Publications & Testimony

The Capital Case Data Project of the American Judicature Society announced their count of 125 new death sentences in 2005, one less than in 2004. In addition, AJS counted 14 death sentences imposed through new sentence proceedings after appellate reversals. Those sentenced to death included 63 white defendants, 57 black defendants, and 15 Hispanics. The largest number of death sentences were imposed in California (19) and Florida (16). Texas had 14 death sentences, down considerably from 24 in…

Victims of violence and terror are not necessarily well served by a system that promises ​“closure” in the form of the death penalty, according to a recent Washington Post column by Dahlia Lithwick. Among other cases, the author questions the assumptions in the federal government’s case against Zacarias Moussaoui as it relates to the needs of the family members from the September 11^th attack: The death penalty trial of Zacarias Moussaoui has been touted by the government as a way to bring…

The U.S. Supreme Court announced on March 24 that it will rehear Kansas v. Marsh. This case involves the constitutionality of Kansas’ death penalty law, which was struck down by the state Supreme Court in 2004. Kansas law required a death sentence if the jury found that there was an equal balance between the aggravating and mitigating factors presented at the sentencing hearing. The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments earlier in December when Justice O’Connor was still on the Court. Now that she…

Most New Yorkers would choose a sentence of life without parole (LWOP) over the death penalty for those convicted of murder. In a recent poll published in Newsday, 53% of N.Y. adults said LWOP is the better penalty, whereas only 38% chose the death penalty, with 9% uncertain. New York’s death penalty was found unconstitutional by the state’s highest court in 2004. The legislature elected not to modify the statute. (Source: Blum and Weprin Associates /​Newsday — Methodology: Telephone…

After members of the Wisconsin Senate passed a resolution calling for a referendum on reinstating the death penalt, a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel editorial criticized the vote and urged members of the state Assembly to reject the proposal. ThoughWisconsin has not had the death penalty since 1853, the state legislature has considered a reinstatement measure during each of the past 20 years. The Sentinel voiced concerns about innocence, race, deterrence, and a variety of other issues in its…

South Dakota has scheduled the execution of 24-year-old Elijah Page on August 28 for a murder committed in 2000. Page has dropped his remaining appeals. He would be the first person executed in the state since it reinstated capital punishment in 1979. The last execution in the state was in 1947. South Dakota has only four people on its death row. Among church leaders in South Dakota, there is a difference of opinion with regard to capital punishment. Catholic, Methodist, and Presbyterian…

After spending 18 years in prison for a crime he did not commit, Arthur Mumphrey received a full pardon from Texas Governor Rick Perry. The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles had unanimously recommended that Perry pardon Mumphrey based on DNA test results that showed he was not responsible for assaulting a 13-year-old girl in 1986, a crime for which Mumphrey was sentenced to serve 35 years in prison. ​“My action today cannot give back the time he spent in prison, but it does end this miscarriage…

New Jersey Attorney General Zulima Farber (pictured) recently voiced her support for extending the state’s moratorium on executions, noting that she does not believe the death penalty is a ​“necessary tool” for prosecutors and believes capital punishment does not deter crime. ​“I don’t think it’s a deterrent. And I understand revenge. I think some people deserve it. But I don’t think it’s a necessary tool… . I don’t have a philosophical or religious opposition to the death penalty, I have a…

Each year, DPIC collects relevant death penalty articles that have appeared in print and on media Web sites. Our collection certainly does not contain all such articles, nor do we claim that it represents the ​“best” articles. It is only a representative sample of the extensive coverage given to capital punishment in print in a particular year. For those interested in examining this coverage, we have prepared an index of the articles from 2005 in PDF format. Note that we are not posting the…

A jury in Georgia elected to sentence James Sullivan to life without parole after finding him guilty of hiring a hitman to kill his wife in 1987. ​“We thought that life imprisonment without the possibility of parole was enough. We didn’t want to be the judge about somebody else’s life. We wanted God to be the judge,” said juror Debra Klayman after the sentence was handed down. The jury had the option of the death penalty, life without parole, or life with parole. Klayman said that the jury…