When I last checked in on Kenneth Richey, the British citizen was 40 years old and had been imprisoned in Ohio since he was 22. He had just had his death sentence overturned but not been released, even though not only did he not commit the crime, it is likely there was no crime and the fire he was accused of setting was accidentally started.

Amnesty International visited Richey on death row and said he was treated like a rabid animal. Amnesty described Richey's case as “one of the most compelling cases of apparent innocence that human rights campaigners have ever seen.”

The Government appealed to the Supreme Court which remanded the case for reconsideration of procedural issues. In August, 2007, his conviction was set aside again. The 6th Circuit opinion is here (pdf).

Yesterday, the TimesOnLine reported Richey is about to be released. He'll be home for Christmas. In a "no contest" plea bargain, Richey will get time served.

“The State wanted him to plead guilty and he would not do that. They have agreed to drop murder, to drop the arson and took the most basic minor face-saving deal of no contest. There was nothing left for them to fight about.”

More...

Meet Jerry Givens, former executioner for the Commonwealth of Virginia, with 62 state-sponsored killings under his belt. As he tells ABC News, he's sorry now and he has come to oppose capital punishment.

As the state's chief executioner, Givens pushed the buttons that administered lethal doses of electricity to the condemned. He could even choose how many volts to administer. And he is the first to admit that it was largely guesswork.

"If he was a small guy, I didn't give that much. You try not to cook the body, you know. I hate to sound gross,'' he told ABC News in a rare interview.

Givens has no formal medical training. although he once took a first aid course. He was given on the job training by his counterparts in Texas.

Among the reasons he's now opposed to the death penalty:

After the death penalty was reinstated in Virginia, Givens noted, ruefully, "crime went up.''

Givens' real doubts began with the number of wrongful convictions. He says: [More...]

Update: A transcript of Gov. Corzine's remarks is here.

New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine today signed the bill passed by the N.J. legislature last week abolishing the state's death penalty. (Background here.)

In an extended and often passionate speech from his office at the state capitol, Mr. Corzine declared an end to what he called “state-endorsed killing,” and said that New Jersey could serve as a model for other states.

“Today New Jersey is truly evolving,” he said. “I believe society first must determine if its endorsement of violence begets violence, and if violence undermines our commitment to the sanctity of life. To these questions, I answer yes.”

New Jersey is the first state to legislatively ban the death penalty in more than 40 years. The eight men on New Jersey's death row will now serve life in prison without parole.

In Rome, Italy, lights will flush through the arches of the Coliseum for 24 hours in recognition of the repeal.

States that still have the death penalty include: [More]

It's a done deal. The New Jersey House joined the state senate and today voted to abolish the death penalty. Gov. Corzine has already said he'll sign the bill into law.

New Jersey will become the first state in four decades to abolish the death penalty ....A special state commission found in January that the death penalty was a more expensive sentence than life in prison, hasn't deterred murder and risks killing an innocent person.

The eight men on New Jersey's death row will have their sentences changed to life without parole.

The death penalty in New Jersey is on it's way out.

The state Senate approved legislation Monday that would make New Jersey the first state to abolish the death penalty since 1976, when the U.S. Supreme Court allowed states to impose the sentence.

Death sentences would be changed to life without parole. The bill is expected to pass the Democratic-controlled House, perhaps Thursday, and then go to Gov. John Corzine. Corzine, a death penalty opponent, likely will sign it into law by January 8.

This is not a sudden development. [More...]

Brigid Harrison, a professor of political science and law at Montclair State University, explains why New Jersey should pass a pending bill to repeal the state's death penalty. A cost/benefit analysis favors life imprisonment, given the absence of convincing evidence that death is a more effective crime deterrent.

But decisions made about the death penalty are not chiefly about numbers. They are about right and wrong. And while some victims’ families do long to see their loved one’s killer executed, when the bipartisan New Jersey Death Penalty Study Commission heard testimony from victims’ families, a majority spoke in favor of repealing the death penalty.

Amid trauma and grief over the horrific death of a family member, these victims acknowledged the possibility that an innocent person could be executed by the state. After having survived the ordeal of a loved one’s murder, they questioned the morality of taking another life.

Remember Dr. Alan R. Doerhoff of Jefferson City, Mo? He's the dyslexic physician who administered the doses of chemicals during state executions and previously admitted "sometimes giving inmates smaller amounts of anesthesia than the state had said was its policy."

Turns out Dr. Doerhoff has also been working on federal executions at the Death House in Terre Haute, IN.

The doctor barred by a federal judge from performing executions in Missouri is part of the federal government's secret execution team at its death chamber in Indiana, according to court documents filed in a death penalty appeal.

When Dr. Doerhoff testified before the federal court that banned his participation in state executions in June, 2006, the media didn't report his name. That changed a month later.

The Post-Dispatch reported his name the following month and revealed that he had been sued for malpractice more than 20 times, denied staff privileges by two hospitals and reprimanded by the state Board of Healing Arts for failing to disclose the lawsuits to a hospital where he was treating patients.

A lawsuit filed by six federal death row inmates two months ago alleges Dr. Doerhoff is now a member of the Terre Haute execution team:

More...

On November 13, the Georgia Supreme Court will hear arguments in the case of death row inmate Troy Davis (background here.)

How many of you have ever heard the voice of a death row inmate? Now you can. Amnesty International asks you to sign a petition for Troy and listen to what he has to say.

Troy Davis was convicted without any physical evidence. 7 of the 9 witnesses against him have recanted or changed their testimony. Amnesty's 35 page report on his case is here (pdf).

Following next week's hearing, the court could order a new trial for Davis or order a hearing on the new evidence in the case. The hearing will be webcast live.

More...

Another blow for the death penalty in California yesterday:

California's stalled death penalty plunged deeper into disarray Wednesday when a judge tossed out the state's new lethal injection method. The judge's ruling added to the growing uncertainty over the status of capital punishment in the state.

Marin County Judge Lynn O'Malley Taylor invalidated the state's new procedure because state prison officials failed to treat the new execution method as a new state regulation, which mandates public comment among other requirements.

There are 667 persons on Death Row in California. Executions have been on hold since January, 2006 when federal judge Stanley Vogel ruled California could not use licensed medical professionals to carry out the execution.

More...

Say hello to a new death penalty blog that launched today -- Executed Today:

Executed Today is a blog of history, sociology, biography, criminology, law, and kismet —- an unrepresentative but arresting view of the human condition across time and circumstance from the parlous vantage of the scaffold. This blog each day chronicles an historical execution that took place on that date, and the story behind it.

....Executed Today is a daily chronicle — each day the story of an historical execution that took place on this date, and the story behind it.

While the author is personally opposed to the death penalty, he says the blog is neither pro or anti-death penalty:

More...

Capital punishment watchers have been anxiously awaiting the Supreme Court's action on the execution of Earl W. Berry, scheduled for tonight in Mississippi.

With 15 minutes to spare, the Court has stayed the execution. The vote was 7 to 2. Scalia and Alito dissented.

Is this a signal that the Court will find lethal injections to be cruel and unusual punishment when it decides the Kentucky case it has agreed to review?

ABC News has more, as does Capital Defense Weekly and Scotus Blog.

In a report released today, the American Bar Association is calling for a moratorium on executions in the U.S.

The ABA studied the death penalties in 8 states. It found:

• Spotty collection and preservation of DNA evidence, which has been used to exonerate more than 200 inmates;
• Misidentification by eyewitnesses;
• False confessions from defendants; and
• Persistent racial disparities that make death sentences more likely when victims are white.

It's conclusion:

"After carefully studying the way states across the spectrum handle executions, it has become crystal clear that the process is deeply flawed," said Stephen F. Hanlon, chairman of the ABA Death Penalty Moratorium Implementation Project. "The death penalty system is rife with irregularity."

I'll update with a link to the report when it's available.