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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

Texas Law of Parties to Remain in Place

Posted on May 22, 2009
"Veto threat dooms change in death penalty law," is Mike Ward's report in today's Austin American-Statesman. Death penalty opponents have long decried a Texas law that allows the state to impose the ultimate punishment ? execution ? on people who...

Connecticut Senate Approves Death Penalty Repeal

Posted on May 22, 2009
"Death Penalty Abolition Gets Final Legislative Approval In Senate," is by Jon Lender and Daniela Altimari for the Hartford Courant. In a historic action -- which may be rendered short-lived by a gubernatorial veto -- the state Senate narrowly gave...

Connecticut Senate Debate to Begin Shortly

Posted on May 21, 2009
That's the word from Ben Jones of Connecticut Network to Abolish the Death Penalty. You can follow the debate on HB 5459, here, Live Stream 2. Earlier coverage from Connecticut is here.

Revisit Death Penalty Bill

Posted on May 21, 2009
That's the title of an OpEd in today's Denver Post written by the sponsors of HB 1274, Morgan Carroll and Paul Weissmann. LINK On the final day of the 2009 legislative session, the Senate failed by one vote to repeal...

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In the Aftermath of the Missouri Execution

Posted on May 21, 2009
"Dennis Skillicorn is dead, but the Public Interest Litigation Clinic is still very much alive," is by Nadia Pflaum at the Pitch. Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon never called Dennis Skillicorn's lawyer at the Public Interest Litigation Clinic to say that...

Ohio Alters Lethal Injection Procedure

Posted on May 21, 2009
"Ohio lethal-injection execution procedures revamped to make sure inmate is sedated," is today's Cleveland Plain Dealer report by Reginald Fields. To be sure the three-drug lethal injection process is working, Ohio's condemned killers will now get a pinch and shove...

Washington State Lethal Injection Hearing

Posted on May 21, 2009
"Hearing on constitutionality of lethal injection begins today," is Jennifer Sullivan's report in today's Seattle Times. A four-day hearing beginning today in Olympia could determine the fate of two men whose executions are on hold -- as well as that...

Execution Setting in Florida

Posted on May 20, 2009
Today's Orlando Sentinel has a lengthy report, "Only Florida's governors can say how they pick execution order." It's written by Sarah Lundy. Last month, Florida Gov. Charlie Crist decided it was time for John Marek and David Johnston to die....

Will the Connecticut Senate Repeal?

Posted on May 20, 2009
The Greenwich Time reports, "State senate might pass death penalty bill," by Bryan Lockhart. Senate President Pro Tempore Donald Williams Jr. said Monday he is close to having enough votes in the 36-member chamber to pass a bill this week...

Nebraska Legislature Gives Initial OK to Lethal Injection Bill

Posted on May 20, 2009
"Lethal injection bill advances," is Paul Hammel's report in today's Omaha World-Herald. The article also has a vote tally of the legislators. The growing support for capital punishment within the Nebraska Legislature was clearly evident Tuesday. Observers credited term limits...

Missouri Executes Skillicorn Hours After Texas Execution

Posted on May 20, 2009
"Convicted killers executed in Mo., Texas," is Jim Salter's AP report, via Google News. Two death row inmates spent some of their last moments apologizing for their crimes before they were put to death six hours apart in Texas and...

Return to Connecticut

Posted on May 19, 2009
"A Change Of Heart On Death Penalty," is the title of Susan Campbell's must-read column in today's Hartford Courant. I remember my step-cousin Bobby as a heavy-set, fun-loving kid devoted to collecting and selling stamps and coins. He was a...

Update From Nebraska

Posted on May 19, 2009
"Legislature rebuffs bid to repeal death penalty," is Paul Hammel's update for the Omaha World-Herald. For a second straight day, opponents of the death penalty suffered a setback in the Nebraska Legislature. Just before noon Tuesday, lawmakers rejected, 33-13, an...

Texas Execution

Posted on May 19, 2009
Texas is scheduled to carry out its 15th execution of 2009, tonight in Huntsville. It would be the state's 438th execution since 1982; the 199th execution under the administration of Governor Rick Perry. Texas has far and away the most...

Supreme Court Adds Two Death Penalty Cases for Next Term

Posted on May 19, 2009
Today's Washington Post carries carries the AP report, "Decisions, Decisions, Decisions..." The justices: Accepted two death penalty cases that involve the issue of effectiveness of counsel. The court will consider throwing out the death sentence for Holly Wood, a mentally...

Experts: Harris Co. Taking Risks With Lawyer Appointment System

Posted on May 19, 2009
It's the kind of journalism that is becoming increasingly rare for newspapers and almost never seen on television. Today, Houston's KHOU-TV has the above-styled report. It's reported by Mark Greenblatt, and it's a must-read. LINK Judges in Harris County gave...

Eyes Turn to Missouri

Posted on May 19, 2009
Monica Davey writes, "Executions Debated as Missouri Plans One," for today's New York Times. Officials in this state are preparing to execute a prisoner for the first time since 2005, when criticisms about the state?s lethal injection method emerged and...

Nebraska Legislature Continues Death Penalty Debate

Posted on May 19, 2009
Nebraska legislators are continuing their debate of LB 36 at this time. You can watch the debate in streaming video at this link. Here's the news coverage from yesterday's lengthy debate. "Death penalty foes lose Round 1," is Paul Hammel's...

Texas Execution

Posted on May 19, 2009
Texas carried out its 15th execution of 2009, tonight in Huntsville. It was the state's 438th execution since 1982, and the 199th execution under the administration of Governor Rick Perry. Texas has far and away the most active death chamber...

Troy Davis

Posted on May 18, 2009
"Death row's revolving door: Courts mull post-trial proof," is Kevin Johnson's USA Today report examining the controversial Georgia case of Troy Davis. The timeline of TroyDavis' 18 years on death row reads like most other condemned prisoners' slow shuffle to...

California's 'Dysfunctional' Death Penalty

Posted on May 18, 2009
"'Dysfunctional' death penalty racks up 28-year, $5-million tab," I Maura Dolan's LA Times report examining one troubled case. When Chief Justice Ronald M. George described California's death penalty as "dysfunctional," he might have had in mind the curious case of...

Editorial Roundup

Posted on May 18, 2009
"Missouri legislature: Few accomplishments, many missed opportunities," is the Kansas City Star editorial from the Sunday edition. Missouri lawmakers stuck with tradition and ended the 2009 legislative session with a blizzard of papers tossed into the air...

North Carolina Legislation

Posted on May 18, 2009
"State Senate takes up death penalty," is the title of Mike Hixenbaugh's report in the Rocky Mount Telegram. A bill initially intended to protect racial minorities from discriminatory sentencing in capital cases also ? to the disappointment of its original...

Connecticut Editorials

Posted on May 18, 2009
"Death Penalty Repeal Advances," is the Hartford Courant editorial. During the past five years, three states ? New York, New Jersey and New Mexico ? have abolished the death penalty for capital crimes. Connecticut's House of Representatives took this state...

Nebraska Lethal Injection Debate Today

Posted on May 18, 2009
The Nebraska Legislature is scheduled to consider LB 36 today at 1:30 pm, CDT. You can watch streaming video at this link. "Nebraska lawmakers to debate lethal injection," is the AP report, via the Lincoln Journal Star. After more than...

Prosecutors, Justice, and DNA

Posted on May 18, 2009
"Prosecutors Block Access to DNA Testing for Inmates," is the title of Shaila Dewan's report in today's New York Times. Here's an extended excerpt: In an age of advanced forensic science, the first step toward ending Kenneth Reed?s prolonged series...

Can Californians Afford to Keep the Death Penalty?

Posted on May 17, 2009
That's the title of Elisabeth Semel's must-read OpEd in today's Sacramento Bee. She is director of the Death Penalty Clinic at UC Berkeley, and the former director of the ABA Death Penalty Representation Project. It took more than three years...

Keller Court Accepted After-Hours Filing in 2003

Posted on May 17, 2009
That's the title of Chuck Lindell's latest report in today's Austin American-Statesman. LINK In 2003, the Texas Defender Service filed an after-hours appeal on the day child killer Jose Rivera was to be executed. So why, four years later, was...

Indigent Defense in Missouri

Posted on May 15, 2009
"Missouri lawmakers approve public defender changes," is Chris Blank's AP report via the Missourian. Missouri lawmakers gave final approval Thursday to what backers called a triage effort for a public defender system in crisis. Under the bill now headed to...

Nebraska Lethal Injection Debate Set for Monday

Posted on May 15, 2009
"AG's office offers timetable for 1st lethal injection execution," is Nancy Hicks' report in today's Lincoln Journal Star. An execution likely will not take place for at least a year after the Nebraska Legislature passes a lethal injection law, according...

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