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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

More Eyes Focus on Todd Willingham and the Lessons to Learn

Posted on September 21, 2009
The 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, 2009
The 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...

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Nighltline Covers the Todd Willingham Case

Posted on September 18, 2009
You 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, 2009
Reporter 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, 2009
That'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, 2009
CBS 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, 2009
Texas 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, 2009
Fordham 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, 2009
Texas 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, 2009
Today'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, 2009
That'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, 2009
Science 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, 2009
Here'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, 2009
The 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, 2009
Science 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, 2009
Here'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, 2009
That'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, 2009
That'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, 2009
Earlier 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...

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