New York: Newsday has this story on the New York death penalty case discussed here. The story includes information on the victims and the reaction from one family member. "But Benjamin Nazario, 53, of Flushing, whose brother Ramon Nazario, was killed in the massacre, said he didn't like the decision. 'I want to know the people [judges] who voted against it [capital punishment,] why they don't want the death penalty,' Nazario said."

DNA Advance: Up to this point, forensic DNA has been like fingerprints in one respect. A match proves identity, but the "print" itself without a match to a known sample tells us nothing about the perpetrator. That may change soon, according to this story from Radio Netherlands. A joint Icelandic-Dutch study on skin cancer found that they could tell such things as shade of skin and color of hair and eyes from a DNA sample.

The Execution of Texas murderer Michael Richard on September 25th, the same day the U.S. Supreme Court announced that it would hear the Eighth Amendment challenge to lethal injection in Baze v. Rees, has sparked an outcry among defense lawyers and opponents of the death penalty. A story by R.G. Ratcliffe and Janet Elliott in today's Houston Chronicle reports that several hundred lawyers have asked the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals to allow electronic filing of last minute petitions in capital cases. CBS News reports that the National Association of Criminal Defense Attorneys has filed a complaint against Judge Sharon Keller, presiding judge of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, because she would not hold the court open beyond regular hours to review Richard's late appeal. Richard was on parole from one of his two prior felonies in 1986 when he raped and murdered Marguerite Dixon, a nurse with seven children. The lawyers called his execution "tragic" and "unnecessary." One wonders if the victim's children share that view.

No en banc for Ryan: The Seventh Circuit today denied rehearing en banc for former Illinios Governor and convicted racketeer George Ryan, reports Mike Robinson for the AP. In January 2003, on his last day in office, Ryan became the darling of death penalty opponents when he commuted the sentences of all 167 convicted murderers on the state's death row. We didn't hear as much this year about his being nominated for the Nobel PC Prize. Apparently Al Gore sucked up all the oxygen.

Arson: A San Bernardino man suspected of setting one of the devastating fires in Southern California was arrested and another suspect was shot and killed by police yesterday according to an AP story by Jeremiah Marquez. Several state and federal law enforcement agencies are investigating at least two apparent arson caused fires and a $70,000 reward is being offered for information leading to an arrest.

The ABA Individual Rights and Responsibilities section has devoted the entire "Spring" issue of its magazine to the death penalty. All of the authors invited to write for this publication of that broad umbrella organization that represents the entire bar, including prosecutors, have one thing in common. Sorry, no prizes for guessing what it is. That would be too easy.