July 23
TEXAS----new execution date
Preston Hughes has been given an execution date for November 15; it should be
considered serious.
(sources: Texas Department of Criminal Justice & Rick Halperin)
************************
Executions under Rick Perry, 2001-present-----244
Number--------scheduled execution date---------name
under
Gov. Perry
245-------------August 1--------------------Marcus Durery
246-------------August 7--------------------Marvin Wilson
247-------------August 22------------------John Balentine
248-------------September 20--------------Robert Harris
249-------------September 25--------------Cleve Foster
250-------------October 18-----------------Anthony Haynes
251-------------November 8----------------Mario Swain
252-------------November 14---------------Ramon Hernandez
253-------------November 15---------------Preston Hughes
(sources: Texas Department of Criminal Justice & Rick Halperin)
GEORGIA----impending execution
US Supreme Court urged to halt Georgia execution
The U.S. Supreme Court has been urged to stop the state of Georgia from
executing a man who evidence indicates has significant intellectual
disabilities. Warren Lee Hill, Jr. is scheduled to be executed on July 23,
2012.
The issue in the case is the standard Georgia uses for proving intellectual
disability. In 2002 the U.S. Supreme Court, in Atkins v. Virginia, prohibited
the execution of people with intellectual disabilities, finding that such a
practice violates the U.S. constitution’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment.
Yet it left it to the states to decide how to enforce the ban. Most states have
required defendants to show that it is more likely than not that they have an
intellectual disability, using “a preponderance of the evidence” standard.
Georgia is the only state that requires defendants to prove their disability
beyond a reasonable doubt.
“Requiring proof of intellectual disability beyond a reasonable doubt in death
penalty cases makes Georgia an extreme and cruel outlier,” said Antonio
Ginatta, U.S. advocacy director. “The Supreme Court should not let Georgia
flout the ban on executing people with intellectual disabilities through a
legal technicality.”
Tests have shown that Hill has an IQ of about 70, which is in the same
diagnostic range considered by the Supreme Court in Atkins. Disability groups
have said that Hill’s form of intellectual disability makes him particularly
vulnerable to wrongful execution because his impairments are not easily
observed.
Hill was sentenced to death in 1990 for killing a fellow prisoner, Joseph
Handspike. At the time, Hill was already serving a life sentence for the 1986
murder of his girlfriend, Myra Wright.
In November 2002 a state judge in Georgia ruled that there was a preponderance
of evidence that Hill has an intellectual disability. However, in 2003 the
Georgia Supreme Court reversed that decision and reinstated Hill’s death
sentence, and a federal appeals court later ruled that under Georgia law death
penalty defendants, such as Hill, must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that
they have an intellectual disability to avoid execution.
“When it comes to capital punishment, the state of Georgia has shifted the
burden of proof, arguably to the party least able to handle it,” Ginatta said.
“In criminal cases, the state must prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt to
overcome the presumption of innocence. But in Georgia, a person with
intellectual disabilities is assumed to warrant a sentence of death unless he
can prove his disability beyond a reasonable doubt.”
On July 13 the Georgia State Board of Pardons and Parole heard Hill’s clemency
request for a sentence of life in prison without parole. But on July 16 the
board denied that request, as well as an appeal for a 90-day stay of execution.
Hill’s lawyers are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to stay the execution. If that
fails, they have said they will file new appeals in the state and federal
courts.
Hill’s execution was initially scheduled for July 18, but on July 17 the
Georgia Department of Corrections announced it was postponing the execution
until July 23 to make changes to its lethal injection drug protocol.
In addition to the federal constitution, the United States has undertaken
obligations under international human rights law not to execute people with
intellectual disabilities. In 2011, during the Universal Periodic Review
process for the US at the United Nations Human Rights Council, the U.S.
supported a recommendation against executing people with “certain intellectual
disabilities.”
By allowing states vast leeway to determine intellectual disability, however,
the US is violating its international obligations and in practice permitting
states to execute people with intellectual disabilities.
Human Rights Watch opposes capital punishment in all circumstances because the
inherent dignity of the person is inconsistent with the death penalty. This
form of punishment is unique in its cruelty and finality, and it is inevitably
and universally plagued with arbitrariness, prejudice, and error.
(source: Human Rights Watch)
USA:
Virginia Tech Shooting Survivor Colin Goddard: "Time is Now" for a Discussion
on Gun Control see: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAL9CyMxj1A&feature=plcp
Bud Welch, Father of Oklahoma City Victim, on Rejecting Death Penalty & Healing
From Tragedy see: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9HSZLHgEJ-g&feature=plcp
(source: Democracy Now)
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