Policy Issues
Innocence
,New Voices
,Oct 19, 2018
As Capital Retrial Begins, Former Judge Says Defendant Should Not Be Convicted
As Seminole County prosecutors seek the death penalty against Clemente Javier Aguirre-Jarquin a s…
Entries tagged with “Judges”
Policy Issues
Costs
,Representation
,New Voices
,Nov 10, 2008
COSTS: Utah Supreme Court Says Death Sentences Will Be Reversed Unless Legislature Provides for Adequate Counsel
Utah’s Supreme Court recently expressed concern that the lack of qualified defense attorneys for indigent death row inmates could unravel capital sentences. In a unanimous decision in the case of death row inmate Michael A…
Facts & Research
New Voices
,Mar 21, 2024
Discussions with DPIC Podcast: Retired Judge Elsa Alcala on the Death Penalty in Texas
In this month’s episode of Discussions with DPIC, Managing Di…
Facts & Research
Recent Legislative Activity
,Sentencing Data
,United States Supreme Court
,New Voices
,Jan 28, 2016
Florida Holds Hearing On Capital Sentencing As Experts Urge Reform
In an op-ed for the Orlando Sentinel, former Florida Supreme Court Justice Raoul Cantero (pictured) and ABA Death Penalty Assessment Team member Mark Schlakman call on the Florida legislature to repair the constitutional …
Policy Issues
Arbitrariness
,Executions Overview
,Nov 02, 2020
Florida Supreme Court Abandons 50-Year-Old Proportionality Safeguard for Capital Defendants
In a continuing diminution of procedural safeguards in capital cases, the Florida Supreme Court has ended its long-standing practice of independently reviewing death penalty cases on appeal to ensure that they are not disproportionate to sentences…
Facts & Research
New Voices
,Lethal Injection
,Feb 13, 2017
Former Federal Appeals Judge Urges Caution as Ohio Reschedules Executions
In a guest column for the Cleveland Plain Dealer, retired federal appeals court judge Nathaniel R. Jones (pictured) urged Ohio to “reconsider its race to death” in scheduling executions while the constitu…
Policy Issues
Victims' Families
,New Voices
,Federal Death Penalty
,Nov 13, 2019
Former State and Federal Judges, Prosecutors, and Law Enforcement Officials and Families of Murder Victims Urge Federal Government to Call Off Executions
Hundreds of former state and federal judges, prosecutors, law enforcement and corrections officials, and family members of homicide victims have signed on to a series of letters urging the federal government to halt the five federal executions sch…
Facts & Research
United States Supreme Court
,New Voices
,Feb 17, 2016
Former State Chief Justices: Pennsylvania Justice Should Not Have Approved Death as D.A., Then Reviewed Case on Appeal
In a recent Washington Times op-ed, two former state supreme court chief justices argue that a state supreme court justice who, as district attorney, had authorized the capital prosecution of a defendant, should not have later participate…
Policy Issues
Sentencing Alternatives
,May 26, 2022
Judge Rejects Missouri’s First Jury Recommendation of Death in Nine Years, Says Mitigating Evidence Requires Life Sentence for Marvin Rice
A Missouri judge has rejected the state’s first jury recommendation for a death sentence in nine years, and has instead re-sentenced former death-row prisoner Marvin D. Rice (pictured) to life without parole. …
Policy Issues
Innocence
,International
,Representation
,Upcoming Executions
,Conditions on Death Row
,Mar 02, 2022
Melissa Lucio Files Motions to Vacate Death Warrant, Remove Judge and District Attorney Based on Conflicts of Interest
Lawyers for Texas death-row prisoner Melissa Lucio (pictured) have moved to vacate her April 27, 2022 execution date and remove the judge and district attorney in her case because of conflicts of interest stemming…
Jun 26, 2003
NEW VOICES: Akron Beacon Journal Calls for Death Penalty Review in Ohio
A recent editorial in The Beacon Journal notes that Ohio Supreme Court Justice Paul Pfeifer, who played a leading role in writing Ohio’s death penalty statute 22 years ago when he was chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, is now calling for pas…
Policy Issues
Costs
,New Voices
,May 03, 2006
NEW VOICES: California Chief Justice Calls Death Penalty “Dysfunctional”
Ronald George (pictured), Chief Justice of the California Supreme Court, recently called the state’s death penalty “dysfunctional” and criticized state lawmakers for their unwillingness to adequately fund the state’s capital punishment system. The…
Policy Issues
Costs
,New Voices
,Mar 03, 2008
NEW VOICES: California Judge Says Death Penalty is “Waste of Taxpayers’ Money”
During his 15-year tenure on the court, Orange County Superior Court Judge Donald McCartin sentenced nine men to death. Now retired, Judge McCartin no longer believes in the death penalty. “It’s a waste of time and taxpayers’ money,” Judge McCarti…
Facts & Research
Clemency
,New Voices
,Jan 31, 2006
NEW VOICES: California Judge Seeks Clemency for Man He Sentenced to Death
More than two decades after Ventura County Superior Court Judge Charles R. McGrath condemned Michael Morales to die, McGrath is asking California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to grant clemency because the conviction was likely based on false tes…
Facts & Research
Recent Legislative Activity
,New Voices
,Jan 13, 2006
NEW VOICES: California Moratorium Bill Gains Broad Support From Law Enforcement, Prosecutors and Judges
A group of 40 law enforcement officers, current and former prosecutors, and judges at the state and federal level have urged California lawmakers to enact a temporary halt to executions in the state while a commission examines the accuracy and fai…
Facts & Research
New Voices
,Oct 17, 2006
NEW VOICES: Chief Judge of the Fourth Circuit Ponders Worth of the Death Penalty
In a recent speech to law students from Furman University, William W. Wilkins, the Chief Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, expressed doubts about the value of the death penalty given its high costs and pro…
Policy Issues
Arbitrariness
,Innocence
,New Voices
,Oct 23, 2006
NEW VOICES: Federal Appeals Court Judge of the Fifth Circuit Expresses Legal and Moral Problems with the Death Penalty
Judge Carolyn Dineen King of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit was the main speaker at the “Red Mass” on October 4 at the Catholic cathedral in Corpus Christi, Texas. The Red Mass is an annual liturgy held for members of the legal pr…
Facts & Research
New Voices
,Federal Death Penalty
,May 08, 2007
NEW VOICES: Federal Judge Advises Justice Department to Rethink Death Case
U.S. District Judge S. James Otero recently halted the penalty phase of a federal capital case in Los Angeles and told prosecutors that he believes the U.S. Justice Department should reconsider its decision to seek the death penalty for Petro “Pet…
Policy Issues
Costs
,Representation
,New Voices
,Aug 30, 2007
NEW VOICES: Federal Judge Calls for Vast Improvements in Representation to Fix California’s Broken System
Arthur L. Alarcon, a senior judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit in Los Angeles, sharply criticized California’s death penalty system and chided lawmakers for failing to provide adequate representation and fundi…
Policy Issues
Arbitrariness
,New Voices
,Jul 27, 2007
NEW VOICES: Federal Judge Calls the Death Penalty Arbitrary, Biased and Fundamentally Flawed
Judge Boyce F. Martin, Jr. (pictured) of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit called the death penalty “arbitrary, biased, and so fundamentally flawed at its very core that it is beyond repair.” Judge Martin dissented in the case of Getsy…
Policy Issues
Innocence
,Victims' Families
,New Voices
,Jan 03, 2005
NEW VOICES: Federal Judge Discusses His Concerns About the Death Penalty
In an interview with The New York Times, Judge Jed S. Rakoff (pictured) discussed his reasons for finding the federal death penalty to be unconstitutional. Judge Rakoff ruled in April 2002 that the death penalty failed to secure due process becaus…
Facts & Research
New Voices
,Federal Death Penalty
,Jan 30, 2007
NEW VOICES: Federal Judge Says New York Case is “Absurd” Waste of Time and Money
U.S. District Judge Frederick Block recently told federal prosecutors that pursuing a death sentence for Kenneth McGriff would be an “absurd” waste of time and money. According to a court transcript, while jurors were on a break during closing arg…
Policy Issues
Costs
,New Voices
,Federal Death Penalty
,Mar 03, 2008
NEW VOICES: Federal Judge Says Seeking Death Sentence not Worth the Costs
Federal District Court Judge Jack B. Weinstein said recently that seeking the death penalty against Humberto Pepin Taveras in New York is not worth the effort of prosecutors or taxpayers’ money. “Based on the history of cases tried in metropolitan…
Policy Issues
Arbitrariness
,Innocence
,Intellectual Disability
,Mental Illness
,New Voices
,May 24, 2016
NEW VOICES: Former Chief Justice of North Carolina Supreme Court Questions Constitutionality of Death Penalty
I. Beverly Lake, Jr. — a staunch supporter of North Carolina’s death penalty during his years as a State Senator and who, as a former Chief Justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court, repeatedly voted to uphold death sentences — has …
Nov 29, 2004
NEW VOICES: Former FBI Chief and Texas Judge Call for Halt to Texas Executions
William S. Sessions, who served as director of the FBI from 1987 to 1993, and Charles F. Baird, a former Texas Court of Criminal Appeals Judge from 1990 to 1998, have called for a halt to executions in Texas because of the risk of…
Facts & Research
New Voices
,Jul 03, 2008
NEW VOICES: Former FL Supreme Court Judge Says Capital Punishment System is Broken
Gerald Kogan, former Chief Justice of the Florida Supreme Court, who has also served as a prosecutor, defense attorney, and trial judge, recently expressed concerns about Florida’s death penalty system. “Florida’s system of capita…
Nov 17, 2004
NEW VOICES: Former Missouri Chief Justice Reiterates His Concerns about Capital Punishment
Former Missouri Supreme Court Chief Justice Charles Blackmar recently reiterated his opposition to the death penalty and his concerns about wrongful convictions, noting that the exoneration of Missouri death row inmate Joseph Amrine “makes me wond…
Jul 18, 2003
NEW VOICES: Former Missouri Supreme Court Judge Decries Death Penalty
Charles B. Blackmar, senior judge of Missouri’s Supreme Court from 1982 – 1992, recently called for consideration of abolishing the death penalty. In a letter to the editor that appeared in the Kansas City Star, Blackmar stated: Mos…
Policy Issues
Sentencing Alternatives
,New Voices
,Jan 17, 2007
NEW VOICES: Former N. J. Supreme Court Justice Urges State to Face Reality on the Death Penalty
In an opinion piece in the New York Times, former New Jersey Supreme Court Justice Peter G. Verniero (pictured) said that the state should replace its flawed death penalty with the sentence of life without parole. Vernier…
Policy Issues
Arbitrariness
,Deterrence
,Recent Legislative Activity
,New Voices
,Mar 27, 2014
NEW VOICES: Former New Hampshire Justices Support Death Penalty Repeal
Two former justices of the New Hampshire Supreme Court recently voiced their support for repealing the death penalty. In an op-ed, Joseph Nadeau (l.) and John Broderick (r.) emphasized the death penalty’s lack of deterrent effect,…
Policy Issues
Arbitrariness
,New Voices
,May 20, 2008
NEW VOICES: Former New Jersey Supreme Court Justices Discuss the Failure of the Death Penalty Law
Former members of the New Jersey Supreme Court recently shared their insights on the death penalty at a symposium sponsored by Seton Hall and Fordham law schools, and by the the New York City and New Jersey State Bar associations.…
Facts & Research
New Voices
,Oct 22, 2007
NEW VOICES: Former Tennessee Attorney General and Federal Judge Cite Crisis in State’s Death Penalty
A former Tennessee Attorney General, W.J. Cody, and a U.S. Court of Appeals Judge, Gilbert Merritt, both members of the American Bar Association’s Tennessee Death Penalty Assessment Team, called on policymakers to thoroughly review the state’s cap…
Policy Issues
Arbitrariness
,Race
,Representation
,New Voices
,Jan 17, 2019
New Voices: Former Texas Criminal Appeals Judge Suggests “Pause” on Texas Death Penalty
Retiring Texas Court of Criminal Appeals judge and former prosecutor Elsa Alcala now believes that the death penalty is unreliably and discriminatorily applied in the nation’s most aggressive capi…
Policy Issues
Sentencing Alternatives
,Victims' Families
,New Voices
,Jan 29, 2008
NEW VOICES: Judge Calls Death Penalty “an outrageous way to penalize victims”
Maryland Judge Joseph P. Manck sought to lessen the pain and frustration to the victims’ family by sentencing a defendant to life in prison without the possibility of parole instead of the death penalty. In choosing a life sentenc…
Feb 24, 2004
NEW VOICES: Kansas Supreme Court Justice Reflects: “Do I Have It Right?”
In a report filed by the Kansas Judicial Council Death Penalty Advisory Committee, retired Kansas Supreme Court Justice Fred N. Six noted that capital punishment cases pose immense burdens on judges. He stated: Always in the cons…
Policy Issues
Arbitrariness
,New Voices
,Dec 17, 2008
NEW VOICES: Mississippi Supreme Court Justice Says Death Penalty Unconstitutional
The Presiding Justice of the Mississippi Supreme Court, Oliver Diaz, dissented in a recent capital case, Doss v. Mississippi, stating he had come to the conclusion that the death penalty …
Facts & Research
New Voices
,Jul 22, 2015
NEW VOICES: Ninth Circuit Judge Calls for Sweeping Criminal Justice Reform
In a recent article for the Georgetown Law Journal, Judge Alex Kozinski of the U.S. Court of Appeals for t…
Policy Issues
Arbitrariness
,New Voices
,Jan 28, 2013
NEW VOICES: Ohio Supreme Court Justice Calls Death Penalty Unconstitutional
Ohio Supreme Court Justice William O’Neill recently voted to strike down the death penalty, when he dissented in an order setting an execution date for Jeffrey Wogenstahl. Justice O’Neill wrote, “I would hold that capital punishme…
Policy Issues
Mental Illness
,New Voices
,Nov 01, 2006
NEW VOICES: Ohio Supreme Court Justice Says Mentally Ill Should be Exempt from Death Penalty
Justice Evelyn Lundberg Stratton of the Ohio Supreme Court called upon the legislature to exempt defendants with serious mental illness from the death penalty. Judge Stratton concurred in the affirmance of the death sentence for Donald Ketterer. S…
Oct 27, 2004
NEW VOICES: Texas Judge Calls for Halt to Executions
Judge Tom Price, a 30-year veteran Republican jurist on Texas’s highest criminal court, recently stated that those on the state’s death row convicted with evidence from the Houston Police Department crime lab should not be executed until questions…
Nov 10, 2003
NEW VOICES: Washington Judge States Death Penalty “No Longer Has Validity”
In a Seattle Times op-ed reflecting on the plea agreement for serial killer Gary Ridgway resulting in a life without parole sentence (read more), Washington State Superior Court Judge David A. Nichols sta…
Facts & Research
Clemency
,New Voices
,Jun 14, 2018
Retired Warden, Former Judge and Prosecutor Urge Ohio to Grant Clemency to Raymond Tibbetts
The Ohio Parole Board held a hearing on June 14, 2018 to consider clemency for death-row prisoner Raymond Tibbetts, whose February 13 execution was halted by Governor John Kasich
Policy Issues
Arbitrariness
,Sentencing Alternatives
,New Voices
,Apr 03, 2006
Washington Supreme Court Closely Divided on Rationality of State’s Death Penalty
The Washington State Supreme Court recently came within one vote of effectively abolishing the state’s death penalty when it ruled in the case of death row inmate Dayva Cross. Cross is on death row for the murder of his wife and her two teenage da…