Publications & Testimony

According to the North Carolina News & Record, death sen­tences in the state have sig­nif­i­cant­ly declined since the 2001 enact­ment of leg­is­la­tion that allows defen­dants to plead guilty to first-degree mur­der and receive a sen­tence of life with­out parole rather than go to tri­al and risk the death penal­ty. Juries are also return­ing few­er death sen­tences. The paper argues that the emer­gence of the life-with­out-parole alter­na­tive should result in a recon­sid­er­a­tion of the sentences of…

In a rul­ing that crit­i­cized the state for con­ceal­ing a $500 pay­off to a key state wit­ness in a 1997 death penal­ty case, the Georgia Supreme Court unan­i­mous­ly upheld a low­er court deci­sion order­ing a new tri­al for Willie…

On November 7, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear cas­es in two areas that could have broad impli­ca­tions for many defen­dants fac­ing the death penal­ty. In Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, No. 05 – 184, the Court will rule on the con­sti­tu­tion­al­i­ty of the mil­i­tary tri­bunals estab­lished by President Bush fol­low­ing the September 11, 2001 ter­ror­ist attacks. A U.S. District Court had halt­ed the mil­i­tary tri­al of Salim Ahmed Hamdan, who had been cap­tured in Afghanistan, because the trial violated…

In an edi­to­r­i­al in its Sunday, November 6 edi­tion, the Birminham News announced that ​“After decades of sup­port­ing the death penal­ty, the edi­to­r­i­al board no longer can do so.” The paper cit­ed both prac­ti­cal and eth­i­cal rea­sons for the change in its stance: “[W]e have come to believe Alabama’s cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment sys­tem is bro­ken. And because, first and fore­most, this news­pa­per’s edi­to­r­i­al board is com­mit­ted to a cul­ture of life.… We believe all life is sacred. And in embracing a…

A recent Dayton Daily News video edi­to­r­i­al urged Ohio Governor Bob Taft to grant clemen­cy to John Spirko, an Ohio death row inmate sched­uled to be exe­cut­ed on November 15. The video states that Spirko’s case was plagued with gaps and incon­sis­ten­cies, and that he may actu­al­ly be inno­cent. The video was part­ly shot inside Ohio’s ​“death house” in Lucasville prison. To view the video on the Web, click…

In an arti­cle about the approach­ing 1,000^th exe­cu­tion in the U.S., Tarrant County pros­e­cu­tor Alan Levy and Harris County District Attorney Charles Rosenthal addressed the cur­rent state of the death penal­ty and the impact of grow­ing con­cerns about the issue of inno­cence: Levy, who heads the crim­i­nal divi­sion of the Tarrant County D.A.‘s office, said that he often won­ders whether the exe­cu­tions that have tak­en place have been worth the expense, con­tro­ver­sy, and time: ​“It’s a pretty clumsy…

The Federal Death Penalty Resource Counsel Project report­ed that only 5 of the 22 juries that heard fed­er­al cap­i­tal cas­es imposed death sen­tences in the past year. During John Ashcroft’s term as Attorney General from 2001 to 2005, 18 of the 63 juries in cap­i­tal cas­es returned death sen­tences. Some mem­bers of Congress have pro­posed eas­ing the rules for obtain­ing death sen­tences in fed­er­al cas­es, allow­ing the gov­ern­ment to seek the death penal­ty repeat­ed­ly if the jury is not unanimous for…

An Appeal Court of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico recent­ly held that it would be uncon­sti­tu­tion­al to extra­dite Juan Melendez Cruz to Pennsylvania if he faces a pos­si­ble death sen­tence. The court referred to the issue as one involv­ing the fun­da­men­tal right to life. In July 2003, Philadelphia District Attorney spokes­woman Cathie Abookire con­firmed that Melendez Cruz, a Puerto Rican native, could face the death penal­ty in Pennsylvania. Melendez Cruz’s attor­ney, Eileen Diaz, argued that…

An October 2005 Gallup Poll found that only 64% of Americans favored the death penal­ty for those con­vict­ed of mur­der. The last time the poll found a low­er sup­port was in 1978 when 62% favored the death penal­ty. The high point for pub­lic endorse­ment of the death penal­ty came in 1994 when 80% sup­port­ed cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment. This most recent poll result is con­sis­tent with Gallup Polls tak­en in October 2004 and 2003, both reg­is­ter­ing a 64% sup­port of the death penal­ty. (See Gallup Poll…

North Carolina House Speaker Jim Black has appoint­ed 20 House mem­bers to a study com­mis­sion that will exam­ine how the death penal­ty is car­ried out in the state. The com­mis­sion will also rec­om­mend pos­si­ble cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment-relat­ed pol­i­cy reforms for their col­leagues to con­sid­er dur­ing their ses­sion next spring. The com­mis­sion will be chaired by Representatives Joe Hackney of Chapel Hill and Beverly Earle of Charlotte. Members of the com­mis­sion will con­sult with vic­tims’ fam­i­ly mem­bers, law…