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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 New Play Looks at Capital Punishment

Posted on February 10, 2011
Today's New York Times carries, "A Playwright Whose Time Seems to Be Now." It's written by Reeves Wiedeman. Writing a play about the death penalty should put you squarely in the middle of a moral debate. Yet Nathan Louis Jackson,...

A Voice From The Tennessean

Posted on February 10, 2011
Dwight Lewis is the editorial page editor and a columnist at the Tennessean. Today's column is, "End death penalty; it is costly, ineffective." How far should a state go to put a condemned prisoner to death? I raise that question...

North Carolina RJA Ruled Constitutional

Posted on February 10, 2011
The breaking news headline from the News & Observer is, "Racial Justice Act for death row inmates survives court challenge," by Anne Blythe. The fledgling Racial Justice Act survived its first challenge when a Forsyth County judge rejected contentions by...

Crime Victim Survivors Call for Repeal in Connecticut

Posted on February 09, 2011
The Hartford Courant carries an AP report, "Murder Victims' Families Seek Death Penalty Repeal." The families of murder victims are gathering at the state Capitol to voice support for repealing Connecticut's death penalty. The group is scheduled to hold a...

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Montana Repeal Bill Heard by Senate Judiciary Committee

Posted on February 09, 2011
The AP report is, "Senate panel hears bill to abolish death penalty," by Stephen Dockery. It's via the Flathead Beacon. State lawmakers considered a proposal Tuesday to abolish the death penalty in Montana and make the maximum allowable punishment life...

Arizona Joins Ohio in Setting New Execution Dates; Missouri Executes

Posted on February 09, 2011
"Arizona Supreme court OKs death warrants for 2 men," is the title of Michael Kiefer's report in today's Arizona Republic. The Arizona Supreme Court on Tuesday approved death warrants for two death-row prisoners, clearing the way for their executions...

Judge Tours California Execution Chamber

Posted on February 09, 2011
This morning's Los Angeles Times reports, "Federal judge tours San Quentin death chamber." It's written by Carol J. Williams. The federal judge weighing whether California can resume executing condemned prisoners toured San Quentin State Prison's new lethal injection facility Tuesday...

Family, Friends Urge Killer Be Spared

Posted on February 09, 2011
That's the title of Allan Turner's report in today's Houston Chronicle on Tim Adams' case. It's subtitled, "They want his death sentence commuted to life." In a session fraught with emotion and tears, family and friends of killer Timothy Wayne...

An Update From Pennsylvania

Posted on February 09, 2011
Today's Lehigh Valley Express-Times carries the editorial, "Send Pennsylvania's death penalty to the gallows." Just before he left office, Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell sent the Legislature a letter, complaining that the state?s death row had become a long-term public housing...

Ohio Catholic Bishops Call for Repeal

Posted on February 09, 2011
"Ohio Catholic Bishops Seek to End Death Penalty," is the AP report that appeared in the New York Times and via NPR. Archbishop Dennis Schnurr of Cincinnati and Bishop Frederick Campbell of Columbus are among 10 Catholic church leaders in...

Additional News Coverage From Illinois

Posted on February 09, 2011
Today's Chicago Sun-Times reports, "If gov bans death penalty, 15 on Death Row may die." It's by Stephen Di Benedetto. Beyond deciding whether to abolish Illinois? death penalty, Gov. Quinn faces a moral dilemma involving the fate of the 15...

Georgia Supreme Court Hears Case on Victim Impact Statements

Posted on February 08, 2011
"Court weighs victim-impact testimony in death case," is the title of Bill Rankin's Atlanta Journal-Constitution report. A lawyer on Monday told the Georgia Supreme Court that a Douglas County death-penalty case could set a dangerous precedent in allowing inflammatory victim-impact...

Flawed Jury Instructions Send Cases Back to Harris County

Posted on February 08, 2011
Here is one reason death penalty case can be so expensive. The Supreme Court ruled in 1989 that the Texas law regarding jury instructions in capital cases was critically flawed. The Texas Legislature later reformed the law to conform with...

More Coverage of Tim Adams

Posted on February 08, 2011
The Texas Tribune report is, "Veteran Who Shot Baby Seeks Clemency." It's written by Brandi Grissom. He was an Army veteran and a Houston security guard who had never been arrested until February 2002, when a fight with his wife...

Lethal Injection Roundup

Posted on February 08, 2011
I'll be linking to continued news coverage on the FDA lawsuit as well as items from California, Missouri, Nevada, Tennessee, Utah. ABC News has posted, "States Depend on Unapproved Foreign Drugs for Executions." It's by Ariane De Vogue. Because of...

Ohio Schedules Seven New Execution Dates

Posted on February 08, 2011
Alan Johnson posts, "Ohio sets execution dates for seven killers," at the Columbus Dispatch. The Ohio Supreme Court today set execution dates for seven convicted killers, bringing to nine the total scheduled this year. One of those scheduled is Joseph...

Brandi Grissom on the Sodium Thiopental Shortage

Posted on February 07, 2011
The Texas Tribune journalist contributes, "A Drug Used in Executions Becomes Very Hard to Get," to the Southwest edition of the Sunday New York Times. A combination of market forces and European objections to the death penalty have left the...

Tim Adams' Case for Clemency

Posted on February 07, 2011
"Clemency Papers Filed in Timothy Adams Case," is the title of Deb Courson's post at the Texas News Service, this morning. Attorneys for Texas death-row inmate Timothy Adams are set to file clemency papers in the case today. Adams is...

Judge Fogel to Tour New San Quentin Death Chamber

Posted on February 07, 2011
"Federal judge set to tour new San Quentin death chamber," is Howard Mintz' report in today's Silicon Valley Mercury News. Nearly five years ago, a San Jose federal judge went on a highly unusual expedition to San Quentin's aging death...

Tennessee Lethal Injection Commentary

Posted on February 04, 2011
The alt-weekly Nashville Scene reports, "Tennessee's outmoded lethal-injection process has accomplished what activists couldn't: effectively stopping the death penalty." It's written by Jeff Woods. Crafty death-row lawyers and bleeding-heart judges get the blame, but the public might just as well...

Lethal Injection Roundup

Posted on February 04, 2011
The AP report on the FDA lawsuit is, "FDA sued over shipments of drug used in executions." It's written by Greg bluestein and is via the Washington Post. A federal lawsuit filed against the Food and Drug Administration urges a...

Rodney Ellis' Legislative Agenda - Preventing Wrongful Convictions

Posted on February 04, 2011
Today's Houston Chronicle reports, "Ellis works to halt wrongful convictions." It's written by Bobby Cervantes. In the decade since state lawmakers last addressed wrongful convictions, Texas has earned the distinction of having the highest number of exonerations based on DNA...

The Chicago Tribune on Gov. Quinn's Mission

Posted on February 04, 2011
"Yes, listen and reflect ?," is the title of the Tribune editorial today. Gov. Pat Quinn has until March 18 to act on one of the most important bills that will ever land in his "in" box: a measure that...

A Roundup of State Legislative Activities

Posted on February 03, 2011
I have news and commentary from Illinois, New Hampshire, and Utah. Eric Zorn's Chicago Tribune blog post is, "Death penalty bill: Time for Quinn to employ the 'in other news' strategy." This would be an excellent time for Gov. Pat...

Virginia Senate Panel Rejects 'Triggerman' Bill

Posted on February 03, 2011
That's the title of the news report in today's Virginian Pilot. It's written by Julian Walker. Legislation described as a ?pared-down? expansion of the death penalty died in a Senate committee Wednesday. Sen. Mark Obenshain?s bill, SB1200, was drafted to...

Additional News Coverage of the FDA Lawsuit

Posted on February 03, 2011
The civil law suit, Beaty v. FDA, is available in Adobe .pdf format. Today's New York Times carries, "F.D.A. Sued Over Drug Used in Executions," by John Schwartz. Lawyers in Washington sued the Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday on...

The Scent of a Dog

Posted on February 03, 2011
"Handlers' beliefs influence drug-sniffing dogs' performance," is the title of the San Francisco Chronicle report by Amelia Glynn. The accuracy of drug- and explosives-sniffing dogs is affected by human handlers' beliefs, possibly in response to subtle, unintentional cues, UC Davis...

A Parliament of Experts

Posted on February 03, 2011
That's the title of Jordan Smith's latest must-read in the current Austin Chronicle; on the stands, today. It's subtitled, "Did 'expert testimony' convict an innocent woman of murder?" Here's an excerpt: In fact, nearly every witness who testified against Jimenez...

A Clemency Appeal in Ohio

Posted on February 02, 2011
Today's Toledo Blade reports, "Killer to ask Ohio governor to spare his life; Family of '94 Toledo victim is against March execution." It's written by Jim Provance. The family of Johnnie Baston's victim doesn't want him executed, so neither should...

More on the Lethal Injection Drug Issue

Posted on February 02, 2011
I'm adding several days worth of coverage in this post. "Anesthesiologists 'Extremely Troubled' by Sodium Thiopental Shortage," is at Outpatient Surgery, and is written by Irene Tsikitas. The lone U.S. manufacturer of the anesthetic sodium thiopental announced that it will...

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