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Criminal Law

Capital Defense Weekly

Covering Capital Defense
By Karl R. Keys, Esq.

Post Frequency: 17.8/day

Last Entry: March 28, 2011 at 23:29:51

Oklahoma kills

Posted on June 17, 2008
Oklahoma tonight killed Terry Lyn Short for f killing 22-year-old Ken Yamamoto in 1995. [more here & additional stories in the right column]

CCA clears way for Charles Hood’s execution

Posted on June 17, 2008
Despite bombshell revelations about a tryst between the prosecutor and judge during the trial of Charles Hood, the Texas CCA on Monday denied relief. The Fifth Circuit has likewise denied a stay.

State appeals withdrawn execution date

Posted on June 17, 2008
[update] The CCA just denied the appeal. [here] Press reports out of Austin note that the State has appealed the withdraw of Charles Hood’s execution date. Mr. Hood is to remain at the Walls Unit pending the outcome of the State’s appeal...

DPIC’s new news service

Posted on June 15, 2008
In celebration of the Death Penalty Information Center’s new weekly email service (click here and put subscribe in the subject box), their look at this week’s scheduled executions: DPIC notes this on the upcoming Terry Lyn Short execution: Terry Lyn Short is scheduled to be executed on June 17 in Oklahoma...

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weekly email edition, skipping a week

Posted on June 15, 2008
As happens from time to time, this week’s email edition won’t run, it being my first Father’s Day and all.

My good friend [name withheld]

Posted on June 15, 2008
My good friend [name withheld] over at A Public Defender asks simply why we do what we do. My Answer is here.

Grant of penalty phase relief

Posted on June 13, 2008
Fernando Belmontes was granted penalty phase relief today by the Ninth Circuit. From that opinion: We affirm the district court?s ruling that Belmontes received deficient representation at the penalty phase of his trial, but set aside its ruling that he suffered no prejudice as a result...

shredding liberty’s safety net

Posted on June 13, 2008
ABC News looks at the wholesale slashing of Public Defender budgets in a must read piece available online: Statewide public defenders in Kentucky and Minnesota< and local offices in cities such as Atlanta and Miami say budget cuts are forcing them to fire or furlough trial lawyers, leaving the offices unable to handle misdemeanor and, in [...

Charles Dean Hood

Posted on June 13, 2008
Few reporters do a better job than Steve Hall @ Stand Down. Steve brings us this concerning the latest development in the pending Charles Dean Hood execution scheduled for next week. For years there have been lingering questions about an improper relationship in the Charles Dean Hood trial...

Munaf v. Geren

Posted on June 12, 2008
In today’s other habeas case, Munaf v. Geren, the SCOUTS holds: The habeas statute extends to American citizens held overseas by American forces operating subject to an American chain of command. The Government?s argument that the federal courts lack jurisdiction over the detainees? habeas petitions in such circumstancesbecause the American forces holding Omar and Munaf operate [...

Virtual handout

Posted on June 12, 2008
I’m teaching the “baby habeas” / “intro to habeas” at this year’s ABCNY death penalty training. My handout for resources is here. The links are to resources for litigators from those who have never handled a habeas case to resource materials for those who have handled dozens of them.

deterrence?

Posted on June 12, 2008
From DPIC, a dead-on (forgive the bad pun) analysis of the latest UCR data: The country’s murder rate declined 2.7% in 2007. The rate dropped the most in the Northeast, and declined in the Midwest and the West, but increased in the South. According to the preliminary Uniform Crime Report published by the FBI, [...

Boumediene

Posted on June 12, 2008
A Public Defender sums up Boumediene better than I ever could: Plenty of other commentators have far more intelligent comments and insights on Boumediene [pdf] than I have to offer, so I will direct you to them (see this SCOTUSblog post for a collection of links as well)...

Texas kills

Posted on June 11, 2008
Texas resumed its execution chamber Wednesday with the death of Karl Chamberlain. From the Dallas Morning News: A remorseful convicted killer was executed Wednesday night for the rape-slaying of a woman in Dallas 17 years ago, the first Texas prisoner in nearly nine months to be put to death in the nation?s most active death [...

Ohio Lethal Injection ruling

Posted on June 10, 2008
Press accounts are noting that: The Ohio judge in State of Ohio v. Ruben Rivera has ordered the state to eliminate two of the three drugs used in the lethal injection protocol and instead use a single anesthetic in future executions by lethal injection...

email edition

Posted on June 09, 2008
The most recent email edition is now available. From that edition: A mysterious order from the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals leads off the edition. Texas planned to execute Derrick Sonnier on June 3, 2008. Shortly before the execution hour the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals ordered a stay...

Virginia commutation

Posted on June 09, 2008
Governor Timothy M. Kaine today commuted the death sentence of Percy� Levar Walton. Walton was scheduled to be executed tomorrow night. Kaine has allowed five executions to proceed. This is the first he� has commuted. Press accounts note “Walton differs in fundamental ways from other death row offenders,”�� Kaine said in the statement...

Texas green lights lethal injection?

Posted on June 09, 2008
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals on Monday appears to have cleared the way for executions to resume starting Wednesday. In a ruling late Monday, the state’s highest criminal court refused to stop the scheduled execution of Karl Eugene Chamberlain...

SC kills

Posted on June 06, 2008
David Mark Hill has been put to death in South Carolinaa by lethal injection for the murders of Jimmy Riddle, Josie Curry and Michael Gregory. Like more than 10% of those who preceded him to the execution chamber in recent years, Hill consented to his execution.

Sixth Circuit “win”

Posted on June 05, 2008
A Thursday “win” is noted: Today, D?Ambrosio v. Bagley, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit split over an interesting question in a capital habeas case: Where a habeas petitioner makes a Brady claim that the government suppressed or withheld mitigating evidence, when does the government ?expressly waive? its defense [...

Georgia botch?

Posted on June 05, 2008
Georgia took 35 minutes last night to hook up, before killing, Curtis Osborne.� The Atlanta Journal Constitution reports, “Executioners had trouble putting murderer to death.” Executioners struggled for 35 minutes to find a vein before Curtis Osborne died by lethal injection Wednesday for a 1990 Spalding County double murder...

Curtis Osborne

Posted on June 04, 2008
AP is reporting the State of Georgia has killed Curtis Osborne: A Georgia man who claimed his attorney was a racist who put up a flimsy defense has been executed for killing two�people. Curtis Osborne was pronounced dead Wednesday at 9:05 p.m. in the second execution in Georgia in the last month...

Curtis Osborne update

Posted on June 04, 2008
The State of Georgia scheduled Wednesday night to kill Curtis Osborne. A few hours after that scheduled x-hour no news.� The execution wire to the right will likely update before any blog post. On background the Atlanta Journal Constitution ran this piece by William Sessions: The case of Curtis Osborne was never a simple one...

CCA stay

Posted on June 03, 2008
[update]7:53pm The Stay papers in Derrick Sonnier’s case are now available: Motion for stay: http://alt.coxnewsweb.com/statesman/pdf/06/Sonnier_stay_motion.pdf Second petition: http://alt.coxnewsweb.com/statesman/pdf/06/Sonnier_Petition.pdf – The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals stayed tonights execution in Texas of Derrick Sonnier...

Choosing life in Tennessee

Posted on June 03, 2008
After 18 years on death row, Richard Taylor today was sentenced to life in prison.� Taylor was severely mentally ill. Christopher Hill of the ACLU’s capital punishment project brings us this: NASHVILLE ? A severely mentally ill man who spent 18 years on death row and whose conviction and death sentence were reversed by a [...

An undeserved honor

Posted on June 03, 2008
This website was listed as one of the top 100 criminal justice blogs this week. I’m happy to be listed with one of my heroes, who I don’t list here enough, John Wesley Hall, as well as about 98 other bloggers.� The list is a huge resource

email edition

Posted on June 02, 2008
The email edition is now available. From that edition: No favorable decisions are noted for the period from May 19, 2006 to May 26, 2008. In the news, Prof. John Blume of Cornell University Law School has done the herculean task of compiling a rough number of cases, 83, in which an inmate?s death [...

Choosing life: NY

Posted on June 02, 2008
After 7 weeks of jury-selection, 2 months of trial, and 3 days of penalty-phase, the jury in United States v. Khalid Barnes deliberated for a total of 2-1/2 hours over two days. Unanimous for life. Unanimous re every mitigating circumstance. This was a case where the United States Attorney for the SDNY [...

New date.

Posted on June 02, 2008
Kent Jackson in Virginia has a July 10 execution date. This date is considered serious.

Feiger walks

Posted on June 02, 2008
Gerry Spence announces this is his last trial.� Geoffrey Feiger walks.� The Underdog Blog� notes: I owe a lot to Gerry Spence. On the one hand, my guru of gurus Steve Rench was the paramount motivator for my attending the Trial Lawyers College. On the other hand, Gerry is the yin to Steve’s yang, completing an [...

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