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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

Lethal Injection Roundup

Posted on March 22, 2011
"Lawyers in 3 states want fed execution drug probe," is the title of Brett Barrouquere's AP report, via the Washington Post. The report is widely available. Attorneys in Arizona, Georgia and Kentucky have called on the Justice Department to investigate...

Lethal Injection Roundup

In The Nation

Posted on March 22, 2011
The Nation's current issue features the monthly column, Ten Things. This month it's, "Ten Things to Abolish the Death Penalty," conceived by Walter Mosley, with research by Rae Gomes. As in all things death penalty, it's Texas heavy. Here's an...

The Mental Retardation Standard in Georgia

Posted on March 22, 2011
Today's Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports, "Court asked to find mental retardation burden unconstitutional." It's written by Bill Rankin. A lawyer for a convicted killer said Georgia should no longer be the only state in the country that sets the highest legal...

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Supreme Court to Review Alabama Case of Maples v. Thomas

Posted on March 22, 2011
The cert petition in Maples v. Thomas (10-63) is in Adobe .pdf format. The Constitution Project's amicus brief in support of the case is also in Adobe ,pdf format. "Court to Hear Case Stalled by Mistake in Mailroom," is the...

The Broken Machinery of Death

Posted on March 21, 2011
That's the title of a New York Times editorial. It appeared in the Saturday paper. The Drug Enforcement Administration seized Georgia?s sodium thiopental supply this week, after a complaint that the sedative used in the three-drug protocol for execution by...

Friday

Posted on March 18, 2011
I'm traveling today. Posts will resume later today.

Georgia Lethal Injection News Coverage

Posted on March 17, 2011
"Georgia May Have Broken Law By Importing Drug," is the NPR report by Kathy Lohr. There's been a lot of secrecy surrounding how states have been getting sodium thiopental since a U.S. company stopped making the sedative in 2009. Records...

Texas Lethal Injection News Coverage

Posted on March 17, 2011
Brandi Grissom has an updated Texas Tribune post, "Texas Decides on Substitute Execution Drug." The timing ? less than three weeks from the next scheduled execution ? and the TDCJ's decision-making process drew quick criticism. "Prison officials are not medical...

National Lethal Injection News Coverage

Posted on March 17, 2011
I'm going to break coverage into three posts this morning. First, national reports, followed by posts with Texas and Georgia coverage. "Executions in Doubt in Fallout Over Drug," is the title of the New York Times report by Kevin Sack....

New Hampshire Expansion Legislation Advances

Posted on March 16, 2011
The AP report is, "Bill would widen death penalty to cover fatal home invasions," via the Boston Globe. The House voted yesterday to expand the state?s death penalty in response to a machete and knife attack that killed a New...

News From Maryland

Posted on March 16, 2011
The Daily Record reports, "Death penalty debated before committee." It's written by Steve Lash. A former Maryland House Speaker and a man who served time on death row before being exonerated urged lawmakers Tuesday to repeal capital punishment in the...

More From Montana - A Powerful Voice for Healing

Posted on March 16, 2011
"Mother shares loss of daughter to teach forgiveness" is Patrick O?Neill's report in the Garner Citizen. Here are two extended excerpts from this powerful must-read: It?s hard to imagine the horror Marietta Jaeger Lane felt when she woke up in...

News Coverage of the Montana Hearing

Posted on March 16, 2011
"Emotional crowd testifies on SB185," is the title of Allison Maier's report for the Helena Independent Record. A senate bill that would abolish the state death penalty has made its way to the House Judiciary Committee, where it prompted four...

Texas Attorney Speaks Out on Lethal Injection Drug Switch

Posted on March 16, 2011
"Statement from Attorney for Cleve Foster in Response to Change in Texas Execution Protocol," is from Maurie Levin, Adjunct Professor at the University of Texas School of Law Capital Punishment Center. "The Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) has known...

Texas Switches to Pentobarbital for Lethal Injection Cocktail - UPDATED

Posted on March 16, 2011
The updated AP report is, "Shortage Forces Texas To Switch Execution Drug," via NPR. Texas is changing one of the drugs used to conduct executions in the nation's busiest death penalty state because of a shortage of a drug it's...

DEA Seizes Georgia Stock of Imported Sodium Thiopental

Posted on March 16, 2011
The updated AP report is, "Ga. executions off: DEA seizes critical drug," via Google News. It's also available via Forbes. All Georgia executions are off after federal drug agents seized the state's supply of a sedative used in lethal injections...

Ohio Repeal Bill Introduced

Posted on March 15, 2011
"Bill proposes ending Ohio's death penalty," is the title of Alan Johnson's report in the Columbus Dispatch. As Ohio heads toward a possible record number of executions this year, two lawmakers have introduced legislation to abolish the state's death penalty...

The Cost Factor Examined in Several States

Posted on March 15, 2011
"Tight budgets may spell death of death penalty in some states," is the title of Barbara Goldberg's report for Westlaw News. A perfect storm of cash-strapped budgets, newly elected governors and an increased use of DNA evidence threatens to smite...

Montana House Judiciary Considering Repeal Bill

Posted on March 15, 2011
The Montana House Judiciary Committee is considering SB 185, that would repeal the state's death penalty. Streaming video and audio is live at the link. KXLH-TV reports, "Montana House addresses education, budget bills." It's by Marnee Banks. Finally, a House...

Star-Telegram on the Skinner Case

Posted on March 15, 2011
"Justice is about getting it right," is the editorial in today's Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Maybe now there can be more certainty about who killed Twila Busby and her sons, Elwin Caler and Randy Busby, in their Pampa home on New...

North Carolina Lethal Injection Procedure Examined

Posted on March 14, 2011
WRAL-TV posts, "Death penalty debate hinges on administrative procedures." The North Carolina Supreme Court heard arguments Monday in a case that could change how the death penalty is administered. Lawyers for five death row inmates contend that an administrative law...

A Victim's Voice in Austin OpEd

Posted on March 14, 2011
"In Texas, no one should pay for an imperfect system with their lives," is the title of an OpEd from today's Austin American-Statesman. It's written by Helene Burns, a member of Murder Victims' Families for Reconciliation, nd a volunteer for...

Editorial: Court Rules Rightly on Skinner

Posted on March 14, 2011
That's the title of an editorial from the Amarillo Globe-News Saturday edition. Hank Skinner won a big court fight this week in Washington, D.C. So did those who believe Skinner should be executed for killing a Pampa woman and her...

Additional Commentary on Illinois Repeal

Posted on March 11, 2011
Scott Turow writes the must-read Chicago Tribune OpEd, "The right has reason to applaud." In addition to being a former federal prosecutor and a best-selling novelist, Turow was a member of the Illinois Governor's Commission on Capital Punishment. Gov...

Editorials in the Wake of Illinois Repeal

Posted on March 11, 2011
There is a good deal of commentary from Illinois and across the nation following Gov. Quinn's signing into law the repeal of capital punishment. In this post I'll link to editorials; additional commentary in the next post. In Illinois, the...

New Documentary Premieres at SxSW Film - Incendiary

Posted on March 11, 2011
"The Case That Wouldn't Stay Closed," is the title of Jordan Smith's article in the Austin Chronicle. Here's an extended excerpt from the beginning: The case of Cameron Todd Willingham, tried and executed for a 1991 fire in Corsicana, Texas,...

Holder Responds to State Attorneys General

Posted on March 11, 2011
"Federal prisons run out of key execution drug," is an AP report available from numerous outlets. An condensed version with Texas reporting is at the Austin American-Statesman. The federal government has told state attorneys general that it has run out...

National News Coverage of the Illinois Repeal

Posted on March 10, 2011
I'll break the coverage between two posts; this one for national coverage, Illinois coverage, next. "Illinois Governor Signs Capital Punishment Ban," is the New York Times report by John Schwartz and Emma Fitzsimmons. Illinois became the 16th state to ban...

Editorial Commentary on Illinois Repeal

Posted on March 10, 2011
The Chicago Tribune writes, "The end of death row." Gov. Pat Quinn made history as quietly as possible Wednesday. In a private meeting with a small group of supporters, he signed into law a bill that abolished the death penalty...

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