Publications & Testimony

Superior Court Judge Lynn O’Malley Taylor held that the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation failed to fol­low prop­er pro­ce­dure for insti­tut­ing new reg­u­la­tions when it issued new lethal injec­tion pro­to­cols in May. Under state law, an agency that adopts new reg­u­la­tions must first pub­lish the text, invite pub­lic com­ments, hold a hear­ing if a mem­ber of the pub­lic requests one, and sub­mit the final draft to the Office of Administrative Law, which decides whether the proposed…

As the U.S. Supreme Court pre­pares to con­sid­er the con­sti­tu­tion­al­i­ty of Kentucky’s lethal injec­tion pro­ce­dures, pros­e­cu­tors in three Texas coun­ties have decid­ed to await the Justices’ rul­ing rather than ask judges to set exe­cu­tion dates and press for­ward through the courts. ​“It seems the com­mon-sense thing to do at this point,” said Roe Wilson, who han­dles death penal­ty appeals for the Harris County District Attorney’s Office in Houston. Harris County sends more inmates to…

The most recent edi­tion of The Angolite, the nation’s largest prison news mag­a­zine, con­tains an arti­cle detail­ing nation­al death penal­ty trends and devel­op­ments. The piece also high­lights the impact of cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment on fam­i­ly mem­bers and close friends of those fac­ing exe­cu­tion. It notes, ​“Lost in the shad­ows of these cen­tral argu­ments is some­thing that defines us human beings: Taking care of our own. Unseen, unheard fam­i­ly mem­bers and close friends of those on death row have com­mit­ted no…

New York’s Capital Defender Office is prepar­ing to close its doors in the wake of a N.Y. Court of Appeals rul­ing that dis­posed of the final appeal of a death sen­tence under the cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment law declared uncon­sti­tu­tion­al in 2004. ​“It is … my inten­tion to close the office as soon as prac­ti­cal­ly pos­si­ble,” said Kevin M. Doyle, who has served as Executive Director of the defend­er office estab­lished in 1995. Doyle said there is no point in keep­ing the office open giv­en the sta­tus of the…

The American Bar Association (ABA) renewed its call for a nation­wide halt to exe­cu­tions fol­low­ing a series of state stud­ies that found seri­ous prob­lems in their death penal­ty systems.“After care­ful­ly study­ing the way states across the spec­trum han­dle exe­cu­tions, it has become crys­tal clear that the process is deeply flawed. The death penal­ty sys­tem is rife with irreg­u­lar­i­ty,” said Stephen F. Hanlon (pic­tured), chair­man of the ABA Death Penalty Moratorium Implementation Project. During the…

The New Mexico Supreme Court halt­ed a death penal­ty case against 2 prison inmates charged with killing a guard dur­ing a 1999 riot because the defense has received insuf­fi­cient fund­ing to pro­ceed. ​“Defense coun­sels’ com­pen­sa­tion is inad­e­quate under the facts of this case, vio­lat­ing defen­dants’ Sixth Amendment right to effec­tive assis­tance of coun­sel,” the court said in a unan­i­mous rul­ing. The court held that an addi­tion­al $200,000 must be appro­pri­at­ed by the leg­is­la­ture before the case…

A recent Washington Post opin­ion poll found that Marylanders pre­fer the sen­tence of life in prison over the death penal­ty. In the October 2007 poll of 1,103 Maryland adults, respon­dents were asked to choose between the sen­tence of life in prison with­out parole or the death penal­ty for the crime of mur­der: 52% said they favored life with­out parole and 43% sup­port­ed cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment. Among black respon­dents, sup­port for life with­out parole was even stronger, with 65% respond­ing that…

By Sujoy DharOct 29, 2007IPSBRUSSELS — On March 23, 1931, an Indian Sikh named Bhagat Singh attained mar­tyr­dom when he was hanged by the British for his role in the mil­i­tant free­dom strug­gle against the colo­nial rulers.About 75 years lat­er, Professor Jagmohan Singh, a nephew of the lib­er­a­tion hero, preach­es peace and mer­cy as he joins a world­wide cam­paign, espe­cial­ly in Europe, by his Sikh com­mu­ni­ty against death penal­ty. The life and work of Indian free­dom fight­er Bhagat…

By ALISON LEIGH COWAN October 28, 2007New York…

The National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL) has filed a judi­cial com­plaint against the Presiding Judge of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, Sharon Keller (pic­tured), the first time the group says it has ever filed a com­plaint against a judge. NACDL has asked the Texas Commission on Judicial Conduct to review Judge Keller’s deci­sion to turn away the last appeal of a death row inmate because the rushed fil­ing was sub­mit­ted past the court’s 5 p.m. clos­ing time.