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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

Cost Factor in Tennessee

Posted on November 02, 2010
"Dotson murder trial cost nearing $450K; believed to be city's most expensive," is the title of Lawrence Buser's report in the Memphis Commercial Appeal. Justice does not come cheaply, especially when the defendant is accused of being the worst mass....

Georgia Indigent Defense Update

Posted on November 02, 2010
Today's Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports, "Defender agency seeks special session for funds." It's by Bill Rankin. Gov. Sonny Perdue will consider a request by the state?s public defender agency to call a special session of the Legislature to deal with the...

Innocence Case to Get Evidentiary Hearing in Virginia

Posted on November 02, 2010
"Hearing set in Norfolk for Va. death row inmate," is the AP report by Dena Potter. It's via the Virginian Pilot. A Virginia death row inmate who claims he was wrongly convicted in the murder-for-hire of his marijuana supplier will...

Lethal Injection Roundup

Posted on November 02, 2010
There is news from Alabama, Montana, and the UK this morning. "Ala has drug needed for Hallford execution," is the title of Bob Johnson's AP report via Louisiana's Lafourche Parish Daily Comet. State prison officials said Monday they have an...

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Graves' Attorney Responds to Perry "System Works Well' Comment

Posted on November 02, 2010
Elliott Blackburn posts, "Update: Graves attorney reacts to Perry's comments on case in Lubbock," at the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal. Anthony Graves? incensed co-counsel called the governor?s description of the freed death row inmate?s case ?ludicrous? and ?idiotic? Monday, three days after...

On Juries, Sentencing, and Terry Nichols

Posted on November 01, 2010
The Oklahoman reports, "Terry Nichols' judge said some jurors thought life in prison was harsher punishment than death," by Nolan Clay. Terry Nichols' judge revealed Thursday that three jurors told him after the 2004 state trial that they thought life...

Rick Casey on Prosecutorial Misconduct and Anthony Graves

Posted on November 01, 2010
"My fantasy: Siegler puts DA on trial," is the title of his column in today's Houston Chronicle. The import was lost on much of the statewide press corps attending the press conference in Brenham on Thursday, but the jaws of...

Justice in Slow Motion

Posted on November 01, 2010
That's the title of an OpEd in the Sunday Los Angeles Times. It's subtitled, "LAPD Det. Thomas Williams' killer has been on death row for 22 years as appeals drag on." It's written by LA writer Arnold Friedman. It's a...

Landirgan Execution - Additional Commentary

Posted on November 01, 2010
"No Justification," is the title of a New York Times editorial from Friday's paper. Two years ago, when a splintered Supreme Court approved lethal injection as a means of execution in Baze v. Rees, Justice John Paul Stevens made a...

The Anthony Graves Exoneration - More Coverage

Posted on November 01, 2010
Sunday's Houston Chronicle featured two news articles. First, "A mother always knows," by Cindy George. Doris Curry often points to a framed poster in her front room of footprints in the sand, an illustration that shows how a believer can...

North Carolina: Murders Down, Death Sentences Down

Posted on November 01, 2010
"On the decline: murders and death sentences," is the title of an OpEd by Frank R. Baumgartner. He's a professor of political science at UNC-Chapel Hill. It's a must-read: Recently in several parts of North Carolina potential voters received fliers...

Friday

Posted on October 29, 2010
I'll be traveling Friday. Please take the opportunity to visit sites in the left=column webroll.

Cruel and Usual?

Posted on October 28, 2010
That's the Scientific American's latest Ask the Expert topic. Larry Greenemeier's column is subtitled, "Is Capital Punishment by Lethal Injection Quick and Painless?" Lethal injection is used for capital punishment by the federal government and 36 States, at least 30...

Arizona's Lethal Injection - Supplier Identified?

Posted on October 28, 2010
There is extensive coverage of the legal scrum leading up to Arizona's Tuesday night execution, as well as British press coverage of the possible source of sodium thiopental. "High Court Split Paves Way for Arizona Execution," is the title of...

Anthony Graves Exoneration - Additional Coverage

Posted on October 28, 2010
This morning's Houston Chronicle has expanded coverage in, "Prisoner ordered free from Texas' death row," by Brian Rogers. After 18 years of incarceration and countless protestations of innocence, Anthony Graves finally got a nod of approval from the one person...

Dahlia Lithwick on Foreign Lethal Injection Drug

Posted on October 28, 2010
"Lethal Deflection," is her latest post at Slate. But in an opinion Tuesday signed by Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Antonin Scalia, Anthony Kennedy, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, the court allowed the execution to go forward, finding ?[t]here...

Anthony Graves Exonerated, Free

Posted on October 27, 2010
"Prisoner ordered free from Texas' death row," is the title of Brian Rogers' post at the Houston Chronicle. Here's an extended excerpt: A Texas inmate sentenced to die in 1994 has been released after prosecutors said today the man is...

Arbitrary as Ever (II)

Posted on October 27, 2010
That's the title of Rob Smith's new post at Second Class Justice, and it includes new mapping of death sentences imposed since 1976. The chief complaint in Furman centered on the inability to distinguish between those who received a death...

Arizona's Lethal Injection Drug - Additional Coverage

Posted on October 27, 2010
Legal analyst Andrew Cohen has posted, "Supreme Court Sides With Arizona in Lethal Injection Drug Dispute," at Politics Daily. The legal question in the case was simple and unusual and sparked a great deal of debate among death penalty specialists:...

Elie Wiesel: The Death Penalty and Human Dignity

Posted on October 27, 2010
That was the title of the Nobel Laureate's speech at Wesleyan University in Connecticut, last night. The Day reports, "For Elie Wiesel, death penalty is not the answer." It's written by Karen Florin. Dr. William Petit did not attend Elie...

Keller Motion to Reconsider - Additional Coverage

Posted on October 27, 2010
The Motion to Recosider, filed with the Court of Review, is available in Adobe .pdf format. "Execution 'ordeal' may not be over for Texas appeals judge," is the title of Peggy Fikac's report in today's Houston Chronicle. It looks like...

Bring comfort and closure

Posted on October 27, 2010
That's the title of an OpEd by Cory Session in today's Austin American-Statesman. It's a must-read. As the brother of a man who was wrongfully convicted of crime he didn't commit, I am all too familiar with the pain that...

Arizona Executes After Supreme Court Lifts TRO

Posted on October 27, 2010
The Supreme Court Order vacating Judge Silver's temporary restraining order is in Adobe .pdf. "Arizona executes inmate after federal judge lifts stay," is Michael Kiefer's Arizona Republic report. In only the second Arizona execution since 2000, convicted killer Jeffrey Landrigan...

En Banc 3rd Circuit Set to Hear DNA Samples Case

Posted on October 26, 2010
That's the title of Shannon Duffy's report for Law.com / Legal Intelligencer. LINK Here's an excerpt from the beginning of the article: When a federal judge in Pittsburgh ruled that prosecutors cannot, without a warrant, routinely collect DNA samples from...

Journey of Hope Stops in San Antonio

Posted on October 26, 2010
Cary Clack writes, "A journey of hope starts on death row ," for his column in today's San Antonio Express-News. By the time Shujaa Graham rose to the podium Sunday morning in an East Side church, tears were already rolling...

Texas Tribune Interviews Sharon Keller

Posted on October 26, 2010
You can watch the interview at, "An Interview With Judge Sharon Keller," conducted by Morgan Smith. On Sept. 25, 2007, Sharon Keller allegedly spoke the words that launched a thousand editorials: "The court closes at 5 p.m." According to lawyers...

Sodium Thiopental Drug Source the Big Question in Arizona

Posted on October 26, 2010
Federal District Judge Roslyn Silver issued a Temporary Restraining Order against Arizona yesterday over the issue of the source of the state's lethal injection drug. The state appealed the order, and early this morning the U.S. Court of Appeals for....

More In RE: Keller?

Posted on October 26, 2010
"Lawyers asking for review of Judge Keller ruling," is the AP report, via the Houston Chronicle. Attorneys who led the state's case against the criminal court judge in Texas are asking a special court of review to reconsider its dismissal...

More Book News

Posted on October 25, 2010
Yesterday's Washington Post carried, "Book review: 'Stay of Execution: Saving the Death Penalty from Itself' by Charles Lane." The review is written by Seth Stern, co-author of the recently published, Justice Brennan: Liberal Champion. Washington Post editorial writer Charles Lane...

Federal Judge Orders Arizona to Disclose Drug Source

Posted on October 25, 2010
Judge Roslyn Silver's order is in Adobe .pdf format. "Judge to question whether Arizona illegally obtained lethal-injection drug," is the title of Michael Kiefer's report in today's Arizona Republic. On Sunday night, Gov. Jan Brewer announced that she would not...

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