An interview of Richard H. Burr conducted December 10 and 11, 2008, in Leggett, Texas, by Myron A. Farber for the Columbia Center for Oral History, Rule of Law Oral History Project.

Richard H. Burr has devoted his practice entirely to death penalty defense work since 1979. Burr’s litigation focus includes state and federal capital defense litigation, post-conviction and appeals, federal habeas corpus, mitigation, life history and mental health evidence, and defendant competency. Highlights of this interview include Burr’s discussion of his career spanning his experiences at the Southern Prisoners Defense Committee, the West Palm Beach Public Defender’s Office, the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, the Texas Resource Center and his private practice; the methods and practices he uses to do capital defense work on both state and federal levels; his role as Timothy McVeigh’s lawyer; and his shaping and using defense-initiated victim outreach to serve surviving victims and families.

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CLIO Record