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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

On the Execution Setting Front

Posted on April 25, 2008
In Ohio, the Columbus Dispatch has, "Executions may return by summer." For the first time since Ohio resumed executions in 1999, a woman is among 27 Death Row inmates whose legal options are closing. The Ohio public defender emphasizes that...

Maiming and the Death Penalty Case

Posted on April 25, 2008
That's the title of a post at ACS blog on the Baze ruling. It's written by Doug Kendall of the Community Rights Council. LINK Could Alabama bring back the whipping post or brand the skin of a thief with a...

Justice Scalia Speaks at UBaltimore Law; Sunday on 60 Minutes

Posted on April 25, 2008
Justice Antonin Scalia appears this Sunday evening on CBS News' program 60 Minutes. CBS News has a promo, "Scalia on Bush v. Gore: Get Over It!" People who believe the U.S. Supreme Court?s decision giving the 2000 presidential election to...

State Legislative Round-Up

Posted on April 24, 2008
Let's start with a Marcia Coyle's report in the upcoming National Law Journal, "'Racial impact statements' a reality in Iowa." Iowa recently became the first state to enact a law requiring all new sentencing legislation to be examined for its...

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Opinion Round-Up

Posted on April 24, 2008
The Arkansas Times has the editorial, "Stop the death machine." More than one prominent public servant has concluded that opposition to the death penalty must be expressed as long as there's a chance to do so. Gov. Winthrop Rockefeller's last...

Executions to Resume; Question Is When

Posted on April 24, 2008
That's the title of an article in Florida Catholic written by Jacquelyn Horkan. LINK When the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that state-administered death by lethal injection is not a cruel and unusual punishment, Florida?s politicians reacted with an eagerness some...

Another Texas Execution Date Set

Posted on April 24, 2008
In today's Houston Chronicle, Rosanna Ruiz reports, "Execution set for man who killed Humble toddler, mom." A man who killed a 2-year-old Humble boy and his mother after she repeatedly rejected his advances is the third Texas death row inmate...

Texas Monthly Talks to Craig Watkins

Posted on April 24, 2008
TM editor Evan Smith State of Mine blog features a podcast discussion, "Dallas County D.A. Craig Watkins on DNA, the Death Penalty, and All Those Exonerations." Here's the text. Click on the LINK to download and listen. Last week another...

Five Decades of Fighting

Posted on April 24, 2008
Edward Lazarus' latest column at FindLaw is, "Five Decades of Fighting Over the Constitutionality of the Death Penalty: What Can We Learn From This Lengthy War?" These days, when one speaks of a "war without end," the reference is usually...

Vacancies in the Federal Judiciary

Posted on April 23, 2008
"Time ticking for Bush's judicial picks," is Pamela MacLean's report in the upcoming issue of National Law Journal. Republican senators are anxious about 28 judicial nominees awaiting confirmation, the 46 total vacancies and the dwindling time left in President Bush's...

At the U.S. Sentencing Commission

Posted on April 23, 2008
Marcia Coyle has a web-only report at National Law Journal, "U.S. Sentencing Commission creates new victims' advisory group." The U.S. Sentencing Commission has created a new standing advisory group to provide insight and advice on the operation of the federal...

Inmate Count in U.S. Dwarfs Other Nations'

Posted on April 23, 2008
That's the title of a report by Adam Liptak in today's New York Times. LINK The United States has less than 5 percent of the world?s population. But it has almost a quarter of the world?s prisoners. Indeed, the United...

In New Hampshire

Posted on April 23, 2008
The Nashua Telegraph reports, "Proposed death penalty study meets opposition." It's written by Kevin Landrigan. Attorney General Kelly Ayotte squared off against a Roman Catholic bishop and retired judges Tuesday over whether a proposed commission studying the death penalty would...

Cruel & Unusual History

Posted on April 23, 2008
That's the title of an OpEd in today's New York Times by Gilbert King, author of the recently published book, The Execution of Willie Francis: Race, Murder and the Search for Justice in the American South. The OpEd is here....

New Book on New Jersey Abolition

Posted on April 23, 2008
New Jersey State Senator Raymond Lesniak has written The Road to Abolition: How New Jersey Abolished Its Death Penalty. Today's Star-Ledger carries his remarks at a book signing as the OpEd, "Lethal Injection Ruling Paves Way for Executions." I signed...

Execution Date Sought in Alabama

Posted on April 23, 2008
The Alabama Attorney General is seeking an execution date in a controversial case. UPI reports, "Execution date sought for Alabama inmate." Alabama's attorney general announced he has filed a motion to set a new execution date for an inmate who...

After Court Ruling, States to Proceed With Executions

Posted on April 23, 2008
That's the title of a Washington Post article by Darryl Fears. LINK States began moving forward with plans for executions this week after the Supreme Court declined last Wednesday to review the appeals of death row inmates who had challenged...

Wow

Posted on April 22, 2008
Karl Keys has conducted a masterful redesign of his essential Capital Defense Weekly. Its elegant and robust appearance is a wonderful match for the always comprehensive content. I don't know if he's completed, but it's absolutely first class. His right-column...

More Baze Commentary

Posted on April 22, 2008
The Harvard Crimson has an editorial, "Improving an Injustice." The Greensboro News & Record editorial is, "Deadly inconsistencies." Ohio's News-Herald has the editorial, "Proceed with Ohio's capital punishment." Jurist has commentary from Richard Dieter of the Death Penalty Information Center,...

From New Jersey

Posted on April 22, 2008
Abe Bonowitz has sent two articles from the recent New Jersey Lawyer covering the Seton Hall symposium on abolition of the Garden State's death penalty. First is, "Five justices refute rumor that court sandbagged executions." In the nooks and crannies...

In Missouri

Posted on April 22, 2008
The Springfield News-Leader reports, "Death penalty for rape of a child a step closer." A Senate committee passed a bill Monday granting judges and juries the power to sentence someone to death for forcibly raping or sodomizing a child younger...

More on Supreme Court Lifting of Stays

Posted on April 22, 2008
The Dallas Morning News reports, "Irving killer whose execution was blocked loses appeal." The Supreme Court cleared the way Monday for Texas to set a new execution date for Carlton Turner Jr., who was granted a last-minute reprieve by the...

High Court OKs Executions; Texas Court Hasn't

Posted on April 22, 2008
That's the title of John Moritz' article in today's Fort Worth Star-Telegram on the status of lethal injection in Texas. LINK -- Less than a week after upholding the constitutionality of lethal injections, the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday gave...

In Missouri

Posted on April 21, 2008
Missouri Governor Matt Blunt is pushing his Jessica's Law proposal that would provide a death penalty option for non-homicidal child rape. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch has, "Blunt: Child rapists deserve death penalty." Emphasizing that the most heinous crimes deserve the...

California Still Has Legal Issues on Lethal Injection Executions

Posted on April 21, 2008
That's the title of an article in Sunday's Sacramento Bee by Andy Furillo. It examines some of those involved in the Morales lethal injection challenge that is specific to California. LINK Morales' lawyer, David Senior, said opposing parties in the...

Editorial Round-Up

Posted on April 21, 2008
There are editorial commentaries on Baze in the Birmingham News, Kansas City Star, Memphis Commercial Appeal, Raleigh (NC) News & Observer, Syracuse Post-Standard, In the Birmingham News, "The U.S. Supreme Court upheld Kentucky's lethal injection procedures, clearing the way for...

Lots of Lethal Injection Commentary

Posted on April 21, 2008
There is a great deal of commentary on the Baze ruling and the future of lethal injection and capital punishment. Let me start with a must-read by Rudolf J. Gerber in today's Sacrmento Bee. Gerber is a former prosecutor, trial...

Harris County Juvenile Indigent Defense

Posted on April 21, 2008
In the Houston Chronicle, Sarah Viren reports, "A select few get the cases, and the cash." A relatively small group of attorneys, some of them old friends and all financial backers of judges handing out work, regularly receives close to...

At the Supreme Court

Posted on April 21, 2008
AP reports, "Court lifts stay of execution for 3 death row inmates." he Supreme Court cleared the way Monday for Alabama, Mississippi and Texas to set new execution dates for three inmates who were granted last-minute reprieves by the justices...

Dallas Morning News Profiles

Posted on April 21, 2008
Diane Jennings has a series of articles that ran in the Sunday Dallas Morning News, beginning with an introducion, "Texas prosecutors bring different insights into death penalty debate." Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins thinks the spark for the debate...

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