Death Penalty

N.J. Governor Signs Law Repealing Death Penalty

New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine heralded the end of “state-endorsed killing” as he signed a law today repealing the death penalty in the state. At the same time, the governor commuted the sentence for eight death-row inmates to life in prison without parole, the New York Times reports. Corzine gave…

Dec 17, 2007 6:15 PM CST

N.J. First State to Abolish Death Penalty by Legislative Vote

As expected, the New Jersey General Assembly has passed a bill eliminating the death penalty in the state. Gov. Jon Corzine has agreed to sign the measure into law within the next week, the New York Times reports. When he acts, New Jersey will become the first state to abolish…

Dec 14, 2007 6:55 PM CST

Conn. Death Penalty Hearing Held in Prison Gym

Security concerns forced a Connecticut judge considering the constitutionality of the state’s death penalty to hold the hearing in a prison gymnasium. “Judge Stanley T. Fuger Jr. of superior court usually presides over his cases in a courthouse,” the New York Times writes. “But with seven of the nine residents…

Dec 14, 2007 4:28 PM CST

Cert ‘Very Likely’ in Child Rape Death Penalty Case, Blog Says

U.S. Supreme Court practitioner Thomas Goldstein says the U.S. Supreme Court is “very likely” to grant cert in a case that asks whether it is constitutional to impose the death penalty for the rape of a child. The lawyer makes his prediction about the Eighth Amendment case, Kennedy v. Louisiana,…

Dec 14, 2007 1:40 PM CST

N.J. Lawmakers Nix Death Penalty

New Jersey is on the verge of becoming the first state in the country to repeal the death penalty by a legislative vote. The toughest hurdle, a state senate vote, was cleared yesterday, and both the state house and New Jersey’s governor are expected to approve putting an end to…

Dec 11, 2007 12:47 AM CST

25th Birthday for Lethal Injections

Exactly 25 years ago today, strapped to a gurney in a Texas death chamber, 40-year-old Charlie Brooks Jr. became the first person in the U.S. to be executed by lethal injection. Since then, the method has been adopted by many states throughout the country, which considered it a humane alternative…

Dec 7, 2007 11:20 PM CST

Deference to Trial Judge Debated in Jury Bias Case

A case concerning the exclusion of black jurors in a criminal case was back before the U.S. Supreme Court for oral arguments yesterday. Death-row inmate Allen Snyder is challenging the prosecutor’s use of challenges to excuse blacks from the jury panel and also his remarks, made during arguments in the…

Dec 5, 2007 2:05 PM CST

Court Rejects Capital Appeal Claiming Mentally Ill Lawyer

The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to hear the case of a Mississippi death row inmate whose lawyer suffered from mental illness and had never tried a capital case. Inmate Quintez Hodges presented evidence that his lead trial lawyer was committed to a mental hospital by his parents about a…

Dec 3, 2007 4:39 PM CST

Supreme Court Rejects DNA Quest By Death-Row Inmate

The U.S. Supreme Court has refused to hear the case of an Alabama death-row inmate seeking to establish his innocence through DNA testing. Thomas Arthur is seeking to test key evidence in the case, the Associated Press reports. The Atlanta-based 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had affirmed dismissal of…

Nov 26, 2007 4:31 PM CST

N.J. Lawmakers Consider Abolishing Death Penalty

A bill to abolish the death penalty in New Jersey is on a fast track for a vote by the end of the year. The bill is likely to pass in the assembly but faces a more uncertain future in the senate, the New York Times reports. Gov. Jon Corzine…

Nov 19, 2007 7:41 PM CST

One Execution Deters Three to 18 Murders, Studies Say

About a dozen recent studies by economists conclude that the death penalty deters murders. The studies have found that for each person who is executed, three to 18 murders are prevented, the New York Times reports. Gary Becker, who won the Nobel Prize for economics in 1992, told the Times…

Nov 19, 2007 2:43 PM CST

Barred Death Penalty Doc Works on U.S. Execution Team

A physician barred from participating in lethal injections in Missouri is on the federal government’s execution team in Indiana. Details in court documents filed in a death penalty appeal make clear that Dr. Alan Doerhoff works on the team, even though his name had been blacked out, the St. Louis…

Nov 16, 2007 2:46 PM CST

Supreme Court Blocks Fla. Execution; 11th Circuit Didn’t Act

Updated: The U.S. Supreme Court has blocked the Florida execution of child killer Mark Dean Schwab, the Associated Press reports. The move was widely expected. Earlier today a federal appeals court had refused to halt the execution, saying the U.S. Supreme Court can issue an injunction if it sees fit.…

Nov 15, 2007 7:02 PM CST

Defense Lawyers Fear Retreat on Ineffective Assistance Standards

Criminal defense lawyers fear the U.S. Supreme Court will use a recently granted case to further retreat from standards requiring effective assistance of counsel. The standards set in the 1984 case Strickland v. Washington required a defendant alleging ineffective assistance to prove his lawyer’s conduct fell below “an objective standard…

Nov 14, 2007 1:15 PM CST

4 Pakistan Activists Charged With Treason; Will Lawyers Be Next?

Four Pakistani men were charged today with treason for making anti-government speeches in the city of Karachi. If convicted, the three politicians and a union leader potentially face the death penalty, reports the London Times. Although these are the first reported treason charges amidst ongoing attorney-led demonstrations focused on the…

Nov 8, 2007 4:47 PM CST