Law Commons^™

Deconstructing Antisocial Personality Disorder And Psychopathy: Guidelines-Based Approach To Prejudicial Psychiatric Labels, Kathleen Wayland, Sean O'Brien

Faculty Works

Prejudicial psychiatric labels such as antisocial personality disorder and psychopathy have an inherently prejudicial effect on courts and juries, particularly in cases involving the death penalty. This article explains how and why these labels are inherently aggravating, and also discusses the mental health literature indicating that they are subjective, unreliable and non-scientific. The authors conclude that no competent defense lawyer would pursue a mitigation case based on such a damaging and scientifically questionable psychiatric label. Further, a proper life history investigation conducted in accordance with the ABA Guidelines on the Appointment and Performance of Defense Counsel in Death Penalty Cases …

When Life Depends On It: Supplementary Guidelines For The Mitigation Function Of Defense Teams In Death Penalty Cases, Sean O'Brien

Faculty Works

The Supplementary Guidelines for the Mitigation Function of Capital Defense Teams are the culmination of three years of work coordinated by the Public Interest Litigation Clinic (PILC) and the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law in cooperation with seasoned capital litigators and mitigation specialists across the United States. This article describes the Supplementary Guidelines and the process by which they were researched and developed. Part I describes the Supplementary Guidelines and the process by which they were researched and developed. Part II describes the reasons for undertaking this project. Part III describes the process of investigating, researching and drafting …

Capital Defense Lawyers: The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly, Sean O'Brien

Faculty Works

No abstract provided.

Presumed Guilty: Innocence And The Death Penalty, Sean O'Brien

Faculty Works

DNA has really changed the way that defense lawyers and prosecutors think about wrongful convictions and about the criminal justice process. But it has not changed it enough.

There are two distinct sets of prisoners who have been declared innocent and released from prison. One consists of DNA exonerees that was developed through the efforts of the innocence projects. The other consists of people who have been on death row who have been exonerated. Only relatively few of the death row exonerations were accomplished with DNA technology. This article examines both lists and discusses a few lessons that we are …

Finding Redemption: How Picking Up The Phone Can Change A Lawyer's Life, Sean O'Brien

Faculty Works

The winner of the 2006 ABA Ross Essay Contest debated with himself whether to take a phone call from a death row inmate scheduled to be executed in 9 hours who turned out to be calling to request help for other prisoners. "As I hung up the phone, I experienced a profound awareness that no matter what each of us had previously done in our lives, at that moment Doyle Williams was a better human being than I. If a death row inmate can find redemption, maybe a lawyer can too."

Putting The Guesswork Back Into Capital Sentencing, Sean O'Brien

Faculty Works

In 1972, in Furman v. Georgia, the Supreme Court deemed it "incontestable" that a death sentence is cruel and unusual if inflicted "by reason of [the defendant's] race, religion, wealth, social position, or class, or if it is imposed under a procedure that gives room for the play of such prejudices." Arbitrary and discriminatory patterns in capital sentencing moved the Court to strike down death penalty statutes that required judges or juries to cast thumbs-up or thumbs-down verdicts against offenders found guilty of capital crimes. The issue of innocence was barely a footnote in Furman; the Court's concerns focused on …

Expediting Death: Repressive Tolerance And Post-Conviction Due Process Jurisprudence In Capital Cases, Nancy Levit

Faculty Works

The legitimacy of capital punishment has long been intertwined with the integrity of the procedures for its imposition including opportunities for review on appeal and in collateral hearings. Proposed legislation would dramatically abbreviate the habeas process in capital cases. The proposed bills which would accelerate the imposition of death sentences are matched by an increased willingness by courts to employ summary proceedings to expedite habeas procedures. This acceleration in the imposition of death sentences is part of the larger picture in which capital cases receive different and less favorable constitutional treatment than other criminal or civil cases.

This article draws …