For the Week of: 11/2/2008 United States v. Pepin (E.D.N.Y.) -- Life Sentence, November 7, 2008 A federal judge sentenced Humberto Pepin Taveras to life imprisonment after a jury was unable to reach a unanimous verdict regarding the sentence. Pepin was convicted of carrying out the murders of two drug dealers and dismembering their bodies.

For the Week of: 9/7/2008 United States v. Eye & Sandstrom -- Life Sentence A federal judge today sentenced two Kansas City men to life in prison for the racially motivated murder of a pedestrian in March 2005. Click here for full article

For the Week of: 8/24/2008 U.S. v. Danny Damon Smith, Death-eligible charge dropped Murder-related charges against a Gilpin Court drug dealer accused of killing an FBI informant were dismissed yesterday at the request of the U.S. Attorney´s Office. Click here for article

For the Week of: 7/20/2008 Jeffrey Paul v. U.S. (8th Circuit) The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the denial of habeas relief. The Court of Appeals found that the district court did not err in denying habeas relief on Paul´s claim that his attorneys provided ineffective assistance of counsel by failing to investigate and present evidence of his mental,medical and physical history; viewing the evidence and information proffered in connection with the claim in the context of the trial record as a whole, Paul has failed to show prejudice from counsel´s actions as there is no reasonable probability that the jury would not have selected the sentence of death if trial counsel had gathered and presented the additional evidence; district court did not err in denying claim that trial counsel were ineffective in failing to pursue his allegations that he was incompetent to stand trial; Paul´s alleged incompetence did not bar him from presenting his Sixth Amendment claims in the habeas proceedings,and the district court´s finding that Paul was competent to proceed in his habeas was neither clearly erroneous nor prejudicial. Click here to get full opinion (enter 05-3431 in case number search box

For the Week of: 6/22/2008 United States v. Burton (D MD) -- Deauthorization On the eve of trial, the Attorney General decided not to seek the death penalty in this VCAR Baltimore case. Click here for article

For the Week of: 5/25/2008 U.S. v. Barnes (SDNY) -- Unanimous Life Sentence After a short deliberation, a federal jury unanimously sentenced Khalid Barnes to life imprisonment. Click here for article

For the Week of: 5/18/2008 United States v. Rudy Sablan (D.Co.) -- Life Sentence The jury in Rudy Sablan’s case – a BOP prison murder charging Rudy and his cousin with killing their cellmate – returned a life verdict on May 20th. Click here for article

U.S. v. Jamal Shakir (MD Tn) -- Life Sentence On May 20th the jury in Jamal Shakir’s case returned life verdicts on all six capital counts. Click here for article

For the Week of: 5/11/2008 U.S. v. Gary Eye -- Life Sentence (WDMo) A unanimous jury sentenced Gary Eye to life imprisonment on May 13th. Click here for article

U.S. v. Steven Sandstrom (WDMo) -- Life Sentence After handing down a life sentence to co-defendant and triggerman, Gary Eye, a federal jury sentenced Steven Sandstrom to life. Click here for article

For the Week of: 3/9/2008 NY Times Article -- Aversion to Death Penalty in New York They are an ignominious bunch: two Bronx heroin dealers who murdered an informant, a father and son who killed three people in a drug deal, a Brooklyn gangster hired in the killing of a husband for the victim’s wife. Click for full article

United States v. Caraballo On March 13, 2008, the jury in US v. Gilberto Caraballo returned a unanimous life verdict after three hours of deliberations. This was a two-body drug-related case which DOJ refused to re-consider despite the trial judge´s urgings. Co-defendant Louis Aguilar (charged w/ one of the bodies and also prosecuted capitally) got life from a jury in January 2007.

United States v. Gabrion The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati ruled 2-1 on March 14, 2008, that the federal government had jurisdiction to prosecute Gabrion in the 1997 drowning of Rachel Timmerman in Oxford Lake because it is part of the Manistee National Forest. Click here for article

For the Week of: 3/2/2008 New York Judges Express Concern about Death Penalty Cases Brooklyn, NY, judges express concern about the number of federal capital prosecutions wondering whether the cases are worth the time and money. Click here for article

For the Week of: 2/24/2008 United States v. Mosher (EDTx), February 27, 2008 In a prison-killing case in Beaumont, TX, in the sixth day of deliberations, the jury has reported a deadlock in the selection portion of the penalty phase and the court has imposed life.

For the Week of: 2/17/2008 United States v. McTier (EDNY) -- LIFE VERDICT A federal jury in Brooklyn declined to sentence McTier, convicted of three gang-related killings, to death. Click here for article

For the Week of: 12/9/2007 United States v. Galan (N.D.Ohio) On December 14th, the jury in U.S. v. Tommy Galan, N.D. Ohio., returned a life verdict. This was a two victim drug conspiracy murder. It is the first federal death case tried in Toledo and only the second in N.D. of Ohio. (Donna Moonda got a unanimous life in Cleveland earlier this year.) The jury was sent out to deliberate at 11 a.m. and came back 6 hours later with life.

For the Week of: 12/2/2007 Death Penalty dropped in all remaining Aryan Brotherhood prosecutions Federal prosecutors announced recently that all remaining notices of intent to to seek death will be withdrawn in the 8-year series of federal indictments filed against alleged members of the federal Aryan Brotherhood prison gang. A 140 page indictment including 23 death eligible defendants was filed in August 2002 following a 10-year investigation by multiple federal and state agencies aimed at 16 murders and 16 attempted murders allegedly committed by the federal Aryan Brotherhood prison gang. The announcement followed the failures of prosecutors to obtain death sentences against any defendants in several capital trials. The first trial against several defendants in Benton, Illinois ended with a hung jury in guilt innocence. A second trial in Santa Ana involving alleged gang commissioners Barry Mills and T.D Bingham resulted in life sentences for both. In a third trial in L.A. the government withdrew death notices after jury selection was completed. Finally,in August, jurors in Santa Ana returned life sentences for Wayne Brdgewater and Henry Houston who were charged with mulitiple 1997 murders at USP Lewisburg. Several other defendants were scheduled for capital trials in 2008. The defense effort involved well over 50 defense attorneys, 25 mitigation specialists and 50 fact investigators.The prosecutions consumed millions of dollars including WITSEC expenditures of over $150,000 per witness.

For the Week of: 11/11/2007 Doctor Barred in Missouri Helps in Federal Executions Doctor barred by Missouri helps in federal executions A judge cites the physician´s dyslexia in banning him from participation in state lethal injections. His role has been cited in several death penalty challenges. By Henry Weinstein, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer 2:07 PM PST, November 15, 2007 Click here for full article

CIA admits to recording interrogations of top al Qaida captives CIA admits to recording interrogations of top al Qaida captives Greg Gordon | McClatchy Newspapers last updated: November 14, 2007 07:47:17 AM WASHINGTON — The CIA has three video and audio recordings of interrogations of senior al Qaida captives but misled federal judges about the evidence during the case against terrorist Zacarias Moussaoui, federal prosecutors revealed in a Nov. 9 court filing that was made public Tuesday. Click here for full article