[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide
Feb. 14 KUWAIT: Death row rapist nabbed, Syrian 'friend' robs Kuwaiti Officers of the Sentences Enforcement Department Wednesday arrested an Asian expatriate who was earlier sentenced to death in absentia in a kidnapping and rape case. Allegedly, the Asian was found guilty of kidnapping an Indonesian woman and raping her at gunpoint. Securitymen tracked him and arrested him at his hideout in Farwaniya. He was handed to authorities for the execution of his sentence. (source: Arab Times) UKRAINE: Rada communist leaders for death penalty Rada committee on legal support for law-enforcement activities has recommended VR to pass a bill in the first reading reinstituting a death penalty. Violence caused by maniacs raises special concern as they terrorize the populace and kill tens of Ukrainians. Saving the lives of such cut-throats has little to do with humanitarian issues, the bill authors say. Communist lawmaker Oleksandr Holub who initiated the bill has this to say: We are speaking about premeditated and especially ruthless murders, murders committed after a preliminary complicity by a group of persons and coupled with rape. - How did the discussion of your bill in VR go? What were the main arguments of your opponents? The discussion aroused interest. The bill was supported by 7 committee members, with 4 voting against. According to opponents, Ukraine has to meet its obligations to international organizations, specifically, to the European Union. My arguments were: Ukrainian do not walk the safe streets of the EU, they walk our streets and parks where they are raped, burglarized and killed. - There is no conclusive evidence that the death penalty is an efficient deterrent to crime. On the contrary, there are many facts about fatal mistakes of investigation and courts in sentencing the wrong people to death. A life sentence can allow to correct these mistakes, while reinstitution of a death penalty takes away this chance. We propose that death sentences be passed by a jury. To avoid fatal mistakes, we also propose that death sentence prisoners be executed only 6 months after the appropriate court verdict. Now about the deterrent to crime. In the Soviet Union about 2,000 premeditated murders were committed annually. Nowadays, more than 5,000 are registered. This is a telling statistics. According to Amnesty International NGO, 80 countries have cancelled a death penalty for all kinds of crimes, 15 countries cancelled it with exceptions, and 23 countries have laws banning it but these laws are not enforced. Simultaneously, 78 countries use a death penalty, among them the United States, Jaspan, China and Egypt. (source: Western Information Agency) INDIA: 'Zero tolerance policy' Possible death penalty to hijackers instead of life imprisonment The government has responded to the growing terror threat after TIMES NOW exposed the ULFA's plot to hijack a plane. It has been learnt that the Civil Aviation Minister -- Praful Patel -- wants death penalty, instead of the present life sentence for those plotting to hijack a plane. The Indian government is in a process of ammending The Anti-Hijacking Act of 1982, which provides a maximum penalty of life sentence for hijacking. As per the new law, anyone convicted of planning to use a plane as a missile is likely to receive death penalty. Praful Patel brought the issue to the cabinet on Thursday (February 14, 2008) and he is likely to get a nod from his colleagues. The minister said, Hijacking is an unpardonable crime and the government wants to send out a strong message. The new measures will flow from the anti-hijacking policy cleared by the Cabinet Committee on Security in August 2005. It allows shooting down of a hostile plane if there is conclusive evidence that it is likely to be used as a missile to blow up strategic establishments, on the lines of the 9/11 Al-Qaeda attacks in the US in 2001. The policy will recognise that, hijacked aircraft can be transformed into a hostile entity. These new amendments, will make the law more stringent, and has proposed death sentence for hijackers who use or seek to use the aircraft as a missile. The move was undertaken by the government with the aim to reduce the reaction time and has proposed that if an aircraft registered in India is hijacked, personnel at all airports will have the power to immobilise the same without seeking any permission from superior authorities. The airborne hijacked plane, according to the new proposal, will be immediately surrounded by fighter aircrafts within the Indian airspace. The Indian Air Force has been given the authority to take necessary steps for scrambling fighters to guard and guide the hijacked aircraft and force it to land on an Indian airport, according to the anti-hijack policy of 2005. India is yet too recover from the shocking IC 814 hijacking in 1999 where the Vajpayee government was forced to release three wanted criminals including
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----OHIO, TENN., IDAHO, PENN.
Feb. 14 OHIO: Former Prosecutor Says Ohio's Death Penalty System Works Bob Desanto says safeguards are in place to prevent the innocent from making it as far as the death chamber. The former Ashland County Prosecutor says Ohio's death penalty system works. Bob Desanto says safeguards are in place to prevent the innocent from making it as far as the death chamber. Desanto's talk at the Hawkins-Conard Student Center at Ashland University is part of the university's Dead Man Walking Project. This discourse on capital punishment will bring nationally known death penalty opponent Sister Helen Prejean to the Ashland campus next week. Ashland University's theatre department is producing the play, Dead Man Walking written by actor Tim Robbbins and based on the book by Sister Prejean. She will present a lecture and book signing on Saturday Feb.23 at 3 p.m. (source: WMFD News) TENNESSEE: Christian, Newsom suspect to face death penalty, trials still a year away It will be nearly a year before one of the accused murderers of Channon Christian and Christopher Newsom goes to trial. On Thursday, Judge Richard Baumgartner set Letalvis Cobbins' trial date for January 26th, 2009. Cobbins, Lemaricus Davidson, George Thomas, and Vanessa Coleman are all charged in connection with the young couple's murders. In the court room, the parents of the 2 victims never seemed to take their eyes off of the suspects. Vanessa Coleman was the 1st to be called in, and District Attorney Randy Nichols immediately turned in an intent to seek the death penalty against her. Colemans trial date has not yet been set for her yet, but she'll be back in court March 3rd to take up scheduling issues. Letalvis Cobbins, 25, will also face the death penalty in his trial, which Judge Baumgartner moved from May 12th to January 26th, 2009. Because Cobbins is the 1st of the 4 separate trials, the other 3 suspects also will not likely face trial until 2009. Judge Baumgartner said while the trial seems a long ways away, a capitol punishment case is not something you can rush, and it's typical for some trials to take up to 4 years to prepare. He went on to say the trial will take place in Knox County, but he won't decide on where the jury will come from until April 24th. Eric Boyd will go to trial in federal court on April 7th. He is accused of sheltering Lemaricus Davidson in a North Knoxville home right after last January's deadly carjacking. Davidson and George Thomas were not in court on Thursday, but have a hearing scheduled for March 3rd. (source: WVLT News) ** Prosecutors want death penalty for female defendant in carjacking murders Murder trials move closer for 2 suspects accused of killing a young Knox County couple. Channon Christian and Christopher Newsom were carjacked and murdered in January 2007. Vanessa Coleman and Letalvis Cobbins are 2 of the 4 that face a number of charges, including murder. Both Coleman and Cobbins had a motions hearing Thursday morning. District Attorney Randy Nichols dropped a bombshell at the beginning of Venessa Coleman's hearing. Nichols told the judge that the state will seek the death penalty for Coleman. After that development, her motions hearing was reset for March. Judge Richard Baumgartner ruled on more than 80 different motions in Latalvis Cobbins's hearing. One decision not made is whether there should be a change of venue. There have been demonstrations in this case, rallies and so forth. We expect that there will be more, Kimberly Parton, Cobbins's attorney told the judge. How can we say that the people in this jurisdiction can't be fair to a defendant without even asking them, judge? asked District Attorney Randy Nichols. How do we do that? Judge Baumgartner plans to rule on the change of venue in an upcoming hearing. Cobbins's attorney also accused law enforcement officials of raiding her client's jail cell, taking legal documents. The judge ruled that any handwritten letters from Cobbins to his attorney not be taken. The Knox County Sheriff's Department said the cell was raided prior to a court appearance, which is policy. They also said no legal documents were taken. Cobbins's trial is set for January 2009. He is also facing the death penalty. (source: WBIR News) IDAHO: Former Idaho Death Row Inmate Convicted in Retrial of Murdering Texas Couple A jury has convicted former death row inmate Mark Lankford of killing a Texas couple in 1983 in north Idaho. Lankford was granted a new trial after the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled he must be retried or released because of a jury instruction error in his 1st trial. Jurors in Wallace, Idaho, deliberated not quite 4 hours before finding Lankford guilty of 2 counts of 1st-degree murder in the beating deaths of 27-year-old U.S. Marine Capt. Robert Bravence, and his 24-year-old wife, Cheryl Bravence. Lankford and his younger brother, Bryan Lankford, were convicted of the
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----ARIZ., USA, NEB., OKLA., GA.
Feb. 14 ARIZONA: Cop killer's lawyer appeals sentence to state's top court The defense attorney for a man sentenced to death for the 2003 murder of a Tucson police officer argued to the Arizona Supreme Court on Thursday that jurors considering the sentence didn't sufficiently take into account mitigating factors. David Darby, an appellate attorney representing John Montenegro Cruz, said Cruz's attorney presented 17 mitigating factors that could have spared Cruz the death sentence while the prosecution offered one aggravating factor. It is our position that the jury abused its discretion in finding that the mitigating factors were not sufficiently substantial to call for leniency, Darby said. After a 6-week trial, a Pima County Superior Court jury convicted Cruz in 2005 of first-degree murder in the shooting death of Officer Patrick K. Hardesty. Authorities said Cruz, now 38, was fleeing the scene of a hit-and-run accident when Hardesty began chasing him on foot. Hardesty was the 1st Tucson police officer killed in the line of duty in more than 2 decades. Darby asked the justices to consider 22 issues ranging from jury selection to the fact that Cruz was forced during the trial to wear a belt capable of delivering an electric shock. The justices appeared particularly interested in the issue of residual doubt, the idea that even though a defendant has been convicted beyond a reasonable doubt there still is enough doubt to cause a jury to refrain from imposing a death sentence. Darby noted that there were no eyewitnesses to the killing. Darby argued that Judge Ted Borek should have allowed Cruz's attorney to present evidence to support the notion of residual doubt as a mitigating factor and should have instructed jurors on how to consider residual doubt in deciding the sentence. Instead, the defense was allowed only to mention the issue. Chief Justice Ruth McGregor said it is impossible to know what evidence influenced which jurors. She said the real question is whether the jury was reasonable in reaching its decision to sentence Cruz to death. Is there enough there that a reasonable jury could've reached this result? she asked. Why is there something wrong with doing it in this context? Because life is different, Darby responded. You're deciding whether or not a human being is going to live or die. Darby also argued that Cruz couldn't communicate with his attorney adequately during the trial because he was forced to wear a stun belt, a device that subdues with a strong electric shock. Kent Cattani, chief counsel of the state Attorney General Office's Capital Litigation Section, said Cruz's attorney had an opportunity to call for a hearing after Cruz complained about the belt but never did so. I think you would have to defer to the judges who are looking at the defendant and reading the reports and hearing from the correctional officers explaining why it's necessary in this case, Cattani said. In his appeal to the Supreme Court, Darby questioned whether it was acceptable to allow one of the state's witnesses to testify while intoxicated and whether the trial judge should have granted a mistrial over possible changes to the testimony of the state's DNA expert. The justices were to rule at a later date on whether Cruz is entitled to a new trial or resentencing. (source: Tucson Citizen) *** Supreme Court Upholds 2 Death Sentences The Arizona Supreme Court has upheld death sentences for a man convicted thanks to DNA in a cold-case investigation and another convicted in the contract killing of a Paradise Valley socialite. James Cornell Harrod was sentenced to death for the 1988 murder of Jeanne Tovrea. The widow of a cattle baron was shot to death at her home. Authorities alleged Tovrea's stepson was implicated but he was not charged in the case. Frank Dale McCray was sentenced to death for the 1987 murder of Chestene Cummins. McCray was charged while in prison on a sex crime after his DNA was found to match evidence in the Cummins murder 13 years earlier. Both men were resentenced in recent years as a result of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in an unrelated Arizona case. (source: KPHO News) USA: 9/11 Justice: Executing terrorists not in nation's best interest The U.S. government's plan to seek the death penalty against 6 Guantnamo Bay detainees in the Sept. 11 attacks is bound to have enthusiastic public appeal. It might seem fitting punishment for anyone found responsible for nearly 3,000 deaths, 600 more than in the Japanese ambush at Pearl Harbor. Yet the effort to assign guilt for the barbaric Sept. 11 raids this generation's own day of infamy should not end in an execution chamber. That would not be in this nation's best interest. Carrying out the death penalty would put the government's questionable and untested military tribunal system on trial simultaneously. It's a test the nation could not afford to fail as it tries to assert moral authority in
