The federal appeals process in the last several years has undergone an attack by the pro-death penalty forces whose goal is to see an increased number of executions in a shorter period of time. Although advocates for this law attempted to characterize the restrictions as mere reforms, in reality habeas corpus was gutted along with the ability of federal judges to overturn the death sentences handed down by the state courts. Historically, habeas corpus protections emerged from the period of reconstruction following the Civil War. The Habeas Corpus Act of 1867 was designed to give newly freed African Americans federal protection from states that would use the criminal justice system to manipulate and coerce them back to the plantations they had left behind. These protections have played an important role over the past decade, and have allowed many inmates falsely sentenced to death to establish their innocence, or illustrate violations of their constitutional rights.
History is chock full of examples of citizens who have been falsely sentenced to death.
The report listed five Texas inmates who had been wrongfully convicted and sentenced to death. Randell Dale Adams was wrongfully convicted for killing a police officer in Dallas, but he was released in 1989 when documents were discovered that proved prosecutors withheld favorable evidence. Clarence Brandley was wrongfully convicted of killing a white teenager in Conroe. John Skelton was released in 1990 when the Court of Criminal Appeals found the evidence was insufficient to prove the case against him. The report cited racial prejudice, official misconduct, withholding favorable evidence, shoddy legal representation, inadequate post-trial review of innocent claims, and the politicization of the clemency process as factors associated with wrongful convictions.