Entries tagged with “Prosecutors and Attorneys”
Issues
Feb 28, 2024
New Report from Texas Defender Service Examines Ongoing Racial Disparities in Harris County Death Penalty Practices and Recommends Reforms
A new report from the Texas Defender Service (TDS) titled “Arbitrary and Capricious: Examining Racial Disparities in Harris County’s Pursuit of Death Sentences” was published on February 22, 2024 and is the latest in series of TDS reports on use of the death penalty in Texas. The report focuses on Harris County’s outlier death penalty practices, both within the state and nationally. While more than half of the 254 counties in Texas have never imposed a death sentence, Harris County is…
Issues
Feb 03, 2022
New Poll: Voters Overwhelmingly Oppose Las Vegas DA Seeking the Death Penalty Against Vulnerable and Impaired Persons
Likely voters in Clark County, Nevada overwhelmingly oppose the use of capital punishment against broad categories of vulnerable and impaired persons whom county prosecutors have been trying to execute, a new poll released by Vegas Watch on January 27, 2022 shows. The poll, conducted by the Justice Research Group from December 1 to 13, 2021, found a significant disconnect between voters’ views on capital punishment and the practices of Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson (pictured).
Issues
Upcoming Executions
,Federal Death Penalty
,Dec 08, 2020
Jurors and Appellate Prosecutor Say Teen Offender Brandon Bernard Should Not be Executed
As the December 10, 2020 execution date of federal death-row prisoner Brandon Bernard (pictured with his family) approached, jurors and a former prosecutor in his case came forward saying that the teen offender’s life should be spared. Bernard, who was 18 years old at the time of the offense, became the youngest offender executed by the federal government in at least 68 years. Five of the nine surviving trial jurors in Bernard’s case provided his defense team with videotaped statements or…
Research
New Voices
,Feb 04, 2020
Twenty-One Virginia Prosecutors Sign Letter Urging Repeal of Death Penalty
Calling the death penalty “a failed government program,” 21 current and former Virginia prosecutors have signed on to a letter to the commonwealth’s General Assembly urging the legislature to abolish capital punishment. The letter was signed by former Attorneys General Mark L. Earley, Sr., a Republican who presided over 36 executions during 13 years in office, and Democrat William G. Broaddus, nine current or former Commonwealth’s Attorneys elected across the state, and 12 other former homicide…
Issues
Jan 31, 2020
Florida Prisoner Sentenced to Life After Third Non-Unanimous Death Penalty Verdict
After nearly two decades of capital trials and death-penalty reversals, former Florida death-row prisoner David Snelgrove has been resentenced to life in prison without parole. His three sentencing trials provided a barometer of the impact of the United States Supreme Court and Florida Supreme Court decisions in Hurst v. Florida and Hurst v. State, and the lengths to which prosecutors were willing to go in attempts to keep unconstitutionally sentenced prisoners on death row. Before his latest…
Research
New Voices
,Nov 14, 2019
On Election Night, Reform Prosecutors Win in Virginia, California, and Pennsylvania
Reform prosecutors made further inroads into the administration of American law enforcement, sweeping county elections in Northern Virginia and gaining control of prosecutor’s offices in Pennsylvania and California. Progressive prosecutors rode a blue wave of suburban votes on November 5, 2019 that solidified Democratic control of every state legislative and prosecutorial seat in the Northern Virginia counties bordering the nation’s capital and wrested control of county government from one of…
Research
New Voices
,May 31, 2019
Citing Conflict With Florida Death-Penalty Ruling, Aramis Ayala Will Not Seek Re-Election As State Attorney
Aramis Ayala (pictured), the first African American elected as a state attorney in Florida, will not seek re-election as Orange-Osceola County State Attorney. Citing conflicts with the Florida Supreme Court’s pronouncements on capital prosecutions, Ayala announced in a Facebook video on May 28, 2019 that she would not pursue a second term as state attorney. “It’s time for me to move forward and to continue the pursuit of justice in a different capacity,” she said. Ayala gained renown — and in…
Research
New Voices
,Mar 15, 2019
NEW VOICES: Prosecutors in Colorado and Nevada Call for Death-Penalty Repeal
Two prosecutors with different philosophical perspectives on capital punishment have called on their respective states to abolish capital punishment. Boulder County, Colorado, District Attorney Michael Dougherty (pictured, left), who opposes capital punishment in principle, and former Washoe County, Nevada, homicide prosecutor Thomas E. Viloria (pictured, right), who has successfully obtained four death verdicts, have added their voices to support efforts to repeal the death penalty in their…
Research
New Voices
,Dec 13, 2018
Report on “Principles for the 21st Century Prosecutor” Calls for Prosecutors to Work to End Death Penalty
A group of justice-reform organizations has issued a new report, 21 Principles for the 21st Century Prosecutor, that calls on prosecutors to “work to end the death penalty” as part of its recommended reforms in prosecutorial practices. The report, prepared jointly by the organizations Fair and Just Prosecution, the Brennan Center for Justice, and the Justice Collaborative, sets forth a series of principles that the groups say are designed “to improve the overall fairness and efficacy of the…
Research
New Voices
,Aug 08, 2018
In First Post-Ferguson Election for St. Louis County Prosecutor, Death-Penalty Opponent Unseats Long-Time Incumbent
In an election viewed as a referendum on racial justice and criminal justice reform, death-penalty opponent Wesley Bell (pictured, left) soundly defeated seven-term incumbent, Robert McCulloch (pictured, right) for the Democratic nomination for St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney. With no Republican opposition in the general election, Bell, a Ferguson, Missouri, city council member, is expected to become the county’s first African-American chief prosecutor. The election was the first time…
Research
New Voices
,Jun 14, 2018
Retired Warden, Former Judge and Prosecutor Urge Ohio to Grant Clemency to Raymond Tibbetts
The Ohio Parole Board held a hearing on June 14, 2018 to consider clemency for death-row prisoner Raymond Tibbetts, whose February 13 execution was halted by Governor John Kasich to consider a juror’s request that Tibbets be spared. Ross Geiger, one of the twelve jurors who sentenced Tibbetts to death in 1997, wrote to Governor Kasich on January 30 expressing “deep concerns” about a “very flawed” trial and saying he “would not have recommended the death penalty” had the jury been provided…
Research
New Voices
,Jun 11, 2018
Georgia Supreme Court Hears First Death-Penalty Appeal in Two Years Amidst Sharp Decline in Death Sentences
In the midst of a sharp decline in death sentences in the state, the Georgia Supreme Court on June 4 heard a direct appeal in a capital case for the first time in two years. In March 2018, Georgia reached the four-year mark since it had last imposed a death sentence, a dramatic change for a state that once handed down 15 death sentences in a single year. The decline in Georgia’s death penalty exemplifies broader national death-penalty trends. In 1987, when Georgia handed down those 15 death…
Research
New Voices
,May 10, 2018
Voters in Durham, North Carolina Expand Reach of National Reform Movement, Elect Anti-Death Penalty Prosecutor
Voters in North Carolina added their voices to an expanding movement for local criminal justice reform, ousting sheriffs who closely cooperated with federal authorities seeking to detain and deport immigrants and nominating reform candidates in local district attorney races. In Durham County, considered the state’s most progressive county, voters in the Democratic primary opted for a candidate who advocated more rapid reform and said she would never pursue the death penalty, replacing…
Issues
New Voices
,Apr 25, 2018
Powerful New Documentaries Explore Death-Penalty Issues
Three powerful new documentaries that explore the modern death penalty in the United States are set to premiere this April. Oscar-winning actress Viola Davis and Julius Tennon are executive producers of The Last Defense, a new documentary series premiering for the first time at the 2018 Tribeca Film Festival on April 27. The seven-episode documentary series exposes flaws in the U.S. justice system through the personal narratives of death row prisoners Darlie Routier and Julius Jones, both whom…
Issues
New Voices
,Nov 09, 2017
Anti-Death Penalty District Attorney Elected in Philadelphia, the Nation’s 3rd Largest Death Penalty County
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania — the nation’s third largest death-penalty county — has elected as its new district attorney a candidate who ran on a platform of ending mass incarceration and eschewing use of the death penalty. Democrat Lawrence Krasner (pictured), a longtime civil rights lawyer and opponent of the death penalty, who once joked that he’d “spent a career becoming completely unelectable,” received 75% of the vote in easily defeating his Republican opponent Beth Grossman. As a civil rights…
Research
New Voices
,Jul 19, 2017
New Generation of Prosecutors May Signal Shift in Death Penalty Policies
A new generation of prosecutors, elected across the country on a platform of criminal justice reform, are taking a different approach to criminal justice policies than their predecessors, including a reduction in the use of capital punishment. A Christian Science Monitor profile of these prosecutors — focusing on Mark Gonzalez (pictured), the Nueces County, Texas, district attorney — says “[f]rom Texas to Florida to Illinois, many of these young prosecutors are eschewing the death penalty, talking…
Issues
New Voices
,Mar 23, 2017
Florida Black Caucus, Victim’s Parents Urge Governor to Rescind Order Removing Prosecutor For Not Seeking Death Penalty
The Florida Legislative Black Caucus has joined more than 100 lawyers and legal experts and the parents of murder victim Sade Dixon in urging Governor Rick Scott to rescind his order removing Orange-Osceola County State Attorney Aramis Ayala (pictured) from a high-profile double murder case in which she decided to not seek the death penalty. The other victim in the case, Lt. Debra Clayton, was an Orlando police officer. Governor Scott did not speak with Dixon’s family before issuing an order…
Research
New Voices
,Mar 17, 2017
Florida Prosecutor Announces She Will No Longer Seek Death Sentences, Governor Moves to Exclude Her From Police-Killing Case
Saying that pursuing the death penalty “is not in the best interests of this community or in the best interests of justice,” Orange-Osceola County, Florida State Attorney Aramis Ayala (pictured) announced on March 16 that her office would not seek the death penalty while she is State Attorney. Ayala — the first black elected prosecutor in Florida — said that as State Attorney, it was her obligation to make policy decisions based on the evidence and that, after reviewing the evidence, she had…
Issues
New Voices
,Feb 17, 2017
Former Tennessee Attorney General Supports Mental Illness Exemption
In an op-ed in the Memphis newspaper, The Commercial Appeal, former Tennessee Attorney General W.J. Michael Cody (pictured) has expressed his support for a bill that would exempt people with serious mental illness from the death penalty. Cody, who later served as a member of the American Bar Association’s Tennessee Death Penalty Assessment Team, said that “as society’s understanding of mental illness improves every day,” it is “surprising that people with severe mental illnesses, like…
Research
New Voices
,Jan 10, 2017
Denver’s Newly Elected District Attorney Says She Will Not Seek the Death Penalty
Newly-elected Denver, Colorado District Attorney Beth McCann (pictured), sworn into office on January 10, 2017, has said that her administration will not seek the death penalty. Asked by 9News, Denver’s NBC affiliate, whether Denver was “done with the death penalty,” McCann said: “We are under my administration. I don’t think that the state should be in the business of killing people.” McCann told 9News that alternative sentences provide sufficient punishment at a substantially lesser cost: “I…
Issues
New Voices
,Dec 02, 2016
OUTLIER COUNTIES: Dallas County, Texas Imposing Fewer Death Sentences After Years of Discrimination
With 55 executions since the 1970s, Dallas County, Texas, ranks second among all U.S. counties — behind only Harris County (Houston), Texas — in the number of prisoners it has put to death. It is also among the 2% of counties that account for more than half of all prisoners on death row across the country, and produced seven new death sentences and one resentence between 2010 and 2015, more than 99.5% of all U.S. counties during that period. Dallas County has a long history of prosecutorial…
Issues
New Voices
,Nov 15, 2016
OUTLIER COUNTIES: Alabama’s Leading Death Sentencing County Elects Prosecutors Who Oppose Capital Punishment
Jefferson County, Alabama is among both the 2% of counties that account for more than half of all executions in the U.S. and are responsible for more than half of all prisoners on death row across the country. It led the state in new death sentences from 2010 – 2015, putting more people on death row than 99.5% of U.S. counties. All five of the defendants sentenced to death in those cases were Black. But the county may soon see a decline in death sentences as voters appear to have ousted the…
Issues
New Voices
,Oct 19, 2016
NEW VOICES: Former Reagan Attorney General and Former Manhattan Prosecutor Speak Out In Possible Innocence Case
Edwin Meese III (pictured), who served as U.S. Attorney General under President Ronald Reagan, and Robert Morgenthau, the long-time district attorney of Manhattan who served as a U.S. attorney under Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson, believe that Alabama death row prisoner William Kuenzel is innocent and are urging the U.S. Supreme Court to review his case. Meese and Morgenthau belong to different political parties and take opposing views on capital punishment, but both believe that…
Issues
New Voices
,Sep 12, 2016
NEW VOICES: Former Ohio Attorney General Jim Petro Says Death Penalty Unfixable, “Not Worth It Any More”
In a recent commentary in the Columbus Dispatch, former Ohio Attorney General Jim Petro (pictured) criticized the state’s death penalty as “a broken system that currently serves only the interest of Ohio prosecutors” and said that keeping “the death penalty is just not worth it any more.” As a state legislator, Petro helped write Ohio’s current death-penalty law and he oversaw eighteen executions as Attorney General from 2003 – 2007. He says, at the time “[w]e thought maybe it would be a…
Issues
New Voices
,Jul 11, 2016
Nebraska Exonerees Awarded $28 Million, Prosecutor Says Case Made Him Oppose Death Penalty
A federal court jury has awarded six Nebraska exonerees (pictured, at their exoneration) $28 million in damages for official misconduct that led to their wrongful convictions in the 1985 rape and murder of Helen Wilson. The “Beatrice Six,” as the group came to be known, were falsely accused of the killing and threatened with the death penalty. Five of the defendants — James Dean, Kathy Gonzalez, Debra Shelden, Ada JoAnn Taylor, and Tom Winslow — agreed to plea bargains or pled no contest to avoid…
Issues
Victims' Families
,New Voices
,Mar 10, 2016
NEW VOICES: Former Utah Prosecutor Urges Death Penalty Repeal
Creighton Horton spent 30 years as a prosecutor with the Salt Lake District Attorney’s Office and Utah Attorney General’s Office before retiring in 2009. In a recent op-ed, he said his experience handling capital cases led him to believe Utah should abolish the death penalty. Horton noted the negative impact the death penalty can have on victims’ families. “If a capital case goes to trial and the jury returns a verdict of death, that pronouncement is probably the last satisfaction the victim’s…
Issues
New Voices
,Jan 05, 2016
Prosecutor Says Change Needed if Wyoming Wants to Keep the Death Penalty
Natrona County, Wyoming District Attorney Mike Blonigen (pictured) recently called for a reconsideration of the state’s death penalty after a federal judge overturned the death sentence of Dale Wayne Eaton, a decade after Blonigen obtained it in 2004. At the time U.S. District Judge Alan B. Johnson reversed Eaton’s sentence in 2014, Eaton was the only person on Wyoming’s death row. Judge Johnson ruled that Eaton had received ineffective representation, in part because of inadequate funding of…
Issues
New Voices
,Jan 01, 2011
NEW VOICES: Montana Assistant Attorney General Calls for Death Penalty Repeal
Montana Assistant Attorney General John Connor has voiced support for a legislative measure that would abolish capital punishment in his state. Stating his belief that the death penalty does not deter crime and is expensive, Connor told the Montana House Judiciary Committee, “It seems to me to be the ultimate incongruity to say we respect life so much that we’re going to dedicate all our money, all our resources, our legal expertise and our entire system to try and take your life… . Frankly, I…
Research
New Voices
,Dec 23, 2008
NEW VOICES: One Year Later, New Jersey Prosecutors Find No Problem with Abolition of Death Penalty
In December 2007, New Jersey became the first state to legislatively abolish the death penalty in 40 years. In commenting on the absence of capital punishment for one year, a number of state prosecutors found no problems with the new system. “We have not viewed it as an impediment in the disposition of murder cases,” said Hudson County Prosecutor Edward DeFazio, who served on a state study commission that reviewed the death penalty. “As a practical matter, we have really seen no difference in…
Issues
New Voices
,Dec 01, 2008
Washington State’s Death Penalty Part of a Broken System
The state of Washington has carried out 4 executions in 45 years, the last one being in 2001 when James Elledge waived his appeals and was executed. Some prosecutors, legislators, and defense attorneys are questioning the value of keeping the system. Kitsap County Prosecutor Russell Hauge (pictured) supports the death penalty but has decided against seeking it in a recent case because he felt the appeals process would simply never end. “In terms of justice, the worst thing that could have…
Issues
New Voices
,Oct 13, 2008
NEW VOICES: Former Texas Prosecutor Now Opposes Death Penalty as New Study is Released on Wrongful Convictions
A former Dallas County prosecutor has abandoned his longstanding support of the death penalty and is now opposed to capital punishment based on recent exonerations in Texas and elsewhere. James Fry, who prosecuted Charles Chatman — a man recently exonerated from prison in Dallas County — said he was “shaken to the core” by the high number of exonerations throughout the nation and by evidence of flawed eyewitness testimony. Formerly a staunch supporter of capital punishment, Fry pointed to the risk…
Issues
New Voices
,Federal Death Penalty
,Sep 26, 2008
NEW VOICES: Former U.S. Attorney Cites Improper Pressure in Use of Federal Death Penalty
Former U.S. Attorney Paul Charlton expressed relief that the Justice Department is no longer seeking to execute a defendant in the case that was cause for his termination. Charlton told the Associated Press that he did not think the government had sufficient evidence to pursue the death penalty in the prosecution of Jose Rios Rico. Charlton’s boss, former Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez, wanted him to pursue it anyway and testified to a Senate panel that he fired Charlton over his “poor…
Issues
New Voices
,Sep 17, 2008
NEW VOICES: Dallas D.A. To Re-Examine Death Penalty Convictions and Possibly Halt Executions
Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins announced that he will be reexamining nearly 40 death penalty convictions in his county. No executions will occur in the county until he has reviewed the cases in detail. Watkins said he will start with the oldest cases as they are most likely to be scheduled first. “I’m not saying I’m putting a moratorium on the death penalty,” said Watkins. “It’s saying that maybe we should withdraw those dates and look at those cases from a new perspective to…
Research
New Voices
,Jul 07, 2008
NEW VOICES: Former District Attorney Changes Mind On Death Penalty
A former California deputy district attorney recently explained how he had changed his views on the death penalty after once arguing for it at trial. From that experience, he concluded he “won’t do it again.” As the prosecutor in a heinous murder case, Darryl Stallworth found himself feeling more hesitant about the use of the death penalty as the trial progressed. Stallworth stated, “I was no longer certain what would be accomplished by executing [the defendant].” Although he argued for the…
Research
New Voices
,May 14, 2008
NEW VOICES: American Bar Association President Calls for Death Penalty Moratorium
William Neukom, the President of the American Bar Association, recently wrote about the death penalty in conjunction with a visit to Duke University Law School in North Carolina, where he addressed the graduating class. In an op-ed, Mr. Neukom noted that the ABA had closely studied the death penalty systems of eight states and found repeated failures to meet minimum standards advocated by the ABA. He renewed the call of the ABA for a halt to executions until these problems are addressed…
Research
New Voices
,Federal Death Penalty
,Feb 04, 2008
NEW VOICES: Moussaoui Judge: Seeking Death Penalty Hindered Gathering of Terrorist Intelligence
In a recent speech at the American University school of law, U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema, who presided over the trial of 9/11 conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui, said that the government’s decision to seek the death penalty against Moussaoui appeared to be politically motivated. Judge Brinkema also stated that because Moussaoui’s case involved the death penalty, it unnecessarily exposed classified information and interfered with the gathering of other information that could have been useful…
Issues
Victims' Families
,New Voices
,Dec 29, 2007
NEW VOICES: Prosecutors Ambivalent About the Death Penalty
In a recent front-page article in the New York Times, Joshua Marquis, the district attorney in Clatsop County, Oregon, and a vice president of the National District Attorneys Association, indicated that most prosecutors with experience in death penalty cases are ambivalent about it: “Any sane prosecutor who is involved in capital litigation will really be ambivalent about it,” said Marquis, who has long supported the death penalty. According to the Times, he said the families of murder victims…
Research
New Voices
,Executions Overview
,Nov 01, 2007
Texas Prosecutors Ask for Delay in Executions Until Supreme Court Issues Lethal Injection Ruling
As the U.S. Supreme Court prepares to consider the constitutionality of Kentucky’s lethal injection procedures, prosecutors in three Texas counties have decided to await the Justices’ ruling rather than ask judges to set execution dates and press forward through the courts. “It seems the common-sense thing to do at this point,” said Roe Wilson, who handles death penalty appeals for the Harris County District Attorney’s Office in Houston. Harris County sends more inmates to death row than any…
Research
New Voices
,Oct 22, 2007
NEW VOICES: Former Tennessee Attorney General and Federal Judge Cite Crisis in State’s Death Penalty
A former Tennessee Attorney General, W.J. Cody, and a U.S. Court of Appeals Judge, Gilbert Merritt, both members of the American Bar Association’s Tennessee Death Penalty Assessment Team, called on policymakers to thoroughly review the state’s capital punishment laws and implement significant changes that address concerns such as wrongful convictions, meeting the needs of victims’ family members, and ensuring that the state complies with minimum standards required for fairness in capital…
Issues
New Voices
,Sep 20, 2007
Alabama District Attorneys Association Criticizes Attorney General for Politicizing Death Penalty Case
In a letter citing political manipulation of the death penalty by the state’s chief prosecutor, 41 members of Alabama’s District Attorneys Association called on Attorney General Troy King to apologize to Shelby County District Attorney Robby Owens (pictured). King has said that Owens “shirked” his duties when he expressed concerns in a court hearing about the fairness of an inmate’s death sentence. “If he cannot recognize the error of his needless attack on the district attorney, perhaps he…
Issues
New Voices
,Sep 18, 2007
Alabama Prosecutor Punished for Testifying That a Death Sentence Was Unfair
Alabama Attorney General Troy King (pictured) recently stripped a capital murder case from veteran Shelby County District Attorney Robby Owens because Owens expressed concerns in a court hearing about the fairness of an inmate’s death sentence. Owens testified that it would be disproportionate to execute LaSamuel Gamble for killing two people more than a decade ago in light of the fact that his co-defendant, and the crime’s triggerman, Marcus Presley, had his death sentence reduced under the…
Issues
New Voices
,Sep 14, 2007
Expensive Death Penalty Prosecutions in Florida May Mean Others Don’t Go to Trial
Florida State Attorney Harry Shorstein recently said that cuts to his budget could force his staff to make tough decisions with regard to criminal prosecutions. Shorstein said a predicted budget cut for the 20 state attorney offices in Florida would be “catastrophic,” projecting that his staff alone would lose 16 members and may have to abandon expensive death penalty cases. “There will be cases that can’t be tried. Will it mean we can’t get to the trials? Will it take longer? Will it, will it…
Issues
Victims' Families
,New Voices
,Aug 01, 2007
Fewer Death Sentences as Victims’ Concerns Are Considered
When weighing whether to seek the death penalty, Tulsa County First Assistant District Attorney Doug Drummond says that he tries to determine how future juries will assess the evidence, as well as how a death penalty case will impact victims’ family members. He observes, “Life without parole without appeals might be a better situation for a lot of victims’ families. There are some positive things about that… . A lot of people, at first blush when a loved one is killed, want the death penalty.
Issues
Victims' Families
,New Voices
,Jul 31, 2007
NEW VOICES: Former Alabama Prosecutor Questions Value of Capital Punishment
Billy Hill spent seven years as a district attorney in Shelby, Coosa, and Clay counties in Alabama, and has reconsidered his stance on capital punishment. Mr. Hill says that he would welcome a moratorium on executions in Alabama while a study commission examines the state’s death penalty to evaluate whether it is “a wise and humane use of our resources.” Wrongful convictions, the arbitrary nature of capital punishment, poor representation, and the long-term suffering of victims’ family members…
Issues
New Voices
,Apr 18, 2007
Freed Death Row Inmates and Former Prosecutor Join Call for Halt to Pennsylvania Executions
(Pictured left to right, Harold Wilson, Barry Scheck, and Sam Millsap) During a press conference near the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia, 16 former death row inmates whose convictions were overturned joined noted attorney Barry Scheck (pictured) and former Texas prosecutor Sam Millsap (pictured) in calling for a moratorium on executions in Pennsylvania. Harold C. Wilson (pictured), the most recent of six death row exonerees in the state, noted that he spent 16 years on death row for a murder he…
Research
New Voices
,Feb 19, 2007
NEW VOICES: Former State Prosecutor Questions Value of Capital Punishment
Former Connecticut state prosecutor and legal analyst Susan Filan recently stated that the death penalty is not an appropriate sentence, particularly when the crime appears to be a heinous violation of the sanctity of life . In her commentary posted on MSNBC.com, Filan wrote: As a former prosecutor I believe I understand the emotion involved in a murder case. I have seen firsthand the rage and fury and grief that families of murder victims express. The pain is indescribable. But I have never…
Research
New Voices
,Jan 08, 2007
NEW VOICES: Victims’ Advocates, Prosecutors Caution Against Expansion of Texas Death Penalty
Victims’ advocates and prosecutors are urging Texas legislators to exclude the death penalty from new legislation designed to toughen penalties for repeat child molesters. Those opposed to the measure fear that threatening death sentences for sex offenders could lead to fewer reported cases of sex crimes and might even give incentive to offenders to kill their victims to prevent the child from testifying in court. Annette Burrhus-Clay, executive director of the Texas Association Against Sexual…
Research
New Voices
,Jan 04, 2007
NEW VOICES: New Jersey Commission Represented a Broad Spectrum of Officials and Citizens
The report from the New Jersey Death Penalty Study Commission that called for an end to the state’s death penalty was prepared by a group of individuals representing a wide variety of viewpoints and experience. The members of the Commission were: Governor Jon S. Corzine appointed: Eddie Hicks, a member of Murder Victims Families for Reconciliation; Kathleen Garcia, a member of the New Jersey Crime Victims’ Law Center; the Reverend M. William Howard, Jr., of Bethany Baptist Church in Newark…
Issues
Victims' Families
,New Voices
,Nov 14, 2006
NEW VOICES: Life Without Parole Offers Prosecutors, Jurors, and Victims an Acceptable Alternative to the Death Penalty
Prosecutors in Utah have stated that the sentencing option of life without parole has been very helpful in giving jurors and family members of victims a viable alternative to the death penalty. Salt Lake County District Attorney David Yocom noted that life without parole is often a better option to present to jurors: “It’s a tool for juries as well as prosecutors and defense attorneys, too,” Yocom said. “It’s an alternative to avoid asking a jury of 12 people to make that decision,” to impose…
Issues
New Voices
,Sep 05, 2006
Costs and Geography Contribute to Death Penalty’s Arbitrariness
The death penalty is rarely sought in the city of Baltimore, but in adjoining Baltimore County almost every eligible case becomes a capital case. Presently, there are 7 active death-penalty cases in Baltimore County, more than the city of Baltimore has had overall in the past 2 decades. In addition to the different philosophies of the respective State’s Attorneys, the costs of the death penalty are a significant factor. Prosecutors estimate that a death penalty case costs taxpayers $500,000…
Issues
New Voices
,Aug 10, 2006
NEW VOICES: Kenneth Starr and Other Officials Join Discussion of Death Penalty
The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, together with the Federalist Society and the Constitution Project, recently sponsored a panel in Washington, D.C., examining the application, morality and constitutionality of the death penalty in the United States. The panel was moderated by Virginia Sloan of the Constitution Project and featured Samuel Millsap, Jr., former Texas District Attorney, William Otis, Counselor to the Head of the Drug Enforcement Administration, Kenneth Starr (pictured)…
Issues
New Voices
,Jul 14, 2006
NEW VOICES: The Death Penalty 30 Years after Gregg v. Georgia
Stuart Streichler served as a law clerk for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit shortly after the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Gregg v. Georgia. He observed many capital cases and now concludes: “A fundamental idea of American law is that all defendants should receive fair trials all of the time. The persistent failure to come close to that in death penalty cases undermines the integrity of the legal system.” Streichler’s op-ed appreared recently in the Miami Herald: This month…
Issues
New Voices
,May 25, 2006
MENTAL ILLNESS: Rutherford Institute Calls Attention to Upcoming Virginia Execution
John W. Whitehead, founder and president of the Rutherford Institute, called for clemency for Percy Lavar Walton, a Virginia inmate scheduled to be executed on June 8. Walton is a psychotic schizophrenic who has suffered with severe mental illness since adolescence. He is on death row for three murders he committed when he was 18 years old. Whitehead writes: Dubbed “Crazy Horse” by prison officials, Walton … is scarcely conscious of the fate that awaits him. While others on death row bide…
Issues
New Voices
,May 23, 2006
NEW VOICES: Illinois Execution in 1995 Now Seen in a New Light
Girvies Davis was executed in Illinois in 1995 after a conviction based largely on his own confession. Davis’ appellate attorney was David A. Schwartz, who now serves as senior vice-president and baseball legal counsel at CSMG Sports. Schwartz writes in the Chicago Tribune that Davis “confessed” to many crimes, most of which he indisputably did not commit. Davis said that the only reason he confessed to the murder that sent him to death row was that the police threatened to kill him if he did…
Research
New Voices
,Federal Death Penalty
,Apr 12, 2006
NEW VOICES: Senior Counsel to 9/11 Commission Questions Death Penalty for Moussaoui
In a recent New York Times op-ed, John Farmer, senior counsel to the 9/11 commission and a former New Jersery attorney general, states that seeking the death penalty for Zacarias Moussaoui detracts from U.S. efforts to seek justice against senior Al Qaeda officials who plotted and carried out the 9/11 attacks. Farmer claims Moussauoi, who was in jail as terrorists plotted and carried out the events of 9/11, was not the “20th hijacker” and is a “poor stand in” for more senior level Al Qaeda…
Issues
New Voices
,Mar 16, 2006
NEW VOICES: New Jersey Attorney General Says Death Penalty Not Necessary, Not Working
New Jersey Attorney General Zulima Farber (pictured) recently voiced her support for extending the state’s moratorium on executions, noting that she does not believe the death penalty is a “necessary tool” for prosecutors and believes capital punishment does not deter crime. “I don’t think it’s a deterrent. And I understand revenge. I think some people deserve it. But I don’t think it’s a necessary tool… . I don’t have a philosophical or religious opposition to the death penalty, I have a…
Research
New Voices
,Feb 13, 2006
NEW VOICES: Former Prosecutor Says Death Penalty Not Worth The Costs
Steven P. Grossman, a former New York City prosecutor and a professor at the University of Baltimore School of Law, recently wrote in The Baltimore Sun that the death penalty is “not worth the societal effort it requires and the wounds it causes.” The case of Maryland death row inmate Vernon Evans,who received a stay jsut prior to his scheduled execution this month, prompted Grossman to examine capital punishment as it relates to victims’ families and whether executions deter future violent…
Research
New Voices
,Jan 13, 2006
NEW VOICES: California Moratorium Bill Gains Broad Support From Law Enforcement, Prosecutors and Judges
A group of 40 law enforcement officers, current and former prosecutors, and judges at the state and federal level have urged California lawmakers to enact a temporary halt to executions in the state while a commission examines the accuracy and fairness of the death penalty. In a letter to members of the California Assembly, the bi-partisan group of death penalty supporters and opponents wrote, “[G]iven that DNA testing and other new evidence has proven that more than 121 people who sat on death…
Issues
New Voices
,Jan 10, 2006
NEW VOICES: California Prosecutors Urge Death Penalty Moratorium
As California lawmakers consider legislation that would put executions on hold for two years while a 13-member commission reviews the problem of wrongful convictions in the state, a group of current and former prosecutors have sent members of the state Assembly a letter urging passage of the measure. “The execution of an innocent person is unacceptable, and it is imperative that California takes every precaution that it never happens. This is not just a matter of justice for these individuals.
Dec 16, 2004
NEW VOICES: Manhattan’s DA Says Death Penalty “Exacts a terrible price”
As New York lawmakers conducted the first in a series of hearings on the state’s death penalty, Robert M. Morgenthau, Manhattan’s long-serving District Attorney, recommended that New York abandon the practice: “It’s the deed that teaches, not the name we give it,” Morgenthau said, quoting George Bernard Shaw. He went on to note, “The penalty exacts a terrible price in dollars, lives, and human decency. Rather than tamping down the flames of violence, it fuels them….I urge all of our lawmakers…
Sep 13, 2004
NEW VOICES: Lead Prosecutor Questions Value of Death Penalty
Thomas F. Kelaher, the new president of the County Prosecutors Association of New Jersey, said that it is time to start rethinking the use of the death penalty in the state. Although Kelaher is a supporter of the death penalty, he noted: “If the death penalty hasn’t been used in 20 years, society should ask if it should be continued. It was supposed to act as a deterrent. If it hasn’t been used in 20 years, you really can’t say it’s a deterrent.” Kelaher expressed concern about the recent…
Aug 10, 2004
NEW VOICES: Massachusetts DA Asks that the Death Penalty Be Avoided
Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley has sent a letter to U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft requesting that the Justice Department not seek the death penalty for a Dorchester drug dealer charged with murdering a rival. Ashcroft has indicated that the 25-year-old defendant, Brima Wurie, could be a candidate for the federal death penalty. Conley believes a federal death penalty case against Wurie would alienate community leaders whose assistance has been a valuable part of efforts…
Jul 29, 2004
NEW VOICES: Texas DA Sees “Beginning of the End of the Death Penalty”
In Texas, Jefferson County District Attorney Tom Maness recently noted that the time-consuming and costly nature of capital punishment may lead to its demise. “I think this is the beginning of the end of the death penalty,” said Maness after a Criminal District Court Judge recommended that the Court of Criminal Appeals commute the death sentence of Walter Bell to life in prison. On three occassions, Jefferson County spent countless hours of work and hundreds of thousands of dollars to prosecute…
Jun 11, 2004
NEW VOICES: Prosecutor Withdraws from Death Penalty Case
A Kentucky prosecutor raised religious objections to the death penalty in asking to step aside in the case of two men charged with murder. J. Stewart Schneider, the commonwealth’s attorney in Boyd County in northeastern Kentucky, said Thursday he filed his motion to withdraw from the case after reflections at a religious retreat. Schneider also is a minister with the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). “I spent that weekend in prayer,” he said. “The more I thought about it, the more…
May 04, 2004
NEW VOICES: Massachusetts District Attorneys Criticize Governor’s Death Penalty Plan
District attorneys from several Massachusetts counties, including Suffolk, Norfolk, Middlesex, Essex and Barnstable, had strong reservations about Governor Mitt Romney’s attempt to establish a nearly “foolproof” death penalty system in the state. Some noted that nothing can eliminate the possibility of human error in such cases. The district attorneys said that the state’s medical examiner’s office and crime labs are currently overwhelmed with work, and that the labs do not have the capacity to…
Apr 14, 2004
NEW VOICES: Law Enforcement Officials Support Bill to End Juvenile Death Penalty
A bipartisan measure to eliminate the juvenile death penalty in Florida has passed the Senate Criminal Justice Committee and is now on its way to the full Senate for consideration. The measure was introduced by Republican Senator Victor Crist, a death penalty supporter who notes that young people are different because they don’t have the same understanding of consequences as an adult. .The bill also has support from the state’s top law enforcement officers, Florida Attorney General Charlie…
Jan 09, 2004
NEW VOICES: District Attorney Talks About Being “Smart on Crime”
Kamala Harris, the newly-elected San Francisco District Attorney, recently spoke about her approach to keeping the community safe: The dialogue about public safety in San Francisco and across the country is usually dominated by one simplistic question — are you “tough” on crime, or are you “soft” on crime? As we start a new era in the district attorney’s office today, it’s time to put an end to that false choice. Let’s start today by being smart on crime. … We also need to reject simplistic…
Sep 22, 2003
NEW VOICES: Prosecutor Criticizes Federal Government’s Decision to Seek Death Penalty
After U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft authorized a federal death penalty prosecution against two Massachusetts men accused of a gang murder, the local Suffolk County District Attorney, Daniel F. Conley, objected to using capital punishment to end urban violence, stating, “I do not believe the death penalty is a deterrent or appropriate punishment for inner-city homicide. The death penalty runs counter to the strategies for preventing and prosecuting urban crime — which include sensitivity…
Sep 12, 2003
NEW VOICES: Broward County Prosecutors to Continue DNA Testing After Florida Deadline
As the October 1st deadline for Florida inmates to request DNA testing of evidence that could prove their innocence looms, Broward County prosecutors have announced that they will allow inmates access to the crucial testing after the deadline passes. Two of Florida’s highest-profile DNA exonerations, Frank Lee Smith, who died of cancer on death row 11 months before he was exonerated by DNA evidence, and Jerry Frank Townsend were both Broward County cases. Carolyn McCann, head of the Broward…
Aug 07, 2003
NEW VOICES: Prosecutor Urges DNA Testing to Ensure Accuracy
In an op-ed that appeared in the Los Angeles Times on the day Indiana death row inmate Darnell Williams received a stay of execution to allow testing of crucial DNA evidence that could save his life, the prosecutor from the case, Thomas Vanes, expressed second thoughts about seeking the death penalty. He wrote: For 13 years I served as a prosecutor, and I was not bashful then in seeking the death penalty. When criminals are guilty, they deserve to be punished. But I have also learned since…
Aug 06, 2003
NEW VOICES: Time Magazine Spotlights Texas District Attorney
A recent article in Time looks at the career of Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle. The article traces Earle’s evolving opinion on the death penalty since he was first elected D.A. in Texas in 1976, the year the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty. Among other concerns, questions of innocence have caused Earle to grow increasingly skeptical about the death penalty. The article notes: But like the rest of us, Earle has now watched broken souls walk free after years of…
Jul 25, 2003
NEW VOICES: Prosecutor, Juror Call for DNA Testing in Case of Man They Sent to Death Row
Doubts about the appropriateness of a death sentence have prompted former prosecutor Thomas Vanes to call for new DNA testing in the case of Darnell Williams, a man he sent to death row as a Lake County, Indiana state’s attorney. Williams is scheduled to be executed on Friday, August 1. Vanes and John Gnajek, a member of the jury that sent Williams to death row, have filed a suit in federal court asking for a stay of Williams’ execution until new DNA testing is completed on blood evidence that…
Jul 23, 2003
NEW VOICES: Former San Francisco Prosecutor Denounces Death Penalty
After years of supporting capital punishment, former San Francisco prosecutor Bill Fazio recently changed his position on the death penalty. Fazio, who now serves as a defense attorney, stated, “Life without parole is a viable alternative.” He noted that he began to reconsider his stance on capital punishment after the U.S. Court of Appeals reversed his sole death penalty conviction. Fazio noted, “It was an error by the trial judge, and it made me realize that after 21 years there was still no…