[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, PENN., DEL., N.C., ALA., LA., OHIO
Sept. 13 TEXAS: Why the Death Penalty is Dying in Texas Kathryn Kase, executive director of the Texas Defender Service in Houston, says nationwide, there's been a huge drop in death sentences. Texas has had many fewer executions this year than in years past. In 1999, the state sent 30 people to death row. "The rate of death sentencing is dropping dramatically in Texas," she says. "Last year, Texas had only 2 new death sentences. This year we've had 3." Kase says the reduction makes sense because the system allows for life without parole. "[Life without parole] does keep people in prison for life. And if we're wrong, if people are innocent, we can go back and get them," she says, "whereas if they're innocent and they've been executed, we really can't resurrect them." If the availability of lethal injection drugs were a factor, Kase says stays of execution would reference that reason. Instead, we're seeing stays for other reasons: because questions arose about whether the state convicted the right person, because experts gave false testimony, because forensic proof in the case - the science - was bad. "We're understanding that the evidence that used to convict and put people on death row was not infallible," she says. "When you have doubt like that, the courts should properly put the brakes on things." Kase says the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals (CCA) is responding to the larger conversation nationwide about the viability of the death penalty. Two opinions from CCA judge Elsa Alcala have shown that she thinks the court needs an open discussion of the constitutionality of the death penalty. "Practically any murder in the state of Texas could be capital murder," she says, "and if the death penalty is supposed to be reserved for the worst of the worst, not every murder should qualify for the death penalty for that to be constitutional. She has also observed that the death penalty has been overused in the state of Texas against African-Americans relative to their representation in the population." Texas has led the nation in exonerations, Kase says, which could be a factor in why the state is rethinking the death penalty. "Any state that can admit that it's wrong, about putting the wrong people in prison," she says, "I think can rethink the death penalty." (source: KUT news) PENNSYTLVANIA: In death-penalty case, prosecutors complain of judge's closed-door meeting with defense Told he could face death penalty, Easton homicide defendant has outbursts in court Northampton County prosecutors will seek the death penalty against Jeffrey Knoble, the man accused of slaying Andrew "Beep" White of Easton at a downtown hotel in March. Their client facing the death penalty, Jeffrey S. Knoble Jr.'s lawyers were able to persuade a judge to allow them to withdraw from his murder case, citing a complete breakdown in their relationship with a defendant who has had repeated outbursts in court. But the reasons behind Northampton County Judge Emil Giordano's decision this month has sparked a courtroom fight that pits 2 long-held principles of legal fairness against each other. That's because when Chief Public Defender Robert Eyer detailed the reasons he could no longer represent Knoble on charges he killed a man inside a downtown Easton hotel room, Eyer did so during a closed-door meeting in which prosecutors were excluded. The law frowns upon such ex-parte communications, in which one side speaks with a judge without the other side present, fearing that they are on their face unfair. But in holding that discussion with Eyer on Sept. 2, Giordano was seeking to protect another ethical precept: attorney-client privilege, which shields the confidentiality of communications between lawyers and those they represent. Eyer claimed he would be violating those ethical duties if he disclosed to prosecutors why he needed to withdraw from the case. Over the objection of First Deputy District Attorney Terence Houck, Giordano held the closed-door meeting as a result, the transcript of which he ordered sealed. On Monday, that produced a hearing in which District Attorney John Morganelli argued prosecutors had the right to know why Knoble's lawyers were relieved, saying he fears the defendant is playing games with the court and seeking to have his case unnecessarily delayed. Morganelli went through Knoble's history of disruptiveness in court - including repeated attempts to fire his lawyers - and said there is no reason to believe Knoble won't continue those tactics with his new attorneys. "We have to know what's happened to old counsel, so we can know what's going to happen with new counsel," Morganelli said. If not, he said, "we're arguing against a ghost, because we don't even know what we're arguing against." Knoble is charged in the early March 11, 2015, death of 32-year-old Andrew "Beep" White, who was shot in the back of
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, PENN., DEL., N.C., ALA., LA.
March 31 TEXAS: Reverse the Texas Criminal Court of Appeals Suspension of Death Penalty Attorney David Dow and Reinstate Him Texas based David Dow is one of the best and highly regarded death penalty defense attorneys in the United States. He and his team have represented over 100 death row defendants, many pro bono. 2 defendants were innocent and completely exonerated. 20 defendants sentences were commuted from death to life sentences. Over 20 years ago Dow founded Texas's oldest Innocence Project, The Innocence Network. Currently he runs the Death Penalty Clinic, staffed by law students, at the University of Houston Law Center where he is also the Cullen Professor. He has dedicated his life to representing prisoners on death row and inspires new generations to do the same. He now needs your help. The Issue: In January 2015, the Texas Criminal Court of Appeals (CCA) suspended David Dow for a whole year for filing a petition of a stay of execution 30 minutes late, 1 week before the execution was scheduled. This means he can not represent death row defendants before the Court until early 2016! A dissenting judge, Elsa Alcala, wrote, Dow's pleadings were 30 minutes late under the plain language of the rule. She further wrote, I would not hold Dow in contempt for filing pleadings only 30 minutes late under the circumstances in which this Court still had essentially 7 days to consider the pleadings. The CCA's deadline rule is that a petition may not be filed ...fewer than 7 days before the scheduled execution date. Dow's petition was filed at 6:30 pm on October 21, 2014 and the defendant's scheduled execution was after 6:00 pm on October 28th. Also, the lateness of Dow's filing is up for debate because the CCA's own example of a late filing is 8 days, which obfuscates their rule. Other Texas death penalty lawyers have committed far worse offenses such as falling asleep or being intoxicated at trials and and were never sanctioned. Attorney Jerome Godinich missed three filing deadlines without a contempt ruling against him. Why the excessive, unprecedented punishment? Well, it's complicated. This was Dow's 2nd late filing. In 2007, he and his defense team petitioned the CCA for a last minute stay on the scheduled day of an execution. Their computers crashed and they asked the presiding judge, Sharon Keller, to keep the clerk's office open an extra 20 minutes. Judge Keller had already gone home to meet a repair person and said, We close at 5. The defendant was executed that night. Judge Keller's actions set off a tsunami of anger and protest. It is an unwritten Texas tradition for judges to deal with last minute death penalty pleadings from home after hours when lives are at stake. The press attacked her, Republicans disparaged her and people protested in front of her house. Lawyers asked her to step down. Even her friends became her detractors. Fast forward to January 2015. Who is the presiding judge of the Texas Criminal Court of Appeals? Judge Sharon Keller. This could be a cruel coincidence, but Dow's suspension reeks of retaliation. His passion and skill defending death row prisoners for over 2 decades has made him a thorn in the CCA's judges sides. David Dow is one of the good guys. The CCA's ruling prevents him from presenting the cases of, at this writing, a dozen death row clients in their courtroom. A 12 month suspension is a draconian punishment that doesn't fit the crime, if indeed there even is a crime. It can also have a ripple effect and deter attorneys from working on capital cases. Please sign the petition to the Supreme Court of Texas and ask them to overturn the CCA's ruling and reinstate David Dow. Let them know many eyes are upon them. It is literally a matter of life and death. (source: change.org) PENNSYLVANIA: Officials argue need for reform to Pa.'s death penalty systemSome officials and associations believe that not enough is being done to ensure those on death row actually committed the crimes or deserve the punishment of death The death penalty is a tool prosecutors use to punish those who commit the most grievous crimes against society. Some officials and associations, however, believe that not enough is being done to ensure those on death row actually committed the crimes or deserve the punishment of death. Through studies and reviews of Pennsylvania's death penalty system, some have found lacking and underfunded defenses as well as strong racial biases where black defendants were committed to death row more often and for the same crimes as white defendants. For some, though, the death penalty is an important tool in the criminal process. Death penalty The potential for a death penalty starts with a homicide and a prosecutor's determination of whether that can be prosecuted as a 1st-, 2nd- or 3rd-degree murder. Cumberland County District Attorney David Freed said if he
