[Deathpenalty] death penalty news---worldwide
Sept. 16 JAMAICA: Fix law to resume hanging – Sinclair A Government senator has nudged the Andrew Holness administration to make changes to the law that will allow Jamaica to resume hanging, but that suggestion was quickly shot down by Justice Minister Delroy Chuck. Though the death penalty remains on the books, there have been no hangings in Jamaica since 1988. Hanging was halted in Jamaica following the 1993 landmark Pratt and Morgan ruling by the United Kingdom Privy Council that it is cruel and inhumane to hang an inmate who has been on death row for more than 5 years. Charles Sinclair, one of 13 government senators in the Upper House, made it clear on Friday that he is ready to support legislative amendments that would allow Jamaica “to fit within the UK Privy Council decision in Pratt and Morgan”. “If we have to establish special courts to fast-track and ensure that the hearings go through and persons are given justice, so be it,” he said during a debate in the Senate on a bill that provides significantly higher fines for offences contained in 40 laws that fall under the justice ministry. “Whatever the amendments that need to be made, I will support it,” declared Sinclair, a prominent criminal defence attorney, to applause from his colleagues. But his suggestion appears to be a non-starter with Chuck, who acknowledged that he is personally “against hanging”. “It is unlikely that Jamaica will resume it. That’s the present status, which we are unlikely to disturb”, the justice minister told The Gleaner yesterday. Asked if he saw any merit in Sinclair’s proposal, Chuck was blunt. “No,” he responded. But Sinclair, in revisiting the hot-button issue, recounted that the last time capital punishment was put to a conscience vote in Parliament, a majority of lawmakers supported it. “When you listen to the commentary across Jamaica, a lot of persons support it ... but it is not being used at all.” (source: Jamaica Gleaner) SWITZERLAND: How a Montreux bank heist led to calls for the death penalty A deadly bank robbery carried out by two Russians in Montreux in 1907 resulted in public outcry and heavy prison sentences In the early 1900s Switzerland was rocked by a wave of terror incidents by anarchists. A bank heist carried out by 2 Russians in Montreux in 1907, in which a bank clerk was shot dead, led to public calls for the death penalty. On the morning of September 18, 1907, the town of Montreux on Lake Geneva was the scene of dramatic incidents straight out of a gangster movie. Two men sprint down Avenue du Kursaal. “Stop them, stop them!” cry passers-by. A postal employee, Auguste Vuilliamoz, manages to throw one of them down to the ground; the other takes off “like a rabbit”, according to an eyewitness. Shots ring out Jules Favre, a notary, courageously blocks the fugitive’s way. But the man takes out a gun and shoots Favre in the leg, then sprints off again. A hairdresser, Georges Bär, who comes out of his shop meets the same fate – he too is shot. In Schopfergasse, a coachman, Octave Pittet, tries to stop the man. Another shot rings out followed by a scream. Pittet falls to the ground with a bullet in his stomach. The locksmith Alfred Nicklès fearlessly takes up the pursuit. He is more fortunate, as a bullet only grazes him. Finally, the police arrive. The fugitive has run out of bullets and he is arrested in Mrs Terribilini’s henhouse. At the police station, the two detainees refuse to talk. However, the police are convinced that they are Russian anarchists. Meanwhile, at the Banque de Montreux, Oskar Gudel, a cashier, is lying dead in a pool of blood. An eyewitness recounts how the robbers entered the bank to change money. While Gudel was counting the money, one of the robbers shot him in the head, the other one rushed to the open safe and stuffed cash into a cloth bag hanging from his neck. Then they took off. The bank director, who was informed by telephone, is outraged: “Poor man!” he says, with tears in his eyes. “Poor Gudel! He was such a decent young man!” Narrowly escaped lynching That evening, the police transfer the criminals to Lausanne to be identified. They have a hard time protecting the men from a crowd of several hundred Montreux locals threatening to lynch them. In Lausanne, anger is brewing too, and the officers protecting the prisoners are assaulted. “Like in Russia,” says the La Liberté newspaper on its front page the next day. As well as giving the details of the Montreux drama, the paper runs an interview with the postal worker, who helped catch one of the criminals. “A dodgy looking individual with a gangster-like face was running towards me on the other side of the road. Without hesitation, I threw myself at him and was able to stop him. The witnesses who told me what had happened arrived shortly afterwards. One of them – a worker carrying an iron pole – was so outraged
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, N.J., PENN., USA
Sept. 16 TEXAS: Federal defender files claims on behalf of Rubio An attorney representing convicted child killer John Allen Rubio wants the conviction tossed, claiming Rubio’s appointed defense did not represent him properly and that his case was handled by a district attorney that was steeped in scandal and misconduct. Jeremy Schepers, supervisor of the Capital Habeas Unit and federal public defender, filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus this month in the U.S. federal court in the Southern District of Texas, “declaring unconstitutional and invalid his (Rubio’s) conviction for capital murder as well as the resulting death sentence.” A jury in 2010 found Rubio guilty in the beheading of Julissa Quesada, 3; John E. Rubio, 14 months; and Mary Jane Rubio, 2 months. The 3 children were those of his common-law wife Angela Camacho. The children were smothered, stabbed and mutilated, according to Brownsville police investigators. Their decapitated bodies were stuffed inside trash bags and found near a bedroom door. According to a confession Rubio made to police, he admitted to killing the children in 2003 because he believed there was an evil presence in them. He even asked one of the officers who first arrived at the crime scene to place him under arrest, according to the officer’s statement. Rubio, 39, a Brownsville native, remains on death row at the Polunsky Unit in Livingston, Texas. Camacho, 39, pleaded guilty to murder in 2005 and was sentenced to life in prison and remains in custody at the Christina Melton Crain Unit in Gatesville. She is eligible for parole March 3, 2043. Schepers lists 9 claims for relief in why Rubio’s conviction should be tossed out and he be given a new trial. Mental Health According to the writ, Rubio’s attorneys failed to include the appropriate mental health expert on his defense team. Rubio was being represented by attorneys Ed Stapleton and Nat C. Perez Jr. “Trial counsel’s failure to assemble the minimum required defense team prejudiced Rubio at the competency trial, and at both the guilt/innocence and punishment phases of the trial on the merits,” the writ alleges. Had Rubio’s defense team retained a consulting mental health expert, “they would have recognized the need to present testifying experts regarding, among other things, Rubio’s exposure to extreme trauma beginning in utero and continuing into adulthood,” the writ states. According to that document, Rubio suffered from neuropsychological deficits, significant brain damage and various psychiatric conditions. “All such testimony would have been highly relevant to Rubio’s competency at the time of trial, his sanity at the time of the offense, and punishment,” the writ further states. During Rubio’s February 2010 competency trial, his mother, Hilda Barrientes, testified that she drank a 6 pack of beer on a daily basis while she was pregnant with her son. She also admitted to at one time doing cocaine, but couldn’t recall if she did the drug while pregnant with Rubio. Barrientes testified that Rubio would make comments to her that “God would tell him he was the chosen one.” She testified that she did not try to get any help for him “because I didn’t think he had a problem.” Ineffective Counsel The writ claims that defense attorney Stapleton was in over his head. This was his 1st death penalty case. Instead of hiring a qualified mental health expert, Stapleton decided that he would be the team’s mental health “expert,” the writ says. “He failed to recognize the need to pursue red flags that Rubio suffers from Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD), Temporal Lobe Epilepsy (TLE), brain damage, severe trauma, and other psychiatric issues,” the writ stated. According to the writ, Stapleton’s failures prejudiced Rubio’s competency trial, as well as the guilt/innocence and punishment phase of the trial. The writ also states that during a state habeas hearing both Stapleton and Perez acknowledged that they “provided ineffective assistance to Rubio.” At an Aug. 8, 2010 state post-conviction hearing, Stapleton and Perez both said they provided ineffective assistance to Rubio, the writ claims. “Stapleton testified that he was ineffective under oath, and Perez yelled, from the jury box: We provided ineffective assistance of counsel,” the writ states. The jury deliberated for 3 hours and found Rubio guilty on 3 counts of capital murder. State Misconduct Armando R. Villalobos was the sitting Cameron County district attorney at the time of Rubio’s capital murder trial. It’s alleged in the writ that Villalobos didn’t give Rubio’s defense attorneys favorable pleas or dismissals because there were no hefty payoffs to be given to Villalobos. “While Villalobos was abusing his position for personal enrichment, and that of his office, he was also personally prosecuting Rubio, an indigent defendant who could not afford to buy
