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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

Judges Rip Texas Courts in Death Penalty Case

Posted on July 01, 2008
That's the title of an Texas AP report by Mike Graczyk on the case of Michael Wayne Hall. LINK The U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals opinion is here. A federal appeals court is ordering a hearing for a man...

UN Report Singles Out Texas and Alabama

Posted on July 01, 2008
Finally in today's big news section, we have the UN human rights report. The UN News Centre has, "UN rights expert calls on United States to ensure death penalty is applied fairly." The United States should take immediate steps to...

In California

Posted on July 01, 2008
The California Commission on the Fair Administration of Justice's final report, "Fair Administration of the Death Penalty," is here. The AP dispatch, via Google News, is, "Report: California death penalty system deeply flawed." California's 30-year-old death penalty system that costs...

Illinois Bar Calls For Abolition

Posted on July 01, 2008
The National Law Journal reports, "Illinois bar supports abolition of death penalty in state." It's written by Lynne Marek. The assembly of the Illinois State Bar Association has voted to support abolishing the death penalty in the state. The assembly,...

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Florida's Death Penalty

Posted on July 01, 2008
There are news articles today about critical examinations of the death penalty in Florida, Illinois, California, and a scathing report by a United Nations human rights reports that focuses on Alabama and Texas. Let's start in Florida. Former Florida Supreme...

Florida's Scheduled Execution

Posted on June 30, 2008
The Ocala Star-Banner reports, "Questions about drug cocktail hang over Schwab execution," scheduled for Tuesday. Florida is set to put convicted child killer Mark David Schwab to death Tuesday, resuming executions for the first time since a botched execution more...

News Coverage of California Commission

Posted on June 30, 2008
The Los Angeles Times reports, "California's death penalty is dysfunctional, panel finds." California's administration of the death penalty is "dysfunctional" and "close to collapse," plagued by delays of nearly twice the national average from sentencing to execution and drowning under...

California Commission Issues Final Report & Recommendations

Posted on June 30, 2008
The California Commission on the Fair Administration of Justice has issued its final report and recommendations on that state's use of the death penalty. Here is the table of contents: INTRODUCTION: CHARGE AND NATURE OF INQUIRY SUMMARY OF RECOMMENDATIONS PART...

The Lester Bower Case

Posted on June 30, 2008
Sunday's Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported, "Witness says condemned Arlington man isn't responsible for 1983 slayings," by Tim Madigan. Just a few paragraphs into the Star-Telegram story, the woman knew something was terribly wrong. A man named Lester Leroy Bower Jr...

Dallas Morning News on the Hood Case

Posted on June 30, 2008
Today's editorial is, "Ethics questions in Charles Dean Hood case." It is impossible to stand by the murder conviction of Charles Dean Hood without examining charges of corruption against the very Collin County court where he was sentenced to die....

Killing States: Lethal Decision/Final Judgments

Posted on June 30, 2008
That's the title of Duke University's latest issue of South Atlantic Quarterly. The issue, edited by Jennifer Culbert and Austin Sarat deals with a number of death penalty topics. LINK Here's the list of articles: Robin Wagner-Pacifici The Innocuousness of...

A Death Penalty Puzzle

Posted on June 30, 2008
That's the title of an OpEd in today's Washington Post by Cass Sunstein and Justin Wolfers. It's subtitled, "The Murky Evidence for and Against Deterrence." To support their competing conclusions on the legal issue, different members of the court invoked...

Supreme Court Term Reviews

Posted on June 27, 2008
With yesterday's ending of this year's Supreme Court term, the reviews are beginning. First is Joan Bikupic's, "Paradox marks Supreme Court term," in USA Today. In the annual term that finished Thursday, the justices divided 5-4 on many of their...

More Political Reaction to Kennedy Ruling

Posted on June 27, 2008
Yesterday, I posted an AP report by Deborah Hastings on political response to Kennedy v. Louisiana. A revised version is, "Unbowed, politicians vow to execute child rapists," via Google News. Angry politicians vowed to keep writing laws that condemn child...

New Execution Date Set for Charles Hood

Posted on June 26, 2008
"Death Row inmate gets his sixth execution date," is Mike Graczyk's AP report, via the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. The execution clock is ticking again for condemned inmate Charles Dean Hood, whose scheduled trip to the Texas death chamber last week...

Tx CCA Overturns Blair Conviction

Posted on June 26, 2008
This was definitely a case of waiting for the other shoe to drop, given the Collin County District Attorney's admission last month, noted here, that there was insufficient evidence to convict Michael Blair. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeal's brief....

Texas News Coverage of Kennedy v. Louisiana

Posted on June 26, 2008
"Court ruling weakens child-rape law in Texas," is Jason Embrey's report in the Austin American-Statesman. The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday said states cannot use the death penalty to punish child rapists if the victim is not killed, erasing a...

National News Coverage of Kennedy v. Louisiana

Posted on June 26, 2008
Linda Greenhouse writes the report, "Justices Bar Death Penalty for the Rape of a Child," in the New York Times. Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, writing for the majority, said there was ?a distinction between intentional first-degree murder on the one...

Editorials on Kennedy v. Louisiana

Posted on June 26, 2008
Today's New York Times carries the editorial, "Anger and Restraint." For the law to be just, it must temper society?s anger over even the most horrible acts with decency and restraint. The Supreme Court exemplified that principle on Wednesday, striking...

Some Thoughts on the Kennedy Ruling and Texas Lawmaking

Posted on June 25, 2008
Three items stand out to me after reading today's ruling in Kennedy v. Louisiana. First, as Justice Kennedy noted in his opinion: ?As to deterrence, the evidence suggests that the death penalty may not result in more effective enforcement, but...

At the Supreme Court - Kennedy Issued - UPDATED

Posted on June 25, 2008
For today, I'll be adding updates to this post. The opinion is here. The Kennedy v. Louisiana ScotusWiki page is here. The Jessica's Law index is here. More on the Court's 1977 ruling in Coker v. Georgia is here, via...

Howard County Mulls Joining PD Pool

Posted on June 25, 2008
The Big Spring Herald reports, "County considers capital crime insurance." Howard County commissioners are considering joining an 85-county public defender task force in order to hold down costs of capital murder cases. The goal of the task force is for...

Judge Denies Plea Agreement for Fennell

Posted on June 25, 2008
That's the headline in today's Austin American-Statesman concerning a former law enforcement officer who is implicated in the Rodney Reed case. LINK District Judge Burt Carnes on Tuesday denied a plea agreement that included two years in prison and 10...

Walter Dellinger

Posted on June 24, 2008
Rothgery was a tremendous victory, on several levels, for my colleagues at the Texas Fair Defense Project. It was argued on March 17 and issued yesterday. Many observers are still watching for Kennedy v. Louisiana, argued April 16. Seven cases...

Cost of Sentencing Phase Trial

Posted on June 24, 2008
The El Paso Times reports, "County spends $236,254 to resentence child killer." The resentencing of convicted murderer David Renteria in May cost El Paso County a little less than a quarter of a million dollars. Figures released by the county...

HPD Crime Lab Soon to Resume DNA Testing

Posted on June 24, 2008
That's the title of Roma Khanna's report in today's Houston Chronicle. LINK The Houston Police Department crime lab is close to resuming DNA testing, officials told a City Council committee Monday, six months after the lab was forced to suspend...

Attorneys Say Delaware Execution Went Bad

Posted on June 24, 2008
That's the title of an AP dispatch written by Randall Chase. LINK Attorneys challenging Delaware's use of lethal injection claim the state botched a 2005 execution, but a federal judge suggested Monday that she may not consider past executions in...

News Coverage of Cert Grant in Cone and Harbison

Posted on June 24, 2008
There is limited news coverage today of the Supreme Court's decision yesterday to hear two Tennessee death penalty cases in its next term. Each raises a significant issue for capital litigation. In the New York Times, Adam Liptak reports, "Death...

Additional News Coverage of Rothgery

Posted on June 24, 2008
At Legal Times, Tony Mauro reports, "Supreme Court Says Right to Counsel Begins With First Appearance Before Judge." A defendant's Sixth Amendment right to counsel attaches at his first appearance before a magistrate, whether or not the prosecutor is also...

Harbison v. Bell

Posted on June 23, 2008
When the Supreme Court met this morning, in addition to issuing opinions in three cases, the Court agreed to examine seven more cases in its next term, which begins in October 2008. Two of those are of interest here. In...

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