Those claims have not gone away. He should not duck the issue.

The California Supreme Court has reviewed and denied no less than seven state habeas corpus petitions, two in the last week.

The fairness of Cooper's trial and the validity of the judgment of conviction and the sentence of death have been repeatedly upheld by state and federal courts during the past 18 years.

We think they've made really good progress, but we do have some areas where we'd like to see them tighten up the language.

Ortiz feels strongly about helping protect the health of women who undergo these potentially risky procedures.