Conservative Leaders Confront Death Penalty Errors Head On
Caroline MolloyIn the last two weeks, several major developments relating to the death penalty occurred across multiple states and they had one significant, yet surprising, thing in common: all of the efforts to remove death sentences or reform death penalty procedures were led by conservative Republicans. What was especially remarkable was that these leaders recognized serious errors in individual cases and systemic failings within the justice system and they took decisive, bold action. These actions are part of a growing trend by conservatives who, while not always opposed to capital punishment, are raising concerns about its application, especially about the level of confidence we should have in the systems’ ability to get it right.
Governor Kay Ivey of Alabama commuted the death sentence of Rocky Myers, a man whose case was riddled with doubts about his guilt and other problems, to life in prison without parole. Gov. Ivey, who had never before granted clemency, stated, “I have enough questions about Mr. Myers’ guilt that I cannot move forward with executing him. For example, no murder weapon was found, and no DNA evidence or fingerprints or other physical evidence tied Mr. Myers to the scene of the crime. Although [the victim] Ms. Tucker knew Mr. Myers and let her attacker inside the house, neither she nor Marie Dutton – the only two eyewitnesses to the crime – ever identified Mr. Myers as the assailant.” Myers had originally been sentenced to life in prison by a jury, but a judge overruled the jury’s decision and gave him a death sentence instead, a practice that has since been banned in Alabama.
Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond asked the U.S. Supreme Court to grant death row prisoner Richard Glossip a new trial due to concerns about prosecutorial misconduct in his original trial and the court obliged earlier this month. Dozens of Republican legislators had supported Glossip’s request for a new trial due to concerns that he could be innocent. Republicans have also been moving a bill to temporarily pause executions in the state as a measure to ensure that no innocent people are executed. If passed, the bill would temporarily protect individuals on death row, including Tremane Wood, who is currently awaiting an execution date in Oklahoma despite several problematic factors in his case, including the fact that three out of the 12 jurors who voted to sentence Tremane to death have attested that they did so because they were confused by the jury instructions and erroneously thought the jury had to unanimously agree on the punishment or they wouldn’t be allowed to go home.
