Publications & Testimony

Newly published research examining 340 exonerations in the United States between 1989 and 2003 found that a significant number of those who were wrongly convicted had been sentenced to death. Researchers note that this finding appears to reflect two patterns: capital defendants are more likely to be convicted in error, and false convictions are more likely to be detected when defendants are on death row. The paper, authored by Professor Samuel Gross of the University of Michigan Law School…

The Conference of Chief Justices overwhelmingly passed a resolution urging Congress to not pass the proposed Streamlined Procedures Act, which is aimed at curtailing death penalty appeals. The resolution was passed by the Chief Justices from state courts around the country at their annual meeting in Charlestown, South Carolina. Only the chief justice of Texas’ Supreme Court voted against the resolution, stating that he did not have enough time to review the document. Critics of the Streamlined…

Homicide figures for New York City show that the number of murders in 2005 may fall below 500, a figure that would be the fewest since 1961 and would bring the city’s murder rate below the rate for the nation as a whole. So far this year, random murders and murders committed during robberies and burglaries have also declined. Experts note that both declines appear to be largely attributable to a greater police presence, fewer guns, and the decrease in random violence in the city that came with…

Speaking at the American Bar Association’s Thurgood Marshall Awards Dinner in Illinois, Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens said that the death penalty has “serious flaws.” He recalled the late Justice Marshall in remarking how much the country has learned about the risks in death cases: “Since his retirement, with the benefit of DNA evidence, we have learned that a substantial number of death sentences have been imposed erroneously,” Stevens said during the ceremony. He added that Supreme…

In a case that sharply illustrates the fallibility of eyewitness testimony, Miami-Dade prosecutors plan to ask a state judge to vacate the convictions of Luis Diaz based on DNA evidence that was not available during his 1980 trial. Though he was shorter and lighter than the man that most witnesses described to police, Diaz was charged with rape 25 years ago after eight women identified him as their attacker. Following his trial, the judge said, “I’ve never seen a case where I was more convinced…

In testimony before the Massachusetts Joint Committee on the Judiciary regarding proposed legislation to initiate a “foolproof” death penalty, Columbia Law School Professor Jeffrey Fagan (pictured) analyzed recent studies that claimed that capital punishment deters murders. He stated that the studies “fall apart under close scrutiny.” Fagan noted that the studies are fraught with technical and conceptual errors, including inappropriate methods of statistical analysis, failures to consider all…

Thomas Doswell of Pennsylvania and Larry Peterson of New Jersey recently had their convictions overturned as a direct result of DNA testing. Each defendant had serverd 18 years in prison. In Peterson’s case, the prosecution had sought the death penalty but the jury could not agree and he was sentenced to life. His case marked the first time a New Jersey court has overturned a conviction because of DNA evidence. Both reversals stemmed from the work of attorneys at the Innocence Project of the…

A recent Alabama opinion poll found that less than half of those surveyed believe Alabama’s death penalty is applied fairly and 57% of respondents support a temporary halt to executions in the state until questions about fairness and reliability are studied. In other findings, 96% of those surveyed support the use of DNA in cases where it might prove guilt or innocence and 62% said they would be more likely to vote for a candidate who supported suspension of the death penalty until questions…

Decided: June 27, 2005 By a vote of 5 – 4, the Supreme Court ruled that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit was wrong to reverse itself, in spite of the fact that the Sixth Circuit announced that its initial denial of Thompson’s appeal was mistaken. Last year a three-judge panel of the Sixth Circuit issued a split decision denying Thompson’s Sixth Amendment ineffective assistance of counsel claim in a 2 – 1 vote and three separate opinions. The same three judges later unanimously…