Protecting the Rights of Indigent Defendants on Death Row
We Protect the Rights of Indigent Defendants on Death Row
What do we do?
- Provide representation to all indigent defendants sentenced capitally in Louisiana
- Resource ongoing capital trials
- Provide training and consultation for capital defense attorneys
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Get Involved
CAP encourages law and pre-law students to apply for internships and externships.
Join the Team
Apply to become a fellow or staff member at the Capital Appeals Project.
Recent Cases
Louisiana Capital Clemency
In June 2023, 56 of Louisiana’s death row prisoners filed clemency petitions asking Governor John Bel Edwards and the Board of Pardons to commute their death sentences to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.
Neal v. Vannoy, No. 22-70007 (5th Cir. 2023)
Louisiana challenges the district court’s grant of habeas relief to an inmate who had been convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death in 2009. The district court held that ineffective assistance of trial counsel prejudiced the defense. The State argues that the district court applied the incorrect standard of review under the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996, and that the district court improperly granted habeas relief due to ineffective assistance of counsel under Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (1984).
About
The Capital Appeals Project is a non-profit law office founded in 2001 to provide representation to capital defendants on direct appeal to the Louisiana Supreme Court and on certiorari to the United States Supreme Court