[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, N.Y., MD., N.C., GA., FLA.
Jan. 3 TEXAS: Executions under Rick Perry, 2001-present-279 Executions in Texas: Dec. 7, 1982-present518 Perry #scheduled execution date-name-Tx. # 280Jan. 15--Richard Vasquez---519 *** *** Executions under Greg Abbott, 2015-present Executions in Texas: Dec. 7, 1982present Abbott#scheduled execution date-nameTx. # 1Jan. 21---Arnold Prieto520 2Jan. 28---Garcia White-521 3Jan. 29---Robert Ladd--522 4Feb. 4Donald Newbury-523 5Feb. 10---Les Bower, Jr.---524 6Mar. 5Rodney Reed-525 7Mar. 11---Manuel Vasquez-526 8Mar. 18---Randall Mays-527 9Apr. 9Kent Sprouse--528 10---Apr. 15---Manual Garza-529 11---Apr. 28---Robert Pruett--530 12---May 12Derrick Charles--531 (sources: TDCJ Rick Halperin) NEW YORK: Mario Cuomo a Rare Voice Against the Death Penalty in Tough on Crime EraAs Republicans and many Democrats rallied behind capital punishment, Cuomo never wavered in abolitionist views. Former New York Gov. Mario Cuomo opposed the death penalty at a time when it was favored by 3/4 of Americans. The progressive legacy of former New York Gov. Mario Cuomo, who died Thursday at the age of 82, spans many milestones, from calling out President Ronald Reagan's City on a Hill to expanding health care. His consistent opposition to the death penalty was especially notable, given the tough-on-crime rhetoric that reigned during much of his career. Over the course of his governorship, he vetoed 12 bills that would have reinstated the death penalty in the state - 1 for every year he was in office. The death penalty legitimizes the ultimate act of vengeance in the name of the state, violates fundamental human rights, fuels a mistaken belief by some that justice is being served and demeans those who strive to preserve human life and dignity, Cuomo said when vetoing one such proposal in 1991. At the time, the death penalty was wildly popular, both with politicians and with the public - for much of the 1980s and and early 1990s, more than 3/4 of Americans favored it. Some blamed Cuomo's defeat to fellow democrat Ed Koch in the 1977 mayoral run-off on Cuomo's opposition to capital punishment. However, once he won the New York governorship in 1982, Cuomo never backed away from his abolitionist views, even refusing to extradite convicted murderer Thomas Grasso, who was being incarcerated in the state, to Oklahoma, where Grasso had been sentenced to death. Meanwhile, the use of the capital punishment expanded across the country after the Supreme Court reversed a previous ruling that had suspended it and allowed Georgia execute a convicted murder in 1976. With new guidelines being set by the court, states reinstated the death penalty, many using lethal injection for the 1st time. During his 1992 presidential campaign, then-Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton returned to his home state to oversee the execution of a convicted murderer who was believed to be severely brain injured from when he tried to shoot himself. By 1994, Congress had passed a bill that added more than 40 federal offenses that could be punished by death penalty, including kidnappings that result in death, drive-by shootings that result in death, sexual abuses that result in death and certain drug-related crimes. A Roman Catholic, Cuomo's stance was moral one, but he often backed up his opposition to the death penalty by citing criminologists who said it didn't deter crime. As a deterrent, the death penalty is surprisingly ineffective, he wrote in his 1996 book Reason to Believe. No persuasive evidence exists that official state killing will make our citizens, or even our police officers, safer. There is, in fact, evidence to the contrary. He argued that crime was best prevented by bulking up other elements of the criminal justice system and as governor he expanded the state's prison system at a record rate. Nevertheless, his opposition to capital punishment made him a high-profile target for politicians seeking to gin up public support for being tough on crime. Violent drug-related murders or police shootings would revive the the criticisms. Any bad crime that would come along that would get attention from the media and public outrage ... the death penalty was brought up because New York didn't have it, says Richard Dieter, executive director of the Death
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----ALA., IND., MO., ARIZ.. USA
Jan. 3 ALABAMA: Legislature to consider bringing back Alabama's famed 'Yellow Mama' electric chair For 3/4 of a century (1927-2002), executions in Alabama were carried out using an electric chair dubbed Yellow Mama, a nickname it was given after being covered in the same paint used to stripe Alabama's highways. Mama has been in storage since 2002 when legislation was passed giving prisoners the ability to opt for lethal injection. But if one Republican state legislator has his way, the chair may be brought out of retirement. State Rep. Lynn Greer (R-Rogersville) told WSFA he plans to introduce legislation during the upcoming legislative session that would bring the chair back because of problems obtaining the drugs needed to conduct executions by lethal injection. Executions in Alabama are currently on hold because of a shortage of pentobarbital, 1 of 3 drugs that state utilizes when creating its execution cocktail. There is also a lawsuit pending in Alabama to compel the state to release secret details about its lethal injection procedures, including the names of the companies who supply the chemicals. Theoretically, an hour before an execution is carried out, the [Department of Corrections] could unilaterally decide to lethally inject a condemned inmate with any form of poison sufficient to effectuate death, even if the poison results in excruciating pain, and where painless alternatives are available, the lawsuit states. Rep. Greer says the holdups are costing taxpayers money because of the extended time death row inmates are cared for by the state. Those on death row today may be there for many many more years, because if we're using the lethal injection drugs and we don't have the drugs then we have no way of carrying out the process. he said. Yellow Mama is currently being stored in the attic of Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore. It was originally made by an inmate named Edward Mason, who was serving a 12 to 60 year sentence for burglary and gran larceny. Mason was given a month's furlough for making the chair, but after he left for his furlough he was never seen or heard from again. If Greer's legislation is passed, the chair would be taken down for use on current death row inmates. (source: Yellow Hammer News) *** Alabama officials: No interviews for condemned inmates Neither of the 2 men scheduled to die on Alabama's death row early this year will be able to speak to the media face-to-face before they're put to death, a prison official said. The Alabama Department of Corrections this week turned down The Anniston Star's request for an in-person interview with Thomas Arthur, who is scheduled for execution Feb. 19. Arthur had requested an interview in letters to the newspaper. In a brief email to The Star, Alabama Department of Corrections spokeswoman Latonya Burton said there will be no interviews of (the) condemned or those on death row based on a state law that limits access to condemned inmates. Under the law, only physicians, lawyers, relatives, friends and spiritual advisers may visit inmates on death row. Attempts to reach Burton for further comment on the policy were unsuccessful this week. Death row interviews are somewhat rare, because lawyers typically don't want their clients to give interviews, said Richard Dieter, director of the Death Penalty Information Center, a nonprofit that studies capital punishment. What usually happens is that the media wants the interview but the inmate or the inmate's lawyers don't want one, he said. He said it was unusual for a state to have a blanket policy denying interviews to inmates who request one. A person about to be executed certainly has something the public might want to hear and the media is the way the public would hear it, he said. Florida allows death row inmates to schedule interviews with individual reporters, and gives condemned prisoners a chance to speak with up to 30 reporters in a press conference on the day before they're executed. Tennessee prohibits media interviews with death row inmates, according to state regulations. Attempts to reach prison officials in Mississippi and Georgia for comment on their policies were not successful Friday. Janette Grantham, of the victims' rights group Victims of Crime and Leniency, said death row interviews only cause pain and suffering for the friends and family members of murder victims. There is nothing he can say that will help the victims, Grantham wrote in an e-mail. Grantham said a woman she knew, the mother of a murder victim, was so shocked that she had a stroke when she saw a former death row inmate hugging his girlfriend on a nationwide news program. Grantham didn't name the inmate, but said it was someone whose sentence was commuted when the Supreme Court ruled states can't kill inmates who were under 18 at the time of their crime. Those out there for a story
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide
Jan. 3 IRAN: Iranian Resistance calls to save 32 death row prisoners The lives of at least 32 prisoners on death row who have been subjected to beatings and torture in a Tehran prison are in danger and there is fear of their execution. The prisoners have been transferred to Tehran-e Bozorg (Laerger Tehran) Prison in the Hassan Abad district of the capital city from the Section 2 of Ghezel Hessar prison in the city of Karaj during the past few days. The prisoners are among those who been involved in a recent hunger strike in protest against a wave of group hangings in Ghezel Hessar prison. In order to further terrorize the prisoners, henchmen Rajabazaded and Norouzi severely tortured and battered the newly arrived prisoners at Tehran-e Bozorg Prison. Mr Javad Jahani, a 25-year-old student, was cruelly flogged and injured. Jahani has been arbitrarily detained along with his brother, Abedin, over 4 years ago. The Iranian Resistance calls on the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and all human rights defending bodies to adopt immediate and effective measures to save the lives of these prisoners and to prevent their harassment, torture and execution. (source: Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran) UNITED ARAB EMIRATES: Housemaid gets the death penalty for murdering 4-month-old baby by bashing its head on a wooden table because she was jealous of the child's nanny in Abu Dhabi An Indonesian housemaid who murdered a 4-month-old baby by bashing its head on a wooden table has had her death penalty upheld and her final appeal rejected. The defendant, named only as S.T., was accused of killing the child, Malak, out of jealousy of her Filipino nanny last year. Home security cameras captured the chilling moment the maid took the child out of its crib before returning its battered body 4 minutes later. It is believed that the baby's head was bashed against a table at the family home in Abu Dhabi, reports Gulf News. It was said she carried out the extraordinary attack on Malak - whose name means 'angel' - to get at her colleague, according to The National. The child's nanny, a Filipino woman, was in the shower at the time and came back to the sight of the injured baby struggling to breathe. She was rushed to the Sheikh Khalifa Hospital in the city, where doctors diagnosed her with a fractured skull and severe brain damage. She died on April 28 2013 - 2 weeks after the attack. In an attempt to frame her, the maid initially blamed Malak's nanny for the death - but admitted her guilt when she was presented with video footage of her actions. Prosecutors said that she resented her colleague because it was her job to care for Malak and her brother, while the convicted woman had to care for a sick grandmother. The defendant had already been sentenced to death after being found guilty at the Criminal Court of First Instance. But The Appeals Court then announced that it was cancelling the Criminal Court's verdict of the death sentence because it was invalid as S.T.'s defence was not serious enough. Defendants facing life in jail or the death penalty are entitled to a lawyer appointed by the court. The court is then responsible for monitoring the appointed lawyer's performance to see if they attend hearings, follow the case and present a 'serious defence'. The Appeals Court said that the defence attorney representing S.T. in the Criminal Court of first instance was not serious in presenting the defence and therefore the verdict that sentenced her to death was invalid. However, that verdict was upheld by the first Appeals Court to look at S.T.'s case, before being cessated, bounced back to the Appeals Court, and upheld for a 2nd time. Since the baby's family has insisted on the death penalty, the court sentenced her to death again. The verdict is to be carried out in the presence of the child's family and in a method chosen by the President of the UAE. All death sentences in the UAE are subject to 2 rounds of appeals, and if these both fail the common method of execution is firing squad. (source: Daily Mail) INDONESIA: Bali remand hard slog for accused Kiwi drug accused Antony de Malmanche Locked in a small concrete cell with 27 other men, 24 hours a day, with no direct sunlight, showering with a bucket and relying on the kindness of police for the necessities of life is not how Antony de Malmanche imagined his 1st trip to Bali. When the 52-year-old left his Wanganui flat, he was on the trip of a lifetime. Life had been cruel to him over the years, and this was his chance at real happiness. He had met a woman on the internet and thought he had found his soulmate. He never imagined that following his heart would land him in a dingy Indonesian jail accused of trying to smuggle 1.7kg of methamphetamine into the country and facing the death penalty. De Malmanche has
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----GA., ALA.
Jan. 3 GEORGIAimpending execution Laurens County cop killer set for execution A Georgia man convicted of killing a sheriff's deputy during a traffic stop in 1998 is set to be executed later this month, state corrections officials said Friday. Department of Corrections Commissioner Brian Owens has scheduled the execution of Andrew Howard Brannan, 66, for Jan. 13 at 7 p.m. at the state prison in Jackson, according to a department news release. Brannan was sentenced to die for the January 1998 slaying of 22-year-old Laurens County sheriff's deputy Kyle Dinkheller. The shooting was captured by the video camera on Dinkheller's patrol car. District attorney Craig Fraser, who tried the death-penalty phase of the case, said his thoughts and prayers were with all involved. It's been a 17-year-long journey for the family ... and I hope this brings closure for the family, Fraser said. Authorities have said Dinkheller stopped Brannan for driving 98 mph and demanded he take his hands from his pockets. Brannan then began cursing, dancing in the street and saying shoot me before he rushed the deputy. After a scuffle, Brannan pulled a high-powered rifle from his car and shot Dinkheller 9 times. Police found Brannan the next day hiding in a sleeping bag beneath a camouflage tarp about 100 yards from a house where they had tracked him after the shooting. He had been shot in the stomach, apparently by Dinkheller. A jury convicted him in 2000, and the Georgia Supreme Court upheld the conviction 2 years later. His trial attorney had argued an insanity defense and called expert witnesses who testified Brannan suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder, which had triggered a flashback to Vietnam. But a court-appointed psychiatrist concluded he was sane, and a Glynn County jury convicted him of murder. The trial was moved from Laurens County because of pretrial publicity. Brannan challenged the legality of his conviction and sentence in 2003, and a state court judge threw out both on grounds that his trial lawyer failed to present complete mental health defenses. Arguing before the Georgia Supreme Court in 2008, a lawyer for Brannan said the trial attorneys failed to uncover traumas Brannan had experienced in Vietnam and to present evidence that he also suffered from bipolar disorder. A lawyer for the state argued the investigation was thorough and the trial lawyers chose not to emphasize Brannan's bipolar disorder, in part because his post-traumatic stress disorder was better documented. The high court found that his trial counsel did an adequate job of presenting that defense. (source: Associated Press) ** Execution set for man who murdered deputy in 1998 The Georgia Department of Corrections on Friday set a Jan. 13 execution date for Andrew Howard Brannan, who murdered a 22-year-old Laurens County deputy during a 1998 traffic stop. If Brannan is put to death by lethal injection, he will be 2nd man Georgia has executed in little more than a month; Robert Holsey was executed on Dec. 9 for murdering a Baldwin County deputy. In January 1998, Laurens County deputy Kyle Dinkheller stopped Brannan on Interstate 16 for speeding, driving at 98 mph. All that happened after Brannan was pulled over was captured by a video camera on the deputy's car. According to the video shown the jury, Brannan got out of his truck and ignored Dinkheller's demands that he take his hands out of his pockets. Brannan swore at the deputy and began dancing on the road and yelling, shoot me. At one point he yelled he was a Vietnam combat veteran. Then Brannan rushed the the deputy and they struggled for a few moments until Brannan ran back to his truck and got a .30 M-1 carbine. He shot Dinkheller 9 times, including once at close range. In the trial, Brannan's attorney said he was insane and asked the jury to find him not guilty. The defense lawyer said Brannan had post traumatic stress disorder and would have flashbacks to his experience Vietnam. But according to the court-appointed psychiatrist, Brannan was sane. (source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution) ALABAMA: Should Alabama Bring Back the Electric Chair Named Yellow Mama? Should we sympathize with an Alabama legislator who is wringing his hands over the problem of executing those on Alabama's Death Row? State Representative Lynn Greer is behind a drive to revitalize the famous electric chair named Yellow Mama because of its color. Mr. Greer's dilemma is that the state, like some others, is having a problem obtaining lethal injection drugs that work. Apparently the last few times some states tried to use the lethal cocktails, the results were the writhing, foaming, tortured body of a man who has not been lethally injected but rather has been injected with a mix of drugs that are supposed to be quickly lethal. People witnessing these executions were
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide
Jan. 3 IRANexecutions 14 including 4 women hanged on New Year's Day The religious dictatorship ruling in Iran has hanged at least 14 prisoners on the New Year's Day in several prisons in 4 cities in Iran. A group of 4 women were hanged in Shahab prison in the city of Kerman (southern Iran). 2 prisoners were hanged in city of Bandar Abbas. Another group of 7 prisoners were hanged in Shahab prison. In Qazvin, a 38-year-old prisoner sent to gallows in Boeen Zahra prison. Meanwhile, the clerical regime's henchmen amputated a hand of a 30-year-old man in a prison in the northeastern city of Mashhad. The United Nations General Assembly last month slammed the violations of human rights by the Iranian regime. The resolution criticized the Iranian regime's use of inhuman punishments, including flogging and amputations. The UN's 61st resolution also censured the mullahs' dictatorship ruling Iran for the rise in executions, public executions and execution of juveniles. In this resolution, the UNGA condemned the Iranian regime for cruel, inhumane and degrading punishments, especially the flogging and amputation of limbs and hands. The Iranian regime unveiled a terrifying device in 2013 that they use to chop off fingers. The device that looks like something devised for a grisly horror movie operates as a circular saw that guillotines prisoners' fingers. Since Hassan Rouhani became president of the clerical regime, over 1,200 have been executed and hundreds more have been subjected to degrading and inhumane punishments such as amputation, flogging in public and being paraded in streets. The Iranian Resistance has repeatedly condemned the carrying out of medieval punishments and executions by the clerical regime in Iran and has called for referral of the regime's violations of human rights record to the United Nations Security Council. (source: NCR-Iran) ___ DeathPenalty mailing list DeathPenalty@lists.washlaw.edu http://lists.washlaw.edu/mailman/listinfo/deathpenalty Search the Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/deathpenalty@lists.washlaw.edu/ ~~~ A free service of WashLaw http://washlaw.edu (785)670.1088 ~~~
