Last fall, the American Law Institute, which created the intellectual framework for the modern capital justice system almost 50 years ago, pronounced its project a failure and walked away from it.
There were other important death penalty developments last year: the number of death sentences continued to fall, Ohio switched to a single chemical for lethal injections and New Mexico repealed its death penalty entirely. But not one of them was as significant as the institute’s move, which represents a tectonic shift in legal theory.
The oldest death row inmate in the US has died of natural causes aged 94.
The Arizona Department of Corrections said Viva Leroy Nash died late on Friday at the state prison in Florence.
Nash had a criminal record dating back to the 1930s, and was deaf, mostly blind, mentally ill and had dementia, his lawyer said.
He was sentenced to death in 1983, for shooting a salesman after escaping from jail. But he managed to stave off his execution with a series of appeals.
全國年齡最大的死刑犯12日因自然原因去世，享年94歲。亞利桑納州教化廳（Department of Corrections）發言人馬森14日說，納許（Viva Nash）12日死在該州弗羅倫斯的監獄，但不清楚他是死在牢房，還是在監獄的醫療部門。 納許生於1915年，早在1930年代就有犯罪紀錄。他1947年因槍擊康州警察而被判入獄25年，1977年因在鹽湖城槍殺一名男子而被判終身監禁。他在1982年10月在監獄工作時逃脫，一個月後在鳳凰城打死一家硬幣商店的店員，因此被判死罪。但因上訴纏訟，一直未能定讞。
