Nearly all of Louisiana's death row inmates asked on Tuesday for term-limited Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards to spare their lives and grant them clemency — changing their punishment from the death penalty to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.
The 51 clemency applications came after a bill to abolish the death penalty failed during Louisiana's legislative session, which adjourned Thursday. Over the spring, Edwards — who is unable to seek reelection this year due to consecutive term limits, opening a huge opportunity for Republicans to win the seat in a reliably red state — voiced his support, for the first time, to eliminate capital punishment. He urged lawmakers to get rid of the death penalty, saying it was “inconsistent with Louisiana’s pro-life values, as it quite literally promotes a culture of death."
Cecelia Kappel, the executive director of the Louisiana Capital Appeals Project and an attorney for several of the prisoners who have filed clemency applications, said in Tuesday's press release that there are “systemic flaws” to the death penalty in Louisiana. She cited racial disparity, death-sentenced prisoners with evidence of intellectual disability and “prosecutorial misconduct” that has resulted in inmates being exonerated in recent years.
