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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

Alabama

Posted on May 08, 2009
The 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, 2009
That'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, 2009
That'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, 2009
Chuck 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)...

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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, 2009
That'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, 2009
The 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, 2009
The 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, 2009
Abe 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, 2009
That'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, 2009
Two 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, 2009
It'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, 2009
Bill 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, 2009
That'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, 2009
That'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, 2009
After 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, 2009
HB 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, 2009
That'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, 2009
That'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, 2009
That'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, 2009
Deborah 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, 2009
The 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, 2009
The 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, 2009
That'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...

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