Publications & Testimony

On May 20, twen­ty-sev­en for­mer judges and pros­e­cu­tors from across the polit­i­cal spec­trum filed an ami­cus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in sup­port of Georgia death row inmate Troy Davis. Signers of the ami­cus brief include Larry Thompson (Deputy Attorney General of the United States, 2001 – 2003), for­mer Congressman Bob Barr (R‑GA; U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia, 1986 – 1990); William S.

On May 18, the U.S. Supreme Court grant­ed cer­tio­rari in two death penal­ty cas­es. Both cas­es are like­ly to be argued in the fall. The Court accept­ed the defen­dan­t’s peti­tion in Wood v. Allen (No. 08 – 9156), a case from Alabama. Holly Wood claimed inef­fec­tive assis­tance of coun­sel, men­tal retar­da­tion, and dis­crim­i­na­tion in the jury selec­tion process dur­ing his tri­al. After the tri­al, state and defense experts found that Wood, with an IQ below 70, had…

Daniel Wade Moore was acquit­ted of all charges by a jury in Alabama on May 14. Moore was orig­i­nal­ly found guilty of the mur­der and sex­u­al assault of Karen Tipton in 2002. The judge over­ruled the jury’s rec­om­men­da­tion of a life sen­tence and instead sen­tenced him to death in January 2003, call­ing the mur­der one of the worst ever in the coun­ty. A new tri­al was ordered in 2003 because of evi­dence with­held by the pros­e­cu­tion. A sec­ond tri­al in 2008 end­ed in a mis­tri­al with the jury deadlocked at…

James Fry, a for­mer Dallas County Assistant District Attorney, changed his mind about the death penal­ty after learn­ing that he suc­cess­ful­ly pros­e­cut­ed an inno­cent man for rape. The defen­dant, Charles Chatman, was cleared 27 years lat­er by DNA. In an op-ed in the Dallas Morning News, Fry asks, ​“For years, Texas has led the nation in the num­ber of exe­cu­tions. Why don’t we now strive to lead the nation in a new direc­tion: reform­ing a jus­tice sys­tem in urgent need of reform?” Fry…

Missouri’s Republican House Majority Leader Steven Tilley says Governor Jay Nixon should com­mute the death sen­tence of Dennis Skillicorn, who is sched­uled to be exe­cut­ed on May 21. Citing rev­e­la­tions that anoth­er sus­pect com­mit­ted the mur­der while Skillicorn was unaware of the mur­der plan, Tilley said, ​“Certainly, that would be enough rea­son­able doubt for me that I would be very con­cerned if this state exe­cut­ed that indi­vid­ual.” Tilley’s sug­ges­tion to the…

The state of Tennessee has dropped all charges against Paul House, a death row inmate first con­vict­ed in 1986. House was accused of the rape and mur­der of Carolyn Muncey based large­ly on cir­cum­stan­tial evi­dence. DNA evi­dence used against him at tri­al was lat­er found to belong to Muncey’s hus­band. In House v. Bell, the U.S. Supreme Court con­sid­ered the new DNA tesing and ques­tions about blood stains on House’s clothes. In 2006, the…

On March 8, Connecticut held a leg­isla­tive hear­ing about what should be done with the state’s death penal­ty. The Judiciary Committee has already approved a bill to abol­ish cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment. Connecticut has car­ried out only one exe­cu­tion since 1973, and that was with an inmate who waived his appeals and vol­un­teered for exe­cu­tion. The Chief State’s Attorney, Kevin T. Kane sub­mit­ted a pro­pos­al to reform the sys­tem, but it would cur­tail the appeals process used to protect…

A bill to repeal the death penal­ty and use the funds saved to inves­ti­gate unsolved mur­der cas­es in Colorado was defeat­ed in the state sen­ate by a vote of 18 – 17 on May 6. The House had ear­li­er approved the bill by a vote of 33 – 32. On May 4, the sen­ate had approved an amend­ment, drop­ping the repeal of the death penal­ty and fund­ing the cost of inves­ti­gat­ing cold cas­es through a $2.50 fine to con­vict­ed felons. However, the con­fer­ence com­mit­tee restored the repeal provision and…