Criminal Law

Ky. to open execution protocol to public hearings

Posted on December 05, 2009
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) -- Kentucky will not appeal a ruling striking down how it adopted it's lethal injection protocol and will hold public hearings before putting a new execution process in place.Kentucky Justice and Public Safety Cabinet spokeswoman Jennifer Brislin told The Associated Press that a regulation will be filed with the state later this month to start the public hearing process...

Appeals court upholds Ohio killer's execution

Posted on December 05, 2009
By ANDREW WELSH-HUGGINS, The Associated PressUpdated 6:36 PM Friday, December 4, 2009COLUMBUS, Ohio ? An appeals court on Friday refused to delay the execution of an Ohio inmate who could become the first person in the United States put to death with a single drug...

Popular Mayor to Run for Governor of Texas

Posted on December 05, 2009
HOUSTON ? Bill White, the popular Democratic mayor of Houston, said Friday that he would run for governor of Texas, changing the dynamic in a heated contest and giving Democrats a faint hope for the first time in 15 years that they might be able to take back the governor?s office...

Photos paint another picture of the death penalty

Posted on December 05, 2009
Texans may have a popular image of gun-loving death penalty advocates, but private investigator-turned-photographer John Holbrook is a long way from that stereotype. He believes passionately the death penalty should be abolished and is currently touring the world with his collection of photos featuring death row inmates...

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Congo death sentence for former British soldier Joshua French upheld

Posted on December 04, 2009
Tristan McConnell in NairobiAn appeal court in the Democratic Republic of Congo upheld a death sentence against Joshua French, a former British soldier.Mr French, 27, who has dual British and Norwegian nationality, and his friend Tjostolv Moland, a 28-year-old former Norwegian soldier, face death by firing squad after a military tribunal in the town of Kisangani upheld their conviction for murdering their Congolese driver...

Ohio Is First to Change to One Drug in Executions

Posted on November 15, 2009
Breaking ranks with the 35 other states that use lethal injections to execute prisoners, Ohio on Friday became the first state to say it would switch to a single drug, rather than a three-drug cocktail, in its death penalty procedure.Critics have long argued that using a single drug, the preferred method in animal euthanasia, is more humane than the three-drug cocktail, which involves a short-acting barbiturate to render the inmate unconscious, followed by a paralytic and then a chemical to stop the heart...

Joshua French and Tjostolv Moland

Posted on October 23, 2009
http://www.freefrenchandmoland.comJoshua French and Tjostolv Moland received 5 death sentences each from a military tribunal in DR Congo on September 8. 2009. They were convicted solely based on circumstational evidence and two witnesses who weren't expected to give their oath...

Corsicana Sun hyping bogus Willingham 'confession' shames paper, state

Posted on October 18, 2009
Locals in Corsicana are circling the wagons on the Todd Willingham case, and they've enlisted the enthusiastic assistance of the local newspaper, The Corsicana Sun, to their cause. It's hard not to conclude the paper is embarrassing itself, their town and the state with ignorant, hyperdefensive attempts to counter conclusions by arson experts in the Todd Willingham case...

Lawyers Speaking Out in Response to Todd Willingham's Trial Attorney's "Utterly Disgraceful" Performance on CNN

Posted on October 18, 2009
Early Friday morning, we posted the video from last Thursday's CNN AC 360 program when Todd Willingham's trial lawyer was on the program and made remarks that we thought violated his attorney-client obligations, which bind a lawyer even after his client has died...

Eine Petition an Gouverneur Rick Perry: Texas sollte zugeben dass Todd Willingham unschuldig war

Posted on October 18, 2009
Use google tranlation : Dutchaktuelle Signaturen. Texas sollte zugeben dass Todd Willingham unschuldig war Eine Petition an Gouverneur Rick Perry und den Staat von Texas anzuerkennen das dass Feuer in dem Cameron Todd Willingham Fall kein Fall von Brandstiftung war...

AC360 10/14/09 Keeping Them Honest

Posted on October 16, 2009
Todd Willingham`s mother See the video here : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZddHNu_j7o8&feature=relatedSource(www.youtube.com)

Keeping them Honest, AC360 10/13/09

Posted on October 16, 2009
Is the Governor trying to cover up the exceution of an innocent man? Look at the video here : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zbo8QCVdSYo&feature=relatedSource(www.youtube.com)

Posted on October 16, 2009

Todd Willingham's Defense Lawyer Embarrasses Texas Justice System on National TV; Juror Now Has Doubts, says "may have to face my God and explain"

Posted on October 16, 2009
Tonight on CNN AC360, Todd Willingham's trial lawyer David Martin, the person who was supposed to have vigorously defended his client, made an appearance on national TV arguing for his former client's guilt. Martin, appearing in a cowboy hat, drawled that the report submitted to the Texas Forensic Science Commission by Dr Craig Beyler was one of the "least objective reports" he has ever read...

CNN AC360 on Todd Willingham Execution and Rick Perry's Cover Up - Oct 13, 2009

Posted on October 15, 2009
Klick on the link to watch the video.Source(www.youtube.com)

Reprieve calls on Brown to save death-row man

Posted on October 15, 2009
Lawyers for a mentally ill British man facing execution in China on drug trafficking charges renewed their appeal on Tuesday for his psychiatric condition to be taken into account. Akmal Shaikh, from London, is believed to suffer from bipolar disorder, which makes him prone to delusions and impairs his judgement...

Een petitie aan Gouveneur Rick Perry: Texas moet toegeven dat Todd Willingham onschuldig was.

Posted on October 15, 2009
Use google translation (Language : Dutch)Handtekeningen. Texas moet toegeven dat Todd Willingham onschuldig was. Een petitie aan gouveneur Rick Perry en de staat van Texas om te erkennen dat de brand in zaak van Cameron Todd Willingham geen brandstichting was...

Crist needs to rein in death-by-petition

Posted on October 14, 2009
The Tampa TribunePublished: October 14, 2009Floridians who support the death penalty are understandably frustrated by the seemingly endless appeals that can delay justice for decades.Still, Gov. Charlie Crist sends a dangerous message when he allows petition drives to influence the signing of death warrants...

36 Years of Solitude

Posted on October 12, 2009
Why is Bobby Jindal?s administration determined to keep Albert Woodfox in permanent lockdown?What's left of Albert Woodfox's life now lies in the hands of a federal appeals court in New Orleans. By the time the court hears his case on Tuesday, the 62-year-old will have spent 36 years, 2 months, and 24 days in a 6-by-9-foot cell at the Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola...

San Antonio Rally to Stop Execution of Reginald Blanton

Posted on October 12, 2009
Klick on the heading to watch the video on YouTube.http://www.myspace.com/freereggiebhttp://marchforabolition.orgOctober 10, 2009 rally speakers included the oldest son of Reginald Blanton and his mother Anna Terrell. Gloria Rubac is also in this video...

Pétition au Gouverneur Perry: ?reconnaissez l?innocence de Todd Willigham et suspendez les exécutions!?

Posted on October 12, 2009
Use google translation.Voir les signatures. Le Texas doit reconnaître l?innocence de Todd Willingham et suspendre les exécutions Une pétition adressée au Gouverneur Rick Perry et à l?Etat du Texas afin qu?ils reconnaissent que l?incendie dans l?affaire de Todd Willingham n?était pas d?origine criminelle, que par conséquent un homme innocent a été exécuté le 17 février 2004...

Scott Cobb: "I did feel some pressure from them, yes," says Former Chair of Texas Forensic Science Commission about Rick Perry

Posted on October 12, 2009
The Chicago Tribune, which wrote a lengthy article about Todd Willingham in December 2004 that first brought the case to national attention, has a new article quoting the replaced chair of the Texas Forensic Science Commission, Samuel Bassett, saying that Governor Rick Perry pressured the committee...

Obama should have the U.S....

Posted on October 12, 2009
Obama should have the U.S. Justice Department investigate Texas Governor Rick Perry's cover up of the execution of an innocent person.Source(www.obamashould.org)

Europeans press the US to end the death penalty

Posted on October 12, 2009
With 37 prisoners executed last year, the United States is among the top five countries that still have the death penalty.Washington - The United States does not often find itself in a league with China, Iran, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia. But as international human rights groups and a number of countries, particularly in the European Union [EU], prepare to mark World Day Against the Death Penalty Saturday, that list of the five countries where nearly all of 2008's executions were carried out is where the US finds itself...

Execution Methods Examined

Posted on October 12, 2009
Ohio's Review After Botched Injection May Have Wide Impact.Romell Broom knew he was about to die when the Ohio prison warden came to his cell, escorted by guards, and read his death warrant. A court had rejected his final appeal. Soon, two nurses arrived and told Broom to lie down as they tried to insert a needle into his arm, readying a vein to receive the three drugs that would knock him out and eventually kill him...

Fourth member replaced on Texas panel probing execution

Posted on October 12, 2009
(CNN) -- Texas Gov. Rick Perry has removed a fourth member of a state commission charged with investigating claims that an innocent man may have been executed, his office said. The Texas governor has now replaced all of the four members that, under law, he is allowed to appoint to the commission...

Perry's office quiet on expert's arson report

Posted on October 12, 2009
Just 88 minutes before the February 2004 execution of Cameron Todd Willingham, Gov. Rick Perry's office received by fax a crucial arson expert's opinion that later ignited a political firestorm over whether Texas, on Perry's watch, used botched forensic evidence to send a man to his death...

Posted on October 12, 2009

Texas man on death row takes plea for 3 life terms

Posted on October 11, 2009
HOUSTON ? A Texas man condemned to death for killing his father 25 years ago in a shooting spree that also killed his stepmother and a half brother is headed off death row after accepting a plea deal that gives him three life prison terms. Gene Wilford Hathorn Jr...

Death penalty 'utterly barbaric'

Posted on October 10, 2009
Since 2003, human rights and international advocacy groups, bar associations, and NGOs have earmarked October 10 as World Day Against the Death Penalty. They have tried to raise awareness of the dangers of capital punishment and tried to mobilise public opinion against this practise...

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