Publications & Testimony

The files on executions in America compiled by noted historian M Watt Espy, Jr are to become part of the National Death Penalty Archive located at the State University of New York at Albany. The Espy collection, entitled “Executions in America,” documents more than 15,000 executions in the United states dating back to 1608 and colonial Jamestown. Among the unique materials are handwritten ledgers with an alphabetical listing of executed individuals by state and by date from the 1600’s through…

Murder Victims’ Families for Human Rights (MVFHR) and the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) are working together to launch a national project concerned with the intersection of the capital punishment system and people with severe mental illness. The groups will host a press conference in San Antonio, Texas on October 3^rd. Speakers will include the Director of MVFHR, the NAMI Policy and Legal Director, family members of victims murdered by people with mental illness, and family members…

The Collin County court in Texas has dismissed capital murder charges against Michael Blair who had been on death row for the 1993 murder of Ashley Estell. After more than a decade of legal appeals and requests for DNA testing, the hair evidence that had been used to convict Blair was shown to be mistaken. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals found that no reasonable jury would convict Blair based on the existing evidence. The District Attorney’s office filed a motion to dismiss the charges on…

Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins announced that he will be reexamining nearly 40 death penalty convictions in his county. No executions will occur in the county until he has reviewed the cases in detail. Watkins said he will start with the oldest cases as they are most likely to be scheduled first. “I’m not saying I’m putting a moratorium on the death penalty,” said Watkins. “It’s saying that maybe we should withdraw those dates and look at those cases from a new perspective to…

According to the F.B.I.’s latest crime report released on September 15, the South is the only region in the country that experienced a rise in its murder rate in 2007. The FBI reported that the murder rate in the country declined to 5.6 murders per 100,000 people in 2007 from 5.7 in 2006, and the rate declined in the Northeast, the Midwest, and the West. In the South, however, the murder rate increased from 6.8 in 2006 to 7.0 in 2007, the highest rate among the four regions. The South…

UPDATE: Parole Board Denied Clemency on Sept. 16 and Jack Alderman was executed. On September 15, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Melvin Westmoreland granted a stay of execution for Jack Alderman in Georgia. Judge Westmoreland stayed the execution, scheduled for Sept. 16, until Alderman receives a “meaningful” meeting with the state’s Board of Pardons. The judge stated: “If the state’s going to impose the extreme penalty of death … due process of the law is never more important.” Alderman…

The U.S. Supreme Court will return to hear oral arguments in its new term on October 6. To date, the Court has granted certiorari in (agreed to hear) three death penalty cases. Bell v. Kelly will be argued on November 12, 2008. This case originated in Virginia and concerns the scope of federal review when the state court has failed to develop an issue. Edward Bell claimed that his attorney failed to present important mitigating evidence at this sentence hearing, but this claim was not fully…

A new study of the death penalty in Arkansas showed racial patterns in sentencing. University of Iowa law professor David Baldus’ study examined 124 murder cases filed in one district from 1990 to 2005. Even after adjusting for factors such as the defendant’s criminal history and circumstances of the crime, black people who killed white people were more likely than others to be charged with capital murder and be sentenced to death. “It suggests to us that there’s a real risk that race may have…