Publications & Testimony

The American Bar Association has released a report on Missouri’s capital punishment system after a two-year study of the state’s death penalty. The study was conducted by legal experts, including former and current judges, lawyers, and law professors. Douglas Copeland, a member of the assessment team and former president of the Missouri Bar, said “We identified substantial problems with the death penalty in Missouri. Our group unanimously agreed there are key reforms needed to ensure fairness…

In 2009, Maryland passed legislation that imposed new requirements for prosecutors seeking the death penalty. A recent report presented to the Maryland General Assembly by prominent attorneys, legal experts and law professors analyzes the 2009 law three years after its passage, highlighting its effects on the state’s death penalty system. According to the report, the 2009 law exacerbated a significant set of problems with the state’s death penalty, including its costs, arbitrariness, and impact…

An Op-Ed signed by eleven current and former Kentucky prosecutors calls for reforms to Kentucky’s death penalty, in light of the recent report issued by the American Bar Association. The ABA report was released in December after a two-year study of fairness and accuracy in capital cases in Kentucky. The prosecutors cite Kentucky’s “unacceptable” 60% error rate in death sentencing, saying “As a matter of basic fairness, we must pause to understand and reform the way capital punishment is…

The Georgia Supreme Court recently warned Gwinnett County officials that time to try the murder case of Khahn Dinh Phan is running out. Phan had petitioned the court to dismiss his charges due to the state’s inability to fund his defense and the violation of his right to a speedy trial. His case has not been brought to trial in nearly seven years, partly because of Georgia’s financially strained indigent defense system. Attorneys for Phan, who were hired by the Georgia Public Defender Standards…

A recent op-ed written by retired Louisiana Supreme Court Chief Justice Pascal F. Calogero Jr. highlights the state’s history of violating the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Brady v. Maryland. According to this ruling, prosecutors are required to disclose evidence favorable to the defense, and that failure to do so violates the defendant’s right to due process. Calogero cited a report by the Innocence Project New Orleans which found that favorable evidence was withheld in 25% of the cases of…

A case testing new death penalty statutes in Maryland has recently concluded. The new statutes limited when the death penalty could be sought to cases of first degree murder in which there is DNA or other biological evidence linking the defendant to a murder, a video-taped confession by the defendant, or a video linking the defendant to the murder. Lee Edward Stephens, who was convicted of the fatal stabbing of Cpl. David McGuinn, was spared the death penalty, and sentenced to life without the…

Alabama recently set an execution date for Thomas Arthur (pictured), who was convicted of a murder that took place 30 years ago. Arthur has always maintained his innocence, but has been denied access to DNA evidence that might lead to a different verdict. As Andrew Cohen pointed out in an investigative piece in The Atlantic, Arthur is scheduled for execution on March 29, despite the confession of Bobby Ray Gilbert to the crime for which Arthur is facing execution. There was no physical evidence…

On February 29, Arizona is scheduled to execute Robert Moorman, who was sentenced to death for a 1984 murder. Moorman’s representatives have said the crime was committed after years of sexual abuse by the defendant’s adoptive mother, whom he then killed and dismembered her body. Moorman was diagnosed with mental retardation and attended special education classes while in public school. His first stay at a mental institution occurred when he was 13. At a recent clemency hearing, Moorman said he…