The Midwest Capital Habeas Network (MCHN) is dedicated to helping lawyers and capital defense teams meet their professional obligations to provide their clients with the best representation possible.

MCHN was created in 2022 to assist lawyers representing death-sentenced clients in habeas corpus proceedings in the 8th Circuit. Of the states within the territory of the 8th Circuit, only South Dakota, Nebraska, Missouri and Arkansas have the death penalty.

MCHN’s website provides the latest news regarding legal developments in national death penalty cases, a searchable database of death penalty cases from states in the 8th Circuit, and resources and training for attorneys.

MCHN’s legal staff includes litigators, legal scholars, and educators with experience and expertise in death penalty litigation, in addition to our skilled paralegals and energetic interns. We collectively have over seven decades’ experience in the representation of persons facing the death penalty and in the litigation of issues common to death penalty cases. We have successfully litigated death penalty cases in state and federal courts in the Third, Fourth, Sixth, Eighth, Ninth, and Tenth Circuits, and we have offered support and training in every death penalty jurisdiction in the United States.