[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS
Nov. 8 TEXASexecution Texas executes Mexican national despite international ire Texas executed a Mexican national late Wednesday night despite a flurry of last-minute appeals and objections from his native country and United Nations human rights experts. Death row inmate Ruben Cárdenas had several appeals pending before the U.S. Supreme Court when the scheduled time of his execution — 6 p.m. — rolled around. The high court denied all appeals almost four hours later, setting his execution into process. In his final words, Cárdenas thanked his family, friends, attorneys and the Mexican government for their help. “I will not and cannot apologize for someone else’s crime, but, I will be back for justice! You can count on that!” he said. Cárdenas, 47, was injected with a lethal dose of pentobarbital and pronounced dead at 10:26 p.m. He was convicted and sentenced to death in the 1997 Edinburg murder of his 16-year-old cousin, Mayra Laguna. After hours of interrogation, Cárdenas confessed that he snuck into his cousin’s room through an open window early on a February morning and then kidnapped, raped and killed her before leaving her body near a canal, according to court records. "After 21 years of waiting, justice was finally served," said Laguna's sister, Roxana Jones, in a statement after the execution. "Words can't begin describe the relief it feels to know that there is true peace after so much pain and sorrow….Mayra can be remembered as loving, caring, funny and dimples when she smiled. She will continue to watch over family and friends." There was an international push to stop his execution because Cárdenas, was never given the chance to speak to his country’s consulate after his arrest more than 20 years ago, a violation of an international treaty. Cárdenas also was not provided a lawyer until 11 days after his arrest, and his representatives claimed evidence against him was faulty and his confession was coerced. “If the scheduled execution of Mr. Cárdenas goes ahead, the US Government will have implemented a death penalty without complying with international human rights standards,” said Agnes Callamard and Elina Steinerte, independent experts with the U.N.’s Human Rights system, in a news release Monday. Under the 1963 Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, all arrestees from a foreign country must be told they can notify their consulate and receive regular consultation from them during their detention. In 2004, the U.N.’s International Court of Justice (ICJ) found that the U.S. violated this treaty with more than 50 Mexican nationals on death row, including Cárdenas. A ruling ordered that all the cases should be reconsidered before execution. But the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2008 that even though the treaty created obligations for the federal government, it didn’t force anything on the states, according to a federal appellate court’s ruling denying Cárdenas’ appeal on the consulate violation. “ICJ decisions do not become domestic law absent a Congressional enactment,” the order said. The Mexican government still says the violation is “illegal,” according to a Reuters report. On Monday, the country’s deputy foreign minister for North America, Carlos Sada, told reporters that Texas prosecutors didn’t follow due process and that his country is looking to stay the execution. Hours before the execution was set to begin, the Mexican Senate urged President Enrique Peña Nieto to call on Texas officials to stop the execution. Mexico does not have the death penalty. In recent appeals filed in state courts, Cárdenas' legal team said bad practices in eyewitness identifications, DNA evidence and confessions led to Cárdenas’ conviction. “To permit Mr. Cardenas’s conviction to stand without further examination and testing would undermine Texas’s commitment to addressing the epidemic of wrongful convictions, and would facilitate the execution of a potentially innocent man,” attorney Maurie Levin wrote in an appeal filed last week. Evidence used against Cárdenas at trial included an eyewitness who could not identify him in a lineup but could at his trial — a practice that was prohibited by the Texas Legislature this year in an effort to prevent wrongful convictions. His legal team also argued that DNA testing done nearly 20 years ago is now obsolete. The crux of Cárdenas’ conviction, however, was based on his confessions. Cárdenas’ account changed slightly during days of interrogation — the first 11 of which he did not have an attorney. He asked for a lawyer at his first appearance hearing two days after his arrest, according to the filing. Levin argued that Cárdenas’ confessions were “false and extremely unreliable,” citing inconsistencies between his confessions and the facts of the crime. Some of the inconsistencies she described were the lack of forensic evidence of sexual activity even though he said
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----FLORIDA
Nov., 8 FLORIDAexecution Florida executes killer Patrick Hannon after Supreme Court rejects last-ditch appeal lorida has executed an inmate who was convicted of slashing one man’s throat and fatally shooting another in 1991. The office of Gov. Rick Scott said inmate Patrick Hannon, 53, was pronounced dead at 8:50 p.m. Wednesday following an injection at Florida State Prison in Starke. Hannon had been scheduled to die at 6 p.m., but the execution was delayed pending a last-ditch appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. That was rejected. Hannon was the third Florida inmate executed since August. The state resumed executions that month following changes it made to its death penalty sentencing law, which now requires a unanimous jury vote for a death sentence. The U.S. Supreme Court had recently found Florida’s old sentencing law, which did not require unanimity, to be unconstitutional. However, the new sentencing law did not affect Hannon’s case because the state’s high court ruled that those decided before 2002 were not eligible for relief. Hannon was convicted in 1991 of 2 counts of 1st-degree murder for the slayings of Brandon Snider and Robert Carter. It was January 1991 when he and two other men went to Snider’s apartment in Tampa. Hannon’s friend Jim Acker initially attacked Snider with a knife. Prosecutors said the attacks were motivated by Snider’s vandalizing of Acker’s sister’s apartment. Snider was “eviscerated” by the initial stabbing, according to court documents, and Hannon sliced his throat, nearly severing the victim’s head. Snider’s roommate, Robert Carter, was also home and fled to an upstairs bedroom, where Hannon dragged him from under a bed and shot him 6 times, the jury found. Hannon’s jury recommended death unanimously after finding him guilty of both murders. His requests for a halt to his execution to the Florida Supreme Court have been denied. Hannon had asked for a new sentencing phase in light of the recent changes to Florida’s death sentencing system. Florida Supreme Court Justice Barbara Pariente, who dissented from the rest of the court, wrote that the jury was not given enough information to make an informed decision in Hannon’s sentencing phase. Hannon becomes the 3rd condemned inmate to be put to death this year in Florida and the 95th overall since the state resumed capital punishment in 1979. Only Texas (544), Virginia (113) and Oklahoma (112) have carried out more executions than Florida since the USA re-legalized the death penalty on July 2, 1976. Hannon becomes the 22nd condemned inmate to be put to death this year in the USA and the 1,464th overall since the nation resumed executions on January 17, 1977. (sources: Orlando Sentinel & Rick Halperin) ___ A service courtesy of Washburn University School of Law www.washburnlaw.edu DeathPenalty mailing list DeathPenalty@lists.washlaw.edu http://lists.washlaw.edu/mailman/listinfo/deathpenalty Unsubscribe: http://lists.washlaw.edu/mailman/options/deathpenalty
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----FLORIDA
Nov. 8 FLORIDAimminent execution Appeals Court Rejects Patrick Hannon Stay, Will Be 26th Executed On Gov. Scott’s Watch Patrick Hannon is to be executed at 6 p.m. Wednesday at a Florida state prison near Starke. Just hours before the scheduled execution of Death Row inmate Patrick Hannon, a federal appeals court Wednesday rejected his request for a stay. Hannon, scheduled to be executed at 6 p.m. Wednesday at Florida State Prison, argued that new state death-penalty requirements related to the unanimity of juries should be applied to his case. But a three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected Hannon’s argument, pointing to precedent from a case this year in which the state executed Death Row inmate Cary Michael Lambrix. That precedent, which stemmed from a Florida Supreme Court ruling, effectively says the new sentencing requirements should not be applied to cases before 2002. Hannon was convicted and sentenced to death in the 1991 murders of two men in Hillsborough County. “There (in the Lambrix case), we held that jurists of reason would not find debatable the Florida Supreme Court’s rejection of the claim that the nonretroactive application of Florida’s new sentencing statute violates the Equal Protection Clause, the Due Process Clause, or the Eighth Amendment (of the U.S. Constitution),” said the ruling by appeals-court judges Stanley Marcus, William Pryor and Beverly Martin. Gov. Rick Scott in October scheduled the Wednesday execution of Hannon, 53, who was convicted of two counts of first-degree murder in the slayings of Brandon Snider and Robert Carter. Hannon’s execution would be the 26th on Scott’s watch, by far the most of any governor in the modern era. Hannon and two other men went to the apartment where Snider and Carter lived on Jan. 10, 1991. After one of the other men attacked and stabbed Snider, Hannon was accused of cutting Snider’s throat, according to court documents. Hannon, 26 at the time, was then accused of fatally shooting Carter, who had tried to hide under a bed. The appeals-court ruling Wednesday was rooted in a series of legal and legislative decisions that began in January 2016, when the U.S. Supreme Court found Florida’s death-penalty sentencing system unconstitutional. The crux of the U.S. Supreme Court decision was that the system gave too much power to judges, instead of juries, in sentencing people to death. Resulting Florida Supreme Court rulings and legislation now require juries to unanimously recommend the death penalty before judges can impose death sentences. Juries also are required to unanimously agree on critical findings before death sentences can be imposed. The Florida Supreme Court made the new sentencing requirements apply to cases since 2002. That is when the U.S. Supreme Court issued a ruling known as Ring v. Arizona that was a premise for striking down Florida’s death-penalty sentencing system in 2016. A jury unanimously recommended that Hannon be put to death, but it is not clear whether jurors unanimously agreed on any of the critical findings. While agreeing Wednesday on the precedent issue, Martin wrote a concurring opinion that said Hannon’s scheduled execution was a “stark illustration of the problems with Florida’s retroactivity rule.” “No one disputes that he was sentenced to death by a process we now recognize as unconstitutional,” Martin wrote. “Neither does anyone dispute that others who were sentenced to death under those same unconstitutional procedures are eligible for resentencing under Florida’s new law. The Florida Supreme Court’s retroactivity analysis therefore leaves the difference between life and death to turn on `either fatal or fortuitous accidents of timing.’ ” (source: flaglerlive.com) ___ A service courtesy of Washburn University School of Law www.washburnlaw.edu DeathPenalty mailing list DeathPenalty@lists.washlaw.edu http://lists.washlaw.edu/mailman/listinfo/deathpenalty Unsubscribe: http://lists.washlaw.edu/mailman/options/deathpenalty
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide
Nov. 8 MAURITANIA: Mauritania appeals court set to review blogger death penalty case In Mauritania, an appeals court is set to review on Wednesday the case of a young blogger sentenced to death after posting a 2014 article challenging the use of religion to support social injustice. Mohammed Ould Mkhaitir was arrested almost 4 years ago after sharing his critical views on the way Islam is wielded as a weapon to perpetuate what is essentially modern-day slavery in the western African nation. He was initially charged with apostasy and - although that charge was later reduced - the death sentence remains. Mkhaitir's case drew angry street protests from those calling for his execution as well as those who wished to defend human rights and free speech. The social and political instability surrounding the widely publicized case led to frequent court delays and postponements. On Friday, Mauritanian journalist Mohamed Diop reported that police authorities prevented protesters calling for Mkhaitir's execution from marching in the streets of Nouakchott. The Human Rights Watch organization said Mkhaitir's parents fled the country last December amid death threats that are common among human rights activists who support the blogger. "Mauritania has no business charging anyone with 'apostasy,' much less sentencing a blogger to death for such an absurd charge based on an article he wrote," said Sarah Leah Whitson, the regional HRW director. "It's good that the appeals court is reviewing this case, but he never should have been charged in the first place." The Freedom Now organization has provided legal counsel to Mkhaitir in the past, along with local lawyers, some of whom quit during the proceedings because of the death threats. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and other rights groups have appealed to President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz on the blogger's behalf without success. Aziz initially told Mauritanians that media content must respect Islam, and the government "will do everything that is necessary to protect the Islamic religion and to defend the Messenger of Allah." (source: africatimes.com) NIGERIA: Ekiti Assembly approves death penalty for cultists A bill seeking to prohibit the activities of secret cults on Tuesday scaled third reading at the Ekiti State House of Assembly. The substance of the bill, which is yet to be signed into law by the governor, is the prescription of death penalty for those found guilty of breaching the law in that regard. Those aiding and abetting cultism would also bag life imprisonment if found guilty. The new provision was an amendment to the law against cultism, enacted by Ayo Fayose during his 1st tenure as governor of the state. The law had provided a 7-year imprisonment for anyone convicted of cult activities, whereas those aiding and abetting the act were to be imprisoned for 5 years. The bill titled, 'Secret Cult (Abolition and Prohibition) [Amendment] Bill, 2017,' gained the lawmakerss attention following increase in cult activities at the Ekiti State University, Ado Ekiti which led to the killing of students recently. Before the passage, the House Leader, Akinyele Olatunji, recalled the killings at the university due to cult activities. "We will not allow any group to turn Ekiti into death trap area," he said, while thanking the governor, Ayodele Fayose, for introducing the bill. "We cannot fold our arms while some people would constitute themselves as a menace and eliminating the lives of innocent people of this state," Speaker of the house, Kola Oluwawole, said, while making his remarks on the bill. "It is an everlasting sorrow for someone to lose his child or relative. The bill will reshape the lives of our youth. It will 'touch' those who intend to join any secret cults and those who have the intention to take another person's life. "Those people that we are representing will have peace of mind that their lives and those of their children are safe. The bill considers very seriously the negative consequences of such action because of the irreparable loss of lives." (source: premiumtimesng.com) SOUTH AFRICA: How these UDF cadres ended up on death row - Michael MasuthaAt handing over of exhumed remains justice minister says he hopes racist tendencies deterred by coffin case Address by the Minister of Justice and Correctional Services, Michael Masutha, MP, (Adv) on the occasion of the handing over of exhumed remains of 12 UDF political activists in Port Elizabeth, Eastern Cape Program Director Families of our departed patriots Premier of the Eastern Cape; Mr Phumulo Masualle Executive Mayor of Nelson Mandela Metro; Mr Anthol Trollip Deputy Minister of Defence and Military Veterans; Mr Kebby Maphatsoe Eastern Cape MEC for Sports Arts and Recreation; Miss Pemmy Majodina Provincial leadership of the ANC and alliance partners Members of
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----OHIO, ARK., MO., NEV., IDAHO
Nov. 8 OHIOimpending execution Death row inmate wants execution by firing squad, not lethal injection because he has weak veins A death row inmate in Ohio convicted of murdering a teenage boy wants to be executed by firing squad instead of lethal injection because he has weak veins. Lawyers for Alva Campbell - who is scheduled to be executed next month - argue that a lethal injection would harm him whereas the firing squad method would not require access to his veins. A nurse last month was unable to find veins on his arms to insert an IV tube. A federal judge rejected Campbell's lawyers' firing squad argument on Tuesday, saying the inmate during a recent hearing didn't provide sufficient evidence to prove why that method was suitable for him. His lawyers said they were disappointed with the judge's decision and are planning to appeal their client's case. Gov. John Kasich in 2015 ruled out using firing squads for executions. Mississippi, Oklahoma and Utah are the only states that allow the firing squad method, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. The 69-year-old inmate uses a walker, has an external colostomy bag and undergoes treatment for his breathing. He also may have lung cancer, his lawyers and court records say. The Ohio Parole Board rejected his request for clemency in October. Kasich has the final say. In 1997, Campbell snatched a Franklin County sheriff deputy's gun while on his way to a court hearing on armed robbery charges. He then carjacked and fatally shot 18-year-old Charles Dials in the head, court records show. (source: New York Daily News) ARKANSASimpending execution stayed Arkansas Supreme Court stops execution of Jack Greene The Arkansas Supreme Court has halted this week's planned execution of an inmate whose attorneys say suffers from psychotic delusions. Justices on Tuesday granted the request for an emergency stay for Jack Greene, who had been scheduled to be executed Thursday night. Greene, who's from North Carolina, was sentenced to die for the 1991 death of Sidney Burnett, who was beaten with a can of hominy, stabbed and shot. Greene's attorneys had asked for the stay so justices could review a lower court's decision to dismiss his challenge of a state law that gives Arkansas' top prison official the authority to determine whether he is competent In response to the ruling, a spokesperson for the Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge said she won't ask the Arkansas Supreme Court to reconsider the emergency stay granted to Greene. Governor Asa Hutchinson said he was "surprised" by the ruling, saying that last minute delays "only prolong the justice the Burnett family was promised more than 20 years ago." (source: thv11.com) *** Emergency stay granted for Arkansas' oldest death row inmate The execution of the oldest inmate on Arkansas death row is off. Attorney General Leslie Rutledge has confirmed she will not appeal Tuesday's decision of the State Supreme Court granting an emergency stay for Greene. Rutledge will also not ask for a rehearing in this case. "With no written order or explanation provided, the Arkansas Supreme Court has once again delayed justice for the family of Sidney Burnett. I will continue to fight for justice for Sidney Burnett and to give the Burnett family the closure they deserve," Rutledge said in reaction to the stay decision. Governor Asa Hutchinson issued this statement: "I am surprised by the Arkansas Supreme Court's decision to issue an emergency stay of execution for Jack Greene," he said. "Last-minute delays are always very difficult and only prolong the justice the Burnett family was promised more than 20 years ago. "This case has been reviewed by the courts on numerous occasions, and the state must now await further court action before the penalty given by an Arkansas jury is carried out." (source: KARK news) *** Poll shows strong support for death penalty in Arkansas A new poll shows overwhelming support for the death penalty in Arkansas months after the state conducted 4 executions over an 8-day period and days before another inmate is scheduled to be put to death. The University of Arkansas' annual Arkansas Poll released Tuesday shows that 72 % of respondents support the death penalty as punishment for people convicted of murder. 17 % of respondents opposed the death penalty, while 11 % didn't know or refused to answer. Arkansas resumed executions in April after a nearly 12-year lull, and the state plans to put convicted murderer Jack Greene to death Thursday night. The poll surveyed 801 Arkansans between Oct. 12 and Oct. 22. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 % points. (source: Associated Press) MISSOURI: Jury foreman describes how jurors deadlocked over death penalty for Craig Wood The 12 people chosen to decide
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, PENN., N.C., FLA., MISS.
Nov. 8 TEXASimpending execution exican citizen to be executed in Texas for killing cousin Police who stopped at a convenience store more than 20 years ago in South Texas determined 2 men at the business were drunk and told them to find a friend to drive them home. Ruben Ramirez Cardenas and buddy Jose Antonio Lopez Castillo instead dropped off their designated driver after a short distance and Cardenas drove the rest of the way to his home in Edinburg - to get a bottle of brandy. Then they hit the road again and headed to an apartment where Cardenas' 16-year-old cousin, Mayra Laguna, lived about 10 miles (16 kilometers) away in McAllen. Laguna was later found fatally beaten, her body rolled down a bank and into a canal near a lake in the Texas Rio Grande Valley. Cardenas, 47, a Mexican citizen who grew up in the Texas Rio Grande Valley, is set to be executed Wednesday for Laguna's February 1997 abduction and slaying. He would be the 7th inmate executed this year in Texas, which carries out the death penalty more than any other state. Attorneys for Cardenas say they plan to file multiple federal court appeals hoping to delay his punishment. They already appealed to state courts, arguing that evidence in his case should undergo new DNA testing because previous testing that pointed to him might not be reliable. Those courts rejected their arguments. Prosecutors have called the DNA testing request a delay tactic. It's not clear if the lawyers will present the DNA argument at the federal level. Attorney Maurie Levin, an attorney for Cardenas, said Tuesday the trial court and the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, the state's highest criminal court, used "legal technicalities" to block new DNA testing "that could prove his innocence." Levin also argued the eyewitness testimony against Cardenas was shaky, contended that little physical evidence tied him to the killing and said a confession from him was obtained only after 22 hours of isolation and intense police questioning. "All hallmarks of wrongful convictions," Levin said. "To permit his execution to proceed when there is potentially exculpatory DNA testing available violates the most basic notions of fairness and justice." She added that the Mexican-born Cardenas wasn't told he could get legal help from the Mexican consulate. The victim's younger sister, Roxanna Laguna, told authorities she awoke in pre-dawn darkness to see an intruder in their bedroom. She said Mayra's mouth was taped and her hands were bound, and that the man went out a window with her. A woman at the Hidalgo County public housing complex where the Lagunas lived called police after seeing a man walking with a girl who was barefoot and only wearing a shirt and underwear. Cardenas initially was questioned about the teen's disappearance because he was a close family member who had socialized with the girl. He was released, then questioned again and arrested after authorities said information he provided conflicted with details from Castillo. In his statement to police, Cardenas said he was high on cocaine when he and Castillo drove around with Laguna in his mother's car and eventually had sex with her. He said when he untied her to let her go "she then came at me," scratching him and kneeing him. "I then lost it and started punching her on the face," he told detectives. He said after he hit her in the neck, she began coughing up blood and having breathing difficulties. After trying unsuccessfully to revive her, he said he tied her up "and rolled her down a canal bank." Hidalgo County prosecutors argued the DNA request was intended to delay the punishment and "muddy the waters." Prosecutors also pointed out in court filings that Cardenas led them to the scene of the killing, providing information not publicly disclosed. Being born in Mexico made Cardenas eligible for legal help from the Mexican consulate when he was arrested, according to provisions of the Vienna Convention of Consular Relations, which is a 1963 international agreement. The courts have allowed executions to move forward in several previous Texas death row cases in which the agreement was said to have been violated. Cardenas' friend, Castillo, was convicted of aggravated kidnapping and is serving a 25-year prison term. (source: Associated Press) ** Executions under Greg Abbott, Jan. 21, 2015-present26 Executions in Texas: Dec. 7, 1982present-544 Abbott#scheduled execution date-nameTx. # 27-Nov. 8--Ruben Cardenas-545 28-Dec. 14-Juan Castillo--546 29-Jan. 18-Anthony Shore--547 30-Jan. 30-William Rayford548 31--Feb. 1-John Battaglia-549 32--Feb. 22Thomas Whitaker550
