Publications & Testimony

Governor Mark Warner of Virginia announced that DNA tests on evi­dence from the case of Roger Keith Coleman, who was exe­cut­ed in 1992, revealed that he was almost cer­tain­ly the source of genet­ic mate­r­i­al found in the body of the vic­tim, Wanda McCoy. The Governor said that this test ​“re-affirms the ver­dict and sanc­tion” in this case. Peter Neufeld, co-direc­tor of the Innocence Project, praised the gov­er­nor’s deci­sion to allow the test­ing and not­ed that, ​“The real issue is not whether one man…

A group of 40 law enforce­ment offi­cers, cur­rent and for­mer pros­e­cu­tors, and judges at the state and fed­er­al lev­el have urged California law­mak­ers to enact a tem­po­rary halt to exe­cu­tions in the state while a com­mis­sion exam­ines the accu­ra­cy and fair­ness of the death penal­ty. In a let­ter to mem­bers of the California Assembly, the bi-par­ti­san group of death penal­ty sup­port­ers and oppo­nents wrote, “[G]iven that DNA test­ing and oth­er new evi­dence has proven that more than 121 peo­ple who sat on…

The U.S. Supreme Court re-instat­ed the death sen­tence of Ronald Sanders in a 5 – 4 rul­ing over­turn­ing a deci­sion by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. After Sanders had been sen­tenced to death in California, the state’s supreme court held that two of the aggra­vat­ing fac­tors used by the jury in its sen­tenc­ing deter­mi­na­tion were invalid. The 9^th Circuit had held that California is a ​“weigh­ing state” and hence the use of these invalid aggra­vat­ing fac­tors rendered the…

THREE NEW RESOURCES NOW AVAILABLE: The American Bar Association’s Death Penalty Moratorium Implementation Project’s Assessment of Georgia’s Death Penalty Released: January 31, 2006. Amnesty International’s Report on ​“The Execution of Mentally Ill Offenders” Released: January 31, 2006. The Constitution Project’s fol­low-up report: ​“Mandatory Justice: The Death Penalty Revisited” February 1, 2006. (DPIC will pro­vide more infor­ma­tion on each of…

Concerned that a fin­ger­print iden­ti­fi­ca­tion error could lead to the exe­cu­tion of an inno­cent per­son, the Federal Bureau of Investigation is exam­in­ing all cas­es of state and fed­er­al pris­on­ers sched­uled for exe­cu­tion to deter­mine whether FBI fin­ger­print experts made mis­takes that led to death sen­tences. Eighteen months ago, the FBI dis­cov­ered that a fin­ger­print exam­in­er for the Bureau had mis­tak­en­ly matched a print found near the site of ter­ror­ist bomb­ings in Madrid to a lawyer in Portland,…

As California law­mak­ers con­sid­er leg­is­la­tion that would put exe­cu­tions on hold for two years while a 13-mem­ber com­mis­sion reviews the prob­lem of wrong­ful con­vic­tions in the state, a group of cur­rent and for­mer pros­e­cu­tors have sent mem­bers of the state Assembly a let­ter urg­ing pas­sage of the mea­sure. ​“The exe­cu­tion of an inno­cent per­son is unac­cept­able, and it is imper­a­tive that California takes every pre­cau­tion that it nev­er hap­pens. This is not just a mat­ter of jus­tice for these…

New Jersey law­mak­ers have vot­ed to sus­pend exe­cu­tions in the state while a task force stud­ies the fair­ness and costs of impos­ing cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment. After pass­ing the Senate in December and the Assembly on January 9 by a vote of 55 – 21, the mea­sure now goes to Governor Richard Codey for his sig­na­ture into law. Codey has indi­cat­ed that he will sign the bill, an act that will make New Jersey the first state to pass a death penal­ty mora­to­ri­um into law through leg­is­la­tion. The bill establishes a…

New Hampshire House Criminal Justice and Safety Committee: Testimony of Richard C. Dieter (Jan. 10,…

Virginia Governor Mark Warner has ordered DNA evi­dence retest­ed to deter­mine whether Roger Keith Coleman, who was exe­cut­ed in 1992, was actu­al­ly inno­cent. Warner said he ordered the tests because of tech­no­log­i­cal advances that could prove a lev­el of cer­tain­ty that was not avail­able at the time of Coleman’s exe­cu­tion. Warner, who will leave office on January 14, not­ed, ​“This is an extra­or­di­nar­i­ly unique cir­cum­stance, where tech­nol­o­gy has advanced sig­nif­i­cant­ly and can be applied in the case…

An ongo­ing review of DNA tests con­duct­ed by the Houston Police Department has revealed ​“severe and per­va­sive prob­lems” with the lab’s find­ings in more than two dozen cas­es, includ­ing three death penal­ty cas­es. The new report released by inde­pen­dent inves­ti­ga­tor Michael Bromwich, who is review­ing more than 1,100 Houston Police Department DNA cas­es ana­lyzed between 1987 and 2002, also linked the DNA lab’s trou­bles to ​“very dis­turb­ing prob­lems” with­in the Houston Police Department’s…