Publications & Testimony

A Cincinnati Enquirer investigation of Ohio capital cases found that more death sentences are overturned in the state because of mistakes by defense lawyers than for any other reason. Reporters with the Enquirer found that 15 people on Ohio’s death row won federal appeals during the past seven years based entirely or in part on the poor performance of their lawyers. “It’s a big, big problem. The lawyers don’t have the wherewithal to put on a first-class defense,” observed Judge Gilbert Merritt…

Noting that they “cannot reconcile the fact that [the death penalty] is both imperfect and irreversible,” the Dallas Morning News has called on Texas to abandon capital punishment. The paper, which has long supported the death penalty, changed its position after careful consideration of mounting evidence that the state has wrongly convicted a number of defendants in capital trials and has likely executed at least one man who was innocent. The editorial announcing the paper’s policy shift…

On Wednesday, April 18, at 1 PM, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in Panetti v. Quarterman. This case focuses on the question of whether an inmate must have a rational understanding of his crime and why he is being punished prior to execution, or whether mere awareness of his situation is sufficient for mental competency. For a fuller description of the case, see Supreme Court (Pending 2007 cases). This page includes links to some of the legal briefs filed in this case. For a…

Kenneth Tinsley pleaded guilty on April 11 to the 1982 rape and capital murder of a Culpeper woman — a crime for which another man, Earl Washington Jr., spent nearly a decade on death row and was nearly executed. Tinsley admitted to the rape of Rebecca Lynn Williams, a 19-year-old mother of 3, and conceded that DNA and other evidence could have proved his guilt of her murder. He was sentenced to 2 consecutive life terms. Earl Washington, who is mentally retarded, had originally been convicted…

Challenges to the constitutionality of North Carolina’s lethal injection procedures have put executions on hold, and it appears they will remain that way for the foreseeable future. Though some lawmakers are pushing for a legislative “fix” to questions raised about the procedures, Governor Mike Easley and Democratic lawmakers — who control the legislature — have no plans to end the execution standstill prior to clear court action. “The legislature isn’t going to be able to move in any…

Amnesty International has released a new report entitled “Justice Delayed and Justice Denied? Trials under the Military Commissions Act.” This report examines whether proceedings under the revised U.S. Military Commissions Act will comply with international standards, especially when the death penalty is sought. In particular, it explores the rights of detainees under international human rights law, the Geneva Conventions and the U.S. Constitution. (Amnesty International, “Justice Delayed and…

The Sentinel newspaper of Pennsylvania is the latest paper to editorially conclude that the death penalty should be abolished. Shortly after it published an investigative piece outlining the ineffectiveness of Pennsylvania’s death penalty, the newspaper editorialized that the state’s capital punishment laws are “useless” and that the “pendulum is swinging away from Pennsylvania’s position on a law it cannot even execute.” The Central Pennsylvania-based newspaper noted that capital punishment…

If James Lee Clark is executed in Texas on April 11, he will be the 12^th Texas inmate executed out of 13 executions nationwide in 2007. According to some psychological tests, Clark has an IQ of 68 or lower, which is one of the common criteria for mental retardation. Clark’s defense team has asked the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles and Texas Governor Rick Perry to halt the execution because of the likelihood that Clark suffers from mental retardation. Clark is on death row for the 1993…

From 1999 to 2004, Dr. Johnny Glenn was the only forensic pathologist performing autopsies in the poorest part of Alabama. He was assisted only by lab technicians as he performed hundreds of autopsies annually, including at least one death penalty case. After his abrupt departure, it was discovered that Glenn routinely put aside his notes and often failed to finish final reports or diagrams that are crucial to death investigations. Two of his former colleagues say that Glenn was increasingly…