Snappy newsletters. Simple Facebook sharing. Spirited comments. Sweet features are waiting… GET THEM NOW!

Hot on Facebook

'Serpent Pastor' Dies of Snake Bite Mack Wolford believed faith compelled him to face the risk »

More Crime & Courts Stories»

Death Row Challenges Hurt by Newsroom Cuts

Lawyers fear shortage of media resources may result in innocent people being executed

By Rob Quinn, Newser Staff

Posted May 21, 2009 5:30 AM CDT

(Newser) – The huge cuts in newsroom staff around the country may have inadvertently condemned some innocent prisoners to death, the New York Times reports. Lawyers complain that many of the investigative journalists who would have once hotly pursued a story about a wrongly accused Death Row... Read full story »

COMMENTS

Read the comment policy

You need to Log in to Newser to comment. Don't have an account yet? Sign up now!

2 comments

A snapshot of the day's best news stories.

View Larger Grid

All Today Yesterday Pick a Date

What's Popular Now on Facebook

'Serpent Pastor' Dies of Snake Bite

Miami Face-Eater Identified

New York Times (Source Grid »)

High cost becomes argument against capital punishment
Christian Science Monitor

Crime & Courts • Media

execution • journalism • exonerate • death row • Innocence Project • investigative journalism • exoneration

More Newser Stories

600 Miles and 25 Years Apart, Brothers Sentenced to Die

Rodney, Roger Berget led troubled lives

(NEWSER) - Twelve years after his older brother Roger Berget was executed for killing a man, Rodney Berget sits on South Dakota's death row awaiting his own death sentence. Roger was convicted in 1987 of murdering a man for his car and was put to death in Oklahoma at age 39; Rodney was convicted of beating a South Dakota prison guard to death with a pipe while he tried to escape in 2003. At the time, he was serving a life sentence for attempted murder and kidnapping. His execution is scheduled for September, but will likely be delayed for a mandatory review, the AP reports. More»

Rape Conviction Cleared, Thanks to Facebook

Brian Banks served five years in prison

(NEWSER) - A 26-year-old man has been exonerated of rape charges, with a big assist from Facebook. Brian Banks, who spent five years in prison on the charges, was, needless to say, surprised when the woman who claimed he raped her in 2002 added him as a friend on Facebook. He got her to meet with him and a private investigator, where she eventually admitted—while secretly being recorded—that Banks was innocent, the Los Angeles Times reports. Banks' attorneys say she felt guilty and wanted to "make amends." More»

No. of Wrongful Convictions Since 1989: More Than 2K

New registry focuses on flaws in criminal justice system

(NEWSER) - Word of wrongful convictions pops into the news frequently, but a new registry puts a number on just how often: By its count, more than 2,000 people have been exonerated of serious crimes since 1989. The National Registry of Exonerations claims to be the largest database of its kind, and it covers the era since DNA testing began to be commonly used. Many of the wrongful convictions can be traced to police corruption and witnesses who lied or later recanted, but there has also been a surprising number of people who confessed to crimes they didn't commit while under intense interrogation. More»

Experts Can't Figure Out If Death Penalty Deters Murder

Existing studies are flawed, and shouldn't be considered: committee

(NEWSER) - Ohio executed one death-row inmate yesterday and has 11 executions on the books over the next 20 months. The AP notes that could once again make the state one of the country's busiest executioners. So is all that capital punishment deterring murders there? Who knows? That's basically the finding of experts brought together to research the question on behalf of the National Research Council. NPR reports that they considered only the science, not the morality, of the death penalty, by reviewing dozens of studies on the topic. More»

Death Row Inmate Boasts of 'Leisure' Life

'Kill me if you can suckers,' he writes to hometown paper

(NEWSER) - A murderer awaiting execution in North Carolina wrote a letter to his hometown newspaper ridiculing the justice system and describing his life in prison as one of "leisure." 50-year-old Danny Robbie Hembree Jr. is on death row for killing teenager Heather Catterton in 2009, reports ABC News . Hembree sent the letter to the Gaston Gazette ; in it he asks, "Is the public aware that I am a gentleman of leisure, watching color TV in the A.C., reading, taking naps at will, eating three well balanced hot meals a day?" More»

NEWS FROM OUR PARTNERS

What is Newser?

Face it: there's too much news. At Newser, we choose the most thought-provoking and entertaining stories from hundreds of US and international sources and reduce them to a headline, picture, and two paragraphs. And we do it 24/7—you can come back morning, noon, night (and in between) for something new that matters. Read less, know more.

Learn more »

Partnering with: Slate

View Newser on the mobile website

Death Row Challenges Hurt by Newsroom Cuts

Lawyers fear shortage of media resources may result in innocent people being executed

execution • journalism • exonerate • death row • Innocence Project • investigative journalism • exoneration

MOST POPULAR STORIES

[ By Views ]

[ By Comments ]

More Newser Stories

600 Miles and 25 Years Apart, Brothers Sentenced to Die

Rodney, Roger Berget led troubled lives

Rape Conviction Cleared, Thanks to Facebook

Brian Banks served five years in prison

No. of Wrongful Convictions Since 1989: More Than 2K

New registry focuses on flaws in criminal justice system

Experts Can't Figure Out If Death Penalty Deters Murder

Existing studies are flawed, and shouldn't be considered: committee

Death Row Inmate Boasts of 'Leisure' Life

'Kill me if you can suckers,' he writes to hometown paper

About Us

Site

Community

Site Maps

Tools

More News

What is Newser?