[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide
June 1 BURKINA FASOdeath penalty abolished Burkina Faso abolishes death penalty in new penal code Burkina Faso's parliament has abolished the death penalty by adopting a new penal code that strikes it as a possible sentence. Justice Minister Rene Bagoro said Thursday that the revised document paves the way for "more credible, equitable, accessible and effective justice in the application of criminal law." The death penalty was kept in the version of the criminal code adopted in 1996, but Burkina Faso has not imposed capital punishment recently. Many rights movements, including Amnesty International and Catholic Church activists have pressed the government for a decade to remove it from criminal statutes. The decision to abolish the death penalty comes amid a landmark trial this year over a failed 2015 coup. 2 former presidential aides are among more than 80 people facing the military tribunal. (source: Associated Press) *** Abolition of death penalty a hard-won victory Reacting to the news that Burkina Faso's parliament has adopted a new penal code that effectively abolishes the death penalty, Yves Traor???, Director of Amnesty International Burkina Faso said: "The adoption of a new penal code effectively strikes off the death penalty from the list of possible punishments in Burkina Faso. While the country has been abolitionist in practice for many years, this parliamentary decision is a welcome move. Once the new code comes into force, Burkina Faso will join a group of nations that have consigned this cruel punishment to history. "Amnesty International opposes the death penalty in all cases without exception, regardless of the nature of the crime. There is no credible evidence that the death penalty deters crime, and Amnesty International calls on other countries to follow Burkina Faso's steps and outlaw this punishment immediately." Background The last known execution in Burkina Faso was in 1988. Over the course of the last 20 years, Benin, Cote d'Ivoire, Guinea, Senegal and Togo in West Africa, alongside the Republic of the Congo, Burundi, Gabon, Rwanda and Madagascar have all abolished the death penalty for all crimes. The death penalty violates the right to life as proclaimed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights; it is the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment. There is no credible evidence that the death penalty has a greater deterrent effect than prison terms. This has been confirmed in many United Nations studies across different countries and regions. (source: Amnesty International) SOUTH AFRICA: Durban hijacking: Thousands petition for death penalty after Sadia's murder The death of 9-year-old Sadia Sukhraj in a botched hijacking in KwaZulu-Natal has seen the birth of a petition to bring back the death penalty. It has attracted more than 19,000 signatures since it was launched on Monday. The call has become as automatic response to violent crime in the country with hundreds of South Africans signing online petitions in favour of the death sentence every year. "19,000 is an impressive number of signatures for a petition, and statistics and other similar petitions seem to suggest that, if a nationwide consensus was taken, the majority of South Africans would call for the reinstatement of the death penalty," said University of KwaZulu-Natal School of Law senior lecturer Suhayfa Bhamjee. (source: timeslive.co.za) INDIA: New name for anti-death penalty body The Centre on the Death Penalty, an organisation that has been fighting against death penalty, on Thursday announced it had rechristened itself "Project 39A" to expand its activities. The group said it would take up causes of victims of torture and carry out research on multiple aspects of criminal justice systems, such as forensics, forensic science and legal aid. The centre had been founded in August 2014 by the National Law University, Delhi, mainly to build public opinion against capital punishment, undertake research on the administration of the death penalty and ensure free legal assistance to indigent death-row prisoners in the country. The organisation now espouses the cause of 65 death-row convicts. Anup Surendranath, the director of the centre and an assistant law professor with the National Law University, announced the decision to rechristen the organisation. "Project 39A draws inspiration from Article 39-A in the Indian Constitution on equal justice and signals the broadening of our engagement with the criminal justice system in India," he said. "While retaining the intensity of our engagement with the death penalty, Project 39A will also see us explore issues of forensics, torture, forensic psychiatry and legal aid. This broader approach reflects our belief that multiple aspects of the criminal justice system need research and intervention to address the barriers that
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----OKLA., NEB., S.DAK., MONT., ARIZ., CALIF., USA
June 1 OKLAHOMA: Court upholds death sentence for man in Oklahoma City bus station stabbing The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals has upheld the murder conviction and death sentence of a man who stabbed his estranged girlfriend to death at an Oklahoma City bus station. The court on Thursday rejected numerous appeals by 28-year-old Isaiah Tryon, who was convicted of killing 19-year-old Tia Bloomer in March 2012. Bloomer was stabbed numerous times in front of several witnesses inside the Metro Transit station in downtown Oklahoma City in an attack that was caught on security video. Tryon's appeals included improper jury selection, failure to dismiss a juror for misconduct, improper evidence and that the death penalty is unconstitutional. Prosecutors say Bloomer had recently ended her relationship with Tryon and threatened to accuse him of assaulting her. (source: Associated Press) NEBRASKA: Death penalty controversy continues on eve of decision The fight over what drugs are being used in Nebraska to carry out capital punishment is being debated before a 2 time convicted killer finds out if he'll be put to death or not. Patrick Schroeder will be back in Johnson County District Court on Friday with a decision in his death penalty case. Schroeder is convicted of killing a farmer in 2006, and his cellmate in 2017 at the Tecumseh Prison. He represented himself and didn't say anything in his defense at the hearing in April. This month, a judge heard the arguments in the case over the release of what death penalty drugs the state has purchased. The ACLU is suing Governor Ricketts, the Nebraska Attorney General, and NE Department of Corrections because, they say, the state developed flawed execution protocol without reviewing it publicly. Matt Maly with Nebraskans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty says citizens voted to bring back the death penalty but didn't vote for experimentation and secrecy in the process. "The death penalty is a huge mess right now in Nebraska. The fact of the matter is we still don't know where these drugs have come from, we don't know if they're going to work, it is a cocktail that's never been used before," Maly explained. Lethal injection was adopted in Nebraska years ago, but no executions have been carried out by that method in the state. A Lancaster County District Court judge has taken the legal challenge under advisement. (source: KMTV news) SOUTH DAKOTA: Death penalty appeal seeks to protect suspects from homophobic jurorsBut "[n]o politician has ever proposed constructing a wall to keep homosexuals out of the country," opponents argue. A South Dakota man sentenced to death in 1993 by a jury that fretted a life sentence would only gratify his homosexuality hopes the Supreme Court will spare him. The jury's ugly prejudices were clear to the original sentencing court at the time. As they deliberated sentencing, jurors sent a list of questions to the judge that centered on concerns that he might somehow enjoy prison. The questions included "whether he would be allowed to 'mix with the general inmate population,' 'create a group of followers or admirers,' 'brag about his crime to other inmates, especially new and[/]or young men...,' 'marry or have conjugal visits,' or 'have a cellmate,'" his attorneys write in their petition for Supreme Court consideration. They argue that the court's logic in a 2017 ruling that states must consider evidence of racially biased jury deliberations should extend, here, to evidence of homophobic bias among jurors in a capital case. That claim prompted South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley (R) to invoke President Donald Trump's (R) signature campaign pledge in his reply brief, in a bit of rhetorical-ideological ping-pong. "No politician has ever proposed constructing a wall to keep homosexuals out of the country," the state's brief says. "No civil war has been fought over [sexual orientation]. No nationwide pogrom has been perpetrated for the enslavement or eradication of homosexuals." Many of the death penalty appeals that gain national traction from both reporters and abolition activists hinge on the idea of a wrongful conviction. A recent New York Times investigative column delved into such a case in California, where a black man appears to have been used as a patsy by police who not only neglected but intentionally destroyed evidence pointing to other, likelier suspects. Energy Secretary Rick Perry, while governor of Texas, sent Cameron Todd Willingham to the electric chair despite overwhelming scientific evidence that arson investigators had botched the case against him. But process appeals from an admittedly guilty man, as in this newest case, are a steeper climb than exoneration cases. Jackley's brief for the state leans heavily into not just the lack of an innocence argument but detailed physical and
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, FLA., ALA., OHIO, TENN., ILL.
June 1 TEXAS: 3rd East Texas inmate gets 2018 execution date An East Texas man has been given an execution date for 2018. After the United States Supreme Court denied his appeal, an East Texas judge signed off on an execution date for Daniel Acker, 46, of Sulphur Springs. Acker is scheduled to die by lethal injection on September 27. In 2001, Acker was sentenced to death for March 2000 murder of 32-year-old Marquetta George. In February 2000, Acker and George moved into a rented trailer home, shortly after they met. On the evening of Saturday, March 11, 2000, the pair went to a rode before heading to the nightclub, "bustin' Loose," according to documents presented in court. The couple got into an argument at the club and witnessess, who testified at Acker's trial, said he threatened to kill George that night. Documents state Acker was kicked out of the club, but returned several times looking for George. "Around 9:15 a.m. on March 12, Acker went to the home of George's mother, Lila Seawright, still searching for George," court documents state. "Seawright testified at trial that Acker told her that if he found out George had spent the night with another man, he was going to kill them. Seawright replied that no one was worth going to the penitentiary for murder. Seawright testified that Acker shrugged and replied, 'Pen life ain't nothing. Ain't nothing to it.'" Later that morning, after Acker returned to the trailer he shared with George, a bouncer, identified as Robert "calico" McKee, at "bustin' Loose," brought George to the trailer. McKee told Acker he had taken George to her father's house to spend the night. Acker testified in court he did not believe McKee was telling the truth because he drove by George's father's house the previous night when he was looking for her. According to Acker, George admitted she spent the night with Calico. Acker then asked George where Calico lived and she said she would show him, but instead, she ran out of the trailer. Neighbors testified George darted from the trailer, screaming for them to call law enforcement. Acker followed her, grabbed her, threw her over his shoulder, forced her into his truck and sped away. Sedill Ferrell, who owned a dairy farm in Hopkins County, found George's body and contacted the sheriff's office. Acker turned himself in to a law enforcement officer and was arrested. George's body was found less than 3 miles from the trailer where she lived with Acker. Acker was convicted of kidnapping, then murdering George. An autopsy revealed she died from strangulation and blunt force trauma. Acker is the 3rd East Texas inmate to be dealt an execution date for 2018. TROY CLARK On May 7, Troy James Clark, 50, of Smith County, received his execution date in the 7th District Court. The State of Texas will put Clark to death by lethal injection on September 26, the day before Acker. On May 1, 1998, Clark was condemned for the torture and drowning murder of his former roommate, Christina Muse, 20, of Tyler. According to evidence presented in court, Clark and a co-defendant, identified as Tory Gene Bush, hit Muse with stun gun, beat, bound and kept her in a closet before drowning her in a bathtub. Prosecutors said Clark and Bush then stuffed Muse's body into a barrel with cement mix and lime before dumping in a ravine. Her body was discovered 5 months later by Tyler police. According to the Associated Press, the motive behind the crime was Clark and Bush feared Muse would snitch on them for using and selling methamphetamine. Bush pleaded guilty to the charge of murder intentionally causing death on August 7, 2000, and was sentenced to 20 years in prison. In October 2017, the Supreme Court of the United States refused Clark's appeal claiming he had insufficient legal counsel during his 2000 trial in Smith County. Clark's prior convictions include: June 24, 1987 - Possession of a controlled substance - Cocaine (Released August 27, 1987 on parole) January 8, 1993 - Possession of a controlled substance X2 (Released February 23, 1996) According to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Clifton Williams will be put to death on June 21, 2018, for the murder of Cecilia Schneider, of Tyler. On July 9, 2005, Williams, then 21, entered Schneider's home before stabbing, beating and strangling her to death. He then burned her body. Williams stole Schneider's purse and car and left the scene. Officials arrested Williams a week later. In 2006, he was found guilty in the court of former judge Cynthia Kent and sentenced to death. He was originally set to be executed on Thursday, July 16, 2015. However, he received an 11th hour stay of execution from the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals until questions about some "incorrect testimony" at his 2006 trial could be resolved. In a brief order, the court agreed to return the case to the 114th District Court in Tyler to
