May 25
USA:
Despite its popularity, the death penalty would allow the state to kill
innocent people
The University of Michigan law school and Northwestern University have just
compiled a database of over 2,000 United States prisoners exonerated between
1999 and the present day. One of the study’s findings was that death row
inmates were exonerated 9 times more frequently that others convicted of
murder, raising the possibility that many innocent people have been sent to
their deaths by the American justice system. The last time a person was
executed in Britain was 1964, and the death penalty was formally abolished in
1965. There were originally some 220 crimes on the statute books that warranted
the death penalty, most reflecting a desire to protect private property;
although others were of a more eccentric nature, such as a law against being in
the company of gypsies for one month.
While the death penalty was last debated in Parliament in 2008, retribution is
a big thing in tabloid Britain, and a majority continue to say they would
support the reintroduction of the ultimate sanction for those convicted of
murder. That figure rises significantly when the victim is a child or a police
officer. A campaign by the blogger Guido Fawkes last year to have a
parliamentary debate on the issue failed, but it seems likely there will be
further calls for the re-introduction of the death penalty the next time a
particularly galling crime hits the headlines.
Contemptuously dismissing public opinion is one thing; but automatically
conferring moral status on something for no other reason than popularity is
quite another, and can be demagogic and dangerous. Self-professed libertarians
like Staines should know this. In a representative liberal democracy,
politicians are put in office to protect the individual from a potentially
over-bearing majority. As the American political satirist P.J. O’Rourke put it
(rather frivolously, in this context): “Imagine if all of life were determined
by majority rule. Every meal would be a pizza. Every pair of pants would be
stone-washed denim, [and] celebrity diet and exercise books would be the only
thing on the shelves at the library.”
While writing little on capital punishment herself, libertarian icon Ayn Rand
did publish a brief article by Nathaniel Branden in response to the question
“What is the Objectivist stand on capital punishment?” The letter made the
obvious point that there can rarely, if ever, be 100 per cent certainty of
guilt, and exonerating a person after they have been executed is altogether too
late.
“If it were possible to by fully and irrevocably certain, beyond any
possibility of error, that a man were guilty, then capital punishment for
murder would be appropriate and just. But men are not infallible; juries make
mistakes; that is the problem. There have been instances recorded where all the
available evidence pointed overwhelmingly to a man’s guilt, and the man was
convicted, and then subsequently discovered to be innocent. It is the
possibility of executing an innocent man that raises doubts about the legal
advisability of capital punishment. It is preferable to sentence 10 murderers
to life imprisonment, rather than sentence one innocent man to death.”
There are certain executions that modern advocates of the death penalty in
Britain prefer not to talk about. One such case is that of Dereck Bentley, a
British teenager who was put to death on January 28, 1953. Bentley was
condemned for his part in a botched robbery in which Police Constable Sidney
Miles was killed by Bentley’s friend, Christopher Craig. Due to the fact that
Craig was only 16 at the time, he was sent to prison (he was released in 1963).
Bentley, however, was convicted and sentenced to death, not for shooting dead
the policeman, but for being party to murder under the English law principle of
“joint enterprise”. A psychiatrist at Bentley’s trial stated that Bentley was
illiterate, of low intelligence and borderline retarded.
Notwithstanding the dubious nature of putting someone to death for being an
“accomplice” (a term open to wide interpretation), it subsequently came to
light that there had been defects in the original trial process, and Dereck
Bentley was pardoned. Bentley’s joy was diminished, however, by the fact that
justice came 45 years after he had already been hanged.
In his 1998 essay, Scenes from an Execution, the late Christopher Hitchens
alleged that politicians in the US were apt to play politics with the death
penalty when it might win them votes in execution-hungry states. He also
pointed out that despite executions of those with mental illness being
prohibited by international law, glaring examples of unstable inmates being
condemned were all too easy to find. The National Association of Mental Health
has estimated that between five to ten percent of those on death row in the US
have serious mental illness.
“I can’t help recalling Rick Ray Rector, the man executed by Governor Clinton
during the 1992 New Hampshire primary. So gravely impaired and lobotomised was
he that, when they came to take him away, he explained that he was leaving a
wedge of pecan pie ‘for later.’ Laid upon the gurney, he helped them find a
vein for the intravenous because he thought they were doctors come at last to
cure him.”
Many people like to believe that the death penalty acts as an effective
deterrent by instilling a fear that committing a crime will put you at risk of
losing your own life. Most evidence, however, suggests the death penalty does
not cut crime. In spite of it being one of the few advanced countries to still
carry out executions, the US has the greatest number of murders per 100,000
inhabitants of any comparable country. The South, which accounts for some 80 %
of executions, has the highest regional murder rate. The experts concur.
Eighty-eight percent of the US’s top criminologists do not believe the death
penalty acts as a deterrent, according to a study published in the Journal of
Criminal Law and Criminology.
Tempting though it may be to view the death penalty as a quick, efficient form
of retribution on the back of appalling crimes, one need not be a libertarian
to recognise that capital punishment is the worst form of big government.
(source: The Independent)
***************
Prosecutors urge Guantanamo judge not to split up 9/11 trial
Pentagon prosecutors argued in a motion Thursday against splitting up the joint
death-penalty prosecution at Guantanamo of the 5 men accused of orchestrating
the 9/11 attacks.
The chief war court judge, Army Col. James L. Pohl, sought the opinion last
week after encountering scheduling conflicts for a motions hearing scheduled
for June 12-15 at the U.S. Navy base in southeast Cuba. It was to be the 1st
hearing following the marathon, 13-hour May 5 arraignment of alleged mastermind
Khalid Sheik Mohammed and four other alleged accomplices in the Sept. 11, 2001,
attacks.
But the criminal defense attorney for Mohammed notified the court he cannot get
to Cuba on June 12 because he’s representing a convicted killer facing
execution by lethal injection on that same day in Boise, Idaho.
3 other Sept. 11 defense teams agreed to the delay. But the attorney for a
Saudi man charged in the conspiracy argued he was prepared to go forward with
the June 12 hearing, creating a conundrum for the war court’s so-called "speedy
trial clock."
The 9/11 prosecutors wrote in a court filing Thursday that early scheduling
conflicts did not necessitate splitting the 5-man prosecution.
"Severance of this jointly referred capital commission would be an
extraordinary action that should not be regarded by the military judge as
’appropriate relief’ in these circumstances," the prosecution wrote, in an
extract obtained by McClatchy Newspapers.
The filing itself was under seal undergoing a security review, which at the war
court gives intelligence agencies up to 15 business days to scrub military
commissions documents filed with the military commissions clerk.
The Pentagon spokesman for Guantanamo issues, Army Lt. Col. Todd Breasseale,
would not provide a comment on the prosecution position.
Prosecutors also argued in their brief that "no defense counsel or accused" had
sought a speedy trial. Nor had any of the alleged Sept. 11 plotters
"articulated any prejudice that any accused might suffer by proceeding
jointly."
Rather, the prosecution wrote that the Pohl, as presiding judge, has the
authority to delay the scheduled June 12-15 session "to accommodate reasonable
scheduling issues of defense counsel." Or, they wrote, he could order the delay
"in the interest of justice."
(source: Miami Herald)
PENNSYLVANIA:
Death penalty possible for Trenton men accused of killing Bristol musician
Cold-blooded, cash-hungry and cruel was the picture a district attorney painted
today of 3 Trenton men accused of murdering Bristol musician Danny DeGennaro
during a botched robbery last December.
Breon Powell, 20, Jermaine Jackson, 19, and Kazair Gist, 18, have been charged
with slaying the 56-year-old DeGennaro and could receive the death penalty if
found guilty when they go to trial. The 3 men have pleaded not guilty.
After sometimes gory evidence was presented to Judge Robert Wagner at a
preliminary hearing this morning, he ordered the trial to begin later this
year. Bucks County Chief Deputy District Attorney Matt Weintraub has called for
the death penalty previously, and said today that an argument for death is
“still on the table.”
DeGennaro was killed on December 28, 2011 by a shotgun blast that left a gaping
hole in his chest and pools of blood in several areas of his house, law
enforcement officials said at the hearing.
A witness, 18-year-old Danasia Bakr of Falls County, testified that Jackson had
said he wanted to go to Pennsylvania that night to "get money" from someone who
owed him. She followed a car carrying Powell and Kazair to DeGennaro's
Levittown neighborhood, and several minutes after Jackson told her to pull over
and park on a nearby side street, she heard 2 gunshots, she said.
Powell and Kazair ran to her car several minutes later, anxiously yelling at
her to drive off, and during the ride they both said, "I had to do it," Bakr
said. They met back up with Jackson in a Trenton parking lot later that night,
where she saw Powell dismantle a shotgun before leaving, she said.
A trial date will be set during an arraignment for the 3 men on June 22.
(source: The Times of Trenton)
CALIFORNIA:
Sierra LaMar slaying defendant could face death
The former supermarket worker charged with kidnapping and murdering a South Bay
girl made his 1st court appearance Thursday on charges that could bring him the
death penalty, but did not enter a plea.
His hands shackled, Antolin Garcia-Torres, 21, of Morgan Hill said nothing and
kept his head bowed as he appeared briefly before Judge Jerome Nadler in Santa
Clara County Superior Court. Nadler ordered him held without bail and told him
to return to the San Jose courtroom next Thursday.
Prosecutors charged Garcia-Torres with murder with the special circumstance of
murder in the course of a kidnapping in connection with the presumed slaying of
Sierra LaMar, 15, who lived just outside Morgan Hill. Sierra was last seen
March 16, and her body has not been found.
The special circumstance allegation means Garcia-Torres could face life in
prison without the possibility of parole or the death penalty if he is
convicted. District Attorney Jeff Rosen said his office would decide later
whether to seek lethal injection.
Rosen said he would "aggressively seek justice."
"We will do everything in our power to seek the truth and to seek justice for
Sierra LaMar," Rosen said. "To do this, we must do our work diligently, in our
offices, in our crime laboratory and in the courtroom."
Sierra's family did not attend the hearing. Supporters held signs outside the
courthouse with the girl's picture and asked, "Where is Sierra?"
Garcia-Torres' family was in court but left without speaking to reporters. The
defendant was represented by an attorney from the public defender's office, who
did not comment.
Court documents released Thursday shed little new information on the case
against Garcia-Torres, a former Safeway employee who authorities say did not
know Sierra.
But authorities said they were all but certain Sierra is dead, citing the fact
that she has not posted on social media websites since the morning of March 16
and that no one has heard from her.
"Sierra LaMar has no independent means of support," sheriff's Sgt. Herman Leon
wrote in a statement outlining the grounds for Garcia-Torres' arrest. "All of
her known personal belongings, including her asthma inhaler, her money, her
house keys and the clothing she was wearing the morning of her disappearance,
have been located."
A tracking dog traced Sierra's scent from her home to a point midway down her
street, Leon wrote.
Authorities said Sierra's DNA was found in Garcia-Torres' Volkswagen Jetta and
that his DNA was found on clothes belonging to Sierra, which were found near
the stop where she would have caught the bus to Sobrato High School in Morgan
Hill.
They have not described the DNA evidence, but Sheriff Laurie Smith said the
material found on Sierra's clothes was not blood.
Legal analyst Steve Clark, a former prosecutor who now works as a defense
attorney, said he was not surprised Rosen had filed a special-circumstance
case.
The district attorney would not comment on whether he would consider offering a
lighter sentence to Garcia-Torres in exchange for revealing the location of
Sierra's body, but Clark said that is always a possibility.
"They're not supposed to use the death penalty as a bargaining chip, but I'm
sure they would like to have something that they can approach this defendant
with," Clark said.
Finding the girl's body, he said, is "something I'm sure the family would
want."
(source: San Francisco Chronicle)
FLORIDA:
Crime History: Death penalty cause celebre executed under controversy
On this day, May 25, 1979, convicted murderer and death penalty cause celebre
John Arthur Spenkelink was executed in Florida.
Spenkelink was the 2nd convict after Gary Gilmore to be executed in the country
once capital punishment was reinstated in 1976.
Unlike Gilmore, who demanded that his death sentence be carried out, Spenkelink
fought his execution, signing his letters, "capital punishment means those
without capital get the punishment."
At his execution, Spenkelink, 30, was given 2 shots of whiskey, gagged, then
killed with 3 electrical jolts.
But because the venetian blinds separating the witnesses were closed for part
of the killing, rumors spread that his neck had been broken before his
execution.
Spenkelink's body was exhumed for an autopsy, which confirmed that he had died
by electrocution.
(source: Washington Examiner)
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