"I spent 17 years, eight months and one day on death row. I was not saved by the system. I was saved in spite of the system."
Juan Roberto Melendez, exoneree
"People who are well represented at trial do not get the death penalty."
US Supreme Court Judge Ruth Bader Ginsburg, April 2001
"The Constitution says that everyone's entitled to the attorney of their choice. … The Constitution doesn't say that the lawyer has to be awake."
District Judge Doug Shaver, McFarland v. State of Texas (1992)
"Even after considering other variables… the odds of a death sentence were 97% higher for those whose victim was white than for those whose victim was black."
Dr. Glenn Pierce and Prof. Michael Radelet, Louisiana Law Review, 2011
Few rulings would be more disruptive of our federal system than to provide for federal habeas review of freestanding claims of actual innocence.
Chief Justice Rehnquist, Herrera v. Collins (1993)