[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide
May 3 IRANexecution Prisoner Hanged on Murder Charges On Sunday April 30, a prisoner was reportedly executed at Hamadan Central Prison on murder charges, and another prisoner was returned to his cell after his execution was temporarily halted. Close sources have identified the prisoner who was executed as Imran Askardasht, 30 years of age. "He was charged with murder in 2010," a close source tells Iran Human Rights. On the same day, a prisoner in Hamadan Central Prison, who is on death row on murder charges, had his execution sentence temporarily halted upon receiving consent from the plaintiffs on his case file. Close sources have identified this prisoner as Bakhtiar Leilinejad, 31 years of age. Imran and Bakhtiar were both transferred to solitary confinement on Saturday April 29 in preparation for their executions. (source: iranhr.net) BANGLADESH: Kishoreganj court sentences 4 to death for murdering 10-year-old boy A Kishoreganj court has awarded the death penalty to 4 persons for the abduction and murder of a 10-year-old boy. On Aug 12, 2014, Sakibul Hasan Tutul was kidnapped from a village in the district's Pakundia Upazila. The abductors called the father Kamal Uddin on his phone and demanded Tk 1 million in ransom. 2 days later, Tutul's body was found near his home, according to court documents. On Wednesday, Kishoreganj's Women and Children Repression Prevention Tribunal delivered the verdict with the convicts on the dock. Those received the death sentence are 'Dulal', 'Shohag', 'Aminul' and 'Dalim'. Prosecutor AM Afzal said Tutul's father started the murder case accusing the 4. (source: bdnews24.com) EGYPTexecution Egyptian authorities execute man convicted of raping and murdering 5-year-old girl in Minya governorate Egyptian prison authorities executed Wednesday a 22-year-old man convicted of raping and murdering a 5-year-old girl in Upper Egypt's Minya governorate in March 2014. Investigations in the case revealed that the convict kidnapped the girl, before taking her to an abandoned building in Maghaha village and raping her. He choked her with a cloth and repeatedly hit her in the head. The convict's death verdict was upheld by the Court of Cassation in February 2016. The Minya governorate prisons department also executed Wednesday 5 people convicted of murder in Qena and Gharbeya governorates under tight security measures. On Tuesday, an Egyptian criminal court referred to the Grand Mufti a death sentence issued against a man convicted of raping a 20-month-old child in the Nile Delta governorate of Daqahliya last month in a case known publicly known as "the diaper girl's case." The court is expected to confirm the sentence on 2 June after the Grand Mufti gives his opinion, which is not legally binding, on the validity of the death sentence according to Islamic law. The most famous case of the rape and murder of a child happened in the coastal governorate of Port-Said in 2013, when 2 minors kidnapped, raped and killed 5-year-old girl Zeina Arafa, provoking rage and public outcry across the country. The convicts in this case were sentenced by a criminal court to 20 years in prison. The court apologised to the public for not imposing capital punishment, as Egyptian law forbids issuing the death penalty to people younger than 18 years old. (source: ahram.org.eg) * Rapist of 2-Year-Old Girl Handed Death Penalty An Egyptian Criminal Court gave a 35-year-old man, who had raped a baby girl in March, a death sentence, referring the case to Dar al-Iftaa. The final verdict is to be issued on June 2. Being the survivor's neighbour, the rapist narrated how he took her as she was playing in front of her house in Dakahlia governorate into an uninhabited room, removed her diaper before he raped her, and ran away when he found her bleeding. The year and 8 months old girl was transferred to a hospital to get a reconstructive surgery due to major damages in her vagina. "My daughter can't utter the words mama and papa yet and all of this has happened to her. My heart is burning and there's nothing I can do for her," the mother of the raped child said, according to Egypt Independent. The deputy of Egypt's al-Azhar, the largest Muslim beacon had called for anyone found guilty of molesting child to receive the death penalty, he told state-owned newspaper Al-Ahram. In Egypt, all capital punishment sentences are referred to Dar al-Iftaa, a religious body giving rulings to the masses and consultation for the judiciary. (source: egyptianstreets.com) SOMALIA: Somali boys executed killed for alleged terrorism Somalia is under criticism following the execution of some children suspected to be members of the Al-Shabaab terror group. 5 boys, aged between 14 and 17, have been sentenced to death in the northeastern Puntland region for their alleged role
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----OKLA., ARIZ., CALIF., WASH., USA
May 3 OKLAHOMA: Oklahoma's once busy death chamber to stay quiet much longer Oklahoma has had one of the busiest death chambers in the country for decades, executing more people per capita than any other state since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1976 that death sentences could resume. But after a botched lethal injection in 2014 and drug mix-ups in 2015 that led to 1 inmate being executed with the wrong drug and another just moments away from being strapped to a gurney before his lethal injection was halted, the state is facing a series of hurdles and long delays before it could resume capital punishment. While other states have put moratoriums in place because of shortages of key drugs or growing opposition to the death penalty, Oklahoma's problems stem from the inability of prison officials to carry out the executions as planned. In neighboring Arkansas, four men have been executed in recent days, part of an original plan to execute 8 inmates over an 11-day period before the expiration date on that state's supply of midazolam, a sedative already linked to problematic executions in Ohio and Arizona. The drug's effectiveness has again been questioned following last week's execution in Arkansas of Kenneth Williams, who lurched and convulsed 20 times during a lethal injection that began with midazolam. While Oklahoma voters staunchly support the ultimate punishment - more than 2/3 supported a pro-death penalty question on the ballot in November - it's not clear if executions will resume again in Oklahoma any time soon. A detailed report released last week by a commission that studied Oklahoma's death penalty for more than a year unanimously recommended the state shouldn't start executing inmates again until dozens of changes are made to various parts of the death penalty process, from murder investigations to the actual death penalty procedures. "While I do believe there are people who are so bad and so evil that they deserve the ultimate punishment, I think our process is broken, and until we fix it we shouldn't be executing people," said former Oklahoma Gov. Brad Henry, who co-chaired the Oklahoma Death Penalty Review Commission and who oversaw dozens of executions during his 2 terms in office. Henry voiced real concern over the possibility of an innocent person being put to death, noting that 10 defendants have been freed from death row in Oklahoma over the last 40 years. One of those men - Ron Williamson - came within days of being executed before he and another man sentenced to life in prison for the 1982 killing of Debbie Carter were ultimately freed after DNA evidence pointed to another suspect. One of the commission members, Christy Sheppard, is Carter's cousin and said the entire experience soured her and her family on the death penalty. "We watched those 2 men, who we believed were responsible for her death, simply walk away, taking any truth that we had with them," Sheppard said. While another suspect was eventually tried, convicted and sentenced to life in prison, Sheppard said: "We had lost all faith in the criminal justice system, in addition to the agonizing guilt that 2 innocent men had suffered." Despite the commission's misgivings and a scathing grand jury report last year on Oklahoma's bungled executions, Oklahoma's new Attorney General Mike Hunter said he "respectfully disagrees" with the commission's conclusion that the death penalty moratorium be extended. Hunter said last week he remains confident the state soon will be ready to resume carrying out the death penalty. "We're going to get a handle on the execution process," Hunter said. "There's new management at the (Department of Corrections), and I'm confident they're going to come up with a new execution protocol and that we'll move forward after that." The attorney general's office has said in court filings that it will not request any execution dates until at least 150 days - or about 5 months - after the new protocols are released. Meanwhile, 15 death row inmates in Oklahoma have exhausted all of their appeals and are awaiting execution dates to be set. (source: Associated Press) *** Capital punishment: Commission urges 'serious reforms' More than a year's worth of work has culminated in an almost 300-page report released by a bipartisan group tasked with reviewing Oklahoma's capital punishment procedures. In the report, the 11-member Oklahoma Death Penalty Review Commission unanimously agrees that the state's moratorium on capital punishment continue until "significant reforms" can be made. From the report's executive summary, released last week: Many Oklahomans support the availability of the death penalty, as evidenced by the vote in favor of State Question 776 in the November 2016 election. Nevertheless, it is undeniable that innocent people have been sentenced to death in Oklahoma. And the burden of wrongful
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, PENN., DEL., ALA., OHIO, TENN.
May 3 TEXAS: Former Texas Prosecutor Probably Sent Innocent Man to His Death. Now He's on Trial for Misconduct. The courthouse in Corsicana, Texas, roughly 60 miles southeast of Dallas, has been meticulously restored to its original 1905 glory, a time when the county was awash in oil money. Its main courtroom has soaring, 2-story pink walls and gold-flecked architectural details that frame the judge's bench, witness stand, and jury box. For more than 3 decades, John Jackson worked this room (though during those years it was a far more utilitarian space), 1st as a prosecutor with the Navarro County district attorney's office and later as an elected judge, until his retirement in 2012. Last week he returned, this time as a defendant, facing charges brought by the State Bar of Texas, whose lawyers argue that Jackson violated basic legal ethics in connection with his conduct in prosecuting the county's most notorious case, the death penalty trial of Cameron Todd Willingham, who was convicted and ultimately executed for what the state insists was the December 1991 arson-murder of his 3 young children in the home they shared just over a mile away. Specifically, the state's lawyers contend that Jackson made a deal with a jailhouse snitch who agreed to testify against Willingham and then hid that deal from Willingham's defense attorneys - a clear violation of both law and ethics. They say that Jackson took extraordinary measures over the next 2 decades to conceal his deceitful actions. "It is a duty of the prosecution - an ethical obligation - to turn over that evidence," state bar lawyer Kristin Brady told jurors in her opening arguments last Wednesday afternoon. "For years he protected this snitch; for years. It wasn't for [the snitch's] protection, it was for his own protection." The prosecution of Willingham has been widely reported and litigated, in part because his conviction was secured on twin pillars of evidence known to wreak havoc in the criminal justice system: junk science and incentivized snitch testimony. Where the junk science is concerned, there is now little question that the fire that killed Willingham's children was not arson - caused, as the state claimed, by Willingham spreading lighter fluid around his house and setting it ablaze. Leading fire scientists have weighed in to say that the evidence the Corsicana Fire Department and Texas fire marshal investigator relied upon in fingering Willingham as the cause of the deadly blaze was based on outdated, discredited fire-science folklore. It is the 2nd basis of the prosecution, however, that underlies Jackson's current civil disciplinary trial. In short, lead prosecutor Jackson called a man named Johnny Webb to testify at Willingham's 1992 trial to say that while he was locked up in the county jail on an aggravated robbery charge, his fellow inmate, Willingham, randomly, and in detail, confessed to Webb his alleged crime. Under questioning by Jackson, Webb asserted that he did not expect any benefit in exchange for his incriminating testimony. In the years since Willingham's 2004 execution, significant evidence has come to light indicating that was untrue. Records amassed by the bar association and the Innocence Project - including lengthy correspondence between Jackson and Webb spanning roughly a decade - strongly suggest not only that it was at least implied to Webb that he would receive a reduced sentence for his testimony, but also that Jackson went to great lengths to make that happen. Moreover, Webb now insists that his trial testimony was false and compelled by Jackson. On the witness stand on April 27, Jackson vehemently denied the allegations. Lawyers for the bar's Office of the Chief Disciplinary Counsel have tried to make clear that they are not here to re-litigate the question of Willingham's guilt or innocence, which they say is irrelevant. The sole issue at hand, they argue, is whether Jackson's actions as they relate to his dealings with Webb violated legal ethics - so far to seemingly thin effect. Indeed, where the bar attorneys have toed that straight-line, Joseph Byrne, Jackson's attorney, has done his best to conflate the issue of Willingham's guilt with Jackson's innocence: The bar, he has suggested, is motivated only by an interest in tarring Jackson in order to demonstrate that his client - and the state of Texas - hastened the execution of an innocent man. The Shoulders of a Jailhouse Snitch It was roughly 10:30 a.m. on December 23, 1991, when the fire broke out in the 5-room wood frame house on West 11th Ave. in Corsicana that Willingham shared with his wife, Stacy, and their 3 young daughters. The bodies of Willingham's twin 1-year-old girls were found amid the charred remains of the house. They had perished in the fire. First responders later carried out the 2-year-old, who was still alive. She died at the hospital shortly
