Evidence has been discredited
To sentence Quin to death, the jury needed to find that there was a probability that he would commit criminal acts of violence that would constitute a continuing threat to society, even while in a high-security prison. But the evidence presented at trial to support this finding of future dangerousness has since been discredited.
— The State argued that Jones was a “psychopath” to show his future dangerousness. But “psychopathy” is not recognized as a disorder by the American Psychiatric Association.
— The “Hare Psychopathy Checklist” that both the State and Defense relied upon to argue about Jones’s future dangerousness has since been fully discredited. Robert Hare himself — the creator of the checklist — published a scientific paper in 2017 that concluded that Hare checklist, “did not meet the standard recommended for criminal cases.”
— The assessment by Dr. Price, the State’s expert, of Jones was subjective and unreliable. The Hare checklist as applied in Jones’s case reflects its subjectivity and lack of scientific validity.
— Jones’s conduct during incarceration over the past two decades belies the conclusion by the State’s expert that he would be a danger to others even while in prison. Jones has no disciplinary records indicating any violent incidents and has functioned well in his twenty-one years on death row.