[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide
April 5 INDONESIA: 2 charged with trafficking in dangerous drugs A woman and a man were jointly charged in a magistrates' court here yesterday for trafficking in dangerous drugs last month. No plea was taken from the Cynthia Chin, 26, and Taing Haw Kwong, 47, who appeared before Magistrate Zubaidah Sharkawi. Zubaidah ordered both accused to be further remanded in jail as the offence is non-bailable. They face 2 charges under Section 39B (1)(a) of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952, which provides for a mandatory death penalty. Under the 1st charge, the duo are accused of trafficking 5.784kg (gross weight) of ecstasy, while under the 2nd charge they are accused of trafficking 1.028kg of syabu. The offences were allegedly committed at an apartment along Jalan Lapangan Terbang here around noon on March 23. Counsel Lim Lian Kee represented both accused. (source: Borneo Post) BELARUS: see: http://www.amnestyusa.org/get-involved/take-action-now/belarus-halt-execution-of-ivan-kulesh-ua-26615 (source: Amnesty International USA) IRAN: Over 1000 executions in Iran in 2015 Richard Ashworth, a Member of the European Parliament from the United Kingdom, has reiterated that the Iranian regime's president Hassan Rouhani is not a 'moderate' as he claims to be. Mr. Ashworth, who is a strong supporter of freedom and democracy in Iran, pointed to over 1000 executions carried out in Iran in 2015 under Rouhani's watch. Text of remarks by Richard Ashworth MEP: "We were very happy to host Mrs. Maryam Rajavi in the European Parliament last week. She received great support from many members of the parliament, who came from all of the different political groups. And we were all there to demonstrate our support for her vision for a free and democratic Iran, an Iran that is free from nuclear ambitions, an Iran which is free from the death penalty and an Iran that can once again be a valued partner in a peaceful world; not a threat. We have to remind our governments that Iranian President Rouhani is not a moderate. Over 1000 people were hanged last year in Iran which has made it the number one executioner state in the world. And with a human rights record like that, no state could ever claim to be moderate. The recent elections in Iran were not real. How can they be when the opposition candidates are not allowed to run? That's not an election, that's a selection within the ruling power itself. And therefore we in the European Parliament will continue our efforts and continue to support the democratic opposition until the day we get a truly free democratic election being held in Iran. Thank you." Members of the European Parliament have spoken out in support of human rights and democracy in Iran through support for the democratic opposition led by Mrs. Maryam Rajavi. (source: NCR-Iran) SAUDI ARABIA: Pressure Saudi Arabia to halt executions of protesters, Keith Ellison asks John Kerry, as 2016 beheadings break records Congressman voices concerns about Saudi death sentences in letter, after monarchy has executed 82 people this year Rep. Keith Ellison is calling on the federal government to pressure its close ally Saudi Arabia to pardon 3 young activists who were sentenced to death for attending protests. Rep. Ellison (D-Minnesota) wrote a letter to Secretary of State John Kerry on April 1. In the letter, which was obtained by Salon, Ellison requested Kerry's "direct intervention to ensure the protection of 3 juveniles sentenced to death for protesting in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia." Ali al-Nimr, Dawood al-Marhoon and Abdullah al-Zaher were arrested for attending peaceful political protests while they were aged 17, 17 and 15, respectively. The Saudi youths were subsequently tortured, and forced to sign confessions, a common practice in the Saudi criminal justice system. Eventually, all 3 were sentenced to death. Al-Nimr was sentenced to not just beheading, but also to crucifixion. The United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child, along with numerous human rights organizations, has criticized the Saudi regime for the death sentences. Saudi is also party to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which bans the use of the death penalty for people who committed crimes when younger than age 18. News reports indicate that Saudi Arabia may execute the young men at any time. Their families are not able to stay in contact with them, and only hear updates on their cases through media reports. "Many of the individuals sentenced to death alongside Ali, Dawood and Abdullah have already been executed, including a number of juveniles aged between 13 and 17 at the time of their arrest," Rep. Ellison noted in his letter. "This includes one of the boys" co-defendants, Mi al-Ribh, who was just 17 at the time of his arrest," he continued. "His family was only notified of their son's execution when the Saudi Ministry of
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, OHIO, MO.
April 5 TEXASimpending execution South Texas man set to die said he drank victim's blood Pablo Lucio Vasquez remembered getting drunk and high on an April evening in 1998 before leaving a party with his 15-year-old cousin and his cousin's 12-year-old friend. Vasquez later would tell detectives that as they reached a wooden shed, he started hearing voices telling him to kill the younger boy, David Cardenas. So he hit the 7th-grader in the head from behind with a pipe, cut his throat and lifted the still-conscious victim so blood would drip on the 20-year-old Vasquez's face. "Something just told me to drink," Vasquez said in a videotaped statement to police in Donna, a small town in Texas' Rio Grande Valley. "You drink what?" a detective asked. "His blood," Vasquez replied. Vasquez, now 38, is set for lethal injection Wednesday for what police speculated at the time may have been an attempted satanic cult crime. Evidence of that nature, however, didn't surface at Vasquez's 1999 capital murder trial or in appeals, where courts as recent as last month rejected arguments that Vasquez was mentally ill and should be exempt from the death penalty. His execution would be the 11th this year nationally and the 6th in Texas. Vasquez's lawyer, James Keegan, has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to stop the punishment so the justices can consider arguments that several potential jurors were excluded improperly at Vasquez's trial because they either were opposed to the death penalty or not comfortable making such a judgment. A death sentence shouldn't be carried out if it was reached by a jury that rejected members "simply because they voiced general objections to the death penalty or expressed conscientious or religious scruples against its infliction," Keegan told the high court, which did not immediately rule on the appeal. 18 years ago this month, Cardenas, who lived with his sister about 5 miles from Donna, was spending the weekend with Vasquez's cousin, 15-year-old Andres Rafael Chapa. Both went to a party on April 18 and were seen rolling marijuana cigarettes; Vasquez also attended. Police received an anonymous tip about the slaying that led them to Chapa and eventually to Vasquez, who was arrested in Conroe, a Houston suburb more than 325 miles north of Donna. Authorities found the body - missing some limbs - 5 days later under scraps of aluminum in a vacant field. A blood trail showed it was dragged to the site, including across a 4-lane main street in Donna. "They decided they were going to try to take his head off with a shovel and didn't realize that it was a lot more difficult to cut someone's head off," Joseph Orendain, the lead trial prosecutor, recalled last week. "It was a mutilated body left behind. ... It was really horrendous." Vasquez, who said he took a gold ring and necklace from Cardenas, told police that Chapa participated in trying to decapitate the boy. "The devil was telling me to take [the head] away from him," Vasquez said, adding that "it couldn't come off." Chapa pleaded guilty to a murder charge for his involvement and is serving a 35-year prison term. 3 other relatives of Chapa and Vasquez received probation and a small fine for helping cover up the slaying. 1 of them was deported to Guatemala. Vasquez declined an interview request from The Associated Press as his execution date neared. His statement to police fueled speculation about satanism, but Orendain said he had no idea whether that connection could be made. "He was really just a sociopath," Orendain said. (source: Dallas Morning News) OHIO: Cleveland serial killer Anthony Sowell fights death sentence, Ohio Supreme Court to hear appealSowell's attorney's to argue for a new trial The Ohio Supreme Court will hear oral arguments Tuesday for a new trial for condemned serial killer Anthony Sowell, who killed 11 women and hid their bodies in and around his home. Sowell, 56, was convicted and sentenced to death in 2011. Sowell's new attorneys are fighting the death sentence for their client. They claimed that his original defense attorneys wasted time challenging the evidence against Sowell, when they should have focused on sparing him the death penalty, based on Sowell's chaotic childhood and background, ABC News reported. Sowell's attorneys also said the judge in the case should not have closed a July 2010 hearing in which lawyers argued over a video of Sowell's police interview. In addition, they argued that the judge shouldn't have put the individual questioning of potential jurors off limits to the public, the Associated Press reported. Sowell's victims were black, homeless, drug- or alcohol-addicted women, who ranged in age from 25 to 52; some of their families filed police reports, others were used to long unexplained absences and didn't bother, the Washington Post reported. According to the authorities, he seemed harmless
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide
April 5 MALAYSIA: Kevin Morais murder trial to commence tomorrow The trial of 7 men, including a doctor, charged with murdering and abetting in the murder of deputy public prosecutor Anthony Kevin Morais will begin tomorrow. Deputy public prosecutor Abdul Razak Musa when contacted said the High Court had fixed 16 days for hearing, before justice Azman Abdullah. The trial dates are as follows: April 6 until April 15; May 3 until May 6; June 6 until June 8; and June 27 until June 28. The prosecution would be calling 60 witnesses. Counsel N Sivananthan who is representing the doctor and army pathologist, Colonel Dr K Kunaseegaran said he was ready for the trial. "As far as I am concerned my client has absolutely nothing to do with the death of Kevin and he did not aid or abet it in any manner whatsoever," he said when asked on his client's case. Last Jan 27, the 6 men - G Gunasekaran, 43; R Dinishwaran, 23; A Thinesh Kumar, 22; M Vishwanath, 25; S Nimalan, 22; and S Ravichandaran, 34, had pleaded not guilty when charged. They allegedly committed the offence between 7am and 8pm on Sept 4, 2015, between Jalan Dutamas Raya Sentul and No. 1 Jalan USJ1/6D, Subang Jaya. They face the mandatory death penalty if convicted under Section 302 of the Penal Code, while Kunaseegaran, 52, had pleaded not guilty to abetting the 6 men in Kevin's murder at the same place, date and time. He is charged under Section 109 of the Penal Code, read together with Section 302 of the same act. Pleaded not guilty to alternative charges On March 28, Nimalan and Thinesh Kumar pleaded not guilty to alternative charges of helping to hide the body and causing Kevin Morais??? death. Nimalan, a college student, allegedly helped in hiding the body and destroying a vehicle with the intention of preventing six others from facing legal action. The charge under Section 201 of the Penal Code provides for a maximum jail term of 7 years and fine upon conviction. Thinesh Kumar, an unemployed, allegedly with six other individuals caused Kevin's death on the way between Jalan Dutamas 1 in Kuala Lumpur and No 20, Desa Mentari, Petaling Jaya on Sept 4, 2015, between 7am and 11.30am. He allegedly committed culpable homicide not amounting to murder, under Section 304(a) of the Penal Code, which carries a maximum imprisonment of 30 years and a fine upon conviction. By rejecting the alternative charges offered, both Nimalan and Thinesh Kumar are still jointly charged under Section 302 of Penal Code. Kevin Morais was reported missing on Sept 4 last year. He was last seen leaving his apartment at Menara Duta in Kuala Lumpur in a Proton Perdana car bearing registration number WA6264Q. His remains were found in a cemented drum at Persiaran Subang Mewah, Subang Jaya, near Kuala Lumpur on Sept 16 last year. Gunasekaran, Vishwanath, Nimalan and Ravichandaran will be defended by counsel V Rajehgopal while Dinishwaran and Thinesh Kumar, by M Manoharan. (source: malaysiakini.com) INDONESIA: Death row Sarawakian to know fate today A Sarawakian in death row will know his fate today when the Singapore Court of Appeal decides on whether he will be executed or have his sentence reduced. Kho Jabing, 31, from Ulu Baram was granted a stay of execution in November last year after his lawyer filed a motion, raising doubts over the handling of the case. He was sentenced to death in 2010 for the murder of a Chinese construction worker with a piece of wood in 2008 during a robbery attempt in Singapore. However following revisions to Singapore's mandatory death penalty laws in August 2013, a Singapore High Court sentenced him to life imprisonment and to be given 24 strokes of the cane instead. The prosecution subsequently appealed against the decision before the Court of Appeal which reinstated Jabing's death sentence. In October last year, Singapore president Tony Tan rejected a clemency petition before a stay of execution by the Court of Appeal. (source: theborneopost.com) SINGAPORE: Convicted murderer Jabing Kho to hang after failing in bid to commute death sentence Convicted murderer Jabing Kho's 11th-hour bid to quash his death sentence, which he made last year less than 24 hours before he was due to be hanged, has failed. A 5-judge Court of Appeal - the same panel that gave a 3-2 split decision in favour of sending him to the gallows last year - on Tuesday (April 5) unanimously threw out the Malaysian's bid to escape the hangman's noose. Kho's mother and sister, who were present in court, sobbed loudly upon hearing the verdict. In 2008, Kho, 31, who is from Sarawak, bludgeoned Chinese national Cao Ruyin, 40, with a tree branch while robbing him, together with an accomplice. Mr Cao died of head injuries 6 days later. Kho has gone through many twists and turns since he and his accomplice were given the death penalty - then mandatory for murder - in
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----ARK., NEB., ARIZ., USA
April 5 ARKANSAS: Lawyers challenge execution drugs' no-disclose ruling The state's execution law is unconstitutional and the Arkansas Supreme Court should uphold a lower court's ruling that voided the law's language that kept the source of its killing drugs a secret, attorneys argued Monday. The 2 lawyers representing a group of death row inmates filed their arguments with the high court in response to an appeal from the attorney general's office seeking to undo the December order from a Pulaski County circuit judge that compelled prison officials to disclose the drug supplier. The attorneys, Jeff Rosenzweig and John Williams, filed notice that they seek oral arguments for the appeal. The attorney general's office had also asked in February that the case be argued orally. Among their arguments, the attorneys said that Act 1096 of 2015 -- which promised drug suppliers anonymity out of fear of boycotts and harassment from groups opposed to the death penalty -- violated public disclosure laws. State prison officials have said that the secrecy provision was necessary in order to find a supply of execution drugs. One of those drugs will expire in June, and prison officials have testified that they have not lined up another source. In December, Circuit Judge Wendell Griffen ruled that such a secrecy provision was untenable. Monday's brief argued the same, claiming that prisoners had a right to inspect the source of the drugs purchased for their execution and that prison officials did not demonstrate a need for the secrecy. "The introduction of yet another drug handler -- one the State has also refused to identify -- simply raises more questions ... If the drugs are supplied or handled by a disreputable entity -- including whatever entity did the [quality] testing -- it is more likely they are contaminated or mishandled in a manner that would result in unacceptable pain to the prisoners [during execution]," the attorneys wrote. "[In Griffen's court] the State presented no proof of that its future ability to conduct executions depends on concealment. In fact, the record evidence shows the contrary. [Prison officials said] the supplier of drugs currently on hand previously required secrecy, but it no longer wishes to sell the State any drugs, even with the secrecy law in place." Arkansas has not executed anyone since 2005 because of a chain of legal challenges and difficulties in acquiring execution drugs. Shortly after Act 1096 was signed into law, Rosenzweig filed suit on behalf of 9 inmates on death row, 8 of whom were scheduled by Gov. Asa Hutchinson for execution last September. Inmates argued that, beyond the secrecy, the drug used in the process, midazolam, could result in botched executions and violate their right to be free of "cruel or unusual punishment" as set in the Arkansas Constitution. They also argued that the new law was voided by a prior agreement between prison officials and the inmates to share information about the source of execution drugs. The inmates' executions were stayed by the Supreme Court in October. The court later stayed Griffen's December ruling that the gag order in the state law was unconstitutional and that the state would have to disclose the source of the drugs. In the arguments filed Monday, attorneys wrote that even if the Supreme Court doesn't void the entire law as unconstitutional, it should send the matter back to Griffen's court to settle whether midazolam is a "cruel or unusual" means of execution. State attorneys are expected to file a response brief in coming weeks. (source: arkansasonline.com) NEBRASKA: Learning about death penalty Before voters go to the polls on Nov. 8 to vote on whether they want to put the death penalty back on the books in Nebraska, they ought to think about the learning process undergone by Christy Sheppard. If voters are able to put themselves in her shoes, they too are likely to reach the same conclusion Sheppard did: the death penalty should be abolished. Sheppard shared her story last week in appearances in Omaha, Grand Island, Kearney and Hastings. Sheppard was a supporter of the death penalty when here cousin was raped and murdered in 1982. She was a supporter of the death penalty when 2 men were arrested in 1987 and charged with murdering her cousin. Upon conviction, Ron Williamson was sentenced to death, and Dennis Fritz was sentenced to life in prison. Then 11 years later DNA testing proved that Williamson and Fritz had been wrongfully convicted. The initial reaction of the family to the release of the men they believed to be the killers was shock and disbelief, "What about all the other evidence and testimony? Does it just vanish?" she asked rhetorically. The case became the basis for "The Innocent Man," John Grisham's 1st nonfiction book. Ultimately the same DNA evidence that led to the exoneration of Williamson and Fritz
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, N.Y., VA., FLA., OHIO
April 5 TEXASimpending execution 'Vampire' killer who scalped 12-year-old boy then drank his blood to be executed tomorrow A murderer who cut the throat of a 12-year-old boy, drank his blood and sickeningly mutilated the body will be executed tomorrow. Pablo Lucio Vasquez, 38, killed 12-year-old David Cardenas in April 1998 in the town of Donna in Texas. On the night of the murder Vasquez, then 20, attended a party with his 15-year-old cousin Andy Chapa and met the boy. Afterwards the 3 were walking home when when Vasquez - who was drunk and high on cocaine - picked up a pipe and hit David over the head, then cut his throat. The cousins took David's body to a field, where they scalped him, cut off one of his arms and part of the other and removed the skin from his back. They also robbed him and then attempted to crudely hide the body under aluminium sheets. Vazquez was quickly picked up by police and admitted the murder. He also told officers he had drunk his blood. Chapa later testified that Vasquez killed the boy because the child did not "give him what he wanted." During his trial, Vasquez said: "The devil was telling me to take [David's head] away from him." On a videotaped confession shown to the jury, he said: "One side of my head said, 'You did wrong'. "The other side said, 'Keep doing it. Keep doing it'."' The Austin Chronicle reported that Vasquez argued that he had serious learning difficulties and is mentally ill, and therefore incompetent and should not be executed. Judges rejected the claim. Vasquez, if his sentence is carried out, will be the 6th Texan executed this year, and the 536th since the state reinstated the death penalty in 1976. Chapa was sentenced to 35 years in prison after pleading guilty for his role. 3 others were convicted of helping to cover-up the murder. (source: mirror.co.uk) NEW YORK Winston Moseley, murderer of Kitty Genovese, dies in prison The man who killed Kitty Genovese, the woman whose public slaying on a quiet Queens street became a symbol of witness indifference and the big city's collective apathy, has died in prison 52 years after his gruesome crime, state officials said. Winston Moseley, 81, formerly of South Ozone Park, was pronounced dead at 3:10 p.m. on March 28 at Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, said Patrick Bailey, a spokesman for the state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision. The cause of death has not been determined, but Moseley's body was scheduled for an autopsy, officials said. He was serving a sentence of 20 years to life on convictions for murder, 2nd-degree robbery and 2nd-degree attempted kidnapping. He was originally given a death sentence but that was reduced to life in June 1967 shortly after the state's death penalty was abolished. A state appellate panel ruled that the court did not properly consider Moseley's mental health. Moseley later confessed to killing at least 2 other women. Moseley's crimes were committed in Queens and Erie County, but he was best known for the chilling March 13, 1964, stabbing death of Catherine "Kitty" Genovese, 28, of Kew Gardens, for which he was convicted on June 11, 1964. Genovese, who was randomly targeted after she drove home from her job as manager of a bar in Hollis, parked in a Long Island Rail Road parking lot and was stalked, raped and stabbed to death in 2 attacks occurring over half an hour as residents - it was rumored and later debunked - heard her screams and glanced out of their windows, but did not move to call police or intervene. The alleged reluctance of witnesses to get involved despite Genovese's bloodcurdling shouts seemed to symbolize the apathy of the nation's largest city as its citizens were loath to get involved out of fear of reprisals: Reports in newspapers said as many as 38 witnesses from neighboring buildings did nothing to save Genovese. "The indifference of those people appalled me," Harold R. Florea of Wantagh told Newsday in April 1964 as he started a neighborhood watch group. "It may be due partly to fear. But it seems to me it's mostly an ingrained reluctance on the part of bystanders to butt into somebody else's business." The crime was a case study for law, psychology and criminal justice students. For decades, it was a sobering cautionary tale, detailed in history books and retold by campus public safety experts during college orientation. It gave rise to the term "Genovese effect" or the "bystander effect." The bystander effect refers to the fact that people are less likely to offer help when they are in a group than when they are alone," wrote Melissa Burkley, professor of social psychology at Oklahoma State University, in Psychology Today. But a new book about the case, "Kitty Genovese: The Murder, the Bystanders, the Crime that Changed America," and an upcoming documentary, raise questions about whether the witnesses were
