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Criminal Law

Capital Defense Weekly

Death Penalty News & Updates

Post Frequency: 3.2/day

Last Entry: March 06, 2011 at 23:00:32

Penalty phase grant of relief

Posted on June 10, 2010
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals on Wednesday granted a new penalty phase trial to Jose Briseno on apparently Penry grounds. More soon.

I got pushed out to trial. This

Posted on June 08, 2010
I got pushed out to trial. This week’s edition will go late Tuesday / early Wednesday. My apologies for any delay. After the jump the cases, so far, from the next edition:In Favor of the Defense Blaine Ross v. State, 2010 Fla. LEXIS 853 (FL 5/27/2010) “[T]he police, over a period of several hours of [...

next edition

Posted on May 31, 2010
Nothing overly interesting in the germane recent case law, at least on first reading. One noncapital case from a split Sixth Circuit, Lewis Gagne v. Booker, 2010 U.S. App. LEXIS 10582 (6th Cir. 5/25.2010), presents some interesting discussions concerning the Confrontation Clause and Rape Shield that has both good language and the [...

pre-long weekend coverage

Posted on May 28, 2010
A quick recap before the long weekend of events since the last edition: A shortage in thiopental sodium, the drug used in lethal injection procedures may put executions in Arizona on hold a while longer. Hooks v. Workman, No 07-6152 (10th Cir 5/25/2010) Relief granted as the state trial court’s Allen charge in the penalty phase [...

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Skinner update

Posted on May 24, 2010
SCOTUSBlog notes: Title: Skinner v. Switzer Docket: 09-9000 Issue: Whether a convicted prisoner seeking access to biological evidence for DNA testing may assert that claim in a civil rights action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, or whether such a claim may be asserted only in a petition for writ of habeas corpus...

A summary reversal & Skinner granted cert

Posted on May 24, 2010
The Court has summarily reversed and remanded in Jefferson v. Upton. The Court also this morning granted cert on Hank Skinner v Switzer. [update] On first read, the SCOTUS’ per curiam GVR in Jefferson v. Upton is surprising as it applies to a relatively small class of habeas (almost exclusively capital) cases...

out of town

Posted on May 01, 2010
I’ll be out of town for this week so no email edition will run. My apologies in advance.

Relief grant, Texas

Posted on April 29, 2010
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals in Ex Parte Roy Gene Smith, AP-76,035, granted relief on Penry error: the trial court was required to provide a constitutionally adequate vehicle for the jury to fully consider and give effect to [the proffered mitigation evidence...

Kafka meets AEDPA meets the Fifth Circuit

Posted on April 28, 2010
The Fifth Circuit in In re Bruce Webster held today that even if a person could prove they were categorically barred from receiving a death sentence the AEDPA nonetheless permits their execution. From the concurrence: I concur in the majority opinion, as I believe that it is a correct interpretation of 28 U...

Henry ?Hank? Skinner update

Posted on April 23, 2010
The Supreme Court has carried consideration of Henry Skinner’s cert petition until at least this Friday with an opinion possible as early as next Monday.

quick look at the next edition

Posted on April 20, 2010
I’m coming off of a few (nonmemorable) weeks of trial and playing catch up. Highlights in new case law after the jump: People v. Brandon Arnae Taylor, 2010 Cal. LEXIS 2818 (Cal 4/15/2010) “Defendant’s conviction for first-degree murder of an 80-year-old victim, forcible rape of an elderly victim while engaged in a residential burglary, [...

slow posting

Posted on April 19, 2010
No preview this week, hoping to go straight to the final cut tomorrow. My apologies.

weekly edition available

Posted on March 24, 2010
The intro to this week’s edition after the jump: The Ninth Circuit’s decision in Milo McCormick Stanley v. Schriro, leads off this double edition. In Stanley the panel remands for an evidentiary hearing. Mr. Stanley killed his wife (for which he received a life sentence) and child (for which he received death)...

weekly is out

Posted on March 10, 2010
This week’s edition is here. From the intro. Missed last week, but leading off this edition, is Phillip Anthony Summers v. State from the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals. The issue in Summers on appeal revolves around the trial court’s exclusion of the testimony by a witness that he ordered the murders for which Mr...

sneak peek

Posted on February 28, 2010
Looking at the cases for the upcoming edition after the jump. In favor of the accused or condemned Ex parte Charles Hood, NO. AP-75,370; 2010 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 12 & 2010 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 13 (Tex. Crim. App. 2/24/2010) (dissent)(plurality) A sharply divided plurality grants relief on a Penry claim without ever mentioning the salacious [...

weeks of my life back

Posted on February 28, 2010
The weekly edition will be back to regular schedule for the foreseeable future. The prosecution dismissed the trial that I had planned on consuming my life from now until Easter. The trial was in fact a retrial ordered by the local supreme court in State v...

A stay in South Carolina

Posted on January 05, 2010
The chances for South Carolina appear to have disappeared. Days before an inmate on South Carolina’s death row was scheduled to die by electrocution, the state’s highest court on Tuesday granted the man a stay so his attorneys can pursue a federal appeal...

Georgia halts execution for DNA testing

Posted on December 17, 2009
The last execution of the year has been stayed. Doug B. notes: This new piece from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, which is headlined “Georgia Supreme Court halts Carlton Gary’s execution,” reports that the last execution scheduled for 2009 was put on hold this afternoon: The Georgia Supreme Court on Wednesday halted the execution of the so-called Columbus stocking [...

Execution rate remains flat

Posted on December 05, 2009
The execution rate for 2009 will likely match the last full year of executions that was unimpeded by the Baze lethal injection litigation in the SCOTUS. Executions for 2009 should be somewhere between 50 and 53. Considering the large “pent up demand” following Baze the numbers are remarkably low and unusually stable.

Stay in Texas

Posted on September 29, 2009
Thanks to our Texas “connect” for pointing us to: John Balentine was to die in the state death chamber in Huntsville for a triple slaying in Amarillo almost 12 years ago. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued a brief one-paragraph order Tuesday afternoon stopping the 40-year-old inmate’s lethal injection...

9th Circuit grants penalty phase relief

Posted on September 18, 2009
The Ninth Circuit in Michael Allen Hamilton v. Ayers, No. 06-99008, granted relief on well worn grounds, trial counsel’s penalty phase performance: Hamilton was constitutionally entitled to effective representation at the penalty phase of his capital trial, but he did not receive it...

Virginia vacates a death sentence

Posted on September 18, 2009
via WaPo (no opinion yet available from the VaSCt website): Virginia’s highest court has overturned the death sentence of a man convicted in the 1988 slayings of a young couple in Fairfax County, ruling that the jury was given a defective verdict form...

The strange nether world between freedom and not

Posted on September 04, 2009
Michael Toney was moved from death row late last year and then, oddly, Wednesday night from the local jail. Local media notes: Toney?s abrupt release from jail Wednesday night was the culmination of a stunning turn of events for a man who less than a year ago was still awaiting execution by lethal injection...

Florida kills

Posted on August 20, 2009
Tonight Florida killed John Richard Marek for his role in the death of Adela Marie Simmons. The Associated Press has this story about the execution as viewed from the Office of Gov. Crist. I am struck at how seriously, and solemn, the AP reports Gov...

Stay in Texas

Posted on August 20, 2009
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals on Wednesday halted the scheduled death of David Leonard Wood. The CCA indicated that Mr. Wood was entitled to a hearing to pursue claims he is mentally impaired and ineligible for execution under Atkins v. Virginia.

An unrepentant Judge Keller: I would do it again

Posted on August 19, 2009
Tex Parte, the Texas Lawyer Magazine blog, hits a home run today in its coverage of the Judge Keller ethics hearing: Sharon Keller, presiding judge of the Court of Criminal Appeals, remains firm in her belief that she did nothing wrong on Sept. 25, 2007, when she told then-CCA general counsel Ed Marty, ?We close at [...

weekly running a touch late

Posted on August 10, 2009
The weekly edition will be out Monday nite due to scheduling conflicts. Specifically, I have two trials scheduled to start in the morning (fortunately I can’t try both at one time). The rough draft of the weekly is here. Most notable from the rough draft: Leading off this week’s is the revised opinion in Keith Thurmond [...

ooopsie, Conn. edition

Posted on August 05, 2009
Every time a man who is wrongly convicted goes to jail a perpetrator is set free to prey again, to victimize again. Decades later, via TalkLeft, Egregious cases of wrongful convictions continue to come to light. Kenny Ireland of Connecticut was imprisoned at age 20 for a rape and murder DNA evidence now shows he [...

DPIC & AP look at the death penalty in Pennsylvania

Posted on July 28, 2009
Forty-seven years have past since Pennsylvania last executed someone who hadn’t “dropped their appeals.” Since restoration of the Pennsylvania death penalty in the disco era 21 people on death row have died of natural causes, 3 agreed to drop the appeals and be executed...

weekly

Posted on July 27, 2009
The weekly email edition is now available. From the intro: Leading off this edition is the Delaware Supreme Court’s decision in James Cooke v. State. The Court granted relief on the breakdown of the attorney-client relationship, counsel?s decision to use a guilty but metnally ill defense rather than a more traditional denial of guilt defense sought [...

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