Publications & Testimony

Author of Wisconsin Death Penalty Referendum Says Law Has No Chance of Passing Sen. Al Lasee (R‑DePere) of Wisconsin was the author of leg­is­la­tion that placed a non-bind­ing ref­er­en­dum on the death penal­ty on the state’s bal­lot in Tuesday’s elec­tion. Although 56% of the vot­ers approved the death penal­ty pro­pos­al, which required that DNA evi­dence confirm the…

The Washington Supreme Court has unan­i­mous­ly adopt­ed high­er stan­dards for death penal­ty attor­neys after a 2001 Seattle Post-Intelligencer news series revealed that 20% of the defense attor­neys who han­dled cap­i­tal cas­es in the state had been, or were lat­er, dis­barred, sus­pend­ed or arrest­ed. The reforms, enact­ed by the Court under Chief Justice Gerry Alexander, require Washington…

2007: Virginia leg­is­la­ture passed 5 death-penal­­ty expan­sion bills, which were vetoed by Gov. Tim Kaine. The leg­is­la­ture over­rode his vetoes for bills mak­ing mur­der of a wit­ness or a judge a cap­i­tal offense.Virginia Legislators And Victims Speak Against Death Penalty Two Virginia law­mak­ers who have had a fam­i­ly mem­ber mur­dered recent­ly spoke in…

2007: passed a bill mak­ing mur­der of a child under 14 a death-eli­gi­ble offense.Passed a bill in March 2003, exempt­ing the men­tal­ly retard­ed from the death penal­ty in which retar­da­tion, described as​“sig­nif­i­cant­ly sub­av­er­age gen­er­al intel­lec­tu­al func­tion­ing,” will be deter­mined before the tri­al. For more…

Victims’ Advocates, Prosecutors Caution Against Expansion of Texas Death Penalty Victims’ advo­cates and pros­e­cu­tors are urg­ing Texas leg­is­la­tors to exclude the death penal­ty from new leg­is­la­tion designed to tough­en penal­ties for repeat child moles­ters. Those opposed to the mea­sure fear that threat­en­ing death sen­tences for sex offend­ers could lead to fewer…

Tennessee Legislature Overwhelmingly Approves Death Penalty Study By a vote of 79 – 14, the Tennessee House of Representatives passed bipar­ti­san leg­is­la­tion cre­at­ing a study com­mis­sion to exam­ine the state’s death penal­ty sys­tem. A sim­i­lar mea­sure unan­i­mous­ly passed the state’s Senate in May, just one month…

South Carolina and Oklahoma Governors Sign Bills Expanding Death Penalty South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford and Oklahoma Governor Brad Henry have signed into law leg­is­la­tion that allows proseuc­tors to seek the death penal­ty for repeat child moles­ters. The new South Carolina law allows a death sen­tence if the accused has been twice con­vict­ed of rap­ing a child younger than 11-years-old. It also sets a 25-year…

Pennsylvania Commission to Study Wrongful Convictions Pennsylvania has con­vened a com­mis­sion of judges, pros­e­cu­tors, defense attor­neys, law enforce­ment offi­cers and vic­tims’ advo­cates to study the caus­es of wrong­ful con­vic­tions and make rec­om­men­da­tions for pre­vent­ing them in the state. Forensic errors, mistaken eyewitness…

South Carolina and Oklahoma Governors Sign Bills Expanding Death Penalty South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford and Oklahoma Governor Brad Henry have signed into law leg­is­la­tion that allows proseuc­tors to seek the death penal­ty for repeat child moles­ters. The new South Carolina law allows a death sen­tence if the accused has been twice con­vict­ed of rap­ing a child younger than 11-years-old. It also sets a 25-year…

Conservative Support Moves Ohio Death Penalty Study Bill With bipar­ti­san sup­port, Ohio’s House of Representatives passed a bill to cre­ate an 18-mem­ber com­mit­tee to con­duct an exhaus­tive study of cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment in the state. Under the bill, which passed by a vote of 64 – 30 in the Republican-con­trolled House, the committee would…