Publications & Testimony

Items: 5121 — 5130


Jun 30, 2006

NEW RESOURCES: Recent Events in the Death Penalty

The Chicago Tribune Investigates the Execution of a Likely Innocent Man in​“Did this man die…for this man’s crime?” In 1989, defen­dant Carlos DeLuna was exe­cut­ed in Texas for the fatal stab­bing of Texas con­ve­nience store clerk Wanda Lopez. The three-part series by reporters Maurice Possley and Steve Mills can be found here. A news piece on ABC’s​“World News Tonight” also cov­ered this sto­ry. Watch it here. (Requires Real Player. For oth­er media versions including…

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Jun 29, 2006

Supreme Court Denies Remedies Under International Treaty

On June 28, 2006, the U.S. Supreme Court decid­ed two con­sol­i­dat­ed cas­es involv­ing the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations. In both cas­es, the for­eign nation­als were arrest­ed but not informed by police offi­cers of their con­sular rights under the Convention to ask that their respec­tive con­sulates be noti­fied of their deten­tion. The Court con­clud­ed that state­ments made by for­eign nation­als do not need to be sup­pressed, even though the defen­dants were not…

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Jun 28, 2006

Ohio Changing Lethal Injection Process

Just weeks after Ohio strug­gled for more than 90 min­utes to find a suit­able vein in Joseph Clark​’s arm to admin­is­ter lethal injec­tion drugs, the state has decid­ed to imple­ment new reg­u­la­tions aimed at ensur­ing smoother pro­ce­dures dur­ing exe­cu­tions. In a report prompt­ed by prob­lems encoun­tered dur­ing Clark’s exe­cu­tion, Ohio pris­ons Director Terry Collins told Gov. Bob Taft that exe­cu­tion teams will now make every effort to locate two injection…

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Jun 28, 2006

Federal Courts Find Problems with Lethal Injections in Two More States – Executions on Hold

Below are sum­maries from two U.S. District Court deci­sions regard­ing prob­lems with lethal injec­tion pro­ce­dures in Arkansas and Missouri. The court in Arkansas grant­ed a stay of exe­cu­tion for Don Davis to allow fur­ther inves­ti­ga­tions into the lethal injec­tion pro­ce­dures. In Missouri, in Michael Taylor’s case, the District judge put all exe­cu­tions in the state on hold until changes are made in the state’s exe­cu­tion pro­to­cols.Nooner v. Norris, No.

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Jun 28, 2006

NEW VOICES: Deepak Chopra Writes About the Death Penalty

Dr. Deepak Chopra recent­ly wrote that con­tin­u­ing use of the death penal­ty in the U.S. is irra­tional because it does not deter crime, risks inno­cent lives, and iso­lates the U.S. among the major­i­ty of First World nations that have cho­sen to aban­don cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment:The U.S. has iso­lat­ed itself among First World coun­tries by allow­ing the death penal­ty — 123 coun­tries have abol­ished it com­plete­ly, or in prac­tice nev­er use it, a few per­mit­ting it under extreme…

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Jun 27, 2006

U.S. Supreme Court Upholds Kansas Death Penalty Law

In a 5 – 4 deci­sion that revealed a deep divi­sion among the Justices over the fair­ness of cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld Kansas’s death penal­ty statute on June 26. In Kansas v. Marsh, the Court held that juries may be required to sen­tence a defen­dant to die when there is an equal weight of mit­i­gat­ing and aggra­vat­ing evi­dence. The rul­ing over­turns a Kansas Supreme Court deci­sion that found the prac­tice uncon­sti­tu­tion­al because it vio­lat­ed the Eighth…

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Jun 27, 2006

DPIC Bestows Thurgood Marshall Journalism Awards at National Press Club Luncheon

The Death Penalty Information Center held its 10th Annual Thurgood Marshall Journalism Awards at the National Press Club on Monday, June 26. This year’s award recip­i­ents were Jacqui Lofaro and Victor Teich of Justice Productions for their documentary ​“The Empty Chair,” and reporter Robert Nelson of the Phoenix New Times for his cov­er­age of death row exoneree Ray Krone. Lofaro and Teich received this year’s Award for excel­lence in the television…

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Jun 26, 2006

New York Assembly Committee Blocks Death Penalty By Wider Margin

Members of the New York Assembly’s Codes Committee recent­ly vot­ed 13 – 5 against a bill to rein­state the death penal­ty, a vote that revealed a grow­ing bi-par­ti­san oppo­si­tion to cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment. Last year’s vote on the same mea­sure was 11 – 7. New York’s death penal­ty was over­turned in 2004 by the state’s high­est court. A num­ber of Assembly mem­bers have said they no longer sup­port the death penal­ty because of grow­ing evi­dence that it risks inno­cent lives and…

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Jun 23, 2006

Chicago Tribune: EXECUTED TEXAS MAN WAS LIKELY INNOCENT

A Chicago Tribune inves­ti­ga­tion set for release this week­end will reveal ground­break­ing evi­dence that Texas may have exe­cut­ed an inno­cent man in 1989. The defen­dant, Carlos DeLuna, was exe­cut­ed for the fatal stab­bing of Texas con­ve­nience store clerk Wanda Lopez in 1983. New evi­dence uncov­ered by reporters Maurice Possley and Steve Mills casts doubt on DeLuna’s guilt and points towards anoth­er man, Carlos Hernandez, who had a record of sim­i­lar crimes and…

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