[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, FLA., ALA., OKLA., MO., COLO., UTAH, USA, US MIL.
Sept. 10 TEXAS: No death penalty in Henderson retrial, DA says Travis County prosecutors will not seek the death penalty when Cathy Lynn Henderson is retried for the 1994 death of an infant she was baby-sitting. Henderson, who was once 2 days from execution for the death of 3-month-old Brandon Baugh, will be tried for capital murder and faces a potential sentence of life in prison, District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg said Monday. (source: Austin American-Statesman) FLORIDA: Florida Attorney General: I Erred In Asking Execution To Be Moved For Party Death row inmate Marshall Lee Gore's execution has been moved for the 3rd time. The 1st 2 times, officials rescheduled Gore's execution because Gore's lawyers claimed he wasn't sane enough for the death penalty. This time, Governor Rick Scott has rescheduled Gore's execution because of a party. After the Florida Supreme Court ruled Marshall Lee Gore is sane enough under the U.S. Constitution's 8th Amendment to face capital punishment, Governor Rick Scott set Gore's new execution date for Tuesday. But Attorney General Pam Bondi's Hometown Kick Off Campaign - the official start to her re-election bid -- had already been scheduled for that date. So, Scott says, at Bondi's request, he moved the execution. I mean we try to, you know, comply with, when another cabinet member asks for something we try to work with them, Bondi said. Scott says he didn't know at the time why Bondi had asked for the postponement. A spokeswoman for Bondi's office has said the Attorney General wanted to be available in person to carry out the duties associated with her office during an execution, but in a statement, Bondi says she shouldn't have asked for the date of the execution to be moved. The new date for Gore's execution is October 1. (source: WFSU) ALABAMA: Attorneys preparing mental health defense for Shelby County man charged in his grandmother's slaying Attorneys for a Chelsea man charged with capital murder in the 2012 slaying of his grandmother told a judge this afternoon they need more time to sift through their client's mental health records and other evidence before they can go to trial. Shelby County Circuit Court Judge Bill Bostick told the attorneys for Daniel Gentry that he would like to set the trial for as soon as possible - sometime in late January or early February. But defense attorney Barry Alvis said he believed it should be in the March to May time frame. Gentry has pleaded not guilty by disease or mental defect and defense attorneys have been gathering Gentry's mental health records from his early years to just after the commission of the slaying, Alvis said. Gentry's family has provided a box of material, he said. At one point Gentry was held at a facility in Georgia where he had attempted suicide, Alvis told the judge. Scott Boudreaux, the other defense attorney in the case, said after the hearing that in the first few months after Gentry was arrested Shelby County jailers had forcibly put him on medication for psychotic episodes and held him in a padded cell. Bostick said he would not set a trial date yet. But the judge said he will hold another hearing in October to consider motions and possibly set a trial date at that time. Alvis also told the judge that he will be gathering information on capital murder cases in Shelby County as part of a motion to bar Gentry from being sentenced to death if convicted. The motion would try to show whether there has been selective prosecution in death penalty cases in Shelby County, Alvis said. Bostick said that if previous Shelby County capital murder prosecutions become an issue in a motion then it could cause him to recuse himself from at least ruling on that motion. Bostick was a prosecutor in the Shelby County District Attorneys office from 1998 to 2011 and prosecuted a number of the capital murder cases that likely, the judge said. The judge said he wouldn't necessarily have to recuse himself from the case when he gets that motion from Alvis. Another judge could decide the issue and Bostick said he could continue with the guilt portion of the case. Assistant Attorney Generals Stephanie Billingslea and Kelly Hawkins Godwin are prosecuting the case. Gentry in June 2012 was charged in the death of his grandmother, Carrie Elaine Gentry. Carrie Elaine Gentry, a minister who allowed Daniel Gentry to live with her after he underwent drug rehabilitation, was fatally stabbed, hit with a hammer and possibly strangled, according to the Shelby County Sheriff's Office. An indictment states she was fatally attacked on either March 28 or March 29, 2012. On April 10, 13 days after she was last seen, divers located her vehicle in 40 feet of water in a Leeds quarry. Her body was inside. (source: al.com) OKLAHOMAimpending execution Execution set for Okla. death row inmate convicted in 1979 slaying of
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide
Sept. 10 LIBYA: Saif-al-Islam Gadhafi to be tried in Libya in September Late Libyan leader Col. Moammar Gadhafi's son and his spy chief were charged on August 27 with murder in relation to the country's 2011 civil war and are set to stand trial, said Libya's general prosecutor. Abdel-Qader Radwan told reporters that the trial will start Sept. 19 on alleged crimes committed during Col. Gadhafi's 42-year rule and during the 8-month-long civil war that deposed him. The defendants are former intelligence chief Abdullah al-Senoussi and Saif al-Islam Gadhafi, the heir apparent and only son of the former leader who is in custody. A total of 28 former cabinet members will face trial that day on various charges ranging from murder, forming armed groups in violation of the law, inciting rape and kidnappings. Mr. Radwan said Libyan authorities have issued more than 280 arrest warrants for those wanted on similar charges. Radwan's aide, al-Seddik al-Sur, said spy chief al-Senoussi has confessed to collaborating on producing car bombs in the city of Benghazi, the birthplace of the 2011 uprising. He added that defendants were not subject to any form of pressure to extract confessions. The International Criminal Court charged Saif al-Islam Gadhafi with murder and persecution of civilians during the early days of the uprising. If convicted in that court, he would have faced a maximum sentence of life imprisonment, because it does not have the death penalty. This summer, the international court judges had ruled that Libya cannot give Saif al-Islam a fair trial and asked authorities to hand him over to The Hague. Nonetheless, Col. Gadhafi's son remains held by a militia group that captured him in the Western mountain town of Zintan as he was fleeing to neighboring Niger after rebel forces took Libya's capital. He is also being tried on separate charges of harming state security, attempting to escape prison and insulting Libya's new flag. The charges are linked to his 2012 meeting with an international court delegation accused of smuggling documents and a camera to him in his cell. Zintan rebels held the 4-member team but released them after the court apologized and pledged to investigate the incident. According to filings by defense lawyers at the court, Saif al-Islam said he wants to be tried for alleged war crimes in the Netherlands, claiming that a Libyan trial would be tantamount to murder. The rest of Saif al-Islam's family, including his mother, sister, 2 brothers and others, were granted asylum in Oman in 2012, moving there from Algeria, where they found refuge during the civil war. The rule of law is still weak in Libya after decades of rule by Col. Gadhafi. Courts are still paralyzed and security remains tenuous as unruly militias proliferate. The state, however, relies heavily on militias to serve as security forces since the police and military remain a shambles. Successive governments have been too weak to either secure Saif al-Islam's imprisonment in the capital, Tripoli, or put pressure on militia groups to hand him over to the government. (source: The Final Call) INDIA: 'If they don't get death penalty, my daughter won't get justice' A Delhi court on Tuesday pronounced all the remaining 4 accused guilty for the brutal rape and murder of a 23-year-old woman in a moving bus on the night of December 16 last year. Immediately after the pronouncement, demonstrations broke out outside Saket court demanding death sentence for the 4 convicts. The physiotherapy student's parents who have been at the forefront of calls for the accused to be hanged were also present in the court premises. We are happy with the conviction. Now we expect the judge to sentence all of them to death, victim's father said after the verdict. We will get complete closure only if all the accused are wiped off from the face of the earth. This is what they did to our daughter most brutally, he added. The family had been insisting on the death sentence since the inception of the case. We will not accept anything below the death penalty, the victim's father told in an interview last week. If they do not get death sentence, my daughter would not get justice, and in the days to come, this crime will take dangerous form, he added. A juvenile has already been sentenced to three years in a correctional facility, while a fifth adult defendant, bus driver Ram Singh, was found hanging in his prison cell in March while awaiting trial. The student's family were bitterly disappointed with the 3-year sentence handed down last month on the youngest defendant, the maximum allowed by law as he was only 17 at the time of the attack. (source: Hindustan Times) *** 4 guilty of bus gang rape that sickened India An Indian court convicted 4 men Thursday of the gang rape and murder of a physiotherapy student on board a moving bus in a
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide
Sept. 10 INDONESIA: Death demanded for Benget Prosecutor Ibu Suut demanded on Monday that the East Jakarta District Court sentence Benget Situmorang to death for the mutilation murder of his wife Darna Sri Astuti on March 4. In a separate trial, prosecutors also demanded an 18-year prison term for Tini, Benget's fiancee, who has been accused of abetting the crime. The prosecutor said the defendant deserved the harshest punishment because he not only killed his wife but also tortured her, inserted a bottle of hot water into her vagina, dismembered her, made broth with her heart and dumped her body parts on the Cikampek toll road. Benget's lawyer, Edward Sihombing, strongly objected, claiming that his client had a long-standing mental problem. I object to the death penalty for my client. The condition of a totally sane person would worsen when handed the death penalty, let alone someone with a mental problem, he said as quoted by kompas.com. He said that in presenting his defense next week, he would ask the panel of judges to seek expert opinion on whether the death penalty was appropriate for his client. Benget and Tini were arrested on March 6, 2 days after the victim's mutilated body was discovered on the toll road. According to the police investigation, the murder was a result of an argument between Benget and his wife over his relationship with Tini, a maid in their house in Rambutan, East Jakarta. (source: Jakarta Post) PAKISTAN: ATC verdict: 2 sentenced to death for DSP's murder An anti-terrorism court (ATC) sentenced 2 people to death on Tuesday on charges of assassinating DSP Muhammad Ibrahim in Gilgit last year. In addition to the death penalty, ATC Judge Raja Shahbaz Khan also handed down a 10-year imprisonment sentence to Azhar Hussain and Shaukat Hussain alias Major for the high-profile killing. The offenders are residents of Barmas and Khomer. 2 others charged in the case include Wajahat Hussain and Sajid Hussain and were sentenced to life imprisonment and fined Rs300,000 each. Wajahat and Shaukat are yet to be arrested, while Azhar and Sajid are in police custody. Advocates Manzoor Hussain and Ansar Ali were representing the offenders. Lawyer Imran Hussain said those charged for the offence can submit an appeal to the court within 10 days. DSP Ibrahim, a resident of Astore valley, was killed on January 4, 2012 in front of his house in Nagral area while returning home from work late night. He had been posted in the investigative wing of the Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B) police and was working on cases involving sectarian killings at a time when sectarian bloodshed in G-B was on the rise. The chairman of the Federal Board of Revenue is directed to issue notices for all authorised routes of entry to the country, including inland, and by air, and ensure proper checking of all those coming to the country. Only after their credentials are verified will they be allowed to enter the country, CJ Khan ordered. The chief justice directed the joint taskforce to not only investigate the matter of illegal documentation but also arrest those found guilty. The PHC ordered a report be prepared in time for the next hearing on October 10. Under the court's orders, the heads of armed forces and spy agencies can seize NADRA'S record if thought to be relevant to the matter of illegally issued CNICs and passports. (source: Paksitan Tribune) UNITED ARAB EMIRATES: Top court overturns death verdict on 10 drug dealers The UAE's top court has annulled death sentences against 10 Pakistani drug dealers and reduced verdicts for 4 other convicts. 10 of the 14 defendants had been sentenced to death by a lower court for smuggling 2.6 tonnes of hashish into the UAE while another one got 10 years in jail. The remaining 3 defendants were given various prison sentences. The Federal Supreme Court said its decision to annul the death verdicts was based on the fact that the defendants were caught smuggling drugs for another dealer rather than for themselves. It reduced the jail sentence for the 11th defendant and ordered confining the remaining 3- to the social care centre pending deportation on the grounds they are teenagers. (source: emirates247.com) INDIA: Delhi gang-rape trial: death sentence inevitable, says Indian minister An Indian government minister has said four men found guilty on Tuesday of the gang-rape and murder of a woman in Delhi last year will be hanged. Sushilkumar Shinde, India's home minister, told reporters in Mumbai that a death sentence was inevitable. We have strengthened the law. [The] death penalty is assured in this case, he said. The comments, after the verdict but before sentencing, are unusual and an indication of the government's concern about public anger over the incident. The judge, Yogesh Khanna, delivered his verdict just after noon on Tuesday at the end of the seven-month
