November 2025 Mitigation Presentation

During our first in person event, we were introduced to a number of

influential figures within the Death Penalty Project including: Russell

Stetler, Susan Garvey and Bridget Prince, who each gave us an insight

into their work.

Russell provided an overview of federal and state law in the United

States surrounding the Death Penalty. He emphasized the principles

surrounding mitigation being dignity, equality, fairness and above all

empathy. Alongside this, Russell discussed the obstacles that face

mitigation such as race, judicial bias, inadequate research time and

even presenting mitigation evidence poses difficulty. To emphasize the

importance of volunteers in helping overcome these difficulties, Russell

shared the case of Debra Milke who spent twenty three years on death

row for supposedly arranging for two men to murder her four year old

son, so she could collect an insurance payout. However, in 2015 she

was exonerated for these crimes. A team of ten researchers spent a

staggering 7000 hours, equating to 8 hours per day for three and a half

months, filtering through court records. Such a case truly accentuates

the significance of the project and the amount of resilience it takes to

finally achieve justice.

Susan Garvey, an investigator with the DPP, delved deeper within the

legal and constitutional framework of the death penalty and touched

upon recent discussion in the US surrounding President Trump’s second

term and aims in relation to capital punishment. Susan accentuated the

landmark case of Strickland v Washington that established the standard

of evaluating claims of ineffective representation by counsel under the

6th amendment. The case established a two part test where the

claimant must prove that counsel’s performance was deficient at the

time of the trial and must provide evidence that had they been

equipped with a better counsel, it would have made a difference to one

juror. Interestingly, Susan shed light on the various factors that affect a

defendants circumstances including genetic, environmental and family

background. As an investigator, Susan emphasized the difficulty of

obtaining such mitigating evidence. In the case of Rompilla v Beard, the

defendant’s family claimed that they had no issues and were resistant

in revealing any information, however counsel still had the duty to

probe to find as much as they could about the background of their

client and its subsequent impact on their actions and circumstances.

Moreover, Susan also discussed the current climate surrounding the

death penalty and President Trumps’s second tenure. Most notably,

targeting capital punishment committed by immigrants and the

adoption of new methods of execution. Ultimately, Susan illustrated the

cruelty of President’s Trumps developments and the growing need for

social justice concerning the death penalty.

Lastly, Bridget Prince, the executive director of One World Research,

concluded the event by sharing the task the DPP volunteers at Warwick

are to conduct this year, focusing on discussion on mitigation in

Venezuela, El Salvador and Honduras. To illustrate the importance of

such research Bridget discussed her own experiences and many

previous cases. In the case of USA v Kingsley, to create an extensive

portfolio, researchers travelled to Sierra Leone to discover how the lives

of the defendants family back multiple generations had an impact on

his circumstances and actions. Such cases emphasized the creativity

involved when attempting to find research where it is limited or

restricted.

To conclude, the event provided a valuable introduction to the Death

Penalty Project. The cases discussed helped accentuate the large scope

of impact that the project has alongside the difficulties and continuous

support needed to achieve their aims. Ultimately, as emphasised by all

speakers, “Mitigation is the engine of the Death Penalty’s self-

destruction”. The more effectively that mitigating evidence, collated by

volunteers and investigators, is presented the less support there is for a

punishment that has plagued the US justice system for centuries.