[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide----IRAN------URGENT ACTION
IRAN: JUVENILE OFFENDER BEATEN, DAYS FROM EXECUTION Iranian juvenile offender Saman Naseem was beaten to force him to make more TV “confessions” on 15 February. He is scheduled to be executed on 19 February for crimes he is accused of having committed when he was 17 years old. View the full Urgent Action, including case information, addresses and sample messages, here. Iranian juvenile offender Saman Naseem was beaten to force him to make more TV “confessions” on 15 February. He is scheduled to be executed on 19 February for crimes he is accused of having committed when he was 17 years old. Saman Naseem called his family on 15 February and told them that earlier that day men in plain clothes had taken him to the security department of the Oroumieh Prison. He said the men, who he believed belonged to the Ministry of Intelligence and were carrying cameras and recording equipment, beat him for several hours to force him into making video-taped “confessions”, but he refused to do so. Saman Naseem was sentenced to death in April 2013 by a criminal court in Mahabad, West Azerbaijan Province, for “enmity against God” (moharebeh) and “corruption on earth” (ifsad fil-arz) because of his membership of the Kurdish armed opposition group Party For Free Life of Kurdistan (PJAK), and for taking part in armed activities against the Revolutionary Guards. His death sentence was upheld by the Supreme Court in December 2013. Saman Naseem was allowed no access to his lawyer during early investigations and he said he was tortured, which included the removal of his finger and toe nails and being hung upside down for several hours. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION Saman Naseem was arrested on 17 July 2011 after a gun battle between Revolutionary Guards and PJAK, in the city of Sardasht, West Azerbaijan Province. Court documents say that during the fight one member of the Revolutionary Guards was killed and three others were wounded. In September 2011, Saman Naseem was forced to make a “confession” which was filmed and aired on state television. According to court documents, during early investigations, he admitted firing towards Revolutionary Guards forces in July 2011. He retracted his statement during the first court session, saying that he had only fired into the air. He told the court that during interrogation he had been hung upside down from the ceiling while blindfolded and that the interrogators had put his fingerprints on his “confessions”, whose contents he did not know. He has also alleged that the interrogators pulled out his toenails and fingernails and subjected him to beatings which left him with bruises on his back, legs and abdomen. The court dismissed his statements and allowed the use of his “confession”. View the full Urgent Action here. Name: Saman Naseem (m) Issues: Imminent execution, Torture/ill-treatment, Unfair trial Further information on UA: 234/14 (18 September 2014) and updates (6 February 2015) Issue Date: 16 February 2015 Country: Iran Please let us know if you took action so that we can track our impact! EITHER send a short email to u...@aiusa.org with UA 234/14 in the subject line, and include in the body of the email the number of letters and/or emails you sent. OR fill out this short online form to let us know how you took action. Thank you for taking action! Please check with the AIUSA Urgent Action Office if sending appeals after the below date. This is the second update of UA 234/14. Further information: http://amnesty.org/en/library/info/MDE13/004/2015/en. If you receive a response from a government official, please forward it to us at u...@aiusa.org or to the Urgent Action Office address below. HOW YOU CAN HELP Please write immediately in Persian, English, Arabic, French, Spanish or your own language: * Urging the Iranian authorities to stop the execution of Saman Naseem immediately and ensure that his case is subjected to a judicial review; * Reminding them that Iran has ratified both the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which strictly prohibit the use of the death penalty for crimes committed by persons below 18 years of age; * Urging them to ensure that he is not subjected to torture or other ill-treatment; investigate the allegations that he was subjected to torture or other ill-treatment; and ensure that “confessions” obtained from him under torture are not used as evidence in court. PLEASE SEND APPEALS BEFORE 30 MARCH 2015 TO: Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran Ayatollah Sayed ‘Ali Khamenei The Office of the Supreme Leader Islamic Republic Street - End of Shahid Keshvar Doust Street Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran Email: (via website) http://www.leader.ir/langs/en/index.php?p=letter Twitter: @khamenei_ir (English), @Khamenei_ar (Arabic), @Khamenei_es (Spanish). Salutation: Your Excellency Head of the Judiciary
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, PENN., S.C., GA., FLA.
Feb. 17 FEBRUARY 17, 2015: TEXAS: Witnesses Against a British Grandmother on Death Row Say Texas Prosecutors Blackmailed Them Into Testimony Key witnesses against a British grandmother on death row in Texas have claimed that prosecutors in her 2002 trial intimidated, threatened, and blackmailed them into testifying against her, raising serious questions about a conviction which has been long protested by campaigners and the UK government. Linda Carty was convicted for the kidnap and murder of her 25-year-old neighbor Joana Rodriguez, who was abducted along with her 4-day-old son by 3 men in May 2001. The baby was found alive, yet Rodriguez was found suffocated in the boot of a car. It was claimed during the trial that Carty had hired the gang of men to steal the child so that she could raise him as her own. According to the Houston Chronicle, the 3 men who abducted Rodriguez and her child all had criminal records, but only Carty was prosecuted for capital murder. Carty, now 56, has been on death row ever since. The US Supreme Court refused her appeal in May 2010. Carty has always maintained her innocence, and campaign groups, as well as the British government, have highlighted serious flaws in her trial. According to human rights organization Reprieve, Carty was forced to accept a court-appointed lawyer, Gerald Guerinot, whose poor professional reputation has been covered in detail by the New York Times and whose astonishing tally of clients given the death penalty has been described by the American Bar Association Journal as a possible record in modern times. The British government complained that they were not notified of Carty's case, and that there was ineffective assistance of counsel. It raised the issue with the then governor of Texas, Rick Perry, during his visit to the UK in 2013. Yet it has now emerged that key witnesses have stepped forward with affidavits, signed in 2014, which allege that they testified against Carty because of intimidation, threats and blackmail from Harris County prosecutors. Christopher Robinson, who was arrested in connection to the case and was the only person to testify that he had seen Carty commit the murder, said that Texan District Attorneys Connie Spence and Craig Goodhart had threatened me and intimidated me, telling me I would get the death penalty myself if Linda Carty did not get the death penalty. The affidavit, available via the Houston Chronicle, goes onto say that they (Spence and Goodhart) were alternating between coaching me and threatening me to get me to say their version. Former Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agent Charles Mathis also produced an affidavit, stating that Carty worked as a confidential informant for him. The affidavit alleges: Shortly after the initial investigation I was contacted by DA (District Attorney) Connie Spence. Spence called me on the telephone and I told Spence that I did not want to testify against Linda. The affidavit goes on to state: I told Spence that I had known Linda for a long time and I knew that Linda did not have it in her to kill anyone. Spence provided me with no option to testify against Linda: Spence threatened me with an invented affair that I was supposed to have with Linda. A spokesman for the Harris County District Attorney's Office told VICE News: We are not commenting on the allegations or the case at this time due to pending litigation. In light of the new testimony, Carty's lawyers are asking for an evidentiary hearing, a request being considered by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. Clare Algar, executive director of Reprieve said: If Linda is not granted a new hearing, she faces the death penalty based on lies extracted by prosecutors desperate to secure an execution at any cost. The behavior of prosecutors in this case has been so appalling it takes the breath away. They have stooped to targeting the marriage of one witness with invented slurs, while using the threat of death to force another to produce the lies they needed for conviction. Linda's last hope is that Texas recognizes that she deserves a new - and this time fair - trial. A former teacher, Carty was born in St. Kitts when it was a British colony, and holds a UK passport. A spokesman for the UK Foreign Commonwealth Office told VICE News: While we respect the USA's right to bring those convicted of a crime to justice, the UK is deeply opposed to the use of the death penalty in all circumstances. In Linda Carty's case, we have additional, deep concerns about how this case was handled. We were not notified of her detention until after she had been convicted and sentenced to death. We also strongly believe her defense was very weak. We will continue to support Linda's case and remain in close contact with her legal team. According to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, seven women are currently on death row, including Carty.
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----KY., IOWA, UTAH, ORE., USA
Feb. 17 KENTUCKY: Ky Senator Files Bill to Reform Death-Penalty Laws On the same day Pennsylvania's governor placed a moratorium on the death penalty in the Keystone state, a Kentucky lawmaker filed a bill to make what she says would be moderate reforms to Kentucky's laws. State Sen. Robin Webb maintains there are so many problems with Kentucky's death penalty that Gov. Steve Beshear should do what Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf did last Friday - suspend the death penalty. You know, we've had a lot of litigation over our manner of execution and lethal injections, and the cocktail and the protocol and all of that, which is expensive for the state, Webb points out. And, you know, again there's a humanitarian aspect of this, but there's also a fiscal impact of this. It was 3 years ago December that the American Bar Association (ABA) released a report outlining a myriad of problems with Kentucky's death penalty - citing 95 specific things that needed to be fixed. Webb's bill calls for more law enforcement training on the use of lineups, interrogations, eyewitness testimony and biological evidence. It also proposes more training for judges on mental-health issues. And, it attempts to improve DNA storage and testing - a crucial piece of the bill, says Webb, because of the dozens of wrongful convictions across the country. It's, you know, not too comprehensive, she concedes. I'm a realist. I think it's things that we've talked about in the past and hopefully can reach a consensus. Pennsylvania's governor said his state's moratorium will remain in effect until problems cited by an advisory commission are addressed - a situation similar to Kentucky's. When the ABA issued its report in December 2011 the panel of lawyers, professors and retired judges recommended a temporary suspension of the death penalty. (source: Public News Service) IOWA: GOP senators seek to reinstate limited death penalty 9 Senate Republicans want to reinstate a limited death penalty in Iowa that would be available to a judge or juries in cases where a perpetrator is convicted of kidnapping, sexually assaulting and murdering a minor. Senate File 239, which was filed Monday, would reinstate capital punishment effective Jan. 1, 2016, as a means of deterring an adult offender who kidnaps and rapes a victim under the age of 18 from killing the victim, proponent said. This is the sickest of crimes, said Sen. Randy Feenstra, R-Hull, 1 of the bill's co-sponsors. There's got to be some reason for a person to stop. Fear of being put to death could be that incentive to make an offender think twice before murdering the victim to silence possibly the only witness to a crime, he said. If there's capital punishment, you might have the opportunity where the person just stops at kidnapping and rape, said Feenstra, who noted that no such deterrent currently exists in the Iowa criminal code where the maximum penalty for committing 1 or more Class A crimes is life in prison. The intent is to discourage the type of heinous crime that's described in S.F. 239, added Sen. Dennis Guth, R-Klemme. We have a very narrowly defined situation here. I don't think there's just any way that we should let people off in that particular case. Democrats who control the Iowa Senate with a 26-24 majority said the issue has been raised in the Legislature before and has failed to gain support even when Republicans had control of both House and Senate chambers and the governorship in the 1990s. It's not a deterrent, said Sen. Steve Sodders, D-State Center, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. It's a bad piece of legislation. It's been tried in the past. Iowans don't want this and so we're not going to bring it up. It's not an issue for the Judiciary Committee this year. Sen. Rob Hogg, D-Cedar Rapids, vice chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said a similar measure was filed in the 85th General Assembly and failed to gain support. The last time the death penalty was voted on in the Iowa Senate, a majority of both parties opposed it, he said. I haven't seen anything that says that a death penalty is needed in Iowa, Hogg added, saying he would rather see the governor, legislators and policy-makers put limited resources toward prevention and solving murders that already have been committed. I'd be shocked to see any action on this in either chamber, Hogg added. I don't think that there's any realistic chance that that legislation will move forward. Jimmy Centers, spokesman for Gov. Terry Branstad, said the 6-term governor supports reinstatement of a limited death penalty in Iowa. Branstad supported efforts in the 1990s to apply the death penalty to anyone aged 18 years or older who commits 1st-degree murder and another class A felony, such as rape or kidnapping, or who already had been convicted of a class A felony and then commits a subsequent murder - such as an
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide
Feb. 17 COLOMBIA: Colombia rules out death penalty for child molesters Colombia has ruled out introducing the death penalty for murderers and child molesters after a police force general had applied to revoke the existing law. Rodolfo Palomino, general of Colombia's National Police Force, re-opened the debate after a 4th person, accused of murdering 4 children, was arrested yesterday. The crime, which has shaken Colombia in recent days, was described as a slaughter by the country's president Juan Manuel Santos on Twitter. The children, 3 brothers aged 10, 14 and 17, and a nephew of the family, aged 4, were found dead with gunshots wound to the head earlier this month in Florencia, the capital of the southern department of Caqueta. According to Palomino, who revealed the criminal record of one of the murder suspect, the country should consider the death penalty, especially when it comes to crimes involving minors. One of the accused, Chavez Cuellar, had previously been sentenced to 4 years in prison for the murder of a woman after raping her, Palomino confirmed. In these circumstances it is worth reviving the debate: whether it is or not to consider the death penalty for those who commit heinous crimes, especially those who are underage victims, Palomino told Radio Blu. 60 years in prison sufficient However, Colombia's government and congress ruled out the appeal for the death penalty. Interior minister Juan Fernando Cristo said that under no circumstances would he contemplate the possibility of implementing a measure of this nature, since he believed the maximum penalty of 60 years in prison established by law for such offences, is sufficient. Colombian legislation is very hard against this kind of crime, [but] what we need to do is apply it in a timely, severe manner, and that judicial officials and authorities in investigations work quickly and effectively, Cristo said. Senate president Jose David Name added that the country is not ready legally to apply such sentences. Colombia will have no legal certainty to apply the death penalty. I understand the pain we have with these events, but we have to think with a cool head. Changing the constitution and not solving the problems of [our] justice [system], is not viable, he told local media. In 2014, Colombia ranked 10th in a United Nations report on countries with the highest murder rates in the world with 30.8 homicides per 100,000 people in 2012. (source: International Business Times) IRANimpending juvenile execution Iran urged to halt execution of juvenile offender Human rights groups call for immediate halt to planned execution of Saman Naseem, convicted of taking up arms against the state while a minor Human rights activists have urged Iran to halt the imminent execution of a young man convicted of taking up arms against the state when he was under 18. Saman Naseem, now 22, is scheduled to be executed on Thursday after being found guilty of moharebeh (enmity against God) for his alleged membership of PJAK, an armed Kurdish opposition group, and alleged involvement in a gun battle with Iran's Revolutionary Guards near Sardasht, a city in West Azerbaijan province. Naseem, who was 17 at the time of his arrest in July 2011, appeared on Iran's state television later that year, saying he had shot at members of the elite military unit. He is being held in Orumiyeh prison in north-west Iran. Activists said Naseem retracted his confession during his trial and that it was made under duress. Iran has signed the international treaties which prohibit the execution of those convicted of crimes committed when they were juveniles. Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, Amnesty International's deputy director for Middle East and North Africa, called on Iran on Monday to halt the planned execution of Naseem and launch a thorough review of his case. Imposing the death penalty on someone who was a child when the alleged crime took place goes against international human rights laws that Iran has committed to respect, she said. This is the reality of the criminal justice system in Iran, which makes a mockery of its own statements that it does not execute children and upholds its obligations under the convention on the rights of the child. Iran's penal code prohibits death penalty for juveniles for offences whose punishment can be administered at the discretion of the judge, such as drug offences. But a death sentence may still be applied if he or she has committed crimes considered to be claims of God and, therefore, have mandatory sentences - such as moharebeh, sodomy, rape, theft. Last week, Amnesty published a letter written by Naseem and sent out of jail, in which he describes in distressing detail his time in prison. During the first days, the level of torture was so severe that it left me unable to walk. All my body was black and blue. They hung me from my
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide
Feb. 17 GLOBAL: Death penalty: Aberration or deterrent? As Australia appeals for clemency for 2 of its citizens awaiting execution in Indonesia for drug trafficking, the spotlight is once again focused on the practice of state-sanctioned killing as punishment for a range of crimes. So what are the key facts, figures and arguments surrounding the death penalty? Is the use of capital punishment increasing or declining? What would account for these trends? Despite a global trend towards abolition, in 2013, the latest data available from Amnesty International, executions rose by almost 15% over the previous year. The spike of recorded, verifiable executions, according to the organization, were perpetrated by an isolated group of entrenched executioners, mainly Iraq and Iran. Excluding China, for which figures are not known, Amnesty reveals that 778 confirmed executions were carried out in 2013. However, despite an increase in numbers of executions as a whole, there is a general trend towards abolition, with an increasing number of territories and countries across the globe moving toward moratorium or abolition. Worst offenders: Which countries execute the most people? Amnesty reports that 22 countries conducted executions during 2013, one more than in the previous year. 4 countries -- Indonesia, Kuwait, Nigeria and Vietnam -- resumed executions after moratoriums were lifted there. China, which is believed to execute more prisoners prisoners each year than the rest of the world combined, does not release figures on its executions and thus reliable figures are hard to come by. While concrete data is difficult to obtain in many countries, Amnesty says that almost 80% of all known executions (which excludes China's figures) worldwide were recorded in Iran, Iraq and Saudi Arabia. Earlier this year, Egypt condemned 183 defendants to death in a mass sentencing, triggering international opprobrium and calling the Egyptian justice system into sharp relief. The United States, which executed 39 people in 2013, is the only G7 country, and the only 1 of 56 member states of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, to still use capital punishment. Which countries have abolished the death penalty? More than 2/3 of countries have struck capital punishment from their statutes, or at least for all practical purposes. In 2013 no executions were recorded in Europe and Central Asia, and the U.S. was the only country in the Americas to execute people in 2013. Only 3 ASEAN nations -- including Indonesia -- carried out executions that year. Of the G8, only 2 -- the United States and Japan -- executed prisoners. When do prisoners find out about their impeding execution? This differs from country to country, ranging from an execution date -- pending appeals -- set at sentencing in the United States, to inmates unaware of their scheduled death until just a few days or hours before being killed, as is the case the Bali 9 as they await their fates in Indonesia. How are prisoners executed? Methods of execution range from lethal injection -- 1st adopted in the United States in 1977 -- to gassing, hanging, death by firing squad, electrocution and beheading -- Saudi Arabia still publicly executes prisoners by decapitating them with a sword. How accurate are figures on the death penalty? Amnesty says: In some countries, it is not possible to obtain reliable data because governments do not make figures for death sentences and executions available, while others actively conceal death penalty proceedings. In countries affected by conflict it is often not possible to obtain sufficient information to confirm whether any executions have taken place. How are cases of foreign nationals sentenced to death treated? Foreigners on trial in countries with the death penalty can be at a disadvantage due to linguistic difficulties and an unfamiliarity with the country's legal system; however, those arrested abroad are granted consular assistance under the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations (VCCR). Diplomatic solutions occasionally see prisoners repatriated to serve out sentences -- in lieu of execution -- in their home countries. Indeed, the VCCR has been cited in diplomatic attempts to repatriate death row citizens -- Mexico invoked the United States' failure to abide by the convention as reason to repatriate 54 Mexican nationals in death row in the U.S. However, foreigners often fall foul of some country's laws -- drug trafficking cases are often headline-grabbers -- and in some high profile cases, despite diplomatic appeals, politicians choose to go ahead with executions in a bid to appear unwavering in the face of serious crime. What are the arguments for and against the practice? Advocates say it is a powerful deterrent against serious crime, while others point to the problems -- and cost -- of keeping violent offenders in general
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----PENN., FLA., ALA.
Feb. 17 PENNSYLVANIA: Prosecutor wants death penalty for man with bodies in yard A prosecutor has asked a jury to send a Pennsylvania man convicted of strangling 2 people during a 2002 robbery to death row. The penalty phase of Hugo Selenski's capital murder trial opened Tuesday, 4 days after Pennsylvania's governor declared a moratorium on the death penalty. Selenski's attorneys filed a motion asking the judge to preclude jurors from considering a death sentence, but he told them they are to consider either life or death for Selenski. Selenski was convicted last week of 2 counts of 1st-degree murder in the deaths of pharmacist Michael Kerkowski and his girlfriend, Tammy Fassett. Luzerne County Assistant District Attorney Jarrett Ferentino says Selenski tortured Kerkowski and deserves death. Authorities found at least bodies in Selenski's yard in 2003. He beat 2 previous homicide charges. (source: Associated Press) FLORIDA: Capital punishment in Florida is death by judicial whim The premise underlying Florida's death penalty is that it will be carried out fairly. To borrow a phrase, that is a bright and shining lie. As the 1st to re-enact capital punishment after the U.S. Supreme Court struck it down in 1972, Florida's Legislature provided specific criteria for death sentences and required the state Supreme Court to review each one. In upholding that law, the state court promised in 1973 that the reasons present in one case will reach a similar result to that reached under similar circumstances in another case ... the sentencing process becomes a matter of reasoned judgment rather than an exercise in discretion at all. The U.S. Supreme Court bought it. But it was sophistry then and it is sophistry now. The Florida Supreme Court rarely sees the vast majority of murder cases that result in life sentences rather than death, and so it cannot compare them for true proportionality. When an appeal forces it to consider the disparate fates of co-defendants, its scales of justice are often out of balance. Emilia L. Carr helped her boyfriend strangle his estranged wife in Marion County 6 years ago. She's on death row. He's not. Heather Strong died slowly. She was duct-taped to a chair, beaten with a flashlight and suffocated with a plastic bag. Those were what the law calls aggravating circumstances. Still, Joshua Fulgham was equally guilty. As the court rationalized in upholding Carr's conviction and death sentence this month, the pair had separate trials before separate juries. And although the court invited her to protest the disparity in a subsequent round of appeals, three of the seven justices believed there was already enough in the record to justify executing her alone. That concurring opinion, written by Justice Ricky Polston, said she was more culpable because her intelligence was superior to that of her low-IQ lover, whom she probably manipulated into carrying out the murder. Carr, who is 30 and has been on death row for 4 years, will be a lot older before her fate is sealed. And Florida taxpayers will be out a lot more money than it would cost them if a life sentence rather than death hung in the balance. The Miami Herald once calculated that Florida was spending $3.2 million for each death case, 6 times the total for litigation and incarceration of a life sentence. More recent studies in other states vary from twice to 5 times the cost of death over life, and figured in Maryland's recent decision to abolish capital punishment. In declaring a moratorium on executions pending a legislative study, Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf said Friday, This decision is based on a flawed system that has been proven to be an endless cycle of court proceedings as well as ineffective, unjust, and expensive. There is something inherently foul in a system that gives life to the co-defendant who cops a plea and death to the one who might be less guilty. Jesse Tafero, executed in 1980, was put in the electric chair by a co-defendant, Walter Rhodes, who said Tafero was the triggerman in the deaths of 2 law enforcement officers. Rhodes later recanted, saying he had been the shooter, but the courts wouldn't believe him. The execution a month ago of Johnny Kormondy owed similarly to a co-defendant's subsequently recanted testimony. The same thing happened to John Marek in 2009 despite the sworn testimony of other inmates that a co-defendant serving life - and subsequently murdered in prison - had boasted of being the actual triggerman. Carr's is another of those cases in which the jury did not recommend death unanimously - the vote was only 7 to 5 - but Florida allows the judge to make his or her own decisions. Most often, the Supreme Court approves them. That's just one of the ways the 1972 law perpetuated discretion. Some judges and juries are harsher than others. Prosecutors have great leeway in deciding whether to
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----FLA., WYO., ORE., USA
Feb. 17 FLORIDAstay of impending execution Florida Supreme Court blocks execution of Orlando killer Jerry Correll The Florida Supreme Court today stayed the execution of a death-row inmate who killed 4 people in Orlando in 1985. Jerry William Correll was convicted in the stabbing his ex-wife, Susan, and their 5-year-old daughter. Also killed were Susan Correll's mother, Mary Lou Hines, and her sister, Marybeth Jones. Correll's attorneys have filed appeals to block his planned execution on Feb. 26. (source: Orlando Sentinel) WYOMING: Judge denies inmate's request to block death-penalty hearing A federal judge won't block the Casper district attorney from once again seeking the death penalty against a Wyoming inmate convicted of killing a Montana woman. U.S. District Judge Alan B. Johnson of Cheyenne on Friday denied a request from lawyers representing inmate Dale Wayne Eaton to bar the state from seeking the death penalty against him for the 2nd time. Eaton was convicted in 2004 of murdering Lisa Marie Kimmell, 18, of Billings, Montana. Eaton's lawyers don't dispute he killed her. Johnson in November overturned Eaton's original death sentence, ruling he didn't get an adequate defense at his state trial. The judge said prosecutors could seek to convince another jury to resentence him to death or opt to send Eaton to prison for life without parole. Eaton's lawyers had asked Johnson to reconsider giving the state the option to seek the death sentence again and asked him instead to order Eaton to serve life in prison without parole. Eaton's lawyers argued that too many witnesses have died who could have testified about Eaton's background to try to convince a jury that his life had value. Eaton's lawyers also argued that years of negative publicity fueled by what they claimed to be improper statements from prosecutors to the media would make it impossible for him to get a fair rehearing on whether he deserves the death penalty. Eaton had been the only inmate on death row in the state before Johnson overturned his death sentence. His case has received extensive media coverage, including some that has included law enforcement speculation that he was a serial killer. Johnson, in his order on Friday denying Eaton's requests, stated that Eaton's arguments that he can't get a fair hearing need to be addressed in the state court system. Cheyenne lawyer Terry Harris is on the legal team representing Eaton in Johnson's court. Harris declined comment Tuesday on the judge's order. Kimmell disappeared in 1988 while driving alone across Wyoming. Fishermen later found her body in the North Platte River. Investigators tied Eaton to the crime in 2002 when DNA evidence taken from Kimmell's body linked Eaton to the case while he was in prison on unrelated charges. Investigators then unearthed her missing car on his property. Authorities say Eaton kept Kimmell captive for a time in his rundown compound in Moneta, west of Casper, and raped her before killing her. Casper District Attorney Mike Blonigen recently filed notice that he would once again seek the death penalty against Eaton. Blonigen was the original prosecutor against Eaton. An attempt to reach Blonigen for comment on Tuesday was unsuccessful. In a recent interview, Blonigen said he has always followed the rules of professional conduct in speaking with the media about the case. You have to appreciate that you have to say something when these cases of great public interest occur, Blonigen said last month. We haven't commented on specific evidence, or argued the case in the press. (source: Associated Press) OREGON: Gov. Kitzhaber: Your Job Is Not Yet Done Governor Kitzhaber has given 35 years of steadfast service to the people of Oregon. His tirelessness and courage have helped to forge a State that is the envy of the nation -- a community as strong and prosperous as it is just and fair. But the job is not yet done. In his last few hours in the Capitol Building, Governor Kitzhaber has the opportunity to undertake perhaps the most courageous act of his career, one that would create his most enduring legacy -- the Governor can commute the death sentences of the 34 men and one woman on Oregon's death row. A decision to commute the death sentences would align with contemporary standards of decency in Oregon, and increasing it aligns with the norms of the nation. A recent poll in the Oregonian showed that 74 % of respondents would support a Kitzhaber decision to commute all existing death sentences. This same sense of decreasing support for capital punishment resonates throughout the country. Within the last decade, six states have abolished the death penalty. Even in states like Oregon where the punishment is authorized on paper, jurors rarely impose it. Indeed, 2014 brought the fewest executions in over 20 years and the fewest death sentences in
