Browse Items (60 total)
- Collection: Michael A. Mello Papers, Series 1 News Clippings, Binder 2, 1983-1994
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Florida Challenged on Determining Sanity of Condemned Inmates
Determining whether a person is competent to be executed should be left to judges and not governors. Psychiatrists have no real guidelines for examining the competence of a death row inmate.
Florida kills Viet Nam vet in electric chair
David Funchess was the first U.S. Vietnam Vet to be executed by a state.
Graham's gratitude
An article about Florida Gov. Bob Graham's speech at the dedication of the Vietnam memorial and how Graham ignored the last wishes of David Livingston Funchess, a veteran convicted to the electric chair.
Lynch law justice
A magazine article that discusses the United States Supreme Court's decision on attorneys' usage of peremptory challenges for minority jurors when the defendant is also a minority.
Death Row: Last Skirmish
A magazine article that discusses capital punishment in America and how lawyers are trying to get rid of it.
'Death court' creates bottleneck of execution appeals, critics say
A newspaper account of the frustration felt by death penalty advocates at the slow appeals process, which they felt played into death row inmates motivation to extend their lives using drawn out appeals. The focus is on the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of…
Second ruling, had it come earlier, may have saved some inmates, ex-public defender says
An article about a 1987 U.S. Supreme Court decision that allowed Florida courts to consider additional mitigating circumstances in death penalty cases.
Gridlock on Death Row
This Newsweek article uses the failed death row appeal of Warren McClesky by the Supreme Court to bring up complicated issues surrounding capital punishment. Writers argue that the Supreme Court and most in the legal system admit there is racial bias…
Slotnick for the Defense
An article about Bary Slotnick, defender of the subway vigilante.
Mistake Nearly Cost A Life
Joseph Green Brown alias "Shabaka," a wrongly convicted rapist and murder on death row for 14 years, released in 1987, now struggles to enjoy his freedom while he lives in a society that he believes is a failed justice system that has prejudice…
Professor worked on final Bundy appeals
Michael Mello gave advice to Ted Bundy and his legal counsel.
Letters: Death penalty law
A letter to the editor of The Washington Lawyer in response to an article titled "The Last Defense" by John Greenya which critiqued the stance of the article in relation to criminal justice, specifically referring death penalty cases.
Big firms offer death row defense
Big law firms offer lawyers to defend people on death row
Appeals ruling key to death sentence: Inmate leaves Death Row for life term
Paul Edward Magill was sentenced to death for crimes he committed as a juvenile. He went through many trials with many appeals. He is now withstanding the last trial to determine his fate. Magill stated that more people had gotten off Death Row than…
Booker appeals frustrate lawyer
A newspaper article about Todd Booker. Booker murdered a 94 year old woman and claimed that his death sentence was unconstitutional. Booker was helped by lawyers to push his death sentence.
Booker death sentence reversed: the state immediately appealed the ruling to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta
The death sentence of Stephen Todd Booker was overturned because the jury did not look at all mitigating evidence. Booker was before convicted of beating, raping, and stabbing a 94 year old woman.
Killer escapes execution again 11 years after widow's murder
The 90-pound, 94 year old widow was raped, beaten and stabbed to death in minutes. Nearly eleven years later, her convicted assailant’s battle for life continues as his lawyers keep winning delays in court.
State joins death row suit
The article discusses Florida joining the lawsuit against the federal government to stop the federal government from mandating the appointment of lawyers to death row inmates for appeals. The article also accounts for the different opinions of state…
Last-minute strategy aims for Bundy stay
Mello argues that there is a good case for a potential stay of execution for Bundy.
