[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----FLORIDA
FLORIDA: CLEMENCY SOUGHT AFTER 31 YEARS ON DEATH ROW Michael Lambrix is seeking commutation of his death sentence. If he is denied clemency, the Florida authorities will set an execution date. He has spent over half of his life on death row. Twenty-three years old when he was sent there in 1984, he turns 55 in March. View the full Urgent Action, including case information, addresses and sample messages, here. Clarence Moore and Aleisha Bryant were killed on 6 February 1983 and buried in a shallow grave near the trailer home that Cary Michael Lambrix shared with Frances Smith. The latter was arrested three days later on an unrelated matter and led police to the grave, a tire iron allegedly used as a murder weapon, and a shirt belonging to Michael Lambrix with blood on it. Michael Lambrix was charged with murder. His trial in 1983 ended in a mistrial after the jury could not agree on a verdict. At retrial in 1984, the jury voted to convict him of two counts of first-degree murder and recommended the death penalty, by 10 votes to two for one murder and eight to four for the other. Michael Lambrix maintains his innocence of pre-meditated murder, claiming that he acted in self-defense when Clarence Moore fatally attacked Aleisha Bryant and came at him when he tried to stop the assault. The prosecution’s key witness for its case against Michael Lambrix was Frances Smith, who testified that Lambrix had killed the victims. The judge did not allow the defense to raise prior inconsistent statements she had given to police. Deborah Hanzel, who was living with Smith’s cousin at the time, testified that Michael Lambrix had told her that he killed the victims. She recanted this in 2003, saying that Lambrix “never told me at any time or in any manner indicated to me that he killed the victims”. She said that Frances Smith had told her “she didn’t really know what happened outside but that Mr Lambrix had told her that the guy [Moore] went nuts and he had to hit him”. Deborah Hanzel said that she had lied because she had been asked by Smith to corroborate her story and had done so “due to the fear instilled in me” about Lambrix “by Frances Smith and state officials”. She was recanting now, she said, because “I cannot run from the truth. I do not want to feel the guilt anymore”. The trial jury did not hear compelling mitigating evidence of Michael Lambrix’s severely abusive childhood. According to evidence raised on appeal through numerous affidavits, he bore the brunt of his alcoholic father’s violence, which on occasion required the boy’s hospitalization. When Michael Lambrix was two years old his father kicked him off his tricycle and through a plate glass window, causing serious cuts and bleeding. On another occasion, he threw the boy against a wall that caused a cut “so deep that I could see his skull”, according to his mother, who “thought he was dead”. Physical and later sexual abuse continued after Michael Lambrix’s parents divorced and his father obtained custody of the children. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION Cary Michael Lambrix was one of seven children. In a sworn statement made during appeals, his mother recalled that after the birth of their first child, “my husband began using threats of violence toward the baby if I did not do what he wanted. These threats intensified with each child”. His mother contracted polio in 1957, leaving her “paralyzed on my right side from the waist down”. In her statement, she said that her husband would rape her on the special bed she had to use for polio treatment. She said that during her pregnancy with Michael, conceived in such a rape, her husband “constantly assaulted me”. Michael was born in March 1960 and his mother filed for divorce in 1965, obtaining a temporary restraining order against her husband. However, after a five-month hospitalization required when he threw her against a wall, she became less able to parent, and he was given custody of the children on the condition that he hire a full-time housekeeper. The father and housekeeper subsequently married, and according to the family she was also violent. “Though most us got beaten by both our father and our stepmother,” one of Michael’s sisters said in an affidavit, “Cary got beaten much more often, really every day, and he got it much worse too. He always had black and blue marks on his legs and back”. Neighbors and others also recognized signs of abuse, and signed affidavits to that effect. For example, one person wrote: “Through the years I recall seeing Cary come to school with black eyes and bruises up and down his arms… I recall one time I was with Cary and his father at a fast food restaurant. Cary was standing next to his father, who was ordering food. For no reason at all Cary’s father turned around and struck Cary hard in the face in front of me and others…” Another person who met Michael Lambrix as a young teenager and who became friends with him r
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----ALABAMA
Feb. 12 ALABAMAimpending execution 11th Circuit clears way for Tommy Arthur execution on Feb. 19 A federal appeals court is clearing the way for the execution of an Alabama inmate next week. The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday lifted a stay of execution for death row inmate Tommy Arthur. The decision came at the request of the state. The court says Arthur's execution can go ahead on Feb. 19. The court says Arthur can file additional challenges, but his attorneys need to do so quickly. Arthur contends Alabama's lethal injection method is unconstitutional. His lawyers say Alabama uses the same chemicals that led to botched executions in other states. Arthur has been on death row since 1983 for the contract killing of Muscle Shoals businessman Troy Wicker in 1982. He's successfully fought off multiple execution dates and says he is innocent. (source: Associated Press) ** Tommy Arthur, convicted in 1982 Muscle Shoals murder, now set for execution Feb. 19 Tommy Arthur, whose execution in Alabama has been delayed several times in recent years, is once again set to die by lethal injection. The new date is February 19, 2015 at Holman Prison in Atmore. He is 1 of Alabama's longest-serving death row inmates. On Thursday, the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals lifted its stay on Arthur's execution, paving the way for the state to put him to death. However, the court indicated Arthur still has the avenue of seeking an injunction or restraining order through federal district court. Arthur called WHNT News 19 collect on Thursday morning to inform us of this development in the case. Arthur was convicted of killing Muscle Shoals businessman Troy Wicker in 1982, in a murder-for-hire case. He's been on death row since 1983, with his execution being delayed at least 5 times. The latest delay had to do with Arthur's appeal of drugs used to execute inmates. His attorneys argue it could be cruel and unusual punishment. This is one of a number of appeals in different states over the new drug combinations used in lethal injections. (source: WHNT news) ___ 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 ~~~
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide
Feb. 12 INDONESIA: Bali 9: officials given all-clear to move pair for execution Indonesian officials have granted permission to transfer Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran out of Kerobokan jail Bali officials have been granted permission to transfer Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran out of Kerobokan jail for their executions. Momock Bambang Samiarso, head of Bali provincial prosecutors, said a meeting on Thursday afternoon confirmed the Bali Nine pair would be transferred to be executed outside of Bali. Prosecutors are trying to keep the transfer a secret, and the official avoided confirming the men would be taken to Nusakambangan, a prison island off central Java. "We ask it to be as soon as possible," he said. He also promised to give Chan, Sukumaran and their families the required 72 hours notice of their executions. The meeting came after heartfelt pleas in parliament by Julie Bishop and Tanya Plibersek, and the Indonesian foreign minister's reiteration that the men be dealt the ultimate punishment. In an at times emotional speech to federal parliament, Bishop said the Sydney pair's attempt to smuggle more than 8kg of heroin out of Indonesia in 2005 was a grave crime that deserved punishment. But they didn't deserve to pay with their lives. "Both men are deeply, sincerely remorseful for their actions," Bishop said. "Both men have made extraordinary efforts to rehabilitate." Opposition foreign affairs spokeswoman Tanya Plibersek followed with an equally powerful argument against the pair's executions. She reflected on her husband Michael Coutts-Trotter's drug conviction 30 years ago, and what a loss it would have been if he was punished with death. "They would have missed out on a man who spent the rest of his life making amends for the crime that he committed," she said. Indonesian foreign minister Retno Marsudi said she had received letters from both women and phone calls from the minister. Her replies were clear and consistent, she said. "I have told Julie that this is not against a country, this is not against nationals of a certain country, but this is against a crime, against an extraordinary crime," she told reporters in Jakarta. "We will keep on communicating, explaining, in consistent language like that." While Indonesia and Australia keep trading views on the death penalty to no effect for Chan and Sukumaran, their families have continued visiting their prison daily. Artist Ben Quilty and Victorian supreme court Judge Lex Lasry joined them on Thursday. Only president Joko Widodo can save the men from execution but he gave a defiant vow this week not to succumb to outside pressure on the death penalty for drug felons. In her statement, Bishop said besides more than 55 ministerial and prime ministerial representations for the men, high-profile Australians had made "discreet overtures to their influential Indonesian contacts". The Indonesian government says around 18,000 deaths annually are due to drugs, but the researchers who compiled the report have said it was only ever intended to give a general picture of drug use. (source: The Guardian) * Bali 9 ringleaders to be moved to a new prison ahead of impending executions Indonesia ordered Bali 9 ringleaders Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran be moved to another prison ahead of their impending executions. Local authorities today received a permit letter ordering the men be moved from Kerobokan prison in coming days. A meeting will be held tomorrow where their execution date is expected to be decided. Indonesia's Attorney-General has requested the execution happen immediately, while the country???s foreign minister has told Julie Bishop the death penalty remained in place for "extraordinary crimes". Chan and Sukumaran were convicted of attempting to smuggle 8.3kg of heroin from Bali to Australia in 2005. The development comes as both sides of Australian politics made heartfelt pleas for the pair's lives to be spared. Ms Bishop told of an "excruciating" meeting she had with the families of the death-row accused. "They told me how it was virtually impossible to be strong for each other," Ms Bishop told parliament today. "How could anyone be failed to be moved?" - Opposition foreign affairs spokeswoman Tanya Plibersek has begged for the lives of Bali 9 drug smugglers Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran to be spared. Her Opposition counterpart Tanya Plibersek joined her in calling for clemency, telling the house she had a unique perspective into their plight. "I have a particular view about remorse and redemption - in 1988 my husband left prison after being convicted and sentenced to a very similar crime ... and he's spent the rest of his life making amends for his crime," she said. Ms Plibersek's husband, Michael Coutts-Trotter, was jailed in 1986 at age 21 for conspiracy to import narcotics. (source: 9n
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide
Feb. 12 IRAN: Awaiting my execution: A letter from Iran Saman Naseem, a member of Iran's Kurdish minority, is to be hung at dawn next Thursday, 19 February. We have just days to demand the Iranian government stops his execution. Saman was only 17 when he was arrested, and his 'confession' followed an extended period of torture. He was sentenced to death after an unfair trial for allegedly taking part in armed activities against the state. Saman describes what happened to him: Torture started as soon as I entered the cell. The cell itself had been designed with the sole aim of inflicting psychological torture: it was just two metres long and 50 cm wide, with a toilet. I could only lie down in it horizontally. There was a camera over my head which recorded all my movements, even when I was using the toilet. That was the start of 97 days of torture and suffering. During those first days, the level of torture was so high that I was left unable to walk. My entire body was black and blue. They hung me from my hands and feet for hours. I was blindfolded the whole time. I could not see the interrogators and torturers. They used all kinds of inhumane and illegal methods to try and extract confessions from me. They repeatedly told me that they had arrested members of my family including my father, my mother, and my brother. They told me that they would bury me with a digger. They told me that they would kill me right there and would cover my grave with cement. When I wanted to sleep at night, they would not let me rest. They would make noises in different ways, including by constantly banging on the door. I was between madness and consciousness. All 97 days passed like this. I was 17 years old. I was not allowed any contact with my family during this time. In an utterly inhumane act, they filmed my interrogations, when I was hanging between life and death, under pressure and the risk of torture. I can say now that those interviews are absolute lies and I deny their content. Later, a news report was released on state TV that implied I had been freed and had gone home. I was actually being sentenced to death, based on a 'confession' that had been pre-written. My trial was a show ... I was not given any opportunity to defend myself. The judge threatened to beat me a number of times and my lawyers were removed under pressure ... I could be executed at any moment. Saman could be executed as early as 19 February 2015 for crimes allegedly committed when he was 17 years old. He was sentenced to death after an unfair trial. Help us save Saman by tweeting the Supreme Leader of Iran @khamenei_ir urging him to stop the execution, which is unlawful under international law, given Saman's age when he was arrested. Suggested tweet: #Iran must halt #SamanNaseem's execution & end #DeathPenalty for juvenile offenders #SaveSaman #StopTorture http://bit.ly/1M8U9jQ @khamenei_ir (source: Amnesty International) SAUDI ARABIAexecution Saudi beheads Pakistani heroin trafficker Saudi Arabia on Thursday beheaded a convicted Pakistani drug smuggler, bringing to 29 the number of executions in the first 6 weeks of the year. Babir Hussein Mohammed Ishaq was found guilty of transporting heroin which he had ingested, the interior ministry said in a statement carried by the official Saudi Press Agency. His case brings to 29 the number of Saudis and foreigners executed in the kingdom this year, according to an AFP tally. The government says it is determined to combat narcotics but it has faced international criticism over its human rights record, including the use of the death penalty. Drug trafficking, rape, murder, apostasy and armed robbery are all punishable by death under the kingdom's strict version of Islamic sharia law. The Gulf nation executed 87 people last year, up from 78 in 2013. (source: The Peninsula) TUNISIA: A Moroccan Sentenced to Death for the Murder of a Child A Moroccan living in Tunisia will face the death penalty after he was convicted of killing a child. The court of first instance in the Tunisian city of Bizerte sentenced a Moroccan to death for the murder of 10-year-old Rabii Neffati back in December, 2010. 4 accomplices were also sentenced to death by the same court. Among the accused are the 2 aunts of the victim, the husband of 1 of them and his son. The court also fined the defendants 100,000 Tunisian Dinars each. (source: Morocco World News) PAKISTAN: Pakistani Christian, sentenced to death, denied family hug The family of a Pakistani Christian woman who is facing the death penalty for blasphemy is experiencing threats as they await her fate by a court. Asia Bibi, the 1st woman in Pakistan ever to be sentenced to death under the blasphemy law, was sentenced for insulting the prophet Muhammad, a charge she has denied. Her appeals case is pending before the highest court in Pakistan.
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----OKLA., S.DAK., WYO., MONT., USA
Feb. 12 OKLAHOMA: Oklahoma prisons boss to brief board on death penalty moratorium, prison overcrowding The head of Oklahoma's prison system is scheduled to brief the agency's governing board about the current status of executions in Oklahoma, as well as how the agency is grappling with prison overcrowding. The Board of Corrections is scheduled to meet Thursday afternoon at the John H. Lilley Correctional Center in Boley. The U.S. Supreme Court halted three scheduled lethal injections in Oklahoma while it considers whether the state's current three-drug method is constitutional. Oklahoma Department of Corrections Director Robert Patton also is expected to brief the board on how the state prison system is above 100 % capacity. The board is expected to meet behind closed doors to discuss 2 pending lawsuits against the agency, including the lethal injection challenge that is being reviewed by the U.S. Supreme Court. (source: Associated Press) SOUTH DAKOTA: Death penalty repeal dies in Pierre A legislative committee in Pierre on Wednesday killed a bill to repeal South Dakota's death penalty. The Senate State Affairs Committee voted 7-to-2 to kill the bill. KCCR Radio's Tony Mangan reported from Pierre that while current State Attorney General Marty Jackley testified against the bill, two former Republican state attorneys general testified in support of repealing capital punishment in South Dakota. A prime mover in Pierre for repeal of the death penalty is Sioux Falls Republican State Representative Steve Hickey who once was a strong supporter of capital punishment. (source: KELO news) ** Measures Addressing Victim's Opposition to Death Penalty Fail to Pass Committee 2 bills addressing a victim's opposition to the death penalty have been rejected by lawmakers. In criminal cases where the prosecution is pursuing the death penalty jurors are not allowed to hear testimony on the family's wishes or the victim's views on the death penalty. House Bill 1158 would change this. If a victim opposed the death penalty during his or her life, House Bill 1158 would allow the jury to receive this evidence during a pre-sentence hearing. Denny Davis is with South Dakotans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty. He says this measure gives victims a voice. "Why would we not want to give the victim's family or the victim a voice in the trial that's going to take another person's life," says Davis. Opponents say the measure allows evidence that is normally deemed hearsay and inadmissible in court. The House State Affairs Committee also heard testimony on a companion bill. House Bill 1159 would add a check box to the state's driver's license application allowing a person to indicate if they are for or against the death penalty. The box would be similar to the organ donor check box, however, the information would remain confidential until it was needed at trial. Members of the House State Affairs Committee rejected both measures. (source: South Dakota Public Broadcasting) WYOMING: Bill to Allow Firing Squads as a 2nd Option For Death Row Inmates Expected To Pass House A bill allowing firing squads to be used as a 2nd option after lethal injections for death row inmates is expected to pass the house tomorrow. "It seems like we are moving back in time instead of forward which is a concern," said Rep. Mary Throne. This bill has a lot of support even though a handful of legislators have opposed it from the start and say its embarrassing. Representatives in favor of the bill say the state needs another execution method. "The society has the responsibility to if they are going to have an execution they have the responsibility to make sure they have the most humane method possible," said Rep. Nathan Winters. Representative winters, A pastor, says he spoke for the death penalty in committee, but had questions on this bill. He says lethal injection is still the best way to execute inmates. "When someone commits a heinous act we don't have to respond in the same kind of cruelty that they perpetuated on a victim," said Winters. Lethal injection drugs have been limited by European drug companies because of opposition to the death penalty in the European union. Legislators think now is the time to act. "I think the manufacturers have the right to say no we don't have to do that, that's why we don't have doctors carrying out executions," said Rep. Charles Pelkey. "I don't like the fact that policy and law that we would pass in the state of Wyoming would be dictated by a foreign country," said Winters. "I don't think that the least populated state in the country would affect how the European Union does business," said Throne. An amendment passed in the house would now have inmates set for a firing squad execution to be put under anesthesia and unconscious when shot. The senate has to agree on
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, PENN., FLA., OHIO, KY., KAN.
Feb. 12 TEXAS: Prosecutor seeking death penalty for man accused of killing father and daughter The Brazos County District Attorney's Office will seek the death penalty against the man accused of killing Mac and Noel Devin days after being released from a state prison. Prosecutor Brian Baker filed the notice in the 361st District Court on Wednesday. Dennis Wayne Brown III, 35, was arrested at the El Camino Motel on April 7, 2014, after an off-duty Bryan police officer noticed Noel Devin's stolen vehicle in the motel parking lot. The day before, firefighters battling a fire at a home in the 2000 block of Vinewood Drive had discovered Noel Devin and her father Mac Devin's bodies inside. Investigators said the fire was started by igniting fuel-soaked rags. Originally charged with state jail felony unauthorized use of a motor vehicle, 2nd-degree felony burglary and 1st-degree felony arson, Brown was also indicted in May 2014 on a capital murder charge in connection with the stabbing deaths of the 32-year-old Aggie and her 63-year-old father, who was also a Texas A&M graduate. A trial date has not been set. (source: The Eagle) PENNSYLVANIA: Pa. man facing possible death sentence Authorities have wanted to put Hugo Selenski away on murder charges ever since they searched his northeastern Pennsylvania yard in 2003 and found the bodies of a missing pharmacist, the pharmacist's girlfriend, and at least 3 other sets of human remains. It took nearly a dozen years and one failed prosecution, but they finally got their man on Wednesday after a jury convicted the 41-year-old career criminal in the strangling deaths of pharmacist Michael Kerkowski and Tammy Fassett. Selenski, already serving a long prison sentence on unrelated robbery charges, now faces a potential death sentence after the jury concluded he killed the couple during a 2002 robbery and buried their bodies behind his house. He had little to say as he was led out of the courthouse. "Not now," he told reporters. "I always told all of you that I will talk to you when this is over, and I will do that. No questions right now." Prosecutors said Selenski and a co-conspirator brutally beat Kerkowski to compel him to reveal the location of tens of thousands of dollars he kept in his house, then used flex ties to strangle him and Fassett. Authorities found their decomposing bodies on Selenski's property about a year later. A few months after his 2003 arrest, he escaped from prison using a rope fashioned from bed sheets and spent three days on the run before turning himself in. The jury reached its verdict after deliberating more than 11 hours over 2 days. It convicted Selenski of 8 of 10 counts, including 1st-degree murder and robbery, and must now decide whether to send him to death row or give him life in prison without parole. The penalty phase will start Tuesday. Prosecutors and defense lawyers, under a gag order, were unable to comment on the verdict. One of Selenski's sisters cried quietly and left the courtroom after hearing it. The victims' relatives remained stoic, hugging prosecutors after the jury exited. "13 years," murmured Kerkowski's mother, Geraldine Kerkowski, who had testified against her son's killer and, from the witness stand, ordered him to wipe the smirk off his face. Later Wednesday, Selenski's brother Ronald Selenski Jr. rushed toward an elevator holding the victims' relatives and prosecutors and pointed a finger at them. Sheriff's deputies walked him away from the elevator and put him in handcuffs. It wasn't immediately clear whether he would be charged. Hugo Selenski has been a familiar face in northeastern Pennsylvania since his 2003 arrest on charges he killed a pair of drug dealers whose charred remains also were found on the property north of Wilkes-Barre. In 2006, a jury acquitted him of one homicide and deadlocked on another but convicted him of abusing the men's corpses. After the verdict, authorities immediately charged him with killing Kerkowski and Fassett. Kerkowski, from Hunlock Creek, had pleaded guilty to running a prescription drug ring that netted at least $800,000 and was about to be sentenced when he and Fassett were reported missing in May 2002. They were both 37 years old. The defense contended Selenski was framed by another man, Paul Weakley, who led police to the bodies in Selenski's yard. Weakley later pleaded guilty in federal court, testified against Selenski to avoid the death penalty and could ask for a reduction of his life prison sentence because of his cooperation. Weakley, who met Selenski in prison in the 1990s, told jurors how he plotted with Selenski to kill Kerkowski and then helped him carry out the crimes and bury the bodies. He described how he and Selenski bound the victims and covered their eyes with duct tape. Weakley said Kerkowski, who was beaten with a rolling pin, told them where to
