Death Penalty News

Just ask a Dallas woman who spent a year in jail without talking to a lawyer. DALLAS - Shuranda Williams spent more than a year in the county jail here, waiting to talk to someone about fighting the murder charge she faces. The police have said she was involved in the 2019 killing of a suspected drug dealer; she insists she wasn’t. If she’s convicted of capital murder, Williams, 44, faces a minimum sentence of life in prison without parole. She wanted a lawyer to help her make her case and to argue for her release from jail, but she couldn’t afford to hire one. If prosecutors had announced they were seeking the death penalty, Williams would have been guaranteed a pair of lawyers whose expertise in capital cases has been vetted by a court-appointed screening committee. The government would have paid for an investigator and a mental health expert to examine her case. And under national legal guidelines , her lawyers would have had a special obligation to aggressively assert every possibl...

There are 56,000 people in the United States serving life-without-parole sentences who don’t get the same legal defense or opportunities to appeal as those facing execution. In Texas, a death sentence is the harshest punishment for someone convicted of a serious crime. But life without parole is a close second, and it comes with fewer legal protections than those facing execution are afforded. It has also become a much more common sentence with almost 56,000 people serving nationwide – a 66% increase since 2003. Cary Aspinwall has been investigating that disparity for The Marshall Project and The Dallas Morning News. She says the legal system doesn’t provide as robust a defense for those facing a life-without-parole sentence. “The idea … for so long was that death is different because we are taking your life away; we have to give you special protections and built in these special protections,” Aspinwall said. “But there’s sort of a little more laissez faire attitude when it comes to li...

Tomorrow, October 10, is recognised as World Day Against the Death Penalty. It is a useful, indeed, needed reminder of ending of the death penalty. Some 142 countries, representing 74 per cent of the UN member states, have already stopped using the death penalty, either by removing it from their penal code or by not carrying out executions for a long time. Jamaica falls within the second group: Its last execution was in 1988. And the abolitionist trend is continuing, with the number of death sentences and executions also falling. Executions were carried out in 2018 in 20 countries, representing a historic low of only 10 percent of the country total. Human rights group Stand Up for Jamaica (SUFJ) firmly opposes the death penalty at all times and in all circumstances. The death penalty is a cruel, inhuman, and degrading punishment violating the right to life. The death penalty means revenge, not justice, and its abolition contributes to the enhancement of human dignity. This October 10,...

In 2019, poor and marginalised litigants approaching the Supreme Court can expect quality legal aid to fight their cases. This came about after an in-house study by the Supreme Court Legal Services Committee (SCLSC), that concluded that poor litigants on death row or facing harsh punishments are getting a raw deal on account of poverty. While this mechanism could take time to set in, 2 recent judgments by the apex court, both given in early December, did factor the poor socio-economic condition of prisoners while commuting their capital punishment to life term. One such case was death row convict Antony alias Antappan who wiped out 6 members of a family in Kerala in 2001. The other was Rajendra Wasnaik from Maharashtra, who brutally raped and murdered a 3-year-old in 2007. Quoting from the report prepared by the SCLSC in its judgment, a bench of justices Madan B Lokur (since retired), S Abdul Nazeer and Deepak Gupta said, "The poor are more often than not at the receivi...

According to Iranian media, the head of the country's Judiciary system has ordered a Supreme Court's Uniform Procedure Decision come into effect. The decision halts the execution of drug defendants, to review their cases. However, the Supreme Court's verdict was issued in November 2017. Iran Human Rights (IHR) has a few points for clarification. The new amendment to Iranian drug law, which was enforced on November 14, can reduce the number of defendants on death row. According to official statistics, the number exceeds 5300. However, there are still some dubious points about the reports that need an explanation. Most importantly, it is not clear whether the defendants or the Section for Implementation of Sentence should file an appeal. A January 9 report notes that "The judges responsible for implementation of verdicts are obligated to immediately delay executions and pursue all cases that are subject to Clause (b), Article 10, of the Islamic Penal Code ...

China has launched a pilot program to ensure every criminal defendant has access to a defense lawyer for their trial. The Supreme People's Court and the Ministry of Justice jointly released a document Wednesday which stipulates that if a defendant has not retained a lawyer himself/herself, the court should inform legal assistance agencies to appoint a defence counsel for the defendant. At present, a defense lawyer is only mandatory for juveniles and defendants with certain physical or mental disabilities, or in cases where the defendants face life imprisonment or death penalty sentences. According to the document, if the appellate court finds that a defendant has not been allocated a defense lawyer due to the court's failure to correctly inform legal assistance agencies, the original ruling should be revoked and the case should be sent back for a retrial. The document also guaranteed financial assistance for the services. It required lawyers to be diligen...

When you see one at the courthouse, the other usually is nearby. Allan Williams and Steve Brittain, friends for decades, are among a handful of Travis County defense attorneys who are approved to represent indigent defendants in death penalty cases. Both are 68 and not long from turning in their courthouse badges and retiring. And that’s a concern, according to observers, who point to a shortage of up-and-comers ready to replenish the roster. “It’s dwindling,” state District Judge Julie Kocurek said. Capital murder cases chew up big chunks of time — 400 hours, sometimes — which might be the biggest reason just nine attorneys in Austin have applied and been approved to represent the indigent defendants in the 21 capital cases pending in Travis County. Williams has three of them and Brittain two. They’re teaming up on another one. “It’s challenging,” Brittain said. “It might be a little like childbirth. You forget how bad it is, and then you want to do it again...