[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide
Jan. 4 JAPAN: UNMASKING CAPITAL PUNISHMENT--Irreparable losses-- Bereaved tired of wait for execution of perpetrators In August 1975, a TV news program showed five extremists, including members of the Japanese Red Army, boarding a Japan Airlines plane after being released from prison by the government. The release came after the government acceded to a demand from the Japanese Red Army, which had seized the U.S. and Swedish embassies in Kuala Lumpur and taken more than 50 people hostage earlier in the month. The group demanded the Japanese government release extremists who were in prison following the Kuala Lumpur incident. The government yielded to the demand and permitted 5 extremists to leave Japan after releasing them as an extralegal measure. Masaki Matsuda, 62, watched the news on TV with mixed feelings as one of the terrorists who killed his sister in a bombing attack boarded the plane. Masaki Matsuda was 28 at the time. About a year before, Matsuda's sister, Toshiko, 23, died in a bombing of a Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. building in Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo, in a bombing carried out by the far-left group Higashi Ajia Hannichi Buso Sensen (East Asia Anti-Japan Armed Front). Toshiko was on her way back from lunch to the accounting office where she worked. She reportedly had been considering marrying her boyfriend. Norio Sasaki, one of the extremists who carried out the bombing, was 1 of the 5 who boarded the plane leaving Japan. Sasaki was 26 at the time. Matsuda said he was bitterly disappointed to see Sasaki escape Japan, thinking about his sister's death. But at the same time, I kept telling myself that I should consider the lives of those still alive, rather than somebody who's already dead, Matsuda said. After 2 years, the memories were brought back to Matsuda again, when in September 1977, the Japanese Red Army hijacked a Tokyo-bound JAL plane after it left Paris, forcing it to land in Dhaka. The group's demands were again met and 6 extremists were released from prison and taken to Dhaka. Ayako Daidoji, who was another member of the criminal group who carried out the bombing of the MHI building, was one of the 6. Daidoji was 28 at that time. The whereabouts of Sasaki and Daidoji, and whether they are even still alive, are unknown to this day. === 21 years and counting 8 people died and 165 people were injured in the bombing of the MHI building. Masashi Daidoji--Ayako's husband--and Toshiaki Kataoka played leading roles in a series of bombing attacks that targeted company buildings, including the Mitsubishi building. Kataoka later changed his surname to Masunaga. In April 1987, the rulings of the lower courts to execute Daidoji and Kataoka were finalized by the Supreme Court. However, more than 21 years later, the executions have yet to be carried out. A Justice Ministry official said, One of the reasons their executions have not been carried out is because there are accomplices that escaped to foreign countries. Masashi, 60, reportedly spends his time in prison composing haiku, and has even published a collection of them. In his letters to supporters, he has criticized the government for not abolishing the death penalty. Masunaga, also 60, accepted a Yomiuri Shimbun request for an interview via supporters. He sent messages to them, saying, I have concluded that the death penalty should be abolished because it deprives people of life and their human rights. Matsuda said he often remembers his mother, who died at the age of 78 two years after the Supreme Court upheld lower court rulings to execute Masashi and Masunaga. I can't forget my mother, who carried on bravely after Toshiko's death, occasionally gazing at her picture, Matsuda said. On Dec. 19, Masashi and Masunaga made their third requests for a new trial. In March 1976, explosives placed inside a fire extinguisher went off in a lobby on the first floor of the Hokkaido prefectural government's head office in Sapporo, killing 2 government officials and injuring 95. In September 1994, the Supreme Court upheld lower court rulings to execute Katsuhisa Omori for the bombing. However, Omori consistently pleaded innocent to all the charges during the trials and has been appealing for a retrial for more than 14 years since the Supreme Court's ruling. Omori, 59, who is being held at a detention house in Sapporo, married a supporter in 1985. According to sources, he owned shares in several companies under his wife's name until recently. During her near-daily visits, he would ask his wife about the latest stock prices and instructed her to sell or buy new shares. He also has a blog, which he updates with his opinions by writing letters to his supporters who then put his writings online. Last month, Omori answered questions by The Yomiuri Shimbun via a letter sent to a supporter. Omori wrote: I believe the nation can't carry out my execution. I suppose the government is waiting for me to die of natural causes. I
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----FLORIDA
Jan. 4 FLORIDA: High-profile murder cases on trial in 2009Heading the list: The Edenfield family will be tried in the death of a boy at a mobile home park in Brunswick. The 1st of 3 family members charged with the sexual abuse slaying of 6-year-old Christopher Michael Barrios Jr. could stand trial this year, prosecutors said. David Edenfield, 59, of Brunswick faces the death penalty if convicted of malice murder in the killing almost 2 years ago. District Attorney Stephen Kelley wants to bring Edenfield to trial in late summer or fall. Edenfield's son, George, a convicted child molester, also faces the death penalty in the slaying. George Edenfield, 33, could face a special civil trial by the end of the year to determine if he is mentally competent to be tried on the criminal charges, Kelley said. No date has been set for David or George Edenfield. Nor has a trial date been set for Peggy Edenfield, 57, who faces a life sentence in the killing. She is married to David Edenfield and is George Edenfield's mother. The Edenfields top the list of high-profile Southeast Georgia homicide cases expected to be tried this year in the adjacent Brunswick and Waycross judicial circuits. Between them, the judicial circuits encompass 11 counties. Brunswick circuit The 5-county Brunswick circuit had 25 homicide cases awaiting trial as of Friday. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty in at least seven of those cases, Kelley said. None is bigger than those for the accused killers of Christopher Barrios Jr., a case that drew national attention. The boy was killed March 8, 2007. His body was discovered a week later inside a black plastic trash bag hidden in woods about 2 miles from the Canal Mobile Home Park where he lived. The 3 Edenfields were the Barrios family's neighbors. They remain jailed without bail on malice murder, kidnapping and child molestation charges. Peggy Edenfield has agreed to testify against her husband and son in exchange for prosecutors not asking that she get the death penalty. Kelley expects pretrial hearings in David Edenfield's case to resume within a couple months. It's been slow going, he said, because of the legal procedures mandated by Georgia's death penalty law. It's all time-consuming, but it's part of Georgia's death penalty process, he said. Nonetheless, Kelley wants to try one homicide case a month in the circuit. But that might not be possible because state budget cuts have forced prosecutors to furlough employees one day each month. Further bogging down the trial docket, the budget cuts also eliminated senior judges. The retired judges continue to try cases and help reduce overloaded dockets. 2 other circuit death penalty cases may be tried by the end of the year, he said. In Wayne County, Bobby Rex Stribling, a 46-year-old career felon, is charged with beating to death Judge Glenn Thomas Jr., 74, in 2007. Thomas, a former district attorney, was attacked June 25, 2007 during a robbery at his Jesup law office and died July 9, 2007 while hospitalized for his injuries. In Glynn County, David Lane Campbell, 27, is charged with the beating death of Marshall Allen, a well-known 58-year-old musician, at his Three Oaks Lane home in 2007. In addition, Kelley is considering seeking the death penalty in several other cases, including 3 homicides last year in Camden County. Those defendants are: Tye Christopher Watkins, 22, charged with gunning down his parents, T.J. and Cindy Watkins, at their St. Marys home; Amos Southall, 27, charged with killing Michelle Hainley, 21, of Yulee at a Kingsland motel; and Larry Nathaniel Harris Sr., 43, charged with the execution-style slayings of Commie Lee Spead, 48, and Jerry Lewis Williams, 52, both of Kingsland. The problem is, the case may initially fit death penalty criteria but the evidence has to support it. Most jurors on a death penalty case basically want evidence beyond all doubt, not just beyond a reasonable doubt, which is what the law requires, Kelley said. Waycross circuit Betty Jo Jacobs is among the defendants in 6 homicide cases who could stand trial this year in the Waycross Judicial Circuit, which includes Bacon, Brantley, Charlton, Coffee, Pierce and Ware counties. None is a death penalty case. Jacobs, 67, is charged with killing her former husband, L. Davis Jacobs, 68 of Waycross on Aug. 24, 2007. The well-known ophthalmologist was gunned down in his medical office near Satilla Regional Medical Center in Waycross as patients waited for their appointments with him. We're looking at possibly trying it in February, but that's not been finalized, District Attorney Rick Currie told the Times-Union. If convicted, Jacobs faces a life sentence. Her attorneys have asserted that Jacobs suffered from battered person syndrome when she killed her ex-husband. In Pierce County, Archie Edward Bennett Jr., 67, is charged with murder and arson in last year's shooting death of his former wife, Shirley Dial Bennett,
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, USA, CALIF., N.C., WYO.
Jan. 4 TEXAS: On Texan of the Year: I second this award Re: Craig Watkins -- Dallas County district attorney made his name not by securing convictions, but by clearing the way for them to be overturned, last Sunday Points. Craig Watkins is an exemplary choice. He is a man who puts justice into perspective in lieu of flaunting numbers. Edward E. Sharp II, Bedford -- Unit's funding should go elsewhere So many others are so much more deserving than Craig Watkins. Like Ken Mayfield, I believe that the $480,000 that the county spends to fund the salaries of his conviction integrity team could be better spent elsewhere. If that makes me one of his detractors, then so be it. Nancy Black, Dallas -- Surprise: a Democrat! Congratulations! Craig Watkins is an excellent choice. You didn't pick a group or someone notorious. Picking a Democrat was totally unexpected. Good for you. Ronald W. Landen, Plano -- A mixed record at best Your choice of Craig Watkins as Texan of the Year is pathetic and amazingly hypocritical, with your paper's own position on the death penalty. The Dallas Morning News recently called for the complete abolition of the death penalty, correctly citing the inherent flaws of the system. Watkins clearly deserves much praise for leading the effort to free wrongfully convicted people from Dallas jails. But his recent decision to seek the death penalty and to personally prosecute the case smacks of moral and political inconsistency. Abolition of the death penalty means that no one should ever be sentenced to death for any reason. Officials who espouse the philosophy and practice of death, and who involve themselves in the process, should be seen for who they are: opponents of human rights and not to be praised and rewarded. I hope the New Year brings Watkins and your staff more wisdom. Rick Halperin, president, Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, Dallas -- He's fighting shameful trend I have resided in Texas for more than 30 years now. Throughout that time, I have been ashamed, year after year, of our state's enthusiasm for the death penalty. Quite frankly, we should all be embarrassed by the intensity of death penalty advocates. Thank you, Dallas Morning News, for selecting Craig Watkins as your Texan of the Year. He has provided Texans with a balanced approach to this divisive issue and deserves your award. Just ask the death penalty people who have been exonerated. Ted Moock, Dallas -- His name isn't known statewide Nastia Liukin is a name known around the world, as are other possible choices on the ballot, but you pick the Dallas district attorney. I'm guessing Texans in Hondo, Amarillo, Gladewater, Victoria or even San Marcos don't have a clue who the Dallas DA is. Maybe its time to just call it the Dallas-Fort Worth person of the year after picking illegal immigrants last year and now a local district attorney. Better yet, just forget the whole thing. Jim Hivner, Plano -- He let politics prevail A rather disturbing Dallas Morning News article on the capital murder trial of Robert Sparks from early December suggests that Craig Watkins may be pursuing the death penalty -- against his own conscience -- in that case (and others) for political reasons. If quotes attributed to Watkins in that article are accurate, he personally asked the jury to condemn Sparks to death in order to prove to Dallas County citizens that he isn't soft on crime. In the short time he has been in office, Watkins has become internationally known as the prosecutor who established a convictions integrity unit to examine questionable convictions in Dallas County. But neither this unit nor his public expression of ambivalence about imposing the death penalty will exonerate him from responsibility for any death that may occur because of a sentence handed down at the behest of his office. If he believes the death penalty is wrong, he should not pursue it -- for political or any other reasons. Despite his incredible achievements in office so far, Watkins does not deserve the Texan of the Year award until he resolves this issue. He's halfway there. Patricia H. Davis, Dallas -- Why not Ron Paul? I don't disagree that Dallas District Attorney Craig Watkins should be the Texan of the Year. However, I am disappointed that Ron Paul did not make it into the top 10. He did get the most nominations from across the state, country and world. I don't know why you chose to ignore his impact. Richard Bach, Garland (source: Letters to the Editor, Dallas Morning News) USA: Death penalty continues its national dropEconomic woes contribute to sustained decline Executions and new death sentences each continued their sharp nationwide decline in 2008, as states wrestled with legal, moral and financial concerns about capital punishment. 37 people were executed in nine states, the lowest total in 14 years and a 62 % drop from the 98 death sentences carried out in 1999,
