Sidley’s Capital Litigation Project ensures that people incarcerated on death row have access to high-quality legal representation — perhaps for the first time since their arrest. To date, we have represented 24 prisoners on Alabama’s death row at all stages of post-conviction proceedings. Since the project’s inception, Sidley has invested more than _ hours in these cases. Sidley’s representation of people on Alabama’s death row has been greatly supported by the Equal Justice Initiative, a nonprofit based in Montgomery, Alabama.
In an extraordinary victory, a Sidley team in Chicago achieved the vacatur of a death sentence on behalf of our client in Alabama following nearly 20 years of work by numerous lawyers.
Our client was sentenced to death on September 29, 2000. While his appeal was pending, the Supreme Court issued Atkins v. Virginia, holding that the Eighth Amendment of the United States Constitution prohibits the execution of individuals with intellectual disabilities. Our client, however, was denied the opportunity to present evidence of his intellectual disability. Following years of state post-conviction proceedings, Sidley filed a federal habeas petition in 2018. Judge Annemarie Axon of the Northern District of Alabama granted an evidentiary hearing solely on the Atkins issue. The two-day hearing took place in August 2025.
On March 25, 2026, Judge Axon issued her ruling. Notably, the Court adopted essentially all of the Sidley team’s arguments and found that “the evidence adduced at the hearing clearly and convincingly rebuts the state courts’ findings about [the client’s] lack of intellectual disability.” The Court accordingly granted Sidley’s petition with respect to the Atkins claim and vacated our client’s death sentence.
Sidley’s involvement in the matter dates to March 2007, and at least 75 Sidley lawyers, paralegals, and project assistants assisted over the years. The Sidley team also worked closely with local counsel at Bradley Arant Boult Cummings in Alabama every step of the way.
