Publications & Testimony

The Medical Society of New Jersey recent­ly approved a res­o­lu­tion call­ing upon the American Medical Association (AMA) to advo­cate for the ​“abo­li­tion of cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment by each juris­dic­tion in the United States of America … and replace it with life in prison with­out the pos­si­bil­i­ty of parole.” Among the stat­ed ratio­nales for the res­o­lu­tion, the soci­ety not­ed that ​“Numerous reports doc­u­ment per­ni­cious and recur­ring errors and oth­er fal­li­bil­i­ties associated…

More pros­e­cu­tors in Texas are opt­ing not to seek the death penal­ty, accord­ing to Randall County District Attorney James Farren, a trend that has been evi­dent over the last decade and will like­ly con­tin­ue. Many pros­e­cu­tors weigh the uncer­tain­ty in secur­ing a death sen­tence against the high lit­i­ga­tion costs as rea­sons for opt­ing for oth­er alter­na­tive sen­tences even when the death penal­ty is avail­able. ​“The facts of the case are a tremen­dous fac­tor in the…

On January 20, a spe­cial mas­ter appoint­ed to review the con­duct of an appeals court judge who would not order her court to stay open late to receive a death penal­ty appeal, con­clud­ed that her con­duct did not mer­it removal from office. Special Master David Berchelmann of San Antonio found that the action of Judge Sharon Keller, Presiding Judge of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, ​“does not war­rant removal from office or fur­ther rep­ri­mand beyond the public…

A new book by David Oshinsky enti­tled ​“Capital Punishment on Trial: Furman v. Georgia and the Death Penalty in Modern America” takes a clos­er look at the ground­break­ing Supreme Court case that stopped the death penal­ty in 1972. The author, a Pulitzer Prize-win­ning his­to­ri­an who is the hold­er of the Jack S. Blanton Chair at the University of Texas and a vis­it­ing pro­fes­sor at New York University, dis­cuss­es the debates and con­tro­ver­sy sur­round­ing the case of…

Roy Brown, state sen­a­tor and 2008 Republican nom­i­nee for gov­er­nor of Montana, said that oppo­si­tion to cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment aligns well with his con­ser­v­a­tive ide­ol­o­gy. He is reach­ing out to social and fis­cal con­ser­v­a­tives, hop­ing to cre­ate a bipar­ti­san move­ment against cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment. Brown not­ed, ​“I believe that life is pre­cious from the womb to a nat­ur­al death.” He con­tin­ued, ​“Criminals should be pros­e­cut­ed. I want it to be life with­out parole. In the long…

Higher costs, the exon­er­a­tion of inno­cent death row inmates and jurors’ expec­ta­tion of DNA proof are all being cit­ed as rea­sons for pros­e­cu­tors decid­ing not to seek the death penal­ty in Indiana. Recently, a high pro­file death penal­ty case cost the state $800,000 before it dropped the death penal­ty in exchange for a guilty plea and life-with­out-parole sen­tence. ​“It’s the tax­pay­er dol­lars, stu­pid, when it comes to the death penal­ty,” said Indiana defense attor­ney Bob Hammerle.