Publications & Testimony

According to a new report on the work performed by the Houston Crime Lab issued by independent investigator Michael Bromwich, at least one capital case is among the 43 DNA cases and 50 serology cases processed at the lab since 1980 that have now been identified as having “major issues.” This classification is defined as “problems that raise significant doubt as to the reliabilitiy of the work performed, the validity of the analytical results, or the correctness of the analysts’ conclusions.”

A recent op-ed by Theodore Shaw, president and director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, urged a full and fair investigation into the case of Ruben Cantu, a Texas man who may have been innocent of the murder for which he was executed in 1993. Shaw noted that Cantu’s case was “fraught with systemic errors,” including the fact that his conviction was based on a single eyewitness identification by a man who has said he was pressured by police. Shaw praised the work of the…

A recent editorial in the La Crosse Tribune urged Wisconsin legislators to maintain the state’s ban on capital punishment. The editorial discouraged the state from reinstating capital punishment because it does not deter crime and is often unfairly applied, stating that there is no need to bring back the death penalty because the state already has the sentence of life without parole. Legislators recently voted to hold a non-binding referendum on restoring the death penalty, though the two…

Katherine Norgard’s recent book, “Hard to Place: A Crime of Alcohol,” is a personal account of the trauma experienced by her family when her adopted son is charged with a capital crime. The book is the author’s story of fighting to save her son after he was sentenced to death for the 1989 murder of an elderly couple in Tuscon, Arizona. At the time of his trial, she still did not know that her son, John Eastlack, had been born with fetal alcohol syndrome, despite his signs of mental illness. The…

U.S. District Judge Kenneth Hoyt overturned the capital conviction of Carl Wayne Buntion, noting that the Texas trial judge who sentenced him to death had a “deep-seated and vocal bias” against Buntion. In a 61-page opinion, Hoyt stated that state District Judge Bill Harmon deprived Buntion of his constitutional right to a fair trial by bullying his attorneys, meeting privately with prosecutors and deferring to their wishes, and making remarks in court such as he was “doing God’s work” by…

On May 2, 2006, the execution of Joseph Clark in Ohio was delayed 90 minutes because the execution team was unable to find a suitable vein to deliver the lethal chemicals. After the team tried repeatedly to find a vein, Clark called out, “It’s not working, it’s not working.” The guards closed the curtains to block witnesses from viewing the execution chamber. Witnesses then heard Clark moaning and groaning from behind the curtain. The curtain later reopened after the execution team managed to…

Amnesty International’s most recent death penalty report, “The Death Penalty Worldwide: Developments in 2005,” revealed a substantial drop in recorded executions around the world, as well as a growing number of nations that have abandoned the death penalty. According to the report, four nations accounted for 94% of the 2,148 recorded executions carried out around the world in 2005, a total that is significantly less than the 3,797 executions recorded in 2004 (however, in many countries the…

The May 8^th edition of U.S. News & World Report highlights the declining number of death sentences handed down each year in the U.S., the smaller number of executions, and the growing number of states that are re-evaluating capital punishment. Public support for the death penalty has also decreased because of doubts about the accuracy and fairnes of capital punishment. The article notes that New Jersey recently established a moratorium on executions and New York opted not to restore its death…

A federal jury voted today that Zacarias Moussaoui should serve a sentence of life in prison without parole despite the government’s assertion that his lies to FBI officials contributed to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Earlier the jury had found that Moussaoui was responsible for some of the deaths that took place on September 11, and that he was eligible for the death penalty. After weeks of testimony during the sentencing phase of the trial, the jury took 7 days to recommend a…

A report compiled by five of the nation’s top arson experts has concluded that Texas executed a man based on faulty science and unreliable evidence. Cameron Todd Willingham was executed in Texas in 2004 for a crime of arson in which his 3 children died. Based on independent reviews of the evidence used to convict Willingham, the experts called for a re-investigation of the case after finding that it was based on interpretations by fire investigators that have been scientifically dispoved. The…