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News and Developments 2005: Women

Texas Woman Facing Execution Had One of the Worst of Texas' Lawyers

Posted: September 12, 2005
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As Texas prepares to execute Frances Newton on September 14, the Austin American-Statesman editorialized about the poor quality of representation she received at trial and the doubts that this raises about her conviction. The paper noted:

Maybe Frances Newton shot her husband and two children to death in 1987. Maybe she didn't. The public cannot be certain of her guilt, but she's going to die for the crime anyway.

ABA President Calls for Stay of Texas Woman's Execution

Posted: September 01, 2005
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LETTER OF ABA PRESIDENT MICHAEL GRECO TO TEXAS GOVERNOR RICK PERRY AND THE PARDONS BOARD CONCERNING THE UPCOMING EXECUTION OF FRANCES NEWTON

August 31, 2005

BY FAX: 512/463-1849
The Honorable Rick Perry
Office of the Governor
State Capitol
P.O. Box 12428
Austin, Texas 78711-2428

BY FAX: 512/463-8120
Chairwoman Rissie Owens
Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles
Executive Clemency Unit
Capital Section
P.O. Box 13401

WOMEN AND THE DEATH PENALTY-sidebar

Posted: August 26, 2005
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"I am comparing the death penalty system to the levees in New Orleans. They told us they would work, but they didn't."

Texas Woman Faces Execution Despite Questions Regarding Her Guilt

Posted: August 25, 2005
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Update: Frances Newton was executed in Texas on September 14, 2005.  As Texas prepares to execute Frances Newton on September 14, her attorneys have raised questions in a clemency petition about her guilt based on new evidence, including conflicting accounts of whether investigators recovered a second gun at the crime scene. Newton, who would be the first black woman executed in the state since the Civil War, was sentenced to death for the 1987 killings of her husband and her two children.

Georgia Board To Pardon Woman 60 Years After Her Execution

Posted: August 16, 2005
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The Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles has announced that it will issue a formal pardon this month for Lena Baker (pictured), the only woman executed in the state during the 20th century. The document, signed by all five of the current board members, will note that the parole board's 1945 decision to deny Baker clemency and allow her execution was "a grievous error, as this case called out for mercy." Baker, an African American, was executed for the murder of Ernest Knight, a white man who hired her .

BOOKS: Clemency

Posted: June 09, 2005
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  • A new book by Professor Austin Sarat focuses on clemency's role in the U.S. criminal justice system: "Mercy on Trial: What It Means to Stop an Execution." According to U.S. Senator Edward Kennedy, "This thoughtful book should be read by every citizen who cares about the issue, and by every governor and president entrusted with the power to punish or pardon." In "Mercy on Trial," Sarat reviews the complexities of clemency and examines issues such as rehabilitation. (Princeton University Press, 2005).

Mentally Ill Woman Dies After 20 Years on Nevada's Death Row

Posted: February 02, 2005
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Priscilla Ford, who suffered from a variety of mental illnesses and who was the lone woman on Nevada's death row for more than twenty years, died of apparent complications from emphysema on January 29, 2005. A prison spokesman said, "She had been quiet for so long. No one ever had any problems with her (in prison). I don't remember hearing about her violating any rules." Ford was sentenced to death row after she was convicted of killing 6 people and injuring 23 others by driving her car down a crowded Reno sidewalk on Thanksgiving Day 1980.