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StandDown Texas Project

Texas-centric examination of conditions, reform initiatives, and emerging issues related to best practices in the indigent criminal justice system with particular attention to issues involving capital punishment and the administration of the death penalty.
By StandDown Texas Project

Post Frequency: 49.3/day

Last Entry: April 01, 2011 at 14:21:29

IQ at Issue in Long-Delayed Florida Trial

Posted on February 09, 2010
"IQ tests key in Palm Beach County trial that is longest delayed death penalty case in state," is the title of a report by Susan Spencer-Wendel in the Palm Beach Post. His is one of the longest-running death penalty cases...

David Dow on NPR's Fresh Air Today

Posted on February 08, 2010
Check your local NPR affiliate for the broadcast time of today's Fresh Air, or you can listen to the interview at this LINK later today. Attorney David Dow has made a career out of defending death row inmates in Texas...

Ohio on Pace for Execution State Record

Posted on February 08, 2010
That's the title of Andrew Welsch-Huggins' AP report, via today's Washington Times. LINKAfter a relative lull in the number of executions Ohio carries out annually, it appears poised to sharply increase lethal injections in the months to come, possibly setting...

Eighth Circuit Upholds Arkansas' LI Protocol

Posted on February 08, 2010
The ruling is here. The Arkansas News Bureau has, "Court Upholds Lethal Injection Protocol." A federal appeals court has upheld Arkansas' lethal injection procedure, finding it is designed "to avoid the needless infliction of pain, not to cause it." The...

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The Cost Issue in Pennsylvania

Posted on February 08, 2010
"State could save by ending death penalty," is the title of Jeanette Krebs' column in the Harrisburg Patriot-News. Krebs is the paper's editorial page editor. As Gov. Ed Rendell unveils what is expected to be a tough budget this week,...

Reviews of Autobiography of an Execution

Posted on February 08, 2010
Journalist Steve Weinberg writes a review of David Dow's Autobiography of an Execution for today's Christian Science Monitor, "A death penalty attorney writes with candor about the painful burdens of his job." Dow is not the first anti-death penalty advocate...

Kansas Legislators Speak Out

Posted on February 08, 2010
The Newton Kansan on Saturday ran Q&A's with two local legislators. First, State Representative Marc Rhoades. Q: Where do you stand on the death penalty issue? A: I believe the death penalty has a role in the justice system. Most...

Death Penalty Trials and Judges

Posted on February 08, 2010
"Stark's rulebook is used as a model in training judges," is the title of a report by Shane Hoover in today's Canton Repository in Ohio. When a capital murder case goes to trial, the same old questions pop up: Why...

From New Hampshire - Coverage of Study Commission Hearing

Posted on February 08, 2010
Friday's issue of the Keene Sentinel carried the OpEd, "A story for N.H. from death row,"by Juan Roberto Mel�ndez-Col�n. I was born in Brooklyn, N.Y., and raised on the island of Puerto Rico. I came to the United States as...

Third Use of Ohio Single-Drug Lethal Injection

Posted on February 04, 2010
Alan Johnson files, "Convenience-store killer executed by lethal injection," for the Columbus Dispatch. After 16 years of litigation capped by a last-minute flurry of appeals in four courts, Mark Brown was executed this morning for gunning down a Youngstown store...

More on Virginia Legislation

Posted on February 04, 2010
The Washington Examiner reports, "Va. House passes death penalty expansion," by William Flook. Virginia's House of Delegates on Wednesday easily passed an expansion of capital punishment that had long been vetoed by former Gov. Tim Kaine. The bill, which would...

New Hampshire Commission to Meet

Posted on February 04, 2010
"Hearing Friday on NH death penalty," is the title of the AP report via the Nashua Telegraph. A commission studying New Hampshire's death penalty law will hear from those who are for it and against it.The commission will hold its...

The Death Penalty -- It's Unworkable

Posted on February 04, 2010
That's the title of an OpEd in today's Los Angeles Times written by Michael Traynor. He's president emeritus of the American Law Institute. It's subtitled, "The American Law Institute, instrumental in structuring the model statutes on which most death sentences...

In Re: Keller - Where Things Stand

Posted on February 04, 2010
Chuck Lindell has posted, "No answer to Judge Keller?s findings this week," at the Austin American-Statesman Focal Point blog. The deadline for responses to District Judge David Berchelmann Jr.?s findings in the Sharon Keller case, originally due Thursday, has been...

Arizona Counties Feel Capital Costs

Posted on February 03, 2010
"Increases in dependency, death penalty cases strain county justice department," is the headline in the Kingman Daily Miner. The economy is hitting the Mohave County Criminal Justice Services Department in an unusual way. The county courts have seen a 15-percent...

Death Penalty Likely to Expand in Virginia Under McDonnell

Posted on February 03, 2010
That's the title of Bill Sizemore's report in today Virginian. LINK With a new governor in office, Virginia appears poised to significantly expand its use of the death penalty. Two death-penalty bills won preliminary approval by overwhelming margins Tuesday in...

In Maryland - State of the State and Indigent Defense

Posted on February 03, 2010
"The State of the State: What wasn't said," is the title of John Wagner's post at the Washington Post Voices blog. No one should have been surprised that Gov. Martin O'Malley (D) devoted the bulk of Tuesday's 27-minute "State of...

News Coverage of New Hampshire Hearing

Posted on February 03, 2010
Today's Nashua Telegraph reports, "Lawmakers hold hearing on Cates bill," written by Kathy Cleveland. The state can?t put to death the four men who allegedly killed Kimberly Cates, but New Hampshire can send ?a clear message: If you kill, you...

Capital Litigation

Posted on February 02, 2010
Utah's Ogden Standard-Examiner profiles attorney Randy Richards in, "Ogden attorney fights against death penalty." It's written by Tim Gurrister. Randy Richards describes his work as anti-homicide in bucking capital punishment. "I see it as preventing the state from doing that...

New Hampshire Bill Gets Senate Committee Consideration Today

Posted on February 02, 2010
The AP report, "N.H. legislators taking up expanded death penalty," come via South Coast Today. New Hampshire's Legislature has historically shied away from expanding crimes punishable by death, but the horrific killing of a Mont Vernon woman in her bed...

New Sentencing Results in Life Sentence in Bexar County

Posted on February 02, 2010
The San Antonio Express-News reports, "Killer's penalty now is life term," written by Craig Kapitan. Capital murder convict Gabriel Gonzales returned to the same Bexar County courtroom Monday where, 13 years earlier, a jury had condemned him to die for...

Third Circuit Upholds Delaware's Lethal Injection Procedure

Posted on February 02, 2010
The opinion is here, in Adobe .pdf format. The Wilmington News Journal reports, "Court upholds state's death penalty." It's written by Sean O'Sullivan. Delaware's death penalty was upheld as constitutional on Monday, paving the way for executions -- on hold...

Kentucky Lethal Injection Procedures

Posted on February 01, 2010
Brett Barrouquere reports, "Questions arise over lethal injection in Ky." for the AP, via the Clarksville Leaf Chronicle. Carolyn Wehrle wants to provide spiritual counseling to Kentucky's only female death row inmate when her execution date arrives. But Wehrle said...

New Prison Director in Ohio

Posted on February 01, 2010
The AP report, "Ohio prisons director could voice death penalty stance after overseeing lethal injections," by Julie Carr Smyth is via WJW-TV. When the man who oversaw a first-of-a-kind lethal injection wakes up on Monday, he'll be free to do...

New Hampshire Home Invasion Law to Get Senate Hearing

Posted on February 01, 2010
The AP reports, "NH Senate hearing Tues on death penalty bill," via the Boston Herald. New Hampshire?s Senate is holding a hearing Tuesday on capital murder legislation named after a Mont Vernon woman killed with a machete in her bed...

In Maryland

Posted on February 01, 2010
WBAL radio reports, "Death Penalty Bill Unveiled," by Robert Lang. Legislation has been introduced in the Maryland Senate to allow prosecutors to use fingerprints or photos as evidence when pursuing the death penalty. Baltimore County Democratic State Senator Norman Stone...

The Kansas Abolition Debate

Posted on February 01, 2010
Today's Lawrence Journal-World reports, "Opponents of state's death penalty law mobilizing." It's written by Shaun Hittle. As the Kansas Legislature gears up for a debate about ending the death penalty in the state, advocates from the Kansas Coalition Against the...

Capital Costs an Issue in Panhandle

Posted on February 01, 2010
"Death penalty pursuit: cost vs. certainty," is the title of David Pittman's report in today's Amarillo Globe-News. More prosecutors are deciding not to seek the death penalty in cases where it's an option, two local district attorneys said after two...

News Coverage of the FSC Meeting

Posted on February 01, 2010
"Texas panel meets, skips talk of Willingham case," is the title of Christopher Sherman's full AP report via the Dallas Morning News. A state panel investigating allegations of misconduct and negligence in forensic analyses that led to a 2004 execution...

Rick Casey on the FSC Meeting

Posted on February 01, 2010
Today's Houston Chronicle carries Rick Casey's latest column, "The revolt of the scientists." Here's an extended excerpt from this must-read: Friday started badly for John Bradley, the Williamson County district attorney selected last fall by Gov. Rick Perry to ride...

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