ÌÒ×ÓÊÓƵ

Governor Gavin Newsom’s announcement to commute death sentences for more than 500 people will clear the largest death row in the Western Hemisphere.

In 2023, the State of Colorado admitted to the public that a state DNA analyst, Missy Woods, had manipulated data and tampered with evidence in potentially thousands of criminal cases. But the State did not learn of Woods’s malfeasance in 2023. In fact, Woods’s supervisors had been aware of it since 2014. Instead of investigating her fraud and disclosing it to defendants in affected cases, however, the supervisors covered it up and allowed her to continue working on cases—including Daniel Eatinger’s case here—for another decade.   The ACLU’s State Supreme Court Initiative, the ÌÒ×ÓÊÓƵof Colorado, and the Exoneration Project filed an amicus brief with the Colorado Supreme Court arguing that Woods and her supervisors violated their constitutional duty to disclose her misconduct, and that the Court should order systemic remedies for the thousands of defendants who have been harmed.

In the ACLU’s latest podcast, we learn about a 1962 Supreme Court decision recognizing that official, government-sponsored prayers in public schools are unconstitutional. As the fight for religious freedom continues, we’ve provided ideas for families who want to push back against laws that would impose religious doctrine and practices in public schools today.