Spate of high-profile US death penalty cases fuels public outrage

4WardEverUK • 30 December 2024

source: The Guardian

first published: 19 December 2024

Image Credit: Donald Tong at www.Pexels.com


A spate of high-profile death penalty cases in 2024 have prompted an unprecedented outburst of public anger and frustration, as several condemned prisoners with credible claims of innocence have fought their pending executions in the court of public opinion.


Profound qualms about the reliability of death sentences have been raised over a number of disturbing cases this year. They include that of Marcellus “Khaliifah” Williams, killed by Missouri through lethal injection in September despite critical doubts around the strength of his conviction and a massive public protest culminating in a petition signed by 1.5 million people.

Other searing cases included the Texas prisoner currently fighting execution for a conviction based on “shaken baby syndrome”, which many experts now reject as junk science, and Richard Glossip, whose 27-year struggle to prove his innocence has galvanized even pro-death penalty Republican lawmakers in Oklahoma to rally to his side.

The roiling of public outrage over condemned prisoners’ claims of innocence, and the protests that have erupted over the fairness of US capital punishment, are some of the headlines of the 2024 annual review of the practice by the authoritative Death Penalty Information Center (DPI).


The report was released just hours before the final execution of the year was slated to be carried out in Oklahoma, where Kevin Ray Underwood died by lethal injection on Thursday morning.


Read the full article >

share this article on social media

Mumia Abu-Jamal
by 4WardEverUK 26 April 2025
On March 26, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court denied political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal permission to appeal a September 2024 denial of his latest petition to reverse his conviction.
John Charles de Menezes
by 4WardEverUK 26 April 2025
The mother of a man shot dead by police in a London Underground station after being mistaken for a terrorist has said “everyone should watch” a new dramatisation of her son’s killing.
Armed police officer
by 4WardEverUK 26 April 2025
New rules giving anonymity to firearms officers accused of murder put police above the scrutiny faced by the rest of the public, the head of the charity Inquest has warned.
Evidence police line
by 4WardEverUK 20 April 2025
A significant step by SA's legal system in confronting the atrocities of its past. A judge approved the trial of police officers for their involvement in the 1982 assassination of three activists.
Palestine protesters
by 4WardEverUK 20 April 2025
Protests in West Yorkshire and elsewhere have mobilised against the Teledyne arms factory. Palestine solidarity rallies and marches took place across Britain in a national day of action.
Police gun in holster
by 4WardEverUK 19 April 2025
South Carolina executed Mikal Mahdi by firing squad on 11 April. Mahdi had been convicted and sentenced for the 2004 killing of an off-duty law enforcement officer, and others followed.
More Articles