Entries tagged with “Judges”
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New Voices
,Mar 21, 2024
Discussions with DPIC Podcast: Retired Judge Elsa Alcala on the Death Penalty in Texas
In this month’s episode of Discussions with DPIC, Managing Director Anne Holsinger speaks with Judge Elsa Alcala, who served on the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals from 2011 to 2018. In addition to serving as a judge at the appeals and trial level, she worked as a prosecutor, criminal defense attorney, and most recently as a justice-reform lobbyist during her three-decade career in criminal law. She shares how these experiences have informed her perspective on the…
Issues
May 26, 2022
Judge Rejects Missouri’s First Jury Recommendation of Death in Nine Years, Says Mitigating Evidence Requires Life Sentence for Marvin Rice
A Missouri judge has rejected the state’s first jury recommendation for a death sentence in nine years, and has instead re-sentenced former death-row prisoner Marvin D. Rice (pictured) to life…
Issues
Upcoming Executions
,Conditions on Death Row
,Mar 02, 2022
Melissa Lucio Files Motions to Vacate Death Warrant, Remove Judge and District Attorney Based on Conflicts of Interest
Lawyers for Texas death-row prisoner Melissa Lucio (pictured) have moved to vacate her April 27, 2022 execution date and remove the judge and district attorney in her case because of conflicts of interest stemming from their employment of key members of Lucio’s…
Issues
Executions Overview
,Nov 02, 2020
Florida Supreme Court Abandons 50-Year-Old Proportionality Safeguard for Capital Defendants
In a continuing diminution of procedural safeguards in capital cases, the Florida Supreme Court has ended its long-standing practice of independently reviewing death penalty cases on appeal to ensure that they are not disproportionate to sentences imposed in…
Issues
Victims' Families
,New Voices
,Federal Death Penalty
,Nov 13, 2019
Former State and Federal Judges, Prosecutors, and Law Enforcement Officials and Families of Murder Victims Urge Federal Government to Call Off Executions
Hundreds of former state and federal judges, prosecutors, law enforcement and corrections officials, and family members of homicide victims have signed on to a series of letters urging the federal government to halt the five federal executions scheduled for December 2019 and January 2020. In four separate letters addressed to President Donald Trump and Attorney General William Barr, 175 family members of murder victims, 65 former state and federal judges,…
Issues
New Voices
,Jan 17, 2019
New Voices: Former Texas Criminal Appeals Judge Suggests “Pause” on Texas Death Penalty
Retiring Texas Court of Criminal Appeals judge and former prosecutor Elsa Alcala now believes that the death penalty is unreliably and discriminatorily applied in the nation’s most aggressive capital punishment state. In a new Houston Chronicle“Behind the Walls” podcast, Judge Alcala – who calls herself“a Republican hanging on by a thread” – told reporter Keri Blakinger,“I think we know enough…
Issues
New Voices
,Oct 19, 2018
As Capital Retrial Begins, Former Judge Says Defendant Should Not Be Convicted
As Seminole County prosecutors seek the death penalty against Clemente Javier Aguirre-Jarquin a second time despite substantial evidence implicating another suspect, the Florida judge who initially sentenced Aguirre-Jarquin to death now says he should not be convicted. Retired Judge O.H. Eaton (pictured), who presided over Aguirre-Jarquin’s double-murder trial in 2006, said he now believes that the case is a“poster…
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…
Research
New Voices
,Feb 13, 2017
Former Federal Appeals Judge Urges Caution as Ohio Reschedules Executions
In a guest column for the Cleveland Plain Dealer, retired federal appeals court judge Nathaniel R. Jones (pictured) urged Ohio to“reconsider its race to death” in scheduling executions while the constitutionality of the state’s lethal injection process remains in question. Jones, who served on the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit from 1979 to 2002, criticized the state’s proposed use of the drug midazolam…
Issues
New Voices
,May 24, 2016
NEW VOICES: Former Chief Justice of North Carolina Supreme Court Questions Constitutionality of Death Penalty
I. Beverly Lake, Jr. — a staunch supporter of North Carolina’s death penalty during his years as a State Senator and who, as a former Chief Justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court, repeatedly voted to uphold death sentences — has changed his stance on capital punishment. In a recent piece for The Huffington Post, Lake said he not only supported capital punishment as a State Senator, he“vigorously advocated” for it and“cast my vote at…
Research
New Voices
,Feb 17, 2016
Former State Chief Justices: Pennsylvania Justice Should Not Have Approved Death as D.A., Then Reviewed Case on Appeal
In a recent Washington Times op-ed, two former state supreme court chief justices argue that a state supreme court justice who, as district attorney, had authorized the capital prosecution of a defendant, should not have later participated as a judge in deciding an appeal in that case. Gerald Kogan (pictured, l.), former chief justice of the Florida Supreme Court, and Michael Wolff (pictured, r.), former chief justice of the…
Research
New Voices
,Jan 28, 2016
Florida Holds Hearing On Capital Sentencing As Experts Urge Reform
In an op-ed for the Orlando Sentinel, former Florida Supreme Court Justice Raoul Cantero (pictured) and ABA Death Penalty Assessment Team member Mark Schlakman call on the Florida legislature to repair the constitutional violations in Florida’s capital sentencing scheme. The U.S. Supreme Court found in Hurst v. Florida that the state’s sentencing process violates the Sixth Amendment because a jury does not unanimously find the aggravating…
Research
New Voices
,Jul 22, 2015
NEW VOICES: Ninth Circuit Judge Calls for Sweeping Criminal Justice Reform
In a recent article for the Georgetown Law Journal, Judge Alex Kozinski of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit calls for sweeping reforms in the criminal justice system. The former Chief Judge, who was appointed by President Reagan in 1985, outlined a number of“myths” about the legal system, raising questions about the reliability of eyewitness testimony, fingerprint evidence, and even DNA…
Issues
New Voices
,Mar 27, 2014
NEW VOICES: Former New Hampshire Justices Support Death Penalty Repeal
Two former justices of the New Hampshire Supreme Court recently voiced their support for repealing the death penalty. In an op-ed, Joseph Nadeau (l.) and John Broderick (r.) emphasized the death penalty’s lack of deterrent effect, saying,“New Hampshire has not executed anyone for three quarters of a century. Yet, it registered the second lowest murder rate in the nation every year of this century.” Murder rates were higher in heavy-use death penalty…
Issues
New Voices
,Jan 28, 2013
NEW VOICES: Ohio Supreme Court Justice Calls Death Penalty Unconstitutional
Ohio Supreme Court Justice William O’Neill recently voted to strike down the death penalty, when he dissented in an order setting an execution date for Jeffrey Wogenstahl. Justice O’Neill wrote,“I would hold that capital punishment violates the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States and Article I, Section 9 of the Ohio Constitution. The death penalty is inherently both cruel and unusual and therefore is unconstitutional. Capital…
Issues
New Voices
,Dec 17, 2008
NEW VOICES: Mississippi Supreme Court Justice Says Death Penalty Unconstitutional
The Presiding Justice of the Mississippi Supreme Court, Oliver Diaz, dissented in a recent capital case, Doss v. Mississippi, stating he had come to the conclusion that the death penalty is…
Issues
New Voices
,Nov 10, 2008
COSTS: Utah Supreme Court Says Death Sentences Will Be Reversed Unless Legislature Provides for Adequate Counsel
Utah’s Supreme Court recently expressed concern that the lack of qualified defense attorneys for indigent death row inmates could unravel capital sentences. In a unanimous decision in the case of death row inmate Michael Archuleta, Associate Chief Justice Michael Wilkins (pictured) said the court might be forced to reverse capital sentences because the low pay and the complexity of such cases have shrunk the pool of Utah attorneys who…
Research
New Voices
,Jul 03, 2008
NEW VOICES: Former FL Supreme Court Judge Says Capital Punishment System is Broken
Gerald Kogan, former Chief Justice of the Florida Supreme Court, who has also served as a prosecutor, defense attorney, and trial judge, recently expressed concerns about Florida’s death penalty system.“Florida’s system of capital punishment is broken,” he wrote in the St. Petersburg Times.“Florida’s justice system fails on many fronts.” He pointed out that“Florida has become the holder of a dubious distinction: more individuals convicted of murder (22) have…
Issues
New Voices
,May 20, 2008
NEW VOICES: Former New Jersey Supreme Court Justices Discuss the Failure of the Death Penalty Law
Former members of the New Jersey Supreme Court recently shared their insights on the death penalty at a symposium sponsored by Seton Hall and Fordham law schools, and by the the New York City and New Jersey State Bar associations. Five former members of the Court, including two chief justices, reviewed the 25 years of capital punishment in New Jersey before 2007’s repeal of the death penalty. Their conclusions echoed the opinion of Justice Barry Albin in…
Issues
New Voices
,Federal Death Penalty
,Mar 03, 2008
NEW VOICES: Federal Judge Says Seeking Death Sentence not Worth the Costs
Federal District Court Judge Jack B. Weinstein said recently that seeking the death penalty against Humberto Pepin Taveras in New York is not worth the effort of prosecutors or taxpayers’ money.“Based on the history of cases tried in metropolitan New York, the chance of Pepin receiving the death penalty is virtually nil,” Weinstein said. The case against Taveras, who confessed to murdering two drug traffickers in the 1990s while already serving more than 12 years…
Issues
New Voices
,Mar 03, 2008
NEW VOICES: California Judge Says Death Penalty is “Waste of Taxpayers’ Money”
During his 15-year tenure on the court, Orange County Superior Court Judge Donald McCartin sentenced nine men to death. Now retired, Judge McCartin no longer believes in the death penalty.“It’s a waste of time and taxpayers’ money,” Judge McCartin said.“It cost 10 times more to kill these guys than to keep them alive in prison. It’s absurd. And imagine the poor victims’ families having to go through this again and again.” All but one of the nine men Judge McCartin sentenced to…
Issues
Victims' Families
,New Voices
,Jan 29, 2008
NEW VOICES: Judge Calls Death Penalty “an outrageous way to penalize victims”
Maryland Judge Joseph P. Manck sought to lessen the pain and frustration to the victims’ family by sentencing a defendant to life in prison without the possibility of parole instead of the death penalty. In choosing a life sentence for Brandon Morris for the murder of correctional officer Jeffrey Wroten, Judge Manck noted that appeals in death penalty cases can stretch on for years. He cited one case that has been going on for 25 years and said that…
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…
Issues
New Voices
,Aug 30, 2007
NEW VOICES: Federal Judge Calls for Vast Improvements in Representation to Fix California’s Broken System
Arthur L. Alarcon, a senior judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit in Los Angeles, sharply criticized California’s death penalty system and chided lawmakers for failing to provide adequate representation and funding for capital cases. Judge Alarcon, a death penalty supporter, wrote an article in the Southern California Law Review entitled “Remedies for California’s Death Row Deadlock” warning that failure to address…
Issues
New Voices
,Jul 27, 2007
NEW VOICES: Federal Judge Calls the Death Penalty Arbitrary, Biased and Fundamentally Flawed
Judge Boyce F. Martin, Jr. (pictured) of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit called the death penalty“arbitrary, biased, and so fundamentally flawed at its very core that it is beyond repair.” Judge Martin dissented in the case of Getsy v. Mitchell and said it made no sense that Jason Getsy received a death sentence for his role in a murder-for-hire conspiracy, while the other two triggermen and the mastermind of the crime, all escaped a death sentence. He…
Research
New Voices
,Federal Death Penalty
,May 08, 2007
NEW VOICES: Federal Judge Advises Justice Department to Rethink Death Case
U.S. District Judge S. James Otero recently halted the penalty phase of a federal capital case in Los Angeles and told prosecutors that he believes the U.S. Justice Department should reconsider its decision to seek the death penalty for Petro“Peter” Krylov. Krylov is facing the death penalty for his role in a kidnapping and murder plot. Otero, the second federal judge this year to urge federal prosecutors and the Justice Department to rethink their decision to…
Research
New Voices
,Federal Death Penalty
,Jan 30, 2007
NEW VOICES: Federal Judge Says New York Case is “Absurd” Waste of Time and Money
U.S. District Judge Frederick Block recently told federal prosecutors that pursuing a death sentence for Kenneth McGriff would be an“absurd” waste of time and money. According to a court transcript, while jurors were on a break during closing arguments of the guilt phase of McGriff’s trial, Block advised prosecutors to contact their supervisors in Washington, DC, and ask them to reconsider their decision to seek the death penalty if McGriff is convicted in…
Issues
New Voices
,Jan 17, 2007
NEW VOICES: Former N. J. Supreme Court Justice Urges State to Face Reality on the Death Penalty
In an opinion piece in the New York Times, former New Jersey Supreme Court Justice Peter G. Verniero (pictured) said that the state should replace its flawed death penalty with the sentence of life without parole. Verniero is a former supporter of the death penalty, but now believes that the current statute is“ineffective,”“consumes enormous energy and resources,” and the state“lacks the collective will to carry out capital…
Issues
New Voices
,Nov 01, 2006
NEW VOICES: Ohio Supreme Court Justice Says Mentally Ill Should be Exempt from Death Penalty
Justice Evelyn Lundberg Stratton of the Ohio Supreme Court called upon the legislature to exempt defendants with serious mental illness from the death penalty. Judge Stratton concurred in the affirmance of the death sentence for Donald Ketterer. She noted that she was not questioning Ketterer’s guilt, nor whether he was competent to stand trial, nor even his possible mental retardation, all of which are covered by other aspects of the law. Rather the judge said she was…
Issues
New Voices
,Oct 23, 2006
NEW VOICES: Federal Appeals Court Judge of the Fifth Circuit Expresses Legal and Moral Problems with the Death Penalty
Judge Carolyn Dineen King of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit was the main speaker at the“Red Mass” on October 4 at the Catholic cathedral in Corpus Christi, Texas. The Red Mass is an annual liturgy held for members of the legal profession near the beginning of the judicial term. Its traditions extend back to 13th century Europe. Judge King spoke about the death penalty, both from her perspective as a judge and as a Catholic. In both areas, she raised strong…
Research
New Voices
,Oct 17, 2006
NEW VOICES: Chief Judge of the Fourth Circuit Ponders Worth of the Death Penalty
In a recent speech to law students from Furman University, William W. Wilkins, the Chief Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, expressed doubts about the value of the death penalty given its high costs and probable lack of deterrence. He also noted that the existence of the death penalty in the U.S. makes it very difficult to extradite suspects from foreign countries who oppose capital punishment.With respect to the extra costs…
Issues
New Voices
,May 03, 2006
NEW VOICES: California Chief Justice Calls Death Penalty “Dysfunctional”
Ronald George (pictured), Chief Justice of the California Supreme Court, recently called the state’s death penalty“dysfunctional” and criticized state lawmakers for their unwillingness to adequately fund the state’s capital punishment system. The Justice noted that this refusal has been“a disservice to the administration of justice.” George added,“I think that there are many, many things in the eyes of legislators that have greater priority. That’s the…
Issues
New Voices
,Apr 03, 2006
Washington Supreme Court Closely Divided on Rationality of State’s Death Penalty
The Washington State Supreme Court recently came within one vote of effectively abolishing the state’s death penalty when it ruled in the case of death row inmate Dayva Cross. Cross is on death row for the murder of his wife and her two teenage daughters. Attorneys for Cross had argued that their client should not be executed because killers who had committed worse crimes had been spared the death penalty. The 2003 case of Green River Killer Gary Ridgway, who received a life…
Research
New Voices
,Jan 31, 2006
NEW VOICES: California Judge Seeks Clemency for Man He Sentenced to Death
More than two decades after Ventura County Superior Court Judge Charles R. McGrath condemned Michael Morales to die, McGrath is asking California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to grant clemency because the conviction was likely based on false testimony from a jailhouse informant. Morales is scheduled to be executed on February 21. McGrath’s letter was included in a clemency petition filed by Morales’ attorneys, David Senior and Kenneth W. Starr, dean of Pepperdine Law…
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…
Issues
Victims' Families
,New Voices
,Jan 03, 2005
NEW VOICES: Federal Judge Discusses His Concerns About the Death Penalty
In an interview with The New York Times, Judge Jed S. Rakoff (pictured) discussed his reasons for finding the federal death penalty to be unconstitutional. Judge Rakoff ruled in April 2002 that the death penalty failed to secure due process because of the demonstrated risk of executing an innocent person. He noted that his conclusions on capital punishment were based in part on his extensive review of cases included on the Death Penalty Information…
Nov 29, 2004
NEW VOICES: Former FBI Chief and Texas Judge Call for Halt to Texas Executions
William S. Sessions, who served as director of the FBI from 1987 to 1993, and Charles F. Baird, a former Texas Court of Criminal Appeals Judge from 1990 to 1998, have called for a halt to executions in Texas because of the risk of executing an innocent person. Sessions and Baird, both of whom are native Texans, cited the problems at the Houston Crime Lab as a principal reason for their doubts about the reliability of the death penalty system: Since November…
Nov 17, 2004
NEW VOICES: Former Missouri Chief Justice Reiterates His Concerns about Capital Punishment
Former Missouri Supreme Court Chief Justice Charles Blackmar recently reiterated his opposition to the death penalty and his concerns about wrongful convictions, noting that the exoneration of Missouri death row inmate Joseph Amrine“makes me wonder how many people there are who were wrongfully convicted.” Amrine spent 26 years in prison, 17 of them on death row, before his conviction was overturned and he was released in July 2003. “The lesson is that…
Oct 27, 2004
NEW VOICES: Texas Judge Calls for Halt to Executions
Judge Tom Price, a 30-year veteran Republican jurist on Texas’s highest criminal court, recently stated that those on the state’s death row convicted with evidence from the Houston Police Department crime lab should not be executed until questions about its work are resolved. Price called for a limited moratorium on executions, saying,“I think it would be prudent to delay further executions until we have had a chance to have this evidence independently…
Feb 24, 2004
NEW VOICES: Kansas Supreme Court Justice Reflects: “Do I Have It Right?”
In a report filed by the Kansas Judicial Council Death Penalty Advisory Committee, retired Kansas Supreme Court Justice Fred N. Six noted that capital punishment cases pose immense burdens on…
Nov 10, 2003
NEW VOICES: Washington Judge States Death Penalty “No Longer Has Validity”
In a Seattle Times op-ed reflecting on the plea agreement for serial killer Gary Ridgway resulting in a life without parole sentence (read more), Washington State Superior Court Judge David A. Nichols stated that the“death penalty as a response to any criminal behavior no longer has validity and should be repealed, because it is impossible to administer with justice and fairness.” He…
Jul 18, 2003
NEW VOICES: Former Missouri Supreme Court Judge Decries Death Penalty
Charles B. Blackmar, senior judge of Missouri’s Supreme Court from 1982 – 1992, recently called for consideration of abolishing the death penalty. In a letter to the editor that appeared in the Kansas City Star,…
Jun 26, 2003
NEW VOICES: Akron Beacon Journal Calls for Death Penalty Review in Ohio
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…