreme Court reversed Georgia death row inmate Demarcus Sears’s case because his trial attorney failed to thoroughly investigate mitigating evidence and did not present compelling evidence that could have resulted in a sentence other than death. The Court emphasized that a trial lawyer can fall short of his constitutional obligation to investigate and present mitigating evidence even if he puts on some evidence about the defendant at the penalty phase.

On June 14, 2010, the United States Supreme Court held that a federal appeal filed after a deadline nonetheless can be reviewed on the merits if the late filing was caused by extraordinary circumstances outside a prisoner’s control. The Court ruled that Florida death row prisoner Albert Holland must be given the chance to show that his lawyer’s negligent conduct caused him to miss the deadline for filing a challenge his death sentence.

Today, the United States Supreme Court ruled that Alabama death row inmate Billy Joe Magwood's challenge to the constitutionality of his death sentence must be heard.

A Dale County Circuit Court has ordered a new trial for Emanuel Gissendanner because his trial lawyers' poor performance and the prosecution's failure to turn over evidence violated his constitutional rights. The ruling came after the same judge who presided over the original trial heard compelling testimony from alibi witnesses, forensic experts, and family members that raised questions about whether Mr. Gissendanner committed the capital murder for which he was sentenced to death.

EJI staff with honoree Diane Jones, second from left.

On March 23, 2010, EJI honored George Kendall, Director of Squire, Sanders & Dempsey's Public Service Initiative, and Thomas Sager, general counsel of the DuPont Company and DuPont's legal department, with its Equal Justice Award. The second annual award event celebrated the triumph of Diane Jones, the first woman in Alabama to be released from Tutwiler Prison after being sentenced to life in prison without parole.

Reasoning that a person who brings about a change in the law should be rewarded for his effort, the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that death row inmate John Ward is entitled to a chance to prove that his state postconviction petition should be reviewed on the merits.

The United States Supreme Court today denied relief in Wood v. Allen, an Alabama case which asked the Court to address whether trial lawyers performed adequately when they failed to investigate and present evidence of mental retardation. The decision focused on the procedural rules that limit federal habeas corpus review and did not reach the merits of Mr. Woods's claim.

The United States Supreme Court reaffirmed this week in a case from Florida, Porter v. McCollum, that a defense lawyer must conduct a reasonable investigation to uncover mitigating evidence in preparation for a capital trial.

On November 12, 2009, Herbert Williams was sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals struck down Mr. Williams’s death sentence last year after finding that his trial lawyer failed to provide effective representation because he did not investigate or present powerful evidence of abuse and psychological trauma at trial.

With state and local budget crises emerging and intensifying across the recession-wracked United States, jurisdictions are re-examining the death penalty's high price tag, growing evidence of unreliability and concerns about wrongful convictions. Alabama is a counter-example, as its execution rate increases and careful review of death penalty cases is being restricted.