Nov. 8
TEXAS:
Texas march says ‘Stop executions’
Ray Krone, the 100th person to be freed from U.S. death row, was one of 20
exonerees with Witness To Innocence who led the 12th Annual March to Abolish
the Death Penalty on Oct. 22 at the Texas Capitol in Austin.
“You have people on death row right here in Texas, Mr. Governor, who have a
real shot at innocence. They want the chance to prove it, just like the rest of
us did. … You have been running from the truth. Look at the truth. Look at the
death penalty. You can’t fix it so you must abolish it now!” stated Krone to
cheers, outside Gov. Rick Perry’s residence, the governor’s mansion.
Protesters there called Perry, a Republican presidential contender, a serial
killer for his record-setting 237 executions since 2000.
On the Capitol’s north steps, Clarence Brandley of WTI told of his nearly 10
years on death row and how he twice came within days of executions. “If it was
up to the state of Texas, I would be dead today. But my family and supporters
did not give up, and today I can stand before you as an innocent man and ask
you to keep fighting to abolish the death penalty because I left many other
innocent men behind on death row.”
Exonerees and members of Witness To Innocence participate in annual march.
Rodney Reed’s mother, Sandra Reed, told about her son’s frame-up for the murder
of a white woman, although the evidence pointed to the woman’s fiancé, a police
officer. Reed’s brothers’ banner read, “Innocent Man on Death Row: Free Rodney
Reed!”
Ron Keine reported that he was on New Mexico’s death row for three years when,
“Fortunately, a cop … confess[ed] to the crime I was on death row for. I was
lucky — not everyone is.”
As 500 protesters chanted, “Texas says death row! We say hell no!” and
“1-2-3-4, racist, cruel and anti-poor! 5-6-7-8, stop the killing by the state!”
they marched in the downtown Capitol area. Cheers arose from people attending
festivals and other events, especially on Sixth Street, a popular strip of
restaurants, coffee houses, clubs and live music venues.
Several families traveled from the Rio Grande Valley on the U.S./Mexico border
to support their relatives now on death row under the Texas “Law of Parties.”
“My son, Robert Garza, never murdered anyone, yet he and five others were
convicted in a capital murder case and sent to be executed. They never caught
the real killer, yet 5 of our loved ones are on death row for his murders. We
have to work to get the Law of Parties taken off the books and the death
penalty abolished,” said Sylvia Garza. Her seven-year-old son, Eric De la
Cerda, stood by her side holding his older brother’s photo. There were banners
for other Law of Parties victims — Jeff Wood and Humberto Garza.
Delia Perez-Meyer spoke for her brother, Louis Castro Perez, who has always
claimed his innocence. His family has worked for 10 years to help prove this.
His sister travels 9 hours round-trip from Austin to Livingston for weekly
visits. The film, “The Road to Livingston,” is being made about the family’s
ordeals.
Vikky Panetti’s schizophrenic brother, Scott Panetti, is on Texas death row.
She stressed, “Mental disabilities are a serious health problem. The judge
should never have let my brother represent himself at trial, as he was wearing
a purple cowboy costume and subpoenaed John Wayne. He needed serious mental
health care, not the death penalty.”
Accompanied by flutist Elizabeth Stein, Panetti, a professional singer, sang
“Death by Texas,” the theme song for Execution Watch, a KPFT Pacifica Radio
show broadcast in Houston on 90.1 FM at 6:00 p.m. only on Texas execution days.
Florida exoneree and poet Delbert Tibbs read a poetic tribute to Troy Davis
written by Texas death row poet and activist Harvey “Tee” Earvin. On Sept. 21,
Georgia executed Davis in a racist miscarriage of justice.
4 executions are currently scheduled in Texas, including Hank Skinner’s on Nov.
9. He has been fighting for 10 years to obtain DNA testing. Sandrine
Ageorges-Skinner, his spouse, sent a messagjavascript:preview_and_stay()e from
Paris, appealing for support, petition signatures and referring all to
www.hankskinner.org for updates.
Skinner came within 45 minutes of execution last year, when the U.S. Supreme
Court granted him the right to sue in civil court for the release of evidence
for testing. Since then, the Texas legislature has passed a bill calling for
DNA testing when a person’s life is at stake. Right after Skinner filed a
lawsuit, the district attorney in Pampa, Texas, set his execution date.
At the ending rally, an Occupy Austin speaker connected their demands to those
concerning the criminal justice system and the death penalty.
The Texas Death Penalty Abolition Movement named their chartered bus from
Houston, “The Ester Express,” in honor of Brother Ester King, abolition
movement advocate, who passed away on Sept. 1. He was a lifelong activist,
first involved in the 1960s Civil Rights movement in Mississippi with Friends
of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, and then in Houston’s
African-American community.
Lucha Rodriguez, an “Ester Express” rider, said: “It was exciting to be with 20
people who survived death row and are talking about their terrifying
experiences. They were inspiring. They raised that if 138 people were
exonerated from U.S. death rows, then how many innocent people were executed.
That is why we must abolish the death penalty. The system does not work.”
(source: Workers World)
*********************
More Than 60 Civil Rights and Faith Leaders, Elected Officials, Former
Prosecutors, and Past ABA Presidents Call on Harris County D.A. to Provide
Remedy in Case of Duane Buck
Prominent individuals from Texas and across the country are calling on Harris
County District Attorney Patricia Lykos to remedy the sentence in a death
penalty case involving the government's reliance on the defendant's race at
sentencing. Duane Buck was scheduled to be executed on September 15, 2011, when
the U.S. Supreme Court intervened. Today, the Court denied Mr. Buck's petition
for writ of certiorari.
At Mr. Buck's capital murder trial in 1997, the State relied upon evidence that
African-Americans are more likely to be dangerous as a basis for asking his
jury to sentence him to death. District Attorney Lykos now has the discretion
to remedy this error.
Prominent Texans calling for District Attorney Lykos to provide a remedy
include 7 members of the Texas Legislature; former Texas Governor Mark White;
former Bexar County District Attorney Sam Millsap and Harris County Assistant
District Attorney Linda Geffin (who served as a prosecutor in Mr. Buck's case);
7 Past Presidents of the Harris County Criminal Lawyers Association and current
President Earl Musick; President of the Texas NAACP Gary Bledsoe; Archbishop
Joseph A. Fiorenza of the Galveston-Houston Archdiocese; Pastor James Nash of
Houston Ministers Against Crime; and Southwest Regional Director of the
Anti-Defamation League Martin B. Cominsky.
In a letter delivered to District Attorney Lykos on September 28, 2011, the
signatories wrote: "We write to you today, as elected officials, civil rights
leaders, faith leaders, legal professionals, past ABA presidents, a former
governor, and concerned citizens dedicated to protecting the integrity of the
criminal justice system, to request that you refrain from seeking an execution
date in Duane Buck's case until the parties and courts have been given adequate
opportunity and time to address the troubling issues in Mr. Buck's case. We
believe that no one should be executed whose death sentence was based on
racially-biased evidence."
Other distinguished signatories include John Payton, Director-Counsel of NAACP
Legal Defense & Educational Fund, Inc.; Wade Henderson, President and CEO of
The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights; Deborah Lauter, National
Civil Rights Director of the Anti-Defamation League; and past American Bar
Association Presidents Philip Anderson, William Ide, Carolyn Lamm, and Roberta
Ramo.
On May 5, 1997, Mr. Buck was convicted of capital murder in Harris County for
the July 1995 shooting deaths of Debra Gardner and Kenneth Butler. A third
person, Phyllis Taylor, was shot but survived her wound. Ms. Taylor is also a
signatory to the attached letter. She has forgiven Mr. Buck and does not wish
to see him executed.
During Mr. Buck's trial, the prosecutor relied on evidence from psychologist
Walter Quijano that being an African-American increased the likelihood one
would be dangerous in the future. In its closing argument, the government
vouched for the credibility of Dr. Quijano's opinion and urged the jury to rely
on it to find that Mr. Buck would be dangerous. The jury found him to be a
future danger and he was sentenced to death. As Justice Sotomayor noted in her
dissent from the denial of certiorari, "the prosecution invited the jury to
consider race as a factor in sentencing."
On June 9, 2000, while Mr. Buck's case was pending on appeal, then-Attorney
General of Texas John Cornyn issued a press release acknowledging error in the
cases of 6 individuals whose death sentences had been unconstitutionally based
on the government's reliance on race as a factor in sentencing. The Attorney
General identified Mr. Buck's case as one of those 6 cases. He further stated
that Texas would not contest federal appeals in those cases, and stated that if
the attorneys for the identified defendants raised claims challenging the
government's reliance on race at sentencing, the Attorney General would waive
all procedural defenses available to it.
Despite this concession, Mr. Buck is the only defendant of the 6 identified by
Mr. Cornyn who has not been granted a new sentencing trial free from the
government's reliance on his race as a basis for requesting a death sentence.
"The use of race in sentencing poisons the legal process and breeds cynicism in
the judiciary," the letter to District Attorney Lykos reads. "Refraining from
setting an execution date for Mr. Buck until the courts have a meaningful
opportunity to address the fundamental injustice in his case will help restore
public confidence in the criminal justice system."
(source: PR Newswire)
**************
Texas Death Penalty Two-Step
One step forward, one step back. Usually, the U.S. Supreme Court has been the
one to scrutinize the shenanigans of Texas capital punishment, and to step in
when local courts go too far. But yesterday was opposite day. It was the Texas
Court of Criminal Appeals that did the right thing in staying an execution, and
the U.S. Supreme Court that refused to intervene despite an obvious and
disturbing injustice.
In the Supreme Court case, Buck v. Thaler, Duane Buck was sentenced to die by a
jury that heard an “expert” – Dr. Walter Quijano – testify that African
Americans are more inclined to commit crimes and be a danger to others. (Buck
is African American and you have to be considered a “future danger” to get a
death sentence in Texas.)
Buck is seeking a new sentencing hearing because this testimony is … you know …
racist. But the Supreme Court didn’t think it was important and chose not to
intervene. The Justices who defended this decision agreed that the testimony in
question was indeed “bizarre and objectionable”. But that didn’t matter,
because it was the defense who called Dr. Quijano to the stand. If the
prosecution had introduced this testimony it “would provide a basis for
reversal”, wrote Justices Alito, Scalia, and Breyer.
The Court’s two newest members, Sotomayor and Kagan, disagreed, writing that
Buck’s death sentence was “marred by racial overtones” that “our criminal
justice system should not tolerate”. They also pointed to other cases where Dr.
Quijano (who has provided such race-based testimony many times) was called by
the defense but relief was nonetheless granted.
But, for the majority of our Supreme Court, racist testimony in a death penalty
case is apparently okay as long as the defense makes the mistake of introducing
it.
(source: Brian Evans, AIUSA, blog)
****************
Texas Court Puts Brakes on Execution to Consider Need for DNA Testing
A couple of weeks ago, we told you about the plans of Texas prosecutors to
execute Hank Skinner this coming Wednesday, despite that crucial DNA evidence
that could exonerate him has never been tested. Today the Texas Court of
Criminal Appeals put the brakes on these plans, staying Skinner's scheduled
execution.
In a brief order, the court held that the execution could not go forward while
Skinner's application for DNA evidence testing remained unresolved. The court
also noted that Skinner's application for DNA testing relied on changes to the
Texas statute concerning DNA testing that had been prompted by his case. The
court stated that it needed time "to fully review the changes in the statute as
they pertain to this case."
While the court did not decide whether it will require DNA testing of the
untested evidence, its decision is an encouraging sign. The Texas Court of
Criminal Appeals routinely hears motions to stay executions, and usually denies
them. The court saw something different in this case. That is reason to be
hopeful that justice will finally be served.
(source: ACLU)
GEORGIA:
DA asks Judge to expedite evidence review
The Dougherty District Attorney wants a review of evidence by condemned killer
Marcus Ray Johnson's defense team to be done quickly so Johnson's appeals don't
drag on.
D-A Greg Edwards wrote a letter to Judge Willie Lockette urging him to have all
evidence in Johnson's murder trial moved to one site.
Lockette delayed Johnson's execution in October, one day before he was to be
put to death for the 1994 murder of Angela Sizemore.
Currently some of the evidence in the case is at the GBI Crime Lab in Decatur
and some is at Albany Police Headquarters.
Edwards wants it all housed at the Crime Lab for review. "What we want to do is
just consolidate everything into one sitting, so get all the experts into one
place and they can do all their review of the evidence and get those issues
resolved,"said Edwards.
Judge Lockette has not ruled on Edward's suggestion and also has not ruled on
the defense lawyers' notice that they have a scheduling conflict for the next
hearing February 4th.
(source: WALB News)
NEVADA:
Death row inmate loses bid to overturn death penalty for '94 Good Samaritan
murder of Fallon man
A Reno judge denied another appeals request by the “Good Samaritan Killer”
whose been on death row the last 16 years fighting his 1995 murder conviction
for killing and robbing a Fallon man who tried to help him when his car was
stranded on U.S. Interstate 80.
Washoe District Court Judge Patrick Flanagan on Nov. 2 dismissed all of Avram
Nika’s appeals claims that ranged from various ineffective counsel allegations
to that he was prejudiced by not involving the Serbian consulate in his case.
In August, the Serbian government filed a brief with Washoe District Court
contending their assistance could have prevented Nika’s death sentence because
they could have translated for him and obtained mitigating information about
his life. However, Deputy District Attorney Terry McCarthy said that
Yugoslavian consulates did not exist when Nika was arrested in 1994.
Flanagan wrote in his order that their assistance “would not have significantly
diluted the probative value” of the strong evidence that led to Nika’s
conviction. He also said that ineffective counsel claims raised in this most
recent appeal have already been affirmed by the state and high courts and are a
“successive petition.”
“The jury still would have heard Nika was seen at the crime scene at the time
of the murder, he was found in Chicago with the victim’s car, and that
investigators found the victim’s blood splatter on his fanny pack, tennis shoes
and cut-off jeans,” Flanagan wrote.
Nika, 41, is a Romanian gypsy who spoke little English and told a jail house
informant he killed Edward Smith because Smith supposedly called him a “vulgar”
word, which in his culture could incite anger, court records show.
Washoe County jurors in 1995 ruled Nika was guilty of Smith’s 1st-degree murder
and sentenced him to death. Evidence showed that Nika’s Chrysler broke down on
the highway on Aug. 26, 1994. He had been driving from California to Chicago. 2
motorists stopped to help, but he refused and asked they call him a tow truck.
After Smith drove up in his BMW to help Nika, he was struck in the head with a
crow bar and a rock and shot in the head. Trial evidence showed the trigger was
pulled as the gun was pointed directly on his forehead. At least one of the
injuries to the back of the head occurred when he was lying face down, court
records show.
Nika then stole Smith’s car and drove to Chicago, where he was found 2 days
later with the car and items that contained Smith’s blood, court records show.
Authorities said the killing was random and motivated by Nika’s need of a car
to continue traveling to Chicago to be with his relatives. Smith’s body was
found the day after his murder, lying near railroad tracks and a barbed wire
fence, which hung his pants.
Nika told investigators he did not kill Smith, and had purchased Smith’s car.
Authorities said they never found the gun used in the slaying. Nika’s attorneys
later claimed Smith was killed after Nika was merely defending himself after
Smith supposedly threatened him with a gun.
The Nevada Supreme Court has already dismissed many of the same claims Nika
recently brought before Flanagan. Nika is still appealing his sentence in
federal court, where his execution was blocked while Flanagan made his ruling.
Prosecutors have 30 days to file a motion with the federal court to lift his
stay of execution.
(source: Reno Gazette-Journal)
OREGON:
Anti-death penalty groups urge Gov. Kitzhaber to halt Haugen's execution
4 anti-death penalty groups are asking Gov. John Kitzhaber to halt the planned
execution of condemned killer Gary Haugen and declare a moratorium on
executions in Oregon “pending a comprehensive study of our death penalty
system.”
The petition was submitted to Kitzhaber by Oregonians for Alternatives to the
Death Penalty, Oregon Capital Resource Center, the American Civil Liberties
Union of Oregon and Amnesty International USA.
“Acting boldly means taking a step that even the condemned prisoner does not
want you to take,” the petition says. “But, as our Governor, your duty is (to)
act in the best interests of Oregonians. Granting a reprieve and declaring a de
facto moratorium on executions pending a study of the costs and effectiveness
of our death penalty is a bold and wise step — one that will pay dividends for
decades to come.”
The anti-death penalty groups say that Kitzhaber should intervene in the case
because Haugen’s “professed desire to die is not the expression of agreement
with his jury’s verdict, but instead is a product of our broken death penalty
system.
“A death penalty that only executes ‘volunteers’ does not serve any legitimate
purpose. Instead, it is a pointless and cruel ritual — state sponsored suicide
for those whose mental demons make death a better choice than life in prison.
Yet that is the reality of the Oregon death penalty. We execute only
individuals who can no longer bear the prospect of decades of review. In fact,
Mr. Haugen has made it clear that he views a life sentence as worse than a
death sentence.”
Activists are asking Kitzhaber to grant “an indefinite stay of Haugen’s
execution” until a study examines “whether Oregon’s death penalty system is
working, as well as to identify problems and determine whether solutions
exist.”
The petition asks the governor to appoint a committee to conduct the death
penalty review.
Haugen, 49, repeatedly has stated his preference to drop his appeals and die by
lethal injection. As it stands, his execution tentatively is scheduled for Dec.
6.
A separate petition pending before the Oregon Supreme Court asks the high court
to block a Marion County judge from signing Haugen’s death warrant until a
further review is done of his mental competency to drop his appeals.
That petition was filed by the Oregon Capital Resource Center.
(source: Statesman Journal)
***********************
Death penalty opponents ask Kitzhaber to stop Gary Haugen execution
Prominent individuals from Texas and across the country are calling on Harris
County District Attorney Patricia Lykos to remedy the sentence in a death
penalty case involving the government's reliance on the defendant's race at
sentencing. Duane Buck was scheduled to be executed on September 15, 2011, when
the U.S. Supreme Court intervened. Today, the Court denied Mr. Buck's petition
for writ of certiorari.
At Mr. Buck's capital murder trial in 1997, the State relied upon evidence that
African-Americans are more likely to be dangerous as a basis for asking his
jury to sentence him to death. District Attorney Lykos now has the discretion
to remedy this error.
Prominent Texans calling for District Attorney Lykos to provide a remedy
include seven members of the Texas Legislature; former Texas Governor Mark
White; former Bexar County District Attorney Sam Millsap and Harris County
Assistant District Attorney Linda Geffin (who served as a prosecutor in Mr.
Buck's case); seven Past Presidents of the Harris County Criminal Lawyers
Association and current President Earl Musick; President of the Texas NAACP
Gary Bledsoe; Archbishop Joseph A. Fiorenza of the Galveston-Houston
Archdiocese; Pastor James Nash of Houston Ministers Against Crime; and
Southwest Regional Director of the Anti-Defamation League Martin B. Cominsky.
In a letter delivered to District Attorney Lykos on September 28, 2011, the
signatories wrote: "We write to you today, as elected officials, civil rights
leaders, faith leaders, legal professionals, past ABA presidents, a former
governor, and concerned citizens dedicated to protecting the integrity of the
criminal justice system, to request that you refrain from seeking an execution
date in Duane Buck's case until the parties and courts have been given adequate
opportunity and time to address the troubling issues in Mr. Buck's case. We
believe that no one should be executed whose death sentence was based on
racially-biased evidence."
Other distinguished signatories include John Payton, Director-Counsel of NAACP
Legal Defense & Educational Fund, Inc.; Wade Henderson, President and CEO of
The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights; Deborah Lauter, National
Civil Rights Director of the Anti-Defamation League; and past American Bar
Association Presidents Philip Anderson, William Ide, Carolyn Lamm, and Roberta
Ramo.
On May 5, 1997, Mr. Buck was convicted of capital murder in Harris County for
the July 1995 shooting deaths of Debra Gardner and Kenneth Butler. A 3rd
person, Phyllis Taylor, was shot but survived her wound. Ms. Taylor is also a
signatory to the attached letter. She has forgiven Mr. Buck and does not wish
to see him executed.
During Mr. Buck's trial, the prosecutor relied on evidence from psychologist
Walter Quijano that being an African-American increased the likelihood one
would be dangerous in the future. In its closing argument, the government
vouched for the credibility of Dr. Quijano's opinion and urged the jury to rely
on it to find that Mr. Buck would be dangerous. The jury found him to be a
future danger and he was sentenced to death. As Justice Sotomayor noted in her
dissent from the denial of certiorari, "the prosecution invited the jury to
consider race as a factor in sentencing."
On June 9, 2000, while Mr. Buck's case was pending on appeal, then-Attorney
General of Texas John Cornyn issued a press release acknowledging error in the
cases of 6 individuals whose death sentences had been unconstitutionally based
on the government's reliance on race as a factor in sentencing. The Attorney
General identified Mr. Buck's case as one of those 6 cases. He further stated
that Texas would not contest federal appeals in those cases, and stated that if
the attorneys for the identified defendants raised claims challenging the
government's reliance on race at sentencing, the Attorney General would waive
all procedural defenses available to it.
Despite this concession, Mr. Buck is the only defendant of the 6 identified by
Mr. Cornyn who has not been granted a new sentencing trial free from the
government's reliance on his race as a basis for requesting a death sentence.
"The use of race in sentencing poisons the legal process and breeds cynicism in
the judiciary," the letter to District Attorney Lykos reads. "Refraining from
setting an execution date for Mr. Buck until the courts have a meaningful
opportunity to address the fundamental injustice in his case will help restore
public confidence in the criminal justice system."
(source: The Oregonian)
***************
Is the death penalty 'state sponsored suicide'?
Opponents of the death penalty have called on Gov. John Kitzhaber to declare a
moratorium on executions in Oregon, starting with one scheduled next month.
They argue the state spends millions on a death penalty system but in recent
decades has executed only those who give up their appeals.
They call capital punishment "state sponsored suicide for those whose mental
demons make death a better choice than life in prison."
A petition Tuesday said Kitzhaber should grant a reprieve to Gary Haugen, who
is scheduled to die Dec. 6., and let him continue to serve life without parole.
It called on Kitzhaber to launch a review of the death penalty.
A spokesman said Kitzhaber wouldn't comment until pending legal actions have
run their course.
Haugen has battled to waive his appeals and hasten his execution. He is
critical of the legal system and those he sees as profiting from it.
(source: Associated Press)
CALIFORNIA:
Yolo DA argues for death penalty against murderer of sheriff's deputy
District Attorney Jeff Reisig called the case of convicted murderer Marco
Topete "so rare and horrific" that the death penalty is appropriate. Jurors
will decide after Tuesday's closing arguments conclude whether Topete should
receive the death penalty or life in prison without the possibility of parole
for the murder of Yolo County Sheriff's Deputy Tony Diaz.
Topete was convicted of the June 15, 2008 murder on Oct. 4.
Reisig replayed the audio clip of Topete shooting Diaz 17 times in less than 4
seconds off County Road 5 in Dunnigan. Reisig said Topete chose to execute Diaz
"like an animal led to slaughter."
Reisig mentioned again how Diaz was murdered on Father's Day and that Topete
left his daughter in the car when he fled and eventually shot Diaz. The deputy
chose not to pursue Topete since the baby was in the car.
"This heartless killer slithered in the darkness ... where he could destroy the
man who was keeping his child safe," Reisig said.
Topete was convicted for murdering Diaz as a gang member, which Reisig said
also "triggers the death penalty." He said Topete gained respect in the
Nortenos for killing a law enforcement officer.
Similar to the prosecution's penalty phase opening argument, Reisig told the
jurors they could consider Topete's 10 crimes of violence since 1992 in his
sentencing.
Reisig will finish his closing argument Tuesday afternoon with defense
attorneys presenting their closing argument after.
Before closing arguments, Judge Paul Richardson gave the jury instructions for
sentencing.
(source: Daily Democrat)
USA:
Pentagon issues military court rules
The new rules issued for military commissions at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, differ
from the way the United States court-martials its own troops, an official said.
Deputy Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter, who signed the regulations, said the
difference is necessitated by the unique circumstances of the conduct of
military intelligence operations during hostilities, The Miami Herald reported
Tuesday.
The 202-page document released Monday gives each case's military judge the
authority to approve the costs of a so-called learned counsel, a civilian
defense attorney with extensive experience defending capital murder cases.
It also outlines procedures through which observers can protest a judge's
decision to declare an aspect of a trial as "protected."
Legal observers said both issues could be relevant in the upcoming prosecution
of Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, the Saudi-born captive charged in the October 2000
bombing of the USS Cole off Yemen that killed 17 U.S. sailors.
Al-Nashiri, 46, is scheduled to be arraigned at Guantanamo Bay Wednesday. His
prosecution will be the 1st under the new rules.
Human Rights Watch attorney Andrea Prasow questioned the timing of the rules'
release.
"The very idea that new rules could be issued moments before someone is
arraigned to face the death penalty offends any notion of due process," Prasow
said.
(source: United Press International)
**********************
Terror suspect to appear in Guantanamo courtroom----Suspected in USS Cole
bombing
A terror suspect will emerge from the shadows this week after 9 years of
detention, when he's led into a military courtroom at the U.S. Naval Base in
Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri was captured in 2002 and has remained virtually
invisible since then, detained first overseas in secret facilities and then at
Guantanamo.
The United States claims he is the brains behind the 2000 bombing of the USS
Cole, which killed 17 U.S. Navy sailors, wounded dozens more and left the
warship crippled in the harbor of Aden, Yemen.
The officer in charge of the ship at the time, Cmdr. Kirk Lippold says this
court appearance is long overdue. "The crew and families have been patient for
11 years," Lippold, now retired from the Navy, told CNN Monday. "It is time for
justice to be served."
The arraignment Wednesday morning is expected to last only an hour or so, with
al-Nashiri's formal military trial still months away. But this potentially
could be the 1st death-penalty case in the military commission system if he is
found guilty.
And the allegations of waterboarding and other torture will turn the
international spotlight back to Guantanamo and to how the United States deals
with its most notorious suspects.
The case is seen as a test run for the future trials of Guantanamo's most
notorious detainees -- those accused of planning the 9/11 terror attacks.
Al Nashiri's military and civilian defense lawyers have said the alleged
torture -- including repeated waterboarding, intimidation episodes using power
drills and threats to his family -- make a fair trial impossible.
"By torturing Mr. al-Nashiri and subjecting him to cruel, inhumane and
degrading treatment, the United States has forfeited its right to try him and
certainly to kill him," a defense brief said. "Through the infliction of
physical and psychological abuse, the government has essentially already killed
the man it seized almost 10 years ago."
And just in recent weeks defense and prosecution lawyers have been sparring,
with motions and counter-motions, over whether al-Nashiri would be released
even if he is acquitted -- and whether that should be disclosed to the military
officers who will serve as jurors in his trial.
"Under the circumstances of this case, where it has been publicly acknowledged
that Mr. al Nashiri was tortured by the U.S. government, a trial without any
real possibility of reprieve is yet another form of torture," his lawyers said
in a motion last month.
The colonel acting as judge in the case has not ruled on that, but the
prosecution has argued that release of al-Nashiri goes beyond the authority of
the military commission.
The suspect faces additional charges related to an attempted attack on the USS
The Sullivans in Yemen in January 2000 and an attack on a French tanker in 2002
that resulted in the death of 1 crew member. The 2 attacks on U.S. Navy vessels
predate the federal "authorization for use of military force" against
terrorists passed by Congress in the days after the 9/11 attacks.
Some 30 journalists are being flown to Guantanamo by the military to observe
the trial, either in the courtroom or via a television feed to a offices set up
for reporters in a nearby abandoned hanger. And for the 1st time journalists --
another 20 or so -- will be able to watch the proceedings from the United
States, from an auditorium at Fort Meade between Washington and Baltimore. Fort
Meade is headquarters to the super-secret intelligence organization, the
National Security Agency.
And survivors of the USS Cole attack and families of the victims will be
provided a closed-circuit feed in Norfolk, Virginia. No photographs or
recordings are allowed either in Guantanamo or in the remote locations in the
United States. All the transmissions are controlled by the military and will
have a 40-second delay and kill switch should military censors decide that
classified information has been divulged and should be protected.
The al-Nashiri defense team has asked the military commission to pay 4 outside
experts, to rule on the acquital and release question and to give their client
privacy in correspondence with his lawyers. "We are hopeful on Wednesday the
court will hear and decide various outstanding issues," Indianapolis lawyer
Richard Kammen told CNN. He is a nationally recognized expert on death-penalty
cases. He admits that it is hard to predict outcomes in the military
commissions.
"This is a the first hearing in, essentially, what is a made-up system," Kammen
said "They are making this up as they go along."
Also travelling to Guantanamo, in addition to journalists, lawyers, legal
support staff, and representatives of the USS Cole families, are
representatives of public action groups.
Among the observers will be Human Rights First's Melina Milazzo. She, like
other critics of the military commissions says alleged terrorists like al
Nashiri should be tried in federael courts.
"This is a risky case. Whatever happens it will be attacked and challenged on a
variety of grounds," Milazzo told CNN. "The al-Nashiri case will highlight a
lot of what is wrong with the military commission system."
(source: CNN)
OHIO:
U.S. Supreme Court restores death penalty in local slaying----Panel’s ruling in
‘buried alive’ case overturned
The murder conviction and death sentence of Archie Dixon in the 1993
“buried-alive” slaying of his former roommate, Christopher Hammer, were
reinstated Monday by the U.S. Supreme Court.
The court overturned last year’s decision by the Cincinnati-based 6th U.S.
Circuit Court of Appeals that threw out the conviction and ordered a new trial
after determining that Dixon’s confession to the crime was tainted.
The lower court found that, although police started questioning him first about
a related forgery charge, they did not inform Dixon of his Miranda rights to
remain silent and consult with an attorney until after a second interview in
which he confessed to the murder.
He was then read his rights before the confession was recorded. The 6th Circuit
Court had agreed with then Lucas County Common Pleas Judge William Skow that
the second interview was essentially a continuation of the tainted first.
“There is no evidence that any of Dixon’s statements were the product of actual
coercion,” the U.S. Supreme Court ruled. “That does not excuse the detectives’
decision not to give Dixon Miranda warnings before his first interrogation. But
the Ohio courts recognized that failure and imposed the appropriate remedy —
exclusion of Dixon’s forgery confession and the attendant statements given
without the benefit of Miranda warnings.”
Dixon was initially arrested for forgery, not murder, in connection with the
disappearance of Mr. Hammer, 22, whose body had yet to be found. Dixon denied
any role in the disappearance but admitted forging Mr. Hammer’s automobile
title.
Soon after, Mr. Hammer’s body was found in a shallow grave in Sylvania
Township. Dixon was informed that Timothy Hoffner, a man who would later be
convicted as his accomplice, was in custody and that he had led them to the
body.
Both Dixon and Hoffner were convicted of aggravated murder, kidnapping,
aggravated robbery, and forgery. They had reportedly led Mr. Hammer to a wooded
area, let him smoke a cigarette and say a prayer, and then buried him alive.
“We are pleased with the court’s decision,” said Ohio Attorney General Mike
DeWine, whose office handled the federal appeals. “Dixon committed a gruesome
murder. He confessed, and the Ohio courts gave him a fair trial.”
Dixon, 38, and Hoffner, 39, are on death row at the Ohio State Penitentiary
near Youngstown. A 3rd person, Kristen Wilkerson, Dixon’s girlfriend, was
convicted of kidnapping but was released from prison after she cooperated with
police in the case.
“We are very disappointed that the Supreme Court allowed this conviction to
stand while at the same time recognizing that police officers set about a
conspiracy to intentionally violate Mr. Dixon’s rights under Miranda,” said
Dixon’s court-appointed attorney, Michael Benza from Chagrin Falls, Ohio.
“It’s important for people to know that the Supreme Court found the police
broke the law in this case and they did it on purpose,” he said.
The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously sent the case back to the 6th Circuit to
deal with other issues raised in this case, among them allegations of
ineffectiveness of counsel and the trial court’s exclusion of evidence in the
sentencing phase of the case.
“In this case Dixon steadfastly maintained during his first, unwarned
interrogation that he had ‘nothing whatsoever’ to do with Hammer’s
disappearance,” the court’s decision reads.
“Thus … there is no concern here that police gave Dixon Miranda warnings and
then led him to repeat an earlier murder confession, because there was no
earlier confession to repeat.
“Indeed, Dixon contradicted his prior unwarned statements when he confessed to
Hammer’s murder,” the court wrote. “Nor is there any evidence that police used
Dixon’s earlier admission to forgery to induce him to waive his right to
silence later: Dixon declared his desire to tell police what happened to Hammer
before the second interrogation session even began.”
(source: Toledo Blade)
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