Law review: Texas executed innocent man

According to a book length article in the Columbia Human Rights Law Review, Columbia University law professor James Liebman says that Carlos De Luna was executed for a murder committed by another man.

. . .29 years after De Luna was arrested, Liebman and his team published a mammoth report in the Human Rights Law Review that concludes De Luna paid with his life for a crime he likely did not commit. Shoddy police work, the prosecution's failure to pursue another suspect, and a weak defense combined to send De Luna to death row, they argued.
"I would say that across the board, there was nonchalance," ... "It looked like a common case, but we found that there was a very serious claim of innocence."

More at HRLR's general website, www.hrlr.org.

Challenges for SAFE California

The May newsletter from the Catholic Mobilizing Network to end the Death Penalty has an interviews with California Catholic Conference Executive Director Ned Dolesji, who outlines the challenges ahead:

There is a need to get conservatives on board and the voters in the Latino community, many who either don’t know the Catholic position on the use of the death penalty or who don’t oppose it. We need to emphasize more that Catholic social teaching on the death penalty as a life issue, along with abortion and euthanasia. The bishops are ready to step forward on the death penalty, especially in this phase of the campaign. In May and June some will use their daily or weekly radio programming to reach out, in particular, to the Catholic Latino population. Many Latinos are most comfortable with radio messages, so this is critical to the campaign.

More at the May Newsletter.

Stay of execution in Arizona

Questions about the competency of Gov. Jan Brewer's recent appointees to the state clemency board prompted the Arizona Supreme Court to stay today's scheduled execution of death-row prisoner Samuel Lopez, saying he is entitled to a fair hearing before the board.

More from the Republic at: azcentral.com

CJLF petitions to remove death-penalty-repeal from ballot

A new legal challenge has been presented to the California ballot initiative concerning the death penalty. The Criminal Justice Legal Foundation has asked a state appeals court to take the "SAFE California" initiative off the November ballot:

The lawsuit argues that the measure contains conflicting proposals that combine unrelated reforms into a single ballot argument. "This kind of manipulation ... is exactly what the single-subject rule was put in the constitution to prevent," said Kent Scheidegger, the foundation's legal director.
Supporters of the ballot measure predicted the appeals court would reject the legal arguments.

More at San Jose Mercury News

Are any punishments effective in deterring homicide?

A new report, Deterrence and the Death Penalty, from the Committee on Deterrence and the Death Penalty of the National Research Council, concludes that research to date on the effect of capital punishment on homicide rates is not useful in determining whether the death penalty increases, decreases, or has no effect on these rates.

More at: The Crime Report

Governor Brown makes new effort to restart executions

California Governor Jerry Brown has ordered the consideration of a single drug protocol, in hopes of clearing the path for the resumption of executions. California had proposed a different protocol for lethal injection:

The new procedures called for prisoners to be put to death through the use of sodium thiopental, which may no longer be available in the United States, and two other drugs. 

A federal judge in March barred the use of sodium thiopental purchased outside the country. There is no domestic maker of the product, and the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation has been ordered to turn over its foreign-bought drug to the Food and Drug Administration. 

The FDA is considering whether to appeal the judge’s order. 

Lawyers for the state Department of Justice said Thursday they would reconsider the appeal if it becomes certain that sodium thiopental can no longer be used in California executions.

More at: the Washington Post

05/4-5/2011 Helen Prejean in Bakersfield

Sister Helen Prejean, who has won countless honors for her work to eliminate the death penalty, will speak at St. Philip the Apostle Church on Friday, May 4 and First Congregational Church on Saturday, May 5. Both events will be open to the public. More from the Bakersfield Californian.

Governor signs repeal of Connecticut death penalty

Governor Dannel Malloy has signed a bill that eliminates the death penalty for future crimes in Connecticut

The Democrat signed the bill behind closed doors, without fanfare. An aide said Malloy was surrounded by lawmakers, clergy and family members of murder victims. 

While he called it "an historic moment," Malloy said in a written statement that it was a moment "for sober reflection, not celebration." The bill, which became effective immediately, was signed on the same day that a new Quinnipiac University Poll showed that 62 percent of registered voters in Connecticut still favor the death penalty for those convicted of murder. The same survey found 47 percent of voters disapprove of Malloy's handling of the issue, while 33 percent approve. 

"Many of us who have advocated for this position over the years have said there is a moral component to our opposition to the death penalty. For me, that is certainly the case," he said. "But that does not mean — nor should it mean — that we question the morality of those who favor capital punishment. I certainly don't."

This bill does not apply to the 17 persons currently on death row in that state. More information from Susan Haigh of the Associated Press.

SAFE California on November ballot

California voters will vote on abolishing the death penalty:

A measure to abolish capital punishment in California qualified for the November ballot on Monday, Secretary of State Debra Bowen said. 

If it passes, the 725 California inmates now on Death Row will have their sentences converted to life in prison without the possibility of parole. It would also make life without parole the harshest penalty prosecutors can seek. 

Backers of the measure say abolishing the death penalty will save the state millions of dollars through layoffs of prosecutors and defense attorneys who handle death penalty cases, as well as savings from not having to maintain the nation's largest death row at San Quentin State Prison. 

Those savings, supporters argue, can be used to help unsolved crimes. If the measure passes, $100 million in purported savings from abolishing the death penalty would be used over three years to investigate unsolved murders and rapes.

Read more from Paul Elias, Associated Press.

04/26/2012 The Death Penalty and Latino Communities in California

The Death Penalty and Latino Communities in California

Thursday April 26, 2012
Noon to 2 PM
Ahmanson Auditorium
University Hall
Loyola Marymount University

Featured Panelist Include:

Professor Federico Mayor Zaragoza of Spain, President of the International Commission Against the Death Penalty
and
Franky Carrillo, wrongfully convicted, served 20 years in prison, LMU student and Death Penalty Focus Advocate

Free to the public

For further infomation contact Elizabeth Zitrin 415 243 0143

Rare clemency for Georgia inmate

Up until last Friday (4/20) the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles had granted capital clemency only three times since 2002.

Three days after staying the execution of Daniel Greene, the five-member panel voted to commute his death sentence to life without parole, an unusual move that elicited mixed reactions from the tight-knit community. "We want to thank the board so much for their courage in this case," one of Greene's elated attorneys, Lindsay N. Bennett, said in a telephone interview from Atlanta. Greene, who had spent two decades on Georgia's death row and already ordered his last meal, received the news today and appeared to be in shock, Bennett said.

More from Jim Mustian's story in the Ledger-Enquirer (with thanks to Professor Doug Berman's Sentencing Law and Policy blog.