Criminal Law

At the death house door

Posted on May 18, 2008
through the eyes of Pastor Carroll Pickett, who served 15 years as the death house chaplain to the infamous "Walls" prison unit in Huntsville. During Pickett's remarkable career journey, he presided over 95 executions, including the world?s first lethal injection...

UPDATE: Hamdan trial delayed

Posted on May 18, 2008
UPDATE: Hamdan trial delayed Friday, May 16th, 2008 12:21 pm | Lyle Denniston | Print This Post Update 7:15 a.m. Saturday On Friday afternoon, the military judge heading the commission scheduled to try Salim Ahmed Hamdan postponed the date for starting that trial until July 21...

State rejected execution safeguard

Posted on May 12, 2008
State rejected execution safeguard Before a prolonged execution last year, the Florida Department of Corrections decided against using a machine to ensure an inmate is fully unconscious before lethal chemicals are injected.An Aug. 15, 2006 memo from department attorney Sara Dyehouse recommended the use of a bispectral index monitor in executions...

Between life and death

Posted on May 12, 2008
http://www.news-journalonline.com/NewsJournalOnline/Opinion/Editorials/opnOPN90051208.htm OPINION: EditorialMay 12, 2008 Between life and death Too many accused of murder lack adequate counsel With the U.S. Supreme Court's approval of lethal injection as a means of capital punishment, many states see a green light to go ahead with executions...

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Henrettelse stoppet etter EU-press

Posted on May 12, 2008
Henrettelse stoppet etter EU-press Av Idun Brekke 07.05.2008 kl. 09:08 Kilde: VG NETT (VG Nett) Behnood Shoajee som etter planen skulle henrettets i Iran i dag, ble reddet i siste liten etter press fra EU. UTSETTES:Behnoods henrettelse er utsatt i en måned...

Between life and death

Posted on May 12, 2008
May 12, 2008 Between life and death Too many accused of murder lack adequate counsel With the U.S. Supreme Court's approval of lethal injection as a means of capital punishment, many states see a green light to go ahead with executions. Georgia wasted no time, putting William E...

Death Row: Big number, no meaning

Posted on May 12, 2008
exonerees Death Row: Big number, no meaning By Randy Schultz Palm Beach Post Editorial Page Editor Sunday, May 11, 2008 Florida's Death Row is a fraud. As of last week, 385 people were under sentence of death - 237 white men, 134 black men, 13 men of other races or ethnicities and one white woman...

Commentary: War crimes trials and outside pressure

Posted on May 12, 2008
From the SCOTUS blog :Commentary: War crimes trials and outside pressure Sunday, May 11th, 2008 1:01 pm | Lyle Denniston | Commentary The Nation?s first war crimes trial in the post-9/11 era is still set to begin in 17 days ? unless the D...

Spinning Baze for lower courts

Posted on May 12, 2008
From the BLOG Sentencing Law and Policy : Spinning Baze for lower courts Elisabeth Semel has this new piece in The National Law Journal, headlined "Fearing too much justice," which tries its darnedest to argue that Baze should be viewed by lower courts and state officials not as a green light for resuming lethal injection executions, but rather as a yellow light calling for additional caution and inquiry concerning modern execution realities: Chief Justice John G...

Nathan Crabbe on CBS - Angel Diaz execution

Posted on May 12, 2008
You can see the video here :http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/i_video/main500251.shtml?id=3510366nand you can see the Watchdog Blog here :http://watchdog.gainesville.com/?q=angel+diaz&Submit=GoHow can Florida start the executions again after this ....

Stevens alters stance on lethal-injection methods

Posted on May 11, 2008
Stevens alters stance on lethal-injection methods http://www.orlandosentinel.com/services/newspaper/printedition/sunday/orl-stevens1108may11,0,4444089.story The Associated Press May 11, 2008 CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. - Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens says the euthanized Kentucky Derby horse Eight Belles probably died more humanely than death-row prisoners do...

Posted on Sat, May. 10, 2008

Posted on May 10, 2008
Posted on Sat, May. 10, 2008Tenn. Supreme Court Justice derides lethal injectionThe Associated PressCHATTANOOGA, Tenn. --Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens says the euthanized Kentucky Derby horse Eight Belles probably died more humanely than death row prisoners do...

In Memory of WILLIAM CODAY - Florida death row suicide April 2008

Posted on May 02, 2008
In Memory of WILLIAM CODAY A friend who died before his time. ~THEN I DIED~ Freedom taken Life forsaken Steel bars Painful scars Mental strains Concrete walls No one hears your calls Nothing?s fair Hard to bear Mind games Nicknames Count bells Stair wells Masked strangers Constant dangers Jingling keys Trembling knees Lonely hours Faith sours Years wasted Hope tasted Questions Why Then I died?...

Lethal injections resuming in Florida

Posted on April 27, 2008
Lethal injections resuming in Florida Megan McArdle, over at Asymmetrical Information blog at the Atlantic, has a fantastic new piece on Florida?s governor and his quest to restart lethal injection: I heard something that sounded very odd on the radio yesterday: news that Florida?s governor had expressed his ?gratitude? that lethal injection was once again legal, and his intention of getting a death warrant out there as quickly as possible...

Florida still risks botched executions

Posted on April 27, 2008
A Times Editorial Florida still risks botched executions http://www.tampabay.com/opinion/editorials/article473702.ece Published Friday, April 25, 2008 7:17 PM Florida is about to rev up its death chamber again. The U.S. Supreme Court has given the go-ahead to states like Florida to continue using a three-drug cocktail for lethal injections, and the state's attorney general and governor have wasted no time in calling for the resumption of executions...

Rulings on death penalty

Posted on April 19, 2008
Reasons to abolish I am disheartened that the U.S. Supreme Court has decided not to tackle the method used in executions. (Please see "COUNTY GEARS UP FOR EXECUTIONS / High court: Backs Kentucky's lethal injection," Page One, Thursday.) This three-drug protocol was developed by an Oklahoma pharmacist in the 1970s, and it stands even when the veterinarian association abandoned it for a more humane method using only an overdose of anesthetic...

Deborah Denno on the Baze Ruling

Posted on April 19, 2008
Deborah Denno on the Baze Ruling Fordham Law prof Deborah Denno, the leading scholar examining lethal injection issues, has this reaction to the Baze ruling: Baze v. Rees is a splintered plurality decision in which the Supreme Court puts forth an Eighth Amendment standard that an execution method must constitute a "substantial" or "objectively intolerable" risk of serious harm before it can be rendered a violation of the Eighth Amendment...

SUPPLEMENTAL BRIEF IN SUPPORT OF PETITION FOR WRIT OF CERTIORARI - Earl Berry

Posted on April 19, 2008
http://www.floridasupport.us/Baze/EarlBerry/berry-supp-brief-4-17-08.pdfNo. 07-7348 IN THESUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES EARL WESLEY BERRY, Petitioner V, CHRISTOPHER EPPS, Commissioner of the Mississippi Department of Corrections,LAWRENCE KELLY, Superintendent ofthe Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman,and JOHN DOES 1-50, Respondents ON PETITION FOR A WRIT OF CERTIORARITO THE COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FIFTH CIRCUIT SUPPLEMENTAL BRIEF IN SUPPORT OFPETITION FOR A WRIT OF CERTIORARI Petitioner, Earl Wesley Berry, filed his Petition for Writ of Certiorari on October 29,2007...

MOTION TO VACATE STAY OF EXECUTION - Florida

Posted on April 19, 2008
http://www.markschwab.us/legal/schwab-application.pdf CASE NO. 07-10275CAPITAL CASE IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES MARK DEAN SCHWABPetitioner,v.FLORIDA,Respondent. MOTION TO VACATE STAY OF EXECUTION COMES NOW the State of Florida, and moves this Court to vacatethe stay of execution entered in this case on November 15, 2007...

Justice Stevens Renounces Capital Punishment

Posted on April 19, 2008
Washington Supreme Court Memo Justice Stevens Renounces Capital Punishment function getSharePasskey() { return 'ex=1366257600&en=4b5dce3ab9f0c476&ei=5124';} function getShareURL() { return encodeURIComponent('http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/18/washington/18memo...

A Supreme Court ruling shouldn't end the debate on the methods or morals of lethal injection.

Posted on April 19, 2008
A Less Cruel Punishment A Supreme Court ruling shouldn't end the debate on the methods or morals of lethal injection.THE SUPREME Court has spoken: The current method of injection to execute inmates does not constitute cruel and unusual punishment. But this declaration, delivered in a splintered, 97-page opinion Wednesday, should not end the public debate about capital punishment -- nor about whether states, as long as executions continue, should consider alternatives that may be more humane and reliable and less likely to impose unnecessary pain...

States plan to resume executions

Posted on April 19, 2008
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In a reversal, Justice Stevens calls the death penalty 'anachronistic'

Posted on April 19, 2008
In a reversal, Justice Stevens calls the death penalty 'anachronistic' Part of the Supreme Court majority that reinstated capital punishment in the U.S. in 1976, he says it no longer serves any purpose. By James Oliphant, Chicago TribuneApril 17, 2008 WASHINGTON -- The nation's longest-serving Supreme Court justice, John Paul Stevens, on Wednesday declared his formal opposition to capital punishment...

The Supreme Court Brings Back the Death Penalty

Posted on April 19, 2008
The Supreme Court Brings Back the Death Penalty By Liliana Segura, AlterNet. Posted April 17, 2008. With a 7-2 ruling ending a moratorium on state-sanctioned killing, states across the country are gearing up to resume executions. GA_googleFillSlot("alt_rights_btf_right_300x250"); sr_adspace_id = 1900707; sr_adspace_width = 300; sr_adspace_height = 250; sr_adspace_type = "graphic"; sr_color_back = "#FFFFFF"; sr_color_text = "#000000"; sr_color_url = "#E15F00"; sr_color_title = "#3F66B3"; sr_color_border = "#3366CC"; sr_color_your_ad = "#2852A3"; sr_color_your_adbk = "#FFDD81"; sr_ad_new_window = true; rnum=Math...

JUSTICE STEVENS, concurring in the judgment.

Posted on April 16, 2008
Cite as: 553 U. S. ____ (2008) STEVENS, J., concurring in judgment SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES No. 07?5439 RALPH BAZE AND THOMAS C. BOWLING, PETI-TIONERS v. JOHN D. REES, COMMISSIONER,KENTUCKY DEPARTMENT OFCORRECTIONS, ET AL. ON WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO THE SUPREME COURTOF KENTUCKY http://www...

JUSTICE BREYER, concurring in the judgment.

Posted on April 16, 2008
http://www.floridasupport.us/Baze/Bazeopinion.htmCite as: 553 U. S. ____ (2008) 1 BREYER, J., concurring in judgment SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES No. 07?5439 RALPH BAZE AND THOMAS C. BOWLING, PETI-TIONERS v. JOHN D. REES, COMMISSIONER,KENTUCKY DEPARTMENT OFCORRECTIONS, ET AL...

Ginsburg and Souter dissent

Posted on April 16, 2008
http://www.floridasupport.us/Baze/Bazeopinion.htm GINSBURG, J., dissenting SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES No. 07?5439 RALPH BAZE AND THOMAS C. BOWLING, PETI-TIONERS v. JOHN D. REES, COMMISSIONER,KENTUCKY DEPARTMENT OFCORRECTIONS, ET AL...

Today?s Opinions

Posted on April 16, 2008
Today?s Opinions http://www.scotusblog.com/wp/todays-opinions-31/ Wednesday, April 16th, 2008 10:13 am | Ben Winograd | Comments Off Today?s opinion by Justice Breyer in Begay v. United States (06-11543) is now available here. Justice Scalia filed an opinion concurring in the judgment...

Lethal injection allowed

Posted on April 16, 2008
Lethal injection allowed http://www.scotusblog.com/wp/lethal-injection-allowed/ Wednesday, April 16th, 2008 10:13 am | Lyle Denniston | Comments Off | In a widely splintered decision, the Supreme Court on Wednesday cleared the way for death-row executions to resume across the country, concluding that the most common method of lethal injection does not violate the Constitution...

With his license on the line, Mississippi doctor responds

Posted on April 13, 2008
With his license on the line, Mississippi doctor responds http://www.innocenceproject.org/news/Blog.php Posted: April 9, 2008 3:25 pmAfter the Innocence Project filed a formal complaint yesterday to revoke Steven Hayne?s Mississippi medical license due to his autopsy misconduct, the doctor broke his long silence to the media and tried to defend his record...

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