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Football legend Warrick Dunn joins DA seeking injunction to halt death row clemency hearings

1 year 2 months 3 weeks ago Tuesday, September 12 2023 Sep 12, 2023 September 12, 2023 1:00 PM September 12, 2023 in News
Source: WBRZ

BATON ROUGE - District Attorney Hillar Moore is seeking an injunction Tuesday to block Louisiana from fast-tracking clemency hearings for the state's death row inmates. 

Moore was joined by former NFL player and Catholic High football star Warrick Dunn and his sister Summer Smothers. Their mother, BRPD Cpl. Betty Smothers, was killed in 1993 by a man who is now asking for mercy from his sentence.

Recently, Governor John Bel Edwards said he opposes the death penalty and is working to commute the sentences for 56 death-row inmates to life in prison. In August, WBRZ reported the Louisiana Board of Pardons scheduled hearings for all of the death row inmates the day after Edwards' request to fast-track the cases. 

Edwards had made few public comments about his distaste for the death penalty until this summer, nearing the end of his term. 

Moore says his request on Tuesday will be for all hearings to be decided in accordance with the established law, rules and policies. Eleven men are on death row for crimes in East Baton Rouge Parish. 

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