DOCSLIB.ORG

The Pennsylvania Death Penalty Assessment Report

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The Pennsylvania Death Penalty Assessment Report Defending Liberty Pursuing Justice EVALUATING FAIRNESS AND ACCURACY IN STATE DEATH PENALTY SYSTEMS: The Pennsylvania Death Penalty Assessment Report An Analysis of Pennsylvania’s Death Penalty Laws, Procedures, and Practices “A system that takes life must first give justice.” John J. Curtin, Jr., Former ABA President October 2007 AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION Defending Liberty Pursuing Justice EVALUATING FAIRNESS AND ACCURACY IN STATE DEATH PENALTY SYSTEMS: The Pennsylvania Death Penalty Assessment Report An Analysis of Pennsylvania’s Death Penalty Laws, Procedures, and Practices “A system that takes life must first give justice.” John J. Curtin, Jr., Former ABA President October 2007 AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION The materials contained herein represent the assessment solely of the ABA Death Penalty Moratorium Implementation Project and the Pennsylvania Death Penalty Assessment Team and have not been approved by the House of Delegates or the Board of Governors of the American Bar Association and, accordingly, should not be construed as representing the policy of the American Bar Association. These materials and any forms or agreements herein are intended for educational and informational purposes only. This document has been produced with the financial assistance of the European Union. The contents of this report are the sole responsibility of the American Bar Association and can under no circumstances be regarded as reflecting the position of the European Union. Significant portions of the research were performed on Westlaw courtesy of West Group. Copyright 2007, American Bar Association ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The American Bar Association Death Penalty Moratorium Implementation Project (the Project) is pleased to present this publication, Evaluating Fairness and Accuracy in State Death Penalty Systems: The Pennsylvania Death Penalty Assessment Report. The Project expresses its great appreciation to all those who helped to develop, draft, and produce the Pennsylvania Death Penalty Assessment Report. The efforts of the Project and the Pennsylvania Death Penalty Assessment Team were aided by many lawyers, academics, judges, and others who presented ideas, shared information, and assisted in the examination of Pennsylvania’s capital punishment system. Particular thanks must be given to Deborah Fleischaker, Banafsheh Amirzadeh, Joshua Lipman, and Seth Miller, the Project staff who spent countless hours researching, writing, editing, and compiling this report. In addition, we would like to thank the American Bar Association Section of Individual Rights and Responsibilities for their substantive, administrative, and financial contributions. In particular, we would like to thank Lauren Hume, Charles Drummon, Amelia Vukeya, and Veronica Benavides for their assistance in fact-checking and proof-reading multiple sections of the report. We would like to recognize the research contributions made by Whitney Clymer, Matthew Levine, Eric Issadore, and Jeneice Scott, all of whom were law students at the University of Villanova School of Law. Additionally, the efforts of Hogan & Hartson L.L.P. in researching and drafting portions of this report were immensely helpful. Lastly, special thanks must be given to Professor Michelle Anderson who served as Co- Chair of the Pennsylvania Death Penalty Assessment Team prior to her departure from the University of Villanova School of Law. Professor Anderson was instrumental in the creation of this report. In this publication, the Project and the Assessment Team have attempted to note as accurately as possible information relevant to Pennsylvania’s death penalty. The Project would appreciate notification of any errors or omissions in this report so that they may be corrected in any future reprints. TABLE OF CONTENTS EXECUTIVEH SUMMARY........................................................................................................................... iH INTRODUCTION...................................................................................................................H ..................... 1H CHAPTER ONE: ANH OVERVIEW OF PENNSYLVANIA’S DEATH PENALTY SYSTEM ............ 5H I.H DEMOGRAPHICS OF PENNSYLVANIA’S DEATH ROW..................................................................... 5H II.H STATUTORY EVOLUTION OF PENNSYLVANIA’S DEATH PENALTY SCHEME .................................. 6H III.H THE PROGRESSION OF A DEATH PENALTY CASE FROM ARREST TO EXECUTION ........................ 14H CHAPTER TWO: COLLECTION,H PRESERVATION, AND TESTING OF DNA AND OTHER TYPES OF EVIDENCE............................................................................................................................. 30H IH NTRODUCTION TO THE ISSUE................................................................................................................... 30H I.H FACTUAL DISCUSSION................................................................................................................ 32H II.H ANALYSIS .................................................................................................................................. 40H CHAPTER THREE: LAWH ENFORCEMENT IDENTIFICATIONS AND INTERROGATIONS .. 46H IH NTRODUCTION TO THE ISSUE................................................................................................................... 46H I.H FACTUAL DISCUSSION................................................................................................................ 48H II.H ANALYSIS .................................................................................................................................. 55H CHAPTER FOUR: CRIMEH LABORATORIES AND MEDICAL EXAMINER OFFICES.............. 66H I.H FACTUAL DISCUSSION................................................................................................................ 67H II.H ANALYSIS .................................................................................................................................. 75H CHAPTER FIVE: PROSECUTORIALH PROFESSIONALISM ........................................................... 80H IH NTRODUCTION TO THE ISSUE................................................................................................................... 80H I.H FACTUAL DISCUSSION................................................................................................................ 81H II.H ANALYSIS ................................................................................................................................ 100H CHAPTER SIX: DEFENSEH SERVICES............................................................................................... 112H IH NTRODUCTION TO THE ISSUE................................................................................................................. 112H I.H FACTUAL DISCUSSION.............................................................................................................. 113H II.H ANALYSIS ................................................................................................................................ 121H CHAPTER SEVEN: THEH DIRECT APPEAL PROCESS................................................................... 142H IH NTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................................................... 142H I.H FACTUAL DISCUSSION.............................................................................................................. 143H II.H ANALYSIS ................................................................................................................................ 147H CHAPTER EIGHT: STATEH POST-CONVICTION PROCEEDINGS.............................................. 150H IH NTRODUCTION TO THE ISSUE................................................................................................................. 150H I.H FACTUAL DISCUSSION.............................................................................................................. 152H II.H ANALYSIS ................................................................................................................................ 166H CHAPTER NINE: CLEMENCY............................................................................................................H 178H IH NTRODUCTION TO THE ISSUE................................................................................................................. 178H I.H FACTUAL DISCUSSION.............................................................................................................. 180H II.H ANALYSIS ................................................................................................................................ 187H CHAPTER TEN: CAPITALH JURY INSTRUCTIONS........................................................................ 197H IH NTRODUCTION TO THE ISSUE................................................................................................................. 197H I.H FACTUAL DISCUSSION.............................................................................................................. 198H II.H ANALYSIS ................................................................................................................................ 213H CHAPTER ELEVEN: JUDICIALH INDEPENDENCE ........................................................................ 221H I.H FACTUAL DISCUSSION.............................................................................................................. 222H II.H ANALYSIS
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Death Row U.S.A
    DEATH ROW U.S.A. Summer 2017 A quarterly report by the Criminal Justice Project of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. Deborah Fins, Esq. Consultant to the Criminal Justice Project NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. Death Row U.S.A. Summer 2017 (As of July 1, 2017) TOTAL NUMBER OF DEATH ROW INMATES KNOWN TO LDF: 2,817 Race of Defendant: White 1,196 (42.46%) Black 1,168 (41.46%) Latino/Latina 373 (13.24%) Native American 26 (0.92%) Asian 53 (1.88%) Unknown at this issue 1 (0.04%) Gender: Male 2,764 (98.12%) Female 53 (1.88%) JURISDICTIONS WITH CURRENT DEATH PENALTY STATUTES: 33 Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington, Wyoming, U.S. Government, U.S. Military. JURISDICTIONS WITHOUT DEATH PENALTY STATUTES: 20 Alaska, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico [see note below], New York, North Dakota, Rhode Island, Vermont, West Virginia, Wisconsin. [NOTE: New Mexico repealed the death penalty prospectively. The men already sentenced remain under sentence of death.] Death Row U.S.A. Page 1 In the United States Supreme Court Update to Spring 2017 Issue of Significant Criminal, Habeas, & Other Pending Cases for Cases to Be Decided in October Term 2016 or 2017 1. CASES RAISING CONSTITUTIONAL QUESTIONS First Amendment Packingham v. North Carolina, No. 15-1194 (Use of websites by sex offender) (decision below 777 S.E.2d 738 (N.C.
    [Show full text]
  • For Publication United States Court Of
    Case: 13-73647 10/18/2013 ID: 8827751 DktEntry: 3 Page: 1 of 43 FILED FOR PUBLICATION OCT 18 2013 MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS U.S. COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT ROBERT GLEN JONES, Jr., No. 13-16928 Petitioner - Appellant, D.C. No. 4:03-cv-00478-DCB v. OPINION CHARLES RYAN, Respondent - Appellee. ROBERT GLEN JONES, Jr., No. 13-73647 Petitioner, v. CHARLES RYAN, Respondent. Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Arizona David C. Bury, District Judge, Presiding Submitted October 10, 2013* * The panel unanimously concludes this case is suitable for decision without (continued...) Case: 13-73647 10/18/2013 ID: 8827751 DktEntry: 3 Page: 2 of 43 San Francisco, California Before: Ronald M. Gould, Richard C. Tallman, and Carlos T. Bea, Circuit Judges. Opinion by Judge Gould GOULD, Circuit Judge: We confront issues concerning whether and how the United States Supreme Court’s decision in Martinez v. Ryan, 132 S. Ct. 1309 (2012), affects the standards for when a Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 60(b) (“Rule 60(b)”) motion may be filed, and for when a second or successive 28 U.S.C. § 2254 habeas corpus petition may be filed. Arizona death row prisoner Robert Glen Jones, Jr., appeals from the district court’s order dismissing his motion for relief from judgment filed under Rule 60(b). The district court concluded that Jones’s Rule 60(b) motion sought to raise new claims such that it actually constituted a second or successive 28 U.S.C.
    [Show full text]
  • UNITED STATES of AMERICA the Execution of Mentally Ill Offenders
    UNITED STATES OF AMERICA The execution of mentally ill offenders I cannot believe that capital punishment is a solution – to abolish murder by murdering, an endless chain of murdering. When I heard that my daughter’s murderer was not to be executed, my first reaction was immense relief from an additional torment: the usual catastrophe, breeding more catastrophe, was to be stopped – it might be possible to turn the bad into good. I felt with this man, the victim of a terrible sickness, of a demon over which he had no control, might even help to establish the reasons that caused his insanity and to find a cure for it... Mother of 19-year-old murder victim, California, November 1960(1) Today, at 6pm, the State of Florida is scheduled to kill my brother, Thomas Provenzano, despite clear evidence that he is mentally ill.... I have to wonder: Where is the justice in killing a sick human being? Sister of death row inmate, June 2000(2) I’ve got one thing to say, get your Warden off this gurney and shut up. I am from the island of Barbados. I am the Warden of this unit. People are seeing you do this. Final statement of Monty Delk, mentally ill man executed in Texas on 28 February 2002 Overview: A gap in the ‘evolving standards of decency’ The underlying rationale for prohibiting executions of the mentally retarded is just as compelling for prohibiting executions of the seriously mentally ill, namely evolving standards of decency. Indiana Supreme Court Justice, September 2002(3) On 30 May 2002, a jury in Maryland sentenced Francis Zito to death.
    [Show full text]
  • Acts of Ghana
    ACTS OF GHANA FIRST REPUBLIC CRIMINAL CODE, 1960 (ACT 29) (Consolidated up to 1999. THE CRIMINAL CODE (AMENDMENT) ACT, 2003 (ACT 646). ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS Section PART I—GENERAL PROVISIONS CHAPTER 1—PRELIMINARY MATTERS 1. Interpretation 2. Provisions Relating to a Company and its Officers 3. Definition of Public Officer, etc. 4. General Rules of Construction 5. Application of Part I to Other Offences 6. Jurisdiction Over Territorial Waters 7. Acts done Partly Beyond the Jurisdiction 8. Exclusion of Common Law 9. Offences under more than one Enactment 10. Saving for Contempt of Court CHAPTER 2—GENERAL EXPLANATIONS 11. Provisions Relating to Intent 12. Provisions Relating to Negligence 13. Provisions Relating to Causing an Event 14. Provisions relating to consent 15. Provisions relating to claim of right 16. Provisions relating to fraud 17. Provisions relating to the meaning and use of threats CHAPTER 3—ATTEMPTS TO COMMIT CRIMINAL 18. Provisions relating to attempts to commit crimes 19. Preparation for committing certain crimes CHAPTER 4—ABETMENT AND CONSPIRACY 20. Abetment of crime, and trial and punishment of abettor 21. Cases where one crime is abetted and a different crime is committed 22. Duty to prevent a felony 23. Conspiracy 24. Punishment for conspiracy 25. Harbouring criminal CHAPTER 5—GENERAL EXEMPTIONS 26. When an infant is incapable of committing crime 27. When an insane person is entitled to special verdict 28. Criminal liability of intoxicated person 29. Ignorance or mistake of fact or of law PART II—OFFENCES AGAINST THE PERSON CHAPTER I—JUSTIFIABLE FORCE AND HARM 30. Justification for force or harm 31.
    [Show full text]
  • The Judgment-Proof Society
    The Judgment-Proof Society "As the system currently operates, liability is, for wrongdoers ... voluntary." 1 Stephen G. Gilles* Table a/Contents I. Introduction: The Myth ofPersonal Tort Liability 605 II. Rethinking the ludgment-ProofProblem 607 A. How Big Is the ludgment-ProofProblem, and Why Should We Care? 607 B. The Legal Barriers to Collecting Tort Claims: An Overview 61 7 III. The Principal Barriers to Collecting Tort Claims 623 A. How Tortfeasors' Income Is Insulated from Tort Claims 623 1. EXelTIpt InCOlTIe 624 2. Restrictions on Garnishment 625 3. Other Restrictions on the Efficacy ofGarnishment (and Other Postjudgment Remedies) 628 B. How Tortfeasors' Real and Personal Property Is Insulated from Tort Claims 628 1. Property Exemption Laws 630 2. Barriers to Collecting from Nonexempt Home Equity 632 3. Barriers to Collecting Other Personal Property 633 C. How the Affluent Use Trusts to Insulate Their Wealth frOITI Tort ClailTIs 635 1. Spendthrift Trusts 635 2. The (Largely Ineffective) Doctrine ofFraudulent 1. Lynn M. LoPucki, The Death ofLiability, 106 YALE LJ. 1, 54 (1996). * Professor ofLaw, Quinnipiac University School ofLaw. Thanks to Kenneth Crotty, Leslie Dougiello, Laurie N. Feldman, and Nicola Nelson for excellent research assistance, and to Tom Baker, Neal Feigenson, Paul Lewis, Leonard Long, Nelson Lund, Steven Shavell, Frederick Sperling, and pmiicipants in workshops at Chicago-Kent, Connecticut, John Marshall, Quinnipiac, and Wake Forest for helpful comments. 603 604 63 WASH. & LEE L. REV 603 (2006) Conveyances 637 3. Offshore Asset Protection Trusts 639 D. How Retirement Funds Are Insulated from Tort Claims 642 E. Bankruptcy (or the Threat of Bankruptcy) as a Torts-Evasion Strategy 648 1.
    [Show full text]
  • RIGHTS BEHIND BARS Landmark Judicial Pronouncements 2010-2019 ABOUT CHRI
    CHRI 2020 RIGHTS BEHIND BARS Landmark Judicial Pronouncements 2010-2019 ABOUT CHRI The Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) is an independent, non-governmental, non-profit organisation headquartered in New Delhi, with offices in London, United Kingdom, and Accra, Ghana. Since 1987, it has worked for the practical realization of human rights through strategic advocacy and engagement as well as mobilization around these issues in Commonwealth countries. CHRI’s specialisation in the areas of Access to Justice (ATJ) and Access to Information (ATI) are widely known. The ATJ programme has focussed on Police and Prison Reforms, to reduce arbitrariness and ensure transparency while holding duty bearers to account. CHRI looks at policy interventions, including legal remedies, building civil society coalitions and engaging with stakeholders. The ATI looks at Right to Information (RTI) and Freedom of Information laws across geographies, provides specialised advice, sheds light on challenging issues, processes for widespread use of transparency laws and develops capacity. CHRI reviews pressures on freedom of expression and media rights while a focus on Small States seeks to bring civil society voices to bear on the UN Human Rights Council and the Commonwealth Secretariat. A growing area of work is SDG 8.7 where advocacy, research and mobilization is built on tackling Contemporary Forms of Slavery and human trafficking through the Commonwealth 8.7 Network. CHRI has special consultative status with the UN Economic and Social Council and is accredited to the Commonwealth Secretariat. Recognised for its expertise by governments, oversight bodies and civil society, it is registered as a society in India, a limited charity in London and an NGO in Ghana.
    [Show full text]
  • Criminal Procedure - the Robert Alton Harris Decision: Federalism, Comity, and Judicial Civil Disobedience Deirdre J
    Golden Gate University Law Review Volume 23 Article 15 Issue 1 Ninth Circuit Survey January 1993 Criminal Procedure - The Robert Alton Harris Decision: Federalism, Comity, and Judicial Civil Disobedience Deirdre J. Cox Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.law.ggu.edu/ggulrev Part of the Criminal Law Commons Recommended Citation Deirdre J. Cox, Criminal Procedure - The Robert Alton Harris Decision: Federalism, Comity, and Judicial Civil Disobedience, 23 Golden Gate U. L. Rev. (1993). http://digitalcommons.law.ggu.edu/ggulrev/vol23/iss1/15 This Note is brought to you for free and open access by the Academic Journals at GGU Law Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Golden Gate University Law Review by an authorized administrator of GGU Law Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Cox: Criminal Procedure CRIMINAL PROCEDURE THE ROBERT ALTON HARRIS DECISION:l FEDERALISM, COMITY, AND JUDICIAL CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE I. INTRODUCTION On Tuesday, April 21, 1992, Robert Alton Harris became the first person to be executed in California in over 25 years. 2 It was perhaps predictable, therefore, that his execution was pre­ ceded by a flurry of legal activity.3 Last minute lawsuits pre­ empted a holiday weekend and extended into the early hours of the morning up until just 20 minutes before his 6:21 a.m. execu­ tion," The bulk of Harris' legal maneuvers encompassed a total of 16 habeas appeals over a 14 year period. II This article touches on only three of the many issues raised by the Harris case. 6 First, it explores the appropriateness of 1.
    [Show full text]
  • Reading Material on Criminal Trial
    For Private Circulation only Judicial Academy Jharkhand READING MATERIAL ON CRIMINAL TRIAL Remedy �n cases of absconding of accused F�aming of charge Sentencing V�ctim Compensation P�obation of O�fenders Act Prepared by:- Judicial Academy Jharkhand FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION ONLY READING MATERIAL ON CRIMINAL TRIAL Prepared by : Judicial Academy Jharkhand Reading Material on Criminal Trial INDEX 1. INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................1 2. WARRANT ......................................................................................................2 i. Types of Warrant ......................................................................................... 2 ii. Issuance of Warrants .................................................................................. 3 iii. Points to remember while passing an order for the issuance of a non-bailable warrant of arrest ....................................... 7 3. PROCLAMATION UNDER SECTION 82 ..................................................11 i. Section 82 ................................................................................................... 11 ii. “The Court has Reason To Believe” -Meaning ......................................... 14 iii. Points to remember before passing an order under Section 82, Cr.P.C. ........................................................... 15 4. ATTACHMENT UNDER SECTION 83 .......................................................23 i. Section 83-Attachment of property of person Absconding
    [Show full text]
  • NELSON V. CAMPBELL, COMMISSIONER, ALABAMA DEPARTMENT of CORRECTIONS, ET AL
    (Slip Opinion) OCTOBER TERM, 2003 1 Syllabus NOTE: Where it is feasible, a syllabus (headnote) will be released, as is being done in connection with this case, at the time the opinion is issued. The syllabus constitutes no part of the opinion of the Court but has been prepared by the Reporter of Decisions for the convenience of the reader. See United States v. Detroit Timber & Lumber Co., 200 U. S. 321, 337. SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES Syllabus NELSON v. CAMPBELL, COMMISSIONER, ALABAMA DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS, ET AL. CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT No. 03–6821. Argued March 29, 2004—Decided May 24, 2004 Three days before his scheduled execution by lethal injection, petitioner filed a 42 U. S. C. §1983 action against respondent Alabama prison officials, alleging that the use of a “cut-down” procedure requiring an incision into his arm or leg to access his severely compromised veins constituted cruel and unusual punishment and deliberate indiffer- ence to his medical needs in violation of the Eighth Amendment. Pe- titioner, who had already filed an unsuccessful federal habeas appli- cation, sought a permanent injunction against the cut-down’s use, a temporary stay of execution so the District Court could consider his claim’s merits, and orders requiring respondents to furnish a copy of the protocol on the medical procedures for venous access and direct- ing them to promulgate a venous access protocol that comports with contemporary standards. Respondents moved to dismiss the com- plaint for want of jurisdiction on the grounds that the §1983 claim and stay request were the equivalent of a second or successive habeas application subject to 28 U.
    [Show full text]
  • The Illusion of Control “Consensual” Executions, the Impending Death of Timothy Mcveigh, and the Brutalizing Futility of Capital Punishment
    UNITED STATES OF AMERICA The illusion of control “Consensual” executions, the impending death of Timothy McVeigh, and the brutalizing futility of capital punishment The death penalty cannot be useful, because of the example of barbarity it gives men. On crimes and punishments, Cesare Beccaria, 1764. There is no proof that the death penalty ever made a single murderer recoil when he had made up his mind, whereas clearly it had no effect but one of fascination on thousands of criminals; in other regards, it constitutes a repulsive example, the consequences of which cannot be foreseen. Reflections on the guillotine, Albert Camus, 1957. If...we are to be sincere in our efforts to reduce violence, there is one type of violence that we can with complete certainty eliminate. That is the killing of criminals by the state. The question is, will people learn to respect life better by threat or by example? And the uniform answer of history, comparative studies and experience is that man is an emulative animal. Norval Morris and Gordon Hawkins, US criminologists. A defendant’s voluntary submission to a barbaric punishment does not ameliorate the harm that imposing such a punishment causes to our basic societal values and to the integrity of our system of justice. Certainly a defendant’s consent to being drawn and quartered or burned at the stake would not license the State to exact such punishments. Whitmore v Arkansas, US Supreme Court, Justice Marshall dissenting, 1990. The death penalty, guns, violence in society, these cast a large cloud on America’s moral leadership.
    [Show full text]
  • The "Midnight Assassination Law" and Minnesota's Anti-Death Penalty Movement, 1849-1911 John D
    William Mitchell Law Review Volume 22 | Issue 2 Article 15 1996 The "Midnight Assassination Law" and Minnesota's Anti-Death Penalty Movement, 1849-1911 John D. Bessler Follow this and additional works at: http://open.mitchellhamline.edu/wmlr Recommended Citation Bessler, John D. (1996) "The "Midnight Assassination Law" and Minnesota's Anti-Death Penalty Movement, 1849-1911," William Mitchell Law Review: Vol. 22: Iss. 2, Article 15. Available at: http://open.mitchellhamline.edu/wmlr/vol22/iss2/15 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Law Reviews and Journals at Mitchell Hamline Open Access. It has been accepted for inclusion in William Mitchell Law Review by an authorized administrator of Mitchell Hamline Open Access. For more information, please contact [email protected]. © Mitchell Hamline School of Law Bessler: The "Midnight Assassination Law" and Minnesota's Anti-Death Penal THE "MIDNIGHT ASSASSINATION LAW" AND MINNESOTA'S ANTI-DEATH PENALTY MOVEMENT, 1849-191 1t John D. Besslertt I. INTRODUCTION ........................... 578 II. THE MINNESOTA TERRITORY AND THE EARLY STATEHOOD YEARS, 1849-1867 ................. 583 A. A Public Execution on the Prairie ............ 583 B. Lynch Mobs and FrontierJustice ............. 586 C. Early Abolitionist Efforts and the Execution of Anne Bilansky .............................. 589 D. More Public Hangings .................... 599 III. THE EXECUTION MORATORIUM, 1868-1884 ........ 603 A. The 1868 Act .......................... 603 B. The Repeal of the 1868 Act ................. 608 IV. THE RESUMPTION OF HANGINGS IN MINNESOTA, 1885-1889 . .............................. 614 A. Daytime Executions ...................... 614 B. The Barrett Boys and the Beginning of the 1889 Legislative Session ...................... 616 V. THE PASSAGE OF THE "MIDNIGHT ASSASSINATION LAW" IN 1889 ...........................
    [Show full text]
  • Table of Contents
    TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION 1 EXECUTION OF THE MENTALLY ILL3 THE RISK OF EXECUTING THE INNOCENT 4 INEFFECTIVE LEGAL REPRESENTATION9 FEDERAL FUNDING FOR DEATH ROW LAW CENTRES REMOVED 11 US CONGRESS ATTEMPTS TO LIMIT LEGAL APPEALS FOR DEATH ROW INMATES 12 FORMER GOVERNOR OF MISSISSIPPI’S STATE PRISON SPEAKS OUT AGAINST THE DEATH PENALTY12 THIRTY-EIGHTH STATE REINTRODUCES THE DEATH PENALTY 13 THREE STATES REJECT THE RETURN OF THE DEATH PENALTY14 FIRST EXECUTIONS IN MONTANA AND PENNSYLVANIA 15 CRUELTY OF EXECUTIONS 16 TEXAS TO ALLOW VICTIM’S FAMILY TO WITNESS EXECUTIONS 17 POLL SHOWS LITTLE SUPPORT FOR THE DEATH PENALTY AMONG POLICE CHIEFS 17 PARTICIPATION OF HEALTH PROFESSIONS IN THE EXECUTION PROCESS 18 PRISONERS WHO ABANDONED THEIR APPEALS AND SOUGHT EXECUTION 19 PRISONERS EXECUTED DURING 199521 STATISTICS24 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA Developments on the death penalty during 1995 Introduction At the end of 1995 an unprecedented number of prisoners - over 3,000 - were under sentence of death in 34 states and under US federal military law (8 prisoners) and US federal civilian law (6 prisoners). Fifty-six prisoners were executed; a higher total than in any previous single year since states revised their death penalty statutes in the mid-1970s. This brings to 313 the total number of prisoners executed in the USA since 1977. New York became the thirty-eighth state to reintroduce the death penalty in March 1995. The states of Pennsylvania and Montana carried out their first executions since the death penalty resumed in 1977. However the two prisoners executed in Pennsylvania had chosen to abandon their appeals and had sought execution.
    [Show full text]