Houston, Texas–   A Texas man who was exonerated after serving 18 years in prison has been denied compensation because of a legal glitch.  Exonerated Death Row inmate Anthony Graves will be denied compensation because the word “Innocence,” was not used in the document ordering his release, his attorney Katherine Scardino said.

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The state determined that Graves, 45, who could have received as much as $1.4 million had he been deemed eligible, should receive nothing because the words “actual innocence” didn’t appear in the document ordering his release, according to a letter the office sent to Graves’ attorney, Nicole Casarez.

In December, lawyers in the case discussed asking state District Judge Reva Towslee-Corbett, who signed the order freeing Graves, to change the wording of the order. This never happened, however, for reasons that could not be determined Monday.

Read more at Chron.com

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Hundreds of Abu-Jamal supporters gathered outside the federal courthouse in Philadelphia as the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals heard arguments Tuesday over instructions given during his 1982 trial.

The U.S. Supreme Court this year ordered the court to reconsider its decision granting Abu-Jamal a new sentencing hearing in the 1981 shooting death of Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner.

Inside the courtroom, Faulkner’s widow sat with wives and family members of other fallen officers. Maureen Faulkner says Monday would have been the couple’s 31st wedding anniversary.

Abu-Jamal has become an international cause celebre among death penalty opponents.

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Teresa Lewis, 41, died by injection at 9:13 p.m. Thursday, authorities said. She became the first woman executed in Virginia in nearly a century. Supporters and relatives of the victims watched her execution at Greensville Correctional Center in Jarratt.

Lewis enticed two men through sex, cash and a promised cut in an insurance policy to shoot her husband, Julian Clifton Lewis Jr., and his son, Charles, as they slept in October 2002. Both triggermen were sentenced to life in prison and one committed suicide in 2006.

Lewis appeared fearful, her jaw clenched, as she was escorted into the death chamber. She glanced tensely around at 14 assembled corrections officials before being bound to a gurney with heavy leather straps.

Moments before her execution, Lewis asked if her husband’s daughter was near.

Kathy Clifton, Lewis’ stepdaughter, was in an adjacent witness room blocked from the inmate’s view by a two-way mirror.

“I want Kathy to know that I love her and I’m very sorry,” Lewis said.

Then, as the drugs flowed into her body, her feet bobbed but she otherwise remained motionless. A guard lightly tapped her on the shoulder reassuringly as she slipped into death.

More than 7,300 appeals to stop the execution – the first of a woman in Virginia since 1912 – had been made to the governor in a state second only to Texas in the number of people it executes.

Texas held the most recent U.S. execution of a woman in 2005. Out of more than 1,200 people put to death since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated capital punishment in 1976, only 11 have been women.

The 41-year-old woman, who defense attorneys said was borderline mentally disabled, had inspired other inmates by singing Christian hymns in prison. Her fate also had drawn appeals from the European Union, an indignant rebuke from Iran and the disgust of thousands of people.

The Lewis execution stirred an unusual amount of attention because of her gender, claims she lacked the intelligence to mastermind the killings and the post-conviction emergence of defense evidence that one of the triggermen manipulated her.

Lewis’ supporters also said she was a changed woman. They pointed to testimonials from former prison chaplains and inmates that Lewis comforted and inspired other inmates with her faith and the hymns and country gospel tunes she sang at the Fluvanna Correctional Center for Women where she was long held.

Hours before her execution, Lewis met with family, her spiritual adviser and supporters at the Greensville Correctional Center.

Her spiritual adviser, the Rev. Julie Perry, stood sobbing as she later witnessed the execution, clutching a religious book.

Throughout her life, a faith in God had been a seeming constant for Lewis – whether it was the prayer with her husband or her ministry behind bars.

But by her own admission, Lewis’ life has been marked by outrageous bouts of sex and betrayal even as she hewed to the trappings of Christianity.

“I was doing drugs, stealing, lying and having several affairs during my marriages,” Lewis wrote in a statement that was read at a prison religious service in August. “I went to church every Sunday, Friday and revivals but guess what? I didn’t open my Bible at home, only when I was at church.”

Her father said she ran off to get married, then later abandoned her children and ran off with her sister’s husband. Then she had an affair with her sister’s fiance while at the same time having an affair with another man.

Lewis’ life took a deadly turn after she married Julian, whom she met at a Danville textile factory in 2000. Two years later, his son Charles entered the U.S. Army Reserve. When he was called for active duty he obtained a $250,000 life insurance policy, naming his father the beneficiary and providing temptation for Teresa Lewis.

Both men would have to die for Lewis to receive the insurance payout.

She met at a Walmart with the two men who ultimately killed Julian Lewis and his son. Lewis began an affair with Matthew Shallenberger and later had sex with the other triggerman, Rodney Fuller. She also arranged sex with Fuller and her daughter, who was 16, in a parking lot.

On the night before Halloween in 2002, after she prayed with her husband, Lewis got out of bed, unlocked the door to their mobile home and put the couple’s pit bull in a bedroom so the animal wouldn’t interfere. Shallenberger and Fuller came in and shot both men several times with the shotguns Lewis had bought for them.

On a grassy knoll beside the correctional center, those opposed to the execution protested with signs and banners in the twilight Thursday. Critics said they were repulsed by Virginia’s killing of a woman.

“Tonight the death machine exterminated the beautiful childlike and loving spirit of Teresa Lewis,” said the condemned woman’s lawyer, James Rocap.

Texas held the most recent U.S. execution of a woman in 2005. Out of more than 1,200 people put to death since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated capital punishment in 1976, only 11 have been women.

The 41-year-old woman, who defense attorneys said was borderline mentally disabled, had inspired other inmates by singing Christian hymns in prison. Her fate also had drawn appeals from the European Union, an indignant rebuke from Iran and the disgust of thousands of people.

The Lewis execution stirred an unusual amount of attention because of her gender, claims she lacked the intelligence to mastermind the killings and the post-conviction emergence of defense evidence that one of the triggermen manipulated her.

Lewis’ supporters also said she was a changed woman. They pointed to testimonials from former prison chaplains and inmates that Lewis comforted and inspired other inmates with her faith and the hymns and country gospel tunes she sang at the Fluvanna Correctional Center for Women where she was long held.

Hours before her execution, Lewis met with family, her spiritual adviser and supporters at the Greensville Correctional Center.

Her spiritual adviser, the Rev. Julie Perry, stood sobbing as she later witnessed the execution, clutching a religious book.

Throughout her life, a faith in God had been a seeming constant for Lewis – whether it was the prayer with her husband or her ministry behind bars.

But by her own admission, Lewis’ life has been marked by outrageous bouts of sex and betrayal even as she hewed to the trappings of Christianity.

“I was doing drugs, stealing, lying and having several affairs during my marriages,” Lewis wrote in a statement that was read at a prison religious service in August. “I went to church every Sunday, Friday and revivals but guess what? I didn’t open my Bible at home, only when I was at church.”

Her father said she ran off to get married, then later abandoned her children and ran off with her sister’s husband. Then she had an affair with her sister’s fiance while at the same time having an affair with another man.

Lewis’ life took a deadly turn after she married Julian, whom she met at a Danville textile factory in 2000. Two years later, his son Charles entered the U.S. Army Reserve. When he was called for active duty he obtained a $250,000 life insurance policy, naming his father the beneficiary and providing temptation for Teresa Lewis.

Both men would have to die for Lewis to receive the insurance payout.

She met at a Walmart with the two men who ultimately killed Julian Lewis and his son. Lewis began an affair with Matthew Shallenberger and later had sex with the other triggerman, Rodney Fuller. She also arranged sex with Fuller and her daughter, who was 16, in a parking lot.

On the night before Halloween in 2002, after she prayed with her husband, Lewis got out of bed, unlocked the door to their mobile home and put the couple’s pit bull in a bedroom so the animal wouldn’t interfere. Shallenberger and Fuller came in and shot both men several times with the shotguns Lewis had bought for them.

On a grassy knoll beside the correctional center, those opposed to the execution protested with signs and banners in the twilight Thursday. Critics said they were repulsed by Virginia’s killing of a woman.

“Tonight the death machine exterminated the beautiful childlike and loving spirit of Teresa Lewis,” said the condemned woman’s lawyer, James Rocap.

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SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) – A federal judge says Georgia death row inmate Troy Anthony Davis failed to prove his innocence after the U.S. Supreme Court gave him a rare chance to clear his name.

U.S. District Court Judge William T. Moore Jr.’s ruling Tuesday sets the stage for Georgia to resume plans for Davis’ execution nearly 20 years after a Savannah jury sentenced him to death for the slaying of off-duty Savannah police officer Mark MacPhail.

In June, Moore heard two days of testimony from witnesses who sought to cast doubt on Davis’ conviction. Some said they falsely incriminated Davis at his 1991 trial, either out of spite or under pressure from police. Others said they had heard another man confess to being MacPhail’s killer.

Davis plans to appeal the ruling.

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This is not the first time an inmate set for execution has been found to be wrongfully convicted. With the advent of DNA technology, among other things, it seems the justice system has been able to correct itself somewhat. Still, the prison industrial complex keeps a disproportionate amount of Black men and women behind bars, unable to contribute to society or build lasting 

From ChicagoTribune.com:

The Cook County Board today agreed to pay $525,000 to a former Death Row inmate already given $5.5 million by the city to settle a wrongful conviction lawsuit. The money due under the settlement approved by the board will be paid to Leroy Orange in five equal installments, the last of which is due in January 2014. He spent 19 years behind bars until former Gov. George Ryan pardoned him in 2003. Like several other former murder defendants, Orange alleged that former Chicago Police Cmdr. Jon Burge used torture to force his murder confession. Neither the city nor the county admitted wrongdoing in settling the cases.

http://newsblogs.chicagotribune.com/clout_st/2010/03/county-pays-525000-to-former-death-row-inmate-in-wrongful-prosecution-case.html”>Click here to read more.