Coverage of the Texas Forensics Committee handling the Cameron Todd Willingham case:

Nov 12: Sam Bassett, former head of the Texas Forensics Committee, says the recent overhaul of the committee may delay the review of Willingham’s case by two years or more.
The Dallas Morning News.

Nov 11: Statement by Sam Bassett, former head of the Texas Forensics Committee, and response by current head, former prosecutor John Bradley.
The Dallas Morning News.

Nov 10: Texas Forensics Committee chair John Bradley believes the forensics commission needs to develop rules and procedures for fair hearings. Bradley further states that he fully intends to proceed with the Willingham investigation.
Texas Tribune.
Houston Chronicle.

Nov 13: According to documents filed in federal court this morning, Ohio will switch to a one-drug lethal injection. A muscle injection will also be available as a backup. The major overhaul of lethal injection procedures come as a result of the botched execution attempt of Romell Brown on Sept 15th.
Columbus Dispatch.
More coverage here.

Nov 11: The Georgia Supreme Court heard arguments in the case of Jamie Ryan Weis. Weis has been in jail nearly four years waiting to be tried on capital murder charges. Weis cannot pay for his defense, and the state public defender system has not been able to provide Weis with lawyers for more than two years due to financial problems.
Atlanta Journal Constitution.

Nov 11: The US Supreme Court reinstated the death sentence of Robert Van Hook. The opinion stated that the 6th Circuit panel had improperly relied on ABA guidelines announced 18 years after Van Hook went to trial.
WKRC Cincinnati.
The opinion.
More discussion. National Law Journal.

Nov 10: The US Supreme Court denied a stay of execution to D.C. sniper John Allen Muhammad. In a separate statement, Justice Stevens, joined by Justices Ginsberg and Sotomayor, criticized the state for not giving the court as much time to review the matter. Justice Stevens wrote that in denying the stay, “we have allowed Virginia to truncate our deliberative process on a matter -- involving a death-row inmate -- that demands the most careful attention.”
Washington Times.

Nov 8: Three Texas men are suing for damages after being wrongfully accused as a result of scent lineups. Two of the men had faced capital murder charges. Fort Bend County Keith Pikett claims his dogs are almost never wrong and have made determinations in thousands of cases. Scent lineups have been used extensively to convict defendants in Texas, although the Innocence Project of Texas claims the practice of using dogs is “unreliable” and “junk science.”
Houston Chronicle.
New York Times.

Nov 7: Two articles discuss Kentucky’s troubled death penalty system, pointing to long delays and huge expenses as major problems.
“Cases languish for decades.” Courier Journal.
“Killer’s appeals drag on 29 years.” Courier Journal.

Nov 5: Georgia House Representative Hank Johnson (D) introduced the Effective Death Penalty Appeals Act. This legislation would end rules that prevent death row inmates from presenting newly discovered evidence.
AFP via Google News.
Text of H.R. 3986

Nov 4: In the second week of the 2010 legislative session, Kansas lawmakers will consider a proposal to abolish the death penalty. State Senator Thomas Owens, R-Overland Park, and chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said hearings on the proposal will start January 19.
Lawrence Journal World.

Nov 4: Two Republican New Hampshire lawmakers, Rep. William O'Brien and Rep. Robert Mead, want to introduce a bill that would expand NH’s death penalty statute to include murders during home invasion.
Union Leader.

Oct 30: Eric Rogers, the son of a couple murdered in El Cerrito asked the jury not to give his uncle, the convicted murderer of his parents, the death penalty. Rogers testified that his uncle is “mentally childish and immature for [his] age.”
San Francisco Chronicle.

Oct 29: The Mississippi Supreme Court is troubled by delays in capital cases. To address the problems, Chief Justice Bill Waller Jr. stated that the Court has "undertaken a systematic review of all pending post-conviction death penalty cases and has sought information on the status of cases for which there appears to be a lack of activity."
Clarion Ledger.

Oct 28: Travis County, Texas prosecutors have dropped all charges against Robert Springsteen, who was sentenced to death for murdering four teens in a yogurt shop in 1991. Mr. Springsteen is now the 139th person to be exonerated since 1973.
News 8 Austin.
Death Penalty Information Center’s Innocence List.

Oct 28: The United States and the European Union have negotiated a treaty concerning international extradition. The treaty protects European nationals from extradition to the U.S. in capital cases.
Death Penalty Focus.
The official agreement.

Oct 26: The American Law Institute (ALI) has voted to repeal the capital punishment section of its Model Penal Code, citing the “current intractable institutional and structural obstacles to ensuring a minimally adequate system for administering capital punishment.”
The ALI report on capital punishment (co-authored by ABA Death Penalty Moratorium Implementation Project Steering Committee member Jordan Steiker) is here.

Oct 30: Continuing coverage of the Cameron Todd Willingham case:

The Houston Chronicle and Hearst Newspaper LLC are suing Texas Governor Rick Perry, seeking to release a clemency report Perry received before he denied a stay for Mr. Willingham. Perry’s office claims the document is privileged, while Heart LLC’s attorneys call for greater transparency into the capital punishment process.
Houston Chronicle.

In response to former Texas governor Mark White’s call for Texas to reconsider its stance on capital punishment, current gubernatorial candidates all express support for the death penalty, while expressing great concerns over the possibility of wrongful executions.
Dallas Morning News.
Star Telegram.

Republican gubernatorial candidate Debra Medina’s op-ed on Gov. Perry’s handling of the Willingham case in the Houston Chronicle.

Oct 29: The Florida Supreme Court has revised the standard jury instructions in capital cases, based in substantial part on the recommendations contained in the ABA Moratorium Project's 2006 report on capital punishment in Florida.
The Florida Supreme Court's opinion is available here.
The ABA Florida Report on the Death Penalty is available here.
See also this story.

Oct 29: The House of Representatives Judicial Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security is meeting today to discuss racial disparities in the criminal justice system.
Official hearing page.

Oct 29: Former scientist and current LAPD Detective Sunil Dutta calls for police departments across the country to establish standardized tough, scientifically accurate procedures for evidence collection and analysis.
Christian Science Monitor.

Oct 28: Virginia Sloan, Constitution Project President and ABA Death Penalty Moratorium Implementation Project Steering Committee member, discusses the problems of Ohio’s current death penalty protocol.
Jurist.

Oct 26: Doctors in Ohio are unwilling to help develop lethal injection protocol because of ethical and professional issues.
Columbus Dispatch.

Oct 26: As DNA exonerations accumulate across the country, jurisdictions face questions about how to deal with prosecutorial misconduct ranging from incompetence to illegally withholding exculpatory evidence.
Reason.

Oct 25: Jurors in capital cases sometimes defy expectations by holding their vote for life without parole in the face of a strong majority voting for the death penalty.
Chicago Tribune.

Oct 23:  Continuing coverage of the Cameron Todd Willingham case:
More than 400 Texans urge the Texas Forensic Science Committee to continue its work on the Willingham case.
Texas Governor Rick Perry defends Texas’ death penalty and process. 
Dallas Morning News.
Statesman.
Anderson Cooper 360 coverage and with video.
Hardball with Chris Matthews coverage and with video.
The Rachel Maddow Show coverage and with video.

Oct 22:  New Hampshire has begun its new death penalty study, trying to determine whether the Legislature should expand, reduce, or eliminate the death penalty.  The commission will meet monthly, hear testimony from interested parties, and will give their report to the NH Legislature by Dec 2010.
Concord Monitor. 

Oct 20: Ohio’s de facto moratorium continues, with federal judge Gregory Frost indefinitely delaying the December 8 execution of Kenneth Biros.  Judge Frost has also indefinitely delayed the second attempt to execute Romell Broom, whose first failed execution attempt caused the de facto moratorium.
New York Times. 

Oct 20: A Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC) report released today concludes that states are wasting hundreds of millions of dollars on the death penalty, draining state budgets, and diverting funds from more effective anti-violence programs.
The full report is available here. 

Oct 18:  Former Texas Governor Mark White says that the death penalty no longer deters murder.  He is also concerned that the law isn’t administered fairly, and that the risk of putting innocent people to death is too great.
Houston Chronicle. 

Oct 12: Following Ohio’s failed execution attempt on Romell Broom, several other states, including Maryland, are examining their lethal injection protocol.
Washington Post.
Further coverage is available at the Wall Street Journal.
Broom’s affidavit documenting the failed attempt to execute him is available here.

Oct 12: Leaders of a Maryland state review panel found “serious flaws” in proposed regulations drafted by MD Governor Martin O’Malley’s administration. Maryland’s de facto moratorium on executions is thus likely to continue, because the proposed regulations are necessary in order for executions to resume.
Washington Post.

Oct 11: Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. has ordered a review of a Bush administration policy that requires some defendants to waive their right to DNA testing even though that right is guaranteed in a landmark federal law. The waivers, filed only in guilty pleas, bar defendants from ever requesting DNA testing, even if new evidence is found.
Washington Post.

Oct 8: According to a unanimous vote by the Utah Constitutional Revision Commission Utah may be able to limit capital appeals without amending its constitution. The proposed change would allow an exemption for defendants claiming their lawyers provided ineffective assistance.
Salt Lake Tribune.
The proposed change is available on the Utah State Court’s website.

Oct 6: In Oklahoma, Yancy Douglas and Paris Powell were both cleared of murder convictions in a 1993 killing of a 14 year old girl. Douglas and Powell had served 16 years on death row before federal courts found that the state’s only witness against them was unreliable.
News 9 Oklahoma City.
Douglas and Powell are numbers 137 and 138 respectively on DPIC’s Innocence List.

Oct 8:  The Arkansas Supreme Court is hearing arguments on whether Arkansas will be able to resume executing death-row inmates.   The suit was brought by Frank Willians, Jr, a death row inmate, who claims the state’s death penalty protocols were not legally adopted.
WXTV Little Rock Local News.

Oct 7:  After Texas Governor Rick Perry replaced the chair of the Texas Forensic Science Commission, the inquiry into the flawed arson investigation that led to the wrongful execution of Cameron Todd Willingham is on hold, and the panel is not sure when or how the inquiry will move forward. 
Dallas Morning News.

Oct 6:  In light of Romell Broom’s botched execution attempt, Ohio is considering injecting lethal drugs into inmates’ bone marrow or muscles as an alternative for the typical intravenous injection.  No other states have considered injections into bone marrow or muscle, raising new legal questions about this possible method of execution.  Columbus Dispatch.

Oct 5:  Further coverage of the Florida Death Penalty Assessment Team’s report, calling for death penalty reform.
Tampa Tribune.

Oct 5:  Ohio Governor Ted Strickland has put all state executions on hold until at least December, 2009.

Falls News Press. The Governor’s complete statement is available here. 

Oct 2:  The Houston Police Department crime lab scandal first broke in 2002.  This week, city officials acknowledge that nearly 4,000 rape kits and other crime evidnce remain untested for DNA.  There is a backlog of 1,048 active cases in which police investigators have asked for DNA testing.
Houston Chronicle. 

Oct 1:  Texas Governor Rick Perry replaced the chairman and two other members of the state’s Forensic Science Commission two days before the Commission was to hear an arson expert’s report that flawed arson analysis led to the conviction of Cameron Todd Willingham.  Willingham was executed in 2004. Dallas Morning News

More information about the Willingham case is available here.  The New Yorker. 

Sept 29:  The United States Supreme Court’s docket has shrunk by roughly half in the past two decades, raising questions about whether the Court interacts frequently enough with the lower courts.  The New York Times.  

Sept 29:  The Ohio public defender filed motions challenging Ohio’s lethal injection protocol in light of Romell Broom’s failed execution attempt and complications in two other prior executions.  The public defender seeks a stay for Lawrence Reynolds, whose execution is scheduled for October 8th.  Columbus Dispatch. 

Sept 28:  Nebraska released draft rules and regulations for its lethal injection protocol. A public hearing for the rules is set for Nov. 16.  The draft rules, which outline a lethal 3-drug combination, follow a March 2008 ruling from the Nebraska Supreme Court that Nebraska’s previous method of execution, the electric chair, was cruel and unusual punishment.
Omaha World-Herald. 

Sept 25:  Florida’s death penalty system is still fraught with the same problems discovered by the ABA’s Florida Death Penalty Assessment team three years ago. The Florida Times-Union.  For more press coverage of the ABA and FSU retrospective forum on the 2006 ABA Assessment of the Florida death penalty, click here.

Sept 23:  Although New Mexico abolished the death penalty last March, Governor Bill Richardson will not use his pardon power to commute the two remaining NM death row inmates. Santa Fe Reporter.

Sept 23:  The botched execution attempt of Romell Brown in Ohio raises concerns about the constitutionality of Ohio’s lethal injection process.  In an unprecedented move, Governor Ted Strickland granted Broom a one-week stay of execution, which a federal judge extended until after November 30, following a hearing in the U.S. District Court in Columbus.
Associated Press, Columbus Ohio.
Newsweek.

Sept 20:  Without intervention from the Texas Supreme Court or TX Governor Rick Perry, Linda Carty may become the first black British woman executed in a century.  The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals denied Carty’s appeal, despite evidence that Carty’s court-appointed attorney provided sub-standard legal representation.
The Guardian.

Sept 19:  Keiko Chiba is the new Minister of Justice in Japan.  She is an outspoken opponent of Japan’s controversial system of secret executions.  Chiba has a 20-year record of active death penalty abolitionism; hangings are now on hold after surging in the past three years.
The Times.

 Sept 24:  Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner calls for a moratorium of executions in Ohio following the botched execution attempt of Romell Broom.  Brunner discusses the ABA Death Penalty Moratorium Implementation Project’s 2007 study of the Ohio death penalty system, in which OH was fully compliant with only four of the ABA’s 93 recommendations. 
The Huffington Post.

Sept. 16:  The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals upheld the death sentence of Charles Dean Hood despite newly discovered evidence that the prosecuting attorney in the case was having an affair with the presiding judge at the time of Hood’s trial.  Hood’s attorneys obtained the evidence by forcing depositions from the two parties, however they are procedurally barred from bringing the evidence to the Court. 
Three judges dissented.

Sept. 16:  The law firm Holland and Knight is restructuring its pro bono program.  DC-based partner Steve Hanlon, also chair of the ABA Death Penalty Moratorium Implementation Project steering committee, is passing his Holland Knight pro bono leadership position to Jacksonville, FL-based partner Buddy Shulze.  Blog of Legal Times.

Sept. 9:  The Tennessee Bar Association examines problems with the Tennessee death penalty system, citing ABA recommendations made two years ago after a comprehensive study of the death penalty in Tennessee.  The ABA Tennessee Study made 93 recommendations for reform, only seven of which Tennessee was fully in compliance.  Tennessee Bar Association Journal.

Aug. 14:  NYT highlights the rise of fervent dissents by federal appeals court judges on behalf of death-row inmates. New York Times.

Aug. 12: Testimony has begun for Gary Gauger’s malicious prosecution lawsuit against the sheriff’s office of McHenry County, Illinois.  Gauger was convicted and later exonerated of his elderly parents’ 1993 murders.  He claims three sheriff’s investigators maliciously initiated and supported the criminal proceedings against him. Gauger seeks damages for the 3.5 years he served in prison and for post-traumatic stress disorder.
Chicago Daily Herald.

Aug. 11:  Governor Perdue of North Carolina, a proponent of the death penalty, signed the Racial Justice Act into law.  The Racial Justice Act will make NC the second state to allow statistical data on race to play a role in whether a defendant will be sentenced to the death penalty. 
News 14 Carolina.

Aug. 11: In a tie vote (8-8) that keeps in place a lower court's ruling, the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a jury's $14 million judgment against the Orleans Parish district attorney's office for misconduct in the 1985 murder trial of John Thompson.  In 1999, investigators discovered that a prosecutor hid evidence that could have cleared Thompson.  Thompson was later acquitted of the murder charge.
New Orleans Times-Picayune.
The Court’s opinion is available here.

Aug. 7:  The 4th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the death sentence of “Beltway sniper” John Allen Muhammad, despite acknowledging that the Commonwealth had suppressed 30,000 pages of evidence, and could not explain why.  The Court stated “Let it be clear that we by no means condone the actions of the Commonwealth in this case. As a matter of practice, the prosecution should err on the side of disclosure, especially when a defendant is facing the specter of execution.”
Washington Post.
The Court’s opinion is available here.

Aug. 10:  The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals reversed itself in a surprising ruling, reviving a death row inmate’s appeal that was previously denied for being filed a day late.  The Court noted that Texas state prosecutors had misled judges by falsely claiming in that the defense could have filed the appeal electronically.
Houston Chronicle.
The court’s opinion is available here. 

Aug. 4:  New Jersey’s murder rate has dropped 24% in the first six months of 2009 compared to the first six months of 2008.  Governor Corzine abolished the death penalty in 2007; subsequently the murder rate was lower in both 2008 and 2009.  This was the first time the murder rate dropped for two consecutive years since 1999.
More information available here.
Gov. Corzine’s August 4th press release available here.

August 7:  The North Carolina General Assembly approved the state’s first “Racial Justice Act,” which permits those facing a capital trial, and those under a sentence of death, to have their sentences reduced to life without parole if, absent successful rebuttal, the person can prove that race was a “significant factor” in the decision to seek or impose the death penalty.
For a complete history of the bill, visit http://www.ncga.state.nc.us/gascripts/BillLookUp/BillLookUp.pl?Session=2009&BillID=S461
Click here to view the ABA’s policy, adopted in 1988, supporting the elimination of racial bias in capital cases.

Aug. 3:  Texas has adopted its first statewide capital defender office that will handle capital writs. Dallas Morning News.

Aug. 3:  Kenya’s president commuted the death sentences of all 4,000 prisoners on the country’s death row to life; no executions had been carried out for 22 years. Associated Press.

Aug. 3:  Ohio governor Ted Strickland must decide whether to grant clemency for Jason Getsy, who is scheduled to die August 18th.  In a rare move, the Ohio Parole Board recommended clemency for Getsy because the co-defendants in the case, who appeared equally culpable for the crime, did not receive death sentences.  Dayton Daily News.

Aug. 2:  The latest on judicial misconduct charges filed against Texas Criminal Court of Appeals Judge Sharon Keller is available here. Keller’s special trial will re-convene on August 17, where Judge David Berchelmann Jr. of San Antonio, Texas will hear the case.

July 28:  On July 28, Brian Dugan pleaded guilty to the rape and murder of 10-year-old Jeanine Nicarico in Illinois 25 years ago.  Rolando Cruz and Alejandro Hernandez had originally been found guilty and sentenced to death for Nicarico’s death, but were then exonerated in 1995 after the state Supreme Court found that there was no “physical evidence” linking them to the crime.  Dugan had confessed to the crime in 1985 and after DNA evidence linking Dugan to the crime was found in 2002, the investigation resumed.  Dugan faces a sentencing hearing on September 22 where a jury will determine whether Dugan will be sentenced to life in prison or receive a death sentence. Chicago Tribune.

July 27:  A new documentary tells the story of Juan Melendez, the 99th person exonerated in the US since 1976.  He served 18 years on death row.
More information and the trailer is available   here.

July 12:   In Alabama, a Franklin Circuit Court judge prepares to sentence Christie Michelle Scott, highlighting possible discrepancies in how men and women are treated by juries in capital cases.
Times Daily.
More information about national trends involving women and the death penalty is available here.

July 10:  The Florida Supreme Court unanimously ordered that death row inmate Herman Lindsey, who had been on death row since 1994, be set free after ruling that there was insufficient evidence to sustain his conviction.  This brings the total number of individuals exonerated from death row to 135.
Miami Herald.
The court’s opinion is available here.

July 8:  Following a 2002 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that it is unconstitutional to execute a person who is mentally retarded, the Pennsylvania Senate voted 45-2 in approval of a bill that would establish a pretrial process to determine whether a defendant potentially facing the death penalty is mentally retarded; next, the bill will go before the House.
Philadelphia Inquirer.
The proposed legislature is available here.

July 8:  Former death row inmate Ronald Kitchen was set free after serving more than twenty years in prison; Kitchen claimed his confession was coerced, and after re-investigation, prosecutors found insufficient evidence for retrial. Chicago Tribune.

July 5:  ABA President H. Thomas Wells Jr., explores problems in capital cases in his home state of Alabama and discusses recommendations to improve the death penalty system.
Montgomery Advertiser.

July 2:  North Carolina Racial Justice Act was approved 7-6 by the state’s House Judiciary Committee.  The bill would allow death row inmates to appeal their sentences if the inmate can show that his/her race played a significant role in the decision to impose the death penalty. Winston Salem Journal.
A copy of the proposed legislation is available here.

July 2:  Two authors of the California Commission for the Fair Administration of Justice’s study of the state’s death penalty reiterate concerns over broad prosecutorial discretion in capital cases, leading to arbitrary and possibly discriminatory death sentences.  Sacramento Bee.

July 1:  In Texas, two lawsuits challenge accuracy of bloodhound scent line-ups in which both plaintiffs were wrongly identified by bloodhounds and later cleared through DNA evidence. Houston Chronicle.

June 30:  The Missouri Supreme Court takes the unusual step of appointing a special master to investigate claims that death row inmate Reginald Clemons was wrongly convicted; Clemons had been scheduled to die on June 17th.
Kansas City Star.

June 30:  The Supreme Court delayed until September a decision in Georgia death-row inmate Troy Davis’s case, in which Davis has consistently maintained his innocence citing that 7 of 9 trial witnesses have recanted or changed their original testimony. Atlanta Journal Constitution.
ABA President H Thomas Wells Jr.’s statement on Troy Davis’s case available here.

June 30:  The Cook County (Chicago, IL) public defender’s office has exhausted its share of the Capital Litigation Trust Fund, which helps pay for DNA testing, expert witnesses, and other expenses typical to capital cases; the office is now filing motions to remove the death penalty as an option in about 60 murder cases in which is represents the charges defendant.  Chicago Daily Herald.

June 29:  Doubt cast on the accuracy of a Houston crime lab analyst’s testimony leads to the possible release or retrial of death row inmate Charles Raby.  Houston Chronicle.

June 21:  The Virginia State Bar wants to prevent the Virginia state attorney general’s office from distributing warning letters to jurors in capital cases; the letters may discourage jurors from cooperating with a death-row inmate’s defense team during his/her post-conviction investigation. Washington Post.

June 18:  In District Attorney’s Office v. Osborne, a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court holds that the U.S. Constitution does not provide a right to post-conviction DNA testing, regardless of the ability of DNA testing to conclusively confirm or disprove an inmate’s claim actual innocence.
Analysis of the Supreme Court’s decision is here.

May 12 - Tennesseean: State drops all charges against Paul House, a former death row inmate whose original death sentence was overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court after spending 22 years on death row. Click here to read the ABA Report on the Tennessee death penalty, which includes information on House’s inability to obtain relief at the state court.

May 11 - National Law Journal describes effect that new National Academy of Sciences report on several types of forensic evidence has on courtrooms and cases throughout the country.

May 8 - WaPo: Maryland Governor signs new death penalty bill, strictly limiting types of cases in which the State is permitted to seek the death penalty.

May 3 - Dallas Morning-News: Texas State District Judge finds that Charles Dean Hood should receive a new trial due to affair between trial judge and prosecutor prior to Hood’s capital murder trial. Decision available online .

May 2 - Charlotte N&O: North Carolina Supreme Court holds that physicians may participate in executions in the state, thereby removing one major hurdle to continuation of executions in the state. The ruling in N.C. Dept. of Corrections v. N.C. Medical Board is available online.

April 28 - AP: U.S. Supreme Court orders new sentencing hearing for inmate in Tennessee’s death row for 25 years due to prosecution’s withholding of evidence at original trial; inmate also able to overcome stringent federal procedure requirements in order for SCOTUS to grant relief.
Cone v. Bell available online.

April 27 - U.S. Supreme Court hears oral argument in Bobby v. Bies, determining whether the double jeopardy clause would prohibit a state's reexamination of the inmate's alleged mental retardation (and thus exemption from the death penalty under Atkins v. Virginia (2002)), when the state supreme court previously referred to the inmate's "borderline mental retardation." More on Bies available at SCOTUS Blog.

April 26 - Birmingham News: John Carroll, member of the ABA Moratorium Project’s death penalty assessment team in Alabama, expresses continued support for moratorium on executions in that state.

April 26 - Washington Post describes possible implications of new Maryland death penalty law on pending capital cases in the state.

April 21 - Denver Post: Colorado House passes death penalty repeal bill by one vote; bill would redirect project savings from ending death penalty to solving “cold case” murders in the state.

April 17 - Atlanta Constitution-Journal: Federal Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit denies death row inmate Troy Davis’ innocence claim; grants 30-day stay of execution to permit Davis to appeal ruling to US Supreme Court. Ruling available here. On Oct. 24, 2008, ABA President H. Thomas Wells, Jr. issued a statement regarding the Davis case.

April 13 - The Justice Project releases a report on prosecutorial misconduct, describing prosecutorial abuses nationwide and setting forth its policy agenda to remedy the apparent problems.

April 11 - The Death Penalty Information Center ("DPIC") reports that a former death row inmate in Illinois was acquitted at retrial on two capital murder charges, after spending over eleven years on death row. More information is available on the DPIC website.

April 10 - Chicago Tribune: Illinois public defenders want prosecutors barred from seeking the death penalty because the state fund to pay for capital defense has run out of money.

April 9 - The NAACP's Legal Defense Fund released its latest version of Death Row U.S.A., detailing the breakdown of death row populations in the U.S. as of July 1, 2008.

April 1 - U.S. Supreme Court releases opinion in Harbison v. Bell, holding that federal law requires federally appointed defense counsel to be compensated for representation of a death row inmate during state clemency proceedings.

Mar 30 - Helena Independent Record: After passage of a death penalty repeal bill through the Senate, Montana House tables the bill for the legislative session.

Mar 29 - Concord Monitor: New Hampshire House votes to repeal death penalty; legislation faces uncertain future in NH Senate.

Mar 28 - Richmond Times-Dispatch: Virginia Governor Tim Kaine vetoes legislation to expand availability of death penalty.

Mar 26 - WaPo: Maryland General Assembly passes bill to place stringent evidentiary prerequisites on State’s ability to seek the death penalty; Gov. indicates he will sign the legislation. Text of SB 279 is available here. New death penalty law would require conclusive biological and/or videotape evidence linking defendant to murder in order for the State to seek the death penalty in a particular case.

Mar 25 - Austin American Statesman reports that Texas Court of Criminal Appeals Judge Sharon Keller denies allegations of misconduct in refusing to permit last minute filing of death row appeal. Her response is available here.

Mar 22 - Houston Chronicle article describes at least six instances where lawyers in death penalty cases missed federal filing deadlines for their clients’ federal appeals, closing off federal court review and resulting in execution of the inmate.

Mar. 18 - Governor Bill Richardson signs death penalty repeal legislation, replacing capital punishment with life without parole; underdetermined how this legislation will affect the sentences of the two men currently on New Mexico’s death row. Santa Fe New Mexican, CNN, BBC

Mar. 18 - Lincoln Journal-Star: Nebraska legislative committee failed to vote out lethal injection bill to full Legislature, leaving doubt as to whether viable method of execution will be approved this legislative session.

Mar. 12 - Deseret News: Utah House of Delegates rejects proposed constitutional amendment to limit post-conviction review of state inmates.

Mar. 8 - NYT: Texas State Commission on Judicial Conduct charges Texas Court of Criminal Appeals Chief Justice Sharon Keller with incompetence, violating her judicial duties, and bringing discredit upon the judiciary for refusal to permit last minute filing of death row appeal. See also: Dallas News, NYT article on Feb. 20

Mar. 7 - Chicago Tribune reports that death penalty may become casualty of financial crisis in some states.

Feb. 19 - National Academy of Sciences releases findings of two year study calling in to question the merit and reliability of many commonly used forensic methods such as fingerprint, hair, and fiber analysis, blood spatters, ballistics, and arson. Report also describes state of crime laboratories nationwide, indicating grossly underfunded agencies and significant delays in analysis of scientific evidence. Report available here.

Jan. 26 - Law.com: PA Supreme Ct differentiates between “mentally deficient” and “mentally retarded” capital defendants, permitting execution of the mentally deficient. Majority opinion, Concurring and dissenting opinion

Jan. 19 - BBC: International Court of Justice rules that U.S. violated international treaty in execution of Jose Medellin in Texas.