The Condemned
What Happens When a Reform Prosecutor Stands Up to the Death Penalty
Prosecutors wield enormous discretion in the U.S. criminal justice system — unless they decide that capital punishment is unjust.
Jordan Smith
Jordan Smith is a state and national award-winning investigative journalist based in Kansas City, Missouri. She has covered the criminal legal system for more than 25 years and, during that time, has developed a reputation as a resourceful and dogged reporter with a talent for analyzing complex social and legal issues. She spent more than 20 years reporting in Texas where she was regarded as one of the best investigative reporters in the state. Her investigative work in wrongful conviction cases has helped to exonerate six people. A longtime staff writer for the Austin Chronicle, her work has also appeared in The Nation, the Crime Report, and the Texas Observer, among other places.
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The Condemned
A Push to Repeal the Death Penalty Gains Ground Across the Western United States
Abolition of the death penalty has increasingly become a bipartisan issue, with fiscal conservatives joining reformers focused on wrongful convictions.
Fingerprint Analysis Is High-Stakes Work — but It Doesn’t Take Much to Qualify as an Expert
One wrong fingerprint match could send an innocent person to prison or see a killer go free. But proficiency tests are frighteningly easy to pass.
Texas Court Halts Rodney Reed Execution Over Questions of Withheld Evidence, False Testimony
In a dramatic turn of events, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals issued an indefinite stay of execution for Rodney Reed on November 15.
Texas Prepares to Execute Rodney Reed Amid a Flood of New Evidence Pointing to His Innocence
As Texas forges ahead with execution plans, three more witnesses come forward with explosive accounts.
Murderville
Georgia Supreme Court Urges State to Stop Stonewalling In Devonia Inman Case: “Let Justice Be Done”
Justice David Nahmias lamented the court’s previous refusal to review Devonia Inman’s case and expressed grave doubts about Inman’s underlying guilt.
The End of Roe
As Trump Fans the Flames of Anti-Abortion Rhetoric, Kansas Offers a Cautionary Tale
Threats against abortion providers have often been condoned by the state. Perhaps nowhere does history more clearly illustrate this point than in Wichita.
Murderville
In Georgia’s “Murderville,” Devonia Inman May Finally Have a Chance to Prove His Innocence
Inman is serving a life sentence for murder. But DNA evidence implicates another man, Hercules Brown, who went on to kill at least two other people.
Women's Health Protection Act Would Stop State Attacks on Abortion Access
The timely reintroduction of this bill addresses the growing number of state restrictions on abortion access.
New Orleans Prosecutors Routinely Violate Defendants’ Right to Counsel to Keep Them in Jail
Prosecutors are sidestepping the Sixth Amendment by seeking bail hikes in undisclosed meetings with judges, according to a new report by Court Watch NOLA.