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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

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Last Entry: April 01, 2011 at 14:21:29

A Flurry of News and Opinion from Connecticut

Posted on June 01, 2009
Both chambers of the Connecticut General Assembly have passed repeal legislation, a bill the governor has vowed to veto. With the legislature set to adjourn on Wednesday, there is a flurry of OpEds and editorials on HB 5459. The New...

Too Many Errors in Justice Process

Posted on June 01, 2009
That's the title of a Missouri OpEd in today's Springfield News-Leader by Stephen Wyse, a Missouri attorney and former police officer. LINK Martin Luther King, Jr., said "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." Other states have enacted "Innocence...

Bob Barr on the Troy Davis Case

Posted on June 01, 2009
"Death Penalty Disgrace," is the title of the former Georgia congressman's OpEd in today's New York Times. Here are two extended excerpts: THERE is no abuse of government power more egregious than executing an innocent man. But that is exactly...

Nevada

Posted on June 01, 2009
"Bill to impose death penalty moratorium dies," is Cy Ryan's report filed Satruday for the Las Vegas Sun. A bill that would have imposed a moratorium on carrying out the death penalty is now dead itself. Assemblyman Bernie Anderson, D-Sparks,...

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Connecticut

Posted on May 29, 2009
"Groups try to persuade Rell to abolish death penalty" by Ken Dixon is in today's Connecticut Post. Opponents of the death penalty began a campaign Thursday to persuade Gov. M. Jodi Rell to sign a bill that would end capital...

Election of Judges In Tennessee Is Rejected

Posted on May 29, 2009
That's the title of a report in today's Tennessean by Chas Sisk. LINK An effort to directly elect high court judges in Tennessee has come up short, as state lawmakers voted to keep an independent panel to pick nominees to...

More From North Carolina

Posted on May 29, 2009
"Bishops oppose death penalty bill," is the AP report in today's News & Observer of Raleigh. North Carolina's Roman Catholic bishops say changes by the state Senate to a bill designed to prevent racial bias in the death penalty are...

Nebraska Governor Signs Lethal Injection Bill

Posted on May 29, 2009
That's the title of JoAnne Young's report for the Lincoln Journal Star. LINK After 15 months of having no means to carry out its death penalty, Nebraska will soon be able to use lethal injection to execute prisoners convicted of...

Bruce Hight

Posted on May 29, 2009
His editorial column today is, "A burning desire to gather news and help keep watch was most fulfilling." Today is my last at the Austin American-Statesman after 32 years, and after 37 as a newspaper reporter and editorial writer. I...

Fratta's Lawyer May Face Inquiry

Posted on May 28, 2009
That's the title of an article in today's Houston Chronicle, written by Brian Rogers.. LINK A half-nude photograph e-mailed to convicted killer Robert Fratta through his attorney?s office sent the death penalty phase of the murder-for-hire trial through a tour...

Fifth Circuit Urges Impeachment of Kent

Posted on May 28, 2009
Tony Mauro reports, "5th Circuit urges impeachment of federal judge, denies disability status," for National Law Journal. In a one-two punch made public Wednesday on its Web site, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals recommended that U.S. District Judge...

Polling in Connecticut

Posted on May 28, 2009
"Q-Poll: Connecticut Strongly Backs Death Penalty," is Daniela Altimari's report for the Hartford Courant. By a two to one margin, Connecticut voters once again say the state should keep the death penalty. A Quinnipiac University poll released this morning found...

North Carolina

Posted on May 28, 2009
"Religious leaders unhappy with death penalty bill change," is the AP report via the Winston-Salem Journal. Several religious leaders want a procedure designed to prevent racial bias in the death penalty without encouraging capital punishment to resume in North Carolina...

Nebraska Lawmakers Approve Lethal Injection Bill - UPDATED

Posted on May 28, 2009
That's the title of the AP report by Josh Funk, via the Lincoln Journal Star. LINK Nebraska lawmakers have approved a bill designed to give the state the legal means to carry out its death penalty. The bill (LB36) would...

Washington's Lethal Injection Trial Expected to Wrap Up

Posted on May 27, 2009
That's the title of the report from Washington Public Radio's KUOW-FM. LINK Lawyers for death row inmates in Washington state hope this will be the week they convince a judge to block the use of lethal injection as a form...

Nebraska

Posted on May 27, 2009
"Nebraska senators advance lethal-injection bill," is JoAnne Young's report in today's Lincoln Journal Star. The article contains a sidebar listing how Nebraska legislators voted. LB 36 is not on today's legislative agenda. A move by a Lincoln senator to delay...

Another Warden Speaks

Posted on May 26, 2009
"Florida must abolish flawed death penalty," is the title of Ron McAndrew's Oped from the Sunday edition of the Orlando Sentinel. McAndrew retired after 25 years in corrections including time as a warden in the Florida state prison system. "Capital...

The Sotomayor Nomination

Posted on May 26, 2009
The New York Times reports, "Obama Selects Sotomayor for Court." "Obama Chooses Sotomayor for Supreme Court," is the Washington Post report. The AP dispatch is, "Sotomayor nominated for High Court_first Hispanic." The Wall Street Journal has, "Obama Introduces Sotomayor as...

Texas Increasingly Out of Step on Death Penalty

Posted on May 26, 2009
That's the title of David Fathi's OpEd in the Sunday edition of the Houston Chronicle. Fathi is director of U.S. programs of Human Rights Watch. LINK Barring unexpected events, in the next few weeks Gov. Rick Perry of Texas will...

Tuesday

Posted on May 26, 2009
Returning from the Memorial Day weekend, there is a great deal of news and OpEds to report. I'll start with a Texas OpEd, then add links to the coverage of President Obama's nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to fill the...

Indigent Defense in Harris County

Posted on May 26, 2009
Lise Olsen reports, "Attorneys overworked in capital cases," in today's Houston Chronicle. It's a must-read: Lawyer Jerome Godinich, chastised by the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals this year for repeatedly failing to meet federal death penalty deadlines, has represented an...

Voices From Missouri

Posted on May 26, 2009
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch carries,"The death penalty returns to Missouri" by Pamela Dolan. According to an article today on Missourinet, state Attorney General Chris Koster has said that now that legal challenges to the state?s ?death penalty structure? have been...

Opinion Roundup

Posted on May 26, 2009
"House calls at the death chamber?" is by Steve Ford, the editorial page editor of North Carolina's News & Observer. It appeared in the Sunday edition. Across a grand stage in Washington last Sunday strode the newly minted physicians --...

Florida Marks 30 Years Since Death Penalty's Return

Posted on May 26, 2009
That's the title of an AP report by Ron Word. It appeared in the Sunday Miami Herald. LINK Three decades have past since Florida resumed executions when John Spenkelink was strapped into Old Sparky and electrocuted, the nation's first involuntary...

Connecticut Governor Vows Veto

Posted on May 26, 2009
"Rell Vows to Veto Ban on Death Penalty in Connecticut," is the AP report via the New York Times. Gov. M. Jodi Rell vowed on Friday to veto a newly approved bill that would ban the death penalty, saying capital...

The Sotomayor Nomination - UPDATED

Former San Quentin Warden Honored for Speaking Out Against Death Penalty

Posted on May 26, 2009
That's the title of Richard Halstead's report in the Marin Independent Journal. It appeared in the Saturday edition. LINK During her stint as warden of San Quentin State Prison, Jeanne Woodford oversaw the execution of four death row inmates without....

A Federal Capital Case in New Jersey & the Deterrence Argument

Posted on May 22, 2009
Does the death penalty deter? Lawmakers opposing repeal measures in legislatures across the country this year often expressed their belief that the death penalty is a deterrent. Cass Sunstein and Justin Wolfers were quite clear in their OpEd,"The Murky Evidence...

Petition & Amicus Filed on Behalf of Troy Davis

Posted on May 22, 2009
"New plea on innocence," is Lyle Denniston's SCOTUS Blog report. Saying that no court has ever held a hearing on a Georgia death row inmate?s claim of innocence of a murder 20 years ago, and noting that the Supreme Court...

News Coverage of Washington Lethal Injection Hearing

Posted on May 22, 2009
"State's lethal "cocktail" challenged in death-penalty suit," is Jennifer Sullivan's Seattle Times report. Lethal-injection drugs administered by the state in carrying out capital-punishment sentences result in cruel and unusual punishment for the condemned, attorneys for three death-row inmates argued Thursday...

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