Criminal Law

KANSAS VIEWS ON DEATH PENALTY, WIND POWER, HUNGER, SEAT BELTS

Posted on May 18, 2009
Death penalty -- Gov. Mark Parkinson revealed an interesting perspective on the state's death penalty when he said he would be open to re-evaluating it. As a state senator, Parkinson helped draft the law, which Kansas enacted in 1994. He said the purpose was to give murder defendants an incentive to plead guilty for a prison sentence without possibility of parole for 40 years...

Killer is a celebrity, thanks to death row

Posted on May 18, 2009
His execution is set for Wednesday. So naturally we?re hearing a lot about how Dennis Skillicorn turned his life around while on Missouri?s death row.Just before a court order helped him avoid lethal injection last year, we also were made aware of how he?d found God...

Prison staffers back clemency for inmate facing death

Posted on May 18, 2009
Tony Rizzo |last updated: May 17, 2009 02:06:20 PMKANSAS CITY, Mo. _ ?I know he?s not the same man who came into prison,? said Bill Henry, a volunteer who has worked with Skillicorn for years in a Christian-based group. ?The good things he?s done you can?t even count...

Prisons, corrections workers to speak on Skillicorn execution

Posted on May 18, 2009
STATE CAPITOL -- Today at the State Capitol, Missouri prison and correctional workers will speak out against Wednesday's scheduled execution of Dennis Skillicorn.Skillicorn is one of three men convicted of killing a man in 1994 along Interstate 70 in Callaway County...

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Local vigil to protest Death Penalty

Posted on May 18, 2009
By JOE MEYERPosted May 18, 2009 at 1:02 p.m.Dennis Skillicorn is scheduled to be executed early Wednesday, marking the first execution in Missouri since 2005.A vigil is scheduled from 5 to 6 p.m. Tuesday at the Boone County Courthouse on Walnut Street...

Death row's revolving door

Posted on May 18, 2009
Post-trial evidence in Ga. case resonatesBy Kevin JohnsonUSA TODAY The timeline of Troy Davis' 18 years on death row reads like most other condemned prisoners' slow shuffle to the execution chamber.His appeals chart a legal marathon from a courtroom in Savannah, Ga...

Plugging Holes in the Science of Forensics

Posted on May 18, 2009
By HENRY FOUNTAINIt was time, the panel of experts said, to put more science in forensic science.A report in February by a committee of the National Academy of Sciences found ?serious problems? with much of the work performed by crime laboratories in the United States...

Dead Souls

Posted on May 15, 2009
By ALEXANDER COCKBURNThe Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away, nowhere with more caprice than with the criminal justice system. On the plus side, there are at least a couple of good trends: a tilt from the death penalty (with serious qualifications about the ?living death? alternative I discussed here recently) and a move away from imprisonment for victimless crimes?as evidenced by medical marijuana laws; impending reform of the Rockefeller drug laws; and Prop 36 in California, offering treatment alternatives to prison...

It's Up to You to Save Troy Davis

Posted on May 15, 2009
By RON JACOBSOne wonders how many times this scenario has played out in the United States. Like a classic crime movie, the details go something like this: A group of young men, usually African-American, get involved in an activity of questionable legality...

The 132nd Death Row Exoneree: Implications for the Troy Davis Case

Posted on May 15, 2009
Diann Rust-TierneyExecutive Director of the National Coalition to Abolish the Death PenaltyPosted: May 14, 2009 06:12 PMOne of the many disturbing aspects of capital punishment is that it has no guarantee against mistaken convictions and executions. This risk of mistakes was driven home again on May 12th, just days ago, when a Tennessee District Attorney dropped all charges against former death row inmate Paul House, who was convicted of murder and sentenced to death in 1986...

Mo. House passes death penalty study

Posted on May 15, 2009
Marshall Griffin, KWMUJEFFERSON CITY, MO (2009-05-13) The Missouri House has passed a crime bill that includes authorizing a commission to study the use of the death penalty in the state.The original amendment called for a moratorium on executions in Missouri while the study is conducted, but it was stripped out on a mostly party-line vote...

UPDATE: Missouri GOP leader urges commutation of death sentence

Posted on May 15, 2009
By CHRIS BLANK/The Associated PressMay 13, 2009 | 5:32 p.m. CDTJEFFERSON CITY ? House Majority Leader Steven Tilley said Wednesday that Gov. Jay Nixon should commute the death sentence of a Missouri man who is scheduled to be executed May 20.Tilley, one of the chamber's top Republican leaders, urged the Democratic governor to change Dennis Skillicorn's sentence to life in prison...

Colo. may end death penalty to focus on cold cases

Posted on May 09, 2009
By P. SOLOMON BANDA, The Associated Press2009-05-02 15:18:25.0Current rank: Not rankedDENVER -Colorado and nine other states considered abolishing the death penalty this year to save money, but Colorado's proposal has a twist: It would use the savings to investigate about 1,400 unsolved slayings...

Spencer hearing in Altersberger case starts Friday

Posted on May 09, 2009
By BRAD DICKERSONHighlands TodayDefense counsel for Joshua Lee Altersberger will have one more chance to argue for life in prison for their client. Attorneys on both sides will be back in Judge J. Michael Hunter's courtroom Friday in Bartow for a Spencer hearing...

Accused child killer has violent past

Posted on May 09, 2009
Tampa, Florida - The man accused of throwing 3-month-old Emmanuel Murray from his car window on I-275 was told Wednesday morning the charges he's facing could carry the death penalty.Richard McTear Jr. made his first appearance before a judge with his head bowed and hands crossed...

Death penalty study debated

Posted on May 09, 2009
By BRENDAN RILEYAssociated Press Writerlast updated: May 05, 2009 06:03:11 PMCARSON CITY, Nev. -- ]Death penalty opponents joined with advocates of more funding for schools and other services in arguing Tuesday for a plan to determine how costly it is to continue the death penalty in Nevada...

Death penalty barrier lifted

Posted on May 04, 2009
Ruling says N.C. Medical Board can't stop doctors from monitoring executions, but other legal issues remain.By Sarah Ovaskasarah.ovaska@newsobserver.comPosted: Saturday, May. 02, 2009RALEIGH In a major decision in the debate over the death penalty, the N...

Court: Doctor must be present during execution

Posted on May 04, 2009
RALEIGH -- The North Carolina Supreme Court issued its ruling Friday on doctors being present during executions.Last November, the court began hearing arguments on what roles, if any, doctors should play in executions.Previously, the North Carolina Medical Board did not want doctors to participate in executions...

Supreme Court Gets Hamilton County Death Penalty Case

Posted on April 28, 2009
Court To Determine If Disabled Standard Should Apply In 1992 CaseWLWT.comupdated 5:50 p.m. ET, Fri., April 24, 2009WASHINGTON - The U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments on Monday in a 1992 murder case from Hamilton County.Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray is asking the court to reverse a lower court decision that set aside the death sentence imposed on Michael Bies for his murder of a 10 year-old Cincinnati boy...

Ottawa 'disappointed' with beheading sentence

Posted on April 05, 2009
Tiffany Crawford, Canwest News ServiceOTTAWA -- The Harper government said Thursday it was ?deeply disappointed' by news a Saudi court had upheld the death by beheading sentence of a Canadian man who was convicted in the 2007 death of another man."We are deeply disappointed at the reports that a Saudi court has upheld its decision to sentence Mohamed Kohail to death," said Deepak Obhrai, parliamentary secretary to Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon...

Steve Goble's It's Debatable: Nothing sensible about the death penalty

Posted on April 05, 2009
By STEVE GOBLENews Journal Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray thinks the appeals process for death penalty cases is far too lengthy.I can solve the problem in four words: Dump the death penalty.The long appellate process sometimes defeats the possibility of justice being served, Cordray said last week...

What if They Gave an Execution and No One Came?

Posted on April 05, 2009
The state of Washington now finds itself without an executioner, following the abrupt resignation of its lethal injection team. The four volunteers who administer lethal injections to death-row inmates at the Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla quit their positions because of fears their identities might become revealed as a result of a judicial ruling...

State's execution team resigns, fearing identities would be reveale,"

Posted on April 03, 2009
From the Blog Standdown :Friday, April 03, 2009More from Washington State"State's execution team resigns, fearing identities would be reveale,"is today's Seattle Times report.Four people who have volunteered to administer lethal injections to death-row inmates at the Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla quit their positions this week, apparently worried that their identities could become public as a result of an ongoing court case to decide whether lethal injection constitutes cruel and unusual punishment...

Death penalty rift in states continues

Posted on March 20, 2009
http://www.stateline.org/live/details/story?contentId=385489Thursday, March 19, 2009Death penalty rift in states continuesBy John Gramlich, Stateline.org Staff WriterGov. Bill Richardson?s decision Wednesday (March 18) to repeal New Mexico?s death penalty and replace it with a maximum sentence of life without parole is being hailed by supporters as a major victory in the decades-old debate over state-sanctioned executions...

Campaign to End the Death Penalty Celebrates Abolition in New Mexico

Posted on March 20, 2009
Campaign to End the Death Penalty Celebrates Abolition in New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson did the right thing when he signed House Bill 285, which outlawed the death penalty. New Mexico now becomes the 15th state without the death penalty, and the second state to abolish it legislatively, after New Jersey in 2007...

STATEMENT BY BENJAMIN TODD JEALOUS

Posted on March 20, 2009
ForImmediate ReleaseMarch 19, 2009CONTACT:Leila McDowell202/463-2940 ext. 1005STATEMENT BY BENJAMIN TODD JEALOUSPRESIDENT AND CEO OF THE NAACPON NEW MEXICO?S REPEAL OF CAPITAL PUNISHMENTNew Mexico Governor Bill Richardson and the state legislature made the right decision in repealing capital punishment...

Gov. Richardson to Decide Future of Death Penalty in NM

Posted on March 15, 2009
Gov. Richardson to Decide Future of Death Penalty in NMby Mary ShawOn Friday, March 13, the New Mexico Senate voted 24-18 to repeal the death penalty in that state. This action follows a corresponding vote in the New Mexico House of Representatives in February...

Capital punishment in New Mexico

Posted on March 13, 2009
The New Mexican3/12/2009 - 3/13/09Here's a list of all legal executions performed by the New Mexico Department of Corrections (between 1913 and 1929 all executions there were the responsibilities of individual county sheriffs): July 21, 1933: Two men die in the state's new electric chair...

Death-penalty debate: Decades of doubt

Posted on March 13, 2009
Death-penalty debate: Decades of doubtPhoto: Nov. 6, 2001: Maria Santelli, left, and Rian Haney pause for a moment of silence after Terry Clark is executed. Clark, who was convicted of the 1986 murder of 9-year-old Dena Lynn Gore in Artesia, voluntarily halted his appeals process...

Mixed Opinions of a Judge Accused of Misconduct

Posted on March 10, 2009
Mixed Opinions of a Judge Accused of Misconduct A refusal to accept a last-minute appeal in a death penalty case could end the career of a top judge in Texas.By GRETEL C. KOVACHPublished: March 7, 2009DALLAS ? If Sharon Keller, the presiding judge of Texas? highest criminal court, has ever doubted her judgment, she has not shown it...

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