Announcements - The Center for Death Penalty Litigation

Strengthening criminal defense through community: CDPL’s Interns of Color program

June 10, 2026 By Kristin Collins

CDPL attorney Kailey Morgan, second from right in front row, at this year’s first Interns of Color gathering

At CDPL, we believe a diverse criminal defense bar is key to providing excellent representation for our clients. However, given a legacy of racism in the criminal legal system, it takes commitment and creativity to build a multi-racial attorney pool. That’s why CDPL created the Interns of Color program.

This summer, for the third year in a row, CDPL will host a series of special events to build community and offer support to interns of color at criminal defense and advocacy organizations in North Carolina. The program includes interns from CDPL, Emancipate NC, the ACLU Capital Punishment Program, Forward Justice, Prisoner Legal Services and the Southern Coalition for Social Justice.

“I would walk into court, and the client and I would be the only people of color in the room,” said Kailey Morgan, a CDPL attorney and former intern. “It’s important to have someone to talk to about what it feels like to be the only person of color in these spaces. Not only having someone to say, ‘I’m sorry this happened to you,’ but, ‘I’ve had this happen too, and here’s how I coped with it.’”

Her own experience spurred Morgan to create the Interns of Color program, which brings students together to socialize and to process their experiences in structured conversations. This summer, they will gather for coffee and donuts at a Black-owned business, a game night, and an end-of-summer reflection. These are in addition to events for all summer interns, including a series of expert lunch lectures, historic site tours of Stagville Plantation and the Pauli Murray House, a Durham Bulls game, and a screening of CDPL’s short film Racist Roots.

Morgan says she’s seen a powerful network of support take shape — one she wished she had when she was starting out in capital defense. Both interns and practicing attorneys from multiple organizations regularly participate. “I’ve had interns call or text me say, ‘Hey, can we talk right now? I just had something really hard happen today,’” Morgan said.

Interns have shared stories of walking into courtrooms, only to have a judge or attorney confuse them with the defendant. They also frequently meet clients of color who are eager to share experiences they weren’t comfortable telling their all-white legal teams.

Working in criminal defense can be overwhelming and losses are far more frequent than wins. For attorneys of color, the burden can feel especially heavy and personal, Morgan said. “We hope the Interns of Color program makes people feel that they can do this work if they have a support system.”

An update on our work: How CDPL is expanding its impact

May 6, 2026 By Kristin Collins

Executive Director Shelagh Kenney (center) and Staff Attorney Aiesha Krause-Lee (third from right) with several members of CDPL’s staff

Over the past few years, CDPL has been quietly growing its work. Now, we want to explain why and how we’ve expanded our footprint in criminal defense, both in our backyard of Durham and across the state.

For most of its history, CDPL focused exclusively on death penalty defense. We remain as committed as ever to preventing executions and representing the more than 120 people on North Carolina’s death row. We’ve been extremely successful in that work, and this summer, North Carolina will mark 20 years since the last person was killed by the state.

Without the overwhelming burden of imminent execution dates, we’ve been able to broaden our legal practice. CDPL now regularly represents people facing harsh sentences in non-capital cases. “We will always vigorously represent our death row clients, but now we can use our resources in other ways too,” said Aiesha Krause-Lee, a CDPL staff attorney. “We’re helping the community and people facing extreme sentences, even if they’re not on death row.”

CDPL’s attorneys now take felony cases and represent defendants, even if they aren’t facing the death penalty, in homicide cases in Durham and surrounding counties like Vance, Granville, and Alamance. They have also prioritized taking cases in rural counties considered “legal deserts,” where there is no public defender’s office, ensuring that all those facing serious sentences have access to counsel.

CDPL attorneys bring an approach grounded in building strong relationships with clients and bringing the full picture of their lives into the courtroom. This comes from a background in capital defense, which involves extensive mitigation investigation and client relationships that last years.

In one case, a CDPL client is facing a years-long sentence for car theft. CDPL’s investigation revealed he had untreated mental illness and substance abuse disorder, and that he stole cars because he needed a place to sleep. CDPL attorneys are now working to get him into a treatment program rather than prison.

“If you don’t actually deal with why people are committing crimes, then they’re going to come out of prison and it’s just going to keep happening,” Krause-Lee said. “We’re working to deal with the root problems, which are the same issues we see in so many of our death row cases.”

This expansion of our practice also connects CDPL to the Durham community where its staff works and lives. In Durham County, we are lucky to have no capital cases, but we are now fighting other extreme sentences including life without parole.

Non-capital work assures that CDPL staff have recent trial experience and regular contact with attorneys and judges around the state. That means a strong capital bar, ready to spring into action wherever the death penalty rears its head.

“We face the solemn responsibility of saving people’s lives,” said CDPL Executive Director Shelagh Kenney. “That’s why we work tirelessly to maintain a roster of highly skilled attorneys who defend clients in North Carolina’s courtrooms every day. It’s a privilege to expand the group of clients whose lives we can touch.”

After commutation, new life for my client

April 14, 2026 By Kristin Collins

By Shelagh Kenney

For more than 30 years, the state of North Carolina has defined my client Elrico Fowler entirely by the crime for which he was convicted and sentenced to death in 1997. CDPL has shared the story of his legal team’s efforts to fight that conviction, which was based on an extremely shaky eyewitness identification that would not be admissible under today’s laws.

But there is so much more to Rico than his legal case. I have always believed in Rico’s innocence. During the years he spent on death row, I sometimes found it hard to go see him and face the harsh reality that the court had sent him there for a crime he did not commit. Yet, each time I went, Rico found a way to offer me hope, to offer me positivity.

In 2024, Gov. Cooper granted Rico clemency and Rico was resentenced to life without parole. His new sentence is not an easy one, but Rico is approaching his situation with hope and a desire to be of service. A beautiful new story in the prison publication, Nash News, details his transition, and you can read it here.

Rico speaks about the strong and supportive community he found on death row, about his ceaseless efforts to educate himself during his time there, and about how his Muslim faith supported him while he faced the possibility of execution. When his sentence was commuted, he felt both overjoyed and sad to leave others on the row behind.

“There are many men who are just as worthy of relief, or even more so, than myself,” Rico says. “Whatever I do now is not just for me, it is for my brothers.”

Now at Nash Correctional, he is living life as fully as he can. He’s savoring new freedoms that weren’t available on death row, like hugging his family for the first time in decades at a contact visit, or seeing the stars at night. He has already achieved his long-held dream of earning a high school equivalency diploma, an opportunity that had not been available to him on the row. He’s taken creative writing classes and begun writing stories that reveal the humanity of people on death row.

He has also devoted himself to mentoring younger men in prison. He believes that all those who have managed to escape death row have a duty. “We have to inspire them with our experiences, so when they are released, they won’t return to the situation that we just escaped from. So, we have a very heavy responsibility.”

As his lawyer, I have a heavy responsibility too. Rico deserves justice and mercy, and I will continue striving to find new paths towards that for him.

Join us for a discussion on women and the death penalty

January 27, 2026 By Kristin Collins

CDPL Executive Director Shelagh Kenney will join a panel at Duke University on Thursday, January 29 to discuss gender, incarceration and the death penalty. The event marks the anniversary of a landmark case that still offers lessons in the struggle for justice.

In 1974, a twenty-year-old Black woman named Joan Little found herself facing the death penalty for killing a white guard who had tried to rape her in an eastern North Carolina prison. The folks who campaigned on Little’s behalf understood the webs of sexual violence, state violence, and racism that ensnared her, and they linked her trial to Black women’s—and everyone’s—liberation. Her eventual acquittal spoke to the power of their critique and the reach of their organizing.

Shelagh Kenney has represented women on North Carolina’s death row for decades. She will join historian Christina Greene a professor of Afro-American studies at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and author of Free Joan Little: The Politics of Race, Sexual Violence, and Imprisonment. They will discuss Little’s case and its many themes that still resonate today. Adriane Lentz-Smith, Associate Professor of History and African & African American Studies at Duke University, will introduce and moderate the discussion.

In addition to the panel, an exhibition of items related to Joan Little, including one of her handwritten, illustrated poems, will be on display in Perkins Library during the month of January 2026.

One year of mercy: Remembering a historic act of clemency

December 31, 2025 By Kristin Collins

Brenda Hooks outside the governor’s mansion. Her son, Cerron Hooks, was one of 15 who received clemency.

So much has happened in the past year that it would be easy to forget what occurred one year ago today.

On this day last year, Governor Roy Cooper made the largest grant of death row clemency in North Carolina’s history, commuting fifteen death sentences to life without the possibility of parole. With that decision, the governor set a powerful precedent and affirmed a fundamental truth: our state does not need to kill in order to do justice.

Eleven of the people who received clemency were CDPL clients. Our attorneys will never forget traveling to the prison that day to share the news that many of our clients had waited decades to hear. Some responded with joy. Others were so overwhelmed they could barely speak.

[Read Shelagh Kenney’s reflection on having four clients receive clemency.]

One year later, those clients are living profoundly different lives. Many have been transferred to lower-security facilities. Free from the extreme isolation of death row, they can now have contact visits with loved ones, take educational classes, hold prison jobs, and participate in daily life in ways that were once impossible.

This anniversary invites us to reflect on what the commutation campaign taught us. It underscored the power of persistence and collaboration. It challenged us to pursue ambitious goals, even when they seemed out of reach. And most of all, it reaffirmed that our work truly changes lives.

Today, we honor the people who were spared execution and the leadership that made that historic action possible. We recognize the many individuals and organizations who stood alongside us to help make it happen. And we recommit ourselves to the work ahead, which we know will not be easy.

The death penalty claims to deliver justice, but instead it perpetuates racism, makes irreversible errors, and fuels a cycle of violence. As we enter 2026, we believe as strongly as ever that we can build a future without state-sanctioned killing.

We will keep working toward that vision every day. We hope you will continue to stand with us.

A message from our new Executive Director

December 23, 2025 By Kristin Collins

CDPL’s new Executive Director Shelagh Kenney

Dear CDPL Community,

I wanted to be the first to share the news with you. Late last week, the CDPL Board of Directors named me Executive Director. It is an incredible honor to carry on CDPL’s legacy as a leader of capital defense work in North Carolina. As I see it, my job description is simple: I will do everything in my power to ensure that no person is ever again executed in North Carolina.

I’ve been committed to this work since law school, when I participated in a death penalty clinic and became convinced capital punishment was our country’s greatest human rights violation. I joined CDPL in 2001, and in the years since, my greatest education has come from my clients on death row. Year after year, I watch them endure hardship with dignity and reach out to others with generosity and kindness. They remind me that no human life is without value. They inspire me not to give up even when the odds feel overwhelming.

Right now, the challenges we face are particularly daunting. This year, the North Carolina legislature passed a bill allowing not just the horror of lethal injections but the possibility of the grisly return of electrocutions and the use of the gas chamber. Some leaders seem determined to end North Carolina’s nearly 20-year pause on executions. Still, I believe we can continue to wage a successful fight against the death penalty. With your support, we have defied great odds before, and we will do it again.

As CDPL’s new Executive Director, I make one humble request as you prepare to celebrate the holidays with family and friends. Please make a year-end contribution to CDPL to ensure that 2026 will be another year without state-sponsored killing.

Wishing you a peaceful season,
Shelagh Kenney

NCAJ Awards CDPL with $15,000 Grant

December 12, 2025 By Meredith Manchester

A huge “thank you” to the North Carolina Advocates for Justice (NCAJ) for awarding us a $15,000 grant from the NCAJ Foundation and the Allen Bailey Endowment this past Wednesday.

NCAJ has been a longtime supporter of CDPL. In the 1980s, their association of trial lawyers, which was originally exclusively for plaintiff attorneys, expanded to include criminal defense attorneys. Although such collaboration is rare, our common ground is clear: both types of attorneys seek to defend individual clients against larger, institutional powers. NCAJ’s partnership has been vital since our own beginning. They advocated for our creation, helped us outlaw the death penalty for the intellectually disabled, and were instrumental in the passage of the Racial Justice Act. We are so grateful for their continued support and are honored to be awarded this grant. CDPL is committed to using these funds to strengthen our life-saving work, fighting to protect people facing the death penalty through direct representation, equipping the community of practitioners who work alongside us, and advocating for an end to capital punishment in North Carolina.

Below is a screenshot from their most recent newsletter with photos from their event:

We’re hiring! Open positions: Staff Attorney and Director of Finance and Administration

December 10, 2025 By Meredith Manchester

CDPL seeks to hire a Staff Attorney and a Director of Finance and Administration. Please see the individual job postings for more information about each position.

About CDPL

CDPL is a non-profit law firm and advocacy organization that works to provide the highest quality representation to people facing execution and to end the death penalty in North Carolina. A significant component of our work is exposing and challenging the racism inherent in the death penalty. In addition to representing clients in trials, appeals, and post-conviction matters, CDPL spearheads litigation, public education campaigns, and cross-disciplinary projects that further our goals of ending the death penalty and addressing systemic injustices. Our team of attorneys, mitigation investigators, paralegals, and support staff has been a key force in changing public opinion and stopping executions.

2025 Annual Fundraiser Featuring Bryan Stevenson and Honoring Gretchen Engel

November 20, 2025 By Meredith Manchester

We are so grateful for those who were able to join us on Wednesday, October 22, for a memorable evening. Though such occasions are always heavy with the weight of human suffering, the night was a powerful reminder that our work is made possible by the enduring strength of community and hope. It is these two things that enable us to “be in the trenches and keep our hearts intact” (to paraphrase a quote shared by former CDPL office manager and investigator, Cas Shearin).

For those who were not present, please know that you were missed. The highlights of the evening were, of course, hearing from former Executive Director, Gretchen Engel, and the inspirational Bryan Stevenson.

Gretchen, lovingly referred to as “THE LEGEND” by former client Lenny Buchanan, spoke about the highs and lows of her 33-year career advocating on behalf of society’s most vulnerable individuals. Exemplifying the humanity central to her work, Gretchen touched on her own personal journey towards holistic empathy and moral imagination through meeting with victims’ loved ones and her love of reading.

Bryan Stevenson, who gave Gretchen her first job in anti-death penalty work, paid tribute to Gretchen’s career throughout a moving oration, emphasizing the importance of truth-telling in the midst of a political environment of fear and anger, cultivating solidarity in moments of perceived isolation, and defending grace and mercy even when it feels like a hopeless pursuit.

Both speakers acknowledged the reality of the times: nationally, executions are on the rise. In North Carolina, recently enacted House Bill 307 threatens to end a 19-year pause on state-sanctioned killings in the Tarheel State. But both speakers also left us with a challenge. To hope. To care. To do. And to “keep on keeping on.”

Watch a recap below. Thank you to Random Gott for the video!

Finally, a special thank you to our sponsors:

Co-Hosts

Jay & Kay Ferguson

Richard Samulski

Partners

Akin Adepoju

Donald Beskind and Wendy Robineau

Burton & Heather Craige

Benefactors

Terrica Redfield Ganzy

Rep. Marcia Morey

Champions

Frank Baumgartner and Jennifer Thompson

Joseph Demeo and Patty Brennan

Sandy Demeree

Lisa Dubs

Hon. Sam J. Ervin IV

Stephen Greenwald and Rebecca Sullivan

Robert Mosteller & Elizabeth Gibson

Gerda Stein and Lee Norris

Jake Sussman and Jessica Flaxman

David Teddy

Julian and Amy Wright

Wyrick Robbins Yates & Ponton, LLP

Defenders

Jane and Adam Stein

Dawn Baxton

Cait Fenhagen and John Carlson

Steve Schewel & Lao Rubert

North Carolina Lawyers 4 the Rule of Law

Jacquelyn Willingham

Advocates

Kenneth J. Rose and Beth Silberman

Dionne R. Gonder-Stanley

Tye and Wanda Hunter

David Neal and Jennifer Weaver

Marcia Owen

Helen and Fred Spielman

Emily Coward and Raphael Ginsberg

Barbara Ellertson

Henderson and Renee Hill

Janet Moore and Neil W. Tollas

Dickson Phillips

Kathleen Zbytniuk

Cindy Adcock and Pat McCoy

Beth Anderson

Hannah Autry

Bradley Bannon

John Charles Boger

Danielle Carman and Jeff Conners

Michel Cavigelli

Emily Gladden

Elaine Gordon & Robert M. Hurley

Sally Greene

Carolyn Ikenberry

Valerie Johnson

Gerald “Bo” King

Virginia Knowlton Marcus in honor of DISABILITY RIGHTS NORTH CAROLINA

Alexa McKerrow and Milo Pyne

Carol Miller

David Mills and Leila Keen

North Carolina Coalition for Alternatives to the Death Penalty

Karen O’Mansky and Andrew Barron

Marilyn Ozer

Jean Parks

Kristin Parks

Daniel Pollitt and Linda Weisel

Mark Rabil

John Reagle

Cas Shearin

Robert & Jess Singagliese

Karen Stegman

Cassandra Stubbs

Deonte Thomas and Elizabeth/Beth Hopkins

Mary Thompson

Kathryn VandenBerg

Jenny Warburg

Libby Webb

Paul E. Green, CDPL, and the Wonder of Transformation

November 19, 2025 By Meredith Manchester

Googling “ACLU-NC Paul E. Green Award” felt like flipping open a CDPL yearbook. Gretchen is our former Executive Director. Cas was an investigator and mitigation specialist. Gerda was our Director of Public Information and a mitigation specialist. Jay is currently on CDPL’s board. Robert and Elaine are former CDPL staff attorneys. And Shelagh? She is our Interim Executive Director.

So what does Paul E. Green, a Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright, educator, and writer have in common with CDPL? Both share a commitment to the vulnerable, a vision for change, and the excellence required to make it happen.

_{A march for death penalty abolition in Raleigh, NC}

Growing up in North Carolina in the early 1900’s, Green was disturbed by racism and the variety of ways it corrupted society’s institutions, including the criminal legal system. He sought to expose these evils through his work, using the power of narrative to draw attention to injustice. Green took a more direct approach regarding the death penalty, keeping vigils outside the state prison the night before an execution, advocating on behalf of people facing capital punishment, visiting individuals on death row, and lobbying for death penalty abolition. In fact, Green led the fight against the death penalty in North Carolina for nearly half of a century.

In recognition of Green’s campaign against capital punishment, the ACLU-NC established an award in his honor, annually granting it to someone who has made “important contributions to abolish or reform the death penalty.” CDPL’s history with this award is a testament to our longstanding dedication and contributions to North Carolina’s long journey toward abolition.

_{Kristi and Shelagh embrace as Shelagh takes the stage to accept her award}

This year’s winner, Shelagh Kenney, has worked at CDPL for almost 25 years. At ACLU-NC’s annual fundraiser this past Thursday, Kristi Graunke introduced Shelagh, recognizing that her tireless and creative advocacy has changed the landscape of capital defense in North Carolina. Graunke, ACLU-NC’s legal director, specifically highlighted Shelagh’s prominent role in the historic Racial Justice Act litigation and the four clients for whom Shelagh helped secure clemency under Governor Cooper. Graunke also lauded Shelagh for the ways in which she has offered mentorship, wisdom, and friendship to North Carolina’s community of civil rights advocates.

Shelagh, in turn, shared her client’s expression of unexpected pride on graduating from a prison program he was only allowed to attend after leaving death row, noting that it was the first time he could remember completing anything. For Shelagh, the ability to help facilitate and witness such change has enabled her to stay in the work and even brought joy in the process. She invited the audience to seek such opportunities to walk alongside incarcerated persons and experience “the wonder of transformation,” both that of the other and of themselves.

I cannot help but interject a personal anecdote here. After several years practicing as a public defender in Philadelphia, I moved to North Carolina to attend Duke Divinity School. My second year at Duke, I interned as a prison chaplain at a state facility, meeting regularly with two individuals on death row. These two frequently talked about their attorneys and the impact they continued to have on their lives, persuading me to set my sights on capital defense after graduation. When I contacted CDPL to inquire about volunteering, Shelagh asked me why I was interested. I of course talked about the attorneys I had heard so much about, though I didn’t know their names or where they worked. As it turns out, one of their names was Shelagh Kenney.

Former ED Gretchen Engel and CDPL staff supporting Shelagh, center, at the ACLU-NC’s fundraiser

Through Shelagh’s work and genuine interest in the lives of her clients, she has offered a glimpse of what abolition has to offer- healing, growth, and a sense of belonging. And when you experience such a wonder, as she calls it, you can’t help but invite others to join you.

When we look at individuals like Shelagh, Paul E. Green, and so many others that have crossed paths with CDPL, it would appear that there is something inherent to justice, compassion, and empathy that demands to be shared. We are grateful to the ACLU-NC for responding to such a demand by keeping Paul E. Green’s memory alive and consistently recognizing CDPL in our quest to continue his legacy.

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