[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide
June 29 GLOBAL: UN General Assembly adopts controversial resolution on torture-free trade The General Assembly on Friday adopted a controversial resolution, which aims to establish common international standards for torture-free trade. The draft resolution, introduced by Romania, was adopted with 81 votes in favor, 20 against and 44 abstentions. The resolution requests the secretary-general to seek the views of member states on the feasibility and possible scope of a range of options to establish common international standards for the import, export and transfer of goods used for capital punishment and for torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. It asks the secretary-general to submit a report on the subject to the General Assembly at its 2019-20 session. It also requests the secretary-general to establish a group of governmental experts to examine, beginning in 2020, the feasibility and scope of the goods to be included, and draft parameters for a range of options to establish common international standards on the matter. It asks for the transmission of the report of the group of experts to the General Assembly for consideration at its 2020-21 session. Before and after the vote, 20 countries voiced their opposition or reservations concerning the draft resolution. The concerns concentrated on the indicated linkage between torture and the death penalty, the ambiguity in language that may have impacts on trade, as well as the lack of consultations. (source: xinhuanet.com) IRAN: Khamenei’s ‘Upgrade Plan for the Judiciary’ Is a Plan to Increase Execution and Torture in Iran The Iranian regime’s Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, has spoken several times, albeit in vague terms, of a ‘Upgrade Plan for the Judiciary,’ without ever explaining exactly what that meant. When introducing Ebrahim Raisi as Chief Justice on March 7, 2019, Khamenei mentioned the plan in his nomination decree. Again he did not elaborate much, but called the plan one of “revitalizing and resuming public rights and protecting the people’s legitimate liberties.” He also emphasized a few points, of which the most important were “the need for firmness” and “presence of revolutionary youth” in the Judiciary. On Wednesday June 26, in the traditional annual meeting entitled “Week of Justice,” evidently Raisi raised the question, and Khamenei answered that it was necessary to precipitate to implement the plan, again without much ado. But it was not hard to guess, through Khamenei’s words, on the content of the so-called Upgrade Plan for the Judiciary. It was also evident that the plan’s implementation was vital to Khamenei for which he is in big hurry. He went so far as to say the plan had to be “implemented without delay” and he stressed the need for “timely, brave execution based on genuine methods.” It was clear from what he said that the plan’s true nature was “increasing repression.” In his Wednesday speech, Khamenei mentioned the need for showing “firmness and might.” Experience has shown that in the regime’s jargon those words have no other meaning than increasing repression. But why the secrecy? The reason Khamenei keeps a plan of which the consequences would be felt by the people on the streets of Iran clearly is that he and the whole of his regime have much less leeway in repression now. While the regime needs the repression as much as oxygen, the same repression can backfire in the form of popular unrest and riots able to threaten the regime’s stability. The ability to oppress is directly proportional to the elements of power that Khamenei and the regime have. If one looks at the forty year history of Iran’s regime, one notes that repression was harshest in the 1980s. The reason is that, having exploited to the full the exceptional historical circumstances, the regime’s founder Ruhollah Khomeini had been able to combine political and religious power in himself after usurping the leadership of the anti-monarchist revolution. But Khamenei lacks absolutely such exceptional power. Internally, the regime faces such crisis that Khamenei is obliged to embolden his forces on a daily basis to prevent desertion and loss of will. Internationally, while Khomeini enjoyed support in the East as well as the West, the regime’s current isolation has reached a point where Khamenei and his entourage are sanctioned by name. The regime’s foundation stands on a society on the verge of explosion, with Khamenei himself calling that social “cleavage,” that if activated, would lead to a social earthquake. In his Wednesday speech, Khamenei pointed to deep social hatred towards the regime’s oppressive apparatus, under the term “unleashed virtual space” reactions towards the mullahs’ justice department, and reassured his henchmen that they should not be afraid of such reactions. Thus Khamenei is obliged to play a double game. On
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, MISS., OKLA., S.DAK., N.MEX., CALIF., USA
June 29 TEXAS2 new execution dates Execution dates set for 2 more Texas death row prisoners 2 more Texas death row prisoners — a North Texas man man who stabbed his family and an Aryan gang member from El Paso who strangled a woman — are now scheduled for execution this year. Robert Sparks was sentenced to die in 2008 after a chaotic trial in Dallas County, where he was convicted of murdering his wife and 2 stepsons before raping his stepdaughter. He still has pending appeals in the case, but a judge this week greenlit a Sept. 25 execution date, court records show. Justen Hall was sent to death row in 2005, 3 years after strangling a woman with an electrical cord. He is slated to die on Nov. 6, according to a prison spokesman. The Lone Star State has executed 3 men so far in 2019, and with the addition of the 2 new execution dates, there are 8 more prisoners scheduled to die this year. Just after midnight on Sept. 15, 2007, Sparks put his hand over the mouth of his wife, Chare Agnew, and stabbed her 18 times in her bed, according to court records. Then, one at a time, he woke up his stepsons — 9-year-old Harold and 10-year-old Raekwon — and stabbed them 45 times each, dragging their bodies into the living and stashing them under a comforter. Next, he went after the girls, raping his 14-year-old stepdaughter on the couch while her younger sister watched. Afterward, he apologized to them for the rapes and murders — but said their mother had been trying to poison him. He was arrested a few days later and tried the following year. On appeal, he raised concerns about the possibility of false testimony offered by A.P. Merillat, a state expert who told the court about the prison classification system and claimed that Sparks could still pose a threat behind bars. That claim is currently in front of the U.S. Supreme Court, along with one about how a bailiff’s courtroom attire may have biased the jury. During the punishment phase of trial — when jurors decided on whether Sparks deserved to die by lethal injection — one of the bailiffs wore a necktie with an image of a syringe on it. It’s not clear whether the jury could see that tie, and so far courts have decided it wasn’t enough to make a difference in the outcome of the case. The attorneys representing Sparks — Seth Kretzer and Jonathan Landers — this week questioned the decision to set an execution date with litigation still pending in court. “The Office of the Attorney General, which represents the state, filed a motion asking for more time,” Kretzer told the Chronicle, “and yet the district attorney’s office wants an immediate execution date. There’s no reason to force the Supreme Court’s hand.” The other condemned prisoner added to the list of upcoming executions has been on death row for nearly 15 years for a murder stemming from a fight outside drug house in El Paso. On Oct. 28, 2002, Melissa Billhartz got in fight with a man she knew, and the dispute escalated into an assault. Afterward, she said she wanted to call police - and Hall and his friends became worried, fearing authorities would discover the meth house. The others opposed that plan, according to court records, but Hall left and a few hours later showed up with the woman’s body in the back of a truck. He then ordered a friend to go bury her and cut off her fingers with a machete so police couldn’t find any DNA. In the early years after he was sentenced to die, Hall asked to give up his appeals. Later, his attorneys raised concerns about DNA testing on the cord used to kill Billhartz, and suggested his confession was coerced. But in 2016, Hall again asked to waive his appeals in a letter to the court. “These walls 24/7 have broken me,” he wrote. “It is taking every last ounce of will to even make it from day to day.” The following year, he told a judge he was guilty and ready to die, assuring the court he was mentally competent to make that decision. His attorney on Friday did not respond to a request for comment. (source: Houston Chronicle) State to seek death penalty in 2 capital murder cases McLennan County prosecutors announced Friday that they will seek the death penalty against 2 capital murder defendants. For the first time since the cases were indicted, the district attorney's office announced Keith Antoine Spratt and Christopher Paul Weiss will face the death penalty in separate cases. First Assistant District Attorney Nelson Barnes made the announcements Friday during a status hearing in Spratt's case, saying that "with the facts of this case and the defendant's background," his office will seek the death penalty. Barnes declined additional comment on the case. Waco attorney, Russ Hunt, who will represent Spratt along with his son, Russ Hunt Jr., said he was surprised by the announcement. "We will be ready and we will do our best for Mr. Spratt,"
