Sidebar With an Expert Capital Litigator
Last month, two death row inmates had their sentences changed to life without parole after authorities confirmed each suffers from severe mental illness. In Oregon, Robert James Acremant had his sentence changed after state experts confirmed his diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia. (He still faces a death sentence in California on another charge.)
In North…
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…
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…
Former Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens believed in capital punishment at one time; he does not support the death penalty today. And, in an article published in the December 23, 2010, issue of the New York Review of Books (available now online), entitled "On the Death Sentence," Justice Stevens tells…
Today, the Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC) held a press conference to release details about their latest poll concerning capital punishment in America today. The DPIC describes its efforts as one of "the most comprehensive studies ever conducted of Americans’ views on the death penalty."
The poll itself was done by Lake Research Partners. Those polled? 1500 registered voters. …
As discussed earlier this week, the ability to consider QEEG Brain Mapping as evidence in capital trials is of major importance.
QEEG is different than other brain imaging tools.
Over the years, the ability of experts to provide analysis of the human brain through x-rays, CAT scans (Computerized Axial Tomography scans) or MRIs (Magnetic Resonance…
For my blog readers, here is the press release issued earlier this week regarding QEEG admissibility:
Highly Publicized Grady Nelson Death Penalty Trial Sets National Precedent with Florida Circuit Court Judge Hogan-Scola’s Admission of QEEG Brain Mapping Evidence
Miami, Florida (PRWEB) 28 October, 2010 — “This may be the first time in any United States…
Many people believe that if someone is mentally ill, then they cannot be executed for their crimes. This is not true; an individual suffering from a mental illness can be sentenced to death in the United States. In fact, the protections against someone being executed due to their psychological impairments is rather limited: many…
In just a few weeks the new term for the U.S. Supreme Court will begin, and the High Court has already scheduled oral arguments in three pending death penalty-related cases: Connick v. Thompson, Skinner v. Switzer, and Cullen v. Pinholster.
1. Connick v. Thompson comes out of Louisiana. On October 6, 2010, argument will be…
Much of the American public may believe that the mentally ill are spared capital punishment in this country, because to execute someone suffering from mental illness would be cruel and unusual – and therefore, in violation of our federal constitution.
And they’re wrong. Dead wrong.
Washington State plans to execute Cal Coburn Brown tomorrow, a …