Shivani Gadhavi –
Published On: December 08, 2021 at 19:50 IST
The Supreme Court of the United States on December 8th, 2021 heard the arguments from two inmates of Arizona Death Row regarding a case which could stop prisoners in general from trying to prove their innocence before their execution.
The Arizona State Officials asked the Apex Court of the United States to not let the two prisoners present their evidence which could prove that they are innocent as they failed to do so in a state court legal proceeding.
The Two prisoners claim absolute innocence regarding the Case. One of the two prisoners has a history of intellectual disability and family abuse.
The Two prisoners argued that the set of lawyers who were representing them were ‘woefully incompetent’ and failed to produce evidence on their part at the state court hearing. The two were provided with a different set of lawyers after their conviction at state court, but even these mishandled the case and could not provide any evidence for their innocence.
The experts who work in death penalty related field are afraid that if the Apex Court agrees with the State Officials of Arizona, it would result in ‘devastating miscarriages of justice’. The decision would lead to innocent beings exonerated for crimes that they did not commit.
Robert Dunham, the Executive Director of the Death Penalty Information Center stated,“An adverse resolution in this case could present crippling obstacles to wrongfully convicted prisoners in proving their innocence and winning their freedom.”