Publications & Testimony

Lubbock criminal attorney Jack E. Stoffregen will head West Texas’ first public defender service devoted solely to capital cases. Centered in Lubbock County, a sparsely populated area that has few local criminal-defense attorneys with capital murder trial experience, the West Texas Regional Public Defender Office will handle the cases of indigent defendants who cannot afford an attorney. The office, with a budget of $2.5 million funded by Texas, is expected to alleviate some of the high costs…

In a recent editorial, The New York Times praised New Jersey’s replacement of the death penalty with a sentence of life without the possibility of parole. The Times wrote, “It took 31 years, but the moral bankruptcy, social imbalance, legal impracticality and ultimate futility of the death penalty has finally penetrated the consciences of lawmakers in one of the 37 states that arrogates to itself the right to execute human beings.” The Times noted the importance of the innocence issue in the…

NEWS RELEASE Governor Jon S. Corzine December 17, 2007 FOR MORE INFORMATION: Press Office 609 – 777-2600 Governor Jon S. Corzine Remarks as Delivered December 17, 2007 Good morning everyone. Thank you all for being here. Today, December 17^th 2007, is a momentous day — a day of progress — for the State of New Jersey and for the millions of people across our nation and around the globe who reject the death penalty as a moral or practical response to the grievous, even heinous, crime of murder.

The Justice Project recently released two policy reviews that provide suggestions for preventing wrongful convictions in criminal trials. Using research and data from past exonerations, the new reports, Expanded Discovery in Criminal Cases and Jailhouse Snitch Testimony, point to the places and situations in the criminal justice system where a wrongful conviction can be easily prevented. Expanded Discovery in Criminal Cases stresses the importance of full evidentiary discovery in criminal…

The Death Penalty Project, an international organization that provides free legal representation for individuals facing the death penalty in the Caribbean and Africa, recently published A Guide to Sentencing in Capital Cases. The guide provides judges, prosecutors, and defense attorneys with information and sample appeals to help them navigate the sentencing phase in cases where a mandatory death sentence for a specific crime was abolished, leaving the former death row inmate to be resentenced.

Prosecutors in North Carolina on December 11 dropped all charges against Jonathon Hoffman, who had been convicted and sentenced to death for the 1995 murder of a jewelry store owner. Hoffman won a new trial in 2004 because information favorable to Hoffman was withheld from the defense. During Hoffman’s first trial, the state’s key witness, Johnell Porter, had received immunity from federal charges for testifying against his cousin. The defense attorneys, jury, and the judge did not know of the…

Gov. Ernie Fletcher of Kentucky commuted the death sentence of Jeffrey D. Leonard for the 1983 murder of a Louisville store clerk before leaving office. Governor Fletcher reduced Leonard’s death sentence to life without parole. He had been convicted under the name of James Earl Slaughter. The Governor noted in his commutation that Leonard was not provided with adequate representation and that Leonard’s attorney did not even know his client’s real name during the trial. The governor’s general…

After hours of debate and testimony, the New Jersey Senate today approved bill S‑171 which will replace the state’s death penalty with a sentence of life without parole. The measure was approved by a vote of 21 – 16 and now moves to the State Assembly, where approval is also expected in a vote on Thursday. The governor has indicated he will sign the bill into law, making New Jersey the first state to legislatively abolish the death penalty in over 40 years. Around the country, the death penalty…

Today, December 10, 2007, the New Jersey Senate will vote on a bill (Senate Bill 171) to replace the death penalty with the sentence of life without parole. Earlier, the New Jersey Death Penalty Study Commission held extensive public hearings that culminated in a report calling for an end to the death penalty. The Commission consisted of a wide range of perspectives, including law enforcement, victims, and attorneys. Some of the key findings of the report included: Abolition of the death…