Death Penalty

GENERAL RESOURCES

Capital Defense Network
www.capdefnet.org

Includes resources to help defense counsel become familiar with the essential principles involved in representing death row inmates in habeas corpus proceedings. The site is split into the Habeas Assistance Training portion, which contains helpful information for those in state-post-conviction proceedings, and the Federal Death Penalty Resource Council portion, which is geared more toward those in federal habeas proceedings. Contents include case summaries, online litigation guides, and important updates for federal capital trial and habeas practice. The website is sponsored by the Defender Division of the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts.

Capital Defense Weekly
http://capitaldefenseweekly.com

Covers case "highlights" on a weekly or bi-weekly basis and is also available in email subscription format.

Federal Habeas Corpus Review
http://profs.findlaw.com/habeas.index.html

This website contains Todd Maybrown's Federal habeas Corpus Review: A Brief Overview and The New Habeas Act Checklist, which offer a good overview for those new to the field of post-conviction litigation of habeas corpus jurisprudence since the AEDPA.

National Juvenile Defender Center
http://www.njdc.info

NJDC provides support to public defenders, appointed counsel, law school clinical programs and non-profit law centers to ensure quality representation in urban, suburban, rural and tribal areas. NJDC offers a wide range of integrated services to juvenile defenders, including training, technical assistance, advocacy, networking, collaboration, capacity building and coordination.

ABA Moratorium Implementation Project
www.abanet.org/moratorium

Contains recent news on the death penalty, state-by-state information on moratorium efforts, and a resource list for death penalty administration and moratorium issues.

Death Penalty Information Center
www.deathpenaltyinfo.org

Contains a wealth of information on the death penalty, including statistics from each state and information on various topics, such as race, juveniles and innocence.

Death Penalty Representation Project
http://www.abanet.org/deathpenalty

Includes information about pro bono death penalty representation and a link to the ABA Guidelines for the Appointment and Performance of Defense Counsel in Death Penalty Cases.

National Association of Federal Defenders
http://federaldefenders.com

This website contains a summary of the various reversible error lists from around the country.


COURT SITES

U.S. Courts Home Page
www.uscourts.gov

Provides a link to all U.S. Federal Courts. Also contains a vast library.

Supreme Court Center
http://supreme.lp.findlaw.com/supreme_court

Provides information on Supreme Court cases, including certs granted, issues in pending cases, briefs and other materials.

Supreme Court Oral Arguments
http://www.mindsort.com/Habeas.htm

Official transcripts of all recent oral arguments are available from http://www.supremecourtus.gov/oral_arguments/argument_transcripts.html. The official transcripts do not indicate which Justice asked each question. Listed below are selected unofficial transcripts that identify each questioner, based on (possibly inacurate) notes taken at the courthouse.

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
http://www.ca8.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/new/briefs/cgi

Provides access to all briefs filed in cases before the Eighth Circuit.


STATE-SPECIFIC RESOURCES

Federal Public Defender for the District of Columbia
http://www.dcfpd.org

Contains the best collection of motions and briefs for noncapital cases on the web. This site is easy to navigate and provides information on training and CLE opportunities.

Equal Justice Initiative
www.eji.org

Provides information about death penalty litigation in Alabama. Contains a detailed outline of, and ordering information on, the Alabama Capital Defense Trial Manual and the Post Conviction Manual.

Alabama Federal Defenders Office, Middle District of Alabama
www.almfd.org

The Office of the Federal Community Defender of the Middle District of Alabama staffs attorneys who are appointed to represent persons accused of federal criminal law violations who are unable to retain private counsel, including those in post-conviction proceedings. The site contains links to criminal justice resources, publications, and important news.

Justice Center at University of Alaska
http://webserver.cts.uaa.alaska.edu/just/death/index.html

This site contains a good deal of general information and internet links about the death penalty.

The California Appellate Project (CAP)
http://www.capsf.org/

This website contains a vast array of resource materials designed to be helpful to legal professionals handling death penalty appeals. Among the items to be found there are: an electronic brief bank, CAP publications (including RECAP, the Death Penalty Index), investigation and mitigation resources, practice guides and statistical information. CAP is a legal resource center for death row inmates challenging their convictions and sentences and is a non-profit corporation assisting private counsel appointed to represent indigent defendants in direct appeal and state habeas proceedings.

The Other Side of the Wall
http://prisonwall.org

This website is operated by Arnold Erickson, a pioneer in criminal defense, and is one of the oldest active sites dealing with issues of post-conviction relief. The site is particularly helpful for California practitioners.

Florida Commission on Capital Cases
http://www.floridacapitalcases.state.fl.us/ccc/index.cfm

Provides resources for those working on a capital case in Florida. Includes attorney registry list, updated inmate legal status, post-conviction time frames and list of resource attorneys.

Florida Supreme Court Briefs
http://www.law.fsu.edu/library/flsupct/index.html

Contains all Florida Supreme Court briefs since 1998, including many from capital cases. The relative high quality of legal counsel in Florida's death cases make these briefs especially appealing. Note: the briefs are in PDF format and must be found by docket number.

Southern Center for Human Rights
www.schr.org

Provides an introduction to Georgia's death penalty law. Lists and links to death penalty articles and reports. Also includes a listing of death penalty defense conferences and seminars.

Georgia Indigent Defense Council
www.gidc.com

Includes information on death penalty cases in Georgia.

Georgia Multi-County Public Defender Office
http://georgiacapitaldefenders.com

The Multi-County Public Defender Office serves as a trial resource center for attorneys handling death penalty cases. This website contains information on defending a Georgia capital case at trial.

Gulf Region Advocacy Center (GRACE)
http:///www.GraceLaw.com

GRACE is a nonprofit providing quality representation to indigent persons charged with capital crimes in the state courts of Texas and Louisiana.

Illinois Governor's Commission on Capital Punishment
http://www.idoc.state.il.us/ccp/

The final report from the Illinois Commission on Capital Punishment, established by Governor George Ryan shortly after he instituted a moratorium on executions in the state of Illinois in 2000, following the highly publicized "exonerations" of 13 death row inmates since 1976. The report concludes with several controversial recommendations, all restricting the ability of prosecutors to seek a death sentence and the judge and jury's power to deliver one.

Illinois State Appellate Defender
http://state.il.us/defender/dpenalty.html

This website provides useful resources for cases in Illinois and the Seventh Circuit. The site contains state and federal court opinions, relief grants made by the Illinois Supreme Court, summaries of issues before the Illinois Supreme Court and the Seventh Circuit, as well as a catalog of off-line information.

Kentucky Department of Public Advocacy
http://dpa.state.ky.us

This website provides information for cases in Kentucky and contains DPA's periodical, The Advocate, the Preservation Manual, and the Kentucky Evidence Manual. Although this site is aimed at Kentucky practitioners, the applicability of the materials presented (especially the Preservation Manual) is well worth examination.

Louisiana Indigent Defense Assistance Board
www.lidab.com

Site for The Louisiana Indigent Defense Assistance Board, is an Executive Branch Board of the State of Louisiana. It contains numerous helpful links for Louisiana defenders, including a portion of the Louisiana Capital Trial Manual, a Public Defender Directory, the Louisiana Standards of Indigent Defense, news items, and statistics.

Missouri Public Interest Litigation Clinic
www.pilc.net

Links, briefs and related legal documents relevant to post-conviction capital representation in Missouri.

New York State Defender Association
http://www.nysda.org

This website offers resources for criminal defense and death penalty litigation in the northeast. The site contains a "Hot Topics" section, which is one of the best of its kind on the web. It is also a leading source for defense of those "rounded up" since the terrorist attacks.

Tennessee Capital Case Information
http://www.tsc.state.tn.us/OPINIONS/TSC/CapCases/CapCases.htm

This website was created by the Tennessee Supreme Court and contains a special section for the capital cases in which a "serious" execution date has been set at least once. This site also contains materials from Philip Workman's stay and is useful in preparing to fight for a stay following exhaustion of all normal means of appeal.

Texas Defender Service
www.texasdefender.org

Includes helpful resources on death penalty litigation in Texas. Links to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.

The Virginia Indigent Defense Coalition
www.vidcoalition.org

This website contains helpful information for lawyers in Virginia, including: a report on the state of indigent defense in Virginia; an assessment summary of Virginia juvenile justice; and a news room.

Virginia Capital Case Clearinghouse (VC3)
http://www.vc3.org

VC3 is a Washington & Lee law school clinic that serves as a litigation support center for court-appointed defense attorneys at the pretrial and trial stages of capital cases throughout Virginia. VC3.org is an on-linecapital defense resource maintained by VC3 director and W&L clinical professor David Bruck. The website provides a variety of materials, including sample motions and memoranda, jury instructions, capital case transcript excerpts, and litigation guides on key issues in Virginia death penalty trials.


NATIONAL RESOURCES

Cornell Death Penalty Page
www.law.cornell.edu/topics/death_penalty.html

Includes general information and resources about federal habeas corpus review and capital punishment.

National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers
www.nacdl.org

NACDL is the preeminent organization in the United States advancing the mission of the nation's criminal defense lawyers to ensure justice and due process for persons accused of crime, with significant coverage of issues relating to the death penalty. The site contains news, The Champion magazine, legislative alerts and other useful information.

National Legal Aid and Defenders Association
www.nlada.org/defender

This site contains materials on NLADA Indigent Defense Standards, defender trainings and conferences, legislation, technical assistance, and funding opportunities. A link to Indigent Defense takes you to the only national periodical written exclusively for the nation's indigent defense professionals.

The Justice Project
www.thejusticeproject.org

Includes information on wrongful convictions and reforms intended to prevent them. Also contains updated information on efforts to pass the Innocence Protection Act (IPA).

National Law Journal
http://www.law.com

This website contains the electronic version of the nation's largest circulation newspaper. The online version offers email updates of the daily edition and a searchable archive of prior stories.

Jurist: Legal Education Network
http://jurist.law.pitt.edu

This website hosts academia from around the country writing and debating about issue impacting the profession.

Jonathan Lyon's investigative links
http://www.teatrovista.org/a/inv.html

This website provides investigators and lawyers alike a
place to start for on-line research purposes. It has been used to to lecture at both DePaul and at the Darrow college at Univ. of Michigan.

Campaign for Criminal Justice Reform
http://justice.policy.net/

Includes background information on the national political discussion surrounding the death penalty and contains Prof. Liebmnan's study on error in capital cases.

Equal Justice USA
http://www.quixote.org/ej/

This website contains a collection of materials relating to moratoria, execution of innocents, and the case of Mumia Abu Jamal.

Jeff Flax Homepage
http://www.jflax.com

Links to other sites containing valuable information on all aspects of criminal law and procedure

Death Penalty Defense
http://deathpenaltydefense.com

This website is a project of Prof. William S. Geimer of Washington and Lee University. Prof. Geimer has defended capital cases in the courtroom, and as director of Virginia Capital Case Clearinghouse, has provided direct trial-level assistance to defense attorneys in more than 400 death penalty cases. This site contains resources for trial attorneys in capital cases.

Progressive Jewish Alliance (PJA)
http://www.pjalliance.org/

PJA is a national membership organization dedicated to the Jewish traditions of pursuing peace, promoting equality and diversity, and ensuring social and economic justice in the United States, Israel, the Middle East, and throughout the world. One of PJA's highest priorities is establishing a moratorium on the death penalty in California.

Murder Victims Family for Reconciliation
http://www.mvfr.org/

Murder Victims Family for Reconciliation is a national organization of family members of both homicide and state killings who oppose the death penalty, advocate for programs and policies that reduce the rate of homicide and promote crime prevention and alternatives to violence and supports programs that address the needs of victims, helping them to rebuild their lives.

The Sentencing Project
http://www.sentencingproject.org/

The Sentencing Project is an independent source of criminal justice policy analysis, data and program information for the public and policy makers.

The International Justice Project
www.internationaljusticeproject.org

The International Justice Project works towards the development, coordination and increased employment of international law and human rights standards as they pertain to capital punishment. The site contains information on international law and issues relating to the death penalty for juveniles, mentally retarded persons, the mentally ill, and foreign nationals. The site also contains a brief bank and general resources