from: http://legalnews.findlaw.com/scripts/legalnews.pl?frame=top&L=Criminal_Law&R =/news/19981208/bcexecutioncanadian.html CRIMINAL LAW [12/08] Canadian group says Texas a ``killing machine'' HOUSTON (Reuters) - Members of a Canadian group fighting to stop the execution of a countryman in Texas said Tuesday the state had become a ``killing machine'' reminiscent of Nazi Germany. They said the death penalty was not used in ``civilized'' societies and that the United States had ``stupid'' gun laws that contributed to a high crime rate. The accusations were made in a news conference by the Canadian Association in Defense of the Wrongly Convicted, a group trying to stop the execution of condemned killer Stan Faulder Thursday. ``Texas is demonstrating a forerunner of a final solution, just as it happened in Nazi Germany from (19)39 to (19)45, loading up the prisons with illiterate people, loading them up with the disenfranchised, loading them up with the disadvantaged,'' said association executive director Rubin ''Hurricane'' Carter. Carter is a former boxer who was jailed 19 years for a 1966 murder in New Jersey. He was eventually exonerated and now lives in Toronto. ``(It is) a killing machine,'' association member Joyce Milgaard said of Texas, which leads the U.S. with 162 executions since resuming capital punishment in 1982. Faulder is set to die by lethal injection for the 1975 murder of 75-year-old oil matriarch Inez Phillips during the burglary of her Palestine, Texas home. If all goes as scheduled, his would be the final of four executions this week in Texas. U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright has asked Texas Gov. George W. Bush to grant a 30-day reprieve for Faulder, 61, while his lawyers and Canadian officials seek a reduction in his sentence. The Canadian group said the death penalty was barbaric and should be eliminated, as it was in Canada in the 1970s. ``We have a far lower crime rate in Canada and we don't have the death penalty.... We believe no one can preserve the sanctity of life by taking away a life -- that is not the proper way to do things in the civilized world,'' said Sid Ryan, a Canadian labor leader. ``Your stupid gun laws are the principal reason why you have more people dying in the States and higher crime rates,'' said Canadian attorney Paul Copeland. They argued that Faulder did not get a fair trial because Canadian officials were not notified of his plight until he had been jailed for 15 years. Had the government been told, it would have gotten him better legal counsel and perhaps a lesser sentence, they said. Albright said in a Nov. 27 letter to Bush that the failure of Texas authorities to tell Canada about Faulder was a violation of an international treaty which also benefits U.S. citizens abroad. She said there may be grounds for commuting the death sentence to life. Bush, a strong death penalty supporter, said he would follow the recommendation of the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles, which is looking at a request for commutation from Faulder. The board has voted for reduction of a death sentence in only one case since Bush took office in 1994. Last Updated: 12/08/98 16:36 EST http://legalnews.findlaw.com/scripts/legalnews.pl?frame=top&L=US_Justice_Dep artment&R=/news/19981209/bcaerospacehugheschina.html US JUSTICE DEPARTMENT [12/09] Pentagon says Hughes gave too much data to China WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A preliminary Defense Department report found that Hughes Electronics Corp. gave China information potentially damaging to U.S. national security after a Chinese rocket carrying a Hughes-built commercial satellite crashed in 1995, The Washington Post said Wednesday. The Post quoted administration officials as saying the Pentagon concluded that Hughes''went well beyond what should have been allowed'' when it told China the crash was caused by problems with the rocket's fairing, a heat-resistant shroud covering the satellite. One official told the paper that top Pentagon officials wanted additional questions answered before a final report was sent to Congress. The report was prepared by Air Force Intelligence and the Defense Technology Security Administration at the request of two congressional committees investigating the transfer of sensitive space technology to China. The Post quoted a Hughes spokesman who said that no one at the company had seen the report but that it stood by earlier statements that it had not transferred any information that China could use to improve its ballistic missiles. Ballistic missiles do not have fairings. Hughes and Loral Space & Communications Ltd.are under investigation by the Justice Department and two congressional committees for their role in transferring technology to the Chinese after satellites belonging to Hughes and Loral were destroyed in two Chinese rocket explosions. The Hughes satellite was to have been launched into space in 1995, but the Chinese Long March rocket carrying it exploded only seconds after takeoff, prompting Chinese officials to blame the satellite. Hughes asked for and received permission from the Commerce Department to discuss its views on what happened, although the company was told to be careful not to disclose rocketry data that could assist Beijing in developing military missiles. Hughes says its conversations with the Chinese were very general. Last Updated: 12/09/98 00:39 EST http://legalnews.findlaw.com/scripts/legalnews.pl?frame=top&L=US_Justice_Dep artment&R=/news/19981208/bcbankingmoneylaundering.html US JUSTICE DEPARTMENT [12/08] U.S. Justice role in money-laundering case faulted WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Justice Department was criticized by a key member of the U.S. House of Representatives for its role in a money-laundering investigation involving Citigroup unit Citibank. In a letter released late Monday, Rep. Maxine Waters called on Attorney General Janet Reno to ``get tough'' in the probe of allegations that the bank helped the brother of a former Mexican president secretly funnel $100 million in alleged drug money out of Mexico and into Swiss bank accounts. The lawmaker had requested the Justice Department probe the matter last Spring, shortly after Citicorp announced its plans to merge with insurance and brokerage giant Travelers Group Inc. to form Citigroup. ``I am concerned that the Department of Justice is spending most of its time and resources going after the small-time, street-corner dealers while virtually ignoring the drug lords and their politically powerful money launderers in large financial institutions,'' Waters, a Democrat from California, said. She cited a recent report of U.S. congressional investigators which found that Citibank did not run a financial background check on the former Mexican president's brother, Raul Salinas, the older brother of Carlos Salinas de Gortari, who was president of Mexico from 1988 to 1994. ``Our government's credibility suffers greatly when we appear to be less willing and able to prosecute the rich and powerful than the poor and petty criminals,'' Waters said. The transactions in question at Citibank were conducted through so-called private banking accounts -- accounts made available to wealthy individuals for which banks provide a host of financial services, including huge wire transfers, often under strict confidential terms. Citibank, in a statement last week, said the recent congressional investigation did not conclude that the bank had broken any laws. The bank said the report contained ``errors of fact and interpretation,'' but it declined to elaborate because of the continuing Justice Department investigation. Waters, concerned that these special accounts have been abused by drug traffickers to hide their drug money, vowed to introduce tough anti-money-laundering legislation when Congress convenes. The legislation would provide added regulatory oversight of private banking accounts. ``I hope the Senate will follow suit and pass this crucial legislation,'' she said. The lawmaker's letter came after U.S. banking regulators on Monday issued fresh proposals designed to better combat money-laundering abuses at banks. These pending rules would call on banks to take more steps to ensure they have properly identified their customers and have formal steps in place to identify suspicious financial behavior. Last Updated: 12/08/98 11:59 EST Copyright 1998 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication and redistribution of Reuters content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon. Copyright � 1994-1998 FindLaw Inc. http://legalnews.findlaw.com/scripts/legalnews.pl?frame=top&L=US_Justice_Dep artment&R=/news/19981208/bcbankingmoneylaundering.html US JUSTICE DEPARTMENT [12/08] Republican Weld to testify for Clinton defense WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Former Massachusetts Gov. William Weld, a Republican who served as a senior official in the Justice Department during Ronald Reagan's administration, will testify before the House impeachment panel, the White House said Tuesday. Weld, whose nomination by President Clinton to be U.S. ambassador to Mexico failed to win Senate approval, was head of the Criminal Division of the Justice Department. Weld, the 15th witness asked to testify on Clinton's behalf before the House Judiciary Committee, will appear Wednesday shortly before the White House concludes its presentation against impeachment. Although the White House hoped to capitalize on his credentials as a Republican political figure, Weld has not had a broad base of support within the party. He favors gay rights and was booed at the 1992 Republican National Convention when he gave a speech in favor of a woman's right to an abortion. Last Updated: 12/08/98 17:04 EST Copyright 1998 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication and redistribution of Reuters content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon. Copyright � 1994-1998 FindLaw Inc.
