Equal Justice Initiative

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.

On Friday, May 8, 2009, EJI attorneys filed a motion asking the Alabama Supreme Court to stay the execution of Willie McNair because of questions about the validity of his sentence. Mr. McNair’s execution currently is scheduled for Thursday, May 14, 2009.

Federal appellate Judge Boyce F. Martin Jr. has joined other state and federal judges in calling for renewed consideration of whether the death penalty is “worth what we are sacrificing to maintain it.” In an April 14 concurring opinion, the longtime judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit emphasized “how expensive the death penalty really is” and how little “the public is getting for its money.”

The United States Supreme Court today decided that it will review the case of Joe Sullivan, who was sentenced to life imprisonment without parole in Florida for an offense at age 13 that did not involve a killing.

On April 30, 2009, a California appeal court struck down a life imprisonment without parole sentence imposed on Antonio Nunez, a 14-year-old child convicted of aggravated kidnapping. The court declared the sentence to be cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth Amendment and the California Constitution.

On April 21, 2009, the United States District Court for the Northern District of Alabama found that Alabama death row inmate Kenneth Thomas is mentally retarded and vacated his death sentence.

In an online poll by the Birmingham News last week, 78.8% of respondents said Alabama should abolish the death penalty altogether.