California has the most populous death row in America with some 517 inmates. Texas leads the nation in executions with 92 since 1976. Nationwide approximately 3,500 condemned men and women are currently waiting to die. According to Bureau of Justice statistics, this country executed 74 inmates in 1997, the most recent year for which data is available. Since the states began killing again in 1977, more than 460 men and women have been put to death. In the past few years Northwestern University journalism professor David Protess and his students have helped liberate three wrongfully convicted condemned men through two class projects in investigative reporting (their work wasn’t published but was covered by the press and used by the defense lawyers). Inspired by those successes, MediaFile asked a prominent local defense investigator for tips on digging into death-row cases. Because of concerns about compromising his investigations, he asked to remain anonymous for this interview. Investigator X has been battling capital punishment for two decades on numerous fronts. The longtime Oakland resident has penned essays detailing the arbitrary and racist nature of the death penalty for The New York Times, San Francisco Examiner, Los Angeles Times, and numerous other publications. He has spearheaded activist campaigns against state killing and the prison-industrial complex. He has witnessed one of California’s six contemporary executions. And for the past nine years, Investigator X has traveled the nation and the globe digging up exculpatory evidence for the defense of condemned prisoners. Continue reading TIPS FROM A PRO ON INVESTIGATING DEATH ROW CASES, by A. Clay Thompson →