The Death Penalty, the Pandemic, and the Future Practical Challenges

Shawn Nolan leads one of the largest capital post-conviction offices in the country. He will join us to discuss the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on recent executions. His office represented three of the thirteen federally sentenced people recently put to death by the Trump administration. Mr. Nolan and his office were central players in the litigation of those cases, and much of that litigation was specifically related to the pandemic. He will describe the cases, the litigation, and their impact on the future of the federal death penalty. 

Mr. Nolan also represents Ruben Gutierrez, a capital defendant in Texas. Earlier this summer, Mr. Gutierrez obtained a stay of execution from the US Supreme Court only two hours before his scheduled execution. Mr. Nolan will discuss the details of that case and its impact on the future of executions in Texas and across the country.

Shawn Nolan is the Chief of the Capital Habeas Unit in the Federal Community Defender Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. He has been a public defender for thirty-one years, since his graduation from Temple University School of Law in 1989. For the majority of his legal career, Shawn has handled capital cases. In 2002, he began work in the Capital Habeas Unit, he was promoted to Chief of the Unit in February 2014, and currently directs the largest Capital Habeas Unit in the country. The CHU handles capital post-conviction cases around the country. Shawn has also lectured nationally and locally about capital habeas and Guantanamo-related litigation.