In 2014 there were only 72 new death sentences nationwide. In fact, 80% of the 35 executions that took place in 2014 took place in just three states, Texas, Florida and Missouri. The Pew Research Center found in 2014 that public support for the death penalty is at a 40 year low at 56%, and opposition to the death penalty has increased to 38%.
 
Proposition:  Andy Silverman - Andy is the Joseph M. Livermore Professor Emeritus at the UA Rogers College of Law, where he has been on the faculty for 45 years. Officially retired, Andy still directs the Civil Rights Restoration Clinic, participates in the Wrongful Conviction Clinic and teaches Immigration Law. Andy has been working on the abolishment of the death penalty in Arizona for many years, and currently is co-chair of Sanctity of Life, People Against Executions (SOLPAE).  He was a long-time board member of Death Penalty Alternatives for Arizona (DPAA) and is now on the DPAA advisory board.  He has represented inmates – including people on death row – for many years through the Arizona Justice Project and the law school’s Wrongful Conviction Clinic.
 
Opposition:  Rick Unklesbay – Rick began working in the County Attorney’s office in 1981. He’s tried over 200 jury trials and more than 120 murder trials. Rick has prosecuted numerous death penalty cases, and has a number of defendants on death row in Arizona. He retired from the County Attorney’s Office in 2010, after serving as a deputy, supervisor of violent crimes, chief criminal deputy and chief trial counsel. However, he still keeps an active case load there, teaches a class at the UA Rogers College of Law on prosecution and criminal law, and gives lectures to undergraduate classes. Rick grew up in a military family and ended up in Tucson by way of the Philippines. He attended the U of A both as an undergrad and for law school.
 
Moderator:  Cathie Batbie-Loucks – Cathie is News Director of KVOA-TV, in Tucson, having held that position for five years. She got her start in TV news as a City Beat reporter in Terre Haute, Indiana in 1996. She moved to Tucson in 1998, and has been at KVOA ever since, as a producer, assignment manager, managing editor, assistant news director, content management center director, and finally, news director. She has long-standing relationships throughout the local, regional and national broadcast news industry, and believes that local media should be engaged in the community, not just report on it.
 
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