Publications & Testimony

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 identifications,” notes Representative Stephanie Stuckey Benfield, who chairs the study committee…

Just two days after Tennessee’s first electrocution in nearly 50 years, Governor Phil Bredesen (pictured) commuted the death sentence of Michael Joe Boyd to life in prison without parole. The Governor called the representation Boyd received during his appeals “grossly inadequate,” adding that Boyd’s claims were never comprehensively reviewed because his appellate attorney — Dan Seward — failed to provide evidence to support Boyd’s initial claim that he was poorly represented during his trial.

Alabama Attorney General Troy King (pictured) recently stripped a capital murder case from veteran Shelby County District Attorney Robby Owens because Owens expressed concerns in a court hearing about the fairness of an inmate’s death sentence. Owens testified that it would be disproportionate to execute LaSamuel Gamble for killing two people more than a decade ago in light of the fact that his co-defendant, and the crime’s triggerman, Marcus Presley, had his death sentence reduced under the…

Florida State Attorney Harry Shorstein recently said that cuts to his budget could force his staff to make tough decisions with regard to criminal prosecutions. Shorstein said a predicted budget cut for the 20 state attorney offices in Florida would be “catastrophic,” projecting that his staff alone would lose 16 members and may have to abandon expensive death penalty cases. “There will be cases that can’t be tried. Will it mean we can’t get to the trials? Will it take longer? Will it, will it…

The Witchita Eagle recently called on Kansas lawmakers to reconsider the death penalty, stating: “At some point, given the legal problems and the lack of executions, a death penalty stops making sense for Kansas.” The paper said the law has cost taxpayers millions of dollars without the benefit of deterring crime. Moreover, the state has not had a single execution since capital punishment was reinstated in 1994, and the “care and caution” warranted to protect against wrongful convictions could…

Attorneys for Patrick Kennedy, the only person on death row in the U.S. for a non-homicide offense, have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review whether a death sentence for a crime where the victim was not murdered is constitutional. Kennedy was convicted of raping his 8‑year-old step-daughter in Louisiana in 1998. Only a handful of states have laws that would allow a death sentence for such a crime. No one has been executed for a non-homicide offense since the death penalty was reinstated in…

Critical developments in the modern history of capital punishment in the United States are examined through a biographical sketch of Anthony Amsterdam, one of the nation’s most respected death penalty attorneys and legal scholars, in the latest edition of New York University’s Law School Magazine. Prof. Amsterdam argued Furman v. Georgia before the U.S. Supreme Court in 1972, resulting in the overturning of all death penalty laws and the sparing of over 600 inmates on death row. The article, “A…

A Texas judge blocked the destruction of DNA evidence that could prove the innocence of a man who was executed in 2000. A joint motion filed by a coalition of concerned groups sought DNA testing on a hair taken from the crime scene in the case of Claude Jones. In addition, the groups asked the court to impose a restraining order to prevent Texas from destroying the evidence while the court considers their request for DNA testing. Judge Elizabeth Coker granted the restraining order request and…

Just two years after the creation of the Georgia Office of the Capital Defender, which successfully defended 30 death penalty cases in 2006 without a single client being sentenced to death, state budget cuts have left the attorneys with less than half the resources needed to carry out their current case load. The office has been asked to oversee the defense of 80 clients this year, including Brian Nichols, who faces the death penalty for a highly publicized 2005 Fulton County courthouse…

PBS Broadcasting will explore the problem of inadequate represenation in death penalty cases in “Death Is Different” on September 7^th as part of the investigative program EXPOSÉ. The show focuses on Stephen Henderson’s (pictured) examination of the quality of representation in 80 death penalty cases in 4 states. Henderson, a McClatchy News reporter and author of an award-winning series entitled “No Defense: Shortcut to Death Row,” found that poorly-funded defense lawyers are often failing their…