Forensic evidence gets lots of respect from juries — some call it "the CSI effect" after the popular TV show (in all its spin-offs). However, this month we have even more news that justifies a less trusting view of evidence coming from a lab and being used to put someone behind bars — or on
When will QEEG Brain Mapping Get Widespread Respect in Courtroom?
This week, the Miami Herald ran an article discussing the current state of QEEG technology as a means to study the human brain and understand how the brain works and how it can be permanently damaged.
However, the article was more than a dry discussion of scientific methodology. Reporter David Ovalle wrote about how QEEG
Joshua Fulgham Defense – Jury Says No to Death Penalty: Congrats to Terry Lenamon and the Defense Team
Under Florida law, the judge will still have the final decision here.
What will the Judge do? We’ll know soon.
Meanwhile, congrats to Terry Lenamon for a great job of defending
QEEG Brain Mapping Used in Another Florida Death Penalty Case
Terry Lenamon fought long and hard to get QEEG Brain Mapping introduced as evidence in the death penalty trial of Grady Nelson last fall. The QEEG evidence was introduced. The judge sentenced Grady Nelson not to a sentence of death, but instead to life imprisonment.
That was almost a year ago, and now QEEG evidence
Univ of Miami Law Prof. Winick’s 2009 Predictions on U.S. Supreme Court and Mentally Ill Death Penalty Cases
In 2002, the United States Supreme Court handed down Atkins v. Virginia – that’s less than ten years ago. Hard to believe, in many ways.
In 2009, Bruce Winick, Professor of Law and Professor of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, and Director, Therapeutic Jurisprudence Center, University of Miami, Coral Gables, Florida, published an article in the
Use of DSM in the Law: the Doctors Need to Recognize this Reality in DSM-V
Mental health professionals and those dealing with mental health issues are well aware of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM). It is used everyday in the law, as well, and you can find a copy on most death qualified criminal defense attorney’s shelves – maybe more than one. In fact, you can
Mental Illness and the Death Penalty: Here’s a Story You Should Read
Deldelp Medina wrote a personal piece about the death penalty for the San Jose Mercury News — a poignant piece that provides a perspective that serves us all well. Sure, it’s focusing upon the California death penalty, which has become a California election issue. However, it also tells the tale of a Miami murder case,
Casey Anthony and the Death Penalty: I Give My Opinion to the Orlando Sentinel
Casey Anthony isn’t facing a jury yet, but major decisions regarding her jury trial for the murder of her daughter, Caylee Marie Anthony, are being made now as Belvin Perry, Chief Judge of the Ninth Judicial District Court of Florida issues his rulings on important motions presented to him by the prosecution and the
Today, State Prosecutors Took Death Penalty Off the Table in Orlando’s Jason Rodriguez Case
The decision made by the State of Florida attorneys today is making national news: prosecutors have decided that they will not seek the death penalty in their prosecution of Jason Rodriguez.
Mr.Rodriguez is accused of shooting several people in an Orlando office building last November, killing one person and wounding five others. Jason Rodriguez
Mercy Shown by the U.S. Supreme Court to Juvies This Week
Mercy is the bottom line in a death penalty defense case, from the perspective of the sentencing phase of a case.
Mercy — that elusive concept.
So elusive, in fact, that the law has seen fit to have legislatures basically define what mercy will be in death penalty cases, as various mitigation factors ("mitigators") are