email edition
The email edition is now available. From the introduction:
Another edition, another exoneration. With only minor cases noted during this edition’s coverage period (April 21 -28) the important news is on the exoneration front. DPIC notes
The state of North Carolina dropped all charges against Levon Jones, and he was freed today (May 2) after spending 13 years on death row. U.S. District Court Judge Terrence Boyle overturned Jones’s conviction two years ago, but he was held in prison awaiting a possible retrial until prosecutors announced that they were dismissing all charges. Judge Boyle criticized Jones’s defense attorneys for “constitutionally deficient” performance, noting their failure to research the history and credibility of Lovely Lorden, the prosecution’s star witness. The judge noted, “Given the weakness of the prosecution’s case and its heavy reliance on the testimony of Lovely Lorden, there is a reasonable probability that, but for counsel’s unprofessional errors, the result of the proceeding would have been different.”
Staying on the exoneration front (albeit noncapital), the Innocence Project of Texas finally got James Lee Woodard free, he had spent 27 years and four months behind bars for a rape and murder he did not commit.
In the other news of the week, the post-Baze uncertainty continues as Mississippi’s Attorney General has asked that Earl Wesley Berry be executed May 5, 2008 with no decision yet from the Mississippi Supreme Court. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that Georgia’s lethal injection procedure withstood challenge in federal district court. The Washington Post notes that Virginia has asked the Supreme Court,to permit the Commonwealth to resume executions. Lastly, and on a non-Baze note, “the state of New Mexico agreed to drop its pursuit of the death penalty against two defendants because the state legislature did not provide the money necessary for adequate representation of the defendants, who were accused of killing a prison guard.”
Looking ahead, the Fifth Circuit in Walter Koon v. Cain orders a new trial as counsel failed to adequately investigate the State’s proofs during the “guilt/innocence phase.” Also in the next edition, a fascinating opinion from the Kentucky Supreme Court, Shawn Windsor v. Comm, where the Court orders a remand for additional hearings where Windsor plead guilty, demanded (and received) death, and sought to waive all appeals.
At the end of this edition is six month look ahead of CLE opportunities in all regions of the country. If you know of a CLE that is missing please let us know.
Finally, next week’s edition will not run as I will be on vacation. As always thanks for reading. – k
[Just two notes about things referenced in this edition. I will be on vacation, and most likely off the net, from the 8th through the 15th. Second, we've posted links to all the CLEs mentioned in the email edition in the column on the right.]
