Search Term(s):
Blog Tags:
Order by: Date Relevancy
Your search returned 4 entries.
It’s not too late for DNA testing in Alabama
Posted: July 25, 2007 11:16 am
Darrell Grayson is scheduled to executed by the state of Alabama tomorrow, despite his requests since 2002 to test DNA evidence that could prove his innocence (or guilt) of a murder that happened 27 years ago. Innocence Project Co-Director Peter Neufeld sent a letter this week to Alabama Gov. Bob Riley asking him to seek the full truth in the Grayson case before executing him. And an editorial in today’s Birmingham News calls for Riley to act before it’s too late.
In our view, it's the right thing to do in this case. It's never too late to check all the evidence as long as a condemned inmate remains alive. For Grayson, it's not too late yet; Riley should act before it is.Read more about the case, and the Innocence Project’s role, in today’s Birmingham News.
Read the full editorial here. (Birmingham News, 07/25/2007)
In a statement released yesterday, the Alabama state Attorney General said the state should not “delay justice” by granting a stay. Read more.
Tags: Death Penalty, Darrell Grayson
Alabama execution scheduled for Thursday despite inmate's pleas for a DNA test
Posted: July 24, 2007 1:34 pm
Darrell Grayson was sentenced to death in Alabama in 1982 for the murder of an elderly woman two years earlier. He is scheduled to be executed on Thursday for this crime, without the benefit of DNA testing that could confirm or deny the state’s theory of Grayson’s guilt.
Grayson does not remember whether he was involved in the crime. He says he had been drinking heavily on the night of the crime and doesn’t know whether he did it. An alleged co-defendant, Victor Kennedy, was executed for the crime in 1999. There is biological evidence from the crime scene that could prove Grayson’s innocence or guilt, but prosecutors have fought testing, even with Grayson’s advocates paying for the tests.A column in the Birmingham News this week calls for Alabama Gov. Bob Riley to stay the execution and order testing.
I don't claim to know whether Darrell Grayson raped and killed Annie Orr almost three decades ago. Truth be told, Grayson himself doesn't claim to know…
But (DNA results are) one more piece of information that (are) readily available and that should be obtained before the state inflicts a punishment it can't undo. For Grayson, this is a big gamble. For state officials, who say they're convinced Grayson is guilty anyway, all that's on the line is a little time. Riley should order the test.
Read the full column. (Birmingham News, 07/22/2007)
Tags: Death Penalty, Darrell Grayson
Will Alabama execute Darrell Grayson without a DNA test?
Posted: July 26, 2007 11:26 am
Activists rallied yesterday on the steps of the Alabama capitol building in Montgomery in support of DNA testing for death row inmate Darrell Grayson, who is scheduled to be executed today. Several organizations, including the Innocence Project, have called for Gov. Bob Riley to delay the execution until authorities are able to conduct DNA testing that could prove Grayson’s innocence or guilt. A statement from the governor’s office said he would make a decision today "before the execution is carried out."
Esther Brown, executive director of Project Hope to Abolish the Death Penalty, said Grayson, who is black, was pressured into a confession by white police officers, tried by a court that provided only $500 to be spent on his defense, and convicted by an all-white jury.
"What he got was Alabama justice," Brown said, standing just below the spot on the Capitol steps where Jefferson Davis was sworn in as president of the Confederacy in 1861.
Read the full story here. (Birmingham News, 07/26/2007)
Tags: Alabama, Death Penalty, Darrell Grayson
Darrell Grayson executed in Alabama without a DNA test
Posted: July 27, 2007 11:01 am
The state of Alabama executed Darrell Grayson by lethal injection shortly after 6 p.m. Thursday night, despite pleas from several fronts for DNA testing in the case that could have shown Grayson’s innocence or confirmed his guilt. Alabama Gov. Bob Riley decided not to delay the execution because "no new evidence has come to light that would warrant a reprieve or a commutation," he said in a prepared statement.
In recent years Grayson claimed he had no memory of the crime, and unsuccessfully appealed to the court to order DNA testing that wasn't available in 1981. The Innocence Project and other activists said a DNA test could prove conclusively whether Grayson raped Orr. If a test found DNA belonging to a third party, but not to Grayson or Kennedy, the case against Grayson would be undermined, they said.
In the days before the execution the Innocence Project, the NAACP, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and other groups called on Riley to issue a stay so the tests could be conducted.
Read the full story here. (Birmingham News, 07/27/07)
Tags: Death Penalty, Darrell Grayson