Publications & Testimony

A recent edi­to­r­i­al in the Houston Chronicle high­lights the case of Texas death-row inmate Milton Mathis, whose IQ of 62 places him well below the thresh­old for intel­lec­tu­al dis­abil­i­ty (for­mer­ly called​“men­tal retar­da­tion”). Mr. Mathis faces exe­cu­tion on June 21, despite the 2002 U.S. Supreme Court rul­ing in Atkins v. Virginia, which banned the exe­cu­tion of inmates with intellectual disabilities.

On June 14, Senator Patrick Leahy (D.-Vt.) (pic­tured) intro­duced the Consular Notification Compliance Act. This bill would estab­lish enforce­ment mech­a­nisms for U.S. com­pli­ance with the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, a key treaty that pro­vides the right to con­sult with your con­sulate for cit­i­zens detained out­side their home coun­try. The U.S. has signed and rat­i­fied this treaty, but has not always…

The Atlantic Center for Capital Representation recent­ly peti­tioned the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to ensure that lawyers appoint­ed in death penal­ty cas­es in Philadelphia have ade­quate resources to defend their clients. The peti­tion, filed on behalf of three indi­vid­u­als charged with first-degree mur­der and fac­ing the death penal­ty, argued that Philadelphia’s cur­rent com­pen­sa­tion sys­tem for court-appoint­ed cap­i­tal defense lawyers is so…

On June 13, 2011, law pro­fes­sor and not­ed researcher David Baldus died in Iowa City, IA. Professor Baldus had been a pro­fes­sor at the University of Iowa since 1969 and taught crim­i­nal law, anti-dis­­crim­i­­na­­tion law, and cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment and fed­er­al crim­i­nal law. He was nation­al­ly rec­og­nized for his research on the death penal­ty. Professor Baldus con­duct­ed many stud­ies regard­ing the imple­men­ta­tion of cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment in the United States.

The American Bar Association recent­ly pub­lished The State of Criminal Justice 2011, an annu­al report that exam­ines major issues, trends and sig­nif­i­cant changes in America’s crim­i­nal jus­tice sys­tem. The pub­li­ca­tion serves as a valu­able resource for aca­d­e­mics, stu­dents, and pol­i­­cy-makes. The chap­ter devot­ed to cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment was writ­ten by Ronald Tabak, spe­cial coun­sel and pro bono coor­di­na­tor at the law firm of…

Lundbeck Inc., a Danish phar­ma­ceu­ti­cal com­pa­ny that is the sole man­u­fac­tur­er of injectable pen­to­bar­bi­tal used in the U.S., recent­ly announced that it will impose tougher con­di­tions on dis­trib­u­tors in an effort to pre­vent the drug’s use in exe­cu­tions. Lundbeck’s Chief Executive, Ulf Wiinberg, said his com­pa­ny will be switch­ing to the use of spe­cial­ist whole­salers and impos­ing​“end user claus­es” designed to stop pentobarbital…

A new dec­la­ra­tion issued by Catherine Ashton, the European Union​’s High Representative for Common Foreign and Security Policy, expressed deep con­cerns about the pos­si­ble exe­cu­tion of Troy Anthony Davis, a death row inmate in Georgia. Evidence that emerged after his tri­al has thrown doubt about his con­vic­tion. The High Representative, writ­ing on behalf of the EU, stat­ed,​“The EU has repeat­ed­ly intervened on…

On June 8, Ohio Governor John Kasich (pic­tured) grant­ed clemen­cy to Shawn Hawkins, com­mut­ing his death sen­tence to life with­out parole because of doubts about his role in a dou­ble mur­der. Hawkins was sched­uled for exe­cu­tion on June 14. In May, the Ohio Parole Board unan­i­mous­ly rec­om­mend­ed to spare Hawkins’ life, cit­ing con­flict­ing state­ments by the sole eye­wit­ness and pos­si­ble involve­ment of other individuals…

On June 7, a clemen­cy peti­tion was filed with the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles request­ing a halt to the July‑7 exe­cu­tion of Humberto Leal, a Mexican cit­i­zen who was not advised of his con­sular rights upon arrest for a mur­der in San Antonio in 1994. The peti­tion was accom­pa­nied by let­ters from for­mer U.S. diplo­mats, retired mil­i­tary lead­ers, for­mer pros­e­cu­tors and judges, and asso­ca­tions of Americans living…

On June 1, a unan­i­mous jury in a fed­er­al death penal­ty pros­e­cu­tion in New York vot­ed to impose a life sen­tence on Vincent Basciano, an orga­nized-crime leader who had ear­li­er been con­vict­ed of mur­der, rack­e­teer­ing, and con­spir­a­cy. The pros­e­cu­tors’ lead wit­ness against Basciano was Joseph Massino, a for­mer crime boss who agreed to coop­er­ate with the gov­ern­ment in order to escape a death sen­tence for his own crimes. The federal…