| Year of Reenactment
(since 1972 suspension) |
1973 | |
| Year of First Execution
(since reenactment) |
1983 | |
| History
|
1884-1939: hanging |
|
| Current Method
|
Lethal injection | |
 |
|
|
Louisiana has life without parole. A jury decides the sentence. The Governor has the authority to act on the advice of the Board of Pardons. The Governor needs a favorable recommendation in order to grant clemency. However, the Governor is not bound by that favorable recommendation. The Governor also has the unlimited and absolute power to grant reprieves.
Three
of Louisiana's six exonerations came in the last few years, including
the most recent, John Thompson in 2003. Thompson was exonerated when a
retrial allowed Thompson to present evidence supressed by the state
during the original trial in 1985. Also in 2003, Herbert Welcome was
granted clemency following the United States Supreme Court decision in Atkins v. Virginia which banned the execution of the mentally retarded.
