Equal Justice Initiative

Human rights work on behalf of Romani victims of discrimination and advocacy for poor people in the criminal justice system in the Deep South was the focus at today's Gruber Justice Prize award ceremony.

The scheduled execution of Romell Broom in Ohio was delayed for a week after prison staff unsuccessfully attempted to lethally inject him for over two hours.

On September 4, 2009, the Alabama Supreme Court reversed the conviction and sentence imposed on Marsha Colby, who was convicted of capital murder after giving birth to what doctors believe was a stillborn baby.

A report just released shows that Cameron Willingham was innocent of the arson for which the State of Texas executed him in 2004.

On August 24, 2009, attorneys with the Equal Justice Initiative filed a petition in the United States Supreme Court on behalf of Alabama death row inmate Michael Carruth challenging the state courts' decision that death row inmates like Mr. Carruth have no right to counsel on appeal to the state's highest court.

On August 17, 2009, the United States Supreme Court, in an unusual and important mid-summer action, ordered a federal district court to hold a hearing and determine whether new evidence shows that death row inmate Troy Davis is actually innocent.

M. Watt Espy, Jr., of Headland, Alabama, died this week, leaving behind a lifetime of work chronicling executions in the United States. Widely recognized as American's foremost historian of executions, Mr. Espy was 76.

On August 11, 2009, North Carolina Governor Beverly Purdue signed into law the Racial Justice Act. The legislation recognizes the potential for racial bias in the administration of the death penalty and seeks to limit the influence of race-based discrimination in capital cases.

On July 24, 2009, a deaf man in a Mobile store bathroom was attacked by police with a Taser gun and pepper spray after he failed to respond to police knocking on the door. Officers forcibly removed 37-year-old Antonio Love from the Dollar General store and attempted to book him on charges of resisting arrest, disorderly conduct, and failure to obey a police officer, even after they learned that Mr. Love could not hear them knocking on the door.

A national study found that more prisoners today are serving life sentences across the country than ever before. Alabama ranks among the top three states for number of life sentences imposed and is the national leader in racially disproportionate sentencing of children to life in prison.