Clemency

On March 19, 2024, the Georgia Board of Pardons and Parole denied clemen­cy for Willie Pye (pic­tured), who is sched­uled to be exe­cut­ed on March 20, despite argu­ments that he has an intel­lec­tu­al dis­abil­i­ty and is there­fore inel­i­gi­ble for exe­cu­tion, per Georgia state law and U.S. Supreme Court prece­dent. Convicted in 1996 for the 1993 mur­der of his ex-girl­friend, Alicia Yarbrough, Mr. Pye has spent the last 28 years on Georgia’s death row. Mr. Pye’s case has also gen­er­at­ed pub­lic con­cern due to…

On February 9, 2024, the Idaho Supreme Court unan­i­mous­ly dis­missed two state appeals for 73-year-old Thomas Creech, there­by deny­ing his requests for a stay of exe­cu­tion. Mr. Creech, who has been on death row for more than 40 years, has also request­ed a new clemen­cy hear­ing. He is sched­uled to be exe­cut­ed by lethal injec­tion on February 28, which would be Idaho’s first exe­cu­tion since…

On January 19, 2024, the Idaho Commission of Pardons and Parole held a clemen­cy hear­ing for Thomas Creech, who has been on death row for near­ly 44 years. The Commission will now decide whether to rec­om­mend to Governor Brad Little that Mr. Creech’s death sen­tence be com­mut­ed to life in prison with­out parole. By law, the gov­er­nor is not required to fol­low the Commission’s rec­om­men­da­tion. Mr. Creech faced a sched­uled exe­cu­tion date in November 2023, but the Commission stayed the exe­cu­tion so…

In North Carolina, a coali­tion of activists is call­ing on Governor Roy Cooper to com­mute the death sen­tences of 136 peo­ple ​“as an act of racial jus­tice” before he leaves office in 2024. Edward ​“Ed” Chapman, a death row exoneree who spent 14 years on death row, along with oth­er advo­cates with the North Carolina Coalition for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, are urg­ing Gov. Cooper to grant clemen­cy to all death-sen­tenced indi­vid­u­als in North Carolina ​“because of the injus­tices of the death…