Publications & Testimony

UPDATE: Execution stayed by federal court on Nov. 8 to allow time for appeal. Pennsylvania is planning to use drugs in an upcoming execution that are not regulated by the federal Food and Drug Administration but rather are made to order by a compounding pharmacy. A compounding pharmacy has been implicated in the deadly meningitis outbreak in the U.S. caused by contaminated drugs. In Missouri, the Pharmacy Board tested claimed drug dosages from compounding pharmacies from 2006 to 2009 and found…

Garry Allen is scheduled for execution in Oklahoma on November 6, the third date set for him this year. Allen’s execution has been stayed repeatedly due to questions about his mental competence. He has been diagnosed with schizophrenia as well as dementia caused by seizures, drug abuse, and a gunshot wound to his head sustained during his arrest. In 2008, the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board recommended that his death sentence be commuted by a 4 – 1 vote. Governor Mary Fallin granted a stay in…

A recent editorial in the Miami Herald applauded a court decision finding that the costs of represening defendants in Florida death penalty cases should be kept separate from the judges’ annual budget. A state judge held it would be unconstitutional to have judges making decisions about attorneys’ fees when the money for such expenses comes from the judges’ own resources. The editorial stated, “We depend on the court system to dispense justice — period. Not justice on a budget, not justice on the…

On October 29, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear a death penalty case from Texas to determine whether inmates there can raise claims of inadequate trial representation in federal court if they were effectively prevented from raising such a claim in their state appeal by the further failure of their appellate lawyers. Lower courts considering this issue have held that an earlier Supreme Court ruling, Martinez v. Ryan (2012), which provided such a right in an Arizona case, does not apply in…

On October 23, the United Nations’ special rapporteur on torture, Juan Mendez, told a UN General Assembly human rights committee that countries around the world are increasingly viewing capital punishment as a form of torture because of the severe mental and physical pain it inflicts on those sentenced to death. Mendez told the committee, “States need to re-examine their procedures under international law because the ability of states to impose and carry out the death penalty is diminishing as…

The latest edition of the educational text, The Death Penalty in a Nutshell by Victor Streib, is now available. Prof. Streib presents the substantive and procedural law of capital cases, along with its relevant history, jurisprudence and constitutional applications. Streib also addresses international issues, the complex role of defense counsel, the risk of systemic bias, and the potential execution of innocent defendants. This new edition provides an analysis of emerging trends in the death…

Conservative commentator Bill O’Reilly (pictured) of Fox News recently endorsed California’s Proposition 34, the ballot initiative that would replace the death penalty with life in prison without the possibility of parole. O’Reilly joined many conservative supporters of the measure, including Ron Briggs, who led the campaign to reinstate California’s death penalty in 1978. In an op-ed about O’Reilly’s endorsement, Briggs discussed the conservative argument for repeal, calling the death penalty…

A new Los Angeles Times poll of registered voters in California showed a dramatic increase in support of Proposition 34, a ballot measure that would replace the death penalty with life without parole, saving the state tens of millions of dollars annually. The survey, conducted October 15 – 21, showed more respondents supporting repeal of the death penalty (45%) than those wanting to keep it (42%) when they were given information about the measure’s financial impact and effect on prisoners. Eleven…

The family of Cameron Todd Willingham announced they will petition the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles to grant him a posthumous pardon based on new evidence that has emerged since his execution in 2004. Willingham was sentenced to death for the murder of his three children in a housefire in 1991. At his trial, investigators testified that Willingham had intentionally set the fire, but later developments in the science of fire investigation have led experts to believe the fire was…

On October 23, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a last-minute federal appeals court stay-of-execution for John Ferguson. Ferguson had been scheduled to be executed earlier that day, but his lawyers filed a series of motions arguing he was mentally incompetent. In September, Florida Governor Rick Scott signed Ferguson’s death warrant for October 16, but allowed time for a mental competency examination. A series of stays and reversals shifted the date to October 18, then to October 23, or later.