Newsroom
Members of the media are encouraged to call Terry McCaffrey at Tel: 650-324-7517 Cellphone 408-515-0341 or Eric Moon at 510-604-3162.
Recent Death Penalty News
California chief justice urges reevaluating death penalty, Los Angeles Times, December 24, 2011Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye, one of the high court's more conservative members, says the death penalty is no longer working for the state. Read Full Article.
UPDATE ON THE CASE OF DAVID RALEY
On August 10, 2011, the California Supreme Court directed the Santa Clara
County Superior Court to hold a hearing to consider the evidence that
David is mentally retarded. If the court finds him to be retarded, he
would be resentenced to life without parole. The case has not yet been
assigned to a superior court judge, and the schedule for the proceedings
in the superior court has not yet been set. There will be many procedural
steps before the case will be ready for a hearing. The case will be decided
by a judge alone, without a jury. Lawyers in the San Francisco office
of Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, a large international law firm, have taken
on David’s case pro bono.
UPDATE ON LETHAL INJECTION
The pretense of lethal injection as a peaceful and painless way to execute
prisoners is unraveling, and this may change the face of the death penalty
in the United States. Read
Full Article.
SECOND THOUGHTS OF A HANGING JUDGE
Hon. Donald McCartin, LA Times, March 25, 2011
I presided over 10 murder cases in which I sentenced the convicted
men to die. As a result, I became known as "the hanging judge of Orange
County," an appellation that, I will confess, I accepted with some pride.
Full
Text
THE PENALTY OF DEATH AND A CONSISTENT
ETHIC OF LIFE
Rev. Salvatore J. Cordileone, March 24, 2011
At an event sponsored by California People of Faith Bishop Cordileone
of Oakland spoke at Queen of Apostles Church in San Jose on a Consistent
Ethic of Life, speaking of the "seamless garment" philosophy, which holds
that such issues as abortion, capital
punishment, militarism, euthanasia, social justice, and economic injustice
all demand a consistent application of moral principles that value the
sacredness of human life.
Full Text of the
Bishop's Speech
GOV. PAT QUINN SIGNS S.B. 3539 INTO
LAW, ABOLISHES DEATH PENALTY IN ILLINOIS
March 9, 2011
The governor's action makes Illinois the 16th state to abolish the death
penalty.
Statement
from Pat Quinn
DEATH PENALTY: POST-GENOCIDE COUNTRIES BAN EXECUTIONS TO 'END
REVENGE', Interpress Service, February 25, 2010
More than 1,000 activists and experts attending this week's
Fourth World Congress Against the Death Penalty in this Swiss city are
building a network of cooperation to support local organisations campaigning
for human rights in countries that retain capital punishment…
Full
text