| dc.description.abstract |
This article on Criminal Procedure will focus on the death penalty cases decided by the Fifth Circuit during the period June 1, 1989 through May 31, 1990. Death penalty cases are a small fraction of the total number of cases decided by the Fifth Circuit, yet death penalty cases place demands on the court disproportionate to the actual number of cases decided. The law governing these cases is very complex, and each case carries obvious importance (and often urgency) to the parties involved. As a result, appeals of habeas corpus actions brought by persons sentenced to death in Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi, including motions for stays of execution, constitute a significant portion of the court's workload. Those demands continued during the survey period. |
en_US |