[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide
July 26 BAHAMAS: Former BCC president comes out against capital punishment Former Bahamas Christian Council (BCC) President Bishop Simeon Hall said yesterday that he is no longer a supporter of the death penalty. “I am no longer a supporter of that kind of dealing with our crime problem,” he told Eyewitness News Online. “If government feels it’s best to go forward and ask the Bahamian people, then that’s their right. “The majority of the Bahamian people are pro-capital punishment, but I am not.” Amid calls from domestic and international organizations for an abolishment of capital punishment in The Bahamas, Attorney General Carl Bethel said in March that capital punishment is not going anywhere. The issue of capital punishment in The Bahamas has repeatedly been the subject of widespread public debate over the years. Prime Minister Dr. Hubert Minnis reiterated support for the measure a year ago. At the time, however, Minnis said he was bound by the law. He said the matter will be discussed in Cabinet. In July 2018, Attorney General Carl Bethel said the government was considering enacting constitutional changes to preserve capital punishment as an effective penalty under the law, noting that several decisions of the Privy Council had rendered the penalty to be essentially ineffective. At the time, Bethel noted that the move might require a referendum. “A standard has been set by the Privy Council as it relates to the worst of the worst when it comes to certain crimes,” he said at the time. “Now, I’ve said it before, but I will say it again; there is always something worse than the worst; so, it’s a standard that might not be able to ever be met. “So, we feel that there has to be some intervention by statute or by constitutional amendment to settle this issue. “That is what we are going to look at.” Bethel did not provide a timeline on when the government could hold a referendum on capital punishment. There have been few public announcements on the government’s plans on the issue since then. Meanwhile, prominent attorney Fred Smith said yesterday that as a human rights activist he is completely opposed to the death penalty. But he agreed that if the government chose to amend laws related to capital punishment, it should conduct a referendum. “They (proposed amendments) should be properly debated,” Smith said. “Everybody’s view is deserving of respect. “I can understand the reactions on both sides of the fence, but I think as we progress to trying to be a respectful society this is a very difficult question.” In 2011, the Privy Council said the death penalty would only be reserved for the worst of the worst. Despite the issuance of the death sentence over the last decade, there has not been an execution in The Bahamas since David Mitchell was executed on January 6, 2000. (source: Eyewitness News) PHILIPPINES: Duterte warned vs ‘political cost’ of reviving death penalty President Rodrigo Duterte’s renewed push to restore capital punishment may come at a huge political cost compromising his government’s ability to appeal for Filipino workers on death row abroad, an international human rights group warned Friday. In Malaysia alone, at least 48 Filipinos were facing the death penalty as of March this year. A Filipino woman was arrested earlier this week for allegedly trafficking illegal drugs in Kota Kinabalu. “Ultimately, the Philippines is going to pay a very, very high political price around the world if it decides” to revive the death penalty, said Phil Robertson, deputy director of Human Rights Watch’s Asia Division. The Philippine government’s ability to negotiate for its citizens on death row, he said, would be “significantly diminished” because other countries could now argue that “you guys kill people, too.” “They would be accused of being hypocrites,” he told ANC. A foreign affairs department report for 2016 showed 130 Filipinos were awaiting execution abroad, mostly due to illegal drugs. Domestic worker Mary Jane Veloso was earlier convicted of smuggling heroin in Indonesia, but was granted reprieve in 2015. A Philippine court is still hearing a criminal case against her recruiters, who allegedly duped her into working as a drug mule. MORAL ASCENDANCY Previous requests by the Philippine government to save its citizens on death row were granted partly because other countries knew that Manila had abolished capital punishment, said former human rights chief Loretta Ann Rosales. “We will now lose our moral ascendancy,” she told ABS-CBN News. “This is what our senators and congressmen should remember.” Duterte wants to restore death penalty at a time when at least 142 countries have already abolished it “in law or practice” as of 2017, according to human rights group Amnesty International. “Is (The Philippines) going to be one of the nations in the world to turn its back and buck
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----USA
July 26 USA: AG Barr Reinstates Federal Death Penalty, Immediately Schedules 5 Executions“Additional executions will be scheduled at a later date,” the DOJ said. Attorney General William Barr on Thursday reinstated the federal death penalty, which lapsed 20 years ago, and immediately scheduled executions for 5 federal death row inmates convicted of murdering children and the elderly, while promising more to come. According to a Justice Department announcement, Barr directed Hugh Hurwitz, the acting director of the Bureau of Prisons, to adopt the revision to the Federal Execution Protocol, a maneuver that “[clears] the way for the federal government to resume capital punishment after a nearly 2 decade lapse, and bringing justice to victims of the most horrific crimes.” Barr also directed Hurwitz to schedule executions for 5 death-row inmates at a federal penitentiary in Terre Haute, Indiana in December 2019 and January 2020. “Congress has expressly authorized the death penalty through legislation adopted by the people’s representatives in both houses of Congress and signed by the President,” Barr said in a statement. “Under Administrations of both parties, the Department of Justice has sought the death penalty against the worst criminals, including these 5 murderers, each of whom was convicted by a jury of his peers after a full and fair proceeding. The Justice Department upholds the rule of law—and we owe it to the victims and their families to carry forward the sentence imposed by our justice system.” The Justice Department identified the 5 inmates scheduled for execution: Daniel Lewis Lee, a member of a white supremacist group, murdered a family of 3, including an 8-year-old girl. After robbing and shooting the victims with a stun gun, Lee covered their heads with plastic bags, sealed the bags with duct tape, weighed down each victim with rocks, and threw the family of 3 into the Illinois bayou. On May 4, 1999, a jury in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas found Lee guilty of numerous offenses, including 3 counts of murder in aid of racketeering, and he was sentenced to death. Lee’s execution is scheduled to occur on Dec. 9, 2019. Lezmond Mitchell stabbed to death a 63-year-old grandmother and forced her 9-year-old granddaughter to sit beside her lifeless body for a 30 to 40-mile drive. Mitchell then slit the girl’s throat twice, crushed her head with 20-pound rocks, and severed and buried both victims’ heads and hands. On May 8, 2003, a jury in the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona found Mitchell guilty of numerous offenses, including 1st degree murder, felony murder, and carjacking resulting in murder, and he was sentenced to death. Mitchell’s execution is scheduled to occur on Dec. 11, 2019. Wesley Ira Purkey violently raped and murdered a 16-year-old girl, and then dismembered, burned, and dumped the young girl’s body in a septic pond. He also was convicted in state court for using a claw hammer to bludgeon to death an 80-year-old woman who suffered from polio and walked with a cane. On Nov. 5, 2003, a jury in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri found Purkey guilty of kidnapping a child resulting in the child’s death, and he was sentenced to death. Purkey’s execution is scheduled to occur on Dec. 13, 2019. Alfred Bourgeois physically and emotionally tortured, sexually molested, and then beat to death his 2 1/2-year-old daughter. On March 16, 2004, a jury in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas found Bourgeois guilty of multiple offenses, including murder, and he was sentenced to death. Bourgeois’ execution is scheduled to occur on Jan. 13, 2020. Dustin Lee Honken shot and killed 5 people—2 men who planned to testify against him and a single, working mother and her 10-year-old and 6-year-old daughters. On Oct. 14, 2004, a jury in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Iowa found Honken guilty of numerous offenses, including 5 counts of murder during the course of a continuing criminal enterprise, and he was sentenced to death. Honken’s execution is scheduled to occur on Jan. 15, 2020. The Justice Department said that the 5 inmates have exhausted all appeals of their sentences. “Additional executions will be scheduled at a later date,” the DOJ said. (source: nationalinterest.com) * U.S. to Resume Executions of Death-Row InmatesThe federal government has not executed an inmate since 2003, a moratorium reversed by the attorney general. The federal government will resume executions of death-row inmates after a nearly two-decade hiatus, Attorney General William P. Barr said Thursday, countering a broad national shift away from the death penalty as public support for it has dwindled. The announcement reverses what had been essentially a moratorium on the federal death penalty.
[Deathpenalty] death penatly news----TEXAS, ALA., CALIF.
July 26 TEXASnew execution date Bastrop County man scheduled for execution amid claims of innocenceTexas death row inmate Rodney Reed has been set to die by lethal injection on Nov. 20, 2019. He has maintained his innocence in the April 1996 abduction, rape and strangling of 19-year-old Stacy Stites, whose body was found off the side of a road in Bastrop County. A Bastrop County man who has long professed his innocence in a controversial capital murder case is now scheduled for execution after more than 2 decades on Texas death row. Rodney Reed, who was convicted of raping and killing 19-year-old Stacey Stites, is slated to die by lethal injection on Nov. 20, a prison spokesman confirmed Thursday. The local judge’s decision to greenlight the new execution — Reed’s 2nd in the last 5 years — comes amid controversy about the timing of the state’s request for a new death date. One day earlier, the Bastrop Advertiser published a story about a protest held by Reed’s family in front of the U.S. Supreme Court. (source: Houston Chronicle) * Executions under Greg Abbott, Jan. 21, 2015-present43 Executions in Texas: Dec. 7, 1982present-561 Abbott#scheduled execution date-nameTx. # 44-Aug. 15Dexter Johnson--562 45-Aug. 21Larry Swearingen563 46-Sept. 4Billy Crutsinger564 47-Sept. 10---Mark Anthony Soliz--565 48-Sept. 25---Robert Sparks---566 49-Oct. 2-Stephen Barbee--567 50-oct. 10Randy Halprin---568 51-Oct. 16Randall Mays569 52-Oct. 30Ruben Gutierrez-570 53-Nov. 6-Justen Hall-571 54-Nov. 20Roney Reed572 (sources: TDCJ & Rick Halperin) ALABAMAnew death sentence Alabama man gets death in shooting of 1-year-old daughter A judge has sentenced an Alabama man to die in the shooting death of his 1-year-old daughter. Madison County Circuit Judge Ruth Ann Hall imposed the death penalty on 37-year-old Lionel Rory Francis on Thursday. Jurors convicted Francis of capital murder in May. They recommended the death penalty for the 2016 gunshot killing of his 20-month-old daughter, Alexandria Francis. Francis told police the shooting was accidental. But a forensic expert testified that evidence indicated the gun was placed on the child’s forehead. Jurors also heard a recorded phone call in which the girl’s mother, Ashley Ross, dismissed the man’s claims that the shooting was an accident. Francis told the judge he is appealing. Francis is the 1st person to be sentenced to death in Huntsville in more than a decade. (source: Associated Press) * Madison County judge hands down death sentence for the 1st time in 11 years Thursday morning, a Madison County Judge sentenced convicted killer Lionel Francis to death. This comes 2 months after a jury found him guilty of capital murder in the shooting death of his 20-month-old daughter, Alexandria. This is 1st time in a decade a Madison County judge handed down the death penalty. Benito Alabrran was the last person to receive the death penalty back in 2008. He was found guilty of killing Huntsville police officer Daniel Golden. A jury voted 11-1 to give Francis the death penalty, the judge upheld their decision. Francis walked in silence to the courtroom, escorted by several officers. He showed no emotions while he listened to both sides argue their case. Tim Douthit, Assistant District Attorney for Madison County, tells WAFF 48 the punishment fits the crime. “It’s not a happy situation, justice doesn’t always make you feel good, but this was justice." Bruce Gardner, Francis’ attorney, was not surprised by the judges decision. “It was not surprising, but it’s still very very humbling and disappointing.” Gardner asked the judge to relieve him of his duties as Francis’ attorney as Francis begins the appeal process. Francis was found guilty of killing his young daughter in May. (source: WAFF news) CALIFORNIA: White supremacist’s death sentence overturned because of prosecution’s focus on beliefs The California Supreme Court unanimously overturned the death sentence of a San Diego man Thursday, ruling that the prosecution improperly focused on the defendant’s racist beliefs. In a decision written by Justice Leondra R. Kruger, the state high court said the prosecutor made inflammatory arguments about the defendant’s racist tattoos and white supremacist beliefs “for the very sake of highlighting their offensiveness” rather than for a legitimate purpose connected to the crime. The 1st Amendment does not permit
