Sidebar With an Expert Capital Litigator
As the new year approaches, it appears that in 2011 there will be even more focus upon capital punishment in courtrooms, press rooms, and legislatures.
The death penalty is being considered by several states. Whether or not capital punishment should be available under a state’s penal code for sentencing in any case is being reviewed, albeit for very different reasons and…
In Houston, Texas, a man named John Edward Green is on trial for the murder of a Houston woman and her sister during the commission of a robbery, and the State of Texas is seeking the death penalty. Presiding over this trial is state district judge Kevin Fine, and Judge Fine has become somewhat…
The Death Penalty Information Center has issued its annual report on the state of capital punishment in this country. According to the DPIC, the forty-six (46) executions that were conducted this year constitute a twelve percent (12%) decrease in the death penalty. (In 2009, there were 52 executions in the United States; in 2000, there…
Last week, John David Duty was executed by the State of Oklahoma and in doing so, Mr. Duty made the history books – we may all remember his name for many years in the future as the first man to be executed in the same way that vets put down beloved pets.
Because, while other…
More great news to share with you all: I’m honored to have been invited to speak by Professor Owen D. Jones, who teaches a class at Vanderbilt Law School on Law and the Brain and is working with several of his colleagues at Vanderbilt in preparing a law school coursebook on the subject.
This April, I will be the guest…
Below, information that I have sent to friends and colleagues throughout the State of Florida which I want to share with my blog readers as well:
I am ecstatic to share the victory of Grady Nelson for death penalty litigation. (See "Novel Defense Helps Spare Perpetrator of Grisly Murder," by David Ovalle in the Miami Herald…
This Monday, without comment, the United States Supreme Court denied the petition for writ of certiorari filed by Bruce Carneil Webster, who sets on the federal Death Row. (See the docket sheet here.)
Mr. Webster had sought the High Court’s relief, arguing that courts should be able to consider evidence that one federal judge sitting…
Last week, the jury returned its recommendation in the Grady Nelson trial, after spending only one hour deliberating whether or not they would vote for the death penalty. They did not.
A Horrific Tragedy in 2005
Grady Nelson, 53, did not get a death sentence, instead he will serve life behind bars without parole. This, even…
There will be a longer post regarding the Grady Nelson trial that just finished yesterday, when the jury came back to tell us that they were recommending life and not death for Grady Nelson. Shortly thereafter, Judge Hogan-Scola sentenced Nelson to life without parole.
For news coverage, see the Miami Herald and the Associated Press…