[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide
August 23 BANGLADESH: Bangladesh HC endorses death penalty of 3 army officers, 12 others Bangladesh's High Court on Tuesday upheld a trial court verdict sentencing to death 15 people including 3 army officers and a gangster, who had fled to India after the gruesome killing of 7 people 3 years ago. The abducting and killing of 7 people, including councillor Nazrul Islam and lawyer Chandan Kumar Sarkar, in suburban port town of Narayanganj shocked the nation. "The High Court upheld the death sentence of 15 and commuted death penalties of 11 others to life imprisonment while the trial court had handed down death penalties to 26 accused," a spokesman of the attorney general's office said. The judgement awarded death penalty to 2 sacked military and a navy officers, a gangster and 11 ex-servicemen posted in elite anti-crime Rapid Action Battalion (RAB). The 3 officers, a Lieutenant Colonel, a Major and a Lieutenant Commander of navy were also serving the RAB at the time of the gruesome simultaneous murders in 2014. A 2-judge bench comprising Justices Bhabani Prasad Singha and Mustafa Zaman Islam delivered the entire verdict that took hours, contrary to normal practices when the court pronounces the operative or abridged part of the judgment. The 3 officers were found to be bribed to assassinate the city councillor and 6 others. The councillor, the lawyer and 5 others were abducted on April 27, 2014 from the port town and their nearly decomposed bodies were retrieved later. According to the proceedings, a key accused of the case gangster Nur Hossain, himself a city councillor, had bribed the RAB officials to eliminate councilor Nazrul Islam in exchange of Taka 6 crore. Soon after the murder Hossain fled to India as he was found to be the mastermind of the plot but Indian police eventually tracked him down in West Bengal and deported to Bangladesh in November 2015. Investigations revealed 23 RAB personnel, including an army lieutenant colonel and 2 navy officers, were involved in abduction and killing of the 7 people. Sacked Lt Col Tarek Sayeed, the son-in-law of a cabinet minister, was the senior most of the three officers who was serving as the RAB commander in Narayanganj at the time of incident. The 2 others - Major Arif Hossain and Lt commander MM Rana - were serving under his command. The officers were immediately sacked on orders of their superior authorities while police arrested them. (source: The Hindu) MALDIVES: Maldives to reintroduce death penalty despite international criticism The UN and Amnesty International have urged the government not to reintroduce the death penalty by hanging. Despite international pressure, the Maldives will reintroduce the death penalty after a 60-year moratorium to try and reduce the rising number of murders and stop drug trafficking, a senior advisor to President Abdulla Yameen said on Tuesday. The UN and Amnesty International have urged the government not to reintroduce the death penalty by hanging, citing concerns whether some inmates facing the death penalty had had fair trials. "It is to be used as a deterrent," Mohamed Hussain Shareef, a senior advisor to Yameen and head of foreign relations of the ruling Progressive Party of Maldives told Reuters in an interview in Colombo. "At the moment, overwhelmingly the people of Maldives are in support for implementation. It is a difficult decision for any government. But as a government, you have to safeguard the lives of innocent people." He said there had been more than 50 murders reported in Maldives during the last decade. The UN has said 20 prisoners, including at least 5 juvenile offenders, had been sentenced to death, and 3 men convicted of murder were at imminent risk of execution, despite concerns over whether they had had fair trials. Shareef said the 3 convicted murderers would face capital punishment "soon" and the victims' families are being now given an option to consider if the convicts could be forgiven according to Islamic Sharia law. The hangings will not be carried out in public, Shareef said, with the government constructing a special execution chamber on Maafushi island where the country's main prison is located from 27 km (16 miles) from capital Male. A UN human rights expert early this month said the Maldives will make a big mistake if it reinstates the death penalty, while Amnesty International has said the executions are a ploy by the government to distract attention from its own problems and ensure its political survival. The largely Muslim island chain, which has a population of 400,000, has a reputation as a tourist paradise, but it has been mired in political unrest since Mohamed Nasheed, its first democratically-elected president, was ousted in 2012. The opposition is trying to unseat speaker Abdulla Maseeh Mohamed, alleging President Yameen's administration is trying to cover
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, PENN., N.C., FLA., MO., OKLA.
August 23 TEXAS: Reginald Kimbro, Man Accused in Two North Texas Assaults, Murders, Faces 2nd Capital Murder ChargeOfficials have not said when trials in Dallas, Tarrant counties will begin Reginald Gerard Kimbro, the man accused of sexually assaulting and murdering 2 North Texas women and raping a 3rd, has been indicted on a 2nd capital murder charge. Kimbro, 24, is accused of killing both 36-year-old Megan Getrum, of Plano, and 22-year-old Molly Matheson, a former college girlfriend who lived in Fort Worth, within days of each other. Matheson's body was found in her Fort Worth garage apartment by her mother on April 10. Detectives learned Matheson and Kimbro previously dated in 2014 while both were students at the University of Arkansas. In an interview with detectives 4 days after Matheson's death, Kimbro told police he and Molly were no longer dating but had kept in touch. He admitted to being at her apartment the night she died but said he left after a few hours and had nothing to do with her death. That same day, April 14, was the last time anyone saw Getrum alive. She is believed to have disappeared from the Arbor Hills Nature Preserve in Plano, not far from where she lived. Getrum's body was found in Lake Ray Hubbard April 15, but not identified until days later after her family reported her missing. Authorities said an autopsy report revealed Getrum's death was the result of a "blunt injury" to the back of her neck. She had also been strangled and sexually assaulted. An arrest warrant indicated that detectives found Kimbro's DNA on Getrum's body during an autopsy. Authorities said they matched it with his DNA found earlier on the body of Matheson, who had also been sexually assaulted. Given that the 2 deaths occurred in 2 different counties, they are being prosecuted separately by 2 different district attorneys. Tarrant County District Attorney Sharen Wilson announced Aug. 10 she was seeking the death penalty in the Matheson capital murder case while Dallas County District Attorney Faith Johnson is seeking either the death penalty or a life sentence in the the Getrum case, whose body was found in Dallas County. "We continue to pray for Megan Getrum's family. We also continue to pray for the family of Molly Matheson of Fort Worth, as Reginald Kimbro is also being charged with Capital Murder in connection to her death. We believe that justice will be served in both of these cases," Johnson said Tuesday. With a charge of capital murder, a guilty verdict automatically carries a death sentence or mandatory life in prison without parole. Kimbro was twice before accused of sexual assault, though no charges were filed in either case. The f1st assault allegedly took place in September 2012 where a woman reported Kimbro sexually assaulted her in Plano. Kimbro was never arrested in this case and the arrest warrant affidavit does not say why prosecutors declined to pursue the case. The 2nd assault allegedly took place in March 2014 at a resort on South Padre Island. In that incident, Kimbro claimed the sex was consensual and the charges were dismissed. However, in June 2017, the Cameron County District Attorney indicted Kimbro on an aggravated sexual assault charge from the 2014 incident. Officials did not say why, now, they were pursuing the case. In both cases, police said Kimbro knew the women and strangled them during the assault. While Kimbro's connection to Matheson is clear, investigators have not said if Kimbro knew Getrum. Kimbro is currently being held at the Tarrant County Lon Evans Correction Center on a $2.1 million bond. Officials have not said when they expect the trials to begin. Online jail records do not indicate an attorney for him. (source: nbcdfw.com) PENNSYLVANIA: Pa. high court orders new death penalty hearing in '84 murder of Germantown deacon In a case that reignited scrutiny of Pennsylvania's death penalty and the workings of the state's highest court, an evenly divided Pennsylvania Supreme Court has ordered a new death penalty hearing for Terrance Williams, convicted and condemned in the 1984 slaying of Germantown church deacon Amos Norwood. Just 4 of the 7 justices participated in Tuesday's decision and, under court rules, the stalemate automatically affirmed a Philadelphia judge's 2012 ruling that Williams deserved a new jury to decide whether he should be sentenced to death or to life in prison without parole. 2 justices - Christine Donohue and David N. Wecht - favored a new sentencing hearing, and 2 - Sallie Updyke Mundy and former Philadelphia Common Pleas Court Judge Kevin M. Dougherty - supported reinstating Williams' death sentence. The 3 remaining justices - Thomas G. Saylor, Max Baer, and Debra McCloskey Todd - recused themselves because they were part of the unanimous 2014 Supreme Court decision that reinstated Williams's death sentence. That decision was
