Publications & Testimony

A recent editorial in the Montgomery Advertiser criticized a proposal by Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange to speed up death penalty appeals. His proposed legislation would require two parts of the appeal process to essentially run concurrently. The editorial cautioned that lack of adequate representation for death penalty defendants would make the accelerated process more problematic. The paper concluded, “Anything that smacks of haste in capital punishment cases is inherently troubling.

On January 10, U.S. District Court Judge Gregory Frost will consider a challenge to an execution procedure in Ohio that has never been used before in the country. Dennis McGuire is scheduled for execution on January 16, and his attorneys are arguing the new drugs could cause a very painful death, saying, “McGuire will experience the agony and terror of air hunger as he struggles to breathe for five minutes after [executioners] intravenously inject him with the execution drugs.” The new lethal…

Family members of murder victims gathered outside a courthouse in Castle Rock, Colorado, in support of Robert Autobee, whose son was murdered, but who opposes the death penalty for the perpetrator. Inside the courthouse, jury selection was underway in the trial of Edward Montour, who is accused of murdering correctional officer Eric Autobee (pictured), Robert’s son. Montour originally pleaded guilty and was sentenced to death, but his conviction was overturned, and he has pleaded not guilty by…

On January 7, the Boston Bar Association, representing more than 10,000 lawyers, released a statement opposing the use of the federal death penalty. The Association already had a longstanding position against the death penalty in state cases. Paul T. Dacier (pictured), the President of the Boston Bar, said, “Without equivocation, the death penalty has no place in the fair administration of justice and makes no sense on a practical level.” The organization’s new stance was based on a review of…

In a recent article in the Atlantic, Marc Bookman compared the path through the justice system of two co-defendants sentenced to death in Florida after committing murder in 1977. Beauford White was electrocuted in 1987, despite his trial jury voting 12 – 0 for a life sentence. The trial judge overrode that recommendation and imposed death. White’s co-defendant, John Ferguson, lived for another 26 years before being executed in 2013. His jury voted 12 – 0 for death. The foreman of White’s jury later…

Ronald George is a former Chief Justice of the California Supreme Court, who regularly upheld death sentences. However, in his recent book, Chief: The Quest for Justice in California, he questioned the geographical disparities in the application of the death penalty in the state. In his chapter, “Reforming the Judicial System,” he wrote, “You could have the exact same crime, let’s say a straightforward street robbery homicide, result in the seeking of the death penalty in one part of the state…

An investigation by St. Louis Public Radio and the St. Louis Beacon found that the source of Missouri’s lethal injection drug, pentobarbital, is a compounding pharmacy in Oklahoma, not licensed to sell drugs in Missouri. Until very recently, compounding pharmacies have been regulated only by state pharmacy boards, not by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Thus, a pharmacy in Oklahoma may be held to different standards than one in Missouri. Ned Milenkovich, a pharmacist and attorney who…

As the new year begins, there are several notable events related to the death penalty likely to occur in the next few months. The first execution of the year is scheduled for January 7 in Florida. The execution of Askari Muhammad had originally been scheduled for December 3, 2013, but was stayed due to a challenge to the state’s new execution protocol. The Florida Supreme Court approved the new protocol, and the execution was rescheduled, though legal challenges are continuing in federal court.

Some legal and psychiatric experts have concluded that veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder should be ineligible for execution. In an article in the Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, mental health experts Drs. Hal Wortzel and David Arciniegas wrote, “The tragedy of the wounded combat veteran who faces execution by the nation he has served seems to be an avoidable one, and we, as a society, should take action to ensure that it does not happen.” A 2008 study by…

In a recent op-ed in the Albuquerque Journal, the president of the New Mexico Criminal Defense Lawyers Association discussed the high costs of the federal death penalty. In particular, Barbara Mandel detailed the expenses involved in the recent federal trial of John McCluskey. He was sentenced to life without parole, an outcome that Mandel wrote, “occurred years and at least a million dollars later than it should have.” According to the op-ed, McCluskey had been willing to plead guilty in…