Publications & Testimony

A recent editorial in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram raised questions about Texas’ entire death penalty system, given the preliminary finding by the Texas Forensic Science Commission that arson experts relied on outdated and flawed science during their investigation of a death penalty case. Cameron Willingham was executed in 2004 for setting a fire that killed his three daughters in 1991 based on this faulty research. Now it appears that the fire may not have been deliberate at all. The…

Cory Maples, an inmate on Alabama’s death row, may pay for a simple clerical error with his life. When copies of an Alabama court ruling in his case were sent to the New York law firm handling his appeals, both copies were returned unopened because the firm’s attorneys representing Maples had left the firm. By the time the error was discovered, Maples’s time to appeal had expired. So far, the firm has failed to persuade a federal appeals court to waive the deadline for filing an appeal.

A new book by Andrew Hammel offers insights into the different perspectives on the death penalty in America and Europe. “Ending the Death Penalty: The European Experience in Global Perspective” examines three countries that do not have the death penalty (Germany, France and the United Kingdom), and analyzes how capital punishment was ended in those countries. Hammel ultimately believes that the governmental structure, culture, and political traditions in the U.S. make the European model of…

A new book written by Jim and Nancy Petro offers a comprehensive analysis of how miscarriages of justice result in wrongful convictions. Jim Petro, a former Republican Attorney General of Ohio, has observed the justice system from all sides and was appalled by the frequent mistakes in the criminal justice system. As attorney general, he advocated along with the Innocence Project to help free a man wrongfully convicted of murder and rape. In “False Justice,” the Petros expose a series of myths…

On July 30, the Court of Appeal in Kenya unanimously held that mandatory death sentences are unconstitutional, violating the right to life and inflicting inhuman punishment since the law does not provide individuals the opportunity to present mitigating evidence. As a result, hundreds of prisoners will be given new sentencing hearings at which they will be able to present reasons why they should be spared a death sentence. New procedures will have to be adopted for conducting such hearings. The…

An execution date of September 23 was recently set for Teresa Lewis, the only woman on Virginia’s death row. Although a number of other people were involved in the same crime, including the actual shooters of the two victims, Lewis was the only person sentenced to death. She pled guilty at trial. Since being sent to death row in 2002, Lewis has taken responsibility and apologized for her actions. She has had an exemplary record while in prison and does not appear to be a future danger if she…

In a preliminary report, the Texas Forensic Science Commission recently found that fire investigators used flawed science in the case that led to the death sentence and execution of Cameron Todd Willingham. Willingham was executed in 2004, having been convicted of setting the fire that killed his three children. Willingham had always maintained his innocence and said the fire could have been an accident. The Commission acknowledged that new fire investigation standards were developed in 1992…