StandDown Texas Project: Criminal Law

Home -> Law Blog Directory -> Criminal Law Blogs

OR PHONE (866) 635-1838 for Bankruptcy Help, (866) 635-6190 for Divorce,
(866) 635-2689 for Personal Injury or (866) 635-9402 for Criminal Defense

Find a Local Lawyer

Bankruptcy (866) 635-1838
Divorce (866) 635-6190
Personal Injury (866) 635-2689
Criminal Defense (866) 635-9402

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

In the Shadow of Medellin -- Heliberto Chi

Posted on August 05, 2008
Heliberto Chi is a citizen of Honduras. As in the case of Jose Medellin and the 50 other Mexican citizens covered by the Avena ruling, Chi was not advised of his right to consular notification when he was arrested. Unlike...

Some Accommodation by Texas ...

Posted on August 05, 2008
... but not for Jose Medellin. That's the way Hofstra Law's Julian Ku reads Texas' response to a motion at the Supreme Court by Medellin's attorneys seeking a stay of tonight's scheduled execution. Ku's post at Opinio Juris is, "Texas...

Too Fat In Ohio?

Posted on August 05, 2008
The New York Times carries a brief item from AP, "Ohio: Too Fat for the Death Penalty?" A death row inmate scheduled for execution says he is too fat to be put to death, arguing that executioners would have trouble...

Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles Rejects Medellin Clemency

Posted on August 05, 2008
In the Dallas Morning News, Christy Hoppe reports, "Death-row inmate Medellín doesn't get a reprieve from Texas pardons board." The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles unanimously voted Monday against a reprieve for José Medellín, whose scheduled execution today has...

To access this complete feed in the blog feed reader login or register for free.

A Discussion Concerning International Law Implications of Medellin

Posted on August 04, 2008
Jennifer Staton of KUT-FM news and I discussed the Medellin case. Audio of our conversation is here. Jose Medellin is set to be executed Tuesday, August 5, 2008, by the state of Texas. Medellin ? who has lived in the...

No End In Sight to Death Penalty Wrangling

Posted on August 04, 2008
That's the title of an excellent Stateline.org roundup on current capital punishment issues. It's written by John Gramlich and contains a number of charts and graphs. LINK Here's an excerpt from the beginning of this lengthy article. More than 30...

Time to End the Death Penalty's Cycle of Violence

Posted on August 04, 2008
That's the title of Ronald Carlson's OpEd in the Sunday Fort Worth Star-Telegram. LINK Here's an extended excerpt: June 13, 1983, and Feb. 3, 1998, are two days that will forever be etched in my memory. On that fateful day...

Protecting Them Protects Us

Posted on August 04, 2008
That's the title of an OpEd by Jeffrey Davidow in today's Los Angeles Times. Davidow, president of the Institute of the Americas, served as U.S. ambassador to Zambia, Venezuela and Mexico during the Reagan, Clinton and both Bush administrations. LINK...

Today's Medellin Coverage

Posted on August 04, 2008
In the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Dave Montgomery has, "A last-minute effort to stop an execution," from the DC bureau. Through years of appeals that took his attorneys on two trips to the U.S. Supreme Court, Medellin?s assertion of his treaty...

Wire Service Coverage of Medellin

Posted on August 04, 2008
Jose Medellin is scheduled to be executed in Huntsville tomorrow evening. His case weaves together a horrific crime, international law, U.S. treaty obligations, and a Supreme Court ruling that has produced uncertainty in business and financial circles...

The Baltimore Sun on State Review

Posted on August 01, 2008
Today's Sun has the editorial, "If it can't be administered fairly, repeal the law." No criminal justice issue weighs more heavily on the consciences of judges, juries and corrections officials than the responsibility for imposing the ultimate penalty on defendants...

Laurence Tribe on Kennedy v. Louisiana

Posted on August 01, 2008
Yesterday's Wall Street Journal carried the OpEd, "The Supreme Court Is Wrong On the Death Penalty." It's not often that the U.S. Supreme Court is asked by a state and the federal government to reconsider a case it has just...

In Arkansas

Posted on August 01, 2008
"Official: Arkansas won't use 'cut-down' in executions," is the title of an AP report, via the Pine Bluff Commercial. Executioners in Arkansas will not cut through muscle to find an inmate's veins during a difficult lethal injection procedure, a state...

Texas Execution

Posted on August 01, 2008
Texas carried out its fourth execution of 2008, last night in Huntsville. It was the state's 409th execution since 1982. Reuters has this report on the execution of Larry Davis. Texas has carried out far more executions than any other...

Scheduled Execution in Texas

Posted on July 31, 2008
Texas is scheduled to carry out its fourth execution of 2008. It would be the 16th execution in America this year. An AP report, via the San Antonio Express-News, on the scheduled execution of Larry Davis is here. According to...

In North Carolina

Posted on July 31, 2008
"Executions pose dilemma for doctors," is the report in the Raleigh News & Observer. Doctors were never meant to play an active role in executions, the N.C. Medical Board argues in a brief it filed Wednesday with the N.C. Supreme...

The Birmingham News on Arthur Stay

Posted on July 31, 2008
"The Alabama Supreme Court had ample reasons to block today's execution of Thomas Arthur," is today's editorial in the Birmingham News. Let's hope the court's 5-4 ruling allows lawyers time to get to the bottom of a sworn statement issued...

Alabama Supreme Court Stays Controversial Execution

Posted on July 31, 2008
"Court Votes to Postpone an Execution in Alabama," is the New York Times report. Thomas Arthur, a death-row inmate in Alabama, was granted a last-minute reprieve by the State Supreme Court on Wednesday evening after another convict confessed to the...

More on the Military Death Sentence

Posted on July 30, 2008
The Fayetteville (NC) Observer has, "Army: Gray execution months away." Henry Cuningham reports that five others are on the military's death row. The execution of Ronald Adrin Gray will not take place for at least two months, probably much longer,...

Cost Overruns in California

Posted on July 30, 2008
The San Francisco Chronicle reports, "Death Row Cost Overrun: $40 million." The cost of new housing for San Quentin State Prison's growing number of Death Row inmates will exceed estimates by nearly $40 million, and the compound could run out...

Texas Needs to Start a Dialogue on the Death Penalty

Posted on July 30, 2008
That's the title of an OpEd in today's Austin American-Statesman by local singer-songwriter Sara Hickman. She discusses the genesis of her 12 city concert tour in cooperation with the Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty. LINK As a society,...

The Legacy of Henry Wade

Posted on July 30, 2008
AP's Mike Graczyk has a must-read, "After Dallas DA's death, 19 convictions are undone," via Google News. As district attorney of Dallas for an unprecedented 36 years, Henry Wade was the embodiment of Texas justice. A strapping 6-footer with a...

Medellin & Congressional Legislation

Posted on July 30, 2008
A loyal reader has informed me that an earlier link to HR 6481 has gone blank. The text of the Avena Case Implementation Act of 2008 is below. I would urge readers to sign an online petition at this LINK...

Busk OKs Execution of Army Death Row Prisoner

Posted on July 29, 2008
That's the title of an AP report, via Google News. LINK President Bush on Monday approved the execution of an Army private, the first time in over a half-century that a president has affirmed a death sentence for a member...

Dallas County to Keep Appellate PD

Posted on July 29, 2008
The Dallas Morning News report is "Dallas County to keep public defender's appellate division." The Dallas County public defender?s appellate division is safe for now. County commissioners agreed today to keep the division of five lawyers intact after hearing support...

In Illinois

Posted on July 29, 2008
Ray Long reports, "Governor's vetoes cut funds to fight wrongful convictions." In a state known for sending innocent people to prison, Gov. Rod Blagojevich has angered prosecutors and defense attorneys alike by vetoing millions of dollars lawmakers set aside to...

Pardons: Barbour's Misstep Still Reverberating

Posted on July 29, 2008
That's the title of an editorial in today's Jackson Clarion-Ledger in Mississippi. LINK Gov. Haley Barbour's inconsistency over convicted murderers is still reverberating, raising questions about the role of governors in granting clemency. Last week could be considered a bizarre...

Maryland Commission Meets

Posted on July 29, 2008
"First death penalty hearing held," is Jennifer McMenamin's report in the Baltimore Sun. A state commission appointed to study the death penalty began its work yesterday by hearing testimony on statistical evidence of racial, geographic and socioeconomic disparities in different...

Gov. Perry Should Stop This Execution

Posted on July 29, 2008
That's the title of an editorial in today's Dallas Morning News. LINK All eyes are on Gov. Rick Perry regarding the Aug. 5 execution date for José Medellín, a Mexican who confessed to the 1993 gang rape and murder of...

Kennedy v. Louisiana

Posted on July 28, 2008
Today's Los Angeles Times carries the editorial, "Will the Supreme Court reconsider?" The justices of the U.S. Supreme Court, Justice Robert H. Jackson once archly observed, are not final because they are infallible; they're infallible only because they are final...

Previous | Next

Related Law Bulletins

Texas Governor Takes Surprising Stand In Favor Of Immigrants
Texas Governor Rick Perry, normally an ultra-conservative, surpris...

District Judge Upholds Texas' Moment of Silence Law
In 2003, the Texas legislature amended a "moment of silence" law s...

Irving, Texas Losing Students Due To Immigration Crackdown?
The Dallas Morning News had an interesting story Sunday about the ...

Two New USCIS Training Centers To Open In North Texas
The Dallas Morning News reports today that two regional training c...

Comprehensive Explanation of Irving, Texas Immigration Situation
The Dallas Morning News has a very good series of articles today a...