criminal justice system

A man convicted of killing two people in Dallas in 2001 died by lethal injection Wednesday evening, despite pleas to stay the execution from a man who survived an attack by the murderer.

U.S.

District Judge Lee Yeakel upheld the execution of convicted killer Mark Stroman on Wednesday afternoon. Yeakel said in a court order that he lacks jurisdiction to interfere with executions and the criminal justice system would be corrupted if the court granted Stroman clemency.

SAN FRANCISCO — Newly released videos recorded by the Northern California couple who held Jaycee Lee Dugard captive for 18 years provide chilling details about the kidnappers and their outings to stealthily shoot footage of young girls frolicking on a playground and elsewhere.

In addition, video of a parole officer visiting the home of abductors Phillip and Nancy Garrido shows yet again how the state botched chances to find Dugard as she was kept hidden in the backyard of the couple’s Antioch home.

The Texas Tribune is using film to shed light on the potential flaws of the case of Cameron Todd Willingham, a man whose guilt has remained in question since his 2004 execution.

“Incendiary: The Willingham Case” is a documentary directed by radio-television-film lecturer Stephen Mims and School of Law alumnus Joe Bailey Jr. that deals with the controversy surrounding the conviction and execution of Cameron Todd Willingham.

The Tribune hosted an advance screening and conversation Tuesday about the documentary.

Texastough/macmillanbooks Robert Perkinson -Texas Tough
Weds, July 14th
BookPeople (603 N. Lamar)
7PM, FREE

From The Tao Of Criminal Defense Trial Lawyering, No Balm In Gilead:

Up through law school, we’re taught that the American criminal justice system is a wonderful thing.

The organized bar—the ABA, local and state bar associations—pushes the same propaganda. It’s a lie.

The U.S. criminal justice system typically pits the defense against the prosecution. But defense lawyers for poor clients will get a hand from their usual adversaries when the Justice Department launches the Access to Justice initiative.

A top constitutional lawyer is taking a leave of absence from Harvard to spearhead the project.

D.A. Confidential is outed by the Austin American Statesman:

Mark Pryor said that friends, neighbors and fellow lawyers regularly ask him about his job as a felony prosecutor in Travis County.

And the former newspaper reporter, who hopes to soon be a published novelist, loves to write.

It’s been twenty years. Two years after the 1989 murder of a Georgia police officer, Troy Davis was convicted and sentenced to die for the crime.

He has still, eighteen long years later, still not been executed.

Former federal prosecutor and noted softie Bob Barr writes an op-ed piece in the NYT:

In the comments section of an Austin American Statesman story titled “Drugs, mental health and the justice system” a reader who identifies himself as a former probation officer wrote: