Vermont

Arbitrariness

Sep 28, 2018

A fed­er­al judge in Vermont has accept­ed a plea deal between Donald Fell and fed­er­al pros­e­cu­tors, per­ma­nent­ly remov­ing Fell from death row and end­ing a case that had raised seri­ous ques­tions about the constitutiona…

Arbitrariness

Dec 14, 2016

After a two-week long ​“exten­sive hear­ing regard­ing the unre­li­a­bil­i­ty and arbi­trari­ness of the death penal­ty sys­tem, the exces­sive delay involved in exe­cu­tions, and the grow­ing decline in the use of the death penal­ty,” U.S. District Court Judge 

Deterrence

Jul 15, 2016

A court hear­ing is under way in the cap­i­tal tri­al of Donald Fell in a Vermont fed­er­al dis­trict court chal­leng­ing the con­sti­tu­tion­al­i­ty of the fed­er­al death penal­ty. This week, death penal­ty experts tes­ti­fied for t…

Arbitrariness

Feb 12, 2016

U.S. District Court Judge Geoffrey Crawford has ordered an evi­den­tiary hear­ing on Donald Fell’s (pic­tured) chal­lenge to the con­sti­tu­tion­al­i­ty of the fed­er­al death penal­ty. In court fil­ings seek­ing to bar fed­er­al pros­e­cu­tors from s…

Arbitrariness

Nov 30, 2015

Lawyers for cap­i­tal defen­dants and death row inmates across the coun­try have begun to respond to what lawyers in one fed­er­al case described as the ​“clar­i­on call for recon­sid­er­a­tion of the con­sti­tu­tion­al­i­ty of the death penal­ty” issued by Supreme C…

Innocence

Feb 04, 2011

On February 1, Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy (D‑Vermont) intro­duced leg­is­la­tion (S. 250) that would reau­tho­rize the Justice for All Act. The Act, first passed in 2004, pro­vid­ed impor­tant tools and assist…