This week’s “email edition” is now available. From the introduction:

The news of the week is best themed “choosing life.”

The Georgia Pardons and Parole Board commuted Samuel Crowe’s death sentence to life without parole briefly before his scheduled execution last week. “After careful and exhaustive consideration of the request, the board voted to grant clemency.” The Board heard testimony from several people who knew Crowe, including pastors and a former corrections officer, who said, “I felt like if they released him that morning he would never get in any more trouble and he could make a contribution to society,” and called him a “peacemaker” amongst prison inmates. Crowe would have been “the second inmate to be put to death in Georgia in 16 days and the third in the country since a de facto moratorium on executions was lifted in April, when the U.S. Supreme Court approved lethal injection.”

Continuing on the theme of choosing life, In the federal system life verdicts are noted on tough facts in United States v. Rudy Sablan (D.Co.), United States v.  Steven Sandstrom (W.D.Mo) and United States v. Jamal Shakir (MD Tn).  In Pennsylvania Herbie Baker was permitted to resolve his case with a plea of 35 -70 years in Pennsylvania; Mr. Baker had spent half of his life on death row. A Houston jury decided Tuesday that Juan Leonardo Quintero – an illegal immigrant with a record who killed Houston police officer Rodney Johnson while in custody, should spend the rest of his life in prison, rather than go to death row, for Johnson’s 2006 murder, the daily blog has more.

In case law developments, the Kansas Supreme Court in State v. Gavin D. Scott, handed down the most notable opinion of this edition. As the Kansas Defenders‘ blog notes “The court affirmed most of Scott’s convictions (including capital murder), but reversed his conviction for premeditated murder, and reversed his death sentence. The court remanded Scott’s case to the district court for a new sentencing phase.”  The grounds for reversal, and potential grounds for reversal, are numerous and detailed at length below.

The unique state of the Nebraska’s death penalty (retaining capital punishment and a death row but no means to carry out executions) appears likely to continue indefinitely, according to press reports. The Kansas City Star is announcing the Missouri capital rape statute has failed in the legislature. In Collin County, Texas the local  DA  after 18 months,  5,000 man-hours and more than $47,000 re-investigating the case, announced that there is no longer a good-faith basis for upholding the murder conviction of Michael Blair, more in coming days.

The Jackson v. Taylor opinion should have been cited as should have been cited as Jackson v. Danberg, No. 06-300 (D. Del 5/19/2008) and linked as http://capitaldefenseweekly.com/delawarejacksonli.pdf.

As always, thanks for reading. – k