The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday denied a stay of execution appeal from Teresa Lewis, scheduled to be the first woman executed in the United States in five years.
The Racial Justice Act, only the second of its kind in the United States, has given inmates sentenced to death in North Carolina a potential route to relief. As of today, 114 death row inmates there have filed motions asserting their sentences were tainted by racial bias. While the individual circumstances in each case differ dramatically, from domestic violence to at least one case of serial murders, if they can prove they received the death penalty due in part to racial bias, they will see their death sentence converted the life in prison.
Harold S. Martin writes… The capital punishment debate continues. When dealing with the issue, the media often focuses on cases involving heinous crimes, and as a result, the debates can be very emotional. Humanitarians of whatever.faith (or of no faith) argue that capital punishment has no place in an enlightened society. They say that it […]
