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National News Archive from 2007
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of National News
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excerpts from the years 2000 | 2001 | 2002
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- GA: Georgia Supreme Court to Consider
New Trial for Troy Davis
Less than a month after the Georgia Board
of Pardons and Paroles temporarily halted
the July 17 execution of Troy Davis based
on concerns about his possible innocence,
the Georgia Supreme Court has agreed to
consider Davis's appeal. (8/13/07, DPIC Update)
- GA:
Questions of Davis' Innocence Remain
After less than one hour of deliberation,
the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles
granted Troy Anthony Davis a 90-day stay
of execution. The stay means Davis'
execution will be on hold while the board
weighs the evidence presented as part
of his request for clemency. ... Concerns
about the impact of the Anti-Terrorism
and Effective Death Penalty Act governing
federal review and growing uncertainties
about Davis' guilt led retired FBI
Director William Sessions to write an
op-ed about the case for the Atlanta
Journal-Constitution. In the piece, Sessions
noted, "It would be intolerable
to execute an innocent man. It would
be equally intolerable to execute a man
without his claims of innocence ever
being considered by the courts or by
the executive." (7/23/07, DPIC Update)
- GA:
Georgia Man Faces July Execution Despite
Doubts About His Guilt
Despite serious
doubts that he murdered off-duty police
officer Mark Allen MacPhail in 1989,
Troy Davis is facing execution in Georgia
on July 17. Davis was convicted mainly
on the basis of eyewitness testimony.
Since then, seven of the nine key witnesses
against him have recanted or changed
their statements. (7/9/07, DPIC Update)
- MD:
Poll Reveals Marylanders Prefer Life
Without Parole Over Death Penalty
Washington Post opinion poll: 52% said
they favored life without parole and
43% supported capital punishment. Among
black respondents, support for life without
parole was even stronger, with 65% responding
that they preferred the sentence of life
in prison and only 29% choosing the death
penalty. (11/5/07, DPIC Update)
- NJ:
New Jersey Bans Death Penalty
TRENTON, N.J. -- Gov. Jon S. Corzine
signed into law Monday a measure that
abolishes the death penalty, making New
Jersey the first state in more than four
decades to reject capital punishment.
The bill, approved last
week by the state's Assembly and Senate,
replaces the death sentence with life
in prison without parole. "This
is a day of progress for us and for the
millions of people across our nation
and around the globe who reject the death
penalty as a moral or practical response
to the grievous, even heinous, crime
of murder," Corzine said. ... The
state's move is being hailed across the
world as a historic victory against capital
punishment. Rome plans to shine golden
light on the Colosseum in support. Once
the arena for deadly gladiator combat
and executions, the Colosseum is now
a symbol of the fight against the death
penalty. "The rest of America, and
for that matter the entire world, is
watching what we are doing here today," said
Assemblyman Wilfredo Caraballo, a Democrat. "New
Jersey is setting a precedent that I'm
confident other states will follow." (12/17/07,
The Denver Post)
- NY:
Closing of the Capital Defender Office
Will Save Millions as State's Death Penalty
Ends
At one time the Capital Defender Office
had more than 70 staffers and an annual
budget of $14 million. Now it has a $1.3
million budget and six people on staff. (11/5/07, DPIC Update)
- TN:
Judge Declares TN Lethal Injections Unconstitutional,
Halts Executions
U.S. District Judge
Aleta Trauger has ruled that Tennessee's
new lethal injection procedures are
cruel and unusual, a decision that
halts executions in the state. Trauger
stated that Tennessee's new lethal injection
protocols, released in April 2007, present "a
substantial risk of unnecessary pain" and
violate death row inmate Edward Jerome
Harbison's constitutional protections
under the Eighth Amendment. She added
that the protocols do not adequately
ensure that inmates are properly anesthetized
during lethal injections, a problem that
could "result in a terrifying, excruciating
death." (9/24/07, DPIC Update)
- TX:
Attorneys'
Organization Files Judicial Conduct
Complaint Against 9-5 Texas Appeals
Judge
The National Association of Criminal
Defense Lawyers (NACDL) has filed a judicial
complaint against the Presiding Judge
of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals,
Sharon Keller, the first time the group
says it has ever filed a complaint against
a judge. NACDL has asked the Texas Commission
on Judicial Conduct to review Judge Keller's decision
to turn away the last appeal of a
death row inmate because the rushed filing
was submitted past the court's 5 p.m.
closing time. Attorneys for Michael Richard,
who was executed on the same day the
U.S. Supreme Court announced it would
review the constitutionality of lethal
injection practices, said they were experiencing
computer problems as they prepared their
client's lethal injection-based appeal
just hours before Richard's execution.
(11/5/07, DPIC Update)
- TX:
Judge's Decison To Close On Time Leads
to Immediate Execution
Four words - "We close at 5" -
enforced by Texas judge Sharon Keller
led to the almost immediate execution
of convicted murderer Michael Richard.
Three hours after Keller refused to keep
her courthouse open past closing time
to receive the condemned killer's request
to stay his execution, Richard was executed. "If
Sharon Keller had not slammed the door,
Mr. Richard would still be alive," said
Jim C. Harrington, director of Texas
Defender Service . Richard's attorney's
computer broke down, and when they called
the courthouse asking for a little more
time, just 20 minutes more, Judge Keller
ordered the court clerk not to wait for
the appeal that could have at least temporarily
stopped his execution. (10/13/07,
ABC News.com)
- TX: Governor Commutes Death Sentence
of Getaway Driver
For the first time during his tenure, Texas
Gov. Rick Perry commuted the death sentence
of a condemned inmate, Kenneth Foster,
who was scheduled to die Thursday night
for driving his friends from the scene
of a fatal robbery in 1996. The rare reprieve
for Foster, 30, halted what was to be the
third execution this week in Texas. (8/30/07,
CourtTVnews.com)
- TX:
Innocent Man Set for August Execution
Under Cruel Texas Law
Kenneth Foster faces death for a crime
he didn't commit because of a twist of Texas
law that enables a jury to sentence
someone to death even if he or she had
no proven role in a murder. (8/14/07,
AlterNet)
- TX:
Medical Examiner Disavows Condemned Babysitter
Testimony
Just weeks before Texas
is scheduled to execute Cathy Henderson
(pictured) for the murder of a child
that she was babysitting, the medical
examiner whose testimony helped send
her to death row has said he no longer
stands by his original opinion that
the child's death resulted from an
intentional act on Henderson's part.
(6/11/07, DPIC Update)
- TX:
Prepares to Execute Babysitter
Cathy Henderson insists Brandon died
in an accidental fall and that her decision
to bury him and flee was made in panic,
not in cold blood. ... "Even
though I reacted abnormally, that doesn't
make me a bad person," she said,
crying. "I just didn't want to face
what happened. I felt responsible. I
took a life. That is very hard to deal
with, especially a child." (5/27/07,
CNN.com)
- TX:
Babysitter Scheduled for April 18 Execution
Henderson said that she is sorry for
Brandon's death and that she feels regret
every day for the pain she caused his
family. She notes, "I wish there
was something I could do to comfort them,
and if it's going to comfort them to
end my life for an accident, I hope this
gives them comfort." (3/19/07, DPIC Update)
- USA: Flaws in Recent Deterrence Studies
In
a recent article in the Ohio State Journal
of Criminal Law, Dr. Jeffrey Fagan of Columbia
University describes numerous serious errors
in recent deterrence studies, including
improper statistical analyses and missing
data and variables that are necessary to
give a full picture of the criminal justice
system. Fagan writes, "There is no
reliable, scientifically sound evidence
that [shows that executions] can exert
a deterrent effect…. These flaws
and omissions in a body of scientific evidence
render it unreliable as a basis for law
or policy that generate life-and-death
decisions. To accept it uncritically invites
errors that have the most severe human
costs." (12/3/07, DPIC Update)
- USA:
Growing Costs Bring Some Capital Cases
to a Halt
With recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions
underscoring the importance of defense counsel
performance during capital trials, judges
across the nation are struggling to balance
the high costs of capital cases with the
need for adequate representation. (11/12/07, DPIC Update)
- USA:
Lawyers Group Moves to Kill Death Penalty
"We just do not have confidence
in the capital justice system after studying
it," Stephen Hanlon, chairman of
the ABA's Death Penalty Moratorium Project,
told ABC News. "Capital defense
systems are being underfunded, and unqualified
and underresourced lawyers are defending
death row inmates." "In determining
who gets the death penalty," Hanlon
added, "all too frequently, it seems
to be not the person who has committed
the worst crime, but the person who has
the worst lawyer." ... "There
are problems in
every jurisdiction that has capital punishment," said
Sloan, who also works as a member of
the Death Penalty Moratorium Project's
steering committee. "The process
is broken, and unless there are adequate
protections, there should be a moratorium
on capital punishment." (10/28/07,
ABC News)
- USA: Lethal Injection Controversy Rises
to National Importance with Stays of Execution
With the stays of execution in Virginia on
October 17 and in Georgia on October 18,
it appears likely that no more lethal injections
will take place in this country until the
U.S. Supreme Court renders a decision in
Baze v. Rees, a case challenging the lethal
injection process in Kentucky. Christopher
Emmett in Virginia was granted a stay by
the U.S. Supreme Court just hours before
his execution. Jack Alderman's lethal injection
was stayed by the Georgia Supreme Court a
day before it was to occur. Stays have also
been granted in numerous other states by
other federal courts, by state courts, and
by governors. The Death Penalty Information
Center's Web site contains a number of resources
related to lethal injection. (10/22/07, DPIC Update)
- USA:
Embattled Attorney General Alberto Gonzales
Resigns
Alberto Gonzales, the nation's first Hispanic
attorney general and a close friend of President
Bush, resigned Monday after months of mounting
bipartisan criticism over issues of competence
and his handling of the firings of several
U.S. attorneys. (8/27/07, USA Today)
- USA:
Since 1996, Federal Courts Have Cut Back
in Granting Any Relief to Those on Death
Row
A new study by law professors Eric Freedman
of Hofstra and David Dow of the University
of Houston found that, before the passage
of the Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death
Penalty Act in1996, death row inmates who
filed habeas corpus petitions in federal
court succeeded in overturning their convictions
or death sentences about 40% of the time.
After passage of the 1996 law which restricted
the Courts' power to overturn state decisions,
the number of successful appeals fell to
just 12% between 2000 and 2006, and the rate
of successful appeals continues to decline
today. (8/27/07, DPIC Update)
- USA: Legal Experts Fear New Federal Regulations
Could Result in More Arbitrariness and
Wrongful Convictions
The Justice Department is finalizing regulations
that could give Attorney General Alberto
R. Gonzales the ability to shorten
the time that death row inmates have to appeal
their case in federal court, a change that
many critics believe will make capital punishment
more unfair and inaccurate. Under the 2006
reauthorization of the Patriot Act, the Attorney
General was given the power to decide whether
individual states are providing adequate
counsel for defendants in death penalty cases,
an authority that had been held by federal
judges. If a state requests it and the Attorney
General agrees, the new rules drafted by
the Justice Department would allow prosecutors
to "fast track" procedures that
shorten the amount of time those on death
row have to file a federal appeal after a
conviction in a state court. (8/20/07, DPIC Update)
- USA: Senators Question Justice Department's
Plan to Expedite Executions
U.S. Senators Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Arlen
Specter (R-PA) are urging the
Justice Department to delay new rules that
would give Attorney General Alberto Gonzales
authority to limit the time death row inmates
spend pursuing appeals before being executed.
(8/20/07, DPIC Update)
- USA:
Pew Poll Shows Modest Decline in Death
Penalty Support
The Pew Research Center recently released
a poll on a variety of social issues,
including the death penalty. The poll
found that 64% of the U.S. adults support
the imposition of the death penalty for
persons convicted of murder. This is
a decline of 14 percentage points from
1996, when 78% of respondents said they
supported it. The Center reported that
support for the death penalty was higher
among men than women, and was substantially
higher among whites (69%) than among
African Americans (44%) and Hispanics
(45%). (6/25/07, DPIC Update)
- USA:
Without Sufficient Funds, States Are
Failing to Provide Adequate Representation
The
costs of the death penalty are a key
factor affecting the quality of representation
in capital cases in at least three states.
Lack of representation in parts of the
death penalty process has been cited
recently in courts in Georgia, Alabama,
and Utah. "Basically, we have zero
funding. It forces us to be ineffective," said
Georgia capital defense attorney Richard
Hagler. (6/4/07, DPIC Update)
- USA:
New Amnesty International Report: "Prisoner-Assisted
Homicides"
With a number of executions of inmates
who have waived their appeals approaching
in the U.S., Amnesty International has
released a new report, "Prisoner-assisted
homicide--more 'volunteer' executions
loom." The report addresses the
fact that about 12% of executions in
the U.S. since the death penalty was
reinstated have been of inmates who gave
up appeals that would have extended their
time on death row. The report looks at
some of the possible reasons for the
large number of volunteers including
mental illness and the conditions on
death row. (5/22/07, DPIC Update)
- USA: Execution by Hanging Still Happens
in the U.S. -- But Is It 'Humane'?
Washington
and New Hampshire are the only states that
currently provide for official hanging
as a means of execution. But there has
been no hanging since 1996 in this country. "The
U.S. has always been skittish and conscious
of viewers," says Richard
Dieter, executive director of the Death
Penalty Information Center. Dieter said the
shift from hanging to other methods has
taken place to make executions "more
palpable to the public." (1/19/07,
ABC News)
- USA:
Death
Knell for the Death Penalty?
"Publicity surrounding wrongful
convictions is the driving force behind
that decrease," says Richard Dieter,
the center's executive director. "The
government has not been doing a good
job with the death penalty, and the public
seems to be pulling back." (1/13/07,
ABC News)
- USA:
Death Sentences Drop to 30-Year Low
The
number of death sentences handed out
in the United States dropped in 2006
to the lowest level since capital punishment
was reinstated 30 years ago, reflecting
what some experts say is a growing fear
that the criminal justice system will
make a tragic and irreversible mistake.
Executions fell, too, to the fewest in
a decade. (1/5/07,
ABC News)
- VA:
Interview With An Executioner
Jerry Givens spent 17 years as a professional
killer. From 1982 to 1999, he killed
62 people. He was never punished. His
work was paid for by the Commonwealth
of Virginia. ... Only a handful of executioners
in America have ever spoken publicly
about their experiences, and fewer, if
any, have revealed the emotional toll
the job can take on a person or the mind-set
of the person behind the proverbial mask.
Givens told ABC News that his experiences
in the death chamber have caused him
to change course and oppose the death
penalty. (12/17/07, ABC News)
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