A strange fruit, abolishing the death penalty La pena di morte è come la schiavitù, nessuno può imporla

Criminal negligence

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Published on Sunday, 25 November 2012 03:13

http://www.freep.com/article/99999999/OPINION01/120805044/&template=theme&theme=criminal_negligence

Decisions Open Door to Appeals of Plea Bargains

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Published on Saturday, 24 November 2012 05:55

WSJ 23 Nov 2012 http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390443624204578058872890444016.html
Two recent Supreme Court decisions helped win freedom for a California man who was given a 25-year minimum sentence after pleading guilty to passing a bad check, the latest development in a legal re-evaluation of the rights of defendants who engage in plea bargains.
In late September, a three-judge panel of the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ordered a hearing into possible missteps by an attorney representing Tyrone W. Miles.
Mr. Miles had alleged he received inadequate legal counsel when he cut a deal with state prosecutors in 2005 for using a bogus $474 check in a convenience store in Hanford, the central-California town where he lived.
As a result, the 42-year-old Navy veteran said he lost out on a plea bargain that would have given him a six-year sentence instead of the 25 years to life he received when he later did plead guilty under California's so-called "three strikes" law for repeat offenders.

George Allen case raises question: How do things go wrong?

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Published on Wednesday, 21 November 2012 03:09

St Louis today November 18, 2012 
http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/columns/bill-mcclellan/george-allen-case-raises-question-how-do-things-go-wrong/article_3950dd2e-b1c0-5d5a-96ae-76b48e5e9f5b.html

After spending almost 30 years in prison for the rape and murder of Mary Bell, George Allen was set free Wednesday.

Activist discusses work against death penalty

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Published on Wednesday, 21 November 2012 03:01

November 16, 2012
http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Activist-discusses-work-against-death-penalty-4045184.php

SisterHelen Prejean, 73, anti-death penalty advocate and author of "Dead Man
Walking," which was made into a movie in 1995 of the same name, was in Houston for the 10th anniversary of GRACE, the Gulf Region Advocacy Center, which represents low-income death-penalty defendants at no cost. She spoke with Houston Chronicle reporter Harvey Rice about her passion for her cause.