The book, In Spite of Innocence, notes that between 1900 and 1992 there
have been 416 documented cases of innocent persons who have been convicted of
murder or capital rape -- a third of whom were given a death sentence.
The authors discovered that in 23 of these cases, the innocent person was
executed.
| Amnesty International USA activists rally against the death penalty at the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court Building. Since 1973, 121 people have been released from U.S. death rows on the grounds of innocence. Two people are scheduled to be executed this month despite serious doubts about their guilt. © AI. |
John Spirko is scheduled to be executed on September 20, 2005. He was sentenced to death in 1984 though he denies carrying out the murder and no physical or forensic evidence links him to the crime.
Take Action!
Call on authorities to consider the accusations of a false case against John
Spirko and the lack of evidence against him, and urge them to recommend clemency
in his case.
» ACT NOW
Take Action: Oppose Execution of Texas Woman with Innocence Claim
Frances Newton is scheduled to be executed in Texas on September 14, 2005.
She was convicted of the murder of her husband and two children on
circumstantial evidence and maintains that she did not commit the murder.
» ACT NOW
Resources Online
The Program to Abolish the Death Penalty updates the information below on a regular basis. Follow the links below for the latest information on these topics.
Death Penalty News
Death sentence commuted for mentally ill Indiana man
On 29 August, just two days before Arthur Baird was due to be executed, Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels commuted his death sentence and imposed a sentence of life without parole. Thank you to all our activists who took action on this case and made this victory possible!
In his Executive Order commuting the sentence, Governor Daniels stated that he took this action because of "certain unusual, probably unique circumstances," making "a different outcome [seem] more just." The Order mentioned a number of key facts about the case: that the jury who originally sentenced him to death did not have the option of sentencing him instead to life without parole, and several jury members had stated that they would have imposed such a sentence instead of the death penalty had this option been available to them; that family members have said that they believed life without parole was the most appropriate penalty, and that Baird had rejected the equivalent of a life without parole plea agreement offered to him by the state before trial "apparently due to his delusional state."
More News! National Weekend of Faith in Action, New Death
Penalty Abolition Blog, National Death Penalty Abolition Coordinators Training,
and more…
» Go to the News page
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