49-year-old Eugene Clemons has been imprisoned for the past 25 years. A man with a history of disabilities, abuse as a child, and mental illness, the Supreme Court just closed the last window he might have to avoid execution.
But the story gets worse.
There was an important file delivered in 1999, explaining all the reasons why he shouldn’t be on death row – that the court had yet to see! That file apparently got lost behind a cabinet.
When it was finally found, Alabama’s Attorney General refused to honor it because of a $140 filing fee Clemons couldn’t afford! And that’s not all.
In 1996, President Clinton signed the Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act, which basically prevents federal judges from righting court wrongs, making them “defer to faulty state decisions.”
And in June 2021, the Supreme Court won’t even explain why they refuse to hear Clemons’ case.
President Biden has been indecisive about ending the federal death penalty. He still hasn’t repealed the 1996 act. Now that the Supreme Court is no longer in their way, Alabama can set a date to kill Clemons any day now.
How can we trust a system meant to "rehabilitate" when the state will mercilessly kill people over things like technical errors and miscommunication?
At this point, it's urgent – we need a new system.