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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

Sharon Keller, Troy Davis, and the Duty of a Death Case Judge

Posted on August 24, 2009
That's the title of Steve Sheppard's FindLaw commentary, posted today. Sheppard is the Judge Enfield Professor of Law at the University of Arkansas School of Law. He's also the author of I Do Solemnly Swear: The Moral Obligations of Legal...

An Update on Gary Gauger

Posted on August 21, 2009
His case was featured in the play, "The Exonerated." "Jury rules detectives did not frame Gauger," is Jillian Duchnowski's report in today's Northwest Herald in Illinois. Both sides in Gary Gauger?s civil trial agreed that he sat on death row...

Kill the Death Penalty

Posted on August 21, 2009
That's the title of Cox Newspapers' syndicated columnist Tom Teepen's latest. It appears in today's Albany Times Union. LINK Here's an extended excerpt: The debilities of the U.S. system of capital punishment were obvious again recently when the Supreme Court,...

Witness to an Execution

Posted on August 21, 2009
Paul Flemming's latest Capital Ideas column in the Tallahassee Democrat is, "Death, politics mix with execution." The state of Florida, on behalf of me and you, executed John Richard Marek on Wednesday for the 1983 murder of Adela Marie Simmons....

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Ohio's Lethal Injection Practices

Posted on August 21, 2009
"Former Ohio executioner: EMT experience can be an asset," is Andrew Welsh-Huggins' Associated Press report via the Newark Advocate. While others debate the death penalty and lethal injection, Ohio's longest-serving executioner provided a personal perspective on carrying out the unwanted...

An Unfit Judge

Posted on August 21, 2009
That's the title of an editorial in today's New York Times. LINK Judge Sharon Keller, the Texas appellate court judge who closed the clerk?s office before a death row inmate could file a last-minute appeal, is fighting to keep her...

Keller Trial Conclusion - News Coverage

Posted on August 21, 2009
"Keller trial wraps up with harsh criticism," is Chuck Lindell's report in today's Austin American-Statesman. Dismissing most of Judge Sharon Keller's defenses as legally irrelevant, prosecutor Mike McKetta said the state's highest criminal judge failed to perform her job competently...

Ohio Can't Stop EMTs Working as Executioners

Posted on August 20, 2009
That's the title of Andrew Welsh-Huggins AP report via the Clinton News Herald. LINK Ohio has no authority to stop certified emergency medical technicians from working as executioners in death penalty cases because they are not acting as EMTs when...

North Carolina Racial Justice Act - News & Editorials

Posted on August 20, 2009
"Racial Justice Act: Law could curtail death penalty," by Paul Woolverton is in today's Fayetteville Observer. Here's an extended excerpt: A new law in North Carolina could help murderers get off death row and stymie prosecutors who seek capital punishment...

Here's a Good Case for Killing the Death Penalty

Posted on August 20, 2009
That's the title of Errol Louis' column in today's New York Daily News. LINK Opponents of the death penalty have reason for hope this week. Two high-profile cases are exposing the sick, barbaric folly of execution in America. When the...

Tx CCA Orders Stay and Hearing

Posted on August 20, 2009
"Execution stayed: David Leonard Wood's mental ability at issue," the El Paso Times report by Gustavo Reveles Acosta and Diana Washington Valdez. The execution of convicted serial killer David Leonard Wood was halted by a Texas court on Wednesday, 24...

Keller Trial - Day Three News Coverage

Posted on August 20, 2009
A reminder that Chuck Lindell is updating coverage at the Austin American-Statesman Focal Point blog. Texas Lawyer is also posting updates at its Tex Parte Blog. "Judge says she would do 'nothing different'," is Chuck Lindell's report in today's Austin...

Sherry Colb Looks at Juveniles & LWoP

Posted on August 19, 2009
Her latest FindLaw commentary is, "Supreme Court Considers Constitutionality of Juvenile Life Without Parole." Here are excerpts from the lengthy essay: This coming term, the Supreme Court will consider the important companion cases of Sullivan v. Florida and Graham v...

The Court's Duty

Posted on August 19, 2009
That's the title of an editorial in today's New York Times. LINK We are relieved that the Supreme Court has ordered a lower court to reconsider the conviction of a Georgia death row inmate who may be innocent. In a...

DNA Evidence Can Be Fabricated, Scientists Show

Posted on August 19, 2009
That's the title of a report in the Tuesday edition of the New York Times written by Andrew Pollock. LINK Scientists in Israel have demonstrated that it is possible to fabricate DNA evidence, undermining the credibility of what has been...

Keller Trial - Day Two News Coverage

Posted on August 19, 2009
"Under questioning, Keller denies violating court rules in death row case," is Chuck Lindell's report in today's Austin American-Statesman. Judge Sharon Keller, taking the witness stand Tuesday in her misconduct trial, insisted that she did not violate court rules by...

The Keller Trial

Posted on August 18, 2009
In addition to Chuck Lindell's post at the Austin American-Statesman Focal Point blog, Mary Alice Robbins of Texas Lawyer is posting at the Tex Parte Blog. I'll have a roundup of coverage tomorrow morning.

News Coverage & Commentary on the Troy Davis Order

Posted on August 18, 2009
Yesterday concurring comments by Justice Stevens is here; Justice Scalia?s dissent, here. "Supreme Court Orders New Look at Death Row Case," is the title of Adam Liptak's New York Times report. The Supreme Court on Monday ordered a federal trial...

Partial Justice for the Norfolk Four

Posted on August 18, 2009
That's the title of a New York Times editorial on the partial clemency granted by Virginia Governor Tim Kaine last week. It appeared in the Monday edition. LINK Gov. Tim Kaine of Virginia did nearly the right thing this month...

Getsy Executed in Ohio - UPDATED

Posted on August 18, 2009
Jason Getsy's case was closely watched because of the rare recommendation by the Ohio Parole Board that his death sentence should be commuted. None of the other four individuals convicted in the murder-for-hire crime received a death sentence. AP reports...

The Strange Case of Betsey Wright

Posted on August 18, 2009
That's the title of Tom Baxter's article for Southern Political Report. LINK An excerpt: Instead of joining the administration after Clinton was elected, Wright accepted an offer from Anne Wexler and became a prominent Washington lobbyist, much sought-after because of...

Indiana

Posted on August 18, 2009
"Activists again seek moratorium on death penalty in Indiana," is the title of today's Indianapolis Star report written by Jon Murray. Indiana hasn't executed a prisoner for more than two years, and a slowdown in new death sentences has resulted...

Keller Trial - Day One News Coverage

Posted on August 18, 2009
Chuck Lindell writes, "Fellow judge says Keller violated procedure in death row case," for today's Austin American-Statesman. Here's an extended excerpt: The trial on misconduct charges against Sharon Keller, the state's top criminal judge, began Monday with pointed criticism from...

More on the Troy Davis Order

Posted on August 17, 2009
Lyle Denniston posts, "Hearing on innocence claim ordered," at SCOTUS Blog. The Supreme Court, over two Justices? dissents, on Monday ordered a federal judge in Georgia to consider and rule on the claim of innocence in the murder case against...

Chuck Lindell

Posted on August 17, 2009
The Austin American-Statesman journalist is blogging the Keller proceedings at the Statesman's Focal Point.blog. He's already had one post this morning, "Keller trial: Keller enters courtroom."

Supreme Court Orders News Hearing for Troy Davis

Posted on August 17, 2009
"Supreme Court says Georgia man should get hearing," is Jesse Halland's AP report via Google News. The Supreme Court on Monday ordered a new hearing for death row inmate Troy Davis, whose supporters say is innocent and should be spared...

Keller Proceedings - News Previews

Posted on August 17, 2009
"Misconduct Trial Begins Today for Texas Judge Who Refused Late Capital Appeal" by Debra Cassens Weiss is in today's ABA Journal. The presiding judge of the highest criminal appeals court in Texas is expected to testify on her own behalf...

Keller Drags Texas Through the Mud

Posted on August 17, 2009
That's the title of an editorial in today's Austin American-Statesman, as proceedings by the Texas Commission on Judicial Conduct against the Court of Criminal Appeals Presiding Judge begins today. LINK No matter the outcome of the hearing scheduled to begin...

Ohio Governor Rejects Clemency in Getsy Case

Posted on August 14, 2009
"Gov. Strickland denies mercy in Youngstown murder-for-hire case," is the AP report via the Cleveland Plains Dealer. Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland has denied clemency for the triggerman in a 1995 murder-for-hire scheme, overriding the state parole board's recommendation for mercy...

More on Jason Getsy in Ohio

Posted on August 14, 2009
Ohio's Warren Tribune Chronicle reports, "Court rejects Getsy?s lethal injection appeal," by Christopher Bobby. With his execution still scheduled for Tuesday and still awaiting word from the governor on a possible reprieve, death row inmate Jason Getsy failed Wednesday in...

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