When the state of Florida could muster no evidence to convict Ron Wright in a double homicide case, it succeeded by spinning an elaborate narrative about him in court, the 2017 death row exoneree said. “Mine was a ‘wholly circumstantial’…
Image of the Cross led him to oppose death penalty
Activist and photographer Scott Langley said the direction of his life and ministry changed the moment he spotted and photographed a large Cross atop the state death chamber in Huntsville, Texas, in 1999. Langley was present on an execution day…
Supreme Court says Baptist pastor should be able to touch and pray over Death Row inmate as he is executed
In an 8-1 opinion, the United States Supreme Court March 24 ruled that a Texas Death Row inmate should be allowed to have his Baptist pastor accompany him into the execution chamber, lay hands on him and pray audibly over…
Supreme Court appears skeptical of Texas Death Row inmate’s appeal for Baptist pastor to be present with him at execution
A U.S. Supreme Court that increasingly views freedom of religious expression as an absolute right even amid a global pandemic appears to feel differently about the religious rights of a condemned inmate. On Tuesday, Nov. 9, the high court heard…
Supreme Court wants to hear Death Row inmate’s request to have his Baptist pastor comfort him at time of execution
The nation’s debate over capital punishment took an unexpected turn Sept. 8 when the United States Supreme Court intervened in a Texas case where the man sentenced to die wanted his pastor to hold his hand while he drew his…
What I learned working in a Texas prison: Retribution, not reformation
I served as a pastor for 33 years and then worked nearly six years as a counselor at the most high-profile maximum-security prison in Texas. There, I ran the mental health department, nestled in the prison infirmary, which serves all…
Son of executed woman says no one has the right to say someone cannot change
The youngest son of the first woman executed in Georgia in 70 years spoke publicly for the first time about the experience in a breakout session at last week’s Cooperative Baptist Fellowship General Assembly in Greensboro, N.C. Dakota Brookshire — son…