Two Men Convicted for Drug Crimes That Never Happened
*Originally published in the Huffington Post 03/15/2016. Two different men. Two different states. Two drug convictions. Two prison sentences. Two exonerations. On an October day in 2014, 60-year-old Joseph Crochon was arrested by Houston, Texas police for possession of cocaine. Like many other defendants facing low-level drug charges, Crochon pled guilty two days after his […]
Cash, Killings and Secrets
*Originally published in the Huffington Post 02/16/2016. The State of Missouri paid its “confidential execution staff” in cash-stuffed envelopes, full of $100 bills. Yes, that’s right, according to a recent Buzzfeed investigation, the people in Missouri responsible for actually executing death row inmates were paid, in total, over $250,000 in hard cold currency since 2013, […]
Wrongly Convicted: Arson or Accident?
*Originally published in the Huffington Post 02/01/2016. In December 2015, four men convicted of murder and arson in two completely unrelated cases were exonerated. In Virginia, in 1989, Davey Reedy was convicted of deliberately setting his house on fire. His two children died in the fire. At his trial for murder and arson, fire science […]
Too Long on Death Row to Die
*Originally published in the Huffington Post 01/19/2016. In 1979, Jimmy Carter was President. Pink Floyd released their bestselling album “The Wall.” Denim overalls were in, Mork and Mindy was on TV, and news about the Iranian hostage crisis dominated every headline. Some of you reading this weren’t even alive in 1979. But in 1979, another, […]
Top Five Holiday Wishes for People in Prison
*Originally published in the Huffington Post 12/17/2015. As I celebrate the holiday season surrounded by loving family and friends, my thoughts turn to the millions of incarcerated men and women surrounded by cold steel prison bars. In the holiday spirit of compassion, and with an ever-present eye toward public safety and correctional reform, I have […]
When An 8 Year Old Kills
*Originally published in Huffington Post 11/23/2015. One late-October night in Alabama, sometime around 11:00pm, an 8 year old boy was left alone in an apartment with five younger children while the boy’s mother – and the mother of the other children – went out to a club. When Kelci Lewis, a one-year-old girl, would not […]
Triple Déjà vu: Punishments Lacking Principles
*Originally published in the Huffington Post 10/02/2015. Three different states. Three arranged murders. Same unjustifiable death sentences. Kelly Gissendaner was executed this week in Georgia for arranging to have her boyfriend, Gregory Owen, kill her husband. Owen, who committed the murder, agreed to testify against Gissendaner and received a life sentence. Owen will be eligible […]
Another Innocent Man About to Die?
*Originally pblished in the Huffington Post 09/16/2015. By the time you read this, Richard Glossip might be dead. Glossip is scheduled to be executed on Wednesday, September 15, 2015 – which is tomorrow on my calendar – for a crime he may not have committed. In 1997, Glossip was convicted of murder-for-hire and was sentenced […]
To All the Governors Out There, Follow the President’s Lead on Clemency
*Originally published in the Huffington Post 07/16/2015. This week, President Obama granted clemency to 46 people serving life in federal prison for non-violent offenses. This is a welcome first step in correcting the impact of overly harsh federal prison sentences. Unfortunately, even that first step is limited. President Obama can only consider clemency petitions from […]
Is the Death Penalty Unconstitutional?
*Originally published in the Huffington Post 06/30/2015. Monday, Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer, joined by Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, suggested that the death penalty is unconstitutional. They did so in dissent. But what a powerful dissent it was. The case in question was fairly straightforward. States with capital punishment wanted to use a […]