Publications & Testimony

Dissenting from a U.S. Court of Appeals decision denying relief to Gary Cone, Judge Merritt sharply criticized the Tennessee Attorney General for “falsification” of the record, and he referred to the state’s judicial system as “broken” and “inattentive.” Cone had been granted relief on two other occasions by the same Sixth Circuit, but those decisions were reversed by the U.S. Supreme Court. In the present case, Cone claimed that significant mitigating evidence had been withheld by the state in…

In the third edition of what some have called “the first true textbook on the death penalty,” author Robert Bohm, a correctional officer turned college professor, engages the reader with a full account of the arguments and issues surrounding capital punishment. His book, “DeathQuest III: An Introduction to the Theory & Practice of Capital Punishment in the United States,” begins with the history of the death penalty from colonial to modern times, and then examines the moral and legal arguments…

A recent study conducted by the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) has revealed that Texas is almost last among states in spending on mental health services and performs poorly in other mental health areas. According to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Texas ranked 47^th in the nation in per-capita spending on mental health services, and received a grade of “D” for information access and a grade of “C” overall. Robin Peyson, NAMI-Texas executive director, observed that one of the main…

In his new book, “The Big Eddy Club: The Stocking Stranglings and Southern Justice,” author David Rose examines issues of race and the death penalty. The book relates the story of Carlton Gary, who was convicted of capital murder in 1986 and remains on Georgia’s death row for the rape and murder of several elderly women in Columbus, Georgia. Rose, a contributing editor at Vanity Fair, links Gary’s conviction to a history of bias in Columbus and the South. “The Big Eddy Club” details the…

Ruling in a pre-trial matter in New Mexico, Judge Timothy Garcia of Santa Fe County’s First Judicial District Court held the state’s death penalty law to be unconstitutional based on a study by the Capital Jury Project. The Project’s research in 14 states had found that jurors often do not follow the law in making their sentencing decision. In particular, the judge found that the jurors’ propensity toward making their sentencing decision during the guilt-innocence phase of the trial was “an…

The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Uttecht v. Brown on June 4, 2007 appears to enhance the state’s ability to remove potential jurors with doubts about the death penalty. But by expanding the class of people who cannot serve on capital juries, the decision may ultimately render the death penalty invalid as juries fail to represent the true diversity of the American public. In a 5 – 4 decision overturning an opinion written by Judge Alex Kozinski of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth…

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals stayed Cathy Henderson’s scheduled execution of June 13 and has remanded her case back to the trial court for a more careful review of new scientific evidence that casts doubt on the state’s claim that she intentionally killed Brandon Baugh, an infant in her care. The appeals court decision was largely based on a recent affidavit submitted by former Travis County medical examiner Dr. Roberto Bayardo (pictured), whose expert testimony was crucial to the…

By a vote of 79 – 14, the Tennessee House of Representatives passed bipartisan legislation creating a study commission to examine the state’s death penalty system. A similar measure unanimously passed the state’s Senate in May, just one month after the American Bar Association issued a report finding that the state was not in full compliance with most of the benchmarks established to guarantee a fair death penalty system. The new commission will consist of representatives from the House, Senate…

Rwanda’s parliament has voted to abolish the death penalty and replace it with life without parole, a move that officials hope will clear the way for suspects in the nation’s 1994 genocide to be extradited back to Rwanda for trial. Many of the suspects are believed to be at large in Europe, North America, and West Africa, regions where many countries refuse to extradite criminal suspects to nations that continue to practice capital punishment or torture. Rwandan genocide survivors welcomed the…