Publications & Testimony

All Death Sentences Overturned in Kansas — The Kansas Supreme Court found that the state’s death penalty law is flawed and the sentences of the state’s four death row inmates will have to be decided again. Kansas’s law allowed a death sentence if the aggravating factors presented by the prosecutor were equal to the mitigating factors presented by the defense. “Fundamental fairness” requires that a tie go to the defendant when it is a matter of life and death, said the court. (NY Times, 12/30/01)

Indiana Bars Execution of Juvenile Offenders — Indiana became the 16^th state to forbid the death penalty for those who were under 18 years-of-age at the time of their crime. Gov. Frank O’Bannon signed SB 426 on March 26. The law also requires judges to follow juries’ unanimous sentencing recommendations. (Associated Press, 3/ 26/02.) Federal death penalty law similarly excludes juvenile offenders. An additional 5 states restrict the death penalty to those who are at least 17 at the time of…

Wrongful Convictions Prompt More Jurisdictions to Videotape Interrogations The wrongful conviction of Eddie Joe Lloyd, a mentally ill man who was exonerated in 2002 after serving 17 years in prison for a rape and murder he did not commit, has prompted Detroit to join a growing list of jurisdictions that now require videotaped interrogations of suspects. A decade ago, only Minnesota and Alaska required police to videotape interrogations, but today, at least 450 police departments across the…

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 information regarding this legislation, Click Here. Idaho Governor Signs Bill to Allow for Jury Sentencing In February 2003, Idaho Governor Dirk Kempthorne signed to provide for jury sentencing in capital cases. The new law, which shifts the responsibility of imposing the…

New Study Reveals Deficiencies in Eyewitness Identification Procedures; Legislative Review Set As Georgia lawmakers convene to review eyewitness identification procedures in the state, a new study by the Georgia Innocence Project has revealed that 83% of Georgia police agencies have no written rules on handling eyewitness identifications. Six men have been exonerated in Georgia after DNA evidence proved their innocence and “every single one of those original convictions was based on faulty…

State Legislators Advance Bills to Ban Juvenile Death Penalty Just weeks after legislators in Wyoming and South Dakota passed legislation to ban the execution of juvenile offenders, lawmakers in Florida are on a similar course that may send a bill that eliminates the death penalty for those under the age of 18 to Governor Jeb Bush for signature into law. Members of the Florida Senate passed the juvenile death penalty ban by a vote of 26 – 12, and the House is expected to take up the measure later…

Passed a bill in July 2002, 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 information regarding this legislation, Click Here. On January 24, 2001, (SJR 3) a Joint Resolution, sponsored by Sen. Simpson, was submitted by the Delaware State Senate and the House of Representatives to establish an independent, non-partisan Commission on the Death…

Connecticut Lags Behind in Death Penalty Reforms The Chair of Connecticut’s Judiciary Committee has called for enactment of death penalty reforms to protect against wrongful convictions. Of the six reforms recommended after a 13-month special commission on Connecticut’s death penalty, only one has been enacted. Members of the commission noted, “Experiences in other states throughout the country suggest that Connecticut cannot be complacent and ‘best practices’ should be the watchword.” Among…

Colorado House Committee Advances Bill to Abolish Capital Punishment The House Judiciary Committee recently voted to abolish the state’s death penalty, replacing it with a sentence of life-without-parole, and use the money currently spent on capital punishment to help solve 1,200 cold-case homicides in the state. The 7 – 4 vote followed four hours of testimony from murder victims’ family members, state law enforcement officials, and death penalty experts, including DPIC Executive Director Richard…

Court Rules California’s New Lethal Injection Procedures are Invalid 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…