A capital-driven Booker break

With all the Booker action, I have not had a chance to keep up with the still percolating death penalty developments in an important month for capital punishment.  Helpfully, other bloggers have collected news and other materials concerning the legal battles surrounding efforts to halt executions scheduled for the days ahead in California and Connecticut.

In California, condemned killer Donald Beardslee has thus far failed in all his legal appeals and now may need a grant of executive clemency to avoid becoming the 11th person executed in the state in the modern capital era on Wednesday.  How Appealing has chronicled this story here and here, and Criminal Appeal also has a notable Beardslee post here.

In Connecticut, the news concerns others’ efforts to stop the execution of serial killer Michael Ross, who has given up all his appeals.  Details from How Appealing are here and here, and Kirby’s Reports has been covering the Ross case extensively, as highlighted here and here and here.