Billy Sothern

Billy Sothern is a criminal defense lawyer who has represented people facing the death penalty in the American South for more than two decades. He is the author of Down in New Orleans: Reflections From a Drowned City (California).

Shon Miller: Portrait of a Mass Killer as a Human Being

Shon Miller: Portrait of a Mass Killer as a Human Being Shon Miller: Portrait of a Mass Killer as a Human Being

The sterile, but endless, debate over the role of mental illness in mass shootings rarely acknowledges how much our system fails those on both sides of the gun.

Jun 10, 2022 / Billy Sothern

Cruel and Unusual Punishment Cruel and Unusual Punishment

As executions resume in the wake of a Supreme Court decision, we are reminded that a life cannot be willfully ended without violence.

May 5, 2008 / Billy Sothern

Waiting for Godot in a Wasteland Waiting for Godot in a Wasteland

The most devastated neighborhood in America makes an ideal backdrop for a morally ambiguous play about abandonment.

Dec 13, 2007 / Books & the Arts / Billy Sothern

Bobby Jindal: Not Much to Celebrate Bobby Jindal: Not Much to Celebrate

Some herald the election of an Indian-American Republican governor as a milestone, but the poor and black citizens of Louisiana aren't among them.

Oct 30, 2007 / Feature / Billy Sothern

A New Orleans family travels to their home near New Orleans, La., after it was flooded during Hurricane Ida on September 13, 2021.

New Orleans Is Us New Orleans Is Us

If the American people continue to avert their eyes from the slow death of an abandoned city, their communities may soon be the next to fail.

Aug 29, 2007 / Books & the Arts / Billy Sothern

Goodbye, St. Thomas Goodbye, St. Thomas

In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans's ruling class is demolishing public housing to make way for private businesses and expensive condos.

Aug 10, 2007 / Feature / Billy Sothern

Jefferson Should Go Jefferson Should Go

The people of New Orleans suffered another blow with the indictment of Representative William Jefferson. They deserve better.

Jun 6, 2007 / Feature / Billy Sothern

On the Porch in the Seventh Ward On the Porch in the Seventh Ward

As the New Orleans Jazz Fest unfolded, a down-home celebration, bright with beads, sequins and feathers, took place in the city's poorest neighborhoods.

May 22, 2007 / Books & the Arts / Billy Sothern

A Cruel and Unusual Punishment A Cruel and Unusual Punishment

Billy Sothern, member of the legal team that represented Patrick Kennedy, convicted of child rape, in a landmark Supreme Court death penalty decision this week, explained the iss...

Apr 25, 2007 / Feature / Billy Sothern

A Question of Blood A Question of Blood

History repeats itself for the white residents of St. Bernard Parish, who tried and failed to restrict rentals in their devastated streets to blood relatives, barring blacks and Hi...

Mar 27, 2007 / Feature / Billy Sothern

x