[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TENN., USA, CALIF., ARK.
Dec. 5 TENNESSEE: Costs of Defending Indigent Tennessee Death Penalty Cases Lawmakers and others studying the death penalty in Tennessee are analyzing how much money is spent defending indigent cases. Libby Sykes, director of Tennessee's Administrative Office of the Courts, says the state spent more than $20 million defending indigent cases last year. Those costs included fees for investigations, attorneys and expert witnesses. Democratic state Sen. Doug Jackson says he's concerned that the office arbitrarily bases its decisions on whether to approve or deny funding on its budget without considering the legal needs of defendants. Sykes says the office does not have the money to increase the rates they pay attorneys to take on indigent cases. (source: Associated Press) * Final death-row appeal of Christa Gail Pike delayed again Prosecutors: Former DA Dossett's death 'suspicious,' want to exhume body A years-long legal fight over whether convicted killer Christa Gail Pike's trial was fair just got longer. Knox County Criminal Court Judge Mary Beth Leibowitz was forced to grant another delay in a hearing to determine whether Pike received a fair trial when she was convicted and sentenced to death in March 1996 for the January 1995 torture slaying of fellow Job Corps student and romantic rival Colleen Slemmer. A final round of post-conviction appeals is aimed at convincing Leibowitz that her defense team at the time was so derelict as to violate her rights. Today's delay was prompted by the withdrawal from Pike's defense team of attorney Catherine Brockenborough, who cited problems with her law practice as the reason. The announcement appeared to upset Pike, who cried and attempted to hug Brockenborough. The move was blocked by guards because of prison security rules. Leibowitz has rescheduled the hearing, which will last 4 to 5 days, to begin April 7, 2008. Pike was 18 when she grew jealous of Slemmer over Tadaryl Shipp, 17. The three and another participant in the killing, Shadolla Peterson, 18, all were students at the now-defunct Job Corps training program for troubled youth. Court testimony showed that Pike hatched a plan to attack Slemmer, enlisting Shipp and Peterson. Slemmer, who was 19, was beaten, sliced with a box cutter and meat cleaver, and then bludgeoned to death. A pentagram was carved in her chest. In July of this year, however, Pike's new taxpayer-funded attorneys sought to show that her prior defenders failed to put on proof that Pike suffered bi-polar disorder and was under the sway of a manipulative, violent Shipp. Shipp, a defense witness, himself sought to portray Pike as an "edgy" woman who would sometimes "black out" with attacks of rage for which she always was remorseful. He also sought through his testimony to minimize her role in the slaying. "I carved every last bit of it," Shipp testified of the pentagram. He also testified that he was the one who brought the meat cleaver and box cutter. Because of his age, Shipp could not be sentenced to death. He is serving a life sentence. Peterson, a key witness in the case, walked away with probation. USA: Huckabee muses on reviewing death sentences as governor and president-Conversation veers from abortion ban to role of president as chief executioner. Every candidate, and every observer, learns on the run. I was reminded of that in a conversation with Mike Huckabee that swerved from his support for a ban on abortion to his belief in reviewing cases that culminate in state-imposed executions. Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor seeking the Republican nod for president, sees an abortion ban as secondary to valuing life. "The bigger issue is that nobody has his or her life devalued for any reason, whether it's your IQ, your status of health, your gender, your socioeconomic standing (or) your disabilities," he said. I asked if he views convicts on death row the same way. Not quite, Huckabee said, because such individuals have committed heinous acts and a sentence to death is "not the result of the capricious action of one person; it's the culmination of many actions of a legal system that has given that person every opportunity to show why he or she should not be executed." Huckabee, governor from 1996 to 2007, signed off on 16 executions. During that period, Texas put 275 convicts to death. In each case, Huckabee said, "I took the entire case files, which sometimes, and most times, amounted to several boxes of file folders. I read every single page of that case, every page, before I would take that case to the point of execution." Every page? Death penalty cases generate reams of documents including judicial rulings, legal briefs and trial transcripts. In Texas, governors review every death penalty case, though Govs. George W. Bush and Rick Perry haven't been known to plumb the files during their reviews. The practice is for legal advisers to deliver memos running 10
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide
Dec. 5 UNITED ARAB EMIRATES: Death sentence for family murderer A death sentence handed down to an Emirati for murdering 2 of his relatives in a land dispute was confirmed by the Ras Al Khaimah Appeal Court yesterday. The horrific incident occurred on July 15 this year when the killer went to the house of 1 of the victims. As his two relatives answered the door he shot one in the heart and one in stomach, leaving them lying in a pool of blood, and calmly made his way to the police station. After hearing what had happened, officers rushed the victims to hospital, but they soon died from their injuries. Special forces were also deployed in the Shamal area, to stop any possible reprisals. The defendant admitted all the charges and said he had been plotting the murders for the past 2 years. He also told police he had planned to kill other members of his family, but did not specify who. (source: 7Days) SAUDI ARABIA: 2 Cases: What a Difference a Judge Can Make At the same time that the case of the "Qatif girl" has sparked both local and international outrage and condemnation and deservedly so another ruling has received little attention despite being just as telling of Saudi justice but in a positive way. Last week the Supreme Court Council upheld the death sentences issued in April by a Makkah judge against the father and stepmother of a 9 year-old girl, Ghosun, who was repeatedly tortured and later died. Her death occurred last year when the police reported that she had broken ribs, that her front teeth had been knocked out, that her body showed bruises and knife wounds and that she had choked on her own blood. Ghosun's father and stepmother both admitted to torturing the girl but refused to accept responsibility for causing her death. For a whole year, while Ghosun was in her father's custody and with her divorced biological mother knocking on the door of every official and human rights organization attempting to get custody, the child was starved, beaten mercilessly, burned, chained to her bed and prevented from going to school. Initially in February the father was sentenced to 5 years in prison, the minimum in such cases while his wife awaited prosecution. The child's mother refused to rest until she had obtained justice for her slain daughter. She appealed the case and with overwhelming evidence and witnesses, the judge ruled that both the father and stepmother should be sentenced to death. In his statement, the judge said that due to the horrible and barbaric nature of the murder, committed by people who were supposed to take care of the child, and due to the increasing number of abuse cases by parents against their children, it was important to give the severest punishment as a deterrent to other parents. The judge decided to issue this ruling and the Supreme Court Council upheld it even though according to the common interpretation of a Hadith (Prophet's saying), a father should not be executed for killing his offspring. The judge surprised observers and went against expectations which were at most a life-sentence for both because he decided that both the case and the abuse of children in general required a strong statement. And indeed, just 2 weeks ago in Riyadh, a 12-year-old girl breathed her last in a hospital emergency room after her father had brutally beat her and poured boiling water on her. Investigators found that he had also tortured his other 3 children aged 7, 8 and 9. He is now in jail awaiting trial and both prosecutors and religious scholars are asking for the severest punishment. Doesnt he deserve the death sentence too for torturing and murdering his child? Ghosun's murder case received wide media attention at the time but coverage decreased as other and bigger stories came up. The father's parents are now left with their last chance to save their son's life for the sake of his other 4-year-old daughter by appealing to the king for a pardon. The fathers lawyer has blamed the media for influencing public opinion and obstructing justice. The rulings in Ghosun's case and in that of the Qatif girl case reveal the problems and weaknesses of our judicial system. It seems that all depends on the judge's feelings because apparently the investigation process and evidence can become irrelevant if the judge does not take them into consideration while listening to testimony in court. The judge in Ghosun's case weighed the evidence, taking a broad perspective and evaluation of the abuse/murder case; he then issued a statement expressing intolerance of such deviant behavior by parents. The judge in the case of the Qatif girl, on the other hand used a very narrow interpretation of socially unacceptable behavior in order to pass a harsh moral judgment against the victim of the brutal gang rape and disregarded the evidence incriminating the rapists. If the judge in the Qatif girl case was attempting to make a statement against girls dating and allegedly having affairs, h
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news-----ALABAMA
Dec. 5 ALABAMAstay of impending execution Court delays another execution The Supreme Court on Wednesday afternoon delayed the execution of Thomas D. Arthur, previously scheduled for 6 p.m. on Thursday. Arthur has a petition pending (Arthur v. Allen, 07-395) challenging the states use of a lethal injection protocol to carry out executions. The Court has not acted on the petition. Its order on Wednesday stayed the execution until it acts on the petition, or, if the petition is granted, until the case is decided. Besides raising a constitutional challenge to the lethal injection method, Arthurs appeal raises another issue the Court has yet to decide: when a constitutional challenge to this method of execution is considered timely filed, when the issue is raised under federal civil rights law, rather than federal habeas law. The Court in recent weeks has not permitted any execution to proceed when the inmate has sought a stay while challenging lethal injection. It is scheduled to hold a hearing on such challenges on Jan. 7 at 10 a.m. (source: US Supreme Court Blog)
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----USA
Dec. 5 USA: 25th Anniversary of Lethal Injection in US - Amnesty Intl statementAmnesty International USA Press Statement LETHAL INJECTION IS ANOTHER 'FAILED EXPERIMENT' THAT 'HAS A CORROSIVE EFFECT ON THE MEDICAL PROFESSION,' SAYS AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL Larry Cox, executive director of Amnesty International USA, released the following statement regarding the 25th anniversary (on December 7) of lethal injection administered in the Unites States: "In the past 25 years, the United States has carried out 929 executions by lethal injection. These include numerous botched executions that contradict the notion of a gentle death. Various autopsies have revealed severe, foot-long chemical burns, collapsed veins and multiple puncture marks on the skin. In some cases executions have lasted up to an hour, with prisoners visibly gasping for air or convulsing in visible pain. "Texas was the first state to use lethal injection with the December 7, 1982 execution of Charlie Brooks. Since then almost half of such executions have been carried out in Texas, where the chemical mix has been used to put 405 human beings to death. Ironically, in 2003 Texas passed a law prohibiting the use of this very same cocktail to euthanize cats and dogs -- a ban that exists in law or in practice throughout most of the country. If this procedure is unacceptable for pets, clearly it is unacceptable for human beings. "Furthermore, lethal injection has a corrosive effect on the medical profession, which finds itself reluctantly conscripted to play a lead role in state-sanctioned killing. Health professionals who have sworn to do no harm and to sustain human life are mired in an ethical morass when they must participate in a process that extinguishes it. In January the U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments to determine if lethal injection constitutes "cruel and unusual punishment." Amnesty International maintains that lethal injection is a failed experiment designed to make the death penalty seem more sanitized and humane. At its core, this system is arbitrary, capricious, racially biased and includes the very real potential of executing the innocent. It exacts a toll on all involved and can never be humane." # # # For more information on Amnesty International's work on the death penalty, please see: www.amnestyusa.org/abolish (source: Amnesty International USA)
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----N.J., LA., UTAH, TENN., USA
Dec. 5 NEW JERSEY: N.J. justices uphold killer's death penalty-Harris murdered artist and slew an inmate The state's highest court yesterday unanimously upheld killer Ambrose Harris' death sentence, saying he did not deserve to have his punishment reviewed. "He is not entitled to relief," wrote the justices in an unsigned 6-page decision. Harris was convicted of kidnapping, raping and killing Kristin Huggins, a 22-year-old artist from Bucks County, Pa., who had gone to downtown Trenton to paint a mural in 1992. While on death row, he killed fellow inmate Robert "Mudman" Simon, but was acquitted of the crime in 2001. The decision comes at a time when New Jersey is on track to become the 1st state to repeal the death penalty since 1965, when West Virginia and Iowa ended theirs. Lawmakers in Trenton are debating legislation that would replace the death penalty with life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. After a 90-minute hearing Monday, the Senate Budget Committee cleared such a bill in an 8-4 vote, setting the stage for consideration by the full Senate. The Assembly is slated to take up similar legislation as early as next week. In the Harris case, the New Jersey Public Defender's Office asked the court to reconsider his sentence in light of its 2006 ruling that reversed the death sentence of Anthony DiFrisco, who killed a Maplewood pizzeria owner in the 1980s. In DiFrisco's case, the court found 4 justices -- a majority of the court -- voted on separate appeals. The court found those vote tallies must be combined and released him from death row. Harris, who is one of nine men on death row in New Jersey, argued he fit the same scenario. However, the court reviewed the votes of the justices during both Harris' direct appeal and a follow-up review and found the only way to come up with a fourth vote against the death penalty was to count one vote twice. "Harris cannot match those unique circumstances" of the DiFrisco case, the court wrote. David Wald, a spokesman for the state Attorney General's Office, was pleased with the decision. "It affirmed the validity of Harris' death sentence," said Wald, adding the agency feels the DiFrisco ruling was wrong and should be overturned. James Smith, Harris' lawyer, said he was disappointed the ruling ends his state court appeals. An appeal is pending in U.S. District Court in Trenton. New Jersey performed its last execution in 1963. (source: Star-Ledger) ** NJ death penalty debate puts families on both sides When the killer of Vicki Schieber's daughter agreed to plead guilty to escape the death penalty, Schieber readily accepted. "There is no such word as closure," the Maryland woman said. But Linda Riscioni hopes her sister's alleged murderer will someday be executed, noting he gave her no mercy before shooting her in a Paterson club. "Her last words were, 'Please don't shoot me, I have 2 children,"' Riscioni said. As New Jersey lawmakers debate whether to make the state the 1st to abolish the death penalty since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated it in 1976, families of murder victims have been vocalizing their opinions on both sides. A bill to abolish capital punishment is set to be voted on by the Senate on Monday and the Assembly on Dec. 13. Democratic Gov. Jon S. Corzine supports the bill. The effort to abolish capital punishment in New Jersey stems from a January report by a special state commission that found the death penalty was a more expensive sentence than life in prison and didn't deter murder. As lawmakers weigh votes, family members of murder victims are pressing their views. Some say the death penalty only delays justice; others say it's a just punishment. Schieber's daughter Shannon, a 23-year-old University of Pennsylvania student, was killed in 1998 by a Colorado airman. He was sentenced in 2002 to life in prison for the Philadelphia murder. Schieber said she was "totally comfortable" with that outcome. "It would be incredibly difficult on our family and would tear us apart," she said of a death penalty trial. Kathleen Garcia's nephew was killed in 1984. Though the Moorestown resident doesn't oppose capital punishment on moral grounds, she asked New Jersey lawmakers to abolish it. She said the death penalty has harmed surviving family members of homicide victims by preventing a sense of closure until an execution occurs. And she points to New Jersey's history as proof: New Jersey reinstated the death penalty in 1982, but hasn't executed anyone since 1963. There are eight men on death row. "The death penalty actually interferes with justice," Garcia said. Charles Bennett supported the death penalty, until his daughter and 2 grandchildren were killed last year by his son-in-law. His son-in-law killed himself, but Bennett said he couldn't imagine a death penalty trial. "I was struck forcibly with the realization that there was no possible way to right such a wrong," the Commeri
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news-----CALIF., N.C., VA., ALA.
Dec. 5 CALIFORNIA: Death row inmate's sentence upheldThe 9th Circuit rejects arguments that Kevin Cooper was framed in the 1983 murders of 4 people in Chino Hills. Calling the evidence of his guilt "overwhelming," a federal appeals court in San Francisco on Tuesday upheld the death sentence of Kevin Cooper, who was convicted of a rampage 25 years ago that left a Chino Hills couple and two children dead. The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals rejected arguments from Cooper's appellate lawyers that he was framed and that prosecutors withheld evidence that could have cleared him. The ruling upheld a decision by U.S. District Judge Marilyn L. Huff in San Diego, who considered new blood and hair evidence tests ordered in the case after the 9th Circuit in 2004 granted a last-minute stay of execution. Huff wrote that she was convinced that Cooper "is the one responsible for these brutal murders," noting post-conviction DNA testing that linked Cooper to a drop of blood in the hallway outside the bedroom of two of the murder victims, to saliva from cigarette butts found in the hallway and to blood smears on a T-shirt found outside a bar near the murder scene. The 9th Circuit, in a 3-0 ruling written by Judge Pamela A. Rymer, agreed. "As the district court, and all state courts, have repeatedly found, evidence of Cooper's guilt was overwhelming," the decision said. Judges Ronald M. Gould and M. Margaret McKeown concurred in the decision. But McKeown, in a separate, concurring opinion, expressed her dismay that the court, because of limits on habeas petitions imposed by Congress in 1996, could not examine the "integrity of the evidence". "Significant evidence bearing on Cooper's culpability has been lost, destroyed or left un-pursued, including, for example, blood-covered overalls belonging to a potential suspect who was a convicted murderer, and a bloody T-shirt, discovered alongside the road near the crime scene," McKeown wrote. McKeown noted that the criminalist in charge of the evidence was a heroin addict who was fired for stealing drugs seized by police. The judge said she was "troubled that we cannot, in Kevin Cooper's words, resolve the question of his guilt 'once and for all.' " According to evidence presented at trial, Cooper had faked a medical condition in 1983 to escape from the Chino state prison, where he was serving a sentence for burglary. He broke into the home of Douglas and Peggy Ryen and used a hatchet, knife and ice pick to kill the couple, their daughter Jessica, 11, and houseguest Christopher Hughes, also 11. Prosecutors also presented evidence that Cooper slashed the throat of the Ryens' 8-year-old son, Joshua, who lay next to his mother's body for 11 hours before he was found. He survived and testified against Cooper. Cooper, now 50, admits that after he escaped from prison he hid in a house near the Ryens' residence. But he has maintained that he hitchhiked out of the area and was not involved in the murders. He was arrested 7 weeks after the killings. The Chino Hills killings received so much publicity in San Bernardino County that Cooper's trial was moved to San Diego County. In 1985, he was convicted of the murders and sentenced to death. Tuesday's ruling was the latest of many appellate decisions in the case. Sacramento attorney Norman C. Hile said he was disappointed and would seek another hearing before a larger panel of judges. He had argued that Huff erred in not ordering further testing and in declining to consider evidence about "three suspicious men," one wearing bloody clothes, who reportedly were seen shortly after the murders in a bar not far from the crime scene. But Ronald S. Mathias, California's senior assistant attorney general in charge of death penalty appeals, said the court made the right decision. Mathias said he was particularly pleased with "the court's acknowledgment that" evidence of Cooper's guilt "was 'overwhelming.' I think that addresses any concern that technicalities" of the 1996 law "affected the outcome of this case." (source: Los Angeles Times) * Cooper's appeal failsJudges reject convicted killer's claims A federal appeals court affirmed the conviction of death row inmate Kevin Cooper on Tuesday, again putting him in line to be executed for the 1983 murders of 4 people in Chino Hills. Cooper, convicted in 1985, claimed he was framed for the killings. But a 3-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously rejected those claims in a 35-page written ruling. 2 of the judges wrote they have no doubt of Cooper's guilt. "As the district court, and all the state courts, have repeatedly found, evidence of Cooper's guilt was overwhelming," Judge Pamela Ann Rymer wrote. "The tests that he asked for to show his innocence 'once and for all' show nothing of the sort." The third judge agreed that Cooper's appeals should be denied on legal grounds, but expressed concerns over holes i
