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Criminal Law

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

TCDLA Protests Search of Attorney's Office

Posted on July 28, 2008
"Search adds twist to Frisco murder-for-hire case," is the headline in the Dallas Morning News. The report is written by Ed Housewright. LINK The highly unusual search of a defense attorney's offices at the request of the prosecution has triggered...

Mexico Buys Death Defense

Posted on July 28, 2008
That's the title of an article in today's Denver Post. LINK When a Houston jury recently refused to sentence a Mexican citizen to death for gunning down a Houston police officer, it sparked an uproar in Texas, where in recent...

Federal Officials Try to Block Texas Execution to Allow World Court Review of Case

Posted on July 28, 2008
That's the title of Diane Jennings article in today's Dallas Morning News. LINK Fourteen years and numerous judicial reviews have passed since José Medellin was sentenced to die after confessing to the brutal gang rape and murder of two teenage...

Mississippi Execution Raises Clemency Questions

Posted on July 25, 2008
Today's Jackson Clarion-Ledger has the editorial, "Death penalty: Bishop case raises questions." Mississippians have over the years largely supported capital punishment but the actions of two individuals may have cracked that support: Dale Leo Bishop, who was executed Wednesday; Gov...

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Jurist Commentary on Medellin

Posted on July 25, 2008
Bryan McCann has commentary on Jurist, "Medellin death penalty case exposes hollow Texas brand of gunslinger politics." If Texas gets its way, Joe Medellin will be the second of the five men sentenced to death for the Ertman and Pena...

Suit Challenges Missouri's Lethal Injection

Posted on July 25, 2008
That's the title of an AP report in today's St. Louis Post-Dispatch. LINK Inmates, families, clergy and legislators claimed in a new lawsuit that Missouri's method of lethal injection violates state law. Meanwhile, a doctor who once performed executions in...

More on Oklahoma Clemency

Posted on July 25, 2008
The Oklahoman reports, "Governor spares 2nd killer's life." For the second time in his five years in office, Gov. Brad Henry granted clemency for a man on death row. Henry approved clemency for Kevin Young, who was sentenced to death...

Clemency in Oklahoma

Posted on July 24, 2008
The Oklahoman reports, "Governor commutes inmate's death sentence." Gov. Brad Henry today approved clemency for death row inmate Kevin Young. The governor commuted his sentence to life without the possibility of parole as recommended by the state Pardon and Parole...

A Statement From Lonnie Johnson's Attorney

Posted on July 24, 2008
Austin criminal defense attorney Jodi Callaway-Cole, who represented Lonnie Johnson, has issued the following statement: Representing Lonnie on his subsequent federal habeas' for his death penalty case was an emotionally and professionally taxing endeavor...

Indigent Defense Round-Up

Posted on July 24, 2008
"Georgia public defender system in tug-of-war," is the AP report via Law.com's Fulton County Daily Report. Georgia's ailing public defender system, once praised as a national model for providing legal representation to poor defendants, is now in a legal tug-of-war...

Lonnie Johnson

Posted on July 24, 2008
In about 30 minutes Carrie Christensen will be holding a news conference at the Magnolia Hotel in Houston to discuss the case of Lonnie Johnson, who was executed by Texas one year ago today. She has started the LEJ Foundation...

Death Penalty - Medieval Relic

Posted on July 24, 2008
That's the title of an editorial in today's Charleston Gazette of West Virginia. LINK AFTER the Ayatollah Khomeini and other mullahs took control of Iran in 1979, they vowed to create "the government of God on Earth" - but they...

Indigent Defense in Dallas

Posted on July 24, 2008
"State report says Dallas County shouldn't cut public defender's appeal unit," by Kevin Krause. The Dallas County public defender's office wants to prevent its relatively new appeals division from becoming a casualty of this year's budget crisis. And it's getting...

Prisoners' Time Spent on Death Row Doubles

Posted on July 24, 2008
That's the title of Kevin Johnson's report in USA Today. LINK The time prisoners spend on death row has nearly doubled during the past two decades. Legal experts predict it will rise further as states review execution procedures and prisoners...

Doctor Banned From Executions in Missouri Now In Arizona

Posted on July 24, 2008
That's the title of a report in today's Arizona Republic. LINK A Missouri surgeon who was banned by a federal judge from taking part in capital executions by lethal injection in his home state apparently participated in Arizona's most recent...

Delaware to Change Lethal Injection Proposal

Posted on July 24, 2008
The Wilmington News Journal reports, "Delaware to change execution procedure." After months of insisting that Delaware's method of lethal injection was virtually identical -- and perhaps better -- than the one approved by the U.S. Supreme Court, attorneys for the...

Texas Execution

Posted on July 23, 2008
For the second time this month, two executions have been carried out in the nation on the same evening. Texas executed Derrick Sonnier in Huntsville shortly after 6:00 pm. It's the third execution of 2008 in the state; the 408th...

Needless Controvery

Posted on July 23, 2008
That's the title of an editorial in today's Houston Chronicle on the controversial scheduled execution of Jose Medellin. LINK If Medellin is executed as scheduled on Aug. 5 without a review of his case, it will send other nations the...

Clemency Urged in Mississippi Case

Posted on July 22, 2008
Today's Jackson Clarion-Ledger carries the editorial, "Death penalty: State should spare Dale Bishop." This newspaper has been a longtime supporter of the enforcement of the death penalty in Mississippi. The death penalty exists in this state as the ultimate penalty...

How Reliable Is DNA In Identifying Suspects?

Posted on July 22, 2008
That's the title of a must-read article in Sunday's Los Angeles Times reported by Jason Feich and Maura Dolan. LINK State crime lab analyst Kathryn Troyer was running tests on Arizona's DNA database when she stumbled across two felons with...

Louisiana Seek Supreme Court Rehearing

Posted on July 22, 2008
Louisiana has filed a request for a re-hearing in Kennedy v. Louisiana. Lyle Denniston reports, "Louisiana seeks change on death penalty, at SCOTUS Blog. The petition in Kennedy v. Louisiana (07-343) can be found here. And: Under the Court?s rules,...

More Reaction to World Court Ruling ... And Texas

Posted on July 22, 2008
State Senator Rodney Ellis and Texas Southern University Law prof Mike Jackson have an OpEd in today's Houston Chronicle, "Perry has chance to show another side of Texas justice." Last Wednesday's decision by the International Court of Justice, the World...

The Importance of Mitigation

Posted on July 21, 2008
The Morning Call of Allentown, Pennsylvania reports, "New specialists delve deep to keep convicts off death row." It's written by Debbie Garlicki. Mitigation experts, who can be social workers, educators, psychologists or anthropologists, are becoming crucial as state appellate courts...

Continued Commentary on Kennedy v. Louisiana

Posted on July 21, 2008
There is continuing commentary about the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling last month in Kennedy v. Louisiana. Today's Sacramento Bee has the OpEd, "Death penalty for child rapists risks fatal injustice." by Ken Rosenfield. The U.S. Supreme Court, in a 5-4...

Texas Turns Aside Pressure on Exeuction of 5 Mexicans

Posted on July 21, 2008
That was the title of an article in Friday's New York Times. LINK HOUSTON ? Despite pleas from the White House and the State Department, as well as an international court order to review their cases, Texas will execute five...

Saturday at Net Roots Nation

Posted on July 20, 2008
Nancy Pelosi was the morning speaker, mostly fielding questions that had been voted up through Ask the Speaker. After some introductory comments, she answered questions for about 40 minutes before a surprise guest, Al Gore, came on stage. The former....

Friday

Posted on July 18, 2008
Lots of programming today at Net Roots Nation. I'll do some live blogging from the Austin Convention Center; posts will resume later today. At 9:00 am, a panel with John Dean and Cass Sunstein should be quite lively.

More on the Oklahoma Clemency Bid

Posted on July 17, 2008
The Oklahoman yesterday reported, "Clemency bid for Kevin Young brings 30-day execution stay." Gov. Brad Henry on Tuesday granted a stay of execution for Kevin Young, 43. Young had been scheduled to die by lethal injection July 22. A new...

Additional News Coverage of World Court Ruling

Posted on July 17, 2008
National Law Journal has a web-only report, "International court urges U.S. to prevent scheduled executions." In the ongoing international legal dispute between Mexico and the United States over Mexican nationals on death row, the state of Texas once again moves...

Texas Response to World Court Ruling

Posted on July 17, 2008
The Houston Chronicle reports, "Texas still plans to execute killer despite U.N. order." Texas will go ahead with the scheduled Aug. 5 execution of Houston rapist-killer Jose Medellin despite Wednesday's United Nations world court order for a stay, a spokesman...

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