New Jersey: The Times of Trenton printed this letter to the editor by CJLF Legal Director Kent Scheidegger, responding to their anti-death-penalty editorial.

Update: The Enquirer reports that Judge William Walker of Ohio sentenced 67-year-old Charles G. Martin yesterday to life in prison without the eligibility of parole for 18 years. Martin shot and killed 15-year-old Larry D. Mugrage, Jr. in March of 2006 for walking on his lawn. Crime & Consequences first addressed this story on April 27th after Martin was found guilty of murder.

Death Penalty: Ohio executed habitual criminal Christopher Newton today for the 2001 murder of his cellmate according to an Associated Press story by Julie Carr Smyth. The execution took longer than expected due to Newton's obesity which made it difficult for the medical team for locate a suitable vein.

Goodbye Charlie: For the 11th time, California has denied parole to Charles Manson, the murderer who masterminded the Tate-LaBianca murders in 1969. An Associated Press story reports that Manson was also convicted of killing members of his Spahn Ranch commune Gary Hinman and Donald "Shorty" Shea. Manson will receive his next parole hearing in 2012. Manson's death sentence was overturned after the California Supreme Court "interpreted" the state constitution to forbid capital punishment, despite an explicit vote of the constitutional convention on the precise question.

The Florida Supreme Court has overturned the death sentences of two murderers as reported by Associated Press writer Bill Kaczor. Both murderers had killed their estranged wives. Christopher Offord's sentence was reduced to life without parole due to his long history of mental illness. The Court ordered a new trial for William Kopsho because his trial judge failed to dismiss a juror who believed that Kopsho should have been required to testify. The opinion in the Kopsho case is here, the opinion in Offord's case is here.