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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

A Warden Retires

Posted on September 03, 2010
Today's Austin American-Statesman carries Michael Graczyk's AP report, "After 33 years in Texas prisons, Huntsville warden done." For about 140 people in the past six years, the soft Texas drawl of Charles Thomas O'Reilly was the last voice they heard...

From Tennessee

Posted on September 03, 2010
Paul Griffith writes, "A new collection of essays denounces Tennessee?s longstanding ambivalence over the death penalty," for the current Nashville Scene. It's a review of Tennessee's New Abolitionists: The Fight to End the Death Penalty in the Volunteer State ,...

Kevin Keith Death Sentence Commuted -- With Updates

Posted on September 02, 2010
The Columbus Dispatch reports the breaking news, "Strickland commutes death row inmate's sentence to life without parole." It's filed by Alan Johnson. Gov. Ted Strickland has spared the life of Kevin Keith, who was scheduled to be executed in two...

Lethal Injection Roundup

Posted on September 02, 2010
We have items today from California, Kentucky, and Washington. First, the ACLU of Southern California blog posts, "You Can?t Leapfrog the Law if You Want to Execute People in Its Name." Declaring that ?justice has been delayed too long,? California...

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From Oklahoma

Posted on September 02, 2010
"Oklahoma attorney general seeks lift of execution stay," is the title of an AP report via the Tulsa World. Attorney General Drew Edmondson has asked a federal judge to lift a stay of execution in the case of convicted killer...

More Coverage of the Tim Cole Panel Report

Posted on September 02, 2010
The Austin Chronicle, our independent, alt-weekly hitting the streets today, has, "Panel Targets Roots of Wrongful Convictions." It's written by Jordan Smith. The Timothy Cole Advisory Panel on Wrongful Convictions made five major proposals last week for lawmakers heading into...

An Update of Kevin Keith

Posted on September 01, 2010
His execution is scheduled September 15. Yesterday, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Apeals for the Sixth Circuit rejected Keith's appeal. The ruling in in Adobe .pdf format. Keith's attorneys issued the following statement: "Today's denial by the...

ACS Issue Brief on Indigent Defense

Posted on September 01, 2010
The American Constitution Society has released an issue brief, "Assessing the Indigent Defense System," written by Erica J. Hashimoto, an associate prof at Georgia Law. More in this announcement. Professor Hashimoto's Issue Brief is the third in a series that...

Continued Coverage From North Carolina

Posted on September 01, 2010
Let's begin with two news items, before turning to commentary on the SBI lab scandal and what it means for capital punishment in North Carolina. The AP brief is, "Moratorium supported for cases tainted by SBI crime lab," via the...

California Lethal Injection Remains Barred

Posted on September 01, 2010
"State officials seek to resume executions in Calif.," is the title of Paul Elias' AP report, via Google News. Death row inmate Albert Greenwood Brown on Tuesday morning was handed a "death warrant" ? the first such document delivered in...

The Latest From North Carolina

Posted on August 31, 2010
Today's News & Observer of Raleigh carries the editorial, "DAs on board." Even though a News & Observer series and a shocking audit of cases handled by the State Bureau of Investigation's crime lab have demonstrated that SBI analysts have...

11th Circuit Declares Use of Pepper Spray on Mentally Ill Prisoners Unconstitutional

Posted on August 31, 2010
The ruling in Jeremiah Thomas and Michael McKinney v. Bryant & McNeil is in Adobe .pdf format. "11th Circuit: Chemical Agents May Not Be Used to Subdue Prisoners," is the title of the Law.com/Daily Business Review report. It's written by...

Teresa Lewis' Execution Date in Virginia

Posted on August 30, 2010
"Unfit for Execution," is the title of Lynn Lichtfield's My Turn column at Newsweek. Litchfield was chaplain at Virginia's Fluvanna prison from 1998 to 2009. For six years, I regularly spent an hour talking and listening through a small slot...

Determining Mental Retardation in Pennsylvania

Posted on August 30, 2010
Today's Pennsylvania roundup contains an editorial and news report on the question of mental retardation determination and a news story on recent execution warrants signed by the governor; executions that likely will not happen. "Wrong debate on execution," is the...

Texas Death Sentence Overturned

Posted on August 30, 2010
"Federal judge overturns death sentence for '98 murder," is the title of Logan Carver's report in the Saturday edition of the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal. A federal judge this week overturned Michael Yowell?s 1999 death sentence, citing ineffective assistance of trial counsel...

Virginia Rescinds Death Row Video Visitation Policy

Posted on August 30, 2010
That's the title of an AP report via the Richmond Times-Dispatch. It's written by Dena Potter. LINK The Virginia Department of Corrections dropped plans to end face-to-face visits between death-row inmates and their families yesterday, saying prison officials determined the...

More on the Shortage of Sodium Thiopental

Posted on August 30, 2010
USA Today carries, "Anesthesia shortage may delay executions," by Jessie Halladay, A nationwide shortage of several anesthesia drugs has left several states scrambling to find enough doses to carry out lethal injections ? potentially delaying executions well into next year...

Romell Broom's Execution Fight

Posted on August 30, 2010
"Judge: Ohio inmate can fight 2nd execution attempt," is the title of the AP report via Google News. A death row inmate who underwent a botched execution attempt can continue to argue that a second try would be an unconstitutionally...

The Effectiveness of Public Defenders

Posted on August 27, 2010
The ABA Journal today carries Martha Neil's short item,"Public Defenders Often are Just as Effective as Private Counsel, Study Says." A study of Chicago-area courts found that public defenders often are just as effective as private lawyers in persuading judges...

Louisiana's Lethal Injection Challenge

Posted on August 27, 2010
Today's Baton Rouge Advocate reports, "Attorneys argue death policy," by Joe Gyan Jr. Attorneys for many of Louisiana?s 84 death-row inmates argued Thursday it would be premature for a judge to validate the state?s current lethal injection procedure for future...

The Sodium Thiopental Shortage

Posted on August 27, 2010
The worldwide shortage of sodium thiopental is being felt in execution chambers. Today, at the Poynter Institute's website Al Tompkins posts, "States Deal with Impact of Death Penalty Drug Shortage." There is a worldwide shortage of a drug called thiopental...

Craig Watkins in the News

Posted on August 27, 2010
Jennifer Emily writes, "Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins shifts stance on death penalty," for today's Dallas Morning News. Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins, the state's first elected black district attorney, made national news after taking office in 2007...

Timothy Cole Panel on Wrongful Convictions Issues Report

Posted on August 26, 2010
The Report is available in Adobe .pdf format, as is a separate volume containing the Research. At its meeting yesterday, the Task Force on Indigent Defense voted to send the report to the Governor, legislative leaders, and the Texas Judicial...

Two Items on Brady Misconduct

Posted on August 26, 2010
Tony Mauro, Courtside at National Law Journal writes, "Clement lines up ex-prosecutors, seeks argument time in misconduct case." n an unusual move, a group of former Justice Department prosecutors and civil rights officials led by former solicitor general Paul Clement...

Stephen Bright's Commentary on Race

Posted on August 25, 2010
"Term 'boy' is proof of racial animus," is the title of his OpEd in today's Fulton County Daily Report. Bright is president of the Southern Center for Human Rights and teaches at Yale Law. The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of...

A Bloody Injustice

Posted on August 24, 2010
That's the title of Dave Mann's latest article on faulty forensics in the Texas Observer. It's subtitled, "Warren Horinek was a vicious drunk with a history of threatening his wife. But his conviction for murdering her was based on junk...

Amnesty International on the Troy Davis Ruling

Posted on August 24, 2010
AI USA has issued the news release, "Amnesty International Gravely Concerned That Ruling Puts Troy Davis on Track for Execution; Cites Persisting Doubts About His Guilt." Amnesty International USA (AIUSA) today expressed deep concern that a federal district court decision...

More From California on Cost

Posted on August 24, 2010
Today's Silicon Valley Mercury News carries an OpEd by Deldelp Medina, "Without death penalty, we'd have funds to treat mental illness." Medina is a member of California Crime Victims for Alternatives to the Death Penalty. As someone who lost a...

Virginia's New Death Row Visitation Policy

Posted on August 24, 2010
The Richmond Times-Dispatch objects to the new restrictions. It's editorial today is, "Death Row: Visitation." Next month Virginia's Department of Corrections no longer will allow person-to-person visits for inmates on death row. Visitation will occur via video conference...

Judge Denies Troy Davis Appeal - UPDATED

Posted on August 24, 2010
That's the title of the AP breaking news report, via the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. LINK A federal judge Tuesday denied Georgia death row inmate Troy Davis' innocence claim after a rare hearing. The ruling against Davis sets the stage for Georgia....

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