A joint effort between the Arizona Justice Project and the Arizona Attorney General’s Office, offering postconviction DNA testing to inmates convicted of rape and murder, has led to its first exoneration. John Watkins was wrongly convicted of rape in 2003. He spent more than 7 years in prison before DNA testing proved his innocence.
Read more about the case at the Justice Project.
The venerable Arizona litigator and Project board member shares his insights on public perception of the judiciary in the death penalty context.
http://maricopabar.org/associations/8668/files/DECEMBER%202010%20ML-FINAL.pdf (at page 3)
Yesterday, the Arizona Supreme Court refused to issue a warrant for the execution of Daniel Wayne Cook. The Court continued the matter, ordering the Attorney General’s office to respond to Mr. Cook’s supplemental brief on the matter of the state’s procurement of Sodium Thiopental. In October, the Court refused to delay the execution of Jeffrey Landrigan, despite similar questions about the source of the drug.
Read more about the issue in the Arizona Republic.
