Spencer Lawton

July 09, 2020 | Daily Report Online

Once we've accepted that a separate crime can consist in harboring hate while committing an underlying crime, how long will it be before there are prosecutors and juries willing to dispense with the burdensome necessity of actually proving the underlying crime in the first place, and who will just slide smoothly to convicting the guy of having hate in his heart?

By Spencer Lawton

8 minute read

February 17, 2014 | Daily Report Online

Every argument for jury nullification I have ever read assumes it to be a device by which some higher form of justice can be achieved than the rule-bound parameters of the law will allow.

By Spencer Lawton

3 minute read

March 30, 2011 | Daily Report Online

Monday's Supreme Court orders denying Troy Davis's petitions means a long and unnecessary legal ordeal has come to an end, one that has compromised the credibility of the criminal justice system.Troy Davis's lawyers have for years been claiming that most key witnesses at trial had recanted, and that he is innocent.

By Spencer Lawton

2 minute read

December 16, 2011 | Daily Report Online

Officer Mark MacPhail suffered a painful murder in cold blood at the hand of Troy Davis. Davis' conviction for that offense, and his punishment by death, were fair.In a saner world, that would be the end of the matter. But we live in a world where truth is casually displaced by falsehood, where celebrity confers veracity, and where evil is converted to victimhood.

By Spencer Lawton Jr.

3 minute read

July 11, 2012 | Daily Report Online

Amnesty over policy: The candidate who prioritizes the undocumented will win Hispanic vote

By Spencer Lawton, Special to the Daily Report

4 minute read

October 10, 2011 | Law.com

By Spencer Lawton

1 minute read

October 10, 2011 | Daily Report Online

As the lead prosecutor in the trial of Troy Davis, I can say that the case has been badly mismanaged by one of our most important institutions, one impressed with a profound public trust. And while the criminal justice system isn't irretrievably broken, it is very badly damaged. People are right to wonder how the system could put to death a man with so much doubt remaining.

By Spencer Lawton

12 minute read