Publications & Testimony

United Nations Calls for Moratorium on Executions A res­o­lu­tion for a glob­al mora­to­ri­um on exe­cu­tions was passed on Nov. 15 by the UN General Assembly’s Third (Human Rights) Committee by a vote of 99 – 52, with 33 absten­tions. The General Assembly is expect­ed to endorse the deci­sion in a ple­nary ses­sion in December. Similar res­o­lu­tions were intro­duced in 1994 and 1999 but were either nar­row­ly defeat­ed or with­drawn. The res­o­lu­tions calls on countries…

After over an hour of debate, the Massachusetts House of Representatives over­whelm­ing­ly reject­ed an attempt to rein­state the death penal­ty. Prior to the 110 – 46 vote, Governor Deval Patrick had vowed to veto the bill if it were approved. The bill was sim­i­lar to one sub­mit­ted by for­mer Governor Mitt Romney as a ​“gold stan­dard” for cap­i­tal punishment.State Representatives cit­ed high costs and the pos­si­bil­i­ty for human error as rea­sons for reject­ing the bill. Rep. Sean F. Curran, D‑Springfield…

A recent Newsweek arti­cle by Evan Thomas and Martha Brant com­pares the his­tor­i­cal search for humane meth­ods of exe­cu­tion with the cur­rent decline in the use of the death penal­ty in the…

In addi­tion to the main brief sub­mit­ted by the Petitioner in Baze v. Rees, sev­er­al ami­cus curi­ae briefs have been filed in sup­port of the inmates from Kentucky who are chal­leng­ing the con­sti­tu­tion­al­i­ty of lethal injec­tions as prac­ticed in their state before the U.S. Supreme Court. The case is like­ly to be heard in January 2008 and decid­ed by June. It appears that exe­cu­tions around the coun­try have been put on hold pend­ing the Court’s deci­sion. The ami­cus (“friend of the court”) briefs…

Superior Court Judge Robert Ervin ruled that North Carolina death row inmate Glen Edward Chapman is enti­tled to a new tri­al based on ample evi­dence that he was wrong­ly con­vict­ed. Judge Ervin said that law enforce­ment offi­cials with­held evi­dence, used false tes­ti­mo­ny, and mis­placed or destroyed impor­tant doc­u­ments that could have sup­port­ed Chapman’s inno­cence claim. The judge’s order also revealed that Chapman’s defense attor­neys did not ade­quate­ly rep­re­sent him dur­ing his trial,…

New Jersey Assembly Speaker Joseph Roberts, Jr. (pic­tured) has announced that on December 13 mem­bers of the Assembly will vote on whether to reduce the state’s most severe pun­ish­ment to life in prison with­out parole. A spokes­woman for Senate President Richard J. Codey said the Senate is like­ly to take sim­i­lar action before the leg­isla­tive ses­sion ends on January 8, though a date has not been set for the vote. If approved by the Legislature and signed by Gov. Jon Corzine, who oppos­es the death…

In a forth­com­ing arti­cle in the American Journal of Criminal Law, John H. Blume of Cornell Law School explores recent Supreme Court deci­sions that affect the guide­lines for effec­tive coun­sel for cap­i­tal defen­dants. Blume notes in ​“It’s Like Déjà Vu All Over Again: Williams V. Taylor, Wiggins V. Smith, Rompilla V. Beard and a (Partial) Return to the Guidelines Approach to the Effective Assistance of Counsel” that despite the recog­ni­tion by researchers, lit­i­ga­tors, and judges of the prob­lem of…

The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case in which it will decide how appel­late courts are to eval­u­ate claims of inef­fec­tive assis­tance of coun­sel in plea nego­ti­a­tions. The case, Arave v. Hoffman (07 – 110), is the lat­est effort by the Justices to decide whether mis­takes made by a defense lawyer war­rant over­turn­ing a crim­i­nal’s con­vic­tion or sen­tence. The appeal stems from a Idaho 1987 mur­der com­mit­ted by Max Hoffman and two oth­er men. Five weeks before his tri­al, pros­e­cu­tors offered…

With recent U.S. Supreme Court deci­sions under­scor­ing the impor­tance of defense coun­sel per­for­mance dur­ing cap­i­tal tri­als, judges across the nation are strug­gling to bal­ance the high costs of cap­i­tal cas­es with the need for ade­quate rep­re­sen­ta­tion. In Georgia, Judge Hilton M. Fuller Jr. has delayed the tri­al of Brian Nichols because the state pub­lic defend­er sys­tem has no mon­ey to pay for his attor­neys and oth­er expens­es asso­ci­at­ed with his defense. Fuller said that it is point­less to proceed…