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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

Judge Keller Files Response - UPDATED

Posted on March 25, 2009
Judge Keller's response can be viewed, in Adobe .pdf format, here. The notice, or complaint, from the State Commission on Judicial Conduct is here. Now for the news coverage. At Texas Lawyer, Mary Alice Robbins writes, "Keller Alleges She Has...

Montana House Hearing - UPDATED

Posted on March 25, 2009
UPDATE - The hearing webcast is now live. The Montana House Judiciary Committee is scheduled to begin meeting at 8:00 am (MDT), today -- just a few minutes from now. The only topic for today's hearing is Senator Dave Wanzenried...

Montana Update

Posted on March 25, 2009
"Gut-wrenching testimony from both sides in death penalty debate," is the Billings Gazette's report of today's House Judiciary Committee hearing. It's written by Mike Dennison.The debate whether to abolish Montana?s death penalty pitted prosecutor against prosecutor and crime victim against...

Hellhole

Posted on March 25, 2009
That's the title of a lengthy examination of the effects of solitary confinement in the March 30 issue of the New Yorker. It's subtitled, "The United States holds tens of thousand of inmates in long-term solitary confinement. Is this torture?."...

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Lawyers? Late Filings Can Be Deadly for Inmates

Posted on March 24, 2009
That's the title of Houston Chronicle reporter Lise Olsen's latest report on capital punishment in Texas. LINK Three men on Texas? death row ? and six others already executed ? lost their federal appeals because attorneys failed to meet life-or-death...

Death Sentences and Executions in 2008

Posted on March 24, 2009
That's the title of Amnesty International's latest report looking at capital punishment around the world. The report is here. It's available in other languages here. This is from the news release: Death Penalty: 2,390 executions in 2008 worldwide, 72 per...

Nevada Moratorium Proposal Gets Hearing

Posted on March 24, 2009
Las Vegas' KLAS-TV has, "Lawmakers Propose Moratorium on Executions." If approved, Assembly Bill 190 would ban all executions until July of 2011 while the legislature conducts a study on the cost of capital punishment. And: An Assembly committee will hold...

The Tennessee Study Commission

Posted on March 24, 2009
Today's Tennessean has the editorial, "Clock ticks on state to fix flawed execution system." Is this the year that Tennessee takes serious action to address its death-penalty system? If not, it will only fall further behind in a positive trend...

New Hampshire

Posted on March 24, 2009
Today's Portsmouth Herald editorial is, "N.H. needs death penalty study group." The bill to set up a commission to objectively study the death penalty appears to have support based on its easy passage in the House Criminal Justice and Public...

Gov. Richardson Explains NM Repeal to Rachel Maddow

Posted on March 24, 2009
He was a guest on the MSNBC program last night. You can view the video clip of his interview. I'll update this post when a transcript becomes available. Earlier coverage of New Mexico's repeal begins here.

Maryland House

Posted on March 24, 2009
"Death-penalty bill expected to pass this week," is Michael Drost's report in today's Washington Times. Maryland lawmakers are expected to pass legislation this week to limit capital punishment, despite a chorus of dissatisfaction from House Democrats to Republicans to the...

Supreme Court Rejects Review of David Lee Powell Case

Posted on March 24, 2009
"Supreme Court won't hear case against man convicted of killing Austin officer," that's the title of the report in today's Austin American-Statesman. The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday refused to review the death sentence of a man who has twice...

Senator Feingold Reintroduces Bill to Abolish Federal Death Penalty

Posted on March 23, 2009
His news release is here. As momentum builds in states to abolish the death penalty, U.S. Senator Russ Feingold reintroduced legislation today to abolish the death penalty at the federal level. Feingold?s Federal Death Penalty Abolition Act of 2009 would...

Change Ways Accomplices Are Punished

Posted on March 23, 2009
That's the title of an editorial from the Saturday edition of the Dallas Morning News. It's one of an occasional series by the News on capital punishment in Texas. LINK Conventional wisdom suggests that the death penalty is reserved for...

Death Penalty Drains Justice System Resources

Posted on March 23, 2009
That's the title of an OpEd in the Billings Gazette by former Montana prosecutor John Connor. LINK Here's an extended excerpt from this must-read: I served as chief special prosecutor for the state of Montana for 21 years. During that...

The Jeffery Wood Case

Posted on March 23, 2009
"Death row inmate loses appeal," is Michael Graczyk's AP report from the Sunday Austin American Statesman. A Texas death row inmate who came within hours of being executed last summer has lost an appeal in federal court, where his lawyers...

Death Penalty Puts Undue Strain on Justice System

Posted on March 23, 2009
That's the title of an OpEd in today's Denver Post by Mary Dodge, an associate professor of public affairs at the Univeristy of Colorado, Denver. LINK Here's a lengthy excerpt: Admittedly, Nathan Dunlap deserved to receive the death penalty. In...

Missouri

Posted on March 23, 2009
"Death Penalty Moratorium Gains Support in Missouri," is in the KC Tribune. It's written by Debbie Coleman-Topi. Organizers of a longtime movement to halt executions of convicted criminals believe the years of protests and lobbying may finally be paying off...

Reaction in New Mexico

Posted on March 23, 2009
"Pushing back the death penalty in New Mexico," is the Los Angeles Times editorial from Friday's edition. New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson has had his share of setbacks recently. He ran for president and never came close. Then he was...

Maryland

Posted on March 23, 2009
"House committee approves death penalty restrictions," is Julie Bykowicz' report in the Saturday Baltimore Sun. A House of Delegates committee approved the Senate's plan yesterday to restrict capital punishment to cases with specific kinds of evidence, a major step toward...

In the Texas House

Posted on March 19, 2009
This morning, the Death Penalty Subcommittee of the House Criminal Jurisprudence Committee will hear HJR 24 and HB 877, both by State Rep. Elliott Naishtat. The House Joint Resolution is a proposed constitutional amendment that would give the governor of...

News Coverage of the New Mexico Repeal Law

Posted on March 19, 2009
"New Mexico gov signs bill banning death penalty," is Deborah Baker's AP report via Google News. Gov. Bill Richardson signed legislation Wednesday repealing New Mexico's death penalty, making it the second state to ban executions since the U.S. Supreme Court...

Governor Richardson's Statement on Repeal

Posted on March 19, 2009
Governor Richardson had this statement in signing the legislation. Here's the complete text: Today marks the end of a long, personal journey for me and the issue of the death penalty. Throughout my adult life, I have been a firm...

Where the Action Is - The States

Posted on March 19, 2009
John Gramlich at Stateline has another excellent report on the state of legislation in the states. It's titled, "Death penalty rifts in state continues," and its a must-read. Here are some extended excerpts: Gov. Bill Richardson?s decision Wednesday (March 18)...

Texas Judge: Eye-Plucking Inmate 'Crazy' but Sane

Posted on March 18, 2009
Another only in Texas moment. That's the headline of the breaking AP report via the New York Times website. LINK The Court of Criminal Appeals Per Curiam opinion is here. Judge Cochran's concurring opinion is here. An except from the...

Will the Moratorium Continue in Nebraska

Posted on March 18, 2009
Nebraska currently has a moratorium in place because there is no means to execute. The state's Supreme Court ruled its electric chair unconstitutional in 2008. There is breaking news today that a bill to make lethal injection the method of...

Chapter Closed in the Nichols Case

Posted on March 18, 2009
"U.S. Attorney: No federal trial, death penalty for Nichols," also by Bill Rankin, is in today's Atlanta Journal-Constitution. There will be no death penalty for Brian Nichols. On Tuesday, U.S. Attorney David Nahmias announced he will not seek death against...

Georgia Legislation

Posted on March 18, 2009
"Life-without-parole bill imperiled by addition," is Bill Rankin and Aaron Gould Sheinin's report in today's Atlanta Journal-Constitution. A move to allow a death sentence without a unanimous jury sidetracked legislation Tuesday that was the state district attorneys? top priority this...

In Maryland

Posted on March 18, 2009
The Capital, Annapolis' hometown newspaper reports, "O'Malley urges compromise on death penalty." It's by Liam Farrell. Gov. Martin O'Malley may have acquiesced to a death penalty compromise crafted by the state Senate, but questions still remain whether the new capital...

New Mexicans Urging Governor Richardson to Sign Repeal Bill

Posted on March 18, 2009
New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson must make a decision to sign or veto the legislation by midnight tonight. "New Mexicans, three to one, tell the guv to sign death penalty repeal," is Trip Jennings report in the New Mexico Independent....

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