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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

The Arkansas Lethal Injection Challenge

Posted on September 04, 2008
The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reports, "To fight execution case shift requested," written by Charlie Frago.A federal public defender asked the Arkansas Supreme Court on Wednesday to let another state appeals court decide whether to allow the state to execute condemned killer...

The Latest in the Charles Dean Hood Case

Posted on September 04, 2008
Diane Jennings reports, "Judge recuses himself in civil prroceedings involving retired judge," in today's Dallas Morning News. Hood is scheduled to be executed September 10. State district Judge Robert Dry on Wednesday recused himself from civil proceedings that sought information...

Governor Asked to Stop Execution Next Week

Posted on September 03, 2008
That's the title of the AP report filed by Mike Graczyk. LINKTwenty-two former judges and prosecutors on Wednesday asked Gov. Rick Perry to stop next week's scheduled execution because an important hearing in the condemned inmate's case is scheduled for...

Chuck Lindell on the Hood Case

Posted on September 03, 2008
The Austin American-Statesman reporter has posted, "Former judges, prosecutors seek execution reprieve," on the paper's Austin Legal blog.Twenty-two former federal and state judges and prosecutors have asked Gov. Rick Perry to grant death row inmate Charles Dean Hood a 30-day...

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Don't Halt Execution, State Says

Posted on September 03, 2008
That's the title of an article in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette over a challenge to the state's lethal injection procedure. LINKAttorney General Dustin McDaniel asked the Arkansas Supreme Court on Tuesday to overturn a judge?s order barring the state?s lethal injection...

An Update on the Charles Dean Hood Case

Posted on September 03, 2008
Texas Defender Service has released a letter signed by a distinguished group of former judges and prosecutors in the Charles Dean Hood case. The letter is in the Breaking News Documents category in the right column. Here's what TDS said...

Arkansas Lethal Injection Procedure Called Into Question

Posted on September 02, 2008
On Saturday, the Arkansas Democrat Gazette reported, "Arkansas to ask for ruling in execution."Condemned killer Frank Williams Jr. won?t know for at least four more days whether he?ll be executed Sept. 9. Friday, the state attorney general?s office announced plans...

In New Hampshire

Posted on September 02, 2008
"N.H. capital murder cases bring death penalty to forefront," is the title of an article in the North Andover (MA) Eagle-Tribune.Death penalty opponents are pinning their hopes on a legislative study committee in 2009 to eventually abolish capital punishment...

The High Cost of Justice

Posted on September 02, 2008
That's the title of an article in the Sunday Longview News-Journal. It' subtitled, "Defense attorneys, jurors and more add up for area counties' court systems." Here's an extended excerpt:Criminal trials, especially those in capital murder cases, are costly affairs...

A Judicial Sex Scandal Post Mortem?

Posted on September 02, 2008
That's the title of Rick Casey's latest column from the Sunday Houston Chronicle. LINKWith convicted murderer Charles Dean Hood scheduled to be executed Sept. 10, a McKinney judge has ordered a hearing to determine whether the judge presiding over the...

Public Defender Panel Balks on Funding

Posted on August 29, 2008
That's the title of a report by Bill Rankin in today's Atlanta Journal-Constitution. LINKDefying a directive from Gov. Sonny Perdue, the state public defender council?s board on Thursday voted not to submit a budget that would cut the struggling agency?s...

More on the Hood Case

Posted on August 28, 2008
Diane Jennings reports, "Attorneys ask to move up inmate Hood's hearing, set for after execution," in today's Dallas Morning News.A state district judge has scheduled a hearing on whether to require depositions from the judge and prosecutor in the Charles...

Recusal in Plano Search Warrant Case

Posted on August 28, 2008
The Plano Star Courier reports, "Judge Rusch recused from Bell murder trial."Judge Mark Rusch will not oversee a capital murder trial after a presiding judge removed him from the case at the request of the defense.Presiding Judge Gary Stephens approved...

Association of Professional Responsibility Lawyers on the Hood Case

Posted on August 27, 2008
APRL has issued this statement in the case of Charles Dean Hood:STATEMENT OF THE ASSOCIATION OF PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBILITY LAWYERS CONCERNING CHARLES DEAN HOOD Charles Dean Hood was convicted in 1990 of a double murder and sentenced to death. Hood sought...

Update on the Charles Dean Hood Case

Posted on August 27, 2008
AP reports, "Lawyers ask for hearing before scheduled execution," this afternoon via the Houston Chronicle.Attorneys for a condemned Texas prisoner on Wednesday asked for a new court hearing date because the current one is set for two days after his....

The Justice Project's Latest Policy Brief

Posted on August 26, 2008
The National Law Journal has a web-only dispatch, "Report recommends independent forensics labs," written by Vesna Jaksic.States should require forensic laboratories to be independent from law and prosecutorial agencies and create oversight commissions to enforce quality standards, according to a...

Rachel King, 1963 - 2008

Posted on August 26, 2008
Rachel King, the author of two important books on the personal impact and consequences of capital punishment, died last night following a prolonged battle with breast cancer. Don't Kill in Our Name: Families of Murder Victims Speak Out Against the...

Death Letters

Posted on August 25, 2008
The September issue of Texas Monthly has a riveting correspondence, "My Life on Death Row," letters from Charles Dean Hood to TM writer Michael Hall. Here is some material from the introduction to the letters:In 1990, Charles Dean Hood was...

Death Penalty Denies Sacredness of Life

Posted on August 25, 2008
That's the title of an essay by Kendra McKinney posted at the United Methodist Church's United Board of Church & Society website. LINK Here are two brief excerpts. The post also references the documentary, "At the Death House Door."By taking...

No Fatal Mistakes

Posted on August 25, 2008
That's the title of an OpEd from Friday's Baltimore Sun by the distinguished Maryland public servant Joseph Tydings. LINKAs a lawyer and former U.S. attorney, I have both prosecuted and defended death penalty cases. As a member of the Maryland...

More on Charles Dean Hood

Posted on August 22, 2008
In the next issue of Texas Lawyer, Mary Alice Robbins reports, "Death Row Inmate Wants Rule 202 Depos of Former Judge, Former DA ."In an unusual use of Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 202, death row inmate Charles Dean Hood...

Forensics May Be the Best Defense

Posted on August 22, 2008
That's the title of an OpEd from the Hartford Courant written by Roger Koppl and Dan Krane. LINK Koppl is director of the Institute for Forensic Science Administration at Fairleigh Dickinson University; Krane is professor of biological sciences at Wright...

An Update on the Yogurt Shop Murders

Posted on August 22, 2008
Steven Kreytak reports, "Yogurt shop suspects' lawyers want more tests," in today's Austin American-Statesman.Defense lawyers for Michael Scott and Robert Springsteen said in court Wednesday that they want DNA testing done for dozens of people whom they call alternative suspects...

News Coverage of the Jeff Wood Stay

Posted on August 22, 2008
Judge Orlando Garcia's order staying the execution of Jeff Wood is in the Breaking News Documents in the right column. The Supreme Court established the standard determining competency to be executed in 1986, in Ford v. Wainwright. The Court revisited...

Judge Garcia's Stay of Execution Order in the Jeff Woods Case

Posted on August 21, 2008
Federal District Judge Orlando Garcia's order is in the Breaking News Documents box in the right column.

Federal District Court Stays Jeff Wood Execution for Mental Evaluation

Posted on August 21, 2008
AP reports, "Federal judge delays execution of condemned inmate," via the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.A federal judge has granted a request to delay the execution of condemned inmate Jeffery Wood. Jeffery Wood had been set to be executed Thursday for taking...

The Long Term Value of DNA Evidence

Posted on August 21, 2008
"DNA evidence recommendations urge long-term preservation of biological evidence," is the title of a National Law Journal web only article by Vesna Jaksic.The Justice Project has issued a set of recommendations to improve post-conviction DNA testing laws, such as that...

Arizonans Must Seek Truth About Executions

Posted on August 21, 2008
That's the title of an OpEd in the Arizona Daily Star by John Whitehead of the Rutherford Institute. LINKWithout transparency in government, those in power fall prey to corruption and incompetence. This fact is epitomized by the Arizona Department of...

In Missouri Accomplice Case, Stay for Clemency Petition

Posted on August 21, 2008
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch carries the AP report, "Missouri court delays scheduled execution."The Missouri Supreme Court on Wednesday postponed the state's first scheduled execution in three years after attorneys for the condemned man claimed prison officials obstructed their efforts to...

Texas Accomplice Execution Set for Tonight

Posted on August 21, 2008
Today's Washington Post reports, "Texas Appears Set to Execute Accomplice." It's written by Darryl Fears.The state of Texas is scheduled to execute Jeffery Lee Wood by lethal injection tonight, even though he did not actually kill anyone. Wood was sitting...

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