Criminal Law
StandDown Texas Project 
Identifies and advocates best practices in the indigent criminal justice system. Pays particular attention to issues involving capital punishment and the administration of the death penalty.
Post Frequency: 7.5/day Last Entry: November 20, 2009 at 18:38:01 Recent Entries: 2326
By Steve Hall
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The Pen Pal Business
Posted on November 20, 2009"Death-Row Pen Pals," is the title of Deidre Depke's Daily Beast report. A Texas inmate, executed Wednesday, sought companionship via the Internet before his death. Inside the death-row pen-pal business?and how felons bid for friends. On Wednesday, Danielle Simpson, 30,...
Another Call for Juvenile Sentencing Reform
Posted on November 20, 2009Toaday's Patriot-News of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania carries the editorial, "Chance for change: Life sentence removes hope for juvenile reform." The question before the U.S. Supreme Court is: Do we believe juveniles sentenced to life in prison can reform? Last week, the...
The Case of Cory Maye in Mississippi
Posted on November 20, 2009"Why you should care about Cory Maye and Cameron Todd Willingham," is the title of Matt Zeitlin's column in North by Northwestern. It?s hard to imagine a more depressing story than that of Cory Maye. In September, 2001, when he...
Max Soffar
Posted on November 20, 2009His has been a long and twisted tale, with a career on Texas death row. Soffar has always maintained his innocence. He was originally convicted in 1981of killing three people during a bowling alley robbery. His court appointed lawyer was...
Federal Court Seeks Info in Ohio Injection Case
Posted on November 20, 2009That's the title of an AP report this morning via the Dayton Daily News. LINK A federal appeals court is pushing a condemned killer to say why his lawsuit opposing lethal injection in Ohio shouldn't be dismissed. The 6th U.S....
Texas Execution
Posted on November 20, 2009Following Rick Perry's rejection of clemency for Robert Thompson, recommended by the Board of Pardons and Paroles, Texas conducted its 23nd execution of 2009, last night in Huntsville. It was the 446th Texas execution since 1982. Texas has far and...
Thursday
Posted on November 19, 2009I'll be traveling on Thursday morning. Posts will resume later today.
Board of Pardons & Paroles Recommends Commutation in Law of Parties Case
Posted on November 19, 2009Allan Turner writes, "Board: Commute death sentence in Houston case," for the Houston Chronicle. The state pardons board today recommended that Houston killer Robert Thompson's scheduled Thursday execution be commuted to life in prison after his lawyer successfully argued that...
Perry Rejects Commutation - UPDATED
Posted on November 19, 2009Governor Rick Perry has rejected a recommendation to commute the death sentence of Robert Thompson. Thompson is scheduled to be executed shortly after 6:00 pm, tonight. The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles voted yesterday, 5-2, to recommend a commutation...
Keith Hampton
Posted on November 19, 2009Jordan Smith writes, "Hampton Runs for Republican-Dominated Court," in the current issue of the Austin Chronicle. Entering the political fray for the first time as a candidate, Austin criminal defense attorney Keith Hampton on Nov. 4 filed paperwork to run...
What the Law Commands
Posted on November 19, 2009That's the title of a post by Linda Greenhouse at the New York Times Opinionator blog. LINK As with anything the retired Times' Supreme Court correspondent writes, it's a must-read. I'm going to focus on one section of her post....
Still Waiting on Word From Governor Perry
Posted on November 19, 2009Robert Thompson's execution date is just over an hour away. Thompson, his attorneys, and reporters are waiting on Governor Rick Perry to accept or reject the Board of Pardons and Paroles that Thompson's death sentence be commuted to life in...
Ohio Finds Itself Leading the Way to a New Execution Method
Posted on November 18, 2009That's the title of analysis by Ian Urbina in today's New York Times. LINK An extended excerpt: Prison officials in Ohio never planned to become pioneers in death penalty protocol. But the failed effort on Sept. 15 to execute Romell...
Texas Execution
Posted on November 18, 2009Texas is scheduled to conduct its 22nd execution of 2009, tonight in Huntsville. It would be the 445th Texas execution since 1982. Texas has far and away the most active death chamber in America, accounting for more than 37% of...
CSI: Texas
Posted on November 18, 2009That's the title of an editorial in today's Houston Chronicle. LINK Try to imagine how the writers and actors of the three popular CSI: Crime Scene Investigation dramas on TV would handle this story line: After numerous wrongful convictions of...
The Obama Judiciary
Posted on November 18, 2009"Controversial 7th Circuit Nominee Clears Senate Hurdle," is the title of David Ingram's National Law Journal report. The U.S. Senate voted Tuesday to end debate on President Barack Obama's most controversial circuit court nominee, as the Republican caucus fell short...
Reflections on the Execution of John Muhammad
Posted on November 18, 2009Syndicated columnist Leonard Pitts Jr. writes, "Struggling through the gray areas of life," via the St. Augustine Record. They killed a killer last week. I kept waiting to feel something when news came that John Allen Muhammad had been executed...
Death Penalty Expansion in Virginia?
Posted on November 18, 2009"Death Penalty Legislation Could Change," is the title of Philip Townsend's report for WHSV-TV of Harrisonburg, Virginia. Local legislators say there could be changes to Virginia's death penalty legislation when Bob McDonnell becomes governor. Since 2004, both chambers in the...
Speaking of Justice Kennedy ...
Posted on November 18, 2009As noted in the preceding post, Justice Kennedy was the author of Roper v. Simmons. He also wrote the opinion in Kennedy v. Louisiana. David Lat at Above the Law reports on the Federalist Society's annual dinner this past week...
Another Call for Juvenile Sentencing Reform
Posted on November 18, 2009Today's Silicon Valley Mercury News carries the editorial, "For kids, life in prison without parole is cruel and unusual punishment." Five San Jose teenagers sit in jail today, facing the possibility that they will spend the rest of their lives...
Magwood v. Culliver From Alabama
Posted on November 17, 2009"30 Years After Murder, Is His Appeal Too Late?" is the title of Adam Liptak's report in today's New York Times. The Supreme Court agreed Monday to decide whether it is too late for an Alabama man to argue that...
Latest Lethal Injection News From Ohio
Posted on November 17, 2009"The flaws of lethal injection," is the title of an OpEd in today's Los Angeles Times written by California attorney Miriam Aroni Krinsky. It has been a year and a half since the Supreme Court ended the nationwide moratorium on...
Lethal Injection News From Nebraska
Posted on November 17, 2009"Bruning: Sticking to 3-drug plan for executions," is the title of Nate Jenkins' AP report filed tonight, via the Lincoln Journal-Star. Nebraska is not reconsidering its planned switch from electrocution to a three-drug lethal injection cocktail to execute inmates, despite...
Eldridge Execution Stayed by Federal District Court
Posted on November 17, 2009Allan Turner reports, "Federal court grants stay of execution for Houston man," for the Houston Chronicle. Houston capital killer Gerald Eldridge had eaten most of his final meal of pancakes, peanut butter, baked potato and chocolate milk this afternoon when...
The Current ABA Criminal Justice Magazine
Posted on November 17, 2009Published by the Criminal Justice Section of the American Bar Association, the Fall 2009 issue focuses on Postconviction Practices. Here's the table of contents of featured articles: Priming Postconviction Representation By Andrew E. Taslitz Issue editor for the symposium on...
Executions Don't Deter Criminals
Posted on November 17, 2009That's the title of the latest column by Anne McGraw Reeves in Pennsylvania's Harrisburg Patriot-News. LINK According to the Death Penalty Information Center, 45 convicted murderers have been executed this year, mostly in Texas. Pennsylvania soon could carry out its...
The Death Penalty Debate in Illinois
Posted on November 17, 2009"Gov. candidates disagree on death penalty," is the title of Ryan Keith's report for the State Journal-Register of Springfield. Candidates running to become Illinois? next governor mostly are predictably split on restarting Illinois? stalled death penalty system...
Ex-Prosecutor: 'I Made a Mistake'
Posted on November 17, 2009That's the title of Tim Carpenter's report from Kansas' Topeka Capital-Journal. It appeared in the Sunday edition. LINK An extended excerpt: The life, and more pointedly, the death of small-time hoodlum Ruben Montoya Cantu is etched into the consciousness of...
More Lethal Injection News From Nebraska
Posted on November 17, 2009"Bruning: Advance lethal injection," is the title of Paul Hammel's report in today's Omaha World-Herald. Nebraska should not be deterred by a recently botched execution in Ohio and ought to move forward with a proposed three-drug protocol to carry out...
Texas Execution
Posted on November 17, 2009Texas is scheduled to conduct its 22nd execution of 2009, tonight in Huntsville. It would be the 445th Texas execution since 1982. Texas has far and away the most active death chamber in America, accounting for more than 37% of...
More Fallout From Gray County & the Levi King Case
Posted on November 16, 2009"Prosecution will cost county plenty," is the title of Dennis Palmitier' OpEd from the Sunday edition of the Amarillo Globe-News. An extended excerpt: Many folks are wondering just what 31st District Attorney Lynn Switzer accomplished in her pursuit of the...
Danielle Simpson & Texas' Death Penalty - A View From Great Britain
Posted on November 16, 2009Chris McGreal reports, "Texas death row man claims inmates' numbered days are form of torture," for the Guardian. The article appeared in Sunday's issue. Danielle Simpson's scrawled note to the appeal court left the judges in no doubt. "If I...
Texas Death Sentences
Posted on November 16, 2009"Death sentences have dropped sharply after life without parole became possible," appeared in the Sunday Fort Worth Star-Telegram. It's written by Aman Batheja and also contains several charts and tables. While the debate over capital punishment rages anew in Texas,...
OpEd Roundup - Texas' Broken Criminal Justice System
Posted on November 16, 2009"Texans too quiet about their state?s broken justice system," is the title of an OpEd by J. Todd Moye in the Sunday Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Moye is a member of the Star-Telegram's 2009 Community Columnist Panel. U.S. Supreme Court Justice...
FSC Should Do Its Work in Public
Posted on November 16, 2009"Texas commission reviewing complaints about handling of forensic evidence in criminal cases should work in public," is the title of the editorial from the Saturday edition of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. John Bradley, new head of the Texas Forensic Science...
A Profile of Gerald Hurst
Posted on November 16, 2009Chuck Lindell writes, "Austin scientist attacks arson convictions." It appeared in the Sunday edition of the Austin American-Statesman. Here's the beginning of this must-read: For torching a car with her mother inside, Sheila Bryan was sentenced to life plus 20...
Continued Commentary on Juvenile Sentencing Cases
Posted on November 16, 2009Over the weekend there was a great deal of commentary -- editorials, OpEds, and column -- on the need for juvenile sentencing reform. Because of the sheer volume, I'm going to limit excerpts, but those interested in the issues raised...
Ohio to Switch to One-Drug Lethal Injection
Posted on November 13, 2009That's the headline of Julie Carr Smyth's AP report via Google News. LINK A filing in U.S. District Court shows Ohio will switch to a one-drug approach to lethal injection executions, with a muscle injection available as a back up....
Continued Support of Juvenile Sentencing Reform
Posted on November 13, 2009Today's Nashua Telegraph in New Hampshire carries the editorial, "Life with no parole too severe for teens." Of the 111 juveniles serving such sentences in the nation, 77 are doing their time in Florida prisons. In all, 2,570 juveniles are...
More Perry, Forensics, Willingham Commentary
Posted on November 13, 2009"Adding to death penalty debate," is the title of Scott Stroud's column in today's San Antonio Express-News. The death penalty is widely considered a settled question in Texas, but the arguments both for and against have rarely been more valid...
Texas Governor?s Office Should Release the Willingham Clemency Report
Posted on November 13, 2009That's the title of an editorial in today's Fort Worth Star-Telegram. LINK The Texas Public Information Act contains straightforward procedures. When a member of the public requests public information from a public agency, the documents must be provided "promptly...
More Details From Ohio on Lethal Injection Changes
Posted on November 13, 2009Prison officials held a news conference in Ohio this afternoon, disclosing additional information about changes to the state's lethal injection procedures. Thanks to the Death Penalty Clinic at the University of California at Berkeley, details are here...
The Death Penalty in Washington State
Posted on November 12, 2009The Walla Walla Union-Bulletin's series continues with five major articles. The first installment, an overview published on Sunday, was noted here. "Dollars add up in capital trials," by Andy Porter, ran in Monday's Union-Bulletin. Estimating the cost of a murder...
Memo to Kay
Posted on November 12, 2009That's the title of Michael Hall's web extra column for Texas Monthly. It's subtitled, "Even someone who supports the death penalty, as you do, can and should be up in arms over the Cameron Willingham case." Hey Senator Hutchison, would...
More News From the Aftermath of the Senate Hearing
Posted on November 12, 2009Elise Hu's Texas Tribune coverage of the Senate Criminal Justice Committee, noted in this post, picked up differences between former Forensic Science Commission Chair Sam Bassett and the new Chair, John Bradley. Those differences have increased dramatically since the hearing...
California Death Row Conditions
Posted on November 12, 2009Carol J. Williams writes, "Death penalty is considered a boon by some California inmates," for the Los Angeles Times. It appeared in Wednesday's edition. White supremacist gang hit man Billy Joe Johnson got what he asked for from the Orange...
The Death Penalty, Cost, and Georgia
Posted on November 12, 2009A great deal of attention was paid last year to the cost of Brian Nichols' capital prosecution in Georgia, Now, cost is an issue in another Georgia case, that of Jamie Ryan Weis. "Case could decide whether Georgia can afford...
Continuing Coverage & Commentary on the Florida Juvenile Cases
Posted on November 12, 2009Let's start with editorials. Wyoming's Casper Star-Tribune has, "Simpson: 'All rivers can change course'." Former U.S. Sen. Alan Simpson of Wyoming eloquently described why a juvenile offender who hasn't killed anyone shouldn't be locked up with no chance of parole:...
New Clues for Forensic Panel Future
Posted on November 11, 2009That's the title of Rick Casey's column in today's Houston Chronicle. LINK Gov. Rick Perry made a brilliant choice in John Bradley to head the Texas Forensic Science Commission ? at least for his own purposes. But after a two-hour...
News Coverage of the Senate Criminal Justice Committee Hearing
Posted on November 11, 2009You can watch streaming video of yesterday's Texas Senate Criminal Justice hearing on the Forensic Science Commission here. Following the hearing, Senator Rodney Ellis held a news conference with Innocence Project Co-Director Barry Scheck. It's also available in streaming video,...
Justice Alito and the ABA Guidelines
Posted on November 11, 2009National Law Journal reports, "A Justice's Curious Comment About ABA Guidelines for Death Penalty Lawyers." It's written by Marcia Coyle. The Supreme Court this week, in an unsigned opinion, reversed relief granted by the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals...
Minnesota Lawyers Protect Rights of Those on Death Row
Posted on November 11, 2009That's the title of Sam Barr's Behind the Bar column at MinnPost. LINK Here's an extended excerpt from the beginning of the article. About 3,300 people are on death row right now. Few are represented by competent lawyers at public...
Recognition for a Leader in Adolescent Developmental Studies
Posted on November 11, 2009If I had a Good Timing category, this would be filed there. Temple University has issued a news release, "Psychology professor honored for exceptional scientific achievement impacting the lives of young people." Dr. Laurence Steinberg acted as scientific consultant on...
More Commentary on the Juvenile Sentencing Cases
Posted on November 11, 2009"Ugly Truth: Most U.S. Kids Sentenced to Die In Prison Are Black," is the title of Liliana Segura's post at AlterNet. Monday's oral arguments covered a lot of ground, including whether life-without-parole is comparable to the death penalty (which has...
Editorials on the Juvenile Sentencing Cases
Posted on November 11, 2009"Cruel and unusual," is the title of the editorial in today's Houston Chronicle. On Monday, the Supreme Court heard petitioners argue that sentencing people to life in prison without any possibility of parole for crimes they committed as juveniles, where...
Texas is scheduled to carry out
Posted on November 10, 2009Texas is scheduled to carry out its 21st execution of 2009, tonight in Huntsville. It would be the state's 444th execution since 1982. Texas has far and away the most active death chamber in America, accounting for more than 37%...
Rick Casey on Deterrence
Posted on November 10, 2009The Houston Chronicle columnist's latest is, "A murder mystery by the numbers." This is a different kind of murder mystery. For years, social scientists have tried to determine whether the death penalty has a deterrent effect. Put another way, does...
CNN Takes Another Look at the Willingham case
Posted on November 10, 2009"Texas resists family's effort to clear executed man's name," is by Matt Smith. Here are two brief excerpts from this report that charts the history of the case. Cameron Todd Willingham's family here in Oklahoma never believed he set the...
Previews of Today's Senate Hearing
Posted on November 10, 2009"Texas Senate hearing today to focus on panel that reviewed 2004 arson case," is Robert Garrett's report for the Dallas Morning News. John Bradley, the new chairman of the Texas Forensic Science Commission, is expected to face sharp questioning by...
Today's Willingham Forensic Editorials
Posted on November 10, 2009Today's Austin American-Statesman carries the editorial, "Lawmakers should reassess panel's purpose." Those who know Williamson County District Attorney John Bradley ? even, and maybe especially, his detractors ? know he doesn't do anything halfway. Folks being prosecuted by Bradley know...
Texas Senate Criminal Justice Committee Meets Today
Posted on November 10, 2009Senator John Whitmire, Chair of the Committee and Dean of the Senate, called the meeting following Governor Perry's shakeup of the Texas Forensic Science Commission. The Committee meets at 10:00 a.m., this morning in the Capitol. The hearing notice is...
Texas & Virginia Executions
Posted on November 10, 2009Texas and Virginia both carried out executions tonight. Shortly after 6:00 pm in Huntsville, Texas executed Yosvanis Valle. It was the state's 21st execution of 2009; Texas' 444th execution since 1982. Texas has far and away the most active death...
News Coverage of the Juvenile Sentencing Cases
Posted on November 10, 2009As noted yesterday, the transcripts of Sullivan v. Graham and Sullivan v. Florida are available via the Court's website. Scotus Wiki files for Graham v. Florida and Sullivan v. Florida contain all briefing. Lyle Denniston expanded his initial SCOTUS Blog...
Dave Mann on Today's Capitol Events
Posted on November 10, 2009Dave Mann covered today's Senate Criminal Justice Committee meeting and the Rodney Ellis, Barry Scheck news conference that followed. He's posted, "The Willingham Hearing," at his Texas Observer blog. Mann has written an impressive series of articles for the Observer...
Archived Video of Senate Hearing & Ellis, Scheck News Conference Available
Posted on November 10, 2009Streaming video of this morning's Texas Senate Criminal Justice hearing on the Forensic Science Commission has been posted to the Archived Video section of the Senate website, here. Following the hearing, Senator Rodney Ellis held a news conference with Innocence...
Juvenile Cases Being Heard Now - The Argument Previews
Posted on November 09, 2009Oral arguments in Sullivan v. Florida will be ending shortly in the U.S. Supreme Court. Graham v. Florida was heard earlier this morning. Transcripts of the oral arguments will be available here, later today. We have preview from some of...
Juvenile Cases Being Heard Now - The OpEds
Posted on November 09, 2009"A 2d chance at freedom for juvenile offenders," is the title of Paul Farmer's OpEd in today's Boston Globe. Farmer, a medical doctor, is a professor of social medicine in the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard...
Juvenile Cases Being Heard Now - The Editorials
Posted on November 09, 2009The Court has heard Graham v. Florida earlier this morning, and it is hearing Sullivan v. Florida at this time. I'll break out coverage into three posts. This one will contain editorials, the next post OpEds, and the third post...
ohn Bradley's OpEd
Posted on November 09, 2009The OpEd, "Panel on forensic science to establish ground rules," by John Bradley appeared in the Saturday Houston Chronicle. I am John Bradley, the elected district attorney in Williamson County and the new presiding officer of the nine-member Texas Forensic...
More on John Bradley
Posted on November 09, 2009"Surprises under Williamson DA's image," is the title of Miguel Liscano's Austin American-Statesman report. It appeared in the Sunday edition. Through 22 years as a prosecutor, the past eight as Williamson County district attorney, Bradley has amassed convictions and accolades,...
Transcripts Available in Juvenile Cases
Posted on November 09, 2009The transcripts of oral arguments in Graham v. Florida and Sullivan v. Florida are now available through the Court's website. Lyle Denniston posts an initial version of, "Analysis: The Chief leads on juvenile sentences?" A more complete version will be...
The Utah Parole Board
Posted on November 09, 2009"Utah parole board wields power judiciously," is the title of Stephen Hunt's report in today's Salt Lake Tribune. Members of the Utah Board of Pardons and Parole would love to gaze into an inmate's future before releasing him back onto...
In Kansas
Posted on November 09, 2009"Death penalty cases take time and scrutiny," is the title of a lengthy examination of Kansas' death penalty. As with the Walla Walla Union-Bulletin series and the Louisville Courier-Journal article, both noted earlier today, this is a lengthy examination...
In Kentucky
Posted on November 09, 2009"Kentucky's troubled death-penalty system lets cases languish for decades, is the title of a Louisville Courier-Journal report written by R. G. Dunlop. Kentucky is spending millions of dollars each year on a capital-punishment system so ineffective that more death-row inmates...
In Washington State
Posted on November 09, 2009The Walla Walla Union-Bulletin has begun a four-day series on the death penalty. SUNDAY - Series overview, a column by Terry McConn and a timeline of the history of executions from 1904 to the present day. MONDAY - The cost...
The Smell Test
Posted on November 09, 2009That's the title of an editorial in today's Houston Chronicle. It's subtitled, "Canine witnesses need tighter judicial leashes." With very little science to back them up, so-called scent lineups have been used extensively to convict defendants in Texas courts...
Delaware PDs See Case Loads Reduced
Posted on November 06, 2009"State's public defenders see fewer cases," is the title of J.L. Miller's report in the Wilmington News Journal. The Public Defender's Office won't seek a budget increase this year, thanks to a puzzling trend in the number of cases the...
Massachusetts AG Criticized for Wood v. Allen Position
Posted on November 06, 2009"Death penalty foes rip Coakley for signing brief," is the title of Matt Viser's report in today's Boston Globe. The amicus brief is here, in Adobe .pdf format. Attorney General Martha Coakley, who says she is firmly against capital punishment,...
U.S. Lawmaker Pushes Death Penalty Appeals Overhaul
Posted on November 06, 2009That's the title of a news report from AFP, via Google News. LINK A US lawmaker has introduced legislation to end "inhumane and unconstitutional" rules that prevent death row inmates from presenting newly discovered evidence to dispute their guilt. "We've...
John Bradley on the Forensic Science Commission
Posted on November 06, 2009"Fired Up," is the title of Mary Alice Robbins' report for Texas Lawyer. It gives us the most detailed look at John Bradley's plans as the new Chairman of the Texas Forensic Science Commission. The prosecutor heading a commission at...
Texas Execution
Posted on November 05, 2009Texas carried out its 20th execution of 2009, tonight in Huntsville. It was the state's 443rd execution since 1982. Texas has far and away the most active death chamber in America, accounting for more than 37% of the nation's post-Furman...
Kansas Abolition Debate Front & Center for 2010
Posted on November 05, 2009The Lawrence Journal-World reports, "Death penalty repeal set for debate next session." It's written by Scott Rothschild. A proposal to abolish the Kansas death penalty will be considered by lawmakers during the second week of the 2010 legislative session, the...
Ohio
Posted on November 05, 2009Andrew Welsh-Huggins has filed, "Ohio GOP lawmakers: Execution process can be fixed," for AP. It's available via Google News and the New York Times. Two Republican lawmakers advising Ohio's Democratic governor on changes to the state's lethal injection process say...
News Coverage of Wood v. Allen & Prosecutorial Immunity Case
Posted on November 05, 2009You can read the transcripts in Pottawattamie County v. McGhee and Wood v. Allen, via the Court's website. Adam Liptak writes, "Justices, in Aftermath of 2 Murder Cases, Hear Claims of a Process Gone Wrong," for today's New York Times....
An Update on Scent Lineups
Posted on November 04, 2009The Court of Criminal Appeals will be looking at one of the cases involved in scent lineups, that of Richard Lynn Winfrey from San Jacinto County. His petition for discretionary review was granted by the Court today. The appellant's brief...
Texas Tribune Up and Breaking News
Posted on November 04, 2009As noted earlier, the Texas Tribune went live yesterday. Today, Emily Ramshaw is breaking news on the criminal justice front with, "TYC: Mentally ill offenders won't be discharged without proper services." Here's an excerpt: The Texas Youth Commission will stop...
New Hampshire Legislators Seek to Expand Death Penalty
Posted on November 04, 2009"Mont Vernon legislators: Home invasion murderers deserve death penalty," by Tom Fahey is in the New Hampshire Union Leader. Two Mont Vernon lawmakers want to expand the state's death penalty law to include murders during home invasions. Their town was...
Wood v. Allen at Supreme Court
Posted on November 04, 2009The Supreme Court hears the Alabama death penalty today. All briefing is at the ScotusWiki page for Wood v. Allen. "Application of AEDPA to Review of State Determinations of Fact (Wood v. Allen Argument Preview)," is at SCOTUS Blog. The...
Attorneys for DC Sniper Appeal to Supreme Court
Posted on November 04, 2009"Supreme Court is asked to spare sniper," is the report in today's Washington Post. It's written by Maria Glod and Josh White. Attorneys for sniper John Allen Muhammad, mastermind of the terrifying 2002 Washington area shooting spree, asked the U.S.....
Idaho Prosecutors Opting Not to Seek Death Penalty
Posted on November 04, 2009That's the title of Patrick Orr's report in the Idaho Statesman of Boise. It's subtitled, "Only 2 Idaho counties have asked for the death penalty in murder cases since 2003, and Ada hasn?t pursued it since being denied twice in...
The Economist on the Todd Willingham Case
Posted on November 04, 2009"From arson to politics," is the title of the article from the October 22nd issue. Innocence is a recurrent claim in last statements. In Mr Willingham?s case, it may well have been true. Shortly before he was executed, an arson...
'Scent Lineup'
Posted on November 04, 2009"Picked From a Lineup, on a Whiff of Evidence," is the title of John Schwartz' report in today's New York Times. Here's an extended excerpt: A dog?s sniff helped put Curvis Bickham in jail for eight months. Now that the...
Cost an Issue in Spokane, Washington
Posted on November 03, 2009Today's Spokesman-Review carries the editorial, "Death penalty cases costly; instead, seek life sentences." Stevens County is balking at accepting the death penalty case of Christopher H. Devlin, because of the enormous costs associated with mounting such cases...
OpEds, Columns, and Commentary on the Florida Cases
Posted on November 03, 2009"The Case Against Juvenile Life Without Parole: Good Policy and Good Law," is the title of Kristin Henning's commentary at FindLaw.com. She's Co-Director of the Juvenile Justice Clinic at Georgetown University Law Center. Many children in conflict with the law...
Juvenile LWoP at Supreme Court Monday
Posted on November 03, 2009Oral arguments in the two cases, Graham v. Florida and Sullivan v. Florida, are scheduled for Monday, November 9. Robert Barnes has a preview in the Washington Post, and today's Philadelphia Inquirer carries an editorial. There is also a great...
The Murderous Society
Posted on November 03, 2009Jill Lepore writes, "Why is American history so murderous?" for the November 9 edition of the New Yorker. Every murder raises terrible questions that no trial, no law, no punishment can answer. What forces make it possible for one human...
The Velvet Glove
Posted on November 03, 2009That's the title of a report in last week's Economist, datelined High Point, North Carolina. It's subtitled, "Why the soft approach sometimes works." Here's an excerpt from the beginning of this must-read: LOOKING after small children is never easy. Many...
In Maryland
Posted on November 03, 2009"Miller to propose death penalty changes," is the title of Douglas Tallman's report in Gaithersburg's Gazette. Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. said last week that he plans to introduce legislation in 2010 that would clarify last session's changes...
Chip Pitts on the Rule of Law
Posted on November 02, 2009Last month, the noted human rights lawyer Chip Pitts spoke to the Texas Rule of Law Conference in Dallas. Among other topics, he raised the case of Todd Willingham. By special arrangement, we have the text of the speech here....
Extraditions From Mexico
Posted on November 02, 2009"Mexico reaches record 100 extraditions to US," is Mark Stevenson's national AP report, via Google News. It's datelined Mexico City. Mexico has extradited a record number of criminal suspects to the United States this year, underscoring a dramatic improvement in...
Opinion Roundup
Posted on November 02, 2009David Hamilton, Editorial Director of the Jackson Clarion Ledger in Mississippi, writes, "Death penalty just too costly." Some criminals in Hinds County who may have been headed to Death Row just got a reprieve. There hasn't been any change of...
The Yogurt Shop Case: Injustice For All
Posted on November 02, 2009That's the title of an Austin American-Statesman editorial. LINK It appeared in the Sunday edition. When it comes to the yogurt shop slayings, calling our criminal justice system a system does great injustice to systems that actually work. The case...
The Ninth Circuit
Posted on November 02, 2009David Savage writes, "California killer's case back before Supreme Court," for today's Los Angeles Times. The Supreme Court is considering, for the third time, the case of a California murderer who was sentenced to die in 1982 for the brutal...
At the Supreme Court
Posted on November 02, 2009Beard v. Kindler, a Pennsylvania case will be heard in the Supreme Court this afternoon. Erin Miller writes a preview, "When Can States Preclude Federal Habeas Review?" for SCOTUS Blog. Beard v. Kindler is a capital case with an unusual...
Fresh Willingham Commentary
Posted on November 02, 2009There are new OpEds and columns this morning focusing on the Todd Willingham case. Boyd Richie, Chair of the Texas Democratic Party, writes, "For Perry, it's self before service," for the Austin American-Statesman. When Gov. Rick Perry took the oath....
When Procedure Trumps Justice
Posted on November 02, 2009That's the title of Bennett Gershman's commentary for the National Law Journal. Gershman teaches at Pace Law School and the author of Prosecutorial Misconduct. LINK What could be worse than a capital murder trial in which the trial judge and...
Mississippi Supreme Court Flags Post-Conviction Review
Posted on October 30, 2009" Death row case delays flagged," is the report in the Jackson Clarion-Ledger. The Mississippi Supreme Court has asked trial judges why they have not ruled on post-conviction claims of nine death row inmates. At least four of the cases...
An Update on Hannah Overton
Posted on October 30, 2009Hannah Overton's case has attracted a great deal of attention in the Corpus area. Many believe she was wrongly convicted. "Hannah Overton case upheld by appeals court," is the title of the report in the Corpus Christi Caller-Times. It's written...
Today's Willingham Commentaries
Posted on October 30, 2009There is fresh commentary today. Let's begin with Eugenia Willingham's, "So many questions that refuse to go away," in today's Fort Worth Star-Telegram. She is Todd Willingham's stepmother. Nearly 18 years ago, a long nightmare began for my family. Every...
Texas Tribune
Posted on October 29, 2009The Texas Tribune goes live next week on November 3, so I'm adding it to the Texas news links. Earlier coverage of the Trib's startup is here.
Florida Revises Death Penalty Jury Instruction
Posted on October 29, 2009"Fla. justices respond to death penalty confusion," is the title of Bill Kaczor's AP report, via the Miami Herald. The Florida Supreme Court revised standard jury instructions for death penalty cases Thursday in ways the justices hope will reduce widespread...
Arkansas State Supreme Court Upholds Lethal Injection Law
Posted on October 29, 2009The Arkansas Supreme Court ruling in Arkansas Department of Correction v. Frank Williams, Jr. (08-1031) is in Adobe .pdf format. "Ark. Supreme Court upholds lethal injection law," is Andrew DeMillo's AP report via the Pine Bluff Commercial. The Arkansas Supreme...
In Ohio
Posted on October 29, 2009"Attorney general wants stay of execution lifted," is the title of Bobby Clarke's report for the Warren Tribune Chronicle. The Ohio attorney general has filed a motion with the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals that seeks to lift a...
Wayne Slater's Conversations With Religious Leaders
Posted on October 29, 2009The senior political writer of the Dallas Morning News has talked to a wide array of Texas religious leaders in, "Texas Faith: Are Texans immoral for supporting the death penalty?" It appears at the Morning News Religion blog, and it's...
How Do You Rectify the Ultimate Mistake?
Posted on October 29, 2009That's the title of Gerry Gamel's signed editorial in the Mason County News. LINK Let's be clear at the outset - I am an advocate of the death penalty. I believe that some crimes are so heinous, so evil, that...
Charges Dismissed in Yogurt Shop Case
Posted on October 28, 2009That's the title of a post at the Austin American-Statesman Austin Legal blog written by Steven Kreytak. LINK Travis County prosecutors moved to dismiss the murder indictments against the two remaining defendants in 1991 yogurt shop murders after announcing in...
Chronicle Sues Governor
Posted on October 28, 2009"Chronicle sues Perry over clemency report," is the title of R.G. Ratcliffe's report in today's Houston Chronicle. The Houston Chronicle and Hearst Newspapers LLC are suing Gov. Rick Perry in an effort to force the release of a clemency report...
More on the State of Willingham Forensics
Posted on October 28, 2009"Techniques used in Willingham case now seen as outdated," by Dave Montgomery appeared in the Sunday Dallas Morning News. As a key witness in the capital murder trial of Cameron Todd Willingham, then-Deputy State Fire Marshal Manuel Vasquez testified that...
What Stacy Kuykendall Said
Posted on October 28, 2009On Sunday, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported, "Stacy Kuykendall's statement about the 1991 fire." Stacy Kuykendall, the ex-wife of Cameron Todd Willingham, offers her first detailed account of the 1991 fire that claimed the lives of her three daughters and...
More Todd Willingham Commentary
Posted on October 28, 2009I'll be catching up today with news coverage of and commentary about the Todd Willingham case since Sunday. Let's start with an editorial and column from the Dallas Morning News. The editorial, "What the Willingham case is really about," is...
Friday
Posted on October 23, 2009I'll be traveling much of today. Posts will resume later this evening.
Cameron Todd Willingham: Executed But Innocent?
Posted on October 23, 2009That's the title of an editorial in today's Los Angeles Times. LINK Even in Texas, where the death penalty is embraced with fervor, the revelation that the governor permitted an execution to proceed in 2001 despite abundant evidence that the...
An Addendum to 'Slow Progress'
Posted on October 22, 2009As it's news peg, the Florida Times Union report in the preceding post used the case of Mark McClain. Augusta Chronicle reporter witnessed the execution and wrote, "Georgia's execution procedure appears cold, precise and final." A slightly different version is...
It Can Be a Slow Process For Those on Death Row
Posted on October 22, 2009That's the title of a report in the Florida Times Union written by Walter Jones. It is datelined Atlanta, Georgia. It's a must-read. LINK The 13 years between when Mark McClain was convicted for murdering a pizza-store manager in Augusta...
Capital Trial Costs Examined
Posted on October 22, 2009"Murder trial costs Gray County a lot," by David Pittman of Morris News Service is from the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal. Gray County taxpayers spent almost $750,000 - about 10 percent of the rural county's budget - to defend a Missouri man...
Opinion Roundup
Posted on October 22, 2009"Death penatly costly," is the editorial in the Salina Journal. It's written by editor and publisher Tom Bell. Just for the sake of discussion, let's set aside any moral questions regarding the death penalty and look at the issue from...
New Hampshire Death Penalty Study Commission Begins Work
Posted on October 22, 2009"Death penalty study begins," is the title of Margot Sanger-Katz' report in today's Concord Monitor. The 22 men and women who will be considering what the New Hampshire Legislature should do about the death penalty made their introductions yesterday at...
Life Sentence in Notorious Chicago Crime; Jurors Speak Out
Posted on October 22, 2009"Juror in James Degorski trial now says he opposes capital punishment," is the report by Daarel Burnette II and Matthew Walberg in today's Chicago Tribune. A second juror who voted to spare James Degorski's life for the Brown's Chicken massacre...
2004 Execution Haunts Texas Governor's Race
Posted on October 22, 2009That's the title of John Burnett's NPR report on the Todd Willingham case for yesterday afternoon's edition of All Things Considered. You can listen to the audio at the LINK. Did Texas execute an innocent man? That question, and the...
Michael Graczyk of Associated Press
Posted on October 22, 2009"One Reporter?s Lonely Beat, Witnessing Executions," is the title of Richard Perez-Pena's report in today's New York Times. Of all the consequences of shrinking newsrooms, one of the oddest is this: Fewer journalists are available to watch people die...
Maryland Prosecutors Will Not Be Required to Detail Standards for Seeking Death
Posted on October 22, 2009"Prosecutors won't be called to testify on death penalty," is the title of Andrea Siegel's Baltimore Sun report. In a setback to a prisoner challenging the state's new death penalty curbs, Maryland's 24 state's attorneys will not be called to...
Perry Reiterates Death Penalty Support
Posted on October 21, 2009Christy Hoppe writes, "Gov. Rick Perry reiterates support for Texas' death penalty process," for today's Dallas Morning News. Gov. Rick Perry reiterated his support for the state's death penalty system Tuesday after one of his predecessors raised questions about its...
Supreme Court Rejects Review of Kenneth Mosley Case
Posted on October 20, 2009"Suburban Dallas cop killer loses at Supreme Court," is the title of Michael Graczyk's filing for AP, via the Houston Chronicle. The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to review an appeal from a man convicted of killing a suburban...
The Ohio Moratorium
Posted on October 20, 2009"Judge Delays Another Ohio Execution," is the title of Rob Driehaus' report in today's New York Times. A federal judge has indefinitely delayed an execution scheduled for Dec. 8, the fourth execution to be postponed in Ohio since technicians failed...
News Coverage of Smart on Crime
Posted on October 20, 2009The Death Penalty Information Center's report Smart on Crime: Reconsidering the Death Penalty in a Time of Economic Crisis, is garnering a great deal of news coverage, often with a local angle. "Ending death penalty could save US millions: study,"...
New Report From DPIC
Posted on October 20, 2009The report is, Smart on Crime: Reconsidering the Death Penalty in a Time of Economic Crisis. The Death Penalty Information Center's news release is, "New Report Shows States Can Save Hundreds of Millions by Abolishing the Death Penalty. National Poll...
The Latest Willingham - Perry Commentary
Posted on October 20, 2009Today's San Antonio Express-News carries the editorial, "Upholding law is Perry's duty." By many accounts, Cameron Willingham was an unsavory character. He allegedly beat his wife. He had a criminal record of nonviolent felonies and misdemeanors. Those aren't capital crimes...
Controversy Builds in Texas Over Execution
Posted on October 20, 2009That's the title of James McKinley's report in today's New York Times. LINK Questions about whether Gov. Rick Perry allowed the execution of a man some arson experts say may have been innocent, and then hindered an investigation into the...
Walter Reaves Speaks Out
Posted on October 19, 2009The Waco attorney was Todd Willingham's final lawyer. "Local attorney says controversy helpful in arson execution case," is the title of Cindy Culp's report for the Sunday Waco Tribune-Herald. After years of trying, local attorney Walter M. Reaves Jr...
Perry Keeps Willingham Memo a Secret
Posted on October 19, 2009That's the title of another R.G. Ratcliffe report in today's Houston Chronicle. LINK Embroiled in a national controversy over whether he allowed the execution of an innocent man, Gov. Rick Perry adamantly has refused to release an advisory memo from....
Former Governor Mark White Calls for Texas Death Penalty Review
Posted on October 19, 2009"Review death penalty law, ex-governor urges," is the title of R.G. Ratcliffe's report in today's Houston Chronicle. Former Gov. Mark White, who was involved in the executions of 20 condemned criminals, says it may be time for Texas to do...
Continued Coverage of Todd Willingham, An Innocent Executed
Posted on October 19, 2009Once again, there is a great deal of coverage of the Todd Willingham case on several fronts. Let's start with David Grann's post at the New Yorker News Desk blog from Friday afternoon,"What Stacy Said." Here's the entire post: The...
Ohio
Posted on October 19, 2009Today's Cleveland Plain Dealer carries the editorial, "The costs to society and the state of capital punishment are too high to justify." It has been 27 years since neo-Nazi Frank Spisak Jr. terrorized Cleveland State University by fatally shooting three...
Lise Olsen on Gov. Perry & Clemency
Posted on October 19, 2009"Perry uses clemency sparingly on death row," is Lise Olsen's report in the Sunday edition of the Houston Chronicle. It's a must-read. Here are extended excerpts: In nearly nine years as Texas governor, Rick Perry has never spared a life...
Opinion Roundup
Posted on October 16, 2009We have an OpEd, blog post, and column to fit into this post. First from the Allentown Morning Call, an OpEd by Ashlee Shelton and Kurt Rosenberg, "Pennsylvania is at serious risk of executing an innocent person. She is the...
More on the Tim Cole Advisory Panel
Posted on October 16, 2009Texas Tech University's Daily Toreador columnist Paul Williamson writes, "Texas justice system getting much needed examination." In 1985 Texas Tech was hit by a series of rapes. This prompted Lubbock police to send a female undercover officer to Tech?s campus...
Confronting Lethal Injection in Maryland
Posted on October 16, 2009John Wagner posts, "Panel Leaders Detail Death Penalty Concerns," at the Washington Post's Maryland Politics blog. The leaders of a legislative review panel detailed concerns in a letter Friday about death penalty regulations drafted by the O'Malley administration, posing questions...
Today's Commentary on Todd Willingham
Posted on October 16, 2009Let's start with the Dallas Morning News OpEd, "Governor's race mired in state of confusion," by Lynn Woolley, which focuses on the politics. It is becoming apparent that there is a possibility that neither Rick Perry nor Kay Bailey Hutchison...
Willingham Juror No Longer Sure of His Guilt in Texas Case
Posted on October 16, 2009That's the title of a report by Gabriel Falcon and Randi Kaye for the CNN program Anderson Cooper 360. LINK At least one member of the jury that sentenced Cameron Todd Willingham to death in the arson homicides of his...
Continued Coverage of Todd Willingham Case
Posted on October 16, 2009More news and more commentary will be divided up in the next few posts, by print, TV, and commentary. Let's start with what's in today's newspapers. "Flawed science, not politics, is core issue, fire expert says," is the title of...
Cable News Discovers the Perry Ax ... and Its Long Shadow
Posted on October 15, 2009The Todd Willingham case has been discussed on three recent cable news programs. CNN's Anderson Copper 360 ran the segment, "Death penalty cover-up?" Video is here, via You Tube.Last week, Texas Gov. Rick Perry has removed a fourth member of...
Rick Perry & Republican Party Politics
Posted on October 15, 2009"Texas Republican Smackdown," is the title of Benjamin Sarlin's article at Daily Beast. Gov. Rick Perry is under fire over a suspicious execution?and his secessionist talk this spring. Can his more moderate GOP rival take him down? The national GOP...
Lethal Injection Draws Scrutiny in Some States
Posted on October 15, 2009That's the title of an article in today's Wall Street Journal written by Nathan Koppel and Chris Herring. It's subtitled, "Constitutional Questions Raised Over Death-Penalty Procedures, but Some See Concern for Condemned Murderers as 'Absurd'." Despite the many arguments over...
An Update on Anthony Graves
Posted on October 15, 2009Even in the midst of all that surrounds the case of Todd Willingham, there are other Texas cases highlighting the failures of Texas' criminal justice system. Jordan Smith reports, "'Junk Science' Emerges in Graves Case," in the current issue of...
Texas Governor Provokes Death Penalty Backlash
Posted on October 15, 2009That's the title of Heather Horn's post at Atlantic Wire. LINK Texas Governor Rick Perry has recently replaced the fourth and last original member of the state commission investigating a controversial allegation of wrongful execution. The Atlantic Wire previously covered...
Latest Willingham Commentary
Posted on October 15, 2009"Gov. Rick Perry's changes at forensic commission raise eyebrows," is the Fort Worth Star-Telegram editorial. Gov. Rick Perry?s hatchet has fallen once again on what was a little-known state commission created to ensure the credibility of forensic science used in...
Much More Willingham
Posted on October 15, 2009The latest controvery started yesterday when Governor Rick Perry spoke to the Texas Association of Realtors. Asked about the Willingham case and his removal of Forensic Science Commission members, Perry carved his position into stone. That led Craig Beyler, the...
Judge William Wayne Justice, 1920 - 2009
Posted on October 14, 2009He was a Texas judicial giant, and will be greatly missed. The William Wayne Justice Center for Public Interest Law at the University of Texas School of Law will carry forward his legacy. The Law School has posted, "In Memoriam:...
A Waste? Perhaps Highly Toxic Waste
Posted on October 14, 2009"Panel ex-chairman says he was told arson probe a waste," is today's Houston Chronicle report by Alan Turner and R.G. Ratcliffe. Lawyers representing Gov. Rick Perry on two occasions grilled Austin lawyer Sam Bassett on the activities of his Texas...
More From the Fort Worth Star-Telegram on Forensics, Perry, Politics
Posted on October 14, 2009Yamil Berard, who gave us the excellent five-part series on problems with Texas autopsies earlier this month, has fresh information in today's Fort Worth Star-Telegram. The article is, "At time of Perry dismissals, authority of Texas forensic panel was at...
More Arson Understanding Needed in Courts, Judge Says
Posted on October 14, 2009That's the title of Chuck Lindell's report in today's Austin American-Statesman, referring to Judge Barbara Hervey of the Court of Criminal Appeals. LINK A judge on the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, which has the power to overturn death sentences....
The Backlog of Arizona Death Penalty Cases
Posted on October 14, 2009"Questions of justice in court changes," is the title of Michael Kiefer's report in the Arizona Republic. Since Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas took office in 2005, he has asked for death sentences in murder cases more than 120 times...
Editorial Roundup
Posted on October 13, 2009"A moral oxymoron," is the editorial in today's Baltimore Sun. It's subtitled, "No amount of tinkering will fix the state's flawed death penalty law." The fundamental question to be asked about the "serious flaws" that a legislative panel reviewing Maryland's...
The Tim Cole Advisory Panel on Wrongful Convictions
Posted on October 13, 2009Dave Montgomery writes, "Tim Cole panel begins yearlong look at judicial safeguards," for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. A blue-ribbon panel named after a wrongfully convicted inmate from Fort Worth is beginning a prolonged mission toward reforming criminal justice in Texas,...
Justice Dept. to Review Bush Policy on DNA Test Waivers
Posted on October 13, 2009That's the title of Jerry Markon's report from the Sunday Washington Post. LINK Here are extended excerpts: Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. has ordered a review of a little-known Bush administration policy requiring some defendants to waive their right...
The Latest National Death Penalty Numbers From Gallup
Posted on October 13, 2009"In U.S., Two-Thirds Continue to Support Death Penalty. Little change in recent years despite international opposition," is the title of Frank Newport's narrative of the polling results.Gallup's annual Crime Survey finds that 65% of Americans continue to support the use...
New Science Panel Chief Fights DNA
Posted on October 13, 2009That's the title of Rick Casey's latest Houston Chronicle column. LINK John Bradley, the Williamson County district attorney whom Gov. Rick Perry recently appointed to head the Texas Forensic Science Commission, is fighting to keep a man convicted of murdering...
Governor Perry and Secrecy
Posted on October 13, 2009"Perry stays secret on many things, including forensics files," is the title of Christy Hoppe's report in today's Dallas Morning News. Gov. Rick Perry's refusal to release documents he reviewed in the hours before the Cameron Todd Willingham execution is...
Perry's Actions Increasingly Suspect in Willingham Case
Posted on October 13, 2009That's the title of an editorial in today's Dallas Morning News. LINK Gov. Rick Perry's Saturday night massacre of the Texas Forensic Science Commission has extended into Sunday and beyond. When the governor abruptly unseated three commission members, including the...
Preview of Smith v. Spisak
Posted on October 12, 2009Oral argument in the Ohio case is scheduled for tomorrow. SCOTUS wiki has the file on Smith v. Spisak, containing all briefing. The Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 (AEDPA) provides that a federal court may grant a...
Scrutiny for a Florida Judge From Days as Prosecutor
Posted on October 12, 2009The South Florida Sun Sentinel reports, "Ex-prosecutor Robert Carney draws scrutiny over disputed murder cases." It's written by Paula McMahon. For five years, Robert Carney, a Vietnam-era Marine, represented the people of Broward County in murder cases, a prosecutor's gravest...
Ohio's Impact on Maryland Rules
Posted on October 12, 2009"Md. Panel Slows Down Draft of Execution Rules," is the title of John Wagner's report in today's Washington Post. Maryland's de facto moratorium on capital punishment is likely to extend well into next year after leaders of a state review...
The Ohio Review
Posted on October 12, 2009"Execution Methods Examined: Ohio's Review After Botched Injection May Have Wide Impact," is the title of Peter Slevin's report in the Washington Post. It appeared in Sunday's edition. The protocol is a familiar one, used by 35 states and the...
Deadly Decisions
Posted on October 12, 2009That's the title of Michael Khavari's column in today's University of Virginia Cavalier Daily. Khavari cites Todd Willingham's execution as a reason capital punishment should be repealed. It's subtitled, "The archaic practices of putting people to death for crimes must...
More Changes to Forensic Science Commission
Posted on October 12, 2009CNN reports, "Fourth member replaced on Texas panel probing execution." Texas Gov. Rick Perry has removed a fourth member of a state commission charged with investigating claims that an innocent man may have been executed, his office said. The Texas....
Former Head of Texas Forensics Panel Probing 1991 Fire Says He Felt Pressured by Gov. Perry Aides
Posted on October 12, 2009That's the title of Steve Mills' report in today's Chicago Tribune. It's subtitled, "Ousted head of inquiry into blaze that led to execution says Perry aides pressured him." Just months before the controversial removal of three members of a state...
Much More Todd Willingham News Coverage
Posted on October 12, 2009Let's begin with Lise Olsen's report, "Perry's office quiet on expert's arson report." It appeared in Sunday's Houston Chronicle. Here's an extended excerpt: Just 88 minutes before the February 2004 execution of Cameron Todd Willingham, Gov. Rick Perry's office received...
Craig Watkins, 'Rock Star' DA, at a Crossroads
Posted on October 09, 2009That's the title of a lengthy profile of the Dallas County District Attorney, distributed this afternoon by Associated Press. It's written by national AP writer Deborah Hastings. LINK It's via the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, which also has this one-page version...
Death Penalty Debate Renewed in New Hampshire
Posted on October 09, 2009"Death penalty debate heats up in Concord," is the title of the New Hampshire Union Leader report written by Dan Tuohy and Tom Fahey. The murder of a Mont Vernon mother last weekend has stirred discussion in the Legislature of...
In Utah
Posted on October 09, 2009Today's Salt Lake Tribune reports, "'Elegant' plan may help curb death-penalty appeals without Utah Constitution revision." It's written by Stephen Hunt. Lawmakers and prosecutors seeking to limit death-penalty appeals won't have to amend the state constitution to do it, according...
Lethal injection Ruling in Arizona
Posted on October 09, 2009"Ruling puts state closer to resuming executions," is the title of Michael Keifer's report in today's Arizona Republic. Jeffrey Landrigan was sentenced to death for killing a Phoenix man in 1989, but his execution was stayed in 2007, pending a...
News coverage of Arkansas Lethal Injection Hearing
Posted on October 09, 2009"Supreme Court weighs Arkansas lethal injection rules," is the AP report via the Texarkana Gazette. The Arkansas Supreme Court listened Thursday as lawyers argued whether a new law fulfills its aim by clarifying the state?s lethal injection procedures or puts...
John Terzano on Texas Forensics
Posted on October 09, 2009The President of the Justice Project writes, "Texas Cannot Wait for Good Science in the Courtroom," for Huffington Post, today. Last week, Texas Governor Rick Perry removed three members from the Texas Forensic Science Commission. The changes come at a...
Whitmire to Push Forensics Panel on Crime Lab, Fire
Posted on October 09, 2009That's the title of Alan Turner's report in this morning's Houston Chronicle. It refers to Texas State Senator John Whitmire, Dean of the Senate and Chair of the Criminal Justice Committee. LINK Houston state Sen. John Whitmire on Thursday vowed...
In Pennsylvania
Posted on October 08, 2009"Renewed death penalty debate touches Erie region," is the title of Lisa Thompson's lengthy examination in today's Erie Times-News. Here are two excerpts from the beginning of the article: Erie County is paying for the capital case of Willie R....
Editorial Roundup
Posted on October 08, 2009"Death penalty outdated, kills innocent people," is the Clovis News Journal in New Mexico, the most recent state to repeal capital punishment. Here's an extended excerpt: It?s time for another review of the death penalty, and the growing evidence that...
Texas Justice and Human Fallibility
Posted on October 08, 2009That's the title of Rod Dreher's latest BeliefNet post. LINK Ta-Nehisi Coates, writing about the Cameron Todd Willingham case, in which there is reason to believe the State of Texas railroaded an innocent man to his death, makes an observation...
Arkansas State Supreme Court Lethal Injection Hearing
Posted on October 08, 2009The AP reports, "Supreme Court weights Ark. lethal injection rules," via WXVT-TV. Whether Arkansas will be allowed to resume executing death-row inmates now is up to the state Supreme Court. The court heard arguments Thursday morning over a lawsuit by...
Life Sentence in West Texas; Jury Foreman Speaks
Posted on October 08, 2009"Single vote spares killer's life," is the title of Logan Carver's report for the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal. A single vote spared the life of a man who massacred a family in a small Panhandle town four years ago, the foreman of...
Indigent Defense in Maryland
Posted on October 08, 2009"Reform of Maryland oversight panel for public defender eyed," is the title of Julie Bykowicz report in the Baltimore Sun. Until Aug. 21, few people - including state lawmakers and longtime attorneys - had ever given much thought to the...
Wednesday
Posted on September 30, 2009I'll be traveling much of the day Wednesday. I hope you'll take the opportunity to visit blogs and blawgs in the left column webroll.
The Case of the Plummeting Supreme Court Docket
Posted on September 29, 2009That's the title of Adam Liptak's latest Sidebar column in today's New York Times. LINK In the early 1980s, the Supreme Court decided more than 150 cases a year. These days, it decides about half that many. A couple of...
The Future of Lethal Injection in Ohio
Posted on September 29, 2009"Ohio Death Row Inmate Asks for a Delay," is the title of Bob Driehaus' report in today's New York Times. This month?s failed attempt to execute a man convicted of murder and rape in Ohio has prompted another death row...
Nebraska Proposes Lethal Injection Protocol; Public Hearing Set
Posted on September 29, 2009"3-drug combo is execution cocktail," is the title of Martha Stoddard's report in today's Omaha World-Herald. Nebraska corrections officials propose to execute condemned prisoners with a three-drug combination. The drugs would be the same used in all other states that...
More From Florida
Posted on September 28, 2009"Execution reforms gain new traction," is the title of the Gainesville Sun report by Suevon Lee. No matter one's view on the death penalty, it needs serious reform in Florida. So say a number of lawyers, academics and judges pressing...
Nils Christie: Empty the Prisons
Posted on September 28, 2009That's the title of a post at Wired.com from the current issue of the magazine. LINK From the death penalty to "three strikes" laws, Americans love tough responses to crime?but not necessarily smart ones. Nils Christie has a better idea:...
Proportionality Review Among Petitions to Watch
Posted on September 28, 2009Last week, SCOTUS Blog recognized Holmes v. Louisiana as a cert petition to watch. Docket: 08-1358 Title: Holmes v. Louisiana Issue: Whether the operation of Louisiana?s capital punishment scheme and the State Supreme Court?s proportionality review violate the Eighth Amendment?s...
Supreme Court to Consider Juvenile 'Lifers'
Posted on September 28, 2009That's the title of David Savage's report in today's Los Angeles Times previewing two cases that will be heard by the Court on November 9. It's subtitled, "Does life without parole for minors who didn't kill constitute cruel and unusual...
More From New Mexico
Posted on September 28, 2009Dave Maass has posted, "Former New Mexico Governor, Toney Anaya, Talks Death Penalty Politics," at Huffington Post. New Mexico repealed the death penalty during the 2009 Legislative session, but since the lawmaking body is prohibited from enacting retroactive laws the...
High Cost of Death Row
Posted on September 28, 2009That's the title of an editorial in today's New York Times. LINK To the many excellent reasons to abolish the death penalty ? it?s immoral, does not deter murder and affects minorities disproportionately ? we can add one more. It?s...
Texas Forensic Science Commission to Meet Friday
Posted on September 28, 2009"Texas panel reviews ruling that led to execution," is Michael Graczyk's AP report via Google News. More than five years after his final act from the Texas death chamber gurney was a profanity-filled tirade, the murder case of executed inmate...
Perry's Certainty About Execution Ignores Science
Posted on September 28, 2009That the title of a Dallas Morning News editorial. It appeared in the Saturday edition. LINK When a nationally respected fire engineer rebuked an arson investigation that sent a Texas man to his death, the country took notice. The question...
More Broom Commentary
Posted on September 25, 2009"Death Row: The Cruel and Unusual Wait," is the title of Richard Elkind's essay for the OpEd column Barely Legal in the Cornell Daily Sun. On Tuesday, Sep. 15, the state of Ohio was set to execute Rommell Broom, a...
Enough of the Death Penalty
Posted on September 25, 2009That's the title of an editorial in today's Hartford Courant in Connecticut. The subtitle is, "EXECUTION MISTAKES ? Cases in Ohio, Texas show why capital punishment should end." The sickening spectacle of technicians laboring for two hours, without success, to...
News Coverage of the Eighth Circuit Hearing
Posted on September 25, 2009"Other states watching case on lethal injection," is the AP report via the Texarkana Gazette. An attorney for four Arkansas death row inmates who are challenging the state?s lethal injection procedure told a federal appeals court panel Thursday that even...
Proportionality Review - Not in Texas
Posted on September 25, 2009"Judge denies constitutionality motion," is the title of John Tompkins' report in today's issue of the Brazosport Facts. His article is datelined Angleton, Texas. A Brazoria County judge on Thursday denied a motion from an accused murderer?s attorneys that claimed...
Orr & Lefstein on Public Defenders for Harris County
Posted on September 25, 2009"County can save money with public defenders," is the OpEd by Cynthia Hujar Orr and Norman Lefstein in today's Houston Chronicle. Orr is an attorney in San Antonio and President of the National Association of Defense Lawyers. Lefstein is the...
Opinion Roundup
Posted on September 24, 2009Reason reposts Steve Chapman's syndicated column, "What Do We Owe Exonerated Inmates?" It originally appeared in 2006, and was noted here. It's just as relevant today. Michael Evans won an Illinois lottery. The state presented him with a check for...
Eighth Circuit Hears Arkansas Lethal Injection Challenge
Posted on September 24, 2009The U.S Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit today is hearing a challenge to Arkansas' lethal injection procedure. "Appeals court to hear Ark. lethal injection case," is Jon Gambrell's AP report via the Belleville News Democrat. Four Arkansas death-row...
Ohio Secretary Of State Calls for Moratorium
Posted on September 24, 2009Jennifer Brunner writes, "Time for a Moratorium to Rethink Executions," for Huffington Post, today. I am running for the United States Senate because I believe that public service is for the purpose of helping our fellow citizens realize improvement in...
Shouldn't Innocence Matter?
Posted on September 24, 2009That's the title of David Fathi's latest at Huffington Post. LINK He's the Director of the Human Rights Watch U.S. program. On August 17, the US Supreme Court ordered a lower federal court in Georgia to conduct a hearing in...
A Catholic Perspective on Todd Willingham
Posted on September 24, 2009Florida Catholic has the OpEd, "Innocent man?s execution shows shame of death penalty," from the Tennessee Register. The death penalty may have finally crossed a shameful line that, if there is any sense of reason or justice in American society,...
More Willingham Commentary
Posted on September 24, 2009"Putting to death innocent (or not-innocent) people," is the title of Susan Campbell's Fear, Itself blog at Connecticut's Hartford Courant: If you haven't already, read the recent (long-but-worth-it) New Yorker piece on Cameron Todd Willingham. I started life as a...
Supreme Court Issues Stay in Scheduled Texas execution
Posted on September 24, 2009"Convicted killer of Garland police officer wins reprieve on Texas death row," is the AP report via today's Dallas Morning News. The U.S. Supreme Court Wednesday night stopped the scheduled execution of Texas death row inmate Kenneth Mosley a day...
Texas Execution
Posted on September 23, 2009Texas carried out its 18th execution of 2009, this evening in Huntsville. It was the state's 441st execution since 1982. Texas has far and away the most active death chamber in America, accounting for more than 37% of the nation's...
Uncertain Fates
Posted on September 23, 2009That's the title of Dave Maass' article in the Santa Fe Reporter. It's subtitled, "NM's next governor could commute death sentences." Here's an extended excerpt: And you thought capital punishment was dead. Although the New Mexico Legislature voted to repeal...
Profiteering at the Expense of the Exonerated or Cost of Business?
Posted on September 23, 2009"Exonerated man fights $1 million payout to lawyer," is the title of Mitch Mitchell's Fort Worth Star-Telegram report. A man freed from prison by DNA evidence has asked a judge to stop his former lawyer from taking more than $1...
Ohio Editorials
Posted on September 23, 2009"Lethal injection is not humane option," is the editorial in Ohio's Newark Advocate today. Last week's fiasco was the third time since 2006 that Ohio corrections officials have struggled to complete an execution by lethal injection. The problem each time...
Ohio Lethal Injection Hearing Reset for November 30
Posted on September 23, 2009"Execution delayed temporarily," is the title of the Cleveland Plain Dealer report. A federal judge extended Romell Broom's life at least until Nov. 30. On Tuesday, the day the state had planned a second attempt to execute him, federal Judge...
Shouting From the Rooftops
Posted on September 22, 2009That's the title of Diann Rust-Tierney's last post at Huffington Post. LINK She's the Executive Director of the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty. Three years ago, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonio Scalia wrote: "(there has not been) a...
Why Is the Prosecutor Who Took Willingham's Life Smiling?
Posted on September 22, 2009That's one of two questions Michael Landauer poses in, "Two new questions in the Todd Willingham case," at the Dallas Morning News Opinions blog. An interview with John Jackson, the lead prosecutor in the Willingham case, is disturbing. Jackson smirks...
Justice Sotomayor Joins the Cert Pool
Posted on September 22, 2009Tony Mauro reports, "The Supreme Court Cert Pool: Sotomayor Joins It, Lawyers Attack It," for National Law Journal. As expected, new Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor has joined the Court's so-called cert pool, at least for now. Court public information...
Intellectual Competence & the Death Penalty
Posted on September 22, 2009That's the name of blog started recently by Dr. Kevin McGrew, Director of the Institute for Applied Psychometrics. The blog is here. I'll be adding it in the left-column webroll next. Thanks to Saor Stetler for passing on information of...
Coverage and Commentary on the Florida ABA-FSU Symposium
Posted on September 22, 2009Last week, Florida State University's Center for the Advancement of Human Rights hosted a symposium marking the three-year anniversary of the release of an ABA assessment of the state's administration of capital punishment. The event was noted here. In the...
Dying in Vein
Posted on September 22, 2009That's the title of a Newsweek Web Exclusive written by Krista Gesaman. It's subtitled, "Is subjecting an inmate to a failed execution cruel and unusual punishment?" Can a vein save a convicted killer? It the case of Romell Broom?it might....
Texas Execution ... And New Questions in Another Texas Death Case
Posted on September 22, 2009Texas is scheduled to carry out its 18th execution of 2009, this evening in Huntsville. It would be the state's 441st execution since 1982. Texas has far and away the most active death chamber in America, accounting for more than...
More Commentary on Hood Ruling
Posted on September 22, 2009"Ruling in Hood case degrades court system," is the title of a Dallas Morning News. Texas' highest criminal court's latest dismaying ruling in the scandalous Charles Dean Hood murder case can be interpreted with five words: "Anything goes in Texas...
The Case of Christopher Coleman
Posted on September 21, 2009Mike Tolson reports, "New issue emerges in murder case," in today's Houston Chronicle. Elsy ?Daisy? Prado was the sole survivor of a nighttime assault that claimed the lives of her brother, boyfriend and 3-year-old son in north Houston. Wounded and...
Cleveland Plain Dealer on the Ohio Botch
Posted on September 21, 2009"Ohio's latest botched execution is another reminder of why the death penalty should be abolished," is the title of the editorial in today's paper. Even people who support capital punishment should have been horrified by what took place last Tuesday....
More on Linda Carty
Posted on September 21, 2009Clive Stafford Smith's OpEd, "The final act of Linda Carty's tragedy," is in the Guardian. Stafford Smith is the director of Reprieve. All of this leads up to last week's final tragedy. The fifth circuit court of appeals turned down...
Texas: The Kinder, Gentler Hang 'Em High State
Posted on September 21, 2009That's the title of Hilary Hylton's article for Time. LINK Tim Cole couldn't tell his own story and so his family recounted the saga to the hard-bitten Texas legislators last spring. The convict had insisted he was innocent right up...
More From Alan Berlow on Charles Dean Hood
Posted on September 21, 2009"Ardor in the Court, Part 3," is the latest installation of Alan Berlow's reportage on the contorted Charles Dean Hood case. It's subtitled, "A Texas court affirms the right of a judge and a prosecutor who slept together to condemn...
Error-Prone Death Penalty System Ensnares Innocent
Posted on September 21, 2009That's the title of an OpEd from the Sunday edition of the Houston Chronicle. It's written by John Holdridge and Christopher Hill of the ACLU Capital Punishment Project. LINK Cameron Todd Willingham's unthinkable story has shocked the conscience of many...
Governor Perry Responds
Posted on September 21, 2009"Perry defends disputed '04 execution of Corsicana man," is Todd Gillman's Dallas Morning News article from the Saturday edition. It's datelined Washington, DC, where Perry made his comments. Gov. Rick Perry on Friday strenuously defended the execution of a Corsicana...
More Eyes Focus on Todd Willingham and the Lessons to Learn
Posted on September 21, 2009The next several posts will be devoted to new coverage of the Todd Willingham case. Let's start with editorials from the San Antonio Express-News and Los Angeles Times. "A lethal failure of justice," is the title of an editorial in...
Federal District Court Issues TRO in Ohio Execution Case
Posted on September 18, 2009"Court temporarily halts 2nd execution attempt," is Stephen Majors breaking news report for AP via Google News. A federal judge on Friday temporarily halted an unprecedented second attempt at lethal injection of an Ohio inmate whose execution was halted this...
Revisionism and Todd Willingham
Posted on September 18, 2009The Innocence Project has compiled an excellent resource page on Todd Willingham. In announcing it, Eric Ferrero has also called Judge John Jackson, one of the Willingham prosecutors, ow a Texas state district judge, to task: He says that the...
Commentary on the Ohio Botch
Posted on September 18, 2009"Ohio must fix its execution process or end it," is the title of Phillip Morris' Cleveland Plain Dealer column. I'm not advocating that the condemned should be drawn and quartered or burned at the stake, but it's time to turn...
Nighltline Covers the Todd Willingham Case
Posted on September 18, 2009You can view the ABC News Nightline segment, "Wrongly Executed?" Nightline also has a slideshow, "A Life Cut Short," with still photos of Todd Willingham. ABC News also invites your comments on the case at the Nightline Blog post, "Closing...
More News From Ohio
Posted on September 18, 2009"Inmate Will Testify About Failed Execution," is the title of Bob Driehaus' report in today's New York Times. Two days after the execution of a convicted rapist-murderer was halted when technicians were unable to inject him with lethal drugs, a...
More Investigative Reporting on Forensics Coming Soon
Posted on September 17, 2009Reporter Yamil Berard of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram has a five-day series on problems with forensic science in Texas is due to begin Sunday. The Sunday edition should go live at some point on Saturday. Look for more problematic autopsies...
Reasonable Doubt
Posted on September 17, 2009That's the title of Aaron Haas' latest Court of Public Opinion column in the San Antonio Current. It's a must-read. Here are extended excerpts: For the past month, the case of Sharon Keller has been the talk of the legal...
Capital Punishment and Todd Willingham
Posted on September 17, 2009"Pro-death: America a misfit," is the title of an editorial from the Charleston Gazette of West Virginia. Almost every modern democracy has abolished the death penalty, on grounds that it's a cruel relic from the brutal past. West Virginia likewise...
The Case of Cynthia Cash - More Bad Forensics
Posted on September 17, 2009"Guilt and innocence," is the title of the editorial in today's Houston Chronicle. One of the most disturbing legal trends in recent memory is the contention of some conservative jurists that a person's actual innocence is not automatically grounds to...
More Commentary on the Ohio Botch
Posted on September 17, 2009CBS News legal analyst Andrew Cohen writes, "Can Ohio Execute the Same Man Twice?" on his CourtWatch blog. Here's an extended excerpt:The grisly details surrounding Broom's failed execution?which read like an outtake from the movie "The Green Mile" or a...
Move to Block Second Execution Attempt in Ohio
Posted on September 17, 2009"Failed execution of Romell Broom prompts efforts to block 2nd attempt," is Peter Krouse's report for the Cleveland Plain Dealer. The article also contain a timeline of the failed execution Ohio has less than a week to figure out how...
Additional Coverage of the Hood Ruling
Posted on September 17, 2009"Judge-Prosecutor Affair, but No New Trial in Texas Death Penalty Case," is James McKinley's report in today's New York Times. The highest criminal court in Texas ruled Wednesday that a man facing the death penalty for murder could not have...
Texas Execution
Posted on September 17, 2009Texas carried out its 17th execution of 2009, last night in Huntsville. It was the state's 440th execution since 1982. Texas has far and away the most active death chamber in America, accounting for more than 37% of the nation's...
Deborah Denno on the Ohio Botch
Posted on September 16, 2009Fordham Law prof Deborah Denno is perhaps the foremost legal scholar on lethal injection. Her take on today's events are especially relevant because of her scholarship on a botched Louisiana execution in 1946 and its legal legacy. Here's her take:...
Texas Execution
Posted on September 16, 2009Texas is scheduled to carry out its 17th execution of 2009, tonight in Huntsville. It would be the state's 440th execution since 1982. Texas has far and away the most active death chamber in America, accounting for more than 37%...
In Forida
Posted on September 16, 2009Today's St. Petersburg Times carries the OpEd, "Florida death penalty system needs reform." It's written by Raoul G. Cantero III and Mark R. Schlakman. Cantero is a former Florida Supreme Court justice appointed by Gov. Jeb Bush. Schlakman is the...
End Capital Punishment in America
Posted on September 16, 2009That's the title of an editorial in today's Aurora Sentinel in Colorado. LINK After Tuesday?s gruesome blunder associated with executing people accused of committing the country?s most heinous crimes, it?s clear America must chart a path away from killing suspects...
News Coverage From Ohio
Posted on September 16, 2009"Governor delays execution after suitable vein can't be found," is the title of the AP report written by Stephen Majors, via the Chillicothe Gazette. After his lethal injection was delayed for hours because of his own attorney's appeal request, an...
More Forensics
Posted on September 16, 2009"Just how scientific is forensic science?" is the title of this Chicago Now post at the Arresting Tales blog by Joe the Cop. Here's an extended excerpt: The answer, according to a congressionally-mandated study by the National Academy of Sciences,...
An Interview with Jay Siegel
Posted on September 16, 2009Science Insider, a Science blog, has posted, the second installment in "Forensic Science on Trial: Part II." The interview is conducted by Eli Kintisch. Here's an extended excerpt: In Part I, ScienceInsider interviewed a fire investigator on the topic of...
Texas Defender Service on the Hood Ruling
Posted on September 16, 2009Here's the text of the Texas Defender Service news release: TEXAS COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS OKS SECRET SEXUAL AFFAIR BETWEEN JUDGE ANDPROSECUTOR IN DEATH CASE Court Ignores Sworn Undisputed Evidence of Hidden Relationship Today, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals,...
The Return of the Plano HoodWink
Posted on September 16, 2009The Court of Criminal Appeals order is here. A dissent by Judge Cochran, joined by Judges Price and Holcomb, is here. "Texas appeals court won't rule whether judge-prosecutor affair tainted Collin County death penalty trial," is Diane Jennings' Dallas Morning...
Lethal Injection Problem in Ohio
Posted on September 15, 2009"Lawyer: Ohio execution on hold after vein troubles," is the latest AP report via Google News. Executioners struggled to find suitable veins to put a condemned inmate to death Tuesday in a prison scene reminiscent of the problems that delayed...
An Interview With John Lentini
Posted on September 15, 2009Science Insider, a Science blog, has posted, "Forensic Science on Trial: The First of Two Science Insider Interviews." It's by Eli Kintisch. Here's an extended excerpt: In February, a landmark report by the National Research Council (NRC) in February criticized...
Ohio Governor Steps In - UPDATED
Posted on September 15, 2009Here's the latest from the Cleveland Plain Dealer, "Gov. Ted Strickland orders a temporary halt to the planned execution of Romell Broom," written by Peter Krouse. Gov. Ted Strickland took an unprecedented step and ordered a temporary halt to the...
Prison Release Is the First Surprise of Many
Posted on September 14, 2009That's the title of Cindy Horswell's report in today's Houston Chronicle. LINK When Michael Eubanks was convicted of capital murder in 1978 and given a life sentence, his hair was as flaming red as his temper. The 20-year-old from Houston...
John Thompson - A Life Reclaimed After Exoneration
Posted on September 14, 2009"Free after 14 years on death row, man seeks to help other falsely accused ex-prisoners," is the title of Lolis Eric Elie's report for the New Orleans Times-Picayune. When John Thompson's lawyers arrived at Angola State Penitentiary for a somber...
The High Cost of Vengeance
Posted on September 14, 2009That's the title of John Diaz' latest San Francisco Chronicle column. LINK Executions are so rare infrequent in this state that they are more spectacle for the masses than plausible deterrent. The executed tend to be the worst of the...
Dave Mann: Burn Patterns
Posted on September 14, 2009Earlier this year, the Texas Observer ran a series by Dave Mann, "Burn Patterns," that examined two questionable arson convictions. Mann has a recent post at his Contrarian blog at the Observer, "The Importance of Willingham's Story." While I was...
Beyond Willingham - More 'Arson' Cases Called Into Question
Posted on September 14, 2009"Are Texas arsons a case of bad science? Some experts think so," is the title of Christy Hoppe's report in the Dallas Morning News. It appeared in the Sunday edition, and it's a must-read. Arson investigators in Texas have relied...
More Willingham Commentary
Posted on September 14, 2009"Exoneration comes too late," is the title of David Kaczynski's OpEd from the Albany Times Union. He's the executive director of New Yorkers for Alternatives to the Death Penalty. Here's an extended excerpt: Five years after his execution in Texas,...
Texas Justice System Has Major Flaws
Posted on September 14, 2009That's the title of an editorial from the Sunday edition of the Corpus Christi Caller Times. LINK For the past three years in Texas, news reports have revealed that dozens of innocent people have been convicted of violent crimes they...
Fingerprints, Barred in a Maryland State Proseuction, Allowed in Federal Case
Posted on September 11, 2009"Fingerprints are back in as federal judge finds them reliable," is the title of Caryn Tamber's report in Daily Record of Maryland. Prosecutors say they are not surprised but were relieved that a federal judge will allow fingerprint evidence against....
More Commentary on Todd Willingham
Posted on September 11, 2009Salon carries Len Kovarsky's essay, "Opposing the death penalty is not about innocence." In the last several weeks, two major events have reignited the controversy that engulfs capital adjudication in this country. First, the U.S. Supreme Court took a potentially...
More on Willingham in the Blogosphere
Posted on September 10, 2009"Blinded by Tunnel Vision: What the Execution of Cameron Todd Willingham Can Teach Us About Wrongful Convictions," is by John Maki at Huffington Post In the recent New Yorker, there is a chilling story about Cameron Todd Willingham, a Texas...
Texas Put in Uncomfortable Spotlight
Posted on September 10, 2009That's the title of Ted Oberg's report on a U.S. Senate hearing for KTRK-TV, the ABC affiliate in Houston. LINK On Wednesday in Washington, senators took a tough look at Texas justice. They are concerned bad science is getting into...
Politics and Todd Willingham
Posted on September 10, 2009"Perry's denial of stay could become campaign issue," is the title of Austin American-Statesman political columnist W. Gardner Selby's latest. Nothing could trouble a governor more than the thought that he or she has let an innocent person die. "That's...
London Art Project Focuses on Linda Carty
Posted on September 10, 2009"Texas death row inmate appeals to Londoners," is Rafael Satter's AP report via Google News. Texas death row inmate Linda Carty's voice was broadcast into London's Trafalgar Square on Thursday, begging Britons to help save her life. Carty's seven-minute appeal,...
Michigan Prosecutors Sue State Over Parole of Violent Offenders
Posted on September 09, 2009That's the title of Tresa Baldas' report posted at National Law Journal. LINK Michigan prosecutors are suing the state Department of Corrections over the release of hundreds of violent offenders, alleging murderers and rapists are being paroled with little or...
Indigent Defense at Crossroads in Nevada
Posted on September 09, 2009"Public Defender Caseload: State panel debates limits," is the title of Alan Maimon's report in today's Las Vegas Review-Journal. Here's an extended excerpt: Court officials, equal-justice advocates, and county managers agree that action is needed to address a severe shortage...
Ohio & Women - Few Capital Cases
Posted on September 09, 2009"Death row women a rarity," is the Cincinnati Enquirer report by Janice Morse. Here's an excerpt: The Hamilton woman accused of killing her infant son last month, Asuncion Avila-Villa, is among a mere handful of women ever to face a...
State Panel to Hear Willingham Arson Report
Posted on September 09, 2009That's the title of Jane Jacobs article in today's Corsicana Daily Sun. LINK An independent review that claims the arson investigation that led to the execution of Cameron Todd Willingham was flawed will be presented to a state panel Oct....
Ohio's Lethal Injection
Posted on September 08, 2009"EMT rules not same as nurses' or doctors'," is the title of Suzanne Hoholik's report in the Columbus Dispatch. In the regulation of medical professionals in Ohio, different boards have different rules. The state medical and nursing boards say they...
More Columns on Todd Willingham
Posted on September 08, 2009"Front row seat to a tragedy," is the title of Corsicana Daily Sun Managing Editor Bob Belcher's latest column. Here's an excerpt from Belcher's unique perspective. The re-surfacing of the Cameron Todd Willingham story over the last couple of weeks...
Blogosphere Buzzes Over Todd Willingham Case
Posted on September 08, 2009"So Did Texas Execute an Innocent Man?" is from Radney Balko today at the Reason.com Hit & Run blog. I wrote at the time that it was tough to say Willingham was innocent, only that he should never have been...
AFP on Willingham Case
Posted on September 08, 2009"Execution opponents hope Texas case will be US turning point," is the title of Lucile Malandain's Washington datelined AFP report, via Google News. Here's an excerpt: He was executed in Texas in 2004, convicted of setting a fire that killed...
David Grann: The Prosecution Defends Itself
Posted on September 08, 2009The author of last week's high voltage New Yorker article has the above titled post at the New Yorker News Desk blog. LINK Here's a brief excerpt: Several people have asked me what I thought of the op-ed that John...
More on the Michael Toney Case
Posted on September 04, 2009"Texas hasn't ruled out retrying freed Death Row inmate in Lake Worth bombing," is Alex Branch's report in today's Fort Worth Star-Telegram. State authorities say they have not ruled out retrying Michael Toney in the 1985 bombing of a Lake...
Lithwick: Innocent Until Executed
Posted on September 04, 2009That's the title of Dahlia Lithwick's latest Newsweek column, and it tops today's coverage of Todd Willingham's tragic case. It's subtitled, " We have no right to exoneration. For years, death-penalty opponents and supporters have been working their way toward...
A Snitch, a Brady Violation, and Freedom - The Michael Toney Case
Posted on September 03, 2009The Fort Worth Star-Telegram has posted Alex Branch's report, "Defendant freed, nine months after conviction and death sentence were overturned." Michael Toney was released from the Tarrant County Jail on Wednesday night, nine months after his conviction and death sentence...
From Froma Harrop
Posted on September 03, 2009"Cracked Justice Enabled Girl Rape Case," is the title of syndicated columnist Froma Harrop's latest, via Real Clear Politics. Harrop uses as a news peg, the case of David Garrido, accused of kidnapping and rape of Jaycee Dugard. She notes...
Linda Carty
Posted on September 03, 2009The UK's Independent reports, "British citizen on Death Row in Texas launches 'last chance' appeal." It's written by Tom Leonard. Carty, 51, a grandmother from the Caribbean island of St Kitts, was sentenced to death for the murder in 2001...
Constitutional Question
Posted on September 03, 2009That's the title of an OpEd in today's Washington Times by Bob Barr, the former Georgia congressman. LINK Strange as it might seem, the Supreme Court of the United States has never directly and explicitly held that it is unconstitutional...
Willingham Web Extras
Posted on September 03, 2009The last of these three posts linking the latest coverage is Web Extra content from the New Yorker and NPR> NewYorker.com has "Ask the Author Live: David Grann." This week in the magazine, David Grann writes about a possible case...
Today's Willingham News Coverage
Posted on September 03, 2009Today's Temple Daily Telegram has, "Texas House speaker visits Temple's economic engines," in which Joe Straus comments on the case. It's written by Janice Gibbs. Straus commented on the recent news coverage about the 2004 execution of Cameron Todd Willingham...
Continued Coverage of Todd Willingham, An Innocent Executed
Posted on September 03, 2009There is a great deal of coverage of the Willingham case in the press today. I'm breaking the coverage into several posts based on the type of content. I'll start with news columns. and an OpEd. "Time to do away...
Tea Leaf Reading at the Supreme Court
Posted on September 02, 2009"Stevens Hires Only One Law Clerk, Spurring Retirement Speculation," is Debra Cassens Weiss' post at the ABA Journal this morning. Justice John Paul Stevens has so far hired only one law clerk for 2010, leading to speculation that he will...
California and the Death Penalty - New Public Opinion Polling
Posted on September 02, 2009"Californians' support for death penalty waning," is the title of Carol Williams' report in today's Los Angeles Times. A majority of Californians still favor the death penalty, but their support has waned from 79% to 66% over the last two...
Time to Face the Truth in the Willingham Case
Posted on September 02, 2009That's the title of Nina Morrison's post at the Dallas Morning News Death Penalty blog. LINK It addresses the recent OpEd, noted here, written by one of Todd Willingham's prosecutors. Morrison is a staff attorney at the Innocence Project and...
Up in Smoke
Posted on September 02, 2009That's the title of an editorial in today's Houston Chronicle on the Todd Willingham case. LINK Cameron Todd Willingham was executed in 2004 for starting a house fire in Corsicana 13 years earlier that killed his three young daughters. From...
A Criminal Enterprise
Posted on September 01, 2009That's the title of a great new blog by Bidish Sarma of the Justice Center's Capital Appeals Project, and Rob Smith of Harvard's Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice. A Criminal Enterprise has some great posts already, and...
Why Is the UK Involved in a Texas Death Case?
Posted on September 01, 2009That's the title of a guest entry at the Dallas Morning News Death Penalty blog. It's written by Hugh Southey, a British Barrister. LINK The United Kingdom recently took the relatively unusual step of filing an Amicus brief in the...
Bob Herbert on the Todd Willingham Case
Posted on September 01, 2009"Innocent but Dead," is the title of his OpEd column in today's New York Times. There is a long and remarkable article in the current New Yorker about a man who was executed in Texas in 2004 for deliberately setting...
DNA, the BPP, and 'Sex' Crimes
Posted on August 31, 2009There are two news articles today involving the Board of Pardons and Paroles. One involves a new law passed by Texas legislators in this year's legislative session; the second, a BPP practice under fire. The second story may give even...
More Editorial Criticism of Judge Keller
Posted on August 31, 2009"Tarnished justice: Misconduct trial of Judge Keller depicts a court of confusion," is the title of the Houston Chronicle editorial from the Sunday edition. Being Texas Court of Criminal Appeals Presiding Judge Sharon Keller apparently means never having to say...
Questions About an Execution
Posted on August 31, 2009That's the title of an editorial in today's New York Times. LINK An excerpt: People should have no illusions about the brutal injustice of the death penalty after all of the exonerations in recent years from DNA evidence, but the...
Trial by Fire - Did Texas execute an innocent man?
Posted on August 31, 2009That's the title of a major article in the September 7 issue of the New Yorker. It's written by David Grann. LINK Here's the beginning of this must read: The fire moved quickly through the house, a one-story wood-frame structure...
Focus on Gershowitz Scholarship
Posted on August 28, 2009Diane Jennings notes Adam Gershowitz' latest scholarship in a post this morning at the Dallas Morning News Death Penalty blog, "Creation of statewide death penalty prosecution unit suggested." An excerpt: Use of the death penalty in Texas has always been...
Utah AG Continues Push to Limit Appeals in Capital Cases
Posted on August 28, 2009"Passing the gavel; Let judges handle death row appeals," is the title of a Salt Lake Tribune editorial that appeared on August 19. Here's an extended excerpt: Frustrated that Utah inmates are growing old on death row while filing appeals...
More on the El Paso Case of David Wood
Posted on August 28, 2009Diana Washington Valdez' report "Convicted serial killer David L. Wood's mental capacity is life, death issue," is in today's El Paso Times. Lawyers for convicted serial killer David Leonard Wood saved him from the executioner last week by arguing that...
Nebraska's New Lethal Injection Law
Posted on August 28, 2009"Lethal injection challenge seen," is the title of By John Keenan's report in the Omaha World-Herald. Michael Nelson, attorney for Michael Ryan, the Rulo cult leader, addressed the Suburban Rotary Club Thursday on the subject of the death penalty. Ryan?s...
More Commentary on Troy Davis
Posted on August 28, 2009Amy Goodman writes the syndicated column, "Troy Davis and the meaning of ?actual innocence?," via the Northport Gazette of Alabama. Sitting on death row in Georgia, Troy Davis has won a key victory against his own execution. On Aug. 17,...
Doubt and the Death Penalty
Posted on August 28, 2009That's the title of an essay at Huffington Post by Cy Vance, a candidate for Manhattan District Attorney. LINK Cameron Todd Willingham did not make a sympathetic defendant. He was accused of one of the worst types of crime we...
Caging Children
Posted on August 27, 2009That's the title of Richard Whittaker's Austin Chronicle article on the recent LBJ School of Public Affairs report principally authored by Michele Deitch. LINK Michele Deitch, author of the new report shaking up assumptions about child incarceration Photo by Jana...
An Update on Anthony Graves
Posted on August 27, 2009Today's Houston Chronicle carries Harvey Rice's report, "Ex-DA turns to court of public opinion." The news item on KBTX (Channel 3) in Bryan-College Station was one indignity too many for former Burleson County District Attorney Charles Sebesta. The television report...
More Coverage of the Beyler Report on Todd Willingham
Posted on August 27, 2009"Report: Faulty fire investigation led to execution," is the title of Jamie Stengle's AP report via Google News. A fire investigation that led to the execution of a man in the deaths of his three young children was so seriously...
Keller Is Unsuited for Top Court Job
Posted on August 27, 2009That's the title of an editorial in today's San Antonio Express-News. LINK Even in Texas, the execution of a convicted murderer is not a commonplace occurrence. When the state is prepared to administer the ultimate, irreversible sanction of justice, its...
A Profile of Rick Halperin
Posted on August 26, 2009Today's SMU Daily Campus has, "SMU professor goes to extremes to fight for equality," by Nicole Jacobsen. Today, 3,297 inmates are lined up on death row, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. The third largest group of 338 is...
Did the Supreme Court Recognize an Innocent Person's Right Not to Be Executed?
Posted on August 26, 2009That's the title of Cornell Law prof Michael Dorf's latest column at FindLaw.com, concerning last week's Supreme Court order in the Troy Davis case. LINK Last week, the Supreme Court offered Davis a ray of hope. In response to his...
New Scholarship From Adam Gershowitz
Posted on August 26, 2009University of Houston Law prof Adam Gershowitz' latest work at SSRN is, "Statewide Capital Punishment: The Case for Eliminating Counties' Role in the Death Penalty." Here's the abstract: In almost every state that authorizes capital punishment, local county prosecutors are...
The Beyler Report
Posted on August 26, 2009The report by Craig Beyler, a nationally recognized arson expert, prepared for the Texas Forensic Science Commission is here in Adobe .pdf format. Chuck Lindell writes, "Man convicted of murder, executed over arson that wasn't, scientist says," for today's Austin...
Restorative Justice Blog
Posted on August 25, 2009I see that Howard Zehr has started a Restorative Justice blog. I'm adding a new category to the left-column webroll and will add a link.
An Important Update on the Todd Willingham Case
Posted on August 25, 2009"Cameron Todd Willingham case: Expert says fire for which father was executed was not arson," is the title of Steve Mills' report for the Chicago Tribune. Here's an extended excerpt from this must-read: In a withering critique, a nationally known...
Offering Up Comfort for Crime Victims
Posted on August 25, 2009That's the title of a Q & A with Howard Zehr, Center for Justice and Peacebuilding at Eastern Mennonite University. It's subtitled, "Liaisons foster good will between families, defense counsel." The Anglo-American criminal justice system hasn?t done a good job...
Fallout From Prosecutorial Misconduct
Posted on August 25, 2009"Judge won't drop Tarrant DA's office from Richardson capital-murder appeal," is the title of Melody McDonald's Fort Worth Star-Telegram report. A state district judge has denied an attorney?s request to recuse the Tarrant County district attorney?s office from the appellate...
Arkansas
Posted on August 25, 2009"Ark. lethal injection suit to be heard in October," is Jon Gambrell's AP report via Newsday. Whether Arkansas resumes executing death-row inmates could hinge on how justices on the state's highest court read five words. Those five words ? "is...
Judge Keller's Disappointing Testimony
Posted on August 25, 2009That's the title of an editorial in today's Dallas Morning News. LINK It was impossible not to gasp last week when Texas Court of Criminal Appeals Presiding Judge Sharon Keller addressed the question of what she would do differently if...
Cost Still an Issue in Georgia
Posted on August 24, 2009"State can't afford to defend Gwinnett capital murder case," is the title of Bill Rankin's report from the Sunday edition of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Gwinnett County prosecutors want the death penalty for a Vietnamese immigrant accused of killing a Lilburn...
More on Keller
Posted on August 24, 2009"My thanks to maligned Judge Keller," is the title of Rick Casey latest column from the Sunday Houston Chronicle. Here's an extended excerpt: I'd like to express my gratitude to Texas Court of Criminal Appeals Presiding Judge Sharon Keller. She...
Sharon Keller, Troy Davis, and the Duty of a Death Case Judge
Posted on August 24, 2009That's the title of Steve Sheppard's FindLaw commentary, posted today. Sheppard is the Judge Enfield Professor of Law at the University of Arkansas School of Law. He's also the author of I Do Solemnly Swear: The Moral Obligations of Legal...
An Update on Gary Gauger
Posted on August 21, 2009His case was featured in the play, "The Exonerated." "Jury rules detectives did not frame Gauger," is Jillian Duchnowski's report in today's Northwest Herald in Illinois. Both sides in Gary Gauger?s civil trial agreed that he sat on death row...
Kill the Death Penalty
Posted on August 21, 2009That's the title of Cox Newspapers' syndicated columnist Tom Teepen's latest. It appears in today's Albany Times Union. LINK Here's an extended excerpt: The debilities of the U.S. system of capital punishment were obvious again recently when the Supreme Court,...
Witness to an Execution
Posted on August 21, 2009Paul Flemming's latest Capital Ideas column in the Tallahassee Democrat is, "Death, politics mix with execution." The state of Florida, on behalf of me and you, executed John Richard Marek on Wednesday for the 1983 murder of Adela Marie Simmons....
Ohio's Lethal Injection Practices
Posted on August 21, 2009"Former Ohio executioner: EMT experience can be an asset," is Andrew Welsh-Huggins' Associated Press report via the Newark Advocate. While others debate the death penalty and lethal injection, Ohio's longest-serving executioner provided a personal perspective on carrying out the unwanted...
An Unfit Judge
Posted on August 21, 2009That's the title of an editorial in today's New York Times. LINK Judge Sharon Keller, the Texas appellate court judge who closed the clerk?s office before a death row inmate could file a last-minute appeal, is fighting to keep her...
Keller Trial Conclusion - News Coverage
Posted on August 21, 2009"Keller trial wraps up with harsh criticism," is Chuck Lindell's report in today's Austin American-Statesman. Dismissing most of Judge Sharon Keller's defenses as legally irrelevant, prosecutor Mike McKetta said the state's highest criminal judge failed to perform her job competently...
Ohio Can't Stop EMTs Working as Executioners
Posted on August 20, 2009That's the title of Andrew Welsh-Huggins AP report via the Clinton News Herald. LINK Ohio has no authority to stop certified emergency medical technicians from working as executioners in death penalty cases because they are not acting as EMTs when...
North Carolina Racial Justice Act - News & Editorials
Posted on August 20, 2009"Racial Justice Act: Law could curtail death penalty," by Paul Woolverton is in today's Fayetteville Observer. Here's an extended excerpt: A new law in North Carolina could help murderers get off death row and stymie prosecutors who seek capital punishment...
Here's a Good Case for Killing the Death Penalty
Posted on August 20, 2009That's the title of Errol Louis' column in today's New York Daily News. LINK Opponents of the death penalty have reason for hope this week. Two high-profile cases are exposing the sick, barbaric folly of execution in America. When the...
Tx CCA Orders Stay and Hearing
Posted on August 20, 2009"Execution stayed: David Leonard Wood's mental ability at issue," the El Paso Times report by Gustavo Reveles Acosta and Diana Washington Valdez. The execution of convicted serial killer David Leonard Wood was halted by a Texas court on Wednesday, 24...
Keller Trial - Day Three News Coverage
Posted on August 20, 2009A reminder that Chuck Lindell is updating coverage at the Austin American-Statesman Focal Point blog. Texas Lawyer is also posting updates at its Tex Parte Blog. "Judge says she would do 'nothing different'," is Chuck Lindell's report in today's Austin...
Sherry Colb Looks at Juveniles & LWoP
Posted on August 19, 2009Her latest FindLaw commentary is, "Supreme Court Considers Constitutionality of Juvenile Life Without Parole." Here are excerpts from the lengthy essay: This coming term, the Supreme Court will consider the important companion cases of Sullivan v. Florida and Graham v...
The Court's Duty
Posted on August 19, 2009That's the title of an editorial in today's New York Times. LINK We are relieved that the Supreme Court has ordered a lower court to reconsider the conviction of a Georgia death row inmate who may be innocent. In a...
DNA Evidence Can Be Fabricated, Scientists Show
Posted on August 19, 2009That's the title of a report in the Tuesday edition of the New York Times written by Andrew Pollock. LINK Scientists in Israel have demonstrated that it is possible to fabricate DNA evidence, undermining the credibility of what has been...
Keller Trial - Day Two News Coverage
Posted on August 19, 2009"Under questioning, Keller denies violating court rules in death row case," is Chuck Lindell's report in today's Austin American-Statesman. Judge Sharon Keller, taking the witness stand Tuesday in her misconduct trial, insisted that she did not violate court rules by...
The Keller Trial
Posted on August 18, 2009In addition to Chuck Lindell's post at the Austin American-Statesman Focal Point blog, Mary Alice Robbins of Texas Lawyer is posting at the Tex Parte Blog. I'll have a roundup of coverage tomorrow morning.
News Coverage & Commentary on the Troy Davis Order
Posted on August 18, 2009Yesterday concurring comments by Justice Stevens is here; Justice Scalia?s dissent, here. "Supreme Court Orders New Look at Death Row Case," is the title of Adam Liptak's New York Times report. The Supreme Court on Monday ordered a federal trial...
Partial Justice for the Norfolk Four
Posted on August 18, 2009That's the title of a New York Times editorial on the partial clemency granted by Virginia Governor Tim Kaine last week. It appeared in the Monday edition. LINK Gov. Tim Kaine of Virginia did nearly the right thing this month...
Getsy Executed in Ohio - UPDATED
Posted on August 18, 2009Jason Getsy's case was closely watched because of the rare recommendation by the Ohio Parole Board that his death sentence should be commuted. None of the other four individuals convicted in the murder-for-hire crime received a death sentence. AP reports...
The Strange Case of Betsey Wright
Posted on August 18, 2009That's the title of Tom Baxter's article for Southern Political Report. LINK An excerpt: Instead of joining the administration after Clinton was elected, Wright accepted an offer from Anne Wexler and became a prominent Washington lobbyist, much sought-after because of...
Indiana
Posted on August 18, 2009"Activists again seek moratorium on death penalty in Indiana," is the title of today's Indianapolis Star report written by Jon Murray. Indiana hasn't executed a prisoner for more than two years, and a slowdown in new death sentences has resulted...
Keller Trial - Day One News Coverage
Posted on August 18, 2009Chuck Lindell writes, "Fellow judge says Keller violated procedure in death row case," for today's Austin American-Statesman. Here's an extended excerpt: The trial on misconduct charges against Sharon Keller, the state's top criminal judge, began Monday with pointed criticism from...
More on the Troy Davis Order
Posted on August 17, 2009Lyle Denniston posts, "Hearing on innocence claim ordered," at SCOTUS Blog. The Supreme Court, over two Justices? dissents, on Monday ordered a federal judge in Georgia to consider and rule on the claim of innocence in the murder case against...
Chuck Lindell
Posted on August 17, 2009The Austin American-Statesman journalist is blogging the Keller proceedings at the Statesman's Focal Point.blog. He's already had one post this morning, "Keller trial: Keller enters courtroom."
Supreme Court Orders News Hearing for Troy Davis
Posted on August 17, 2009"Supreme Court says Georgia man should get hearing," is Jesse Halland's AP report via Google News. The Supreme Court on Monday ordered a new hearing for death row inmate Troy Davis, whose supporters say is innocent and should be spared...
Keller Proceedings - News Previews
Posted on August 17, 2009"Misconduct Trial Begins Today for Texas Judge Who Refused Late Capital Appeal" by Debra Cassens Weiss is in today's ABA Journal. The presiding judge of the highest criminal appeals court in Texas is expected to testify on her own behalf...
Keller Drags Texas Through the Mud
Posted on August 17, 2009That's the title of an editorial in today's Austin American-Statesman, as proceedings by the Texas Commission on Judicial Conduct against the Court of Criminal Appeals Presiding Judge begins today. LINK No matter the outcome of the hearing scheduled to begin...
Ohio Governor Rejects Clemency in Getsy Case
Posted on August 14, 2009"Gov. Strickland denies mercy in Youngstown murder-for-hire case," is the AP report via the Cleveland Plains Dealer. Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland has denied clemency for the triggerman in a 1995 murder-for-hire scheme, overriding the state parole board's recommendation for mercy...
More on Jason Getsy in Ohio
Posted on August 14, 2009Ohio's Warren Tribune Chronicle reports, "Court rejects Getsy?s lethal injection appeal," by Christopher Bobby. With his execution still scheduled for Tuesday and still awaiting word from the governor on a possible reprieve, death row inmate Jason Getsy failed Wednesday in...
Betsey Wright in Arkansas
Posted on August 14, 2009"Ex-Clinton aide named in prison smuggling case," is the title of the AP report by Jon Gambrell. A former chief of staff for Bill Clinton when he was governor of Arkansas faces felony charges accusing her of trying to smuggle...
Judges? Dissents for Death Row Inmates Are Rising
Posted on August 14, 2009That's the title of John Schwartz' front page report in today's New York Times. LINK Here's an extended excerpt: It took just 80 words for a federal appeals court to deny Kevin Cooper?s most recent plea to avoid execution. But...
A Texas Judge on Trial: Closed to a Death-Row Appeal?
Posted on August 13, 2009That's the title of Hilary Hylton's report at Time.com, previewing the Judicial Conduct Commission's hearing next week on CCA Presiding Judge Sharon Keller. LINK Here's the opening: Soft-spoken and a devout Christian, Judge Sharon Keller presides as chief justice of...
Thursday
Posted on August 13, 2009I'll be traveling to Pittsburgh most of the day Thursday, attending Net Roots Nation. I hope to resume posts Thursday evening and to do some live blogging during the conference.
Ohio Governor Still Considering Clemency Recommendation
Posted on August 12, 2009"Strickland remains undecided on fate of killer Getsy," is the title of Marc Kovac's Youngstown Vindicator report. Gov. Ted Strickland still has not decided whether to grant clemency to Jason Getsy, the convicted murderer sentenced to die by lethal injection...
Racial Justice Act Signed Into Law in North Carolina
Posted on August 12, 2009"N.C. takes aim at bias in death penalty," is the title of Gary Wright's report in today's Charlotte Observer. Here's an extended excerpt of this must read: Gov. Bev Perdue on Tuesday signed a bill that will allow murder suspects...
More Misconduct ... And Cost?
Posted on August 11, 2009Gary Gauger, the exonerated former Illinois death row inmate, is suing law enforcement officials over his treatment. The Northwest Herald today reports, "Jury selection continues in malicious prosecution case." It's written bu Jillian Duchnowski. Jury selection will continue today for...
The Tab for Prosecutorial Misconduct
Posted on August 11, 2009Today's New Orleans Times-Picayune reports, "$14 million verdict stands against Orleans DA's office." It's written by Gwen Filosa. In a tie vote that keeps in place a lower court's ruling, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday upheld...
North Carolina Governor to Sign RJA Today
Posted on August 11, 2009"Purdue expected to sign racial justice bill today," is the AP report via the Winston-Salem Journal. North Carolina will become only the second state in the country that allows defendants to try to prove race was a significant factor in...
Developing Nebraska's Lethal Injection Protocol
Posted on August 11, 2009"Nebraska consulting with other states on death penalty," is the title of Nate Jenkins' AP report via the Lincoln Journal Star. Nebraska officials have obtained advice from execution experts in Kentucky and Texas on a protocol to carry out the...
Texas Court of Criminal Appeals Judge Deserves Sanction
Posted on August 11, 2009That's the title of an editorial in today's Fort Worth Star-Telegram on CCA Presiding Judge Sharon Keller and next week's hearing by the Texas Commission on Judicial Conduct. LINK At best, the events of Sept. 25, 2007, at the Texas...
Fifth Circuit Panel Reverses Earlier Decision, Allows Appeal
Posted on August 11, 2009"Justices reverse decision barring death row appeal," is the title of Lise Olsen's report in today's Houston Chronicle. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has reversed itself in a surprising new opinion that revives an appeal by a Texas death...
Ohio
Posted on August 10, 2009"Executions are coming too fast, Ohio Public Defender Tim Young says," is Reginald Fields' report at today's Cleveland Plain Dealer. Here's an extended excerpt: The state of Ohio is lining up death-row inmates for execution at a feverish pace not...
The Posthumous Exoneration of Tim Cole & the Need for Eyewitness ID Reform
Posted on August 10, 2009Rick Casey has devoted two recent columns to the case. First, "What's the matter with Texas DAs?. When Lubbock police sought Baytown resident Michele Mallin's help in identifying the man who raped her 25 years ago when she was a...
The Dallas Morning News' Q&A With Rep. Robert Miklos
Posted on August 10, 2009Dallas Morning News editorial board member Rodger Jones had a conversation with the Mesquite Democrat, who chairs the Death Penalty Subcommittee of the House Criminal Jurisprudence Committee. LINK What did you learn that surprised you about the way the death...
Mentally Ill Offenders Strain Juvenile System
Posted on August 10, 2009That's the title of Solomon Moore's report in today's New York Times. LINK It's datelined from Ohio. Here's a brief excerpt from the beginning of this must read: The teenager in the padded smock sat in his solitary confinement cell...
Texas Lawyer Previews Keller Hearing
Posted on August 07, 2009"She Said, He Said: Depositions Reveal Disputed Points in Judge Sharon Keller Controversy," by Mary Alice Robbins appears in the August 10 edition of Texas Lawyer. A she said-he said dispute over who said what in a series of telephone...
Update on the Sonnier Case
Posted on August 07, 2009"Inmate fighting to clear name leaves jail," is Brian Rogers updated report posted at the Houston Chronicle. A Houston man sentenced to life in prison in 1986 walked out of jail today pending further investigation of the DNA evidence that...
A Deadly Amendment to the Hate-Crimes Bill
Posted on August 07, 2009That's the title of an editorial in today's Los Angeles Times. The subtitle is, "The GOP added a death penalty clause to the Matthew Shepard Act in hopes that a debate over capital punishment would derail the legislation." The Senate...
Another Texas Exoneration
Posted on August 07, 2009Today's Houston Chronicle reports, "Inmate expected to be freed as DNA is reviewed." It's written by Brian Rogers. A Houston man sentenced to life in prison in 1986 is expected to be released today pending further investigation of the DNA...
Legal Team for Norfolk Four Comment
Posted on August 06, 2009Attorneys representing the Norfolk Four have issued a news release. Here's an excerpt:Today, after spending more than 11 harsh years in prison for a crime they did not commit, Joseph J. Dick, Jr., Derek E. Tice, and Danial J. Williams,...
Kaine Grants Conditional Pardons in 'Norfolk 4' Case
Posted on August 06, 2009That's the headline at the Washington Post website on the controversial Virginia case, The report is written by Anita Kumar and Tom Jackman. LINK Gov. Timothy M. Kaine on Thursday afternoon granted conditional pardons to three members of the "Norfolk...
Sotomayor Confirmation Vote Near - UPDATED
Posted on August 06, 2009Judge Sotomayor has been confirmed by a vote of 68-31. The speeches have finished, with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid having the last word. There is a quorum call on the Senate floor right now, which will be followed shortly...
Sotomayor Confirmation Vote Today
Posted on August 06, 2009The full Senate is expected to vote on the nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor at approximately 3:00 pm (EDT), today; 2:00 pm (CDT.). C-SPAN 2, which cablecasts all Senate floor action, will cover the vote. If you don't receive C-SPAN...
North Carolina Passes Racial Justice Act
Posted on August 06, 2009Yesterday, the North Carolina Senate voted to adopt the House version of SB 461. The measure now goes to the governor. "Racial Justice Act passes, now goes to Perdue," is the title of James Romoser's report in today's Winston-Salem Journal....
California Ordered to Reduce Prison Population
Posted on August 05, 2009The U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling and a summary are here. "California Prisons Must Cut Inmate Population," is Solomon Moore's report in today's New York Times. A panel of federal judges ordered the California prison system on Tuesday...
When the Clock Strikes Five: Pregaming the Sharon Keller Trial
Posted on August 05, 2009That's the title of Ashby Jones' post at the Wall Street Journal's Law Blog. LINK It?s hard for us not to be compelled by the Sharon Keller story. An impeachment trial for Keller, the presiding judge of the Texas Court...
RJA - Delayed & Rescheduled
Posted on August 05, 2009Today's Winston-Salem Journal reports, "Vote on death-row disparity delayed." A vote by the North Carolina Senate on whether attorneys could offer a statistical argument showing that racial prejudice put a killer on death row has been postponed. Bill sponsor Sen...
Emily Jones, 1949 - 2009
Posted on August 05, 2009The State Bar of Texas has announced that Emily Jones has died after a five-year battle with cancer. During her career in public and private law practice and as a program director at the Bar, she worked to expand and...
Mothers & Murder
Posted on August 04, 2009"Texas gets bum rap on killer moms," is the title of Lisa Falkenberg's latest column. About five years ago, while reporting for The Associated Press on the case of a suburban Dallas mother who had severed her baby's arms, I...
The Real Murder Mystery? It's the Low Crime Rate
Posted on August 04, 2009That's the title of a New York Times report by Shaila Dewan. It appeared in the Saturday edition. LINK Here's an extended excerpt: MAYBE it is time to call in one of those clairvoyants who help detectives solve the case....
Attorney General Eric Holder Addresses ABA Annual Meeting
Posted on August 04, 2009The transcript of Holder's prepared speech is here. "Holder: Jail is not only crime solution," is the Chicago Tribune report written by Kristen Schorsch. U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, addressing the American Bar Association on Monday, called for getting not...
Racial Justice Act Back on Senate Agenda
Posted on August 04, 2009SB 461 is back on the North Carolina Senate calendar today. The body convenes at 3:00 pm, and it will be webcast. "Senate could allow bias test in death sentences," is the AP report via the News & Observer of...
Ohio Governor Faces Rare Clemency Recommendation
Posted on August 03, 2009That's the title of an AP report by Thomas Sheeran in Saturday's Dayton Daily News. LINK Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland is in an unusual position: Should he listen to advisers who suggest he spare the life of a death row...
Rick Casey on the Trail of a Mystery
Posted on August 03, 2009"Mystery: Who killed witness bill?," is the title of Casey's Houston Chronicle column from Friday's edition. We all love a mystery, so here's one: In the current issue of Badge and Gun, a publication of the Houston Police Officers' Union,...
Office of Last Chance
Posted on August 03, 2009That's the title of an editorial in today's Houston Chronicle praising legislation that will create a state Office of Capital Writs. LINK Death-row appeals are life-and-death matters. Starting next year, Texas will finally make sure that they're done right...
Keller Trial Set to Begin August 17
Posted on August 03, 2009Let's start with Chuck Lindell's report, "Keller to attack credibility of defense lawyers at her trial," from the Sunday Austin American-Statesman. Judge Sharon Keller, facing potentially career-ending charges that she improperly closed her court to a death row appeal, will...
Monday
Posted on August 03, 2009After a crowded four days in Chicago at the ABA Annual Meeting, I'm back and in catch-up mode. I'll start with previews of Court of Criminal Appeals Presiding Judge Sharon Keller trial, scheduled to begin in two weeks. There is...
RJA Delayed
Posted on July 30, 2009"Many of the state's DAs oppose Racial Justice Act," is the title of Scott Sexton's column in this morning's Winston-Salem Journal. The name of the bill says it all: the Racial Justice Act. Its aim is noble, and its goal...
Thursday
Posted on July 30, 2009I'm traveling to Chicago today to attend the ABA Annual Meeting. Posts will resume later today.
Love Lived on Death Row
Posted on July 29, 2009That's the title of a new documentary by North Carolina filmmaker Linda Booker. It's also the title of her guest post on Michael Landauer's Dallas Morning News blog. Here's the beginning of this compelling post: If you had told me...
The Illinois Moratorium
Posted on July 29, 2009"State moratorium on executions - 10 years and counting," is the title of Robert Sanchez's report in the Daily Herald, Chicago's suburban paper. More than a decade has passed since an execution occurred in Illinois. Experts say it could be...
In North Carolina
Posted on July 29, 2009It appears that the Racial Justice Act (SB 461) is back on the North Carolina Senate calendar for today's session, which convenes at 3:00 pm (EDT.) The Senate session will be webcast here. As noted yesterday, senators passed an earlier...
Texas Lyceum to Examine Criminal Justice and Death Penalty Issues
Posted on July 28, 2009Today's Huntsville Item reports, "Texas Lyceum to meet at SHSU." The Texas Lyceum, a statewide non-profit leadership group focused on identifying the next generation of Texas leaders and examining public policy affecting Texas and the U.S., will meet in the...
Senate Judiciary Committee Approves Sotomayor Nomination
Posted on July 28, 2009The Senate Judiciary Committee has voted 13-6 to approve the nomination. It now goes to the Senate floor where a vote is expected next week. More at Politico. Earlier coverage is here.
From Michele Deitch
Posted on July 28, 2009Michele is the lead author of From Time Out to Hard Time: Young Children in the Adult Criminal Justice System. The report provides the first-ever comprehensive look at how the nation treats pre-adolescent children (primarily those age 12 and under)...
North Carolina Senate Takes Up Racial Justice Act
Posted on July 28, 2009The North Carolina Senate convenes at 3:00 pm (EDT) today and SB 461is on the agenda. The Senate passed an earlier version of the legislation. If the Senate concurs today with changes made in the NC House of Representatives, the...
12 and in Prison
Posted on July 28, 2009That's the title of today's New York Times lead editorial. LINK The Supreme Court sent an important message when it ruled in Roper v. Simmons in 2005 that children under the age of 18 when their crimes were committed were...
In Pennsylvania
Posted on July 27, 2009Ron Todt of the Associated Press writes, "Natural causes biggest threat on Pa. death row," via the Philadelphia Inquirer. Ten years ago, Gary Heidnik had two slices of cheese pizza and a couple of cups of black coffee, met with...
In Connecticut
Posted on July 27, 2009The Hartford Courant has a lengthy report that begins with Alaine Griffin's "Cases Involving Possible Death Penalty A Long Process." Nancy Filiault waited nearly four years for a Superior Court jury to convict Jonathan Mills of fatally stabbing her sister...
The State of Capital Punishment
Posted on July 27, 2009A handful of weekend articles examine the current state of capital punishment in the nation. First, a column by James Cummings. He's a staff writer at Ohio's Dayton Daily News. It's titled, "Death penalty is being phased out." Here's an...
Death-Penalty Bias
Posted on July 27, 2009That's the title of an editorial in the Sunday edition of North Carolina's Winston-Salem Journal. LINK Here's an extended excerpt: The problems with the death penalty in this state have been underscored time and time again, including through three high-profile...
New Office to Handle Texas Capital Habeas Filings
Posted on July 27, 2009"State to handle capital appeals," is the title of Lise Olsen's report in the San Antonio Express-News. It appeared in the Sunday edition. Texas, which executes more convicts than any state in the nation, will open its first capital defense...
More Commentary From Robert Baldwin
Posted on July 24, 2009The Alabama physician writes, "Don't stand for injustice," for the Montgomery Advertiser. Here's an excerpt: In addition, Alabama is one of only three states that allow a judge to impose a death sentence over a jury recommendation of life without...
My Brother on Death Row
Posted on July 24, 2009That's the title of an interview conducted by Alice Kim for In These Times. It's subtitled, "Troy Davis' sister speaks out, as Davis awaits a Supreme Court decision." Martina Correia, Davis? sister, has led an international campaign to save her...
Commentary and Coverage of Sentencing Project Report
Posted on July 24, 2009The Sentencing Project report, "No Exit: The Expanding Use of Life Sentences In America,"was issued earlier this week, and noted here. Today's Philadelphia Inquirer carries the editorial, "Inequality under law." Here's an excerpt: The arrest of Harvard professor Henry Louis...
The Judgment of Sharon Keller
Posted on July 24, 2009That's the title of Michael Hall's latest Texas Monthly must-read, in the August issue. LINK Here's the opening: The most infamous phone call in recent Texas history came on the afternoon of September 25, 2007, when, at 4:45, Ed Marty,...
More News From the Texas Tribune
Posted on July 23, 2009The Texas Tribune continues to make news in advance of its premiere this fall. Ross Ramsey, editor of Texas Weekly has signed on as managing editor of the Tribune, which is acquiring the 25 year-old political tipsheet. In a news...
CCA Orders Hearing in Roderick Newton Case
Posted on July 23, 2009"Stay of execution granted for man convicted in '99 Pleasant Grove murder," is the title of Jennifer Emily's report in today's Dallas Morning News. You can view the CCA order here. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals on Wednesday granted...
The Bush Judicial Legacy, by the Numbers
Posted on July 23, 2009That's the title of Tony Mauro's report at National Law Journal. LINK Here's an excerpt: The latest issue of Judicature is out, and it offers the most comprehensive empirical look yet at the judicial legacy of former President George W....
In North Carolina
Posted on July 23, 2009"Death penalty bill barely gets by committee," is the AP report via today's Winston-Salem Journal. N.C. House legislators again have narrowly approved legislation designed to prevent a murder suspect or death-row prisoner with severe mental illness from facing capital punishment...
Reevaluating Lineups
Posted on July 22, 2009That's the title of a report issued last week by the Innocence Project. It's subtitled, "Why Witnesses Make Mistakes and How to Reduce the Chance of a Misidentification." Here's an excerpt from the executive summary: Over 175 people have been...
The Sentencing Project's Report on Lifers in Prison
Posted on July 22, 2009The Sentencing Project report, "No Exit: The Expanding Use of Life Sentences In America," states that 1 in 11 prisoners are now serving life sentences. A summary of the report is here. Here's an excerpt:A new report released by The...
CNN Examines Troy Davis Case
Posted on July 22, 2009It was featured last night on CNN's AC 360 program. You can watch Gary Tuchman's report, "Death Row Mistake?" Earlier coverage of the controversial case begins here.
The Legacy of the Brian Nichols Trial
Posted on July 22, 2009Today's Atlanta Journal-Constitution carries the report, "Murderer Nichol?s tab: $3 million and growing," written by Rhonda Cook and Steve Visser. Here's an extended excerpt: It cost more than more $3 million to give courthouse killer Brian Nichols a fair trial...
Ohio Execution Was 1,000th Lethal Injection in US
Posted on July 22, 2009"Ohio killer's lethal injection marks 1,000th in US," is Matt Leingang's AP report via Google News. A man who went on a 1992 Christmas holiday killing spree that left six people dead, including an 18-year-old mother gunned down at a...
Roderick Newton's Execution Date Expected to Be Withdrawn
Posted on July 22, 2009"Man convicted in Dallas County slaying expected to get reprieve from execution," is Michael Graczyk's AP report via the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. A convicted killer scheduled for execution this week for an abduction and slaying a decade ago will likely...
Connecticut
Posted on July 21, 2009Hartford Courant reporter Daniela Altimar has posted, "A renewed push to end the death penalty in Connecticut." Emboldened by a series of victories in the legislature earlier this year, a coalition of groups is launching a new campaign against the...
Sotomayor Responds to GOP Follow-up Questions
Posted on July 21, 2009That's the title of a National Law Journal report by Tony Mauro. LINK Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor told the Senate Judiciary Committee Monday that she has "no personal views about the death penalty that would interfere with my obligation...
Allan Butcher Retires as Magistrate; Will Continue Indigent Defense Research
Posted on July 21, 2009"Respected magistrate hangs up his robes but will continue his research at UT-Arlington," is the title of Martha Deller's report in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Allan Butcher was known as one of the top death-penalty attorneys in Texas ? and...
Senate Adds Death Penalty Amendment to Kill Hate Crimes Legislation
Posted on July 21, 2009That's the title of a Monday afternoon post at CivilRights.org, the home of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, written by Tyler Lewis. LINK On Friday, the Senate passed the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act as an amendment to...
The Texas Tribune
Posted on July 21, 2009It started with the post at Romenesko, "Smith steps down as Texas Monthly editor-in-chief to become Texas Tribune CEO," Thursday afternoon. It was Evan Smith's memo to the staff at Texas Monthly that he would not be moving with them...
Clemency Recommendation in Ohio
Posted on July 20, 2009"Board: Spare killer?s life," is Christopher Bobby's report for the Saturday edition of the Warren Tribune Chronicle. Within an hour of the Ohio Parole Board recommending clemency for Trumbull County death row inmate Jason Getsy Friday, Trumbull Prosecutor Dennis Watkins...
In Washington State
Posted on July 20, 2009Today's Olympian carries the editorial, "Should death penalty continue? Time to decide." Three inmates on Washington?s death row took another step closer to execution recently when Thurston County Superior Court Judge Chris Wickham ruled that the state?s lethal injection procedures...
A Profile of AP's Michael Graczyk
Posted on July 20, 2009CNN today has, "Texas reporter's seen unrivaled number of U.S. executions," reported by Dave Alsup. It takes seven minutes to execute a death row inmate, according to the state of Texas. At that rate, Mike Graczyk has spent about 40...
Editorials on Prison Cell Phone Blocking
Posted on July 17, 2009Today's Longivew News-Journal carries the editorial, "Cell phone, cell mates: Bill would allow prisons to jam illegal use." State officials are pushing Congress for the right to use jamming equipment in prisons to stop prisoners from using smuggled cell phones...
State Officials Urge Federal Legislation to Block Cell Phone Signals From Prison
Posted on July 17, 2009Last year, contraband cell phones turned up on Texas death row, with one inmate repeatedly calling a state senator and a journalist. The problem is not limited to Texas, however, and earlier this week, officials from a number of states...
The Never-Ending Crime Story
Posted on July 17, 2009That's the title of Jordan Smith's latest report on Austin's yougurt shop murders in this week's Austin Chronicle. LINK Here's the beginning of the lengthy article, recapping the history and looking at whether Michael Scott and Robert Springsteen will face...
No Posthumous Pardon From Perry
Posted on July 16, 2009That's the title of a report by Jordan Smith in the latest Austin Chronicle, out today. LINK Here's an extended excerpt: The debate over whether Gov. Rick Perry is free to grant a posthumous pardon ? without any change of...
Continuing Coverage of the Sotomayor Confirmation Hearing
Posted on July 16, 2009Today may be the last day that Judge Sotomayor answers questions from Senators. For those following the hearings I want to point out a few resources. SCOTUS Blog has been doing it's normally excellent job live blogging the hearings from...
North Carolina RJA Returns to Senate
Posted on July 16, 2009The Racial Justice Act, SB 461, received final passage in the North Carolina House yesterday. It returns to the Senate where a different version has already passed. Today's Winston-Salem Journal reports, "N.C. House approves Racial Justice Act." The N...
Lab Analyst Decision Complicates Prosecutions
Posted on July 15, 2009That's the title of a report in today's Washington Post on the aftermath of the Supreme Court's ruling in Melendez-Diaz v. Massachusetts, last month. Subitled, "High Court Requires Scientists to Testify," it's written by Tom Jackman. The predictions are dire...
Mosley Execution Rescheduled for September
Posted on July 15, 2009"Execution of police officer's killer delayed," is the title of Michael Graczyk's AP report, via the Dallas Morning News. A state judge has moved this week's scheduled execution of condemned murderer Kenneth Mosley to September, his attorney said Tuesday...
North Carolina Racial Justice Act Contintinues to Advance
Posted on July 15, 2009The bill, SB 461 in the North Carolina General Assembly, faces a second vote in the House chamber today. The News& Observer of Raleigh reports, "Death penalty bill provokes a battle." It's written by Michael Biesecker. Judges would be allowed...
The Sotomayor Hearings
Posted on July 14, 2009As the confirmation hearings wind through a second day, the Wall Street Journal has an editorial column, "Sotomayor and International Law," written by editorial writer Collin Levy. Sonia Sotomayor will parry a wide range of questions about her judicial philosophy...
Death Penalty Does Not Deter Murder
Posted on July 14, 2009That's the title of an OpEd in the Sunday edition of the Contra Costa Times written by Mike Radelet and Werner J. Einstadter. Radelet is co-author of a recent deterrence study, Einstadter worked in California corrections and is Einstadter is...
Supreme Court Stays Scheduled Virginia Execution
Posted on July 14, 2009The issue is double jeopardy. "Stay granted in execution that had been set tonight," is Frank Green's report in today's Richmond Times-Dispatch. Condemned killer Paul Warner Powell won another reprieve yesterday, this time from the U.S. Supreme Court, which stayed...
North Carolina Racial Justice Act May Face Key Vote This Week
Posted on July 13, 2009"Racial justice? Bill that may be voted on this week would allow judges to throw out death penalties," by James Romoser appears in today's Winston-Salem Journal. Here's an extended excerpt from this must-read: When Ramona Stafford's husband was murdered in...
Attorney General Refuses Debate on Death Penalty
Posted on July 13, 2009That's the title of an OpEd from Alabama's Birmingham News written by Robert Baldwin. LINK On May 18, I publicly challenged Attorney General Troy King to a public debate regarding Alabama's death penalty system followed by a formal letter to...
The Science of Eyewitness Identification
Posted on July 13, 2009Yesterday, the CBS News program "60 Minutes," reaired Lesley Stahl's report, "Eyewitness: How Accurate is Visual Memory?" The two-part episode was first broadcast in March. It's a cliché of courtroom dramas - that moment when the witness is asked "Do...
More on Kevin Keith in Ohio
Posted on July 13, 2009The Saturday edition of the Columbus Dispatch carried Mark Godsey's OpEd, "Death Row case warrants another look to ensure that justice is done." Godsey is director of the Ohio Innocence Project, based in Cincinnati. Here's an extended excerpt: If Ohio...
State Court Approves Washington State's Lethal Injection Procedure
Posted on July 13, 2009Saturday's Tacoma News Tribune carried the AP report, "Superior Court upholds state death penalty," by Rachel LaCorte. A judge has affirmed Washington state?s procedures for executing prisoners by lethal injection, turning aside complaints that condemned inmates could be partially conscious...
Justice Ginsburg
Posted on July 10, 2009This Sunday's New York Times Magazine features an interview with Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, "The Place of Women on the Court," conducted by Emily Bazelon. This is from the introduction: In late February, three weeks after she had an operation...
A Sotomayor Roundup
Posted on July 10, 2009Monday, the Senate Judiciary Committee begins it's confirmation hearing on Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor. The Committee has additional information here. The Washington Post and the Brennan Center for Justice have both issued extensive reports examining Judge Sotomayor's judidical opinions...
A Judge Reflects and Acts
Posted on July 10, 2009For all the clarity we seek through the judicial process, sometimes events remain unclear and facts uncertain. Ohio's Toledo Blade reports, "Man may win parole, thanks to Skow letter: Judge came to feel he erred in '97 case," written by...
AG Eric Holder Speaks at Vera Institute
Posted on July 10, 2009The Department of Justice has released the Attorney General's prepared comments. LINK Here's an excerpt from this must-read: The Vera Institute of Justice has been an extraordinary partner to government in the administration of justice. I thank you in particular...
An Update on Pittsburgh's Exoneration Art
Posted on July 10, 2009The artist Dan Bolick has posted, "Painting the Exonerated," at the Innocence Project's Innocence Blog. His exhibit at the Westmoreland Museum of American Artis noted here. An excerpt: I taught art for the inner-city Pittsburgh Public Schools for many years,...
Indigent Defense in Nevada
Posted on July 09, 2009Today's Las Vegas Sun carries the AP report, "Report: Nev. public defenders need lighter loads." Public defenders in the Las Vegas and Reno areas face overwhelming caseloads that result in a lack of "competent and diligent" assistance to poor people....
John Holdridge on Geographic Disparity of the Death Penalty
Posted on July 09, 2009The director of the ACLU Capital Punishment Project writes, "Sentenced To Death Because Of Where You Live: The Death Penalty?s Geographic Bias," at the ACLU Blog of Rights. Americans have become increasingly troubled by the profound flaws in our capital...
Pennsylvania Legislation Calls for Pre-Trial Mental Retardation Determination
Posted on July 09, 2009The AP report, "News from the Pennsylvania General Assembly," via Philly.com, contains: The Senate voted 45-2 to approve a bill that would establish a pretrial process to determine whether a defendant potentially facing the death penalty is mentally retarded...
Judicial Conference to Review Prosecution Disclosure Obligations
Posted on July 09, 2009That's the title of a post at The BLT by Mike Scarcella. LINK Amending the rules of criminal procedure to require prosecutors to disclose any exculpatory information to the defense will be considered during the October meeting of the Judicial...
David Lee Powell
Posted on July 09, 2009"Austin officer's killer files new claim," is the title of Tony Plohetski's report in today's Austin American-Statesman. The day before a judge was to begin considering the execution date of a man convicted of killing an Austin police officer, his...
Today's Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Posted on July 08, 2009Today's Pittsburgh Post-Gazette has, "Exonerated prisoners' stories are depicted in artist's project," written by Mary Thomas. Daniel Bolick never expected to meet his Muse in the darkness he was navigating through. But out of torment came purpose and a clarity...
The Latest From Gallup
Posted on July 08, 2009"Special Report: Ideologically, Where Is the U.S. Moving?" is by Linda Saad of Gallup. This polling covers a wide array of issues and broad themes examining differences between 2004 polling and polling conducted in 2008/2009. The executive summary could be:...
When Governments Kill
Posted on July 08, 2009That's the title of commentary by conservative political guru Richard Viguerie in the July issue of Sojourners magazine. It's subtitled, "A conservative argues for abolishing the death penalty." On most public policy matters, Jim Wallis and I disagree...
More on the Hounds of Fort Bend County
Posted on July 07, 2009Rick Casey, the Houston Chronicle award-winning columnist, writes, "Dog?s nose fallible as a crime lab." DNA has shown conclusively that people are unreliable. Eyewitness identification is often misidentification. Hair matches? Too often they match too many heads...
The Trover Shop on Pennsylvania, SE
Posted on July 07, 2009It's just across the street from the Library of Congress in Washington, DC. For years, it's been on my short list of one of the best non-fiction book stores in the nation. Today's Washington Post reports, "After Half-Century on the...
Rodricks on Exonerations
Posted on July 07, 2009The Baltimore Sun columnist and blogger Dan Rodricks latest is, "Death penalty 'exonerations'." Here's an extended excerpt, but doubters should read the entire post. Recently, I made another reference to the number of Death Row inmates across the country who...
ABA: Sotomayor Well Qualified
Posted on July 07, 2009"American Bar Association gives Sotomayor top rating," is the Reuters report via the Washington Post. The American Bar Association on Tuesday gave U.S. Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor its top rating, boosting her anticipated confirmation as the first Hispanic justice...
Guilty by a 10-2 Vote: Efficient or Unconstitutional?
Posted on July 07, 2009That's the title of Adam Liptak's latest Sidebar column in today's New York Times. LINK Here's an extended excerpt: ?Twelve Angry Men? might have been a much shorter movie had it been set in Oregon. Instead of letting Juror No....
More Questions in Ohio's Kevin Keith Case
Posted on July 06, 2009"New evidence in Crawford Co. murder case should be studied," is th editorial in today's Mansfield News Journal. The Ohio Supreme Court should look again at the case against Kevin Keith -- not just the legal procedures, but the evidence...
New Lethal Injection Scholarship
Posted on July 06, 2009Ty Alper's, "The Truth about Physician Participation in Lethal Injection Executions," is at SSRN and soon to be published in the North Carolina Law Review. Alper is associate director of UC Berkeley Law School's Death Penalty Clinic. Here's the abstract:...
Most Texas Prisons Lack A/C
Posted on July 06, 2009That's the title of an AP report carried in today's Austin American-Statesman. LINK Only 19 of 112 Texas state prisons are air-conditioned, leaving most of the state's 155,000 prisoners and those who guard them to face the summer heat with...
More News From California's Lethal Injection Public Hearing
Posted on July 06, 2009Last week's hearing for public comment on the state's proposed lethal injection protocol concuded Tuesday afternoon, but is still making news. "Morales suffered physical, psychological attack on day of execution, attorneys say," is the title of Scott Smith's report in...
Capital Prosecutions in One Louisiana Parish
Posted on July 06, 2009Today's New Orleans Times-Picayune carries the report, "Surge in death penalty prosecutions slows in Jefferson Parish," written by Paul Purpura. Here are two excerpts from the lengthy article: After Louisiana reinstated the death penalty in 1975, Jefferson Parish juries sent...
Double Tragedies
Posted on July 06, 2009That's the title of a new report issued by the National Alliance on Mental Illness, available here. The news release, "Death Penalty and Mental Illness: Families of Victims Speak Out at National Convention; 'Double Tragedies' Report Released," is by Susannah...
Art in London
Posted on July 03, 2009"Face-to-face with death row inmates at London show," is the title of Julie Mollins' Reuters report. Death row inmates depicted in oil paintings by British artist Claire Phillips, on view in London's South Bank gallery@oxo, have one thing in common.....
The Death Penalty in New Mexico
Posted on July 03, 2009Albuquerque Journal writer Leslie Linthicum writes "Closing the N.M. Death Penalty Door." The death penalty has been repealed, but two capital trials may yet take place for crimes committed before the new law took effect. Linthicum's column appeared in the...
California Counties Diverge on Death Penalty
Posted on July 03, 2009That's the title of Phillip Reece's article in today's Sacramento Bee. LINK Murderers are more likely to be sentenced to death in conservative California counties, particularly in the southern part of the state, according to a Bee analysis of recent....
Cultural Background Gains Traction as a Legal Defense
Posted on July 02, 2009That's the title of an article in today's Wall Street Journal written by Amir Efrati. LINK The old saw among law enforcement is that ignorance of the law is no defense. But some think it should be, at least in...
Sixth Circuit Reinstates Tennessee's Lethal Injection Procedure - UPDATED
Posted on July 02, 2009AP reports, "Breaking News: TN's death penalty." It's written by Michael Silence, via the Knoxville News Sentinel. A federal appeals court has vacated a lower court's ruling that Tennessee's lethal injection process is unconstitutional. In 2007, the U...
Arizona Lethal Injection Procedure Ruled Constitutional
Posted on July 02, 2009"Execution method of lethal injection approved," is Michael Keifer's report in today's Arizona Republic. A federal judge Wednesday removed a major obstacle to executions in Arizona, ruling that the state's lethal-injection procedure is similar to one approved by the U...
CCA Again Rejects Rodney Reed's Appeal
Posted on July 02, 2009The Court of Criminal Appeals order is here. "Reed's death sentence again upheld," is the title of Chuck Lindell's report in today's Austin American-Statesman. The state's highest criminal court has again rejected death row inmate Rodney Reed's claims that he...
Colb on Melendez-Diaz
Posted on July 02, 2009At FindLaw.com, regular columnist Sherry Colb writes, "The Right of Confrontation: A Supreme Court Decision Reveals Strong Schisms." Here's the beginning of a must-read for those who want to dig deep into the ruling. Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court...
Sacramento Bee Examines Geographic Disparity of California Death Sentences
Posted on July 02, 2009The SacBee is previewing an article that will be in tomorrow's print edition. It contains an interactive map examining the geographic disparity of death sentences in the state, at this LINK. Several factors can affect how often prosecutors obtain death...
North Carolina Racial Justice Act Continues to Advance
Posted on July 01, 2009"Bill on death-penalty disparities advances," is James Romoser's report in today's Winston-Salem Journal. Here's an extended excerpt: A bill aimed at reducing racial disparities in the imposition of the death penalty advanced another step in the N.C. General Assembly yesterday...
NYT Examines the Yogurt Shop Murders
Posted on July 01, 2009"New Evidence Opens Old Wound in 1991 Slaying of 4 Girls," is the title of James McKinley's report in today's New York Times. Seventeen years have come and gone. The yogurt shop where four teenage girls were raped and murdered...
Commentary on the California Hearing
Posted on July 01, 2009Los Angeles Times columnist Tim Rutten writes, "California death row's dicey math." When Tuesday's hearings in Sacramento on proposed changes in California's method of executing convicted murderers veered into a discussion of why solutions to the state's budget crisis ought...
News Coverage of the California Hearing
Posted on July 01, 2009"Opposition to death penalty in California voiced at hearing on lethal injection," is the title of Carol Williams' report in today's Los Angeles Times. Corrections officials heard overwhelming condemnation of proposed new lethal injection procedures Tuesday at the first-ever public...
'Scent Lineups' Stink to Critics
Posted on June 30, 2009That's the title of a report in today's USA Today written by Kevin Johnson. LINK Two federal lawsuits are casting a harsh spotlight on an investigative tool long beloved by American law enforcement: a bloodhound's nose. Lawsuits filed in Victoria,...
An Interview With Sandra Day O'Connor
Posted on June 30, 2009The Daily Beast today has "A Justice Reflects." SDO was interviewed by Walter Isaccson, the CEO of the Aspen Institute, author, and former journalist. Here's an excerpt: Are you happy that a woman, Sonia Sotomayor, has been nominated to fill...
Clemency Denied in Oklahoma
Posted on June 30, 2009"Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board denies clemency," is the title of the AP brief, via NewsOK. The Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board has unanimously denied clemency for a 32-year-old man facing execution for killing two men in southern Oklahoma. The...
California's Long Process to Resuming Executions
Posted on June 30, 2009That's the title of an AP report by Paul Elias, via today's San Francisco Chronicle. LINK A Contra Costa County judge last week sentenced Darryl Kemp to death for the random rape and murder of a young jogger. But chances...
Troy Davis
Posted on June 30, 2009The Supreme Court ended its term yesterday without acting on the cert petition filed by Troy Davis' attorneys. Today's Atlanta Journal-Constitution carries the AP report, "Supreme Court delays Troy Davis decision." Death row inmate Troy Anthony Davis got another legal...
The Charles Raby Case
Posted on June 30, 2009"HPD crime lab back in the spotlight," is the title of Roma Khanna's report in today's Houston Chronicle. A death row inmate from Houston, whose conviction is receiving new scrutiny after DNA tests contradicted evidence in his case, will return...
Ohio Innocence Project Presses Death Row Case
Posted on June 30, 2009AP reporter Andrew Welsh-Huggins writes, "Condemned Ohio killer of 3 says he's innocent," via the Dayton Daily News. An organization devoted to freeing innocent inmates has gone to bat for a condemned Ohio killer, a rare move for a group...
No Word From Supreme Court on Troy Davis Petition
Posted on June 29, 2009The Court held it's last public session of the 2008-2009 term today, as noted by Tom Goldstein and his SCOTUS Blog crew. The Court still has before it the cert petition for Troy Davis. Goldstein posted: The Court will issue...
Kansas City Star Calls for Missouri Moratorium
Posted on June 29, 2009"Moratorium on Missouri executions makes sense," is the title of the Kansas City Star editorial. It appeared in the Sunday edition. Executions in Missouri are on hold ? again. Any delay is to be applauded. The death penalty is expensive...
California's Lethal-Injection Plan Is Proven to Be Inhumane
Posted on June 29, 2009That's the title of an OpEd by Ty Alper in the Sunday edition of the Silicon Valley Mercury News. He's the associate director of UC Berkeley Law School's Death Penalty Clinic. It appeared in the Sunday edition. LINK On Tuesday,...
Group Sheds Light on Wrongful Convictions
Posted on June 29, 2009That's the title of a report from News 8 Austin concerning a weekend rally in Austin. LINK It was prepared by Jenna Hiller. News 8 Austin is the Time Warner Cable 24-hour local news channel for central Texas. A small,...
New Lab Report Case Granted - UPDATED
Posted on June 29, 2009That's the title of Lyle Denniston's SCOTUS Blog post, concerning today's cert grant in Briscoe, et al., v. Virginia, 07-11191. The Supreme Court, in the final round of orders for the Term, agreed on Monday to review a sequel to...
More on the Yogurt Shop Murders
Posted on June 28, 2009Austin American-Statesman reporter Steven Kreytak recaps the lengthy history of the controversial case in, "Yogurt shop trials to be a challenge for DA," in the Sunday edition. Robert Springsteen and Michael Scott walked out of the Travis County Jail last...
Imprisoned, Facing Impeachment, Kent Resigns Federal Judgeship
Posted on June 26, 2009"Facing impeachment trial, U.S. judge resigns," is Suzanne Gamboa's AP report, via the Dallas Morning News. An imprisoned federal judge who's facing an impeachment trial in the Senate in a sex-abuse case says he will resign from the bench at...
A Chaplain's Take on Capital Punishment
Posted on June 26, 2009That's the title of Bob Lively's religion column which will appear in tomorrow's Austin American-Statesman. LINK The last time I checked, seven out of 10 Texans approved of the death penalty, and not surprisingly, Texas executes more people than any....
DoJ Announces Commitment to Public Defenders, Legal Aid
Posted on June 25, 2009That's the title of coverage of a speech by Attorney General Eric Holder posted at the Blog of Legal Times, aka, The BLT. LINK The post is written by Mike Scarcella. Attorney General Eric Holder Jr. today outlined a plan...
Nickel-and-Dimed to Death
Posted on June 25, 2009That's the subtitle of a report at North Carolina's Indy Week, "The high cost of the death penalty," written by Matt Saldana. The cheapest part of executing a prisoner is the killing itself. The state's procedure of lethal injection costs...
Way Off Topic ... A Friday Night Diversion
Posted on June 25, 2009Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen wrote the play, "The Exonerated," which has done so much to raise awareness of wrongful convictions; the causes and the personal horror of wrongful incarceration. Over the years I've highlighted some of Jessica's other work...
More on the California Debate
Posted on June 25, 2009Today's San Francisco Chronicle carries the OpEd, "Replace death penalty with permanent improisonment." It's written by Jon Streeter, Bill Hing and Diane Bellas; all served on the California Commission on the Fair Administration of Justice. After spending four years on...
Marlyand Releases New Lethal Injection Rules
Posted on June 25, 2009The draft procedures are here. "Maryland moves toward resuming executions," is Laura Smitherman's report in today's Baltimore Sun. Gov. Martin O'Malley's administration took a reluctant step Wednesday toward resuming executions in Maryland after the governor failed earlier this year to...
Yogurt Shop Murder Defendants Released
Posted on June 25, 2009It has been a spectacularly tangled case since December 1991 when four girls were killed in a North Austin yogurt shop. Problems with the investigation were apparent from the beginning. Four men were identified as suspects and pursued, but it...
In ?98, Hints From Sotomayor on Death Penalty
Posted on June 25, 2009That's the title of a report in today's New York Times on Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor. It's written by Benjamin Weiser. LINK Here's an excerpt from the beginning: As a drug kingpin and his bodyguard, both black, faced the...
The Pace of Executive Clemency in Maryland
Posted on June 24, 2009Today's Baltimore Sun carries a column by Dan Rodricks, "Justice reform not an O'Malley priority." According to The Washington Post, Gov. Martin O'Malley is about to issue his first pardons since taking office in January 2007, and there are no...
Missouri Executions on Hold Because of Federal Review
Posted on June 24, 2009That's the title of the AP report via today's Joplin Globe. LINK Executions effectively are on hold again in Missouri. Incoming Chief Justice William Ray Price Jr. said Tuesday that it?s unlikely the state Supreme Court will schedule any additional...
More Opinion From California
Posted on June 23, 2009"Time for Californians to end death penalty," is the title of Janis Gay's OpEd in today's Napa Valley Register. John Van de Kamp?s commentary in the June 12 edition of the Register calling for the end of the death penalty...
John Berendt on the Troy Davis Case
Posted on June 23, 2009Berendt, the author of the monster best-selling book Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, set in Savannah, writes the OpEd, "Why the rush to execute Davis?" It appears in today's edition of the Savannah Morning News. Time is...
Washington State & Lethal Injection
Posted on June 23, 2009"State's top prisons doctor quit over execution policy," is the title of a report in today's Seattle Times. About two years ago, Dr. Marc Stern tripped over a jarring line in Washington's death-penalty policy: As head doctor for the state's...
Failing the Test
Posted on June 23, 2009That's the title of an editorial in today's Houston Chronicle regarding the Supreme Court's Osborne ruling. The editorial is subtitled, "Court ruling denies inmates the right to DNA evidence." Texas is not known as a liberal state when it comes...
More Coverage of the Sotomayor Nomination
Posted on June 22, 2009Pennsylvania's Harrisburg Patriot-News carries an OpEd, "Obama's Supreme Court nominee raises concerns." It's written by Bruce Castor, a former district attorney. Having served in law enforcement for 22 years, experience has afforded me the opportunity to observe (sometimes close-up and...
Mississippi Death Penalty Under Scrutiny
Posted on June 22, 2009That's the title of an AP report written by Jack Elliott, via today's Memphis Commercial Appeal. The subtitle is, "Case before Court of Appeals challenges law's constitutionality." Gerald James Holland's attack on the constitutionality of Mississippi's death penalty law appears...
Lethal Injection Challenge in Nebraska Dismissed
Posted on June 22, 2009"Nebraska Supreme Court dismisses lethal-injection appeal," is the title of the article from the Saturday Lincoln Journal Star, written by JoAnne Young. The Nebraska Supreme Court has dismissed a challenge to Nebraska?s new lethal injection law filed earlier this month...
A Life & Death Matter
Posted on June 22, 2009That's the title of an article from the Saturday edition of the Odessa American. It's written by Matthew McGowan. LINK Here's an extended exceprt: Two days after Christmas about 13 years ago in a house on Drury Lane, Emma Fabela's...
Linda White Responds to Lubbock Editorial
Posted on June 22, 2009Linda White, a member of Murder Victims' Families for Reconciliation, writes the OpEd, "Be careful when you're 'assuming'," for the Amarillo Globe-News. It appeared in the Sunday edition. Your recent editorial regarding the death penalty mentioned that one particular number...
Death Penalty Decisions Loom
Posted on June 22, 2009That's the title of a lengthy Politico report by Josh Gerstein. LINK Here's an extended excerpt from the beginning of the article: For the first time in his career, President Barack Obama may soon confront one of the most weighty...
Kent Impeached
Posted on June 19, 2009"U.S. House impeaches Kent," is Stewart Powell's report for the Houston Chronicle. The House today impeached imprisoned U.S. District Court Judge Samuel B. Kent and sent his case to the Senate for trial. The Senate is expected to quickly convene...
More News Coverage of the Osborne Ruling
Posted on June 19, 2009"Justices Reject Inmate Right to DNA Tests," is Adam Liptak's report in today's New York Times. Prisoners have no constitutional right to DNA testing that might prove their innocence, the Supreme Courtruled on Thursday in a 5-to-4 decision. The court...
Continued Coverage of Radelet & Lacock Study
Posted on June 19, 2009Opposing Views carries, "States Without Death Penalty Have Lower Murder Rates," by Amnesty International. Scientists agree, by an overwhelming majority, that the death penalty has no deterrent effect. They felt the same way over ten years ago, and nothing has...
Ellis Close on the Troy Davis Case
Posted on June 19, 2009The Newsweek contributing editor writes, "Actual Innocence: A death-row case tests whether swift justice can also be certain," for the June 29 issue. Here's the beginning: For nearly two decades, Troy Davis has sat on death row, during which time...
Keller Trial Moved to San Antonio
Posted on June 19, 2009"Keller trial moved from Austin to San Antonio," is Chuck Lindell's post at the Austin American-Statesman Focal Point blog. The special trial into misconduct charges against Sharon Keller, presiding judge of the state?s top criminal court, will be in San...
More on the Radelet & Lacock Deterrence Study
Posted on June 18, 2009Virginia Blogger Tamar Abrams has, "Experts Agree: Death Penalty Not a Deterrent," fresh at Huffington Post. Like many Americans, I have long had an uneasy sense of the death penalty in this country. In order to fully support it, you...
An Update on Oliver Diaz
Posted on June 18, 2009The former Mississippi State Supreme Court justice is still making news. KAPT-TV reports, "Diaz Changes Stance On Death Penalty." You can watch streaming video at the link. Former State Supreme Court Justice Oliver Diaz said his first vote on the...
Supreme Court Rules No Right to Post-Conviction DNA Testing
Posted on June 18, 2009The ruling in District Attorney?s Office v. Osborne (08-6) is here, in Adobe .pdf format. The Scotus Wiki page is here, with complete briefing. At SCOTUS Blog, Lyle Denniston files, "Court rejects DNA access claim." Splitting 5-4, the Supreme Court...
A Response to 'Justice Served'
Posted on June 18, 2009E.A Stine, producer of KPFT's Execution Watch, has an OpEd letter in today's Amarillo Globe News. "Capital punishment is wrong." It's a response to the newspaper's editorial earlier this month, "Justice Served," and noted here. The June 9 editorial, "Justice...
Brewer Sentencing Trial
Posted on June 18, 2009The Amarillo Globe-News reports, "A matter of life or death - Man awaits second sentencing for murder committed in 1990," by Chris Ramirez. No one disputes that Brent Ray Brewer killed Robert Laminack almost 20 years ago. At issue for...
More on the North Carolina Racial Justice Act Legislation
Posted on June 18, 2009Today's Duke Chronicle carries the report, "McKissick, state legislators debate racial justice act," written by Julius Jones. The North Carolina Racial Justice Act may soon allow death row inmates who believe their sentences were motivated by race to challenge their...
Experts Say Death Penalty Doesn't Deter Murder
Posted on June 18, 2009There's more coverage today of the Radelet & Lacock deterrence study. That is the headline of an AFP report via Google News. LINK The death penalty fails to deter crime or lower murder rates, according to an overwhelming majority of...
Behind Bars ... Sort Of
Posted on June 17, 2009That's the title of an article written by Jim Lewis in the June 14 issue of the New York Times Sunday Magazine. LINK Here's an excerpt from the beginning of this article: Go ahead and say it; everyone does. Certainly...
A Rare Non-Capital Clemency in Pennsylvania
Posted on June 17, 2009The Philadelphia Inquirer has an interesting article, "In a rarity, Rendell commutes a life sentence," because it examines the changed landscape of clemency. Though the article focuses on Pennsylvania, clemency in most states is rarely used in ways that the...
The Racial Justice Act in North Carolina
Posted on June 17, 2009"Group urges legislators to pass race bill," is the title of a news article in today's Winston-Salem Journal written by Michael Hewlett. A group of pastors urged state legislators to pass a bill that would allow defendants to challenge the...
Initial News Coverage of Radelet & Lacock Deterrence Study
Posted on June 17, 2009The Boulder Daily Camera reports, "Criminologists: Death penalty doesn't deter murder." It's written by Elizabeth Miller. Here's an extended excerpt: Eighty-eight percent of criminologists do not believe the death penalty deters murder, according to a study by University of Colorado...
The Latest on Deterrence
Posted on June 16, 2009Mike Radelet and Traci Lacock have just published, "Do Executions Lower Homicide Rates?: The Views of Leading Criminologists," in The Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology. You can read the article here, in Adobe .pdf format, thanks to the Death...
His Stories Kept Us Entertained
Posted on June 16, 2009That's the title of an OpEd in Sunday's Concord Monitor written by Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg about her colleague, Justice David Souter. LINK Here's an excerpt: Washington, D.C., is a city not known for the humility of its...
A New Blog at the Dallas Morning News and News From China
Posted on June 16, 2009Dallas Morning Newser Michael Landauer has launched a Texas Death Penalty blog. I'll add it to the left-column webroll. The latest installment is titled, "Death penalty good or bad for an unstable government?" Here's an excerpt from that post: The...
Indigent Defense Roundup
Posted on June 16, 2009"Calif wants to cut legal aid attorneys for poor," is Deborah Hastings report for AP, via Google News. Lawyers for the poor, who say they already are stretched to the breaking point by huge caseloads and dwindling staff, face layoffs...
New Books
Posted on June 16, 2009Two new books examine capital punishment from two very different perspectives. In today's Austin American-Statesman, staff writer Patrick Beach reviews Baylor Law prof Mark Osler's, Jesus on Death Row: The Trial of Jesus and American Capital Punishment...
Utah AG Again Proposes Limits on Death Penalty Appeals
Posted on June 15, 2009"Lengthy death-row appeals targeted," is Bob Bernick's report in today's Deseret News. Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff and some lawmakers want the state constitution changed to stop the Utah Supreme Court from delaying murderers' executions. "We have won every battle,"...
The Death Penalty Debate in California
Posted on June 15, 2009Today's San Francisco Chronicle carries the OpEd, "Legal stalling is packing Death Row," by Republican state legislator Tom Harman. Legal executions have been the law of the land in California since the late 1800s. They were briefly abolished by the....
The Pace of Executions in Indiana
Posted on June 15, 2009"Indiana executions at slowest pace in 15 years," is Tom Coyne's AP report, via the Chicago Tribune. Indiana has gone two years without an execution for the first time since the mid-1990s, when it put five inmates to death, and...
Judge Considers Whether to Remove DA's Office From Death Row Appeal
Posted on June 15, 2009That's the title of an article from the Fort Worth Star-Telegram written by Melody McDonald. It appeared in the Saturday edition. LINK Here's an extended excerpt: A state district judge is considering whether to recuse the Tarrant County district attorney?s...
Recognition for Rick Casey ... and the Texas Observer
Posted on June 12, 2009Last night, the Texas Observer and it's parent organization the Texas Democracy Foundation hosted the awarding of the 2009 Molly National Journalism Prize, named for the late Texas journalist Molly Ivins. Rick Casey, a columnist for the Houston Chronicle won...
Prosecutorial Misconduct Alleged in Kentucky Capital Case
Posted on June 12, 2009"Prosecutor resigns after controversial plea deal," is the AP report by Brett Barrouquere, via Kentucky.com. A prosecutor resigned under pressure Thursday after officials say she compromised a capital murder case by defying orders in cutting a deal a witness...
New Hampshire Likely Next to Create Death Penalty Study Commission
Posted on June 12, 2009"Lynch expected to sign bill to study N.H.'s death penalty," is the title of Michael McCord's report in today's Portsmouth Herald. Gov. John Lynch is expected to sign legislation establishing a Death Penalty Task Force Study Commission to review New....
Ohio Court Promises More Time Between Executions
Posted on June 12, 2009That's the title of an AP report, via the Coshocton Tribune, written by Andrew Welsh-Huggins. LINK The Ohio Supreme Court said Thursday it will schedule future executions at least three weeks apart, an announcement made as the state prepares to...
Senate Hearing TodaySubcommittee on Crime and Drugs
Posted on June 11, 2009The Subcommittee on Crime and Drugs of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing today, ?Exploring the National Criminal Justice Commission Act of 2009? You can view the hearing webcast at the link. It's scheduled to begin at...
Congratulations to Bryan Stevenson
Posted on June 11, 2009"Montgomery attorney wins Gruber Justice Prize," is Bob Johnson's AP report, via the Montgomery Advertiser. Montgomery attorney Bryan Stevenson was named Wednesday a winner of the 2009 Gruber Justice Prize for his longtime work representing death row inmates, indigent defendants...
House Judiciary Committee Votes to Impeach Kent
Posted on June 11, 2009John Council has this report for Texas Lawyer on the U.S. House of Representative's quick action on the convicted federal judge. The House Judiciary Committee voted to impeach retired U.S. District Judge Samuel B. Kent by a 29-0 vote Wednesday,...
District Attorneys Disagree on Racial Justice Act
Posted on June 11, 2009That's the title of an article in North Carolina's Indy Week by Matt Saldana. LINK Here's an extended excerpt: The House Committee on Ways and Means and Broadband Connectivity on Monday narrowly approved the Racial Justice Act, which would prohibit...
Opinion Roundup
Posted on June 11, 2009North Carolina's Durham News carries the OpEd, "Reasons not to resume executions," in today's edition. It's written by Chris Fitzsimon, the director of NC Policy Watch. Last month's ruling by the North Carolina Supreme Court that the state medical board...
More Editorial Support for Troy Davis
Posted on June 11, 2009Today's Lakeland Ledger of Florida looks at the controversial Georgia case in the editorial, "Death Case Merits Review." A last-chance appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court from Troy Anthony Davis, convicted of murdering a police officer and sentenced to death...
Answers Needed in Alabama
Posted on June 11, 2009That's the title of an OpEd by Robert Baldwin from the Anniston Star. Baldwin, a medical doctor and President of the Alabama Ear Institute also maintains the blog Life and Death Matters. The link to the OpEd is here. An...
CCA Sets Aside Death Sentence Due to Atkins Claim
Posted on June 11, 2009"Court commutes killer's sentence to life," is the AP report by Michael Graczyk, via the Dallas Morning News. An inmate from San Antonio had his death sentence commuted to life Wednesday after the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals decided he...
CCA Judge Meyers Running for Re-Election
Posted on June 10, 2009Judge Lawrence Meyers has issued a press release signaling his intention. Texas Court of Criminal Appeals Judge Lawrence ?Larry? Meyers announced today the re-appointment of Austin Attorney Rick Wetzel as his campaign treasurer, in the first step of Meyer?s re-election...
More on Sam Kent
Posted on June 10, 2009"Pace Quickens for Impeaching Convicted Judge," is the AP report by Suzanne Gamboa, via Law.com. Members of Congress are moving quickly to force a convicted federal judge from Texas out of office so they can avoid paying his annual salary...
California Can't Afford the Death Penalty
Posted on June 10, 2009That's the title of an OpEd in today's Los Angeles Times by the state's former attorney general, John Van de Kamp. It carries the subhead, "Eliminating capital punishment, which is rarely carried out anyhow, would save the state $125 million...
A Supreme Court Nomination Stirs Up Bad Memories
Posted on June 10, 2009That's the title of an article in today's New York Times, written by Fernanda Santos. LINK Jeffrey Deskovic heard a TV talk show host announce President Obama?s nominee for the Supreme Court last month, and his mind raced. That name;...
More Recognition for West Texas PD Office
Posted on June 10, 2009"County court system earns national recognition for program," is the title of Logan Carver's report in today's Lubbock Avalanche-Journal. A national organization this week recognized the Lubbock County court system for its capital defense program and its accountability measurement program...
Opinion Roundup
Posted on June 10, 2009Renny Cushing, the executive director of Murder Victims' Families for Human Rights and a member of the New Hampshire state legislature has an OpEd in today's Concord Monitor, "175 years ago, a plea to end the death penalty." The effort...
Sotomayor Confirmation Hearing Set to Begin July 13
Posted on June 09, 2009Politico reports, "Sotomayor hearing date set for July 13." Alex Isenstadt writes: Senate Judiciary Chairman Pat Leahy has forged ahead with a July 13 start date for confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor, pushing past Republicans who want...
An Update on the Illinois Report on Criminal Justice Costs
Posted on June 09, 2009Last week I noted the release of an Illinois report examining criminal justice costs in New York and California designed as a guide for Illinois lawmakers and policymakers. Thanks to Malcolm Young, the report's author, you can view, "Controlling Corrections...
Justice Served
Posted on June 09, 2009That's the title of an editorial in today's Amarillo Globe-News. LINK Opponents of capital punishment noted the June 2 execution of convicted murderer Terry Lee Hankins in Huntsville. What makes Hankins' execution in any way unique is that it was...
Firing Squad No Longer Idaho Option
Posted on June 09, 2009An item that seemed to fly below the news radar is noted at the Progressive States Network in, "Legislative Session Roundup: Idaho." Death Penalty: H 107 eliminates the death penalty by firing squad, making Idaho the last state in the...
North Carolina Racial Justice Act Advances
Posted on June 09, 2009"Committee OKs bill meant to help defendants challenge death penalty," is the title of James Romoser's report in today's Winston-Salem Journal. A bill that would establish a new procedure for defendants to challenge the use of the death penalty advanced...
Death Penalty Case Reveals Failings in Alabama
Posted on June 08, 2009That's the title of Adam Liptak's latest Sidebar column for the New York Times. LINK Kenneth B. Trotter had been practicing law for less than a year when an Alabama judge appointed him to assist two more seasoned lawyers in...
Changes in McLennan County Indigent Defense System
Posted on June 08, 2009"New law aims to save McLennan County time, money by streamlining courts," is the Waco Tribune-Herald report by Tommy Witherspoon. It appeared in yesterday's edition. McLennan County judges are hoping that a new law passed earlier this month will create...
New Public Opinion Polling
Posted on June 08, 2009"Americans Pick Death Penalty for Murder Cases," is from Angus Reid Global Monitor. Many adults in the United States believe capital punishment is a better penalty for murder, according to a poll by Opinion Research Corporation released by CNN. 53...
Death Penalty Saves Lives: A Prosecutor's View
Posted on June 08, 2009That's the title of an OpEd by Eric Zahnd from the Kansas City Star. He is the Platte County prosecuting attorney. LINK A recent editorial (5/14, A-14, ?Death penalty system has serious flaws?) seeks a moratorium of the death penalty...
Connecticut
Posted on June 08, 2009"Rell's death penalty veto faces override," is Ken Dixon's report from the Saturday edition of the Connecticut Post. Minutes after Gov. M. Jodi Rell vetoed the bill that would have abolished the death penalty, Speaker of the House Christopher G....
The Latest From Bob Ray Sanders
Posted on June 08, 2009"Texas does lots of things on a grand scale, including executing people," is the title of his latest column. It appeared in Saturday's Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Here's an excerpt from this must-read: Last Tuesday, as the state of Texas prepared...
Conservative Group Criticizes Sotomayor on Death Penalty Memo
Posted on June 05, 2009That's the title of a fresh post by Jerry Markon at the Washington Post's Opening Arguments blog. LINK A conservative group is criticizing Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor for signing a 1981 memo that opposed the death penalty and said...
First Obama Judicial Nominees Near Senate Vote
Posted on June 05, 2009"Circuit Nominees, DOJ Nominee Head to Full Senate," is David Ingram's report today at National Law Journal. The Senate Judiciary Committee Thursday overwhelmingly endorsed two presidential nominees for prominent legal positions: Andre Davis for the 4th U...
Controlling Corrections Costs in Illinois: Lessons from the Coasts
Posted on June 05, 2009That's the title of a new report by Malcolm Young of the Northwestern University School of Law. examining the impact of criminal justice systems in New York and California. "Study finds N.Y.'s crime-fighting strategies more effective than California's," is Lynne...
North Carolina Racial Justice Act Stalls
Posted on June 04, 2009"'Racial Justice' bill is held in House panel," is James Romoser's report in today's Winston-Salem Journal. A bill aimed at stopping racial bias in the administration of the death penalty stalled yesterday in a legislative committee. The bill, which is...
UN Investigator Says US Death Penalty Leads to Miscarriage of Justice
Posted on June 04, 2009That's the title of a Voice of America report by Lisa Schlein, datelined Geneva. LINK A U.N. Special Investigator is criticizing the application of the death penalty in the United States, saying it sometimes leads to miscarriages of justice. The...
Crisis in Cook County Illinois
Posted on June 04, 2009"Public defender: No money, no death penalty," is John Byrne's report for the collective Chicago Breaking News. The Cook County public defender's share of a fund used to cover expenses to represent people in death-penalty cases is empty, the agency's...
This Morning's Washington Hearing
Posted on June 04, 2009Earlier this morning the Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security of the House Judiciary Committee held a hearing on "Indigent Representation: A Growing National Crisis." I will update when the archived webcast becomes available. Here's the witness list: Robert...
Nationwide, Public Defender Offices Are in Crisis
Posted on June 04, 2009That's the title of a major AP report by national writer Deborah Hastings. Earlier this morning a House Judiciary Committee held a hearing on indigent defense. I'll have more information on that in the next post, followed by a post...
Case of Death Row Inmate Troy Davis Puts New D.A. in Tight Spot
Posted on June 03, 2009That's the title of an article in today's Los Angeles Times written by Richard Fausset. The sub-head is, "Some say Davis, a black man, was wrongly convicted of killing an off-duty white police officer. They are pressing the county's first...
Louisiana Considers Death Penalty Expansion
Posted on June 03, 2009"House panel approves serial killer condition," by Mark Ballard is in today's Baton Rouge Advocate. A House committee approved, without objection Tuesday, legislation to make serial killers more easily subject to the death penalty. Prem Burns, who prosecuted convicted killer...
Miklos Honored
Posted on June 03, 2009Freshman State Representative Robert Miklos chaired the House Criminal Jurisprudence Committee's Death Penalty Subcommittee this session. The Mesquite News reports, "Miklos selected as Democratic Freshman of the Year." This week Representative Robert Miklos was named the House Democratic Freshman of...
Challenge Filed to Nebraska Lethal Injection Law
Posted on June 03, 2009"Motion challenges new lethal injection law," is Paul Hammel's report in the Omaha World-Herald. Five days after being signed into law, Nebraska?s new lethal injection law was challenged Tuesday. A lawyer for death-row inmate Raymond Mata Jr. filed an appeal...
Washington Lethal Injection Trial Completed
Posted on June 03, 2009"Lethal-injection trial wraps up," is the AP report via the Seattle Times. Arguments wrapped up Tuesday in a civil trial questioning Washington's lethal injection system, with lawyers for three death row inmates arguing the state's preferred execution method needs a...
More From the Keller Files
Posted on June 02, 2009Chuck Lindell continues his series with a sixth item on the Austin American-Statesman Focal Point blog. It's titled, "Why the last-minute appeal?" Twenty years after Michael Richard was convicted of raping and killing a Hockley mother of seven, his lawyers...
Texas Execution
Posted on June 02, 2009Texas is scheduled to carry out its 16th execution of 2009, tonight in Huntsville. It would be the state's 439th execution since 1982. Texas has far and away the most active death chamber in America, accounting for more than 37%...
Convicted Judge Kent Resigns ... Next Year; Impeachment Looms
Posted on June 02, 2009You can read Judge Kent's letter to the President here, thanks to Texas Lawyer. "Galveston's Judge Kent to quit next year," is Stewart Powell's article for the Houston Chronicle. Prison- bound U.S. District Court Judge Samuel Kent told President Barack...
Money, the Death Penalty, and California
Posted on June 02, 2009Natasha Minsker's OpEd, "Save $1 Billion in Five Years: End the Death Penalty California," is in the current issue of City Watch LA. She's the death penalty policy director for the ACLU of Northern California. In the market for a...
The Power of Habeas
Posted on June 02, 2009"In Rare Habeas Grant, 3rd Circuit Finds Evidence of Murder Insufficient," is the title of Michael Booth's report in the New Jersey Law Journal, a Law.com publication The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday granted a writ of...
Terri Hodge
Posted on June 02, 2009Gromer Jeffers writes, "Dallas lawmaker Terri Hodge could go out on a high note," in the Dallas Morning News. Most lawmakers view the finish of a legislative session as a time for relaxation and recharging. But for Dallas Democratic Rep....
Supreme Court Rules in Ohio Case of Bobby v. Bies
Posted on June 01, 2009AP reports, "High court rules for Ohio in death penalty case ," via FindLaw. The Supreme Court has unanimously ruled that the state of Ohio should have another chance to sentence a convicted killer to death, despite a previous factual...
Jury Sends Former Officer Back to Death Row
Posted on June 01, 2009That's the headline from the Houston Chronicle report on the Houston trial of Robert Fratta. It was written by Brian Rogers. LINK A taut and emotional roller coaster ride ended Saturday when 12 jurors decided to send Robert Fratta back...
Death Cases Among Early Issues for New Justice
Posted on June 01, 2009That's the title of a report by AP's Mark Sherman, via Google News. It was filed in Washington on Saturday. LINK Sonia Sotomayor has never confronted the contentious issue of the death penalty as a federal judge, but she was...
A Flurry of News and Opinion from Connecticut
Posted on June 01, 2009Both chambers of the Connecticut General Assembly have passed repeal legislation, a bill the governor has vowed to veto. With the legislature set to adjourn on Wednesday, there is a flurry of OpEds and editorials on HB 5459. The New...
Too Many Errors in Justice Process
Posted on June 01, 2009That's the title of a Missouri OpEd in today's Springfield News-Leader by Stephen Wyse, a Missouri attorney and former police officer. LINK Martin Luther King, Jr., said "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." Other states have enacted "Innocence...
Bob Barr on the Troy Davis Case
Posted on June 01, 2009"Death Penalty Disgrace," is the title of the former Georgia congressman's OpEd in today's New York Times. Here are two extended excerpts: THERE is no abuse of government power more egregious than executing an innocent man. But that is exactly...
Nevada
Posted on June 01, 2009"Bill to impose death penalty moratorium dies," is Cy Ryan's report filed Satruday for the Las Vegas Sun. A bill that would have imposed a moratorium on carrying out the death penalty is now dead itself. Assemblyman Bernie Anderson, D-Sparks,...
Connecticut
Posted on May 29, 2009"Groups try to persuade Rell to abolish death penalty" by Ken Dixon is in today's Connecticut Post. Opponents of the death penalty began a campaign Thursday to persuade Gov. M. Jodi Rell to sign a bill that would end capital...
Election of Judges In Tennessee Is Rejected
Posted on May 29, 2009That's the title of a report in today's Tennessean by Chas Sisk. LINK An effort to directly elect high court judges in Tennessee has come up short, as state lawmakers voted to keep an independent panel to pick nominees to...
More From North Carolina
Posted on May 29, 2009"Bishops oppose death penalty bill," is the AP report in today's News & Observer of Raleigh. North Carolina's Roman Catholic bishops say changes by the state Senate to a bill designed to prevent racial bias in the death penalty are...
Nebraska Governor Signs Lethal Injection Bill
Posted on May 29, 2009That's the title of JoAnne Young's report for the Lincoln Journal Star. LINK After 15 months of having no means to carry out its death penalty, Nebraska will soon be able to use lethal injection to execute prisoners convicted of...
Bruce Hight
Posted on May 29, 2009His editorial column today is, "A burning desire to gather news and help keep watch was most fulfilling." Today is my last at the Austin American-Statesman after 32 years, and after 37 as a newspaper reporter and editorial writer. I...
Fratta's Lawyer May Face Inquiry
Posted on May 28, 2009That's the title of an article in today's Houston Chronicle, written by Brian Rogers.. LINK A half-nude photograph e-mailed to convicted killer Robert Fratta through his attorney?s office sent the death penalty phase of the murder-for-hire trial through a tour...
Fifth Circuit Urges Impeachment of Kent
Posted on May 28, 2009Tony Mauro reports, "5th Circuit urges impeachment of federal judge, denies disability status," for National Law Journal. In a one-two punch made public Wednesday on its Web site, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals recommended that U.S. District Judge...
Polling in Connecticut
Posted on May 28, 2009"Q-Poll: Connecticut Strongly Backs Death Penalty," is Daniela Altimari's report for the Hartford Courant. By a two to one margin, Connecticut voters once again say the state should keep the death penalty. A Quinnipiac University poll released this morning found...
North Carolina
Posted on May 28, 2009"Religious leaders unhappy with death penalty bill change," is the AP report via the Winston-Salem Journal. Several religious leaders want a procedure designed to prevent racial bias in the death penalty without encouraging capital punishment to resume in North Carolina...
Nebraska Lawmakers Approve Lethal Injection Bill - UPDATED
Posted on May 28, 2009That's the title of the AP report by Josh Funk, via the Lincoln Journal Star. LINK Nebraska lawmakers have approved a bill designed to give the state the legal means to carry out its death penalty. The bill (LB36) would...
Washington's Lethal Injection Trial Expected to Wrap Up
Posted on May 27, 2009That's the title of the report from Washington Public Radio's KUOW-FM. LINK Lawyers for death row inmates in Washington state hope this will be the week they convince a judge to block the use of lethal injection as a form...
Nebraska
Posted on May 27, 2009"Nebraska senators advance lethal-injection bill," is JoAnne Young's report in today's Lincoln Journal Star. The article contains a sidebar listing how Nebraska legislators voted. LB 36 is not on today's legislative agenda. A move by a Lincoln senator to delay...
Another Warden Speaks
Posted on May 26, 2009"Florida must abolish flawed death penalty," is the title of Ron McAndrew's Oped from the Sunday edition of the Orlando Sentinel. McAndrew retired after 25 years in corrections including time as a warden in the Florida state prison system. "Capital...
The Sotomayor Nomination
Posted on May 26, 2009The New York Times reports, "Obama Selects Sotomayor for Court." "Obama Chooses Sotomayor for Supreme Court," is the Washington Post report. The AP dispatch is, "Sotomayor nominated for High Court_first Hispanic." The Wall Street Journal has, "Obama Introduces Sotomayor as...
Texas Increasingly Out of Step on Death Penalty
Posted on May 26, 2009That's the title of David Fathi's OpEd in the Sunday edition of the Houston Chronicle. Fathi is director of U.S. programs of Human Rights Watch. LINK Barring unexpected events, in the next few weeks Gov. Rick Perry of Texas will...
Tuesday
Posted on May 26, 2009Returning from the Memorial Day weekend, there is a great deal of news and OpEds to report. I'll start with a Texas OpEd, then add links to the coverage of President Obama's nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to fill the...
Indigent Defense in Harris County
Posted on May 26, 2009Lise Olsen reports, "Attorneys overworked in capital cases," in today's Houston Chronicle. It's a must-read: Lawyer Jerome Godinich, chastised by the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals this year for repeatedly failing to meet federal death penalty deadlines, has represented an...
Voices From Missouri
Posted on May 26, 2009The St. Louis Post-Dispatch carries,"The death penalty returns to Missouri" by Pamela Dolan. According to an article today on Missourinet, state Attorney General Chris Koster has said that now that legal challenges to the state?s ?death penalty structure? have been...
Opinion Roundup
Posted on May 26, 2009"House calls at the death chamber?" is by Steve Ford, the editorial page editor of North Carolina's News & Observer. It appeared in the Sunday edition. Across a grand stage in Washington last Sunday strode the newly minted physicians --...
Florida Marks 30 Years Since Death Penalty's Return
Posted on May 26, 2009That's the title of an AP report by Ron Word. It appeared in the Sunday Miami Herald. LINK Three decades have past since Florida resumed executions when John Spenkelink was strapped into Old Sparky and electrocuted, the nation's first involuntary...
Connecticut Governor Vows Veto
Posted on May 26, 2009"Rell Vows to Veto Ban on Death Penalty in Connecticut," is the AP report via the New York Times. Gov. M. Jodi Rell vowed on Friday to veto a newly approved bill that would ban the death penalty, saying capital...
The Sotomayor Nomination - UPDATED
Posted on May 26, 2009The New York Times reports, "Obama Selects Sotomayor for Court." "Obama Chooses Sotomayor for Supreme Court," is the Washington Post report. The AP dispatch is, "Sotomayor nominated for High Court_first Hispanic." The Wall Street Journal has, "Obama Introduces Sotomayor as...
Former San Quentin Warden Honored for Speaking Out Against Death Penalty
Posted on May 26, 2009That's the title of Richard Halstead's report in the Marin Independent Journal. It appeared in the Saturday edition. LINK During her stint as warden of San Quentin State Prison, Jeanne Woodford oversaw the execution of four death row inmates without....
A Federal Capital Case in New Jersey & the Deterrence Argument
Posted on May 22, 2009Does the death penalty deter? Lawmakers opposing repeal measures in legislatures across the country this year often expressed their belief that the death penalty is a deterrent. Cass Sunstein and Justin Wolfers were quite clear in their OpEd,"The Murky Evidence...
Petition & Amicus Filed on Behalf of Troy Davis
Posted on May 22, 2009"New plea on innocence," is Lyle Denniston's SCOTUS Blog report. Saying that no court has ever held a hearing on a Georgia death row inmate?s claim of innocence of a murder 20 years ago, and noting that the Supreme Court...
News Coverage of Washington Lethal Injection Hearing
Posted on May 22, 2009"State's lethal "cocktail" challenged in death-penalty suit," is Jennifer Sullivan's Seattle Times report. Lethal-injection drugs administered by the state in carrying out capital-punishment sentences result in cruel and unusual punishment for the condemned, attorneys for three death-row inmates argued Thursday...
Texas Law of Parties to Remain in Place
Posted on May 22, 2009"Veto threat dooms change in death penalty law," is Mike Ward's report in today's Austin American-Statesman. Death penalty opponents have long decried a Texas law that allows the state to impose the ultimate punishment ? execution ? on people who...
Connecticut Senate Approves Death Penalty Repeal
Posted on May 22, 2009"Death Penalty Abolition Gets Final Legislative Approval In Senate," is by Jon Lender and Daniela Altimari for the Hartford Courant. In a historic action -- which may be rendered short-lived by a gubernatorial veto -- the state Senate narrowly gave...
Connecticut Senate Debate to Begin Shortly
Posted on May 21, 2009That's the word from Ben Jones of Connecticut Network to Abolish the Death Penalty. You can follow the debate on HB 5459, here, Live Stream 2. Earlier coverage from Connecticut is here.
Revisit Death Penalty Bill
Posted on May 21, 2009That's the title of an OpEd in today's Denver Post written by the sponsors of HB 1274, Morgan Carroll and Paul Weissmann. LINK On the final day of the 2009 legislative session, the Senate failed by one vote to repeal...
In the Aftermath of the Missouri Execution
Posted on May 21, 2009"Dennis Skillicorn is dead, but the Public Interest Litigation Clinic is still very much alive," is by Nadia Pflaum at the Pitch. Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon never called Dennis Skillicorn's lawyer at the Public Interest Litigation Clinic to say that...
Ohio Alters Lethal Injection Procedure
Posted on May 21, 2009"Ohio lethal-injection execution procedures revamped to make sure inmate is sedated," is today's Cleveland Plain Dealer report by Reginald Fields. To be sure the three-drug lethal injection process is working, Ohio's condemned killers will now get a pinch and shove...
Washington State Lethal Injection Hearing
Posted on May 21, 2009"Hearing on constitutionality of lethal injection begins today," is Jennifer Sullivan's report in today's Seattle Times. A four-day hearing beginning today in Olympia could determine the fate of two men whose executions are on hold -- as well as that...
Execution Setting in Florida
Posted on May 20, 2009Today's Orlando Sentinel has a lengthy report, "Only Florida's governors can say how they pick execution order." It's written by Sarah Lundy. Last month, Florida Gov. Charlie Crist decided it was time for John Marek and David Johnston to die....
Will the Connecticut Senate Repeal?
Posted on May 20, 2009The Greenwich Time reports, "State senate might pass death penalty bill," by Bryan Lockhart. Senate President Pro Tempore Donald Williams Jr. said Monday he is close to having enough votes in the 36-member chamber to pass a bill this week...
Nebraska Legislature Gives Initial OK to Lethal Injection Bill
Posted on May 20, 2009"Lethal injection bill advances," is Paul Hammel's report in today's Omaha World-Herald. The article also has a vote tally of the legislators. The growing support for capital punishment within the Nebraska Legislature was clearly evident Tuesday. Observers credited term limits...
Missouri Executes Skillicorn Hours After Texas Execution
Posted on May 20, 2009"Convicted killers executed in Mo., Texas," is Jim Salter's AP report, via Google News. Two death row inmates spent some of their last moments apologizing for their crimes before they were put to death six hours apart in Texas and...
Return to Connecticut
Posted on May 19, 2009"A Change Of Heart On Death Penalty," is the title of Susan Campbell's must-read column in today's Hartford Courant. I remember my step-cousin Bobby as a heavy-set, fun-loving kid devoted to collecting and selling stamps and coins. He was a...
Update From Nebraska
Posted on May 19, 2009"Legislature rebuffs bid to repeal death penalty," is Paul Hammel's update for the Omaha World-Herald. For a second straight day, opponents of the death penalty suffered a setback in the Nebraska Legislature. Just before noon Tuesday, lawmakers rejected, 33-13, an...
Texas Execution
Posted on May 19, 2009Texas is scheduled to carry out its 15th execution of 2009, tonight in Huntsville. It would be the state's 438th execution since 1982; the 199th execution under the administration of Governor Rick Perry. Texas has far and away the most...
Supreme Court Adds Two Death Penalty Cases for Next Term
Posted on May 19, 2009Today's Washington Post carries carries the AP report, "Decisions, Decisions, Decisions..." The justices: Accepted two death penalty cases that involve the issue of effectiveness of counsel. The court will consider throwing out the death sentence for Holly Wood, a mentally...
Experts: Harris Co. Taking Risks With Lawyer Appointment System
Posted on May 19, 2009It's the kind of journalism that is becoming increasingly rare for newspapers and almost never seen on television. Today, Houston's KHOU-TV has the above-styled report. It's reported by Mark Greenblatt, and it's a must-read. LINK Judges in Harris County gave...
Eyes Turn to Missouri
Posted on May 19, 2009Monica Davey writes, "Executions Debated as Missouri Plans One," for today's New York Times. Officials in this state are preparing to execute a prisoner for the first time since 2005, when criticisms about the state?s lethal injection method emerged and...
Nebraska Legislature Continues Death Penalty Debate
Posted on May 19, 2009Nebraska legislators are continuing their debate of LB 36 at this time. You can watch the debate in streaming video at this link. Here's the news coverage from yesterday's lengthy debate. "Death penalty foes lose Round 1," is Paul Hammel's...
Troy Davis
Posted on May 18, 2009"Death row's revolving door: Courts mull post-trial proof," is Kevin Johnson's USA Today report examining the controversial Georgia case of Troy Davis. The timeline of TroyDavis' 18 years on death row reads like most other condemned prisoners' slow shuffle to...
California's 'Dysfunctional' Death Penalty
Posted on May 18, 2009"'Dysfunctional' death penalty racks up 28-year, $5-million tab," I Maura Dolan's LA Times report examining one troubled case. When Chief Justice Ronald M. George described California's death penalty as "dysfunctional," he might have had in mind the curious case of...
Editorial Roundup
Posted on May 18, 2009"Missouri legislature: Few accomplishments, many missed opportunities," is the Kansas City Star editorial from the Sunday edition. Missouri lawmakers stuck with tradition and ended the 2009 legislative session with a blizzard of papers tossed into the air...
North Carolina Legislation
Posted on May 18, 2009"State Senate takes up death penalty," is the title of Mike Hixenbaugh's report in the Rocky Mount Telegram. A bill initially intended to protect racial minorities from discriminatory sentencing in capital cases also ? to the disappointment of its original...
Connecticut Editorials
Posted on May 18, 2009"Death Penalty Repeal Advances," is the Hartford Courant editorial. During the past five years, three states ? New York, New Jersey and New Mexico ? have abolished the death penalty for capital crimes. Connecticut's House of Representatives took this state...
Nebraska Lethal Injection Debate Today
Posted on May 18, 2009The Nebraska Legislature is scheduled to consider LB 36 today at 1:30 pm, CDT. You can watch streaming video at this link. "Nebraska lawmakers to debate lethal injection," is the AP report, via the Lincoln Journal Star. After more than...
Prosecutors, Justice, and DNA
Posted on May 18, 2009"Prosecutors Block Access to DNA Testing for Inmates," is the title of Shaila Dewan's report in today's New York Times. Here's an extended excerpt: In an age of advanced forensic science, the first step toward ending Kenneth Reed?s prolonged series...
Can Californians Afford to Keep the Death Penalty?
Posted on May 17, 2009That's the title of Elisabeth Semel's must-read OpEd in today's Sacramento Bee. She is director of the Death Penalty Clinic at UC Berkeley, and the former director of the ABA Death Penalty Representation Project. It took more than three years...
Keller Court Accepted After-Hours Filing in 2003
Posted on May 17, 2009That's the title of Chuck Lindell's latest report in today's Austin American-Statesman. LINK In 2003, the Texas Defender Service filed an after-hours appeal on the day child killer Jose Rivera was to be executed. So why, four years later, was...
Indigent Defense in Missouri
Posted on May 15, 2009"Missouri lawmakers approve public defender changes," is Chris Blank's AP report via the Missourian. Missouri lawmakers gave final approval Thursday to what backers called a triage effort for a public defender system in crisis. Under the bill now headed to...
Nebraska Lethal Injection Debate Set for Monday
Posted on May 15, 2009"AG's office offers timetable for 1st lethal injection execution," is Nancy Hicks' report in today's Lincoln Journal Star. An execution likely will not take place for at least a year after the Nebraska Legislature passes a lethal injection law, according...
More on the Arkansas Lethal Injection Litigation
Posted on May 15, 2009Arkansas' Morning News reports, "Court Postpones Arguments In Lawsuit Challenging Lethal Injection." It's written by Rob Moritz. The Arkansas Supreme Court said Thursday it wants more information about a new state law regarding lethal injection procedures before it considers a...
Another North Carolina Ruling on Lethal Injection
Posted on May 15, 2009Raleigh's News & Observer reports, "Ruling lifts a barrier to execution." It's written by Sarah Ovaska and Lynn Bonner A Wake Superior Court judge issued an order Thursday rejecting a number of death row inmates' claims that the state's newest...
Rejection by Texas Senate of Unqualified Nominee Was Welcome
Posted on May 15, 2009That's the title of an editorial in today's Beaumont Enterprise on the rejection of Shanda Perkin' nomination s to the Board of Pardons and Paroles. LINK Finally, the Texas Senate remembered it is not supposed to serve as a rubber...
In RE: Keller
Posted on May 15, 2009Mary Alice Robbins reports, "A Civil Action: CCA Judges' Request for Representaion in Keller Discovery Proceedings Denied," for Texas Lawyer. In an unusual move, some judges on the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals sought the appointment of counsel to assist...
The Austin American-Statesman on Eyewitness ID
Posted on May 15, 2009"Photo lineups that follow best practices," is the Statesman editorial from the Thursday edition. We're talking about an initiative by Austin Police Chief Art Acevedo to devise written policies that govern how investigators conduct photo lineups. Acevedo said last week...
I Put Away an Innocent Man
Posted on May 15, 2009That's the title of James Fry's moving OpEd in today's Dallas Morning News. It's a must-read by a former Dallas County prosecutor. LINK When I prosecuted Charles Chatman for aggravated rape in 1981, I was certain I had the right...
More Calls for Missouri Clemency
Posted on May 14, 2009"House Majority Leader urges no execution on convicted killer," is Kermit Miller's report for KRCG. Missouri House Majority Leader Steven Tilley says Gov. Jay Nixon should commute the death sentence of convicted killer Dennis Skillicorn. The suggestion came during debate...
News Coverage of the Connecticut House Vote
Posted on May 14, 2009"State House Votes To Abolish Death Penalty," is Christopher Keating's updated report for today's Hartford Courant. In past years, attempts to abolish the death penalty fell far short of the 76 votes needed in the 151-member House. But Wednesday's vote...
North Carolina
Posted on May 14, 2009'Senate aims to restart lethal injections," is Lynn Bonner's report in the Raleigh News & Observer. Lawmakers on Wednesday endorsed a measure to sidestep a legal fight that has stalled executions in North Carolina. The state Senate voted to lift...
Lethal Injection Litigation Roundup
Posted on May 14, 2009In Arkansas, AP reports, "State Supreme Court Pushes Back Death Penalty Suit," via KATV-TV. The Arkansas Supreme Court wants to gather more information about a new state law before hearing a lawsuit that has stopped prison officials from carrying out...
Also From Missouri
Posted on May 14, 2009The Skillicorn clemency question occurs in conjunction with Missouri legislators considering death penalty legislation. Today's Kansas City Star carries the editorial, "Missouri's death penalty system has serious flaws." Skillicorn, 49, is scheduled to become the first person to be executed...
Controversial BPP Nominee Rejected by Texas Senate
Posted on May 13, 2009Mike Ward reports, "Shanda Perkins nomination busted," on the Austin American-Statesman Postcards blog. In a rare public rebuke, the Texas Senate this afternoon just blocked the controversial nomination of unemployed Burleson banker Shanda Perkins to become a member of the...
Connecticut Debate
Posted on May 13, 2009I understand from Ben Jones that the Connecticut General Assembly is debating HB 5459 right now. You can listen at this LINK. "Death penalty debate looms in the House," is Ted Mann's report for The Day. The state House of...
Nebraska Legislature Winding Down
Posted on May 13, 2009Nebraska legislators are entering the home stretch, but have yet to act on LB 36, which would make lethal injection the method of execution. The legislation has been given priority status. LB 306, which would repeal the state's death penalty,...
Connecticut House Votes for Repeal
Posted on May 13, 2009"State House Votes To Abolish Death Penalty," is Christopher Keating's initial report at the Hartford Courant. The state House of Representatives voted Wednesday night, the fourth anniversary of the execution of serial killer Michael Ross, to abolish the death penalty...
The Clemency Question in Missouri
Posted on May 13, 2009"Gov. Nixon should appoint a board of inquiry in Skillcorn case," is the St. Louis Post-Dispatch editorial from the May 8th edition. Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon is no stranger to the death penalty. Through 16 years as state attorney general,...
Oklahoma Governor Denies Clemency
Posted on May 12, 2009"Henry denies clemency for convicted killer," is the AP report via Bartlesville Live. Oklahoma Gov. Brad Henry on Monday denied clemency for a Cleveland County man convicted in the 1995 beating death of an 8-year-old boy whose battered remains were...
Parents Who Kill
Posted on May 12, 2009That's the title of an article in the current issue of Psyciatric Times by Drs. Susan Hatters-Friedman, MD and Phillip J. Resnick, MD. LINK Child murder by parents is an upsetting topic for both the public and clinicians. It is...
From Kansas
Posted on May 12, 2009"Kansas governor says he?s willing to revisit death-penalty law," is Carl Manning's AP report, via the Kansas City Star. Gov. Mark Parkinson said Monday that he was willing to take a fresh look at the death-penalty law he helped write...
House Committee OKs Racial Justice Act
Posted on May 12, 2009That's the headline from North Carolina's Winston-Salem Journal. James Rosomer wrote the article. LINK A legislative committee approved today a bill that would allow defendants to use race-based statistics to challenge the imposition of the death penalty...
Connecticut House May Take Up Repeal Bill This Week
Posted on May 12, 2009"House may take up death penalty bill this week," is the AP report via the Danbury News-Times. The co-chairman of a key legislative committee says the Connecticut House may take up a bill this week to replace the state's death...
The New Case Against the Death Penalty
Posted on May 12, 2009That's the title of an OpEd by University of Richmond Law prof Corinna Barrett Lain, a former prosecutor. It appeared in Monday's edition of the Christian Science Monitor. It's subtitled, "The bittersweet reality is that money, rather than morality, has...
Paul House Exonerated in Tennessee
Posted on May 12, 2009AP reports, "Charges dropped against former TN death row inmate." Prosecutors dropped charges on Tuesday against a former inmate who spent two decades on Tennessee's death row before the U.S. Supreme Court questioned his guilt. Prosecutors acknowledged in a surprise...
Alabama Law Lets Executions Take Place Against a Jury's Wishes
Posted on May 11, 2009That's the title of an editorial in today's Birmingham News. LINK Jefferson County Circuit Judge Teresa Petelos last week refused to go over a jury's head and sentence Bobby Ray Sims to death. Instead, Petelos accepted the jury's recommendation, which...
Will Arkansas Study Commission Examine Capital Issues?
Posted on May 11, 2009"Creation of task forces by lawmakers on the upswing in state," is Michael Wickline's report from the Sunday edition of the Arkansas Democrat Gazette. The Arkansas General Assembly is increasingly turning to task forces to study issues ranging from traumatic...
From Connecticut
Posted on May 11, 2009"Lawmakers look to fix, repeal death penalty," is Ken Dixon's report. It appeared in the Sunday editions of the Stamford Advocate and the Connecticut Post. Lawmakers this week are expected to debate whether Connecticut's most-violent murderers should face life in...
Deadly Mix
Posted on May 11, 2009That's the title of an editorial from the Sunday edition of North Carolina's News & Observer. It's subtitled, "The state Supreme Court, saying doctors shouldn't be disciplined for having a role in executions, misfires on medical ethics." The unseemly practice...
More Feedback From Colorado
Posted on May 11, 2009Aurora Sentinel managing editor Aaron Cole writes, "Keeping a stiff upper lip on capital punishment." I?ve never been one for mustaches. In the 1970s and 1980s, or so I?m told, they were all the rage. From television private investigators to...
Report from Maryland
Posted on May 08, 2009"O'Malley signs law restricting death penalty," is Michael Drost's report in today's Washington Times. Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley signed legislation Thursday that would give Maryland the most restrictive death penalty laws of the 35 states that allow capital punishment...
Followup From Colorado
Posted on May 08, 2009"Groff's lofty call in stirring last stand," is the latest from Denver Post columnist Mike Littwin. It wasn't Lincoln at Gettysburg. It wasn't Henry V at Agincourt. And it certainly wasn't King anywhere near a mountaintop. We were at the...
Alabama
Posted on May 08, 2009The Birmingham News reports, "Bill to increase number of witnesses to execution passes Legislature." It was posted on one of the paper's blogs by Tom Gordon yesterday evening. The Alabama Legislature passed today a bill that would allow up to...
Committee Takes Up Connecticut DP Issue
Posted on May 08, 2009That's the title of a report in today's Hartford Courant by Daniela Altimiri. LINK The legislature's judiciary committee this morning will revisit the question of whether Connecticut's death penalty be repaired, scrapped or left as is. In an informational hearing...
Austin Police Developing Photo Lineup Policies
Posted on May 08, 2009That's the title of Tony Plohetski's report in this morning's Austin American-Statesman. It's subtitled, "Effort comes amid wrongful convictions in Texas, nationwide." Austin police have begun drafting their first written policies for how investigators should conduct photo lineups, spurred in...
More From the Keller Files
Posted on May 08, 2009Chuck Lindell has posted the third of a series on CCA Presiding Judge Sharon Keller at the Austin American-Statesman's Focal Point blog. It's titled, "Did inmate's lawyers do enough." Here's an extended excerpt: Richard?s lawyers David Dow and Greg Wiercioch)...
News Coverage From Colorado
Posted on May 07, 2009"Colorado death penalty survives," is Jessica Fender's report in today's Denver Post. One by one, senators at last revealed their views Wednesday on the complicated and controversial topic of the death penalty with simple ayes and nays during a roll-call...
O'Malley to Sign New Maryland Death Penalty Bill into Law Today
Posted on May 07, 2009That's the AP report this morning via the Baltimore Sun. Gov. Martin O'Malley is scheduled to sign environmental legislation and measures relating to capital punishment and driver's licenses for illegal immigrants Thursday. The 10 a.m. bill signing will include a...
A Texas Senate Hearing for Shanda Perkins
Posted on May 07, 2009"Perry appointee criticized as unqualified," is Jim Vertuno's AP report, via the Houston Chronicle. One of Gov. Rick Perry's nominees to the state Board of Pardons and Paroles is facing opposition from critics who say she has no criminal justice...
'A Perfect Storm' from Nebraska
Posted on May 07, 2009The Lincoln Journal Star has put together a first-class report on what it bills as, "the story of the greatest miscarriage of justice in Nebraska's modern legal history." The introduction to the four-part series is, "'A perfect storm'." Late last...
Joe Shannon Named Tarrant County District Attorney
Posted on May 07, 2009The Fort Worth Star-Telegram has this editorial on the new Tarrant County District Attorney. "Joe Shannon was born restless," Mike Cochran wrote in Texas v. Davis, a recounting of the sensational murder trial of oilman Cullen Davis. That could explain...
Update from Colorado & Gov. Ritter's First Comments on HB 1274
Posted on May 06, 2009Abe Bonowitz reports that the Colorado Senate has recessed and is due to reconvene at 2:30 pm, MDT. As indicated earlier, you'll be able to listen the Senate session, using Windows Media Player, here. The Denver Post's latest update on...
The State of Criminal Justice 2009
Posted on May 06, 2009That's the title of the the ABA Criminal Justice Section's annual examination of the nation's criminal justice system. It's just been published and is available for purchase from the ABA web store, here. It's an excellent primer on recent developments...
Denver Post Columnists Take on the Death Penalty -- and Senators
Posted on May 06, 2009Two Denver Post columnists write on the topic in this morning's paper. Mike Litwin writes, "Facing the death penalty after all." In a stunning reversal of form, it seems the Democrats in the Colorado legislature may choose, at the last...
HB 1274 Slated to Return to Colorado Senate
Posted on May 06, 2009It's the last day of the Colorado General Assembly legislative session. Earlier this morning, House members refused to concur with Senate changes, which had stripped repeal from the bill. HB 1274 is expected to return to the Senate floor later...
Indigent Defense Crisis Continues in Georgia
Posted on May 06, 2009Bill Rankin writes, "In Georgia, lawyers abandoning the poor," in today's Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Across Georgia, poor people accused of crimes are being abandoned by their lawyers because there is no money to pay their legal fees. There are also 10...
Judge to High Court: Get Serious
Posted on May 06, 2009That's the title of Rick Casey's latest Houston Chronicle column. It examines last week's ruling in the Charles Hood case. LINK Here's an extended excerpt: When the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals last November referred a thorny question in the...
More on the Colorado Senate Vote
Posted on May 06, 2009"Bid to repeal death penalty fails in Senate," is the Denver Post report by Jessica Fender and Lynn Bartels. A bill that would have repealed the death penalty in Colorado and used the savings to fund cold case investigations failed...
A New Texas? Ohio's Death Penalty Examined
Posted on May 06, 2009That's the title of an article from today's Lantern, the student newspaper of Ohio State University. It's written by Travis Schulze. LINK The book is, No Winners Here Tonight: Race, Politics, and Geography in One of the Country's Busiest Death...
HB 1274 Fails 18-17
Posted on May 06, 2009After more than an hour of impassioned debate, in the final hours of the Colorado legislative session, repeal of the death penalty failed on a record vote of 18-17. More coverage to follow.
HB 1274 Back on Colorado Senate Floor
Posted on May 06, 2009HB 1274 is back on the Senate floor, now. You can listen the Senate session, using Windows Media Player, here.
Execution Ruling May Not End Impasse
Posted on May 06, 2009That's the title of an opinion column in North Carolina's Greensboro News-Record. It's written by Doug Clark. LINK It's not often that matters of life and death depend on the meaning of an ordinary word. But, as I read it,...
From the Connecticut Legislature
Posted on May 06, 2009"Death Row: Proposals For Speedier Appeals," is Jon Lender's report in today's Hartford Courant. Here's an extended excerpt: Responding to lawmakers' concerns about interminable delays under the state's state death penalty law, Chief State's Attorney Kevin Kane is offering proposals...
Nevada Legislative Committee Approves Study Commission
Posted on May 06, 2009"Death penalty study debated," is Brendan Riley's AP report from Carson City via the San Francisco Chronicle. Death penalty opponents joined with advocates of more funding for schools and other services in arguing Tuesday for a plan to determine how....
From Utah
Posted on May 05, 2009"Which state's philosophy on death penalty is best?" is by Marjorie Cortez, an editorial writer at the Deseret News After 21 years of living in Utah, describing myself as a Colorado native hardly seems legitimate. To cope with the ongoing...
Questioning Forensic Evidence
Posted on May 05, 2009That's the title of a column in National Law Journal written by UC-Davis Law prof Edward J. Imwinkelried. It's subtitled, "A recently released NAS report raises a host of issues." The July 28, 2008, edition of this column highlighted a...
More From Colorado
Posted on May 05, 2009"Senate votes to keep death penalty," is Joe Hanel's report in the Durango Herald. House Bill 1274, which sought to repeal the death penalty and use the cost savings to fund a cold-case unit, still is alive. But senators voted...
Doctors Won't Kill for the State
Posted on May 05, 2009That's the title of an OpEd in today's News & Observer of Raleigh, North Carolina. It's written by Dr. Charles van der Horst, a professor of medicine at UNC - Chapel Hill. LINK Here's an extended excerpt: In April 2006,...
Death Penalty Stories
Posted on May 05, 2009Deborah Denno has sent word that Death Penalty Stories has been published by Foundation Press. Loyal readers will recall that the book, pre-publication, was the topic of a UT Law symposium in November 2007, as noted here. The book title...
Supreme Court to Hear Case of LWoP Sentencing for Juveniles
Posted on May 05, 2009The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear two cases from Florida addressing the constitutionality of life without parole sentencing for juvenile offenders. The cases will be heard in the next term, which will begin in October 2009. Adam Liptak...
Is There Breathing Room in Colorado?
Posted on May 05, 2009The final hours of a legislative session is a frenetic time. Colorado legislators will adjourn tomorrow, but supporters of HB 1274 believe there is a small chance that death penalty repeal can be returned to the bill. Yesterday, senators stripped...
The Judgment on Justice Souter
Posted on May 04, 2009That's the title of a must-read assessment of Justice David Souter's tenure on the Supreme Court. LINK It's from the New York Times' Room for Debate blog. There is a flood of material following word of Justice Souter's intention to...
Debate Turns to Nebraska This Week
Posted on May 04, 2009Later this week, Nebraska's unicameral legislature is scheduled to debate LB 36, which would authorize lethal injection as the state's method of execution. It's unclear whether LB 306, a repeal bill, will be taken up on the floor this year....
Utah
Posted on May 04, 2009"Utah bucking U.S. death penalty trend," is Jacob Hancock's report in today's Deseret News. While many states are trading the death penalty for life sentences to save millions in tax dollars, the Utah Attorney General's Office is pushing to strengthen...
Colorado Senate to Debate HB 1274 This Afternoon
Posted on May 04, 2009Abe Bonowitz reports that the Colorado Senate is due to take up HB 1274, which would repeal the state's death penalty and dedicate cost savings to fund homicide cold cases, in less than an hour -- at 2:30 pm, MDT....
California Opens Comment Period on Lethal Injection Regs
Posted on May 04, 2009"State opens comment period on lethal injection procedures," is Carol Williams report from the Saturday edition of the Los Angeles Times. State officials launched a two-month forum Friday for public comment on revised lethal injection procedures in a step toward...
North Carolina Supreme Court Rules Against Medical Board Rules
Posted on May 04, 2009The North Carolina Supreme Court issued its ruling in North Carolina Department of Corrections v. North Carolina Medical Board on Friday. At issue is physician participation in lethal injection executions. The dispute between the two state agencies has resulted in...
Charles Dean Hood Did Not Receive a Fair Trial
Posted on May 04, 2009That's the bottom line of State District Judge Greg Brewer's Finding of Facts and Conclusions of Law in the case of Charles Dean Hood. The review came in spite of the state's best attempt to cover up and bury a...
Approve Resolution Calling for Impeachment of Keller
Posted on May 04, 2009That's the title of an OpEd by State Rep. Lon Burnam, author of HR 480. It appeared in the Saturday edition of the Houston Chronicle. LINK In October 2007, I filed a complaint against Judge Keller with the Texas State...
Sharon Keller Amends Financial Disclosure Filing
Posted on May 04, 2009"Sharon Keller amends financial report to include $2.4 million in assets," is Steve McGonigle's report. It appeared in the Saturday edition of the Dallas Morning News. Here's an extended excerpt: The state's top criminal appeals court judge has amended her...
Update From Colorado
Posted on May 04, 2009"Death Penalty Repeal Fails in Colorado," is Kirk Johnson's report for the New York Times. An effort to repeal Colorado?s death penalty law stumbled Monday in the State Senate after two hours of sometimes anguished and angry debate, leaving the...
Repeal Fails in Colorado
Posted on May 04, 2009Senators amended the bill to remove repeal from the bill. I was away from the computer when the critical vote happened, so I don't have a tally, yet. Following two hours of debate, the bill as finally passed by the...
Colorado Senate Prepares to Debate HB 1274
Posted on May 04, 2009HB 1274 is now the order of business in the Colorado Senate. You can listen to the Senate audio webcast here.
Geoff Stone on Justice Souter
Posted on May 01, 2009I want to highlight University of Chicago Law prof Geoffrey Stone's "David Souter," at Huffington Post. Here are two excerpts from this must-read: David Souter took the seat previously held by Justice William J. Brennan, Jr., one of the liberal...
Justice Souter
Posted on May 01, 2009Daily Beast has, "The Next Female Justice," with brief profiles of several possible contenders. "Souter's Exit Gives Obama First Opening, " is the New York Times report. Justice David H. Souter plans to retire at the end of the term...
Juvenile Justice
Posted on May 01, 2009The Los Angeles Times carried the editorial, "California's juvenile injustice system," in yesterday's edition. Children, even really bad ones, are different from adults. That basic truth is the foundation of our juvenile justice system, which seeks to protect society from...
Legal Technology, the Blawgosphere, and Life After Innocence
Posted on May 01, 2009Robert Ambrogi writes, "Academic Innovation Hits the Legal Web," for Law Technology News, a Law.com publication. Law schools have long been innovators online. It was at a law school, after all, that the first Web browser was developed for Microsoft's...
HB 1274 OK for Colorado Senate Floor
Posted on May 01, 2009Earlier this morning, the Colorado Senate Appropriations Committee voted to send HB 1274 to the full Senate. Colorado legislators are set to adjourn Wednesday AP reports, "Colorado death penalty bill headed to full Senate," via KJCT-TV. A proposal to eliminate...
More From the Keller Files
Posted on May 01, 2009Austin American-Statesman reporter Chuck Lindell posts Keller File #2 on the paper's Focal Point blog, "Why wasn't the right judge called?" Here's an extended excerpt: One Court of Criminal Appeals judge needed to be told that death row inmate Michael...
Texas Execution
Posted on May 01, 2009Texas carried out its 14th execution of 2009, last night in Huntsville. It was the state's 437th execution since 1982. Texas has far and away the most active death chamber in America, accounting for more than 37% of the nation's...
Time to Kill the Death Penalty
Posted on April 30, 2009That's the title of an editorial in Colorado's Greeley Tribune. LINK Even justice has a price tag, and in today?s times, when legislators were talking about cutting $500 million from higher education, we have to make tough choices on the...
Colorado Senate Committee Backs Repeal
Posted on April 30, 2009"Senate committee backs eliminating Colorado death penalty," is Colleen Slevin's AP report via the Aspen Times. A proposal to eliminate the death penalty in Colorado cleared another hurdle at the Capitol on Wednesday. The Senate State, Veterans and Military Affairs...
Texas Execution
Posted on April 30, 2009Texas is scheduled to carry out its 14th execution of 2009, tonight in Huntsville. It would be the state's 437th execution since 1982. Texas has far and away the most active death chamber in America, accounting for more than 37%...
The Lethal Injection Debate in Nebraska
Posted on April 29, 2009The Wauneta Breeze reports, "Several key bills being debated in the Unicameral this week." It's written by Dave Vrbas. Next week should be a philosophically intense week in the Unicameral, as two bills go up for debate: LB 36 and...
Colorado's HB 1174
Posted on April 29, 2009The legislation, which passed the Colorado House on April 21, will be heard later this afternoon by the Senate State, Veterans & Military Affairs Committee. You can listen at this LINK, using Windows Media Player. The hearing will be held...
New Hampshire
Posted on April 29, 2009"N.H. Senate puts off action on death penalty bill," is the just-filed AP report via the Brattleboro Reformer. The state Senate has voted to put off action on a bill that would get rid of capital punishment, four months after...
NACDL Issues Report on Misdemeanor Courts
Posted on April 29, 2009Tresa Baldas writes the web-only report, "NACDL report blasts misdemeanor courts," for National Law Journal. Misdemeanor courts are a waste of time and money. So claims the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, which on Tuesday issued a first-of-its-kind national...
Continued News Coverage of CCA Presiding Judge Keller
Posted on April 29, 2009Today's Austin American-Statesman carries the editorial, "Don't impeach Keller." As bad a job as Sharon Keller is doing as presiding judge of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, the Texas Legislature should not impeach and convict her to remove her....
Cone v. Bell
Posted on April 28, 2009The Supreme Court has ruled in favor Gary Cone, a Tennessess death row inmate. Prosecutors had withheld information that should have been turned over to Cone's lawyers. The Court's opinion is here. The Scotus Wiki page for Cone v. Bell...
Legislative Committee Hears Keller Impeachment Resolution
Posted on April 28, 2009"Democrat vows to push Keller impeachment," is Chuck Lindell's report in today's Austin American-Statesman. Democratic Rep. Lon Burnam said Monday he will employ rarely used rules to try to force the Texas House to vote on impeaching the state's highest...
Compensation for Unjust Convictions in Texas
Posted on April 28, 2009That's the title of an Austin American-Statesman editorial with the subhead, "Timothy Cole Act would honor signature victim of wrongful conviction who died in prison." It's rightly being named the Timothy Cole Act. And if it's passed by the Legislature,...
Money, Morality, and Repealing the Death Penalty
Posted on April 27, 2009That's the title of Elaine de Leon's report at Religion & Ethics Newsweekly. LINK Here's an extended excerpt from this must-read: The ancient Roman Colosseum, known historically for violent gladiator battles, animal combat, and public executions, has become a symbol...
The Colorado Debate
Posted on April 27, 2009"Death penalty debate lingers," is Brandon Gee's report in the Steamboat Springs Pilot. Northwest Colorado?s top prosecutor and Rep. Randy Baumgardner, R-Hot Sulphur Springs, oppose a repeal of Colorado?s death penalty that passed the state House of Representatives in a...
The Maryland Legislation
Posted on April 27, 2009"Bill Could Spare Some in Md. With Murder Trials Pending," is written by John Wagner and Henri E. Cauvin. It appeared in the Sunday edition of the Washington Post. Legislation that significantly raises the bar on evidence needed to seek...
Mental Retardation Issue at Supreme Court - Bobby v. Bies
Posted on April 27, 2009"High court to hear death case," is Malia Rulon's report in today's Cincinnati Enquirer. A case that began with a child's brutal murder in the basement of an abandoned Price Hill building goes to the U.S. Supreme Court today. The...
'Dallas DNA' Premieres Tomorrow
Posted on April 27, 2009Jennifer Emily writes, "'Dallas DNA' spotlights county's conviction integrity unit," for today's Dallas Morning News. Some Dallas County courtroom dramas are going prime time. A new television show, Dallas DNA, focuses on the work of local prosecutors to free the...
To Date in the States
Posted on April 24, 2009The 2009 state legislative season has been especially active for death penalty issues. As many legislature are winding down, I thought this might be a good time to provide a summary. To date, two states have given final approval to...
May It Please the Court
Posted on April 24, 2009That's the title of Maira Kalman's latest work posted at her New York Times blog, And the Pursuit of Happiness. I would urge a visit for a delightful Friday afternoon diversion. LINK
Tim Curry, 1939-2009
Posted on April 24, 2009"Longtime Tarrant district attorney Curry dies after lung cancer fight," is Aman Batheja report for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Tim Curry, Tarrant County?s top prosecutor and the longest-serving criminal district attorney in Texas, died shortly after midnight Friday at his...
Oklahoma Goveror Issues Reprieve to Consider Clemency
Posted on April 24, 2009"Gilson execution delayed," is Meghan McCormick's report in today's Norman Transcript. Donald Lee Gilson, convicted in the 1995 murder of an 8-year-old rural Cleveland County boy, has had his execution postponed, officials said Thursday. Gov. Brad Henry granted Gilson, 48,...
New Prison Death Chamber Questioned
Posted on April 24, 2009That's the title of an AP report from Nevada, via the Silicon Valley Mercury News. It's written by Brendan Riley LINK Lawmakers raised questions Thursday about plans to replace the Nevada State Prison's old death chamber?described by a former NSP...
Colorado
Posted on April 24, 2009The Grand Junction Free Press columnist Jim Spehar writes, "'Pro-life' (but not all lives)." Colorado lawmakers have passed that troublesome state budget after much cussing and discussing. Now on to the more divisive stuff. Like the 33-32 vote in the...
New Hampshire
Posted on April 24, 2009"Senate panel votes down death penalty repeal," is John Distaso's report for the Manchester Union Leader. In a 3-2, party-line vote, the Senate Judiciary Committee yesterday recommended the full Senate kill a repeal of the New Hampshire's death penalty law...
New Claims in Bastrop Murder Appeal
Posted on April 24, 2009That's the title of Steven Kreytak's report in today's Austin American-Statesman. It's subtitled, "Reed's lawyers cite more sexual misconduct complaints in suggesting that former police officer Fennell killed fiancee." Newly released allegations of sexual misconduct against former Georgetown police Sgt...
Editorial Roundup
Posted on April 23, 2009There are editorials today from Colorado and Kansas. Let's start with, "Eliminating death penalty in Colorado the right move," from the Boulder Daily Camera. It's signed by Erika Stutzman for the editorial board. Count us among those applauding the Colorado...
Nebraska
Posted on April 22, 2009Nebraska legislators are still waiting for LB 36, which authorizes lethal injection as the state's method of execution, and LB 306, which would abolish the death penalty, to reach the floor. The Nebraska Legislature is due to adjourn on June...
News Coverage of the Colorado Vote
Posted on April 22, 2009"Death penalty dealt blow," is John Ingold's report for the Denver Post. The article also contains a listing of all House members' vote. In the hushed state House chamber, all eyes Tuesday stared up at the vote board, which showed...
The Legal Workshop
Posted on April 22, 2009Karen Sloan writes the web-only report, "Tired of mile-long law review articles festooned with footnotes? Here's a Web-based, user-friendly alternative," for National Law Journal. Are you interested in legal issues but shudder at the thought of wading through massive law...
Lawsuit Challenges Missouri Governor's Clemency Role
Posted on April 22, 2009"Execution set for man convicted in 1994 killing of Good Samaritan," is Tony Rizzo's report in the Kansas City Star. The Missouri Supreme Court on Monday set a May 20 execution date for a Kansas City-area man who was convicted...
Federal Judge OKs Ohio Execution Method
Posted on April 22, 2009That's the title of Alan Johnson's report in the Columbus Dispatch. It's subtitled, "Prisoner didn't prove it is painful." Ohio's lethal-injection system is flawed but not unconstitutional, a federal judge has ruled, clearing the way for at least one and...
More Coverage of Legal Ethicists 'Declaration' in Keller Case
Posted on April 22, 2009"Ethics Experts Claim CCA Presiding Judge Sharon Keller Should Go," is Mary Alice Robbins' report for Texas Lawyer. A group of 24 judicial ethics experts from around the nation write in a declaration received today by the State Commission on...
Ethicists Weigh in on Judge Sharon Keller's Case
Posted on April 21, 2009That's the title of Diane Jennings' latest post at the Dallas Morning News Crime blog. LINK Two dozen legal ethicists from across the country have called for Sharon Keller, presiding judge of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals to be...
Coming to the Supreme Court Next Term
Posted on April 21, 2009"High court will jump back into prosecutorial immunity, speedy trial issues," is Marcia Coyle's report for the upcoming edition of National Law Journal. The U.S. Supreme Court next term will jump back into questions surrounding prosecutorial immunity and speedy trial...
HB 1274 Passes Colorado House
Posted on April 21, 2009The bill was approved on third reading and final passage by a vote of 33 yes - 32 no. HB 1274 now goes to the Colorado Senate for consideration. The bill repeals the state's death penalty and dedicates funding to...
At the Supreme Court
Posted on April 21, 2009"High Court Turns Down Challenge to Jury's Use of Bible," is Michael Graczyk's AP report, via Law.com. The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday turned away a challenge from a Texas death row inmate who claimed his constitutional rights were violated...
Colorado
Posted on April 21, 2009The Colorado House is scheduled to go into session at 9:00 am (MDT), and HB 1274 is on the House Calendar for third reading and final approval. It was originally scheduled for consideration yesterday, but held over due to prolonged...
AEDPA & Troy Davis
Posted on April 21, 2009Atlanta Progressive News has, "Analysis: Joe Biden to Blame for Troy Davis' Fate?" It's written by Matthew Cardinale. With the US Court of Appeals panel's split ruling putting Troy Davis again, for the fourth time, on track to be executed...
More on Troy Davis
Posted on April 20, 2009Today's Fulton County Daily Report has, "Georgia Death Row Inmate Loses 11th Circuit Appeal. It's written by Alyson Palmer. A federal appeals court on Thursday ruled against death row inmate Troy Anthony Davis by a vote of 2-1. Davis' claims...
Cell Phones in the Prisons
Posted on April 20, 2009"Bills allowing prisons to jam cell-phone signals draw debate, by Tricia Bishop appears in the Sunday issue of the Cleveland Plain Dealer. When prosecutors revealed last month that a Baltimore man accused of using a contraband cell phone in jail...
OpEd Roundup
Posted on April 20, 2009In North Carolina, the Greensboro News-Record carries the OpEd, "It's time to stop executing people," by Tom Campbell, a former state treasurer. The arguments for and against capital punishment have gone on long enough. Having once been a supporter of...
The Death Penalty in Pennsylvania
Posted on April 20, 2009The Pittsburg Post-Gazette has two news articles on the state of capital punishment. First, "States finding death penalty's costs prohibitive," by Daniel Malloy. Costs of lengthy trials, repeated appeals and specialized housing add up, making it more difficult for states...
The KFC Case
Posted on April 20, 2009AP's Michael Graczyk report, "Convicted killer in Texas KFC massacre denies role," via the Dallas Morning News. About the only point of agreement between prosecutors and a man serving life in prison for one of the most notorious mass murders...
An Update on Indigent Defense in Georgia
Posted on April 20, 2009"?Crisis? in death-penalty trial system," is Bill Rankin's report in the Sunday edition of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. They involve some of Georgia?s most heinous slayings, with death-penalty defendants accused of massacres, child killings, crimes of unthinkable depravity...
Today on 'Democracy Now'
Posted on April 20, 2009"Gov. Richardson, Activists Honored in Rome After New Mexico Repeals Death Penalty," is the segment on Amy Goodman's show. You can watch or listen now at the link; a transcript should be available later today. New Mexico became the second...
Colorado
Posted on April 20, 2009"Death penalty repeal bill still close call in House, King says," is Gary Harmon's report from the Friday edition of the Grand Junction Sentinel. The bill would repeal the state's death penalty and direct money save to cold cases. A...
Death Row Lawyers Get Paid While Messing Up
Posted on April 20, 2009That's the title of a report by Lise Olsen in today's Houston Chronicle. LINK Texas lawyers have repeatedly missed deadlines for appeals on behalf of more than a dozen death row inmates in the last two years ? yet judges...
Clemcency Recommended in Oklahoma Death Case
Posted on April 17, 2009"Parole board recommends clemency for Oklahoma man," is the AP report via the Tulsa World. Gov. Brad Henry has not made a decision on a recommendation by the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board to grant clemency for a man scheduled...
Justice Denied: America's Continuing Neglect of our Constitutional Right to Counsel
Posted on April 16, 2009That's the title of a new report by the Constitution Project. You can view the full report, here. Marcia Coyle writes a web-special report for National Law Journal, "Study urges overwhelmed attorneys for the indigent to reject new cases ."...
A Return to the Troy Davis Case in Georgia
Posted on April 16, 2009This afternoon, a three judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit rejected an appeal by Troy Davis, in a controversial Georgia case. The opinion is here. Bill Rankin writes, "Federal court rejects Troy Davis' appeal,"...
Alabama Senate Supports Executions
Posted on April 16, 2009That's the title of Kristen Bost's article in the Auburn Plainsman. LINK For the third time in five years, an Alabama Senate committee voted in favor of a three-year moratorium on executions. The Senate Judiciary Committee voted six to one...
Coverage of the Colorado Vote
Posted on April 16, 2009"House backs death-penalty demise," is Jessica Fender's Denver Post report. Colorado's death penalty took one step toward the grave Wednesday as lawmakers in the state House gave initial approval to a bill that would end capital punishment and use the...
The Lethal Injection Debate in Arkansas
Posted on April 16, 2009The Arkansas News Bureau reports this afternoon, "Supreme Court to hear case challenging lethal injection." It's written by Rob Moritz. The state Supreme Court scheduled oral arguments for May 28 in condemned killer Frank Williams Jr.?s lawsuit challenging the process...
Nebraska Legislation
Posted on April 16, 2009"Lethal injection bill advances to full Legislature," is Paul Hammel's report for the Omaha World-Herald. A vote Thursday morning sets the stage for debate on one of this year?s most controversial legislative issues -- whether to switch the state?s method...
At UT Law
Posted on April 16, 2009It was another outstanding symposium at The University of Texas School of Law, presented today by UT Law's Capital Punishment Center and co-sponsored by the William Wayne Justice Center for Public Interest Law. Imprisoned by the Past: The Enduring Role...
The Cost of the Death Penalty
Posted on April 15, 2009That's the title of an editorial in today's Boston Globe. LINK IT MAY BE too soon to call it a trend, but two states have abolished the death penalty in the past three years, and 10 others have legislation pending....
Colorado House to Debate Repeal Today
Posted on April 15, 2009The Colorado House goes into session at 9:00 am, this morning, and HB 1274 is the today's House Calendar. The session will be webcast at this LINK. Today's Denver Post has commentary on the issue. First, University of Colorado at...
HB 1274 on Colorado House Floor
Posted on April 15, 2009You can watch at this link. Earlier coverage of HB 1274 is here.
Danielle Simpson and Competency
Posted on April 15, 2009AP's Michael Graczyk reports, "Court to examine Texas killer who wants to die," via the Houston Chronicle. A federal appeals court is sending the case of a condemned Texas inmate back to a lower court to see if the prisoner...
Texas Execution
Posted on April 15, 2009Texas is scheduled to carry out its 13th execution of 2009, tonight in Huntsville. It would be the state's 436th execution since 1982. Texas has far and away the most active death chamber in America, accounting for more than 37%...
New Hampshire Senate Committee Debate
Posted on April 15, 2009Yesterday, the New Hampshire Senate Judiciary Committee considered HB 556, legislation that would repeal the state's death penalty. "Senate Takes Up Death Penalty," is Dan Gorenstein's report for NHPR. The death penalty is on trial in Concord. A bill to...
HB 1274 Passes Colorado House
Posted on April 15, 2009The legislation passed on second reading by voice vote. House Majority Leader Paul Weissmann is the sponsor of the legislation. The initial AP report is "Plan to eliminate death penalty given initial OK ," via the Loveland Reporter-Herald. The Colorado...
A Month of Killing, More on the Way?
Posted on April 14, 2009That's the title of a post by Norm Stamper at Huffington Post. LINK He's a retired Seattle police chief and a member of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition. Today, if I stare off into the middle distance and let it happen,...
Judge Favors Sentence Other Than Death
Posted on April 14, 2009That's the title of an article in today's Cleburne Times-Review by Pete Kendall. LINK Here are several excerpts from this must-read: No legal system is perfect, said Cleburne resident and senior district judge C.C. ?Kit? Cooke. That includes the one....
Alabama Editorials Support Moratorium
Posted on April 14, 2009Today's Birmingham News carries the editorial, "A stopping point." Alabama has a lousy track record when it comes to the death penalty, and it needs to give its execution chamber a rest. That's what the state would be required to...
More Federal Judges in Texas?
Posted on April 13, 2009"Judicial Conference Wants New Judges, Including Seven in Texas," is By John Council's report in the latest issue of Texas Lawyer. Last month, the Judicial Conference of the United States ? the federal judiciary's policymaking body ? recommended increasing the...
Ginsburg Renews Defense of Foreign Law Citations
Posted on April 13, 2009That's the title of an article in today's edition of the Bulletin of Philadelphia. LINK It's written by Joe Murray. Here's an extended excerpt: This weekend, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg continued to defend the court?s use of international...
Prosecutorial Accountability: A Policy Review
Posted on April 13, 2009That's the title of a new report issued by The Justice Project. The full report is here, in Adobe .pdf format. The news release, announcing the report, states: The Justice Project (TJP) released today a report detailing the causes of...
Dallas DNA
Posted on April 13, 2009Kevin Johnson writes, "Reality show on DNA exoneration stirs ethics issues," for USA Today. For the first time, reality TV will explore the growing use of DNA evidence to exonerate the wrongly convicted, in a series that is raising ethical...
Insanity on Trial
Posted on April 13, 2009Diane Jennings writes, "Killer who tore out own eyes fuels Texas debate on insanity defense." Her article appeared in the Sunday edition of the Dallas Morning News. Everyone agrees Andre Thomas is crazy. In 2004, he cut out the hearts...
In Alabama
Posted on April 10, 2009"Senators vote for Ala. death penalty moratorium," is the AP report from Wednesday afternoon. For the third time in five years, a state Senate committee has voted in favor of a moratorium on executions in Alabama, but the proposal again...
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