NCJ Number
191135
Journal
Criminal Law Update Volume: 8 Issue: 4 Dated: 2001 Pages: 13-16
Editor(s)
Dru Smith Fuller
Date Published
2001
Length
4 pages
Annotation
This article discusses the Texas Attorney General's Capital Litigation Division.
Abstract
Since December 1982, more than 200 executions have been monitored--and any Federal court appeals litigated--by the Texas Attorney General's Capital Litigation Division. Among its other duties, the division handles any Federal court litigation which could potentially affect a scheduled execution, for example, a civil rights lawsuit filed in federal district court challenging Texas clemency procedures. Division attorneys formulate and draft amicus briefs expressing the State's position on relevant issues before the U.S. Supreme Court and represent the State in cases before the Supreme Court. Attorneys from the division advised the Legislature in 1991 and 1993 on amendments to the capital sentencing statute. Pursuant to changes in the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure, capital juries are now asked "[w]hether, taking into consideration all of the evidence, including the circumstances of the offense, the defendant's character and background, and the personal moral culpability of the defendant, there is a sufficient mitigating circumstance or circumstances to warrant that a sentence of life imprisonment rather than a death sentence be imposed."