September 23, 2003

ROMNEY TAKES SCIENTIFIC APPROACH TO DEATH PENALTY

Tasks panel with crafting narrow death penalty law with highest evidentiary standard

Relying on the tremendous advances in the area of forensic science, Governor Mitt Romney today announced a panel of scientific and legal experts to craft a proposal to reinstate capital punishment in Massachusetts for a narrow set of crimes.

Romney said the 11-member Governor’s Council on Capital Punishment, comprised of some of the world’s foremost experts in the use of forensics in homicide cases, will ensure that the death penalty legislation is narrowly applied and used in accordance with the highest standard of proof.

“Just as science can be used to free the innocent, it can be used to identify the guilty,” said Romney.

Romney noted that Massachusetts is one of only 12 states without capital punishment as a sentencing option for murder cases. He said the latest advances in forensic science will enable the council to design death penalty legislation that meets the “highest evidentiary standards.”

Lieutenant Governor Kerry Healey praised the credentials of the people who have agreed to serve on the death penalty panel. She said none of the members were asked their views on the subject of capital punishment, but were recruited solely because of their background in science and the law.

“We are confident that their work will break new ground, restore confidence in the criminal justice system’s ability to arrive at fair and accurate judgments and alleviate many of the concerns that now hinder the appropriate use of the death penalty around the country,” said Healey.

The council includes some of the world’s foremost experts on the use of forensic science in homicide cases, including Dr. Henry Lee, best known for his role in the O.J. Simpson trial. The council will be co-chaired by Professor Joseph Hoffmann and Dr. Fred Bieber.

Hoffmann serves on the faculty of Indiana Law School. He was previously a consultant to the U.S. House of Representatives on death penalty legislation and has advised several other states on capital punishment, including Indiana, Florida, Texas, Louisiana, Tennessee, Arizona and Kentucky. Hoffmann was also an expert witness in the Timothy McVeigh trial.

“I accept this appointment with a clear awareness of the importance of the task before me and my council colleagues,” Hoffmann said. “The task is daunting and we will approach it with the utmost seriousness and respect. If we accomplish our mission, our work may not only benefit the people of Massachusetts, but also serve as a model for the rest of the nation.”

Dr. Bieber is a professor of pathology at Harvard Medical School and a medical geneticist at Brigham & Women’s Hospital. He is an internationally recognized authority in forensic medicine. Dr. Bieber has served on the F.B.I.’s DNA advisory board, and helped identify the remains of the victims of the September 11th attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City.

“As one of the co-chairs of this council, I can assure you that our input will be based on respect for the very highest standards of forensic science, law and ethics,” said Bieber. “In offering the council’s recommendations we must remain mindful of the finality of such punishments, the failures of others and the chances for human error. In this work, there is no room for error.”

“The formation of this council on capital punishment marks a very important day for the judicial system,” said Dr. Lee. “Our world of forensic science has changed so much and so rapidly over the years, and we need the legal world to keep up with these advances.

Lee continued, “I consider it a great honor to serve on Governor Romney’s Council on Capital Punishment and feel especially privileged to be a part of this select team he has put together of forensic experts and legal scholars and practitioners of the highest caliber. I applaud Governor Romney for the unique and responsible approach he is taking to the issue of capital punishment. Every state in the nation should look to the example he is setting in this area.”

Other members of the council include experts in legal procedure and the law. They are retired Judge Robert Barton, Attorney Ralph F. Boyd, Jr., U.S. Attorney Michael J. Sullivan, Attorney Henry T.A. Moniz, former Public Safety Secretary Kathleen M. O’Toole, Donald R. Hayes, Jr., Director of the Boston Police Crime Lab, Dr. Carl Selavka, head of the State Police Crime Lab and Plymouth County District Attorney Timothy J. Cruz.

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GOVERNOR’S COUNCIL ON CAPITAL PUNISHMENT

Professor Joseph L. Hoffmann (Co-Chair)

Professor Joseph L. Hoffmann, Professor of Law at Indiana University, has been researching and writing about the death penalty for over 15 years. A former law clerk for U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist, he was one of three co-investigators in a national study of trial judging in capital cases, and the lead investigator for the Indiana component of The Capital Jury Project, a nationwide examination of jurors in capital cases.

Professor Hoffmann served as a consultant to the U.S. House of Representatives’ Judiciary Committee on death penalty legislation and as an expert witness for the United States Attorney General’s Office in the Oklahoma bombing case of U.S. vs. Timothy McVeigh. He was also a consultant to the U.S. House of Representatives’ Judiciary Committee, Subcommittee on Civil and Constitutional Rights, with respect to federal habeas corpus reform.

Professor Hoffmann teaches courses and seminars in both the United States and around the world on the death penalty.

Professor Hoffmann recently served as a consultant to the State of Illinois Senate Judiciary Committee with respect to path-breaking death penalty reform legislation. He has also advised and consulted numerous other states on death penalty law, including Indiana, Florida, Texas, Tennessee, Louisiana, Arizona and Kentucky.

Dr. Frederick R. Bieber (Co-Chair)

Dr. Bieber is a Medical Geneticist at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston in the Department of Pathology. He is also an Associate Professor of Pathology at Harvard Medical School.

Dr. Bieber is an internationally recognized authority in forensic medicine. He was appointed to the World Trade Center Kinship and Data Analysis Planning Panel convened by the U.S. Department of Justice and the New York State Medical Examiner’s Office in an effort to ensure prompt and accurate identification of all victims of the September 11, 2001 World Trade Center attacks. In 2002, Dr. Bieber received the Award for Outstanding Service on the World Trade Center DNA Project by the U.S. Department of Justice.

His work focuses on population genetics and statistical approaches to the interpretation of forensic evidence, and the public policy aspects of DNA forensics.

In 1998, F.B.I. Director Louis Freeh appointed Dr. Bieber to the F.B.I. DNA Advisory Board. This board was tasked with recommending standards to the bureau’s director for DNA quality assurance and for proficiency testing at forensic laboratories throughout the United States. The board also developed standards for forensic personnel who conduct DNA analyses in criminal cases.

In 2001, Dr. Bieber was appointed by the Director of the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology to the DNA Quality Assurance Oversight Committee of the United States Department of Defense. He is also a member of the AFIP Scientific Advisory Board.

Dr. Bieber has participated in murder investigations all over the world, and just recently returned from a trip to Croatia where he and Dr. Henry Lee had been asked to lend their expertise in the identification of victims’ remains.

Judge Robert Barton

Retired Superior Court Judge Robert Barton was an Associate Justice of the Superior Court in Massachusetts from 1978 to 2000. During that time, he presided over 1,000 jury and jury-waived criminal cases, including approximately 150 first-degree murder cases.

Judge Barton is a graduate of Boston Latin School, Dartmouth College and Boston University Law School, where he was a member of Law Review.

Judge Barton was a Captain in the United States Marine Corps and served as a Judge Advocate.

Prior to his appointment as an Associate Justice, Judge Barton was an Assistant District Attorney in Middlesex County and a Special Assistant Attorney General in Massachusetts.

Judge Barton has been an Adjunct Professor of Law at New England School of Law since 1962 where he has taught courses in Trial Practice, Evidence, and Criminal Law and Procedure.

Judge Barton is a member of the Massachusetts Bar Association, Middlesex Bar Association, and the International Bar Association, and the former Chair of The Judicial Conduct Commission.

Attorney Ralph F. Boyd, Jr.

Attorney Ralph F. Boyd, Jr. is a partner with Alston & Bird LLP in the firm’s Washington D.C. office.

Prior to joining Alston and Bird, Mr. Boyd was appointed in 2001 by President George W. Bush to the position of United States Attorney General for Civil Rights. In that position, Mr. Boyd headed the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice. This division is the primary institution within the federal government responsible for enforcing federal laws prohibiting discrimination on the basis of race, gender, handicap, religion and national origin.

Prior to his appointment by President Bush and confirmation by the United States Senate, Mr. Boyd was a partner in the Trial and Litigation Department of the Boston law firm of Goodwin Proctor LLP.

From 1991 to 1997, Mr. Boyd was an Assistant United States Attorney in Boston. During this time, he investigated and prosecuted bank fraud, firearms, homicide, bombing, drug trafficking, bank robbery and several high profile gang cases. He served as the Boston U.S. Attorney’s Firearms Prosecution Coordinator, and administered Operation Triggerlock, a national firearms prosecution initiative of the U.S. Department of Justice. Mr. Boyd was also a member of the Justice Department’s Urban Anti-Violence crime initiative team, the Mayor’s Anti-Crime Council, and the Cease Fire group, an initiative involving federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies and the Boston Public Schools.

Outgoing Boston Police Commissioner Paul Evans has credited Boyd as being one of the major forces behind the dramatic drop in deadly street violence in Boston in the 1990’s through his work with police, street workers, community leaders and probation officers.

A graduate of Harvard Law School, Boyd served as President of The Harvard Defenders, which represented indigent criminal defendants in Roxbury, Dorchester, Somerville, and East Boston. Boyd also served as the Editor for the Civil Rights Civil Liberties Law Review at Harvard from 1983 to 1984.

Mr. Boyd is the son of the founder of the Schenectady Chapter of the NAACP in New York.

District Attorney Timothy J. Cruz

Timothy J. Cruz is the District Attorney of Plymouth County. He began his career in 1985 as a prosecutor for the Plymouth County District Attorneys Office. In 1989 he worked as in-house counsel for American International Group Insurance Company in the law firm of Long, Anderson, McTaggert and Racicot. In 1990, he became a principal in the law firm of Cruz, Horan & Sorrenti, P.C. In 1996, he became a sole practitioner in the Law Office of Timothy J. Cruz.

In 1997, Governor Cellucci appointed Cruz to the Massachusetts Ballot Law Commission, where he served as an active Commissioner until his resignation in 2001, when be became District Attorney of Plymouth County.

District Attorney Cruz is a proponent of pending legislation to close existing loopholes in the law regarding the commitment of sexually dangerous persons. He is currently the Co-Chairman of the Forensic Technology Subcommittee of the Governor’s Commission on Criminal Justice Innovation.

He is an adjunct professor at Massasoit Community College in Brockton. He is also a member of the Board of Trustees at Brockton Hospital, Inc., a member of the Board of Directors at the Old Colony YMCA, and a member of the Board of Directors at the Marshfield Boys and Girls Club.

Donald R. Haves, Jr.

Donald Hayes is a forensic scientist and has been the Director of the Boston Police Department Crime Laboratory since 1997. A senior criminalist with a masters degree in forensic science, Mr. Hayes has been with the Boston Police Crime Lab for over 15 years.

Mr. Hayes spent several years as a toxicologist at Bioran Medical Laboratories. Prior to joining the Boston Police Crime Lab, Mr. Hayes was a technologist at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute.

Under the leadership of Donald Hayes, the Boston Police Crime Lab received American Society of Crime Lab Directors/LAB Accreditation in 2002.

Mr. Hayes has specialized in FBI training in Forensic Laboratory Quality Assurance and the Collection and Preservation of Physical Evidence, as well as specialized training in Population Genetics for DNA Evidence, Bloodstain Pattern Analysis, Forensic Laboratory Application of DNA Typing Methods, and Hair and Fiber Microscopy.

Mr. Hayes is a member of the American Society of Crime Laboratory Directors, the American Academy of Forensic Sciences, the International Association for Identification and the International Homicide Investigators Association.

Dr. Henry C. Lee

Dr. Henry C. Lee is one of the world’s foremost forensic scientists. Dr. Lee’s work has made him a landmark in modern day criminal investigations. He has been a prominent player in many of the most challenging cases of the last 45 years. Dr. Lee has worked with law enforcement agencies in helping to solve more than 6,000 cases. In recent years, he has taken part in investigations in the United Kingdom, China, Brunei, Bermuda, the Middle East, South America, Croatia and other locations around the world.

Dr. Lee’s testimony figured prominently in the O .J. Simpson trial and in convictions of the “Woodchipper” murderer as well as hundreds of other high profile murder cases. Dr. Lee has assisted local and state police in other high profile cases, such as the murder of Jon Benet Ramsey in Boulder, Colorado, the 1993 suicide of White House Counsel Vincent Foster, the murder of Chandra Levy, the kidnapping of Elizabeth Smart and the investigation of the Kennedy assassination.

Dr. Lee is currently the Chief Emeritus for the Scientific Services and was the Commissioner for Public Safety for the State of Connecticut from 1998 to 2000, serving as the Chief Criminalist for the State of Connecticut from 1979 to 2000. Dr. Lee was the driving force in establishing a modern State Police Forensic Science Laboratory in Connecticut.

Dr. Lee has taught as a professor at over a dozen universities, law schools, and medical schools, including the University of New Haven where he created the school’s first Forensic Sciences program. Dr. Lee has authored hundreds of articles in professional journals and has co-authored more than 30 books, covering such areas as DNA, fingerprints, trace evidence, crime scene investigation and crime scene reconstruction. His recent books include Famous Crimes Revisited, Cracking Cases, and Blood Evidence.

Dr. Lee has been the recipient of numerous medals and awards, including the 1996 Medal of Justice from the Justice Foundation, the 1998 Lifetime Achievement Award from the Science and Engineer Association, the Distinguished Criminalist Award from the American Academy of Forensic Sciences and the J. Donero Award from the International Association of Identification. In 1992, Dr. Lee was elected a Distinguished Fellow of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences.

Dr. Lee was born in China and grew up in Taiwan. Dr. Lee worked for the Taipei Police Department, attaining the rank of Captain. He graduated from John Jay College with a B.S. in Forensic Science and earned his masters degree and Ph.D. in biochemistry from New York University. Dr. Lee has also received specialized training from the FBI Academy and the ATF.

Attorney Henry T. A. Moniz

Attorney Moniz is a partner in the law firm of Bingham McCutcheon LLP in Boston, MA. Mr. Moniz is in the firm’s litigation department where he handles large-scale civil cases and white-collar criminal and business regulatory cases.

Mr. Moniz has represented corporations, individuals, and government entities in matters involving real estate, financial services, employment discrimination and anti-trust cases. He also has advised on, defended against, and investigated cases of health care fraud, accounting fraud, public corruption, wrongful discrimination and government contracting. Mr. Moniz also has formal training and experience as a mediator and as an arbitrator.

Mr. Moniz currently serves on the Bingham McCutcheon Hiring Committee and Diversity Committee.

Prior to joining Bingham McCutcheon, Mr. Moniz was selected as one of seven lawyers hired to advise and assist Democratic Members of Congress as Minority counsel to the Committee on the Judiciary of the United States House of Representatives during the inquiry on the impeachment of President William Jefferson Clinton.

Prior to serving Congress, Mr. Moniz worked for the United States Department of Justice as an Assistant United States Attorney in Miami and Boston. During his years as a federal prosecutor, Mr. Moniz oversaw large-scale multi-agency investigations involving the F.B.I., U.S. Secret Service, Scotland Yard and state and local police departments. His cases included narcotics, racketeering, money laundering, gang violence, arms dealing and exportation.

A graduate of Bowdoin College and University of Pennsylvania Law School, Mr. Moniz also serves on the Massachusetts Commission on Judicial Conduct.

Kathleen M. O’Toole

Kathleen M. O’Toole is President and founder of O’Toole Associates, LLC, an international consulting firm with offices in Boston, Massachusetts and Dublin, Ireland.

Prior to organizing O’Toole Associates, Kathleen O’Toole spent 20 years in public service in Massachusetts. After starting her career as a Boston Police Officer, Ms. O’Toole served as Chief of the Metropolitan Police and as a Lieutenant Colonel in the Massachusetts State Police.

In 1994, O’Toole was appointed Secretary of Public Safety by Governor William F. Weld. In that capacity, she was responsible for 20 agencies, more than 10,000 employees and an annual operating budget exceeding $1 billion.

In 1998, O’Toole was selected to serve on the Independent Commission on Policing in Northern Ireland (The Patten Commission) as part of the peace process. The group developed a new framework for policing and security in Northern Ireland.

In 1999, O’Toole was asked by Boston Mayor Thomas Menino to chair the Boston Fire Review Commission in response to serious allegations of mismanagement and bias. Following extensive study, the Commission published its findings including sweeping recommendations for reform.

During her career, O’Toole has held senior positions at Digital Equipment, Boston College and GPC/O’Neill and Associates. In addition, she provided services to the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division as an expert witness on “profiling” cases.

Ms. O’Toole remains active in the international police community as a member of the International Association of Chiefs of Police Committee on Terrorism, the Police Executive Research Forum and the F.B.I. National Executive Institute Associates. She is also a member of Women Executives in State Government, a national organization that she chaired in 1999, and the International Women’s Forum.

Dr. Carl Selavka

Dr. Carl Selavka is a forensic scientist currently serving as Director of the Massachusetts State Police Crime Laboratory System. In his role as Director, Dr. Selavka is responsible for the full service central lab in Sudbury and satellite crime labs in Agawam and Danvers, as well as the DNA Databank for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Prior to joining the Massachusetts State Police in 1998, Dr. Selavka spent two years as the Director of Forensic Services with the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services, where he worked with the state’s 25 public forensic science labs to help them achieve accreditation and was responsible for the State DNA Databank and Forensic Science Commission.

Dr. Selavka also worked for five years as a Director at National Medical Services in Willow Grove, Pennsylvania, and four years as an Operations Officer with the Army Forensic Toxicology Drug Testing Lab in Hawaii. Dr. Selavka has a Masters Degree and PhD in Forensic Chemistry from Northeastern University in Boston. He is a past president of the American Board of Criminalistics, the national certification body for forensic chemists.

Some of Dr. Selavka’s research and publications have focused on esoteric toxicology, bomb and arson analysis, and professional leadership in forensic laboratories.

U.S. Attorney Michael J. Sullivan

In September 2001, Michael J. Sullivan was appointed by President George W. Bush as the United States Attorney for the District of Massachusetts directing offices in Boston, Worcester and Springfield comprised of approximately 200 attorneys and support staff. Sullivan’s office is participating in the investigation into the tragedies of September 11, 2001. During his first year as the U.S. Attorney, he formed the Anti-Terrorism Task Force to combat and prevent future terrorist attacks. Sullivan’s office conducted the investigation and successful prosecution of the “Shoe Bomber” case of U.S. vs. Richard Reid. Sullivan has created a unit devoted to computer hacking/high technology crimes and has made community outreach a priority by developing a Community Prosecution and Crime Reduction Unit.

Prior to his current position, Governor William F. Weld appointed him District Attorney of Plymouth County in May 1995. He was elected to the position in November 1996, and again in 1998. As District Attorney, Sullivan had expanded the role of the District Attorney's Office by creating unique and nontraditional partnerships with local, state and federal agencies, educators, service providers, local businesses and community members. He became a leader in the fight against child abuse, domestic violence and elder abuse. One of Sullivan’s top priorities during his tenure as District Attorney was to address the issue of unsolved homicides in the county. This initiative resulted in the resolution of a significant number of murders.

Sullivan’s career in government began in 1990, when he was elected to the House of Representatives, where he served for three terms until his appointment as District Attorney. As a legislator, Sullivan served on the Education, Local Affairs, Commerce and Labor, Ways and Means and Post Audit and Oversight Committees. Sullivan’s priorities included Education Reform, Workers Compensation Reform, Criminal Justice Reform and restoring aid to local communities.

Prior to his career in government, Sullivan practiced law in the private sector as a law partner with McGovern & Sullivan, P.C. from 1989- 1995 and as an Associate Attorney with the law firm of Bolles & Pritchard from 1984 through 1989.