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Criminal Law

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

News From New Mexico

Posted on December 04, 2009
Today's Albuquerque Journal has two news articles of interest. First, Scott Sandlin reports, "Court Adds Jury To Capital Cases." New Mexico repealed the death penalty effective July 1. But for the handful of existing or potential capital cases unaffected by...

Killer With Low I.Q. Executed in Texas

Posted on December 03, 2009
That's the title of James McKinley's report this evening for the New York Times. LINK Bobby Wayne Woods was executed Thursday evening in Texas after his lawyers lost a battle to persuade the courts that he was too mentally impaired...

In the Aftermath of the Simpson Execution

Posted on December 03, 2009
Chuck Lindell writes,"Questions about late death penalty appeal," for today's Austin American-Statesman. Lawyer David Dow was called before the state Court of Criminal Appeals on Wednesday to explain why he blew a court-imposed deadline by filing an appeal within 48...

Federal Death Penalty Prosecutions

Posted on December 03, 2009
"No Decrease In Death Penalty Approval Rate," is the title of Ari Shapiro's NPR report. The title refers to capital prosecutions approved by President George W. Bush's final Attorney General, Michael Mukasey and the current AG, Eric Holder. During the...

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Texas Execution

Posted on December 03, 2009
Texas is scheduled to carry out its 24th execution of 2009, tonight in Huntsville, despite evidence that Bobby Woods has mental retardation. In 2002, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled it unconstitutional to execute offenders with mental retardation in the case...

Capital Punishment Not Likely A Murder Deterrent: Study

Posted on December 03, 2009
That's the headline at the Crime Report from John Jay College's Center on Media, Crime and Justice. LINK Contrary to the common belief that capital punishment deters murderers, a study by Tomislav Kovandzic, Lynne Vieraitis, and Denise Paquette Boots of...

The Tennessee Execution & a Supreme Court Debate

Posted on December 03, 2009
Lyle Denniston reports, "Time on death row as an issue," at SCOTUS Blog. After nearly 29 years on death row, Cecil C. Johnson, 53, was put to death by lethal injection early Wednesday in Tennessee. About an hour before he...

A Reprieve for Turkeys, But Not for People

Posted on December 02, 2009
That's the title of David Fathi's latest essay at Huffington Post. He's the director of the Human Rights Watch U.S. program. LINK The day before Thanksgiving, at a ceremony in the White House Rose Garden, President Obama officially "pardoned" two...

Developmental Psychologist Says Teenagers Are Different

Posted on December 02, 2009
That's the title for, "A Conversation With Laurence Steinberg," conducted by Claudia Dreifus for the New York Times science section. Laurence Steinberg, a developmental psychologist at Temple University in Philadelphia, is one of the leading experts in the United States...

Richard Dieter on Ohio's Revised Lethal Injection Procedure

Posted on December 02, 2009
"Ohio's execution of Kenneth Biros an experiment on involuntary human subject," is the title of Richard Dieter's commentary at Jurist. He's the Executive Director of the Death Penalty Information Center. Here's an excerpt of this must-read:In a rapid sequence of...

Speaking of Bobby Woods

Posted on December 02, 2009
The editorial noted in the preceding post referenced the case of Bobby Woods. Yesterday afternoon, the Board of Pardons and Paroles rejected clemency in his case. Renee Feltz has posted, "Video From Death Row: Possibly Retarded Prisoner Faces Execution," at...

Too-Secretive Process

Posted on December 02, 2009
That's the title of an editorial in today's Houston Chronicle regarding Texas' executive clemency process. LINK Houston criminal defense attorney Patrick McCann made a persuasive argument for opening up Texas' too-secretive pardons and paroles process in Sunday's Outlook section (?Texans...

More on Todd Willingham

Posted on December 02, 2009
Today's Houston Chronicle carries the latest column by Rick Casey, "Can e-mail be saved by deleting it?" A couple of weeks ago I sent a request to the Texas Forensic Commission under the Public Information Act for any documents or...

An Update on Bobby Woods

Posted on December 01, 2009
Chuck Lindell has updated his post from earlier today, noted here. UPDATE: The Board of Pardons and Paroles has denied Woods? clemency request, lawyer Maurie Levin said. Also this afternoon, Levin filed an appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court laying...

Botched Investigations Lead to Executions

Posted on December 01, 2009
That's the title of an OpEd in today's Asheville Citizen-Times in North Carolina. It's by Larry Cox, the Executive Director of Amnesty International USA. LINK When the United States abolishes the death penalty, some of its most ardent proponents ironically...

In Kansas

Posted on December 01, 2009
It's hard to believe that this could happen less than five years ago -- an attorney in a death penalty case who hired no experts. The Supreme Court's 2003 ruling in Wiggins v. Smith was limited to social history and...

Third Annual ABA Journal Blawg 100

Posted on December 01, 2009
The list, with live links, is here. It's filled with old favorites and some new blogs. After perusing, I'll be making some additions to the left-column webroll. One favorite that did not make the list is A Criminal Enterprise, noted...

Lethal Injection Roundup

Posted on December 01, 2009
"New execution protocol to be used on Biros," is the title of Marc Kovac's report for the Youngtown Vindicator.State prison officials implemented a new execution protocol Monday and plan to use it next week on Trumbull County murderer Kenneth Biros.....

More on the Case of Bobby Woods

Posted on December 01, 2009
Chuck Lindell has posted, "Shoddy legal work alleged as execution nears," at the Austin American-Statesman's Focal Point blog. Back in 2006, I did a two-day series on embarrassingly bad legal representation provided by court-appointed appellate lawyers for death row inmates...

The Case of Otty Sanchez

Posted on December 01, 2009
Dave Mann writes, "A Systemic Problem," for the Political Intelligence column of the current Texas Observer. On the tape of the 911 call, Otty Sanchez screams in the background that the devil made her do it. It was an early...

More Supreme Court News

Posted on December 01, 2009
Also yesterday, the Supreme Court rejected one California death case with an innocence claim. It granted cert in a Michigan case involving double jeopardy, and requested additional briefing in an Alabama death case. Let's begin with an excerpt of Lyle...

Porter v. McCollum

Posted on December 01, 2009
"Post-combat stress as a defense," is the title of Lyle Denniston's SCOTUS Blog post. The Supreme Court, in a sign of the times for a nation at war on two fronts, on Monday put defense lawyers on notice that they...

Opinion Roundup

Posted on November 30, 2009
"Considering its high cost and other flaws, execution just isn't worth it," by Susan Taylor Martin of the St. Petersburg Times appeared in the Friday edition of the Austin American-Statesman. Does it seem like not so long ago that John...

At the CCA

Posted on November 30, 2009
"CCA Show Cause Order Directs Lawyers to Explain Untimely Filing," is the title of Mary Alice Robbins' report for Texas Lawyer. Two years ago, David Dow and the Texas Defender Service were embroiled in a controversy after a thwarted last-minute...

More Commentary Following Robert Thompson's Execution

Posted on November 30, 2009
"Another life gone because of bad law," is the Fort Worth Star-Telegram editorial. It appeared in the Friday edition. On Nov. 19, Robert Lee Thompson, 34, became the 23rd person to be executed in Texas this year. He should still...

A Bradley Family Profile

Posted on November 30, 2009
Gary Scharrer writes the profile, "For Bradleys, it's all in the family ? except for politics," for the San Antonio Express-News. Hard-nosed Texas prosecutor John ?Marty? Bradley supports the death penalty. His mother, Shirley Bradley, remains a fervent opponent of...

Chairman of Texas Forensic Science Panel Oversteps His Authority

Posted on November 30, 2009
That's the title of a Fort Worth Star-Telegram editorial. It appeared in the Thursday edition. LINK What is it John Bradley doesn?t want the public to know about the work of the Texas Forensic Science Commission? Gov. Rick Perry appointed...

In Ohio

Posted on November 25, 2009
"Federal court allows Dec. 8 execution in Ohio," is the AP report via Google News. A previously blocked execution set for Dec. 8 can now go forward due to a change in Ohio's lethal injection policies, a federal appeals court...

Kentucky: Lethal Injection Procedure Must Comply with APA

Posted on November 25, 2009
That would be the state's Administrative Procedures Act. The ruling is here. "High court rules regulation needed for lethal injection," is the title of Tom Loftus' report for the Louisville Courier-Journal. In a ruling that will indefinitely delay executions in...

The Case of Bobby Woods

Posted on November 25, 2009
The Texas Observer has streaming video of Bobby Woods to complement Renee Feltz' report, "Possibly Retarded Prisoner Faces Execution." When Texas reopens its execution chamber after a Thanksgiving break, the first man set to die may be mentally retarded...

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