Publications & Testimony

Jim Willet, for­mer war­den of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice’s Walls Unit where Texas exe­cu­tions take place, recent­ly described his expe­ri­ences to the Dallas Observer as emo­tion­al­ly dif­fi­cult for him. As war­den dur­ing 1998 – 2001, three of the busiest years for Texas’ death cham­ber, Willet over­saw 89 exe­cu­tions.​“The first time is unbe­liev­able,” he told the Observer.​“You have this healthy per­son – this per­son who was able to just jump up on the gur­ney – and…

In a recent inves­ti­ga­tion pub­lished in The Dallas Morning News, researchers found that 120 defen­dants con­vict­ed of mur­der in Texas between 2000 and 2006 received only a sen­tence of pro­ba­tion. In Dallas County, twice as many con­vict­ed mur­der­ers were sen­tenced to pro­ba­tion as were sent to death row. Typically in these cas­es, a defen­dant pleads guilty to mur­der, receives pro­ba­tion, and, with good behav­ior, can have the mur­der charged wiped from his or her record. …

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

Eighteen for­mer death row inmates from around the coun­try recent­ly toured North Carolina and called for a mora­to­ri­um on exe­cu­tions. The tour, one of the largest of its kind and orga­nized by People of Faith Against the Death Penalty and Witness to Innocence, includ­ed speak­ing engage­ments in church­es and pub­lic audi­to­ri­ums, as well as a ral­ly in front of North Carolina’s Legislative Building. Two leg­is­la­tors, Rep. Pricey Harrison and Sen. Eleanor Kinnaird,…

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…