[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide
March 26 INDIA: 121 death petitions disposed off by President since 1981: RTI A total of 121 death petitions involving more than 163 persons were disposed off by the President of India in the last 34 years. In response to an RTI query, Ministry of Home Affairs (Judicial Division) said that since 1981, there were 124 cases, whereupon 90 cases were rejected and 31 were extended relief as their death sentences were condoned as commuted to life imprisonment, J P Agrawal, Joint Secretary, Judicial CPIO said. 3 death petitions are still under examinations, 1 is of Balwant Singh Rajoana from Chandigarh and Tote Dewan from Assam; both filed in 2012 and that of Antony from Kerala whose petition was filed in 2013, he said. Among the convicts waiting for the gallows, is Davinder Singh Bhullar of the Khalistan Liberation Force convicted for killing nine people and injuring 31 in a bomb blast in 1993. His mercy petition was filed in January 2003 and rejected on 25.5.2011 and is yet to be hanged. The petition of Balwant Singh Rajoana, convicted for the assassination of former Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh on August 31, 1995, is still under examination, the RTI reply said. However, no information was provided with regard to number of prisoners who were awarded death penalty but set free after mercy from the President of India, Aggarwal said. Whether the prisoners who were pardoned of death penalty; were set free or still behind the bars was also not provided by the Division. Information regarding the number of death row prisoners confirmed by the Supreme Court of India, who have never sought mercy from the President was also left out from the RTI reply, with the authority stating that the concerned states may provide the details of the same. (soruce: Deccan Herald) MALAYSIA: Aussie mum frustrated as Malaysia drug case delayed again The case of an Australian woman facing a possible death sentence for drug trafficking in Malaysia was postponed again Thursday, with a lawyer describing the defendant as frustrated with the repeated delays. Maria Elvira Pinto Exposto, a 52-year-old mother of 4, was arrested on December 7 after arriving at Kuala Lumpur International Airport en route from Shanghai to Melbourne, with a bag containing what authorities said was crystal methamphetamine, or ice. A chemist report on the substance was to be submitted to the court Thursday. If it confirms the substance was ice the case would then be elevated to a higher court, launching the death-penalty case. But the court outside Kuala Lumpur was told that the chemical analysis, which has been repeatedly delayed, was still incomplete and that a new date for its submission was set for April 30, said defence lawyer Tania Scivetti. She is down and she wants the case to move fast so that she can go home, Scivetti said of his client, who declined to comment when leaving the court. The defence team says Pinto Exposto travelled to Shanghai after falling for an online romance scam, and was then duped into carrying a bag - which she believed contained only clothing - by a stranger who asked her to take it to Melbourne. Customs officers discovered 1.5kg of suspected ice hidden in the bag. The defence is yet to enter a plea until the case reaches a higher court. Drug-trafficking carries a mandatory sentence of death by hanging upon conviction in Malaysia. 2 Australians were hanged in 1986 for heroin trafficking - the 1st Westerners executed in Malaysia - in a case that strained bilateral relations. But few death-row prisoners have been executed in the country in recent years. After an 18-month legal battle, Dominic Bird, an Australian truck driver from Perth, was acquitted of drug trafficking in 2013. He had been arrested for alleged possession of 167 grams of crystal meth. (source: The Malaysian Insider) BANGLADESH: War Crime Trials Govt appeals to SC seeking death for Abdul Jabbar; Probe report submitted to prosecution against eight Jamalpur 'Al-Badr men' The government yesterday filed an appeal with the Supreme Court, seeking death penalty for Abdul Jabbar for committing crimes against humanity during the 1971 Liberation War. The International Crimes Tribunal-1 on February 24 sentenced the fugitive Jatiya Party leader to imprisonment until his death considering his old age. Assistant Attorney General Bashir Ahmed told The Daily Star that 10 reasons have been cited in the appeal for which the Appellate Division of the SC may consider for sentencing Jabbar to death. Meanwhile, the investigation agency yesterday handed over to the prosecution of the International Crimes Tribunal a probe report on eight Jamalpur Al-Badr men who were allegedly involved in crimes against humanity. Matiur Rahman, the investigation officer of the case, gave the probe report, statements of witnesses and other documents to the Chief Prosecutor Ghulam
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----OHIO, CALIF., WASH., USA, US MIL.
March 26 OKLAHOMA: Michael Portillo inspires Oklahoma to consider execution by nitrogenAs US states look for alternatives to lethal injection Oklahoma is on the verge of becoming the 1st to allow for asphyxiating death row inmates Oklahoma is moving forward with plans to become the first US state to allow executions using nitrogen gas after being inspired by a BBC documentary in which Michael Portillo suggested it was the most painless way to implement capital punishment. States where the death penalty is imposed are scrambling for alternative methods as pharmacies that provide drugs for lethal injection increasingly refuse to do so on ethical grounds. Later this week Oklahoma's Senate will vote on allowing death by nitrogen hypoxia. The proposal has already been approved by a large majority in its lower house and it would become the state's first back-up option if lethal injection drugs run out. Mike Christian, the Republican state politician behind the plan, has said his opinion on using nitrogen was solidified after he saw a 2008 BBC Horizon documentary called How to Kill a Human Being in which Michael Portillo, the former British Cabinet minister, searched for the most humane execution option. In the film Mr Portillo, who as an MP voted both for and against the death penalty, said: After some investigation I think I've come up with a perfect killing device, an entirely humane way of killing a prisoner who is under sentence of death. It's nitrogen, which renders him at first euphoric, and then makes him unconscious pretty quickly and he dies entirely without pain. Mr Christian said recently: I believe it's revolutionary. It's probably the best thing we've come up with since the start of executing people by government. You can pick up nitrogen anywhere they use it. Industrially, you can pick it up at a welding supply company. Condemned prisoners would be asphyxiated by putting a mask on them which would be used to replace oxygen with inert nitrogen. Supporters say the person would experience brief euphoria, lose consciousness after about 10 seconds, and their heart would stop beating within 2 minutes. According to Amnesty International no US state has ever used nitrogen gas to execute an inmate and it had no reports of the method being used in other countries. Ryan Kiesel, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union in Oklahoma, said: We would be experimenting on the condemned using a process that has been banned in many states for the euthanasia of animals. In Oklahoma, where three people were scheduled to die next month, executions are already on hold following a botched lethal injection last year. Clayton Lockett, convicted of murder, took 43 minutes to die. The US Supreme Court is reviewing the state's lethal injection procedures after remaining death row inmates claimed they were inhumane. Earlier this week Utah approved the firing squad as its back-up method if it runs out of lethal injection drugs. (source: The Telegraph) CALIFORNIA: Attorney General Reportedly Moving To Block 'Death Penalty For Gays' Ballot Initiative California Attorney General Kamala Harris is reportedly moving to prevent a ballot proposal criminalizing sodomy and allowing the death penalty for anyone who touches another person of the same gender for purposes of sexual gratification from ever appearing on the California ballot, according to Patrick McGreevy of the Los Angeles Times. Huntington Beach attorney Matt McLaughlin filed papers to begin gathering signatures for the ballot measure, known as the Sodomite Suppression Act, on February 26th. Harris??? move would effectively prevent signature gathering. In California's direct democracy any citizen can follow procedures to propose just about any law. That doesn't mean that any law could pass, and even if passed, it doesn't mean that any law could actually go into effect. Even laws passed by a majority of California voters may been overturned by judicial review, as was the case in the Prop. 8 gay marriage debate. This latest initiative is creating news not because of what it would do if passed but because of the fact that it, so far, stopping it has not been possible. Along with the required $200 fee, McLaughlin's letter asking for certification of his initiative includes the following language: The abominable crime against nature known as buggery, called also sodomy, is a monstrous evil that Almighty God, giver of freedom and liberty, commands us to suppress on pain of our utter destruction even as he overthrew Sodom and Gomorrha. The Sacramento Bee reports that the Legislature's Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Caucus has now written a letter to the State Bar calling into question McLaughlin's fitness to practice law. A petition to take away his law license already has over 40,000 signers. (source: CBS news) WASHINGTON: Life or
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, PENN., DEL., VA., ALA., OHIO
March 26 MARCH 26, 2015: TEXAS: Texas prison officials acquire drug to carry out lethal injections Texas prison officials have acquired a small supply of pentobarbital to replenish their dwindling inventory of the execution drug so that lethal injections set for next month in the nation's most active death penalty state can be carried out, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice said Wednesday. The agency now has a sufficient amount of the sedative for the 4 inmates set to die in April, a spokesman confirmed. (source: Washington Post) *** Questionable Texas execution leads to bar complaint against prosecutor Texas likely executed an innocent man, and now the prosecutor faces a misconduct complaint A couple of days before Christmas 1991, Cameron Todd Willingham would later tell investigators, he awoke from a nap to a house filled with smoke and flames. He couldn't reach his 3 toddlers who had been in a back bedroom, and the intense heat sent him stumbling outside as fire consumed the house. Arson, fire investigators determined, and the police quickly zeroed in on Willingham as the one who started it. Willingham was convicted of murder, sentenced to death, and the execution was carried out in 2004 despite significant questions about whether the fire had, indeed, been intentionally set. Since then, more questions have been raised about the role of a jailhouse informer named Johnny E. Webb, who testified at trial that Willingham had confessed to him. Webb and the prosecutor, John H. Jackson, told the court that no deal had been worked out for Webb's testimony, something Webb now says was a lie. The evidence is substantial that in killing Willingham, Texas executed an innocent man, adding yet another layer of tragedy to the horrific deaths of the 3 children. And the evidence is pretty convincing that the prosecutor, who has stood by the conviction, lied about making a deal with Webb in return for the now-recanted testimony. Earlier this month, the State Bar of Texas quietly filed a disciplinary complaint against Jackson in Navarro County District Court, Maurice Possley reports at the Marshall Project. Specifically, the bar accuses Jackson of withholding evidence of Willingham???s innocence before, during and after the trial. From the Marshall Project: A lawyer for Jackson, Joseph E. Byrne, on Wednesday urged that people withhold judgment about the case until all the evidence was presented and took issue with the grievance filed against his client by the Innocence Project, a legal advocacy group. If found guilty, Jackson could be disbarred -- not much of a penalty if he was indeed culpable for the execution of an innocent man. But it's somewhat remarkable that a disciplinary body is even trying to hold a prosecutor accountable for apparent misconduct during a trial. That an innocent man was likely executed may put more weight on this case, but there have been other similar acts of misconduct in death penalty cases, actions that rarely receive more than a courtroom rebuke. Though I should note that misconduct and prosecutorial errors are not necessarily intentional. According to the National Registry of Exonerations, official misconduct was involved in 46% of the 12,569 exonerations it has tracked since 1989. Politico wrote about some of the post-conviction review units that a handful of prosecutor's offices have adopted to try to ensure the innocent have not been wrongly convicted, something I've written about before. But that's just a step. I take it as a given that most prosecutors are focused on justice. But until prosecutors know they face accountability for their infractions, there is little to stop the bad actors from acting badly. (source: Opinion; Scott Martelle, Los Angeles Times) PENNSYLVANIA: York College-commissioned poll shows Pa. voters narrowly against death penalty A poll commissioned by a York College professor and released on Wednesday shows a slim majority of polled Pennsylvanians support Gov. Tom Wolf's decision to temporarily put a hold on executions. 54 % of the pollees also prefer some form of a life sentence rather than a death sentence, according to the poll done by Public Policy Polling of North Carolina. Eric Ling, an associate professor of criminal justice, said he commissioned the poll to see how attitudes were shaped by the governor's decision to put a moratorium on the death penalty in February. Pennsylvanians are moving with the time, he said of the results. I think now's the time for reconsideration. The poll: Of the 632 registered voters polled, 29 % strongly support and 21 % somewhat support Wolf's decision, while 15 % somewhat oppose and 29 strongly oppose. 5 % of those polled weren't sure, according to the poll. 32 % said they prefer a sentence of life in prison with no possibility of parole for someone convicted of murder, while
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide
March 26 INDONESIA: Indonesian court rejects appeal of Filipina on death rowIn her application for judicial review, Mary Jane Veloso's lawyers argue that she was not provided with a capable translator during her 1st trial Indonesia's Supreme Court has rejected an application by a Filipina on death row for a judicial review of her case, taking her a step closer to being executed along with several other foreign drug convicts. We appreciate the Supreme Court for its decision to reject the judicial review of Mary Jane, Tony Spontana, the spokesperson of the Attorney General's Office, told Rappler in a text message. This is in line with our expectation and understanding because her clemency request has already been rejected. She should not have any more legal remedies. As well as the Filipina, Mary Jane Fiesta Veloso, 2 high-profile Australian inmates and convicts from France, Brazil, Ghana and Nigeria are set to face the firing squad after they recently had requests for presidential clemency rejected. In her application for a judicial review, Veloso's lawyers had reportedly argued that she was not provided with a capable translator during her first trial. But the Supreme Court's website said that judges on Wednesday, March 25, rejected Veloso's application for a review of her sentence. It did not provide details about the ruling and a court spokesman could not immediately be contacted for comment. Veloso was caught at Yogyakarta airport, on the main island of Java, carrying 2.6 kilograms (5.73 pounds) of heroin on a flight from Malaysia. Jakarta plans to execute all 10 of the convicts - 9 foreigners and 1 Indonesian - at the same time, but has said it will wait for any outstanding legal appeals to conclude. Australians Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, leaders of the so-called Bali 9 drug-smuggling gang, as well as Frenchman Serge Atlaoui, currently have appeals that are working their way through the courts. Chan and Sukumaran have lost 2 previous attempts to get judicial reviews of their cases, but their legal teams have lodged a further, rare appeal. Indonesia has some of the toughest anti-drugs laws in the world, and President Joko Widodo has vowed there will be no clemency for traffickers on death row, as the country is facing an emergency due to rising narcotics use. Jakarta put to death 6 drug convicts, including five foreigners, in January, sparking a diplomatic storm. (source: rappler.com) ** Bali 9: Mary Jane Veloso's key legal case delaying executions is rejected One of the key legal cases delaying the executions of 10 drug felons in Indonesia including the Bali 9 duo has been rejected by the Supreme Court. The case review of Filipina maid Mary Jane Veloso was expected to take up to 3 months, buying time for all those on death row including Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran. However Supreme Court spokesman Ridwan Mansyur confirmed the judicial review request had been rejected on Wednesday. Although others facing the firing squad still have outstanding legal proceedings, Veloso had been considered by her legal team to have a strong chance of having her death sentence commuted. She is innocent, she did not know what she was doing, lawyer Agus Salim told Rappler in an interview on March 20. She's a victim. Veloso, a mother of 2, was sentenced to death in 2010 for attempting to smuggle 2.6 kilograms of heroin from Malaysia to Yogyakarta. She maintains she was deceived by an acquaintance and did not know the drugs were in the lining of her suitcase. Her lawyers argued she deserved a case review because the translator during her trial was only a student who did not have a license from the Association of Indonesian Translators. Mr Ridwan said the ruling had been published on the Supreme Court's website however the legal consideration leading to the decision was still being processed. A spokesman for Attorney-General H. M. Prasetyo confirmed officers from the Attorney-General's office were visiting Nusakambangan - the site of the executions - on Friday but denied the visit was related to the executions. Spokesman Tony Spontana said the decision on Veloso did not necessarily mean the executions would be held soon. We are still waiting for all legal processes to be completed, he said. Lawyers for Chan and Sukumaran will return to the administrative court on Monday with an expert witness who will argue that the court has the jurisdiction to hear the men's appeal. The court has previously thrown out their legal challenge to President Joko Widodo's rejection of their clemency pleas on the grounds it does not have the authority to make a ruling. This is now being appealed in the same court. A decision is expected in early April. Others with legal processes still underway include Frenchman Serge Atlaoui, Martin Anderson from Ghana and Nigerian Raheem Agbaje Salami. The
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, UTAH, ARIZ., USA
March 26 TEXASnew execution date Execution date set for convicted killer Lester Bower Another execution date has been set for convicted killer Lester Bower. Grayson County District Attorney Joe Brown says Bower is now scheduled to die on June 3, 2015. Monday, the Supreme Court denied an appeal from Bower. He was scheduled to be executed on February 10 but it was put on hold 5 days earlier. Bower was convicted in 1984 of murdering 4 men in a Sherman plane hangar. (source: Associated Press) ** Executions under Greg Abbott, Jan. 21, 2015-present4 Executions in Texas: Dec. 7, 1982present-522 Abbott#scheduled execution date-nameTx. # 5Apr. 9Kent Sprouse-523 6Apr. 15---Manual Garza-524 7---Apr. 23---Richard Vasquez--525 8---Apr. 28---Robert Pruett526 9---May 12Derrick Charles--527 10--June 3Les Bower528 11---June 18---Gregory Russeau--529 (sources: TDCJ Rick Halperin) UTAH: Why people volunteer to take part in firing squads There's a funny fact about firing squads: People volunteer for them. When it comes to lethal injection though, it can be difficult to find an expert to with the right expertise to oversee the procedure. In 2006, Missouri state officials told a judge that they sent letters to 298 anesthesiologists, asking if they would help with the state's executions. All refused. Now, as Utah considers a bill that would allow the state to use firing squads in the case that it runs out of lethal-injection drugs, we thought we would take a look at those who participate in both. The mindsets of firing-squad volunteers and lethal-injection team members are the polar opposite with how most of those not involved in the process feel. After all, lethal injection is the first choice among all states that have the death penalty; other methods, including firing squads, can seem barbaric in comparison. A look at the psychology may also help inform a small part of the debate about whether American states should use firing squads at all. There's not much academic study comparing the psychology of shooting versus injecting, but participants in both have talked with journalists and social scientists. In 2010, when Utah wanted to execute death-row inmate Ronnie Lee Gardner, it used five anonymous police officers who all volunteered for the job. 2 other volunteer police officers stood by, in case anyone in the original five wanted to back out at the last minute. (None of the five officers got cold feet.) About a week before Gardner's execution, CNN talked with another officer who had volunteered for the firing squad that executed convicted murderer John Albert Taylor in 1996. The officer considered the job a rare chance to effect 100 % justice. There's just some people we need to kick off the planet, he said. He described the process as instantaneous, professional, and not unduly gruesome. In contrast, getting medical professionals - the equivalent of trained marksmen for lethal injections - to join death penalty teams can be difficult. Doctors, after all, take an oath to first, do no harm. Doctors' groups, including the American Medical Association and the American Board of Anesthesiology, say physicians shouldn't participate in capital punishment. The ABA has not taken this action because of any position regarding the appropriateness of the death penalty. Anesthesiologists, like all physicians and all citizens, have different personal opinions about capital punishment, the American Board of Anesthesiology's statement reads. Instead, it's about being members of a profession dedicated to preserving life when there is hope of doing so. Although some had hoped that including medical professionals in chemical executions would reduce the number of botched procedures, there are simply not enough doctors or nurses willing to perform the job, ABC News reported in 2007. The workers who end up on lethal-injection teams may have no medical training and, perhaps because they're hired to perform executions more than one time, seem to deal with more negative psychological effects. A 2005 survey of more than 200 members of execution teams - often states will include many people on such teams, so no one person feels responsible - found they deal with stress and cope by distancing themselves from the moral aspects of their work. ABC News talked with one man who executed 62 people by electrocution and lethal injection over his career. To make that transformation from corrections officer to executioner ... it was hard,'' he said. You have to get away from yourself. You have to eliminate yourself. The psychological effect of being part of
