June 5 USA: Alleged 9/11 mastermind gets court day The suspects face the death penalty 2 offers from the Navy and Air Force are representing Mohammed Tribunals have been mired in confusion over courtroom rules, dogged by delays The U.S. Supreme Court struck down the military commissions in 2006 The military expects a confrontational hearing when the alleged mastermind of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and four alleged confederates are brought before a Marine colonel presiding over their war-crimes tribunal. The sun sets over Camp Justice and its adjacent tent city at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba on Wednesday. At an arraignment scheduled for Thursday, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was expected to make his first public appearance since being captured in Pakistan in 2003, held in CIA custody at secret sites and transferred to Guantanamo in 2006. Air Force Brig. Gen. Tom Hartmann, a top tribunal official, told dozens of journalists late Wednesday he expects defense lawyers will robustly argue points with prosecutors and Judge Ralph Kohlmann on behalf of their clients, who face the death penalty. "Expect to see challenges tomorrow, and the intensity of the process," Hartmann said at a briefing in an abandoned aircraft hangar near the courthouse at this isolated U.S. Navy base. Army Col. Steve David, chief defense counsel for the tribunals, said the military commissions -- which the U.S. Supreme Court struck down in 2006 as unconstitutional before they were altered and resurrected months later -- are "fundamentally flawed." "We will zealously identify and expose each and every" flaw, he said. The tribunals have been mired in confusion over courtroom rules and dogged by delays. Military commissions have been conducted since George Washington used them after the end of the Revolutionary War, but this is the 1st time the United States has used them during an ongoing conflict, Hartmann said. Mohammed is represented by 2 officers from the Navy and the Air Force. Two civilian attorneys from Idaho, including one who defended a client accused in the white supremacist Ruby Ridge case, also represent the Pakistani. Defense attorneys for the 5 detainees accused in the Sept. 11 attack that killed 2,973 people say the U.S. is rushing the case to trial to influence the presidential election. They recently asked Kohlmann to throw out the case and remove Hartmann, who was accused of political meddling by a former chief prosecutor for the military commissions. 2 weeks ago, Deputy Secretary of State Gordon England declared that providing "fair trials" at Guantanamo is the No. 1 legal services obligation for the Defense Department, said Hartmann, the legal adviser to the tribunals. He said he has not been asked to recuse himself from the upcoming trial. Mohammed will be arraigned simultaneously with the four men inside the high-tech courthouse, part of the "expeditionary legal complex" arrayed on an abandoned airfield at Guantanamo. Guards will be near the men but no firearms are allowed in the courtroom, said Army Col. Wendy Kelly. Mohammed and the other four detainees can be restrained by retractable leg chains hidden underneath the raised courtroom floor if they become unruly, Kelly said. The arraignment will launch the highest-profile test yet of a tribunal system that faces an uncertain future. The U.S. Supreme Court struck down an earlier system as unconstitutional in 2006, and is to rule this month on the rights of Guantanamo prisoners, potentially delaying or halting the proceedings. And with less than 8 months remaining in President Bush's term, candidates Barack Obama and John McCain both say they want to close the military's offshore detention center. Obama opposed the Military Commissions Act that in 2006 resurrected the military commissions, but McCain supported it. The modular courtroom can be taken down and "sent to Fort Bragg, Fort Lewis, or any installation that needs a big courtroom," Kelly said. Dozens of U.S. and international journalists arrived at Guantanamo on Wednesday on a military plane for the joint arraignment, which the military expects to last just 1 day. The 5 prisoners will be formally notified of the nature of the charges, will be told of their rights to attorneys and will be given the opportunity to enter a plea, though they do not have to enter one, Hartmann said. All 5 are charged with murder in violation of the law of war, conspiracy, attacking civilians, terrorism and other crimes. The 4 defendants due to appear with Mohammed are: Ramzi Bin al-Shibh, said to have been the main intermediary between the hijackers and al Qaeda leaders; Ali Abd al-Aziz Ali, known as Ammar al-Baluchi, a nephew and lieutenant of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed; al-Baluchi's assistant, Mustafa Ahmed al-Hawsawi; and Walid bin Attash, a detainee known as Khallad, who allegedly selected and trained some of the 19 hijackers. ***************************** Accused 9/11 mastermind wants death sentence Alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed says he wants the death sentence. He and four alleged confederates faced a military judge Thursday in their long-awaited first appearance before a war-crimes tribunal. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and the other alleged al-Qaida figures sat at defense tables alongside their lawyers before the judge, Marine Col. Ralph Kohlmann. All 5 wore cream-colored clothing and turbans, in contrast to the disheveled hair and T-shirt Mohammed wore when he was captured in Pakistan in 2003. Mohammed was later held in CIA custody at secret sites and transferred to the U.S. Navy base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in 2006. Journalists were allowed to see the proceedings on closed-circuit TV in a nearby press room. Other observers including Fang A. Wong, a senior member of the American Legion, filed into the tightly guarded courthouse to watch the arraignment. "I'm from the New York area, and I have been waiting for this for a long time," Wong said as he waited to be searched by soldiers before entering the court complex. The arraignment of the five detainees, coming 7 years after the terror attacks, begins the highest-profile test yet of the controversial tribunal system, which is being challenged before the U.S. Supreme Court. All 5 face the death penalty if convicted of war crimes including murder, conspiracy, attacking civilians and terrorism. (source for both: Associated Press) CALIFORNIA: Nevada County People: Author explores local 1800s death sentences Orval BronsonOrval Bronson's love of history has led him to write 3 books, 2 about life in Nevada County. Well, make that one about life and one about the end of life. "Launched into Eternity" takes a look at the final days of 13 men whose lives ended shortly after the hangman's noose was secured around their necks between 1850 and 1884, a time when justice was swift and brutal. Bronson, a 69-year-old retired law enforcement officer, previously wrote "Nevada City," which was published in 2002 by the Nevada County Historical Society. The inspiration for both books was to fill a niche while the perspiration happens at the Foley Library where he tirelessly researches old newspapers. "Basically, I wrote this because it hadn't been done before, and I enjoy writing about subjects that haven't been written about," he said on the eve of his self-published book. Of the 13 executions chronicled in the book, 7 were done by vigilantes and 6 carried out by miners' courts, which were notorious for their efficiency. "The miners didn't want to waste time on these miscreants because there was gold to be had," Bronson said. "If you were taken to a miners' court, it was tantamount to being found guilty." Bronson and his wife, Judy, live just outside of Nevada City. He will do his 1st book signing on Saturday when "Launched into Eternity" is released. It will be held from 1 to 3 p.m. at Inner Sanctum, 308 Broad Street in Nevada City. (source: The Union of Grass Valley) TENNESSEE: Plea deal in 1981 Turney stabbing gives killer life sentence----Defense says man who stabbed prison guard is mentally ill Richard C. Taylor has been convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death twice, but prosecutors said over the course of 26 years it became clear he was never going to be executed. On Tuesday, Taylor, 47, thanked Williamson County Circuit Court Judge R.E. Lee Davies for approving a plea agreement that puts him behind bars for the rest of his life. Taylor pleaded guilty to the murder of Ronald Moore, a guard at the Turney Center, a prison facility in Hickman County. Prosecutors said Taylor stabbed Moore with a sharp object on Aug. 29, 1981. Taylor was first convicted and sentenced to death in 1984 by a jury in Hickman County. That conviction was overturned when a higher court ruled Taylor's attorney had been ineffective at trial. The case was transferred to Williamson County, where in 2003 a jury again convicted him of first-degree murder and sentenced him to death. Taylor represented himself in that trial, which became grounds for the state's Court of Appeals to overturn the conviction. "It became clear to me that for whatever reason Richard Taylor will never be executed," Deputy District Attorney Derek Smith said. "Our office decided that it would be in the best interest of the taxpayers to spend the hundreds of thousands of dollars it would cost to retry this case in other prosecutions." Costs of trials unclear Court officials said it would be hard to estimate how much money has been spent on the 2 trials and appeals. Taylor's attorneys, and lawyers who have represented him in the past, said he should never have been considered a candidate for capital punishment. Taylor's sanity has been called into question several times. Mental health experts have gone back and forth on whether he was competent to stand trial. Brad MacLean, who was Taylor's attorney from 1990 to 1999, called him an "intelligent man" who suffers from "severe mental illness." MacLean said Taylor had been "tortured" by a guard before he killed Moore. "I think we've finally got a resolution in this case that is fair and just after 27 years," MacLean said. "It's been a long road. Finally the fact of his mental illness has been taken into consideration as it should have been from the beginning." Sanity issue is 'absurd' Smith called the questioning of Taylor's sanity "absurd." "If we felt his mental limitations precluded him from execution we would have never sought the death penalty," Smith said. "There's something mentally off about anybody who would murder someone in cold blood. That doesn't mean they are insane." Cassandra Stubbs, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union who helped broker the plea deal, said every lawyer who worked on the case felt Taylor should not be executed. Four of Taylor's previous attorneys agreed. Taylor has been in custody at the Lois M. DeBerry Special Needs Facility in Nashville. Stubbs said it's unclear whether he'll remain there. (source: The Tennessean) GEORGIA----execution Georgia executes man who killed 2 in 1990 A man who claimed his attorney was a racist who put up a flimsy defense was executed Wednesday for murdering two people, Georgia's second execution within a month. Curtis Osborne, 37, was executed at 9:05 p.m. at the state prison in Jackson. Osborne did not request a special last meal and refused to eat a cheeseburger. He did not make a final statement. Osborne's execution was delayed for about 2 hours because the U.S. Supreme Court was considering his final appeal and then prison officials could not find a vein. While the lethal cocktail of drugs was administered, Osborne's eyes opened at one point and he took a deep breath. His eyes then closed again. Osborne, who is black, was sentenced to death for the August 1990 fatal shootings of Linda Lisa Seaborne and Arthur Jones. The 2 were found shot to death in a car by the side of a dirt road in Spalding County, which is about 35 miles south of Atlanta. After he was convicted, he claimed his attorney Johnny Mostiler, who is white, referred to him by a racial slur and refused to tell Osborne that prosecutors offered a life sentence for a plea. He also claimed Mostiler, who died in 2000, told another client that Osborne deserved the death penalty. Prosecutors dismissed those allegations. Griffin Judicial Circuit District Attorney Scott Ballard called them "outlandish.'' Like the nation's high court, the Georgia Supreme Court also refused Wednesday to halt the execution. On Monday, a Georgia parole board declined Osborne's plea for mercy. Osborne's case attracted the attention of former president Jimmy Carter and former U.S. Attorney General Griffin Bell, who both urged state officials to commute the death sentence to life without parole. Norman Fletcher, the ex-chief justice of the Georgia Supreme Court, showed up in person Monday to ask for leniency. It was the 1st time he had made such an appearance, but he said he was drawn in by the "extraordinary nature'' of the case. The lethal injection took 14 minutes to kill Osborne, which concerned protesters who held a vigil at the prison's entrance. "That was another signal that proves there is a problem with lethal injections,'' said Sara Totonchi of the Southern Center for Human Rights, one of about two dozen protesters. "This yet another reason why we must stop executing people until we know more about lethal injection.'' Osborne was the 4th person in the nation executed since the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of lethal injection. Georgia's execution of William Earl Lynd on May 6 was the 1st in the nation after a 7-month halt on capital punishment. (source: Associated Press)
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----USA, CALIF., TENN., GA.
Rick Halperin Thu, 5 Jun 2008 13:25:24 -0500 (Central Daylight Time)
