Publications & Testimony

Items: 5951 — 5960


Feb 16, 2004

Recent Developments in the Federal Death Penalty

Federal pros­e­cu­tors dropped charges against Darrell Rice short­ly before he was to face cap­i­tal charges for two mur­ders in Shenandoah National Park. New foren­sic evi­dence cast doubt on the case against Rice, despite the fact that Attorney General John Ashcroft had made a pub­lic announce­ment of Rice’s indict­ment employ­ing a new law in 2002. (Washington Post, Feb. 7, 2004). A fed­er­al judge threw out a jury’s (July 2003) ver­dict of guilt in the cap­i­tal case of Jay Lentz, accused of…

Read More

Feb 16, 2004

Recent Developments in the Federal Death Penalty

Federal pros­e­cu­tors dropped charges against Darrell Rice short­ly before he was to face cap­i­tal charges for two mur­ders in Shenandoah National Park. New foren­sic evi­dence cast doubt on the case against Rice, despite the fact that Attorney General John Ashcroft had made a pub­lic announce­ment of Rice’s indict­ment employ­ing a new law in 2002. (Washington Post, Feb. 7, 2004). A fed­er­al judge threw out a jury’s (July 2003) ver­dict of guilt in the cap­i­tal case of Jay Lentz, accused of…

Read More

Feb 11, 2004

Despite Upcoming Supreme Court Argument, Texas Schedules Execution Dates for Four Juvenile Offenders

Texas has sched­uled the exe­cu­tion of four juve­nile offend­ers between March and June of 2004 despite the fact that the U. S. Supreme Court has agreed to review whether such exe­cu­tions are con­sti­tu­tion­al. Arguments in Roper v. Simmons, No. 03 – 633, a case from Missouri where the state Supreme Court ruled that the exe­cu­tion of those under the age 18 at the time of their crime would be cru­el and unusu­al pun­ish­ment, are not expect­ed to take place until this com­ing fall, months after the…

Read More

Feb 09, 2004

NEW VOICES: Charlize Theron Criticizes Death Penalty After Her Movie Role

Charlize Theron, who recent­ly won a Golden Globe Award for her por­tray­al of exe­cut­ed Florida death row inmate Aileen Wuornos in the movie Monster,” has stat­ed that mak­ing the movie made her more aware of how inef­fec­tive” cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment is. Theron, who is opposed to the death penal­ty, was only 15 when her own moth­er shot and killed her drunk­en father after he threat­ened to kill his wife and daugh­ter. I don’t think con­demn­ing peo­ple who mur­der and then killing them…

Read More

Feb 09, 2004

Prosecutors Drop Death Penalty As Victims’ Mother Seeks Closure

Prosecutors from Middlesex County, New Jersey, have decid­ed to adhere to the wish­es of the vic­tim’s fam­i­ly and will not seek the death penal­ty against Dwayne Carreker of New Brunswick at his retri­al. They will instead seek a sen­tence of life in prison. The vic­tim’s moth­er has said she is more inter­est­ed in jus­tice and clo­sure than she is with the death penal­ty,” said First Assistant Prosecutor William Lamb. Lamb not­ed that his office con­sid­ered the vic­tim’s fam­i­ly’s wish­es and the result of…

Read More

Feb 09, 2004

Geography Influences California Death Penalty Policies

A recent inves­ti­ga­tion of California’s death penal­ty by the Associated Press found that the geo­graph­ic loca­tion of a crime plays a sig­nif­i­cant role in whether a defen­dant receives the death penal­ty. California has the nation’s largest death row. A dis­pro­por­tion­ate­ly high num­ber of inmates are from places such as Kern, Riverside, and Shasta Counties, where pros­e­cu­tors have voiced strong sup­port for the death penal­ty and jurors have been more like­ly to sup­port the sen­tence. On the other hand,…

Read More

Feb 09, 2004

NEW VOICES: Victim’s Family Requests Life Sentence For Death Row Inmate

After con­sult­ing with the fam­i­ly of the mur­der vic­tim, Maryland pros­e­cu­tors decid­ed not to seek the death penal­ty against Kenneth Collins dur­ing a recent resen­tenc­ing hear­ing. Collins’ death sen­tence was over­turned because of an inad­e­quate defense at his orig­inial tri­al. Margaret Breeden, the vic­tim’s wid­ow, not­ed that seek­ing the death penal­ty for Collins would result in years of ago­niz­ing appeals and that her fam­i­ly is tired of reliv­ing the mem­o­ries of his death every time a new hearing is…

Read More

Feb 06, 2004

Maryland Death Penalty Numbers Decline, Reflecting U.S. Trends

Mirroring a nation­wide decline in both exe­cu­tions and death row pop­u­la­tion, Maryland’s death row has fall­en by 50% in recent years and the state has not car­ried out an exe­cu­tion since 1998. An in-depth review of Maryland’s death row by The Washington Post found that the state’s death row has dropped from a pop­u­la­tion of 18 to 9, large­ly due to rever­sals in cas­es and the impact of court rul­ings else­where. Victims’ fam­i­lies, emo­tion­al­ly frayed by the years of appeals, are also telling…

Read More