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Spaziano asks to be set free
An article in the St. Petersburg Times describing how the main witness in the murder investigation may have been under "Hypnosis" from the police. Diliso, the chief witness in the 1975 trial says that the technique the police used to coax memories…
Spaziano to take case to governor instead of courts
Spaziano's lawyers want him to be declared innocent and pardoned by Governor Chiles. One of the key witnesses for Spaziano's original case admitted he lied in his original witness testimony.
A letter from death row
A newspaper article regarding capital punishment which includes a letter written by death row inmate Joe Giarratano. The Ninth Amendment is referenced addressing constitutional law and the existence of "unenumerated" rights outside those expressly…
Wilder Grants Death Sentence Reversal
Governor L. Douglas Wilder commuted Joseph M. Giarratano's death sentence. Giarratano's sentence was reduced to life imprisonment with the possibility of parole in 13 years.
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.
'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…
Death Row: Last Skirmish
A magazine article that discusses capital punishment in America and how lawyers are trying to get rid of it.
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.
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.
Lawyers Argue Over Executing Young Slayers
An article on the execution of juveniles in the state of Florida by the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.