[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide
Feb. 11 SINGAPORE: Masseuse charged with murder of boyfriend A masseuse was charged at the Magistrate Court here today with the murder of her boyfriend last month. Ng Choon Wah, 53, together with another suspect who is still at large, is accused of causing the death of Ng Kin Hock, 52, at a house in Taman Bahagia here at about 12.30 am on Jan 28. The victim's body was found at a rubber plantation in Jalan Nyior 3 days after the murder. Choon Wah was charged under Section 302 of the Penal Code, which carries the mandatory death penalty upon conviction. She nodded when asked if she understood the charge after it was read in front of Magistrate Nuruhuda Mohd Yusof. No bail was offered for the accused. Deputy Public Prosecutor Norafiah Saini appeared for the prosecution. Nuruhuda then set March 24 for mention of the case. (source: New Straits Times) IRAN: Death Sentence Is Tehran's Answer To Ahwazi Calls For Freedom The human rights situation has been worsening quickly in Iran. More than 2,000 people have been hung during Hassan Rouhani's tenure as President of the regime. This is the biggest scale of executions in the past 25 years. These mass executions will be added to the black pages of the Iranian regime's history of human rights violations since the Iranian revolution in 1979. The large-scale execution of political and ideological prisoners has resulted in Iran being named one of the top countries committing executions per capita during the past few years. Unlocked from its sanction-based constrictions, Iran is now fully free to underwrite terror and carry out more executions against Ahwazi Arab and throughout the country. 5 Ahwazi are facing imminent execution in public. The names of these Ahwazi Arab prisoners are QaisObeidawi, HamoodObeidawi, Mohammad Helfi, Mehdi Moarabi and Mehdi Sayahi. The 5 men were condemned following a trial filled withheinous violations of the judiciary process by the Revolutionary Court of mullahs in Iran. These prisoners were arrested in April 2015 and on Tuesday, June 16, 2015, were brought in front of television cameras of Press TV by Ministry of Information to make public confessions of about their fictional crimes. Farhad Afsharnya, the regime's supposed Chief Justice for the AL- Ahwaz region saidthe execution of the 5 Arabs was confirmed, it will be ratified by the court and execution will be carried out in public. These Ahwazi activists were only concerned with advancing cultural and social awareness for the cause of Ahwaz people and were not connected to an armed struggle against the state. The Iranian regime has stepped up its ferocious crackdown against Ahwazis and all none- Persian activists after the tension between Iran and its neighbours heightened as a result of Iran's involvement in Middle Eastern wars, such as in Syria and Yemen. Similar sentences have been issued in closed rather than public court proceedings, give a substantial reason to conclude that the Iranian judicial system only pay lip service to any idea of due process. Furthermore, it becomes apparent that human rights are overlooked by any president while the judicial system is not independent. These executions might occur anytime soon after Iranian parliamentary election at the end of February. The Iranian regime's massive hypocrisy in condemning Saudi Arabia's questionable human rights record is breathtaking. Any use of the term "moderate" in connection with Iran's president Hassan Rouhani is ludicrous hyperbole; he is simply the president elected from the list of candidates chosen for the position by the Guardian Council, consisting of 12 Islamic theologians and Jurists, according to the Iranian constitution. Under the constitution, secular candidates or those who fail to embrace the Islamic Republic's theocratic hardline Shiite values are nominally capable of being selected but, in reality, are not. The parliament or Masjid has little power over the regime's religious courts to stop or even slow down the rate of executions, with the courts routinely issuing verdicts without even hearing evidence or investigating the charges against accused individuals as might be expected under legal systems elsewhere in the world. 1 example of the Iranian regime's legal system is the common charge of muharebeh or 'enmity to God,' routinely used against human rights activists and dissidents, which invariably receives the death penalty, often administered in public by stoning or mass hangings by cranes. Many of those hanged take up to 20 minutes to die slowly and painfully of strangulation. The victims' bodies are left for some time before being removed as a way of intimidating the public into silence. Since Hassan Rouhani took office in 2013, over 2,000 Iranians, including women, many of them Ahwazi Arabs, Kurdish and Baluchi Sunnis, have been executed, almost all after ludicrous kangaroo trials in which they
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----GA., FLA., USA
Feb. 11 GEORGIAimpending execution Georgia Gives Travis Hittson Execution Date of February 17, 2016 Travis Clinton Hittson is scheduled to be executed at 7 pm EST, on Wednesday, February 17, 2016, at the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison in Jackson, Georgia. 44-year-old Travis is convicted of the murder of 20-year-old Conway Uttereck on April 5, 1992, in Warner Robbins, Georgia. Travis has spent the last 23 years of his life on Georgia's death row. Travis was deprived of affection growing up and rarely received affirmation from others, leading to depression and the belief that no one could love him. Travis was enlisted in the US Navy. Many shipmates testified that he was good-natured, although dim-witted. He worked hard and was eager to please. He was also known to drink frequently and do stupid things when drunk. He did not have a prior criminal record. Travis Hittson, Edward Vollmer and Conway Utterbeck were all stationed together aboard the USS Forrestal, an aircraft carrier based in Pensacola, Florida. All 3 men were members of the electrical division of the engineering department. Vollmer and Hittson were on the same work detail, while Utterbeck had a different assignment in the same area of the ship. On Friday, April 3, 1992, Vollmer invited Hittson and Utterbeck to his parents house in Warner Robins, Georgia, for the weekend. The 3 men arrived at the house late Friday evening. They spent most of the day on Saturday hanging around the house. In the evening, Vollmer and Hittson began drinking. They eventually left the house, leaving Utterbeck alone. During the early morning hours of Sunday, April 5, 1992, Vollmer and Hittson headed back to the house. Hittson alleged he was "very drunk" by that time. During the drive back, Vollmer told Hittson that Utterbeck had a hit list with their names on it and that Utterbeck was going to kill both of them. When the 2 men arrived back at the house, Vollmer put on a bulletproof vest and long branch coat and took 2 guns from his vehicle. He gave Hittson an aluminum bat that was also in the car. Vollmer told Hittson that Utterbeck was inside waiting to shoot them. Hittson entered the house first and found Utterbeck asleep on a recliner. Hittson struck him on the head with the bat. Utterbeck woke up and attempted to defend himself while Hittson struck him 2 more times, enough to subdue Utterbeck. Utterbeck, however, remained conscious. Vollmer entered the kitchen, where Hittson had dragged Utterbeck, and gave Hittson a firearm. Utterbeck asked "what did I ever do to you?" and begged for his life. Hittson shot Utterbeck point blank in the head. Hittson and Vollmer stripped and robbed Utterbeck before going to a nearby restaurant to eat. They then returned to the house to clean up. Vollmer instructed Hittson to dismember the body, first using a serrated steak knife, then a hacksaw from a tool shed. Hittson, at Vollmer's instruction, cut off one of Utterbeck's hands before being to saw off the head. When Hittson became sick, Vollmer finished sawing off the head, the other hand, and both feet. Vollmer also skinned part of Utterbeck, including his genitalia. Hittson denied participating in such mutilation. The duo wrapped the body parts in plastic bags. They buried the torso in a shallow grave in a nearby wooded area. Upon returning to the house, a local women noticed the car, the odd location, and the out of state plates. She wrote down the license plate number and identifying information about the vehicle. She turned this information over to police after Utterbeck's body was discover 2 months later. Hittson and Vollmer spent the remainder of the day cleaning up evidence of their crime, including hiding evidence from 2 individuals who came by the house. The left to return to Pensacola that evening. They disposed of Utterbeck's clothing and ID in a nearby dumpster and attempted to find a suitable place to bury Utterbeck's hands, head, and feet. The reported to work on Monday, April 6, with body parts still in their trunk. That night, they buried the remaining body parts in shallow holes in a nearby wooded area. Utterbeck was noted as missing and when questioned, Vollmer and Hittson claimed that they had dropped Utterbeck off at a bar on their way back on that Monday. Utterbeck's torso was discovered on June 16, 1992, by loggers. Police were unable to identify the torso. The report from the women about the strange car had taken down the license plate incorrectly, preventing police from immediately identifying it as belonging to Vollmer. The Navy, in its attempts to locate Utterbeck, sent a request to other law enforcement agencies for information regarding unidentified bodies matching Utterbeck's description. Georgia police responded the same day regarding their unidentified torso. Vollmer and Hittson were once again questioned, this time by the Navy and the Georgia pol
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, CONN., VA., N.C., GA., FLA., ALA., MISS., LA.
Feb. 11 TEXASimpending execution Death Watch: Double Death PenaltyGarcia, convicted of capital murder, contends that his confessions were improperly admitted as evidence In Jan. 1991, 19-year-old Gustavo Garcia, his wife, and a 3rd accomplice, 15-year-old Christopher Vargas, stepped into a Plano convenience store for a robbery and ultimately shot and killed the store clerk, 18-year-old Gregory Martin, while he was on the phone with his pregnant girlfriend. The girlfriend, who heard the shotgun blast, called police, who arrived on the scene to find Garcia's wife, Sheila Maria Garcia, outside by a gas pump. Garcia was hiding inside one of the store's coolers. During interrogations, police were able to link Garcia to the December slaying of 43-year-old Plano liquor store clerk Craig Turski. Garcia confessed to that murder via written statement: "I killed the clerk with the shotgun," he wrote. He was charged with capital murder for both slayings but only tried in Turski's death. Vargas was convicted of capital murder in Martin's death and sentenced to life in prison. Garcia went to trial in Dec. 1991. On Dec. 19, he was handed the death penalty. A Dec. 1994 decision from the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals overturned the decision, however, noting that Garcia's written confession did not include the necessary language indicating that Garcia "knowing[ly], intelligent[ly], and voluntar[il]y" waived his right to remain silent during interrogations. The sentence was later reinstated during a follow-up hearing. In late Nov. 1998, Garcia was 1 of 7 inmates in Huntsville's Ellis Unit who took part in an elaborate attempt to escape the prison. One succeeded, though he drowned in a lake shortly after jumping the prison wall. Garcia and 5 others surrendered while still on the Huntsville grounds. In June 2000, Garcia was granted a new sentencing hearing (along with 5 others) after the Texas Attorney General learned that former Texas Department of Criminal Justice Chief Psychologist Dr. Walter Quijano testified that Garcia could be a continued threat to society if he was given a life sentence simply because he was Hispanic. But Garcia was handed another death sentence in March of 2001. On Jan. 19, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to review Garcia's case without comment. Through his attorneys, Garcia, now 42, continues to contend that his confessions were improperly admitted as evidence, and that he did not receive adequate counseling during his trial. With his execution scheduled for Feb. 16, Garcia stands to be the 3rd Texan executed this year, and the 534th since the state reinstated the death penalty in 1976. (source: Austin Chronicle) Court upholds death penalty for man who killed Ofc. Jaime Padron The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has issued an option to uphold the death penalty for the man who is currently on death row for the 2012 murder of Austin Police Officer Jaime Padron. After reviewing Brandon Daniel's case, the court ruled the case had no merit and, "Consequently, we affirm the trial court's judgment and sentence of death." When an individual is sentenced to death, the case is automatically appealed to the Court of Criminal Appeals. Daniel was found guilty of capital murder and sentenced to death in February 2014. A few weeks after his trial, Daniel sent Judge Brenda Kennedy a letter stating why he wanted to waive any and all of his appeals. In the letter, Daniel wrote: "I want justice to be served and I feel that the punishment is appropriate for my crime; we are both interested in saving the taxpayer's money, the time of all involved and in sparing my family and the victim's family anymore angst than necessary; and finally, I would like to limit my time in prison to the least amount possible." By waiving all appeals, officials say the execution process could happen within 2 years. The Texas Department of Criminal Justice says inmates that receive capital punishment stay on death row an average of nearly 11 years before being put to death. (source: KXAN news) *** Attorney: Death penalty may be out in family massacre case The attorney for a man accused of fatally shooting 8 people at a suburban Houston home says his client may be intellectually disqualified for a death sentence if convicted. Philip Scardino is the lead attorney for David Ray Conley, who's charged with 3 capital murder counts and accused of shooting dead his estranged ex-girlfriend, her husband and 6 children, including his own son. Scardino tells the Houston Chronicle (http://bit.ly/20ML6Pw) that Conley is undergoing tests and the results aren't yet available, but there's some indication that that he may have "an intellectual disability." The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that the intellectually disabled are disqualified from execution. Harris County District Attorney Devon Anderson has made no
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide
Feb. 11 BANGLADESH: Death penalty won't be abolished in Bangladesh: Huq Law Minister Anisul Huq has dismissed the chances of an abolition of the death penalty in Bangladesh. However, he has said the government will try to avoid capital punishment in future laws. He spoke of the government stance while talking to reporters after a views-exchange meeting with a delegation of the European Parliament in Dhaka on Thursday. The minister said, "When the issue of the death penalty was raised, I told them unambiguously that the laws which now provide for the death penalty would not be changed." "We'll try to do that (abolishing the death penalty) when we enact new laws in future. Since capital punishment is not that much acceptable as punishment, we'll bring about changes," he added. "But if we think capital punishment is the best weapon to combat any serious crime, the death penalty may remain in a relevant new law," Huq said. The European Union has long been urging Bangladesh to scrap the death penalty. It made the call even as Bangladesh executed several war criminals after their conviction by war crimes tribunals. (source: bdnews24.com) *** HC upholds death penalty in ex-UK envoy Anwar attack case The High Court has reinstated a lower court's verdict that convicted 5 Huji militants for the assassination attempt on former British High Commissioner Anwar Choudhury which killed 3 people and left more than 70 others injured at the shrine of Hazrat Shahjalal in Sylhet. The bench of Justice M Enayetur Rahim and Justice Amir Hossain gave the verdict in the murder case on Thursday afternoon. The court started hearing on the death references on January 6 this year. Anwar, currently serving as the British Ambassador to Peru, along with 70 others sustained injuries in the attack launched after the Jumma prayers on May 21, 2004. Hailing from Sylhet, Anwar served as the British High Commissioner to Bangladesh until 2008. 3 militants of banned militant outfit Harkat-ul Jihad al-Islami Bangladesh (HujiB) - Mufti Abdul Hannan, Sharif Shahedul Alam Bipul, and Md Delwar Hossain alias Ripon - were sentenced to death while 2 others - Hannan's brother Muhibullah alias Muhibur Rahman alias Ovi and Mufti Mainuddin Khaja alias Abu Jandal - given life-term jail by the Sylhet Divisional Speedy Trial Tribunal on December 23, 2008. Another case was filed over the use of explosives is currently under trial at a Sylhet court. In his confessional statement, Hannan said that Jandal had supplied the grenades through Bipul and Ripon. HujiB received the grenades from Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT). (source: Dhaka Tribune) Bangladesh upholds Islamists' death sentence for UK envoy attack Mufti Abdul Hannan was behind a number of deadly grenade attacks including on a rally of current PM Sheikh Hasina in Aug 2004. A Bangladesh court Thursday upheld the death sentence of a top Islamist militant and 2 of his followers for a 2004 failed assassination attack on the British ambassador that left three people dead. The High Court dismissed appeals by Mufti Abdul Hannan, head of Harkatul Jihad Al Islami, and two members of the banned militant Islamist group who have all been convicted over a spate of deadly attacks. "The High Court has upheld the verdict. Unless they make another appeal in the country's highest court, there is now no bar to their execution," deputy attorney general Sheikh Moniruzzaman Kabir said. "Mufti Abdul Hannan was behind a number of deadly grenade attacks including on a rally of current Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in August 2004 in which more than 20 people were killed," he said. There was no comment from the defence lawyers, who did not turn up for the verdict. The trio were convicted of murder and masterminding the grenade attack in May 2004 on then British high commissioner Anwar Choudhury, who was only slightly injured. The attack came just weeks after the Bangladeshi-born diplomat took up the post and occurred as he was visiting a historic Sufi shrine in the northeastern city of Sylhet. The High Court also on Thursday upheld life sentences for 2 other militants for their roles in the blast that left 3 worshippers dead and scores injured. The British High Commission had welcomed the conviction of those involved but opposed the use of the death penalty. Police said at the time of the attack that the group was plotting "to avenge the deaths of Muslims in Iraq and across the world by America and Britain". (source: Deccan Chronicle) PAKISTAN: Pakistan army confirms death sentences for 12 militants Pakistan has hanged nearly 350 inmates, mostly routine criminals, since lifting a 2008 moratorium on executions in 2014. The death sentences of 12 hardcore militants was confirmed on Thursday by army Chief General Raheel Sharif, days after they were given death penalty by the military courts
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----OHIO, MO., OKLA., KAN., S. DAK., COLO., UTAH
Feb. 11 OHIO: High court upholds decision overturning death sentence for convicted killer of YSU student The Ohio Supreme Court is refusing to reconsider its decision overturning he death sentence of a man convicted of killing a Youngstown State University student 30 years ago. The state's high court revealed on Wednesday that it was rejecting the Mahoning County Prosecutor's motion to reconsider last year's ruling in the case of 58-year-old Bennie Adams. In a 5-2 decision handed down last October, the justices said that the state failed to prove that Adams committed aggravated burglary as part of his killing of Gina Tenney in 1985. A burglary conviction was needed along with guilty verdicts on rape, kidnapping and aggravated robbery charges to qualify Adams for the death penalty, according to the ruling. The prosecution argued that the bottom line is that the jury unanimously agreed that Defendant purposely caused the death of Gina Tenney while committing aggravated murder. Prosectuor Paul Gains said that Adams,"essentially stalked his young neighbor until he eventually forced his way into her apartment, hit her, raped her, strangled her with a cord, tied her wrists, suffocated her, stole her car, dumped her body in the river, tried to get money from her bank account, returned to her apartment to steal her television, and cleaned up trace evidence with her potholder." The case has been sent back to Mahoning County for re-sentencing, which cannot include the death penalty. Adams was long a suspect in Tenney's killing but was not charged until 2007 based on newly developed DNA evidence. (source: WFMJ news) MISSOURI: Budget Change Could Defund Death Penalty in MO A proposed change in the state budget could allow opponents of the death penalty to attempt to pull funding for it. Members of Missouri's execution team are paid in cash to keep their identities hidden, per the law - that includes the doctor that administers a lethal injection and a compounding pharmacy that makes the pentobarbital used. That money has come out of a fund for expenses and equipment in the Department of Corrections' budget, so state lawmakers and others looking at the budget didn't know how much was spent on executions. A House subcommittee approved Representative Jeremy LaFaver's (D-Kansas City) proposal to create a specific line in the budget for executions. "Including it in the budget in this fashion I think is going to allow for a little better transparency and tracking of this important task that our state does," said LaFaver. If his action stands, legislators who oppose the death penalty could now see where it's funded in the budget and by how much, and could propose pulling that money. LaFaver wouldn't say if a proposal to pull the money for executions will be offered. The idea passed a mostly-Republican committee chaired by Representative Kathie Conway (R-St. Charles), who says she supports the need for transparency as long as no identities of execution team members are released. Conway also said there is little chance an effort to defund executions would clear the Republican legislature. "From what I heard happened in the Senate [Monday], yes I think that most Republicans are [in favor of the death penalty]. Personally, I am," said Conway. On Monday the state Senate debated a proposed repeal of the death penalty. Most Republicans spoke against it and the issue was tabled. The line LaFaver's action created includes a proposed amount of half-a-million dollars. Conway expressed concern about tying up that much money with the expectation that few executions will be scheduled during the 12 months it covers, beginning July 1. LaFaver agreed to offer an amendment to reduce that amount to more closely reflect the execution-related expenses the Corrections Department expects, but he also wants additional money to cover potential federal fines. He referred to the Corrections Department Director, George Lombardi, last week telling the budget committee that the state has not issued federal tax reporting forms, or 1099s, to members of its execution team going back to the mid 1980s. LaFaver said money in that line beyond the projected costs of executions, "would also allow for the payment of any penalties that would be assessed to the state from the IRS for not complying with the federal tax law requirements of issuing a 1099." LaFaver said he will work to come up with a figure more reflective of potential execution costs and IRS penalties to propose to the full budget committee when it considers the corrections budget. The full budget committee is the next stop for that bill. (source: ozarksfirst.com) OKLAHOMA: New Oklahoma prisons chief: Facilities crumbling, morale low A longtime Republican political operative who previously headed the Federal Emergency Management Agency has the daunting task of leading Oklahoma's ove
