A death row inmate who claims the Eighth Amendment bars his execution because he is innocent of the crime will get a hearing before a federal district judge, thanks to…
The presiding judge of the highest criminal appeals court in Texas is expected to testify on her own behalf in a hearing that begins today. At issue is whether Judge…
The Virginia State Bar has dropped ethics charges against a lawyer in the state Attorney General’s office who oversaw a letter discouraging jurors in capital cases from speaking to defense…
Some appeals court judges are apparently becoming increasingly frustrated with a 1996 law restricting habeas review of state death penalty convictions, as they voice ringing disapproval in dissenting opinions.
For years, the state attorney general’s office in Virginia has distributed letters to former jurors in capital cases, cautioning them against talking to defense lawyers working on appeals.
After three current and former Chicago police detectives took the Fifth rather than testify in a post-conviction case concerning their alleged abuse of a capital murder suspect nearly 20 years…
Death penalty opponents who relied on journalists to investigate unjust convictions and seek DNA evidence are bemoaning newsroom cuts that are costing investigative reporters their jobs.
Not quite a year ago, Charles Dean Hood was on the verge of being put to death in Texas when an execution order expired. A few months later, a last-minute…
A lawyer for a death-row inmate with an IQ of 69 told the U.S. Supreme Court yesterday that his client’s sentence should be vacated because of a 2002 decision barring…
The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled a convicted murderer deserves a new hearing to assess whether evidence withheld before trial would have changed jurors’ decision to impose the death penalty.
The solicitor general is urging the U.S. Supreme Court to overrule a 1986 decision that restricts police questioning of suspects who have asked for a lawyer.
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