- Study Says Death Penalty System Fraught with Error
Is the death penalty collapsing under the weight of its own mistakes? That’s the conclusion reached in a report released this week. The study is called “A Broken System: Error Rates in Capital Cases.” And it examined every capital conviction and appeal between 1973 and 1995-—nearly 5,500 decisions.
- The Case of Shaka Sankofa (Gary Graham)
We now turn to the case of Gary Graham who is scheduled to die by lethal injection in Texas on June 22. He was convicted and sentenced to death for the 1981 fatal shooting of 53 year old Bobby Lambert during an attempted nighttime robbery in the parking lot of a Safeway supermarket. Graham’s conviction turned on a single eyewitness who allegedly saw him only fleetingly and at night. For 19 years, Graham has maintained his innocence.
- State of Execution: The Death Penalty in Texas
George W. Bush has been under increasing scrutiny as the governor who has presided over more executions than any governor in U.S. history-more than 130. A team of Chicago Tribune reporters just completed the first study of all of the cases of the men and women Bush has executed. The reporters have found that many of the cases were compromised, shaped by witnesses, experts and lawyers of questionable merit.