Publications & Testimony

A recent editorial in The Beacon Journal notes that Ohio Supreme Court Justice Paul Pfeifer, who played a leading role in writing Ohio’s death penalty statute 22 years ago when he was chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, is now calling for passage of legislation to analyze the state’s death penalty system. The review, which also has the endorsement of the Ohio State Bar Association, would create a Capital Case Commission to study the state’s death penalty and make reform recommendations to…

“Burden of Proof” is a 32-minute documentary detailing the need for a moratorium on executions in North Carolina. The video was prepared by New Context Video Productions and offers evidence to suggest that North Carolina’s capital punishment system is badly broken and in need of a legislative review. (June 2003) Watch the video. .

In a vote that will dramatically change the way murder investigations are conducted, the Illinois House has overwhelmingly approved legislation requiring audio-or videotaping of most homicide-related interrogations and confessions. The bill, which unanimously passed the Senate last month, now goes to Governor Rod Blagojevich for signature into law. The Governor has vowed to sign the legislation. Attorney Thomas Sullivan, who co-chaired the Illinois Commission on Capital Punishment that made…

NEW VOICES: Former FBI Chief Sessions Calls for Innocence Commission in Texas In a recent op-ed, William Sessions called on state legislators in Texas to pass a measure to create an Innocence Commission. The Commission would examine the Texas criminal justice system in an effort to protect against wrongful convictions. Sessions, a former director of the FBI and federal judge, noted that numerous exonerations , recent crime lab scandals (see below) in the state, and other troubling events should…

As investigators continue to scrutinize the Houston Crime Lab’s history of shoddy practices and inaccurate test results, including evidence in capital cases, an op-ed in the Houston Chronicle called for District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal and Houston Police Chief Clarence Bradford to recuse themselves from the investigation to ensure a fair review: To date, District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal has refused to recuse himself from the investigation, instead insisting that his office can impartially…

Texas legislators have failed to pass laws that could bring the state into compliance with the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Atkins v. Virginia that bans the execution of those with mental retardation. Nearly a year after the Court’s ruling in Atkins, Texas officials have no idea how many of the 449 death row inmates have the disability, and no safeguards to ensure that those affected by the ruling are not put to death. Most of the legislative efforts have focused on identifying defendants…

According to the FBI’s Preliminary Uniform Crime Report for 2002, the murder rate in the South increased by 2.1% while the murder rate in the Northeast decreased by almost 5%. The South accounts for 82% of all executions since 1976; the Northeast accounts for less than 1%. (FBI Preliminary Uniform Crime Report 2002, June 16, 2003). Deterrence.

“Harmful Error,” a new report released by the The Center for Public Integrity, is the end product of an extensive two-year review of prosecutorial misconduct around the nation. The report notes that while many local prosecutors perform their difficult work admirably, inadvertent and intentional misconduct still permeates some district attorneys’ offices. Among other pieces of valuable information contained in the report, “Harmful Error” documents cases in which prosecutorial misconduct played a…

By a vote of 7 – 2, the U.S. Supreme Court has thrown out the death sentence of Maryland death row inmate Kevin Wiggins, ruling that his inexperienced attorneys failed to adequately represent him at trial. Wiggins’ original lawyers made no attempt to inform members of the jury that sent Wiggins to death row that their client was repeatedly raped, beaten and denied food as a child, and that his mother burned his hands on the stove as punishment. In an opinion authored by Justice Sandra Day…

The following synopsis was taken from the now-defunct www.larryrobison.org page: The Raymond Wood Case Synopsis of the Case: The Johnson County Missouri prosecutor in Warrensburg, Missouri, has charged Raymond Wood with five counts of capital murder. Ray is accused of intentionally murdering his wife and four oldest children on February 14, 2000. He is further charged with aggravated battery on his two youngest children who survived. Prior to February 2000, Ray had a 15 year history of…