Last month, as the Casey Anthony trial was underway, a federal district court judge issued an opinion that has longreaching implications (and caused Anthony’s defense attorneys to immediately move, albeit unsuccessfully, for a mistrial):  the federal judge ruled that Florida’s death penalty statute was in violation of the U.S. Constitution.

Federal Judge Finds Florida…

Most of the states in this country today are either concerned about how they are going to execute the inmates they already have on Death Row, what with the lack of drugs for their lethal injection process, or they are debating getting rid of capital punishment if for no other reason than cost. 

Then …

Right now, the State of California has over 700 people living on its Death Row.  According to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, 260 are white; 255 are African American; 158 are Hispanic American; and 38 are not categorized. 

You can read the complete California Death Row Inmate list here, which as of…

Yesterday, the Florida Senate passed an amendment to HJR 7111 — an amendment co-sponsored by 10 Republican Senators – which served to remove by amendment the earlier bill which split the Florida Supreme Court and created a new Florida high court for criminal matters (as described in our post last week). Read the …

One more scholarly effort can be placed onto that ever-growing stack of research studies that find capital punishment is simply untrustworthy, that it is procedurally flawed.  Never mind the morality.  Or mercy.  Or the growing problem of finding drugs for those lethal injections …. The study nixes the death penalty before these issues even arise.

Matthew Robinson of …

This week, Terry Lenamon was interviewed by Ana M. Valdes of the Palm Beach Post for his expert opinion as a death-qualified criminal defense attorney regarding the Jorge and Carmen Barahona murder trial, now that the prosecution has announced that it will be seeking the death penalty.

In an article entitled, "Barahonas to face …

The Reverend Carroll Pickett served as the death house chaplain for the State of Texas for many years,  and he holds the international record for witnessing the most government executions (95). 

Today, Reverend Pickett tours the country on a speaking circuit, voicing his oppostion to the death penalty. (For details, go to the Texas Coalition Against the…

The pressure is building over in Illinois …. Governor Pat Quinn still has not made his decision on whether or not Illinois will abolish the death penalty.  Not that he isn’t busy enough with massive blizzards, and a budget that’s broke, among other things. 

Maybe he’s distracted, right?  Maybe that is why in yesterday’s Chicago …