Publications & Testimony

Decided: June 26, 2006 The U.S. Supreme Court held (5 – 4) that the Kansas’ death penalty statute, which requires that a death sentence be imposed when a jury finds that the aggravating and mitigating circumstances in a case have equal weight, is constitutional. The jury in Marsh’s death sentencing hearing was instructed according to the Kansas’ death penalty statute and sentenced him to death. In 2001, after Marsh’s sentencing hearing, the Kansas Supreme Court ruled in State v. Kleypas that on…

An article in the July Scientific American examines the extent to which the television program “C.S.I.” and similar forensically-focused programs have increased the expectations of jurors in criminal trials. The article quotes University of California, Irvine, researchers Simon Cole and Rachel Dioso questioning the real impact of such programs: “That television might have an effect on courtrooms is not implausible… but to argue that ‘C.S.I.’ and similar shows are actually raising the number of…

Four years after Andrea Yates faced the death penalty for the drowning deaths of her children, a second jury found her not guilty by reason of insanity. In Yates’ first capital murder trial in 2002, jurors convicted her of murder and recommended a sentence of life in prison. That conviction was overturned on appeal last year after it was shown that the state’s psychiatric witness presented false testimony. In the second trial, jurors deliberated for 13 hours before finding that Yates did not…

The California Commission on the Fair Administration of Justice has unanimously recommended that state lawmakers require electronic recording of all jailhouse interrogations. The commission added that the law should include a provision stating that if an officer fails to record an interrogation, jurors would be instructed to view the defendant’s statement with caution. Emphasizing that false confessions have been identified as the second most frequent cause of wrongful convictions, the…

Delaware is the most recent state to have its executions halted while courts examine whether the state’s lethal injection procedures are cruel and unusual. Similar constitutional challenges have effectively put executions on hold in California, New Jersey, Florida, and Missouri. In a meeting with Delaware officials, Chief District Judge Sue L. Robinson ordered the state to respond to a lawsuit filed by Robert W. Jackson, whose scheduled May 19 execution was stayed so that his lethal injection…

“Legal Executions in California: A Comprehensive Registry, 1851 – 2005,” by researchers Sheila O’Hare, Irene Berry, and Jesse Silva, provides comprehensive information on legal executions in California from 1851 to the present. Starting with the year the Criminal Practices Act first authorized executions in the state, the book’s entries are organized by year of execution and contain the felon’s name, race, age at death and a detailed narrative of the crime that resulted in the death sentence.

During its first public hearing on capital punishment, the New Jersey Death Penalty Study Commission heard testimony from witnesses representing a broad spectrum of opinions. Almost all those testifying spoke against retaining the death penalty. Among those who testified before the 13-member panel were legal experts, religious leaders, murder victims’ family members, and exonerees such as Larry Peterson, who spent 18 years in a New Jersey prison for a rape and murder he did not commit. During…

Based on taped conversations among members of the Bexar County prosecutor’s office, some participants in the investigation of the case of Ruben Cantu may have made up their minds before talking to those who now assert that Cantu was innocent. Cantu was executed in Texas in 1993. Significant evidence has emerged from a victim-witness and from a co-defendant that Texas may have executed the wrong man. The senior District Attorney, Mike Beers, said on tape, before interviewing the witnesseses…

In a recent University of Wisconsin Badger Poll, more respondents favored a sentence of life without parole rather than the death penalty. Only 45% supported capital punishment, while 50% favored life sentences. When asked about the death penalty in theory, without any alternative sentences mentioned, 55.6% of Wisconsinites polled favored capital punishment for “cases involving a person who is convicted of first degree intentional homicides, if the conviction is supported by DNA evidence.” In a…

New Jersey Death Penalty Study Commission: Testimony of Richard C. Dieter (July 19, 2006)