[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide
June 27 JAPAN: Triple murder, 90, dies of suffocation as oldest prisoner on Japan's death row A 90-year-old triple murderer, reportedly the oldest prisoner on death row, has choked to death on his own vomit at a prison in Fukuoka Prefecture, the government said Monday. Takeshige Hamada was convicted of killing 3 people in the prefecture for insurance money over a 2-year period from 1978. According to the government, he was not breathing when found lying on the floor of his cell around 12:50 a.m., and showed signs of vomiting. He was rushed to a hospital but pronounced dead at around 2 a.m. (source: Japan Times) INDIA: 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case: Prosecution seeks death penalty for convict Mustafa Dossa The prosecution on Tuesday argued that convict Mustafa Dossa be given the death penalty for his role in the 1993 Mumbai blasts. A special TADA court was hearing arguments on the quantum of sentence of punishment for the 6 convicts in the case. Special CBI counsel Deepak Salvi, had said that he would seek extreme punishment for all the 6 convicts in the case. "While deciding on the punishment in this case, the court needs keep 2 numbers in mind ... that 257 persons died in the blasts and nearly 713 citizens were brutally injured. These numbers are sufficient to display the brutality caused by the blasts. The men who caused the blast had brought 1500 kg of RDX (an explosive substance). It would have destroyed the entire city of Mumbai," Salvi had said in court on June 22. The TADA court had convicted 6 people - Abu Salem, Mustafa Dossa, Feroz Abdul Rashid Khan, Taher Merchant, Karimulla Khan and Riyaz Siddiqui - in the case on June 16 and acquitted Abdul Qayyum Sheikh who was then released from Arthur Road jail on June 17. The 12 successive explosions on March 12, 1993 in Mumbai, then Bombay, had rocked different places in the city between 1.30 pm and 3.40 pm. (source: Indian Express) UNITED KINGDOM/SOUTH AFRICA: Lawyer who helped Nelson Mandela escape the death penalty As the instructing solicitor for Nelson Mandela's defence team at the Rivonia trial of 1963-64, Joel Joffe, later Lord Joffe, who has died aged 85, played a key role in helping the future South African president and others avoid the death penalty. That was the severest sentence that could have resulted from being convicted of sabotage, and Mandela described Joffe as "the general behind the scenes in our defence". Charges followed a police raid in July 1963 on Lilliesleaf Farm in the Johannesburg suburb of Rivonia, where Mandela and his anti-apartheid co-conspirators - including Govan Mbeki, Walter Sisulu, Lionel "Rusty" Bernstein, Andrew Mlangeni, Ahmed Kathrada and Dennis Goldberg - had been plotting the overthrow of the government. Mandela was already in jail for another offence and was indicted later. At the time, Joffe, dispirited by the all-pervading power of apartheid, was winding down his business affairs in advance of emigrating to Australia. But when he was asked by Hilda Bernstein to defend her husband, and by Mandela's then wife, Winnie, to defend him, he put his emigration plans on hold and threw himself into the case, which came to the supreme court in Pretoria the following October. As Mandela was set on pleading guilty and wanted the trial to inspire further resistance to apartheid, the strategy of the legal team, headed by the barrister and covert communist Bram Fischer, rested on trying to at least prevent the imposition of the death penalty. Initially Mandela had wanted to announce in his statement from the dock in April 1964 that he was prepared to die for his belief in a non-racial and democratic South Africa. However, Joffe, recognising Mandela's great potential as a statesman of the future, tried to dissuade him from such a course of action. "I could not bear the thought of Mandela being hanged and decided that on the re-typed version I would leave out the 'prepared to die' sentence," he said. The next day he received a note from Mandela asking for the sentence to be restored, but with the addition of the words "if needs be" - a qualification that may have been crucial to the defendants' survival. Joffe later learned that the lawyer George Bizos and Mandela's eventual biographer Anthony Sampson had spent the previous evening persuading Mandela to agree to it. After the trial, Joffe visited Mandela in jail on Robben Island and was told that there would be no appeal. With the case over and his profile raised immeasurably, he and his wife - Vanetta Pretorius, an artist, whom he had married in 1962 - had made many black friends but few white ones. In 1965 he resurrected his plans to settle in Australia, but when that country refused him access as an "undesirable", due mainly to his involvement with the Rivonia trial, he and Vanetta headed to the UK to make their new home. Shortly after his arrival there Joffe tea
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----IND., OKLA., ARIZ., CALIF., USA
June 27 INDIANA: Boone County prosecutor may seek death penalty against homicide suspect A 19-year-old was charged with murder, attempted murder and 21 additional charges Monday in connection to the fatal stabbing that left 1 man dead and his wife seriously injured. The Boone County prosecutor also announced he is considering seeking the death penalty in the case, which he called "everyone's worst nightmare" and "horrific." The aggrevators that make the case eligible for the death penalty include the charges of burglary, arson and rape, County Prosecutor Todd Meyer said. Zachariah Wright is charged with the murder of 73-year-old Max Foster and the attempted murder his wife, Sonja Foster, on June 18. The couple had been together nearly 50 years, an investigator said. Other charges recently filed include burglary, sexual battery of Sonja, attempted arson in trying to light her on fire, and the theft of knives in the Foster home, the prosecutor said. The prosecutor said DNA evidence helped link Wright to the murder and attempted murder. A pair of jeans discovered at the home Wright was living in tested positive for blood linked to the Fosters. "This criminal episode really began when the defendant left work and headed back to the home he was staying in. Along the way, he started engaging in criminal activity," Meyer said. Wright first stole a pickax and other items in the city's Pearl Street area, and then more items from a car in the same area, the prosecutor said. Those items were found in the home where Wright was staying. Later, he rode a bicycle to the Dicks Street area, where the homicide and attempted murder occurred, Meyer said. He also tried to break into another home in the Pearl street area, the prosecutor said. Wright was apprehended June 18 as a person of interest. His initial hearing should be Tuesday morning or early afternoon, Meyer said. Max Foster's funeral was on Saturday. The Fosters' family issued this statement: On June 18th, 2017 our family and the entire city of Lebanon was rocked with the news of the home invasion and viscous attack of Max and Sonja Foster. As a result of one man's senseless actions, Max Foster was taken from us early on Father's Day morning. Sonja was left scarred and without her life partner of almost 50 years. Within hours of the crime, a multiagency effort resulted in the arrest of Zachariah Wright. A diligent and comprehensive investigation ensued and we were kept in the loop every step of the way. We are so thankful for the relentless efforts of Detectives Tony Bayles, Amy Dickerson and Jeff Nelson along with all law enforcement who assisted and brought us to this point. Also, we would like to thank Prosecutor Todd Meyer and his office for their diligence and the comfort they provided to us throughout the week. We take much solace knowing the right person is behind bars and will suffer the consequences of his actions. We would also like to thank the entire Lebanon community for their tremendous love and support during this extremely difficult time. As we move forward we ask for continued peace in our community, prayers and respectfully ask for privacy while we continue to cope with the loss of Max. Respectfully, The Foster family" (source: WISH news) * Wright could face death penalty in Foster slaying Zachariah Wright, 19, could face the death penalty for the Father's Day slaying of a Lebanon man. Wright was charged Monday with murder and 22 other crimes, 15 of them felonies, Prosecutor Todd Meyer said at a news conference. Wright was charged with the death of Robert Maxwell "Max" Foster, 73, and the attempted murder of his spouse, Sonja Foster, 68, at their West Dicks Street, Lebanon, home. Wright is expected to be arraigned today in Superior Court I. Wright, interviewed June 19 at the Boone County Jail, denied involvement in the attack on the Fosters and a nearby burglary. Detectives had interviewed Wright as a suspect in the burglary, but were about to release him. A routine urine test, however, found Wright had been drinking - a violation of his probation in a 2016 burglary conviction. In a statement read by LPD Officer Justin Fuston, the Foster family thanked police for conducting "a diligent and comprehensive investigation." "We take much solace knowing that the right person is behind bars," the family said. "We ask for privacy as we cope with the loss of Max." It will be months before a decision is made on whether he will ask that Wright be executed for the crimes, Meyer said. He will review that decision with the Capital Litigation Committee of the Indiana Prosecuting Attorneys Council. Max Foster died at the scene of multiple stab wounds to the head, chest and back. Mrs. Foster suffered a severe laceration to the face. Both of the Fosters fought with Wright after he surprised them in their bedroom as they slept, Lebanon Police
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, S.C.., FLA., ALA., LA.
June 27 TEXASnew execution date Robert Pruett has been given an execution date for October 12; it should be considered serious. Executions under Greg Abbott, Jan. 21, 2015-present24 Executions in Texas: Dec. 7, 1982present-543 Abbott#scheduled execution date-nameTx. # 25-July 27-Taichin Preyor-544 26-Aug. 30-Steven Long545 27-Sept.7--Juan Castillo--546 28-Oct. 12-Robert Pruett--547 29-Oct. 26-Clinton Young--548 30-Jan. 30-William Rayford549 (sources: TDCJ & Rick Halperin) Texas death row inmate loses at U.S. Supreme Court, could face execution dateThe U.S. Supreme Court ruled against a Texas death row inmate Monday, making Erick Davila's case ineligible for review in federal court. A Texas death row inmate whose case made it all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court could now face an execution date after the justices ruled against him in a 5-4 decision Monday morning split among ideological lines. The man was convicted in the 2008 shooting deaths of a 5-year-old girl and her grandmother in Fort Worth. The question before the high court in Erick Davila's case was whether claims of ineffective assistance of counsel during state appeals should be treated the same as during the original trial. Appellate courts throughout the country have ruled differently on the issue, a situation that often prompts the Supreme Court to step in. In the Monday opinion presented by Justice Clarence Thomas, the justices ultimately decided that the different types of lawyers should not be treated the same, making Davila's case ineligible for consideration in federal court. "Because a prisoner does not have a constitutional right to counsel in state postconviction proceedings, ineffective assistance in those proceedings does not qualify as cause to excuse a procedural default," Thomas wrote in his opinion, joined by Chief Justice John Roberts and justices Anthony Kennedy, Samuel Alito, and Neil Gorsuch. Justice Stephen Breyer, a notable death penalty critic, wrote a dissenting opinion, joined by liberal justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan. "The fact that, according to Department of Justice statistics, nearly 1/3 of convictions or sentences in capital cases are overturned at some stage of review suggests the practical importance of the appeal right, particularly in a capital case such as this one," Breyer wrote in his dissent. Davila's case started in Fort Worth in 2008, when he fatally shot a rival gang member's 5-year-old daughter and mother during a child's birthday party, according to court documents. Davila, now 30, claims he only meant to kill his rival, Jerry Stevenson. In his confession to police he stated he was trying to get Stevenson and "the guys on the porch." If the jury had believed Davila only intended to kill 1 person, he would have been ineligible for a capital murder verdict and the death penalty would have been off the table. In this case, Davila must have intended to kill multiple people to be found guilty of capital murder. During deliberations, the jury asked the judge for clarification on the intent issue, and the judge said Davila would be responsible for the crime if the only difference between what happened and his intention was that a different person was hurt. He did not affirm to the jury that Davila must have intended to kill more than 1 person to be found guilty. It's that jury instruction that Davila's long, complicated case hinged upon. His lawyer at trial objected to the instruction, but was overruled. But in his automatic, direct appeal after being convicted and sentenced to death, his new lawyer never mentioned the judge's instruction, even though that is the appeal where death-sentenced individuals raise what they think are wrongdoings from the trial. Afterward, during his state habeas appeal, which focuses on issues outside of the trial record, the lawyer didn't fault the previous lawyer for not raising the issue on direct appeal. The next step in the death penalty appeals process after going through state courts is to move into the federal court system. But federal courts generally can't rule on issues that could have been raised in state appeals. So, when Davila's current lawyer, Seth Kretzer, tried to claim his client's direct appellate lawyer was inadequate for not raising the issue of an improper jury instruction by the judge, the federal courts said they couldn't look at the issue because it could have been raised by the state habeas appellate lawyer. "The way the law works right now is if the trial counsel made a mistake, the federal court could save the inmate's life, but if the appellate counsel made the mistake, they would h
