May 31, 2007

Professor Bryan Stevenson finds support in his challenge to Alabama's laws on legal representation for condemned prisoners

Alabama death row prisoners represented by Bryan Stevenson are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to revisit the issue of whether condemned inmates have a right to counsel for postconviction appeals. Alabama is the only state that denies postconviction legal aid to prisoners facing execution. Alabama newspapers, the New York Times and a coaliton of state and federal judges and bar leaders have all written in support of the petition filed in Barbour v. Haley. Click to read any of the editorials below:

From the New York Times, March 26, 2007
From the Anniston Star, March 31, 2007
From the Birmingham News, April 15, 2007
From the Huntsville Times, April 20, 2007
From the Tuscaloosa News, May 16, 2007
From the Decatur Daily, May 16, 2007
From the Birmingham News, May 17, 2007
From the Anniston Star, May 18, 2007