StandDown Texas Project: Criminal Law

Home -> Law Blog Directory -> Criminal Law Blogs

OR PHONE (866) 635-1838 for Bankruptcy Help, (866) 635-6190 for Divorce,
(866) 635-2689 for Personal Injury or (866) 635-9402 for Criminal Defense

Find a Local Lawyer

Bankruptcy (866) 635-1838
Divorce (866) 635-6190
Personal Injury (866) 635-2689
Criminal Defense (866) 635-9402

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

From Virginia

Posted on September 23, 2010
Tony Mauro writes, "Attorney: Teresa Lewis a 'Poster Child' for Broken Death Penalty System." for the National Law Journal. The only thing sustaining Jim Rocap III in the last few days, he said Tuesday, was the classic Winston Churchill admonition:...

Kansas Supreme Court Examines Accuracy of Eyewitness Accounts

Posted on September 22, 2010
That's the title of a news report from the Wichita Eagle written by Ron Sylvester. It's subtitled, "Jurors believe confident witnesses ? but should they?" The Kansas Supreme Court is considering whether to change how judges guide juries in evaluating...

Supreme Court Rejects Stay in Virginia Case

Posted on September 22, 2010
"Woman on Death Row Runs Out of Appeals," is the title of Erik Eckholm's report in today's New York Times. ?She is clearly the head of this serpent,? the judge said of Teresa Lewis in 2003 when he sentenced her...

California Officials Display New San Quentin's Death Chamber

Posted on September 22, 2010
The new execution chamber was on display for journalists, yesterday. Meanwhile, action resumed in a federal district court as Judge Jeremy Fogel revisits California lethal injection procedures. There is a great deal of front-page California coverage this morning...

To access this complete feed in the blog feed reader login or register for free.

Leonard Pitts Looks at the Anthony Graves Case

Posted on September 22, 2010
The Pulitizer Prize-winning syndicated columist writes, "Justice, delayed and denied." It's via the Miami Herald, Pitts' home paper. It was once a staple plot of TV westerns: There's been a vicious killing. Everybody knows who did it -- or thinks...

Dallas Morning News on the FSC

Posted on September 22, 2010
Today's Dallas Morning News carries the editorial, "Forensic panel should push in defining 'duty'," There appears to be little or no dissent among members of the Texas Forensic Science Commission that soon-to-be outdated science was used to build an arson-murder...

From New Hampshire

Posted on September 21, 2010
"Let's take a close look at the upcoming report on New Hampshire's death penalty," is the title of an editorial in today's Keene Sentinel. Debates over the death penalty are sometimes governed by simple personal opinion. Some people approve of...

ACS Blog Post on Georgia Indigent Defense

Posted on September 21, 2010
E. Wycliffe Orr, Sr. posts, "Georgia?s Indefensible Indigent Defense System ? A Defense in Name Only?" at the ACS blog. He's a lawyer, former member of the Georgia House of Representatives, and has served on the Georgia Public Defender Standards...

Georgia Inmate Attempts Suicide Hours Before Execution - UPDATED

Posted on September 21, 2010
Update -- AP reports, "Stay of Execution Granted for Brandon Rhode," via WSAV-TV. The Georgia Supreme Court has delayed the execution of a condemned man who attempted to commit suicide hours before he was to be put to death. The...

Virginia Governor Rejects Clemency Reconsideration

Posted on September 21, 2010
"McDonnell again declines to stop woman's execution," is the Washington Post report written by Anita Kumar. Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell (R) declined Tuesday morning to reconsider the clemency petition for a 41-year-old woman set to be executed Thursday, despite a...

CCA Election News

Posted on September 21, 2010
Today's Dallas Morning News carries the editorial, "We recommend Hampton for Court of Criminal Appeals, Place 6." Three seats on the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals are up for election this year. The Court of Criminal Appeals is the highest...

Will California Executions Return?

Posted on September 21, 2010
Maura Dolan posts, "Appeals court overturns injunction against executions in California," at the Los Angeles Times. A state appeals court Monday removed one of the few remaining impediments to the resumption of executions in California, helping clear the way for...

Forensics Panel Can Shed More Light in Willingham Case

Posted on September 21, 2010
That's the title of an editorial in today's Fort Worth Star-Telegram. LINK The interest of good science prevailed at the Texas Forensic Science Commission on Friday. That's good for the credibility of the state's criminal justice system. A majority of...

Special Court of Review to Rule in Keller, Soon

Posted on September 21, 2010
"Panel to decide on Keller rebuke by Oct. 8," is the title of Chuck Lindell's report in today's Austin American-Statesman. A special court of review plans to decide by Oct. 8 whether to dismiss a judicial ethics panel's rebuke of...

Mark White on the Forensic Science Commission

Posted on September 20, 2010
The former Texas governor and attorney general wrote the OpEd, "Panel must clear the air in arson case investigation." It appeared in the Friday edition of the Houston Chronicle, the day of the Commission's last meeting. After years of delay,...

More on North Carolina's Racial Justice Act

Posted on September 20, 2010
Today's Wall Street Journal reports, "Death Penalty Goes on Trial in North Carolina," by Nathan Koppel. Kenneth Bernard Rouse was sentenced to death after a jury found him guilty in 1992 of fatally stabbing 63-year-old Hazel Colleen Broadway. Police found...

More on Missouri Criminal Justice Costs

Posted on September 20, 2010
"Missouri Tells Judges Cost of Sentences," is the title of a New York Times report written by Monica Davey. It's a followup to a story she wrote last week. When judges here sentence convicted criminals, a new and unusual variable...

Forensic Commissioners Push Back Against Bradley

Posted on September 20, 2010
That's the title of Morgan Smith's post this morning at the Texas Tribune. LINK Under the leadership of Williamson County District Attorney John Bradley, the Texas Forensic Science Commission has waged a masterful war of attrition in the Cameron Todd...

Virginia Governor Rejects Clemency for Teresa Lewis

Posted on September 18, 2010
The Washington Post reports, "Virginia Gov. Robert McDonnell won't stay execution of Teresa Lewis," by Maria Glod and Anita Kumar. Virginia Gov. Robert F. McDonnell said Friday evening that he will not spare the life of a 41-year-old woman who...

In Contentious Meeting, FSC Expands Arson Investigation

Posted on September 18, 2010
The AP report is, "Texas panel requests more experts in arson case," via Google News. It's by Jeff Carlton. A Texas panel on Friday declined to clear fire investigators of professional misconduct for determining that arson caused a 1991 fire...

A Mississippi Exoneration

Posted on September 17, 2010
Today's New York Times reports, "30 Years Later, Freedom in a Case With Tragedy for All Involved." It's written by Campbell Robertson. It's a tale of false confessions and the threat of the death penalty as a law enforcement tool....

Supreme Court Will Be Examining Georgia Death Penalty Process

Posted on September 17, 2010
The AP report, "Ga. capital cases in US Supreme Court crosshairs," by Greg Bluestein, is via Google News. The U.S. Supreme Court has stepped into four Georgia death penalty cases in the last year or so, and it could yet...

FSC Meeting in Executive Session - Updated

Posted on September 17, 2010
Update - From the webcast, I see the FSC is back in regular session. Jennifer Emily posts, "State forensic hearing on Cameron Todd Willingham arson case goes behind closed doors 10:14 AM CT," at the Dallas Morning News. Shortly after...

Virginia Governor's Clemency Decision Expected Shortly in Teresa Lewis Case

Posted on September 17, 2010
Monique Coppola of Virginia Public News Service posts, "Governor McDonnell to Announce Fate of Woman on Death Row," this morning. Gov. McDonnell is expected to announce very soon whether or not he will commute the sentence of Teresa Wright, a...

Kentucky Lethal Injection Remains on Hold - More on Drug Shortage

Posted on September 17, 2010
"Execution on hold for now in death of Hamilton woman; Death warrant expired at midnight," is the title of Brett Barrouquere's AP report via the Journal-News of Hamilton, Ohio. An inmate condemned in the death of a Hamilton native wasn?t...

Today's FSC Meeting Webcast Begins at 9:30 a.m.

Posted on September 17, 2010
A reminder that the Innocence Project will be webcasting today's Forensic Science Commission meeting. It's set to begin at 9:30 this morning, in Dallas. The arson science review involving the cases of Todd Willingaham and Ernest Willis is on the...

Forensic Science Commission Meeting Tomorrow

Posted on September 16, 2010
The Forensic Science Commission meets tomorrow in Dallas, and the Todd Willingham case is on the agenda. The Innocence Project will once again webcast the entire meeting. Today's Dallas Morning News carries an editorial, "Forensics panel should hear experts...

CCA Orders New Sentencing Trial in Lucero

Posted on September 16, 2010
Michael Graczyk's AP report, "Condemned killer of 3 wins new sentencing trial," is via the Houston Chronicle. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals threw out on Wednesday the death sentence of an Amarillo man convicted of killing three neighbors seven....

Dallas Morning News on the Anthony Graves Case

Posted on September 16, 2010
"Murder conviction chock full of holes," is the title of an editorial in today's Dallas Morning News. For anyone with an interest in prosecutorial misconduct and capital punishment, the October issue of Texas Monthly contains required reading ? a chilling...

Innocence Lost

Posted on September 15, 2010
That's the title of Pamela Colloff's 14,000 word examination of the case of Anthony Graves, noted yesterday. It's subtitled, "Since August 23, 1992, Anthony Graves has been behind bars for the gruesome murder of a family in Somerville. There was...

Previous | Next

Related Law Bulletins

Texas Governor Takes Surprising Stand In Favor Of Immigrants
Texas Governor Rick Perry, normally an ultra-conservative, surpris...

District Judge Upholds Texas' Moment of Silence Law
In 2003, the Texas legislature amended a "moment of silence" law s...

Irving, Texas Losing Students Due To Immigration Crackdown?
The Dallas Morning News had an interesting story Sunday about the ...

Two New USCIS Training Centers To Open In North Texas
The Dallas Morning News reports today that two regional training c...

Comprehensive Explanation of Irving, Texas Immigration Situation
The Dallas Morning News has a very good series of articles today a...