email edition now available
The email edition is now available:
One opinion of note is had in this edition, Fred Spicer, Jr. v. State,. The Mississippi Supreme Court in Spicer orders an evidentiary hearing on whether trial counsel was “ineffective during the penalty phase of the trial for failure to investigate and introduce mitigation evidence of Spicer’s ‘social history’.” The story is an old one, counsel’s theory of mitigation and presentation of mitigation evidence were substantially hampered by the lack of an adequate investigation of the client’s background.
In news from the lethal injection wars, the Supreme Court stayed the execution of Mark Schwab following a contentious fight in both the state and federal courts. AP report‘s a Texas state judge has refused to set an execution date for a volunteer until the Supreme Court rules in Baze. Missouri’s former dyslexic doctor of death has helping in federal executions.
In other news, DPIC notes “Superior Court Judge Robert Ervin ruled that North Carolina death row inmate Glen Edward Chapman is entitled to a new trial based on ample evidence .. . . [including] that law enforcement officials withheld evidence, used false testimony, and misplaced or destroyed important documents that could have supported Chapman’s innocence claim.” In Texas new DNA tests fail to link Michael Blair to the murder for which he is facing death; Stand Down has more. The United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution calling for a worldwide moratorium on executions, the vote was 99 in Favor, 52 Against and 33 AbstentionsLooking ahead, one favorable opinion has so far been found. In Ex parte Gregory VanAlstyne the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals grants, over a sharp dissent, relief on an Atkins claims.
As always thanks for reading. – k
