On April 11, 2017, new Alabama Governor Kay Ivey signed into law SB16, which eliminates judicial override of jury sentencing recommendations in capital cases. The capital jury is no longer designated as advisory at the sentencing stage. Rather, its sentencing determination is final. The new law does not require unanimity for a death sentence. A death verdict is to be returned if at least ten of the twelve jurors agree on a death sentence. A verdict of life without possibility of parole needs a simple majority of votes. The new law is not retroactive.
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March 28, 2017 - Supreme Court reverses denial of relief on Atkins claim
In Moore v. Texas, 581 U.S. ___ (March 28, 2017), the Supreme Court (Ginsburg, with Kennedy, Breyer, Sotomayor, and Kagan; dissent by Roberts, with Thomas and Alito), vacated the judgment of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals (“CCA”) which had denied relief to Bobby James Moore on his claim that he was intellectually disabled (“ID”) and therefore ineligible for execution.
March 23, 2017 - 11th Circuit finds death row inmate incompetent to be executed
The Eleventh Circuit ruled in Madison v. Commissioner, Ala. Dept. of Corrections, ___ F.3d ___ (11th Cir. March 15, 2017), that Vernon Madison is not competent to be executed and that the Alabama trial court's decision to the contrary relied on an unreasonable determination of the facts and involved an unreasonable application of the law.
January 5, 2017 - Florida prepared to conduct lethal injection executions
On January 4, 2017, Secretary Julie Jones of the Florida Department of Corrections wrote to Governor Rick Scott to inform him that the Florida lethal injection protocol, which is attached to the letter, meets constitutional standards and certified that the Department of Corrections is prepared to administer an execution by lethal injection and has the necessary procedures, equipment, facilities, and personnel in place to do so.
December 12, 2016 - Another disproportionality ruling from Florida Supreme Court
On November 17, 2016, the Florida Supreme Court in another double murder case reduced two death sentences to life sentences on the ground of disproportionality. McCloud v. State.
November 18, 2016 - Florida Supreme Court finds death sentences disproportionate
On November 17, 2016, the Florida Supreme Court issued a per curiam opinion in Phillips v. State, a double murder case, reducing the defendant's two death sentences to sentences of life imprisonment on disproportionality grounds.
August 2, 2016 - Delaware Supreme Court rules death penalty statute unconstitutional
On August 2, 2016, the Delaware Supreme Court issued its decision in Rauf v. State finding that the Delaware death penalty statute is unconstitutional pursuant to Hurst v. Florida, 136 S.Ct. 616 (2016). The Delaware Supreme Court answered five questions certified by the superior court where Benjamin Rauf's capital prosecution is pending.
June 6, 2016 - Supreme Court grants cert in two Texas capital cases
On June 6, 2016, the Supreme Court granted the certiorari petition of Texas death row inmate Bobby Moore, limited to the first question in the petition: (1) Whether it violates the Eighth Amendment and this Court's decisions in Hall v. Florida, 134 S.Ct. 1986 (2014) and Atkins v. Virginia, 536 U.S. 304 (2002) to prohibit the use of current medical standards on intellectual disability, and require the use of outdated medical standards, in determining whether an individual may be executed.
March 23, 2016 - 9th Circuit vacates decision concerning Chapter 154 regulations
On March 23, 2016, a panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued an opinion vacating the lower court's ruling that barred implementation of Department of Justice's regulations governing certification procedures for States seeking the benefits of Chapter 154 of Title 28 of the United States Code. The panel held that the plaintiffs lacked standing and that the challenge to the regulations was not ripe as no certification had occurred.
November 12, 2015 - 9th Circuit reverses ruling that California’s death penalty scheme is unconstitutional
The Ninth Circuit (Graber, with Rawlinson; Watford concurring) has reversed District Court Judge Cormac Carney’s ruling that California’s current post-conviction review process in death penalty cases violates the Eighth Amendment. Jones v. Davis (9th Cir. Nov. 12, 2015). Specifically, Judge Carney found that the post-conviction review process had become so inordinately and unnecessarily delayed that only an arbitrarily selected few of the many sentenced to death would actually be executed.