email edition
The Email edition is available:
Lexis reveals no new favorable published opinions from the various appellate courts around the country.
In the news, Governor Ted Strickland of Ohio granted clemency to Jeffrey Hill following the unanimous rationale and recommendation of the Ohio Parole Board which had cited five basic reasons for its recommendation: “the views of the victim’s family, the lack of adequate representation by counsel at Mr. Hill’s sentencing, the remorse demonstrated by Mr. Hill regarding his actions, the lack of proportionality of the sentence of death in this case when compared with similar murder cases, and the expressed views of two justices of the Ohio Supreme Court which reviewed this case on appeal.” The New Mexico House voted last week to repeal that state’s death penalty. The Montana Senate voted, likewise, Monday to repeal that state’s capital sentencing scheme. DPIC notes several additional states recently introduced legislation to repeal or limit the death penalty. including: Nebraska, Colorado, New Hampshire, Maryland, Washington, and Kansas.
As noted in the last edition, the Department of Justice has reopened the comments period for the “Certification Process for State Capital Counsel Systems” under the PATRIOT Act, the so-called “fast-track” or “opt-in” provisions of AEDPA. “Please address all comments regarding this notice, by U.S. mail, to: Ben Gorban, Bureau of Justice Assistance, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice, 810 7th Street, NW., Washington, DC 20531. To ensure proper handling, please reference OJP Docket No. 1464 on your correspondence.” Comments are due April 6, 2009.
My apologies as I am currently on trial / in trial (depending on your region of the country), for what will be my sixth week of the new year. More precisely, I’m now four weeks in to a murder trial on the most recent trial, and my attention is understandably drawn there rather than cranking out the weekly email edition. I close in the morning so the normal schedule & length of publication here and on the blog should resume starting in the next few days, assuming something really bizarre doesn’t happen.
As always, thanks for reading. – k
Tuesday, 17. February 2009 11:01
Among the states with new legislation is North Carolina, where the state House is considering a bill to protect the severely mentally ill from the death penalty. More here.
Good luck with trial, K.