CURRENT News

Columbia Law Review: An Anatomy of a Wrongful Execution

May 16, 2012

Did Texas execute an innocent man? Did it leave the real killer on the streets to terrorize his neighbors for years to come? Los Tocayos Carlos, a book-length monograph and comprehensive website published by the Columbia Human Rights Law Review, helps answer these haunting questions. Based on one of the most thorough investigations of a criminal case in U.S. history, the groundbreaking article by Columbia Law School Professor James Liebman and a team of students uncovers evidence that Carlos DeLuna, a poor Hispanic man with childlike intelligence who was executed in Texas in 1989, was innocent. Read more...

Shujaa Graham Recounts Powerful Story of His Life on Death Row

May 09, 2012

"Some of you hope to be lawyers, doctors, teachers . . . if I could give you one piece of advice it would be to take up a cause, take up an issue, and fight for it, fight for it, fight for it. When you fight for it, you will be a better person, lawyer, teacher and you will make a better society, a better America. . . struggle, fight.”

Those were the words of exonerated death row inmate Shujaa Graham, who told a captivated audience at the law school on April 11 the series of events that led to his death row sentence in 1976. Read more...

Life After Death Row

May 09, 2012

Jamison sat on death row for 17 years, convicted of a murder that he didn't commit following a trial where 35 pieces of evidence were allegedly withheld. Only hours away from his execution at one point, Jamison was granted a stay and he was able to continue his quest to prove his innocence, which he finally managed to do in 2005. Read more...

Ron Keine to appear in the Discovery Channel program: "Death Row: The Final 24 Hours"

April 26, 2012

Ron Keine will appear in the upcoming Discovery Channel program "Death Row: The Final 24 Hours" on April 30, 2012 at 10 PM. Read more...

Slate on John Thompson: Playing Dirty in the Big Easy

April 19, 2012

New Orleans prosecutors have a checkered history of trying to win-at-all-cost. Now a couple lawyers are trying to hold them accountable. Read more...

WTI Board Member Nate Fields And Rob Warden of the Center on Wrongful Convictions Speak Together on Innocence

April 20, 2012

Speaking as part of a program called “From Death Row to Freedom: An Innocent Man's Journey,” Fields said he wants the death penalty — which was abolished in Illinois last year — snuffed out across the nation. Read more...

Delbert Tibbs' poetry featured in the newly released book, "Demands of the Dead"

April 19, 2012

Assistant Director for Membership and Training and exoneree bard of the abolition movement Delbert Tibbs has contributed four poetry pieces to the newly-released book, "Demands of the Dead: Executions, Storytelling, and Activism," edited by Prof. Katy Ryan and published by University of Iowa Press. Read More...