Publications & Testimony

Read the Press Release. Copies may be obtained by con­tact­ing DPIC. The report will be post­ed on our Web site in the near…

On December 13, 2004, the U. S. Supreme Court ruled that the effec­tive­ness of defense coun­sel’s per­for­mance must be judged by stan­dards pre­vi­ous­ly set out by the Court in Strickland v. Washington. In Florida v. Nixon, Joe Nixon’s attor­ney told the jury his client was guilty with­out his clien­t’s express con­sent. After the jury sen­tenced Nixon to death, the Florida Supreme Court over­turned Nixon’s con­vic­tion, hold­ing that coun­sel’s con­ces­sion of guilt auto­mat­i­cal­ly fell below an objective…

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Brenda Bowser Tuesday, December 14, 2004 (202) 293‑6970, cell (301) 906 – 4460bbowser@​deathpenaltyinfo.​orgDEATH PENALTY NUMBERS IN 2004 CONTINUE DRAMATIC FIVE-YEAR DECLINEDPIC’s Year End Report Highlights Drops in Death Sentences, Executions, Death Row Population, and Public Support for Capital PunishmentWASHINGTON, DC – A five-year decline in death sen­tences, a 40% drop in exe­cu­tions, a shrinking…

On December 10, 2004 (Human Rights Day), the United States Supreme Court agreed to hear the case of Jose Medellin to deter­mine what effect the United States should give to a recent rul­ing by the International Court of Justice at the Hague, the United Nations’ high­est court. In the case of Medellin and 50 oth­er Mexican nation­als on death row, the World Court ruled that the U.S. failed to inform Mexico of their arrests, in vio­la­tion of the 1963 Vienna Convention on Consular Relations. This…

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Brenda Bowser Tuesday, December 14, 2004 DEATH PENALTY NUMBERS IN 2004 CONTINUE DRAMATIC FIVE-YEAR DECLINE DPIC’s Year End Report Highlights Drops in Death Sentences, Executions, Death Row Population, and Public Support for Capital Punishment WASHINGTON, DC – A five-year decline in death sen­tences, a 40% drop in exe­cu­tions, a shrink­ing death row pop­u­la­tion, and wan­ing pub­lic support for…

The Center on Wrongful Convictions at Northwestern University School of Law has released a new report enti­tled, The Snitch System: How Snitch Testimony Sent Randy Steidl and Other Innocent Americans to Death Row. The report high­lights 51 cas­es of Americans who were wrong­ful­ly con­vict­ed and giv­en death sen­tences based on the tes­ti­mo­ny of wit­ness­es with incen­tives to lie. According to the Center, snitch tes­ti­mo­ny is the pri­ma­ry cause for approx­i­mate­ly 45% of all wrongful capital…

After exam­in­ing evi­dence from the cap­i­tal pros­e­cu­tion of Cameron Willingham (pic­tured), four nation­al arson experts have con­clud­ed that the orig­i­nal inves­ti­ga­tion of Willingham’s case was flawed and it is pos­si­ble the fire was acci­den­tal. The inde­pen­dent inves­ti­ga­tion, report­ed by the Chicago Tribune, found that pros­e­cu­tors and arson inves­ti­ga­tors used arson the­o­ries that have since been repu­di­at­ed by sci­en­tif­ic advances. Willingham was exe­cut­ed ear­li­er this year in Texas despite his…

Chicago…

Three Texas death row appeals con­sid­ered dur­ing the past year by the U.S. Supreme Court have result­ed in sharp rever­sals, per­haps indi­cat­ing an increas­ing impa­tience with two of the courts that han­dle death penal­ty cas­es from Texas: the Court of Criminal Appeals, and the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. In one of the Supreme Court opin­ions, the Court con­clud­ed that the Fifth Circuit was only ​“pay­ing lip ser­vice to prin­ci­ples” of appel­late law in issu­ing rulings with…

New Jersey Governor Richard Codey (pic­tured) pro­posed a mora­to­ri­um on exe­cu­tions until a study com­mis­sion could deter­mine whether the state’s death penal­ty sys­tem is fair and cost effec­tive. The gov­er­nor announced his mora­to­ri­um pro­pos­al as the leg­is­la­ture began con­sid­er­ing a bill to ini­ti­ate the study. ​“The gov­er­nor does not think it makes sense to do a study with­out a mora­to­ri­um. So he does sup­port a mora­to­ri­um right now, and he sup­ports it for 18 months to two years,” Codey’s spokeswoman,…