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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

Mr. Lesniak Changes His Mind

Posted on June 10, 2008
That's the title of an editorial in today's New York Times. LINK Raymond Lesniak tells anyone who asks that he made a big mistake. The admission would not be noteworthy except that Mr. Lesniak is a state senator in New...

Steve Earle and the Death Penalty

Posted on June 10, 2008
UK's Oxford Mail reports, "I buried killer's ashes near city," written by Angela Swann. Rock and country star Steve Earle surprised Oxford fans by telling them he had buried the ashes of a convicted killer near the city. During his...

U.S. Prison-Jail Population: 2.3 Million

Posted on June 10, 2008
National Law Journal reports, "Number of state, federal prisoners in U.S. grew slightly in first half of 2007." The number of state and federal prisoners in the United States grew by 1.6% in the first half of 2007, which is...

More on Texas Criminal Justice Integrity Unit

Posted on June 10, 2008
Today's Lufkin Daily News carries the editorial, "A good start." With a history of dubious justice in Texas, the decision by a state appeals court to create an integrity unit is welcome. Texas leads the nation in wrongful convictions overturned...

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Ethical Implications of Modifying Lethal Injection Protocols

Posted on June 10, 2008
That's the title of an article in the current issue of the peer-reviewed online journal Public Library of Science. LINK Here's the summary: Lethal injection for execution has largely replaced other execution methods, in part due to the appearance of....

An AP Writer's Perspective on an Execution

Posted on June 10, 2008
That's the title of an essay by AP reporter Greg Bluestein on witnessing the execution of Curtis Osborne in Georgia last week. It appears via the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer. LINK I've never met Curtis Osborne, had hardly heard his name until...

Commutation in Virginia

Posted on June 10, 2008
Percy Walton had been scheduled to be executed tonight in Virginia. Yesterday, Governor Tim Kaine commuted the sentence because of Walton's mental illness. The Washington Post carries Kaine's statement on the commutation. "I have carefully considered over the past 24...

Tx CCA Clears Way For Executions

Posted on June 09, 2008
This afternoon, in a series of opinions, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals cleared the way for lethal injection executions to resume in the nation's busiest execution chamber. The Court's opinions are here. The next Texas execution is scheduled for...

Texas Politics Today

Posted on June 09, 2008
Texas Politics Today is the new website and Wednesday radio program hosted by Deece Eckstein, no stranger to Texas politics. Deece is a adviser to former Governor Ann Richards, chief of staff to State Senator Rodney Ellis, and executive director...

Supreme Court Watching

Posted on June 09, 2008
Earlier today, the Supreme Court issued rulings in four cases. With less than a month left in the term this leaves 22 cases pending, including Kennedy v. Louisiana and Rothgery v. Gillespie County. Thursday is the next day the Court...

Challenges Grow Over Sex Offender Laws

Posted on June 09, 2008
That's the title of an article in the current issue of National Law Journal reported by Pamela MacLean. LINK The creation of complex sex offender registration systems and increasingly stringent limits on where offenders may live has spawned hundreds of...

Violent and Property Crimes Declined in 2007

Posted on June 09, 2008
That's the title of an AP dispatch from Washington. LINK Both violent and property crimes declined in 2007 from the previous year, the FBI reported Monday. But one expert warned the figures could mask a growing murder problem among young...

A Crowded Day in Criminal Justice Columns

Posted on June 09, 2008
Chicago Sun-Times' columnist Carol Marin wrote, "A commuted sentence, and a life reborn," in Sunday's paper. It's a must-read. Ten days ago, I took a trip I wouldn't have predicted. This is a story about a near-execution, a graduation and...

Mexico Asks World Court to Stay Executions in US

Posted on June 09, 2008
That's the title of an AP dispatch that ran on Friday. LINK Mexico appealed to the U.N.'s highest court Thursday to block the executions of Mexicans in the United States, arguing U.S. officials have failed to comply with a judgment...

10 Years Later, Byrd Tragedy Still Haunts Jasper

Posted on June 09, 2008
That's the title of an article in Sunday's Houston Chronicle looking back at the murder of James Byrd a decade ago. LINK The event is something that some in this small East Texas town, shrouded in thick pines, sweet gum,...

More on the State of Lethal Injection in Texas

Posted on June 09, 2008
Following last week's stay of execution by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, the Houston Chronicle reported Saturday, "AG says injection question settled." The Texas Attorney General's office filed its response to appeals that led to this week's last-minute stay...

Another Exoneration in Texas

Posted on June 09, 2008
Al Dia's Octavio Rivera Lopez writes in today's Dallas Morning News, "Murder conviction overturned: Man walks free in West Texas after 12 years." April 29, 2008, will forever be engraved in Alberto Sifuentes' memory. That Tuesday he walked out of...

More Editorial Support for Criminal Justice Integrity Unit

Posted on June 09, 2008
Sunday's Dallas Morning News carried the editorial, "Court's integrity proposal." Lasting reform, though, requires legislative action, and that's why an effort by Sen. Rodney Ellis should continue to muster political support. Mr. Ellis, a Houston Democrat who organized the Capitol...

Oral Arguments in the Fifth Circuit

Posted on June 06, 2008
The U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, the federal appeals court with jurisdiction for Texas, recently made the following announcement: The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit announces that beginning with cases heard in late May 2008, recordings...

Lethal Injection Round-Up

Posted on June 06, 2008
The next scheduled execution in Texas is next Wednesday, June 11. The Huntsville Item reports, "Motion filed to stay execution of inmate." It's written by Kristin Edwards. Attorneys representing the second Texas inmate scheduled to face lethal injection this month...

Grant to Pay for More DNA Testing in Dallas

Posted on June 06, 2008
Jennifer Emily reports, "Dallas County DA's office gets grant for DNA tests," in the Dallas Morning News. The Dallas County district attorney's office on Thursday received a grant to aid its review of requests for post-conviction DNA testing. The grant...

Editorial Support for Texas Criminal Justice Integrity Unit

Posted on June 06, 2008
The Austin American-Statesman editorial is, "Major leap toward restoring justice." The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals took a huge step this week in restoring integrity and public confidence to the state?s broken justice system. Texas Criminal Appeals Judge Barbara Hervey...

Witness to the Prosecution

Posted on June 06, 2008
That's the title of a lengthy article in the next issue of Texas Lawyer, written by John Council. It's subtitled, "Current and Former ADAs Who Helped Convict Exonerated Men Reflect." In fewer than two years in office, Dallas County District...

The United Methodist Church Resolution

Posted on June 06, 2008
"UMC death penalty stance single out Texas," is the title of an article distributed by the Church's General Board of Church and Society. It's written by Kathy Gilbert of the United Methodist News Service. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals'...

Rita Radostitz on Harris County and Race

Posted on June 05, 2008
Journalist Rita Radostitz writes, "Harris County Death Penlaty: Race Matters," in the current Austin Chronicle. Anyone who follows capital murder cases in Texas has observed that race plays a role in who gets the death penalty and who doesn't. It's...

An Eye for an Eye?

Posted on June 05, 2008
That's the title of John C. Williams' report on the case of Kenneth Reams in Arkansas Times. LINK In December 1993, Kenneth Reams, an 18-year-old black man, sat on trial for capital murder in a shooting he didn't commit. Seven...

Death Penalty Works, DA Says

Posted on June 05, 2008
That's the title of an article in today's Jackson (MS) Clarion-Ledger profiling a new district attorney. LINK Jackson's growing homicide rate has prompted Hinds County's new district attorney to do something that hasn't been done in at least two decades...

More Coverage of Texas Criminal Justice Integrity Unit

Posted on June 05, 2008
The Dallas Morning News carries an updated AP dispatch, "Texas high court creates integrity unit." Key issues to be considered include: _Improving eyewitness testimony. Experts say unreliable testimony is the No. 1 problem in wrongful convictions. _Reforming standards for collecting,...

Trouble in Georgia

Posted on June 05, 2008
The Atlanta Journal Constitution reports, "Executioners had trouble putting murderer to death." Executioners struggled for 35 minutes to find a vein before Curtis Osborne died by lethal injection Wednesday for a 1990 Spalding County double murder. Osborne, 37, was pronounced...

Tx CCA Creates Criminal Justice Integrity Unit

Posted on June 04, 2008
Texas Court of Criminal Appeals Judge Barbara Hervey has announced the creation of the entity. AP's Jim Vertuno writes, "Texas high court creates integrity unit," via the San Antonio Express-News. The Texas court that handles the state's criminal and death...

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