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A Song for Condemned Alabama Prisoner
Loaded on April 1, 2025
published in Prison Legal News
April, 2025, page 26
He shot the cop. Or his co-defendant did. Or he did it, but with another uncharged codefendant.
Alabama prosecutors used all three theories to try Toforest Johnson and co-defendant Ardargus Ford for the 1995 murder of Jefferson County Sheriff’s Dep. William Hardy at a Birmingham motel. Ford was acquitted at ...
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More from this issue:
- Deaths, Deplorable Conditions, Staff Misconduct Plague Memphis Jail
- From the Editor, by Paul Wright
- New Jersey Guard Sacked for Mocking George Floyd Killing Loses Appeal
- New York Suspends Solitary Ban to Woo Back Striking Prison Guards
- Porn Produced by Georgia Prisoners
- $7.15 Million for Oklahoma Prisoner Exonerated After Nearly 50 Years, by Anthony Accurso
- North Carolina Reimburses Prisoner $2,500 for Law Books Destroyed by Guards, by Anthony Accurso
- No State Oversight of Overcrowded, Understaffed, and Non-Compliant Idaho Jails
- No Sunshine on In-Custody Deaths in Sunshine State
- Little-Known Law Allows Some Texas Prisoners to Vote
- $1.35 Million in Settlements for One-Legged San Francisco Detainee Forced to Hop—Twice
- Ohio Pauses Executions, Louisiana and Arizona Race Ahead
- Self-Harming Wisconsin Prisoner Settles Failure-to-Protect Suit for $7,000, by Sam Rutherford
- Biden Clemency Recipients Included Virginians Sentenced for “Acquitted Conduct”
- “Swing or Kick Rocks”: BOP Guard Alleges Conspiracy to Brutalize Prisoners at Kentucky Lockup
- 14 Overdoses in Two Weeks Leave One Dead at Phoenix Jail
- Tucson Program Slashes Pretrial Misdemeanor Incarceration
- $1 Million Partial Settlement for Washington Jail Detainee’s Leg Amputation
- Tenth Circuit Stretches PLRA to Deny Claim of Colorado Prisoner Shot by Guard While Shackled, by Douglas Ankney
- $42 Million Jury Award for Detainees Tortured by U.S. Military at Abu Ghraib Prison
- Pardoned Insurrectionists Brought to D.C. Jail Demanded Others’ Immediate Release
- Houston Jail Cited for State-Law Violations Twice in a Month
- A Song for Condemned Alabama Prisoner
- Three Former Virginia Jailers Charged After Detainee Dies in “WRAP” Restraint
- Ninth Circuit: No Exception to Due Diligence in Discovery Even for “Conclusive Evidence”, by Anthony Accurso
- Sixth Circuit: Dismissals of Mixed-Claim Complaints Not Strikes Under PLRA
- Former Indiana Jailer Walks from Charges Over “Night of Terror”
- National Class Certified in Washington Jail Debit-Release Card Suit
- CoreCivic Will Cage Migrant Families in Texas Lockup
- Three More Prisoners Die, Three More Staffers Fired at Wisconsin Prison
- Jailing the Homeless: New Data Shed Light on Unhoused People in Local Jails, by Leah Wang
- GTL, Co-Defendant Agree to $21.3 Million Settlement with HRDC in Price-Fixing Lawsuit
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- GEO Group Gets $1 Billion ICE Contract at New Jersey Lockup
- DOJ Finds “Horrific” Unconstitutional Conditions at Atlanta Jail
- Alabama Governor Commutes Death Sentence
- California Stops Raiding Released Prisoners’ Gate Money
- $4 Million Settlement Approved in HRDC’s Oregon Debit-Release Card Suit
- Nurse Charged, $2.6 Million Settlement Reached in Minnesota Jail Death
- Tenth Alabama Jail Employee Pleads Guilty in Detainee’s Freezing Death
- Muslim Prisoners Face Price-Gouging
- $250,000 Settlement But No Charges After Alabama Guards Beat Prisoner To Death, by Anthony Accurso
- GOP Washington Lawmaker Trolls Felon Enfranchisement Proponents
- Ninth Circuit: Posting Jail Mugshots on Arizona County’s Website Violates Substantive Due Process
- Half of Hawai’i Prisoners Released With No ID
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- $2.5 Million Settlement After South Carolina Jail Detainee Lost 2 Lbs.Per Day and Died, by Anthony Accurso
- More New York Guards Suspended After Another Prisoner’s Fatal Beating
- Fourth Circuit Excuses Maryland Prisoner From Exhaustion Requirement in PREA Claim, by Douglas Ankney
- Eighth Circuit: Arkansas Prisoner Who Had Consensual Sex With Guard Cannot Sustain Eighth Amendment Claim, by Matthew Clarke
- Illinois Pretrial Incarceration Becomes Less Random A Year After Elimination of Cash Bail, by David Reutter
- D.C. Circuit Reverses Dismissal of Federal Prisoner’s Complaint Due to PLRA Three-Strikes Rule
- TDCJ to Run Out of Beds in 2025, by Matthew Clarke
- News in Brief
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More from these topics:
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- Michigan Judge Sued for Jailing Teen Who Nodded Off While Watching in Court, March 1, 2025. Witnesses, Privacy Act/Rights, Judicial Disqualification/Misconduct.
- Sixth Circuit Announces Ohio’s Standard for Judicial Bias Contrary to Clearly Established Federal Law, Holds Trial Judge Unconstitutionally Biased in Capital Case and Defendant Denied Right to Present Mitigating Evidence, Grants Habeas Relief, Dec. 15, 2024. Murder/Felony Murder, Bias/Discrimination, Evidence - Failure to Disclose.
- Louisiana Supreme Court Finds Prosecution Withheld Favorable Impeachment and Exculpatory Evidence in Violation of Brady, Aug. 1, 2024. Exculpatory No Doctrine, Resentencing, Evidence - Failure to Disclose, Remands/Rehearings/Resentencings.
- Prosecutors Receive Absurdly Lenient Sentence of Probation for Brady Violation That Resulted in an Innocent Man Spending More Than Four Years in Prison, July 15, 2024. Prosecutor/Attorney General Misconduct, Attorney Discipline, Brady Rule violations, Evidence - Failure to Disclose.
- HRDC Files Civil Rights Action on Behalf of Wrongly Convicted Florida Man Who Spent 45 Years in Prison, June 15, 2024. Wrongful Conviction, False Arrest, False Imprisonment, Hypnotically Refreshed Memory, Perjury/Perjured Testimony, Evidence - Failure to Disclose.
- Louisiana Supreme Court Springs Prisoner From Death Row, April 1, 2024. Capital Punishment, Exculpatory Materials, Perjury/Perjured Testimony, Evidence - Failure to Disclose, Withholding of Exculpatory Evidence.
- Pennsylvania Supreme Court: Failure to Disclosure Mental Health Report Showing Key Witness Was a Sociopath Constitutes Brady Violation That Prejudiced Defendant, March 15, 2024. Brady Violations, Brady Rule violations, Evidence - Failure to Disclose.
- Michigan Reaches $1.03 Million Settlement with Exonerated Prisoner, March 1, 2024. Wrongful Conviction, Wrongful Imprisonment, Brady Violations, Evidence - Failure to Disclose.
- Texas Court of Criminal Appeals: Trial Court Deprived Defendant of Opportunity to Present Complete Defense, June 15, 2023. Appeals/Appellate Jurisdiction, Best Evidence Rule, Evidence - Failure to Disclose, Prosecutorial Misconduct.