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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

Romell Broom's Ohio Hearing

Posted on December 10, 2009
Andrew Welsh-Huggins covered yesterday's heaing and filed, "Judge: Ohio inmate's execution appeal has limits," for AP, via Google News. An Ohio inmate fighting the state's second attempt to execute him will be limited to a simple argument, a federal judge...

New Commentary From Deborah Denno

Posted on December 10, 2009
"Ohio's Perverse First Place," is the title of her Huffington Post essay. Ohio executed Ken Biros by lethal injection yesterday. Having garnered this country's worst record of execution botches, the state also acquired another first place by imposing a method...

News Coverage of TCADP Report

Posted on December 10, 2009
Jordan Smith writes, "Texas Death Penalty Sentencing Declines," for the current issue of the Austin Chronicle, distributed today, but dated December 11. The number of new death sentences imposed in Texas this year was the lowest since the 1976 reinstatement...

In Oklahoma

Posted on December 10, 2009
"Okla. Senator Wants to Abolish Death Penalty," is the KTUL-TV report. An Oklahoma state senator will hold a press conference this afternoon to discuss a proposal to abolish the death penalty in Oklahoma. Senator Constance Johnson of Oklahoma City will...

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Lethal Injection Roundup

Posted on December 10, 2009
"Court won't rehear challenge to lethal injection procedures," is the title of John Lyon's report today for the Arkansas News Bureau. The state Supreme Court says it won?t reconsider its ruling ordering a lower court to dismiss a lawsuit that...

Is Death Penalty Worth the Price?

Posted on December 10, 2009
That's the title of Jon Murray's report in today's Indianapolis Star. LINK Indiana is set to carry out its first execution in more than two years early Friday, when a convicted killer from Evansville will be put to death by...

America's Prison Population

Posted on December 09, 2009
The Department of Justice Bureau of Justice Statistics has released two annual reports detailing America's prison population and those on probation and parole. A summary page has links to both Prisoners in 2008 by William J. Sabol, Heather C. West,...

New Execution Method Unlikely to Gain Traction in California

Posted on December 09, 2009
That's the title of Carol Williams' report in today's Los Angeles Times. LINK An Ohio murderer put to death with the nation's first single-drug lethal injection died swiftly Tuesday, inaugurating an execution method some analysts consider more humane than the...

Nebraska Moving Forward With Plan for Three-Drug Procedure

Posted on December 09, 2009
"Neb. lethal-injection plan advances," is the AP report via KTIV-TV. A proposed lethal-injection protocol in Nebraska has been submitted to Attorney General Jon Bruning for approval. Last week, the state Department of Correctional Services signed off on the three-drug cocktail...

Also From Ohio

Posted on December 09, 2009
A federal district judge in Ohio is holding a hearing today on the botched execution attempt of Romell Brown in September. "Ohio killer asks judge to stop 2nd execution try," is the title of the AP report. A day after...

News Coverage of Single-Drug Lethal Injection Execution

Posted on December 09, 2009
"Ohio executes inmate with one-drug injection," is the title of Andrew Welsh-Huggins AP report, via Google News. An Ohio killer was put to death in an efficient 10 minutes Tuesday in the first U.S. execution to use a single drug...

Deborah Denno on the Ohio Execution

Posted on December 08, 2009
Fordham Law professor Deborah Denno, an expert on lethal injection issues, had this initial reaction to the Ohio execution: The good news is that Ohio did not use a paralytic agent during the execution process in the way that Ohio...

U.S. House Judiciary Subcommittee Examines Habeas Restrictions in Capital Cases

Posted on December 08, 2009
Right now the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties is holding a hearing to, "Consider the Impact of Federal Habeas Corpus Limitations on Death Penalty Appeals." Unfortunately, it's not being webcast. The Subcommittee is chaired...

Biros Executed in Ohio Using 1-Drug Lethal Injection

Posted on December 08, 2009
The initial AP report is, "Ohio executes inmate with 1-drug lethal injection." Ohio has executed a convicted killer through the first U.S. lethal injection using a single drug, a longer but supposedly less painful method than previous executions with three...

Beard v. Kindler Decided

Posted on December 08, 2009
The Supreme Court has ruled in the unusual Pennsylvania case. The AP reports, "Supreme Court tells lower courts to reconsider death penalty for Kindler," via the Los Angeles Times. The Supreme Court will let lower courts consider reinstating a death....

Franklin Zimring on the American Law Institute's New Capital Punishment Position

Posted on December 08, 2009
Zimring's commentary for the National Law Journal is, "Pulling the plug on capital punishment." He is the William G. Simon Professor of Law and Wolfen Distinguished Scholar at the UC Berkeley School of Law. Not all the important turning points...

Supreme Court Won't Block 1st US 1-Drug Execution

Posted on December 08, 2009
That's the breaking news bulletin from the Associated Press. It's written by Andrew Welsh-Huggins and datelined Lucasville, Ohio. LINK The U.S. Supreme Court has refused to block the execution of an Ohio condemned killer who would become the first person...

Kentucky To Keep Three-Drug Lethal Injection

Posted on December 07, 2009
AP reports, "Ky. to stick with 3-drug execution protocol," via Kentucky.com. The report is by Brett Barroquere. Kentucky plans to keep using a three-drug cocktail on death row inmates and won't use Ohio's novel one-drug overdose method, as officials work...

The Case of Henry Skinner

Posted on December 07, 2009
"Death-Row Inmate Sues Prosecutor, Seeks DNA Test," is the title of By Mary Alice Robbins' report for the current issue of Texas Lawyer. A Texas death-row inmate facing execution next year has sued a Panhandle prosecutor, alleging she is denying...

Cost an Issue as New Hampshire Study Commission Begins Work

Posted on December 07, 2009
The New Hampshire Commission to Study the Death Penalty met Friday and cost was the prime topic of discussion. The site has links to earlier study commissions conducted in other states. "Addison trial cost state nearly $3m," is the title...

Live Webcast - UPDATED

Posted on December 07, 2009
UPDATE - Archived streaming video of the December 7th news conference in the Speaker's Committee Room is available for viewing, using Real Player, here. TCADP's 2009 annual report is here, in Adobe .pdf format. The Texas Coalition to Abolish the...

More on Texas Arson Cases From Dave Mann

Posted on December 07, 2009
The Texas Observer journalist writes, "Fire and Innocence," for the November 27th issue. It's an extensive article and a must-read. Here's the beginning: Gerald Hurst is one of the nation?s foremost authorities on fire and explosives. At age 72, he?s...

Three Steps Away From Death

Posted on December 07, 2009
That's the title of Tim Chitwood's column from the Sunday edition of the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer of Georgia. LINK In three steps, Georgia kills a man. Carlton Gary will be the 24th to die of lethal injection, says the Department of...

Ohio Prepares for Single-Drug Lethal Injection

Posted on December 07, 2009
Kenneth Biros is scheduled to be executed by Ohio tomorrow morning. Attorneys for Biros are challenging the new procedure. Here's a roundup of the latest developments. "Judge In Ohio Rejects Stay In 1st 1-drug Execution," is the AP report filed...

Kentucky Halts Lethal Injection Until Hearings

Posted on December 07, 2009
That's the title of an AP report via Sunday's New York Times. LINK Executions are suspended in Kentucky after the state said Friday that it would not appeal a ruling that found it had failed to follow proper administrative procedures...

Life Without Parole Is Worse Than Execution

Posted on December 04, 2009
That's the title of a Dwight Lewis column in the Tennessean. Lewis is also a member of the paper's editorial board. LINK They say good newspaper columns should read like you're listening to some good music. But how do you...

Additional Coverage of the Woods Execution

Posted on December 04, 2009
Chris McGreal writes, "Texas executes man at centre of mental disability row," for the Guardian. It's datelined Washington, DC. Texas has executed a child killer at the centre of a bitter dispute over what defines legal mental impairment after several...

Selective Empathy

Posted on December 04, 2009
That's the title of Linda Greenhouse's latest post at the New York Times Opinionator blog. LINK It's a must-read. Several excerpts: In overturning a death sentence this week of a Korean War veteran whose lawyer failed to inform the jury...

Bureau of Justice Statistics Capital Punishment Numbers for 2008 Available

Posted on December 04, 2009
The Crime Report posts that the Department of Justice publication is online. LINK The Bureau of Justice Statistics has just released statistics on capital punishment in 2008. According to the report, 37 prisoners were executed in 2008?36 by lethal injection...

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