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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

More on the Arkansas Lethal Injection Litigation

Posted on May 15, 2009
Arkansas' Morning News reports, "Court Postpones Arguments In Lawsuit Challenging Lethal Injection." It's written by Rob Moritz. The Arkansas Supreme Court said Thursday it wants more information about a new state law regarding lethal injection procedures before it considers a...

Another North Carolina Ruling on Lethal Injection

Posted on May 15, 2009
Raleigh's News & Observer reports, "Ruling lifts a barrier to execution." It's written by Sarah Ovaska and Lynn Bonner A Wake Superior Court judge issued an order Thursday rejecting a number of death row inmates' claims that the state's newest...

Rejection by Texas Senate of Unqualified Nominee Was Welcome

Posted on May 15, 2009
That's the title of an editorial in today's Beaumont Enterprise on the rejection of Shanda Perkin' nomination s to the Board of Pardons and Paroles. LINK Finally, the Texas Senate remembered it is not supposed to serve as a rubber...

In RE: Keller

Posted on May 15, 2009
Mary Alice Robbins reports, "A Civil Action: CCA Judges' Request for Representaion in Keller Discovery Proceedings Denied," for Texas Lawyer. In an unusual move, some judges on the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals sought the appointment of counsel to assist...

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The Austin American-Statesman on Eyewitness ID

Posted on May 15, 2009
"Photo lineups that follow best practices," is the Statesman editorial from the Thursday edition. We're talking about an initiative by Austin Police Chief Art Acevedo to devise written policies that govern how investigators conduct photo lineups. Acevedo said last week...

I Put Away an Innocent Man

Posted on May 15, 2009
That's the title of James Fry's moving OpEd in today's Dallas Morning News. It's a must-read by a former Dallas County prosecutor. LINK When I prosecuted Charles Chatman for aggravated rape in 1981, I was certain I had the right...

More Calls for Missouri Clemency

Posted on May 14, 2009
"House Majority Leader urges no execution on convicted killer," is Kermit Miller's report for KRCG. Missouri House Majority Leader Steven Tilley says Gov. Jay Nixon should commute the death sentence of convicted killer Dennis Skillicorn. The suggestion came during debate...

News Coverage of the Connecticut House Vote

Posted on May 14, 2009
"State House Votes To Abolish Death Penalty," is Christopher Keating's updated report for today's Hartford Courant. In past years, attempts to abolish the death penalty fell far short of the 76 votes needed in the 151-member House. But Wednesday's vote...

North Carolina

Posted on May 14, 2009
'Senate aims to restart lethal injections," is Lynn Bonner's report in the Raleigh News & Observer. Lawmakers on Wednesday endorsed a measure to sidestep a legal fight that has stalled executions in North Carolina. The state Senate voted to lift...

Lethal Injection Litigation Roundup

Posted on May 14, 2009
In Arkansas, AP reports, "State Supreme Court Pushes Back Death Penalty Suit," via KATV-TV. The Arkansas Supreme Court wants to gather more information about a new state law before hearing a lawsuit that has stopped prison officials from carrying out...

Also From Missouri

Posted on May 14, 2009
The Skillicorn clemency question occurs in conjunction with Missouri legislators considering death penalty legislation. Today's Kansas City Star carries the editorial, "Missouri's death penalty system has serious flaws." Skillicorn, 49, is scheduled to become the first person to be executed...

Controversial BPP Nominee Rejected by Texas Senate

Posted on May 13, 2009
Mike Ward reports, "Shanda Perkins nomination busted," on the Austin American-Statesman Postcards blog. In a rare public rebuke, the Texas Senate this afternoon just blocked the controversial nomination of unemployed Burleson banker Shanda Perkins to become a member of the...

Connecticut Debate

Posted on May 13, 2009
I understand from Ben Jones that the Connecticut General Assembly is debating HB 5459 right now. You can listen at this LINK. "Death penalty debate looms in the House," is Ted Mann's report for The Day. The state House of...

Nebraska Legislature Winding Down

Posted on May 13, 2009
Nebraska legislators are entering the home stretch, but have yet to act on LB 36, which would make lethal injection the method of execution. The legislation has been given priority status. LB 306, which would repeal the state's death penalty,...

Connecticut House Votes for Repeal

Posted on May 13, 2009
"State House Votes To Abolish Death Penalty," is Christopher Keating's initial report at the Hartford Courant. The state House of Representatives voted Wednesday night, the fourth anniversary of the execution of serial killer Michael Ross, to abolish the death penalty...

The Clemency Question in Missouri

Posted on May 13, 2009
"Gov. Nixon should appoint a board of inquiry in Skillcorn case," is the St. Louis Post-Dispatch editorial from the May 8th edition. Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon is no stranger to the death penalty. Through 16 years as state attorney general,...

Oklahoma Governor Denies Clemency

Posted on May 12, 2009
"Henry denies clemency for convicted killer," is the AP report via Bartlesville Live. Oklahoma Gov. Brad Henry on Monday denied clemency for a Cleveland County man convicted in the 1995 beating death of an 8-year-old boy whose battered remains were...

Parents Who Kill

Posted on May 12, 2009
That's the title of an article in the current issue of Psyciatric Times by Drs. Susan Hatters-Friedman, MD and Phillip J. Resnick, MD. LINK Child murder by parents is an upsetting topic for both the public and clinicians. It is...

From Kansas

Posted on May 12, 2009
"Kansas governor says he?s willing to revisit death-penalty law," is Carl Manning's AP report, via the Kansas City Star. Gov. Mark Parkinson said Monday that he was willing to take a fresh look at the death-penalty law he helped write...

House Committee OKs Racial Justice Act

Posted on May 12, 2009
That's the headline from North Carolina's Winston-Salem Journal. James Rosomer wrote the article. LINK A legislative committee approved today a bill that would allow defendants to use race-based statistics to challenge the imposition of the death penalty...

Connecticut House May Take Up Repeal Bill This Week

Posted on May 12, 2009
"House may take up death penalty bill this week," is the AP report via the Danbury News-Times. The co-chairman of a key legislative committee says the Connecticut House may take up a bill this week to replace the state's death...

The New Case Against the Death Penalty

Posted on May 12, 2009
That's the title of an OpEd by University of Richmond Law prof Corinna Barrett Lain, a former prosecutor. It appeared in Monday's edition of the Christian Science Monitor. It's subtitled, "The bittersweet reality is that money, rather than morality, has...

Paul House Exonerated in Tennessee

Posted on May 12, 2009
AP reports, "Charges dropped against former TN death row inmate." Prosecutors dropped charges on Tuesday against a former inmate who spent two decades on Tennessee's death row before the U.S. Supreme Court questioned his guilt. Prosecutors acknowledged in a surprise...

Alabama Law Lets Executions Take Place Against a Jury's Wishes

Posted on May 11, 2009
That's the title of an editorial in today's Birmingham News. LINK Jefferson County Circuit Judge Teresa Petelos last week refused to go over a jury's head and sentence Bobby Ray Sims to death. Instead, Petelos accepted the jury's recommendation, which...

Will Arkansas Study Commission Examine Capital Issues?

Posted on May 11, 2009
"Creation of task forces by lawmakers on the upswing in state," is Michael Wickline's report from the Sunday edition of the Arkansas Democrat Gazette. The Arkansas General Assembly is increasingly turning to task forces to study issues ranging from traumatic...

From Connecticut

Posted on May 11, 2009
"Lawmakers look to fix, repeal death penalty," is Ken Dixon's report. It appeared in the Sunday editions of the Stamford Advocate and the Connecticut Post. Lawmakers this week are expected to debate whether Connecticut's most-violent murderers should face life in...

Deadly Mix

Posted on May 11, 2009
That's the title of an editorial from the Sunday edition of North Carolina's News & Observer. It's subtitled, "The state Supreme Court, saying doctors shouldn't be disciplined for having a role in executions, misfires on medical ethics." The unseemly practice...

More Feedback From Colorado

Posted on May 11, 2009
Aurora Sentinel managing editor Aaron Cole writes, "Keeping a stiff upper lip on capital punishment." I?ve never been one for mustaches. In the 1970s and 1980s, or so I?m told, they were all the rage. From television private investigators to...

Report from Maryland

Posted on May 08, 2009
"O'Malley signs law restricting death penalty," is Michael Drost's report in today's Washington Times. Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley signed legislation Thursday that would give Maryland the most restrictive death penalty laws of the 35 states that allow capital punishment...

Followup From Colorado

Posted on May 08, 2009
"Groff's lofty call in stirring last stand," is the latest from Denver Post columnist Mike Littwin. It wasn't Lincoln at Gettysburg. It wasn't Henry V at Agincourt. And it certainly wasn't King anywhere near a mountaintop. We were at the...

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