Justice News from SCOTUS to a Wrongful Execution?
Dear Friends,
The United States is the only country that allows children to be sentenced to life without parole (LWOP). But in the last 20-years, the United States Supreme Court had steadily limited the most severe sentences for children, including juvenile-LWOP.
As I write in my latest blog post, “A One-Two Punch for Juveniles,” the newly reconstituted SCOTUS appears to have different ideas.
In other news, Ledell Lee was executed in 2017 for the murder of Debra Reese. Although Lee proclaimed his innocence throughout his case, the State of Arkansas rushed through his execution because their lethal injection drugs were about to expire. I wrote about his problematic execution right after it happened.
The Innocence Project and the ACLU obtained posthumous testing of the DNA in Lee’s case. DNA from an unknown perpetrator was found. Lee’s DNA was not on the murder weapon or on the bloody shirt at the scene.
If you need another reason to end the death penalty, I’d add the tragic story of Ledell Lee to the list. To take action against the death penalty, you can send a letter to Congress, sharing your support for a bill that would end capital punishment at the federal level. It won’t bring back Mr. Lee, but it could save a future innocent person from wrongful execution.
As the nation begins to fully re-open, I hope you and your families stay safe and well. Thank you for all that you do.
Take good care,
Jessica