[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide
Oct. 10 GLOBAL: Death Penalty Day: EU/Council of Europe joint statementJoint Declaration by the High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy on behalf of the European Union and the Secretary General of the Council of Europe on the occasion of the European and World Day against the Death Penalty, 10 October 2019 The European Union (EU) and the Council of Europe firmly oppose the death penalty at all times and in all circumstances. The death penalty is a cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment contrary to the right to life. The death penalty means revenge, not justice, and its abolition contributes to the enhancement of human dignity. 142 countries, representing 74% of the UN member states, have already stopped using the death penalty, either by removing it from their penal code or not carrying out executions for a long time. The abolitionist trend is continuing, with the number of death sentences and executions also falling. In 2018, executions were carried out in 20 countries, representing a historic low of 10% of the countries of the world. The Council of Europe member states which have not yet acceded to Protocols No 6 and 13 to the European Convention on Human Rights are called upon to do so without delay. The Council of Europe and the EU once again urge Belarus to abolish the death penalty and join the community of nations that have chosen to replace vengeance with human dignity. They also invite those observers to the Council of Europe who have not yet abolished death penalty to engage in dialogue on the obstacles blocking their path towards abolition. The EU and the Council of Europe encourage all countries to join the global Alliance for Torture-Free Trade, which currently involves 62 States committed to restricting the trade in goods used to carry out torture and the death penalty. Global cooperation against the death penalty can trigger change. It will also help to fight international organised crime, since abolitionist states will often not extradite suspects to countries where they could face capital punishment. An ever-growing majority of people and leaders share the view that the death penalty is no better a deterrent to crime than other punishments, and that it does not contribute to public safety. The death penalty disproportionately affects members of vulnerable groups, who cannot afford experienced defence lawyers, and death row prisoners continue to represent the most marginalised sections of society. The impact of this cruel punishment also affects the relatives of people subjected to the death penalty, first and foremost their children. Denying children and families a burial or cremation violates their human rights, notably their right to be free from cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment. Children who have lost parents because of executions suffer deep and lasting grief and trauma. No-one is better placed than these unseen victims to understand the impact the death penalty can have. The EU and the Council of Europe recognise the importance of a fully-informed public debate about the death penalty. It has been shown that the more people know about the execution process, the arguments for abolition and alternatives to capital punishment, the more they agree with abolition. (source: coe.int) * WORLD DAY AGAINST THE DEATH PENALTY October 10th Day Against the Death Penalty: Civil Society Engagement on the rise From today, World Day for Abolition, there will be increased visits to death rows on different continents - The mobilisation of civil society is growing: since the beginning of 2019 a thousand people have asked the Community to correspond with a convicted person, furthermore, many signatures have been collected to ask for an end to executions. The Community of Sant'Egidio, for years close to those who are condemned to death on different continents, participates in the World Day against the death penalty by increasing, until the end of October, visits to death rows in the United States and several African countries. Before those who want to maintain or even, in some cases, reintroduce the death penalty, it is necessary to keep alive, at every level of society, institutions and governments, this great commitment of Civilization and Humanity that has allowed in recent years to take important steps towards the total abolition of the death penalty. Encouraging signs come from California, which has suspended all execution and dismantled the local death row. While the American Church has also mobilized for the abolitionist campaign. A delegation from Sant'Egidio is currently in Washington to draw, along with other organizations, possible paths of abolition in the states of the federation in which it is still in force. We are also encouraged by the decision of the Constitutional Court of Bosnia to ask Republika Srpska to remove from its laws any reference to
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide
Oct. 10 SINGAPORE: Plea of a Malaysian on Singapore’s death row to the republic’s president Currently, I have requested my lawyer to write to the Attorney-General’s office to help me secure a Certificate of Substantive Assistance under Section 33(b) of the Misuse of Drug Act (Cap 185) Certificate of Co-operation I will also be instructing my lawyers to refer me for psychiatrist evaluation to satisfy the requirement of Section 33b (1)(b) of the Misuse of Drug Act (Cap 185). I humbly beg to your Excellency to delay the execution of my sentence as it is pending the outcome of the ongoing Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) investigation and the psychiatrist evaluation. When I was in prison, I realized the harm and destruction drug abuse causes to families, communities, society and humanity as whole. I’ve failed to realise this truth in the years of my freedom, and had only gained this realisation when I was within a cell of 4 brick-walls for 4 years. I understand now, that nothing triumphs and matters more than the value of a life and living, love, family, freedom, moral and civic responsibility as human beings. I have learned that even in our most dire situation, we can still reach out to others, to ease their burden and lift them up so that they will be comforted with the fact that they are not alone in their sufferings and struggles that they face. We must offer help to the broken, and offer hope to the hopeless. If we, inmates in death row, were given a chance, we would share our life stories to the younger generation so that we could all stand united together with them against the abuse and misuse of drugs. Often times, the media only seeks to portray stories of positivity and successes, but chooses to side-line issues that are obviously not positive nor pleasant to hear like ours. We can write every week if we were given a small column in the newspaper, and also reach out to other various outlets such as radio, live interviews, TV, and social media. By our hands, we can disrupt the demand for drugs and remedy the cycle of addiction. These efforts could begin in prison as well. We could conduct blood donation campaigns involving the inmates. This will be surely provide a boost of positive energy to everyone, especially us inmates, as we begin to realise that we, despite of our current circumstances, are able to still contribute back to our society. We would gain a sense of responsibility towards our fellow men and society. Most of the time, many inmates, such as me, feel nothing but dread and hopelessness, which turns us back to our old, damaging habits but by positively influencing the inmates, we go through a character rehabilitation and at the same time are able to save lives. Parents, teachers, the media and public should band together in tackling drug abuse, it does not fall on the government’s hands only to tackle this. Parents should not view drugs as taboo and have conversations of their dangers over dinner. Meanwhile in schools, students should be educated on the dangers of drug misuse as early as primary level onwards. There are very few messages and warnings in the media, in TV and on the radio, on the danger of drugs. Even in Channel News Asia, there are no documentaries that shed light on the dangers of drug abuse. Meanwhile, youths, even those that are educated, expose themselves to recreational uses of these drugs, and exhibiting sensation seeking, risk-taking, impulsivity and anxiety, without realising the severity of their actions. Some even resort to such behaviour due to peer pressure or for the sake of impressing the wrong people. We have to reach out to them, in all the ways we can. The Minister in the Prime Minister’s office Ms, Indranee Rajah once said, “If you’re developing policy and programmes, you must know what’s on people mind, must know what are they feeling and every individual story gives you a deeper insight that gives you a more informed basis on which to do things to improves lives.” Also, the Senior Minister of State for Trade and Industry, Dr. Koh Poh Koon has mentioned, “By hearing more personalised stories, I think it can help us understand how we can mitigate some of the circumstances where some people seem to fall through the cracks and then on, craft ways in which we can also help to lift them up”. The Government had, for many years, invested significantly in the prevention of drug abuse and in the treatment and rehabilitation of drugs addicts. Despite the imposition of mandatory death penalty, a sizeable number of drugs mules are still being caught yearly. The drug syndicates are clearly still able to continue with their modus operandi, despite the significant hurdles placed by the Government for them to do business. They are able to do so due because people get manipulated by them. A quick review of the profiles of these drug mules would reveal that most of them come from
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----ILL., NEV., ORE., USA
Oct. 10 ILLINOIS: Prisoner Review Board considers clemency for woman once sentenced to die Marilyn Mulero was sentenced to die in 1993 after she pleaded guilty in Cook County Circuit Court to taking part in a gang revenge murder of two members of the Latin Kings gang. On Wednesday, the Illinois Prisoner Review Board entertained arguments by her attorneys that the conviction is flawed and that Gov. J.B. Pritzker should grant her clemency. It is the 3rd time that Mulero has turned to the Prisoner Review Board. “This was a very difficult and challenging case when we heard it the first time, and it’s no less difficult and challenging today,” Board Chairman Craig Findley said. But bolstering Mulero’s case this time are allegations that a key detective in the case, Reynaldo Guevara, was involved in framing dozens of suspects for murder. At a hearing at the James R. Thompson Center on Wednesday, Mulero’s attorneys cited a series of issues that long have cast doubt on Mulero’s confession and subsequent guilty plea. No physical evidence connected Mulero, who was 21 at the time of the 1992 murders of Jimmy Cruz and Hector Reyes, to the crime and the gun was never recovered. She and 2 members of the Maniac Latin Disciples, Jacqueline Montanez, 15, and Madeline Mendoza, 16, were arrested and charged with conspiring the murders. Marilyn Mulero’s attorneys Lauren Kaeseberg, Justin Brooks and Lauren Myerscough-Mueller speak to reporters after Mulero’s clemency hearing. Mulero gave a statement to Detectives Guevara and Ernest Halverson confessing to one of the murders. In her clemency plea she contends it came after spending more than 20 hours in police custody. The petition contends during that time she was denied an attorney and threatened with the death penalty and separation from her 2 children. After her confession she was represented by an inexperienced defense attorney who recommended she enter a guilty plea with no conditions attached, according to her clemency request. She then was sentenced to die by Cook County Circuit Judge John Mannion before, in 1998, she was resentenced to life in prison without an opportunity for parole. But first in 2005 and again in 2014, the Parole Board provided a hearing on her claim for clemency, after 1 of the co-defendants, Montanez, gave a statement that she had committed both murders and Mulero had not known what Montanez was about to do. “I shot [Reyes] once in the back of the head,” Montanez said in a Chicago Tribune video. “As he dropped, I came out of the bathroom and ran towards the other one. The other one had a gun. And my co-defendant Mendoza was scared cause you could tell that he was about to do something to her cause I’m sure he heard the gunshot. So I grabbed the gun and just shot and when I shot it hit him and he hit the floor.” Following both hearings, Mulero was denied clemency. On Wednesday, Mulero attorney Justin Brooks told the board that, fundamentally, the case comes down to what Mulero knew before the shootings. “The only thing that makes her culpable is if she knew that they were going to Humboldt Park for the shooting,” he said. The idea that Montanez would commit one murder, then hand the gun to Mulero to commit the other doesn’t add up, he said. “What makes more sense is that Jackie [Montanez] shot both victims and that’s something she confessed to many times over the years.” Focused on the more-recent accusations against Guevara, another of Mulero’s defense team, Lauren Myerscough-Mueller told the board that Mulero’s “case has a nexus in the pattern of abuse.” She added, “These are the same things courts have found Guevara and Halvorsen did to others.” Guevara has been accused of framing at least 51 people for murder. So far, 19 people have been exonerated in cases he investigated, and several include false confessions that followed beatings or coercion. The state’s attorney’s office opposed Mulero’s request for executive clemency. Assistant State’s Attorney Sara Whitecotton argued that Mulero’s involvement was clear. “Saying that she had no knowledge is just not reasonable. She was there, she helped facilitate the offense and she’s accountable,” she said. The governor has no time limit on when he reviews and decides whether to accept the board’s confidential recommendation, Craig Findley said Wednesday. Typically, a decision is announced around a year after a hearing. (source: injusticewatch.org) NEVADA: Bar Association joins appeal of Nevada death row inmate The American Bar Association has joined an appeal challenging the death sentence of a Nevada man it says was mentally ill when he was convicted of the 1998 hatchet slaying of a campus police officer. The national group of lawyers and professional legal scholars is asking the Nevada Supreme Court to block Siaosi Vanisi's execution. It wants the justices to rule that people
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, FLA., ALA., LA., OHIO
Oct. 10 TEXAS: With a wide variety of headlines dominating both global and domestic news, it is easy to overlook that today is World Day to Abolish the Death Penalty. It is clear that since the early 1980s, the majority of the world's nations have become better educated about the inherent flaws of every death penalty system in the world, and have committed themselves to the defense, protection and advocacy of human rights and human dignity. Sadly, the US is not one of these nations. We continue to embrace an archaic, barbaric, racist and mistake-prone system in which we justify hanging, gassing, electrocuting, shooting and chemically poisoning some convicted felons in the perverted notion of "justice". Texas itself leads the entire free world in executions since we resumed the practice in 1982. As we go to the polls next year, we would do well to hold our politicians accountable to all human rights issues, and ideally support someone who at the very least is willing to help make America a death penalty-free nation. Rick Halperin, Amnesty International (source: Dallas Morning News) *** Journalist talks about reconciling faith and career of covering executions Michael Graczyk, a parishioner at a Catholic church in Montgomery County, Texas, has personally witnessed more than 400 executions of Texas inmates in death penalty cases in his career as a journalist. An Associated Press reporter since 1983, Graczyk retired last year and still freelances for AP, continuing to witness executions, including 9 scheduled through the end of this year. "When you walk into the death chamber, you check your emotions at the door. I usually check my emotions at the prison gate," he said. "I've gotten to know many of the inmates through interviews. I also have sentiments for the families of the victims, who have to wait 10 or 20 years for the punishment to be carried out." Since Catholic teaching is pro-life, from conception to natural death, Graczyk reconciles the two parts of himself with a Scripture passage. "I look to the biblical passage 'render unto Caesar what is Caesar's.' Since this is the government doing these, I can remain faithful to the teachings of the church," Graczyk told the Texas Catholic Herald, newspaper of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston. "The Catholic Church many times has been alone in its protection of life from conception to natural death. Liberals opposed to capital punishment are often times in favor of abortion. Conservatives are against abortion, but then favor the death penalty," he said. Executions used to be front-page news and network TV news regularly covered them, but now they are relegated to inside pages or a few seconds of a sound bite. "Back in the 1980s, it used to be a really big deal and significant media event. Executions should never be considered routine, but there does seem to be a public acceptance of it," he said. Hundreds of protesters would show up, many times for midnight candlelight vigils that included both pro-death penalty and anti-penalty protesters. "Some of those were Sam Houston University students who came from down the road in Huntsville. Now maybe there is a core group of protesters ranging from 1 to 2 dozen who show up in the heat, rain or cold," he said. But studies have not been able to conclude whether capital punishment is a deterrent for others not to commit crime. "I've interviewed hundreds of inmates and none of them said that capital punishment would have prevented them from crime," he said. 2 of the 9 scheduled for execution by the end of the year are part of the group of prisoners who escaped in 2000 and were convicted of fatally shooting a 31-year-old police officer on Christmas Eve in Irving. One of the toughest cases Graczyk remembers covering is the dragging death of an African American man, James Byrd Jr., killed 21 years ago in a hate crime on a secluded road outside Jasper. 2 white men were executed in the case, John William King, executed this past spring, and Lawrence Russell Brewer was put to death in 2011. A 3rd participant, Shawn Allen Berry, was sentenced to life in prison. "Emotionally, the Jasper cases were real tough. We went to Jasper, saw the 3 guys arrested, went to the asphalt road where it happened and there was still blood," he said. He also recalled covering the execution of the 1st woman on death row since the Civil War. Karla Faye Tucker was given a lethal injection in 1998 for killing 2 people with a pickax during a burglary. But Graczyk said he doesn't see any strong enough movement to stop executions in Texas. "It remains a hot topic, but there is no appetite in the Texas Legislature to stop it. The U.S. Supreme Court may shut it down again like they did in the 1960s until executions were resumed a decade later," he said. In 1964, judicial challenges to capital punishment resulted in a de facto
