[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide
Sept. 7 TURKEY: Minister: No talks on death penalty in Turkish parliament Reinstating the death penalty in Turkey hasn't been put up for consideration by the country's parliament, the TRT Haber news channel quoted Turkey's Minister for the EU Affairs Omer Celik as saying Sept.7. The minister noted that for the present, Turkish parliament doesn't plan to consider this issue. Turkey cancelled the death penalty in 2001. Reinstating the death penalty was discussed after the military coup attempt in Turkey. On July 15 evening, Turkish authorities said a military coup attempt took place in the country. Meanwhile, a group of servicemen announced about transition of power to them. However, the rebelling servicemen started to surrender July 16 and Turkish authorities said the coup attempt failed. Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had said the death toll as a result of the military coup attempt stood at 246, excluding the coup plotters, and over 2,000 people were wounded. Erdogan declared a 3-month state of emergency in Turkey on July 20. (source: Trend News Agency) IRAN: Iran regime Supreme leader and former President were directly linked to the executions. Mohammad Mohaddessin, Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the National Council of Resistance of Iran exposed identities of dozens of officials responsible for 1988 massacre of 30,000 political prisoners in Iran, according to intelligence obtained by the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI or MEK), most of the institutions of the Iranian regime are run by the perpetrators of the 1988 massacre of 30,000 political prisoners. About 59 of the most senior officials responsible for this massacre, whose names had remained secret for nearly three decades are currently holding key positions in the various institutions of the regime. These individuals were members of the "Death Commissions" in Tehran and 10 other Iranian provinces. cnsnews.com in an article by Faycal Benhassain covers the main topics of this conference, here is the full text: Iran Mass Execution Allegations: Khamenei, Rafsanjani Accused Iran's supreme leader and a prominent former president - who is sometimes described as a 'moderate' in the Iranian context - are the latest senior Iranians to be accused of involvement in themass executions of imprisoned dissidents almost 3 decades ago. The National Council of Resistance of Iran/People's Mujahedeen Organization of Iran (NCRI/MEK), an exiled opposition group, held a press conference in Paris Tuesday to make public the names of prominent Iranians allegedly involved in the killings. It said supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and former President Hashemi Rafsanjani were directly linked to the executions. The unpunished killings returned to the public eye last month when the son of a senior ayatollah, who dies in 2009, released an audio recording of a meeting between his father and members of one of the "death commissions" that oversaw the executions. In the recording released by Ahmad Montazeri, Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri expressed his strong opposition to the executions, carried out in the late 1980s during the tenure of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. "Killing is the wrong way to resist against ideas," Montazeri said in the 1988 clip. "It is in my opinion the greatest crime committed during the Islamic Revolution for which history will condemn us." Montazeri had been nominated as Khomeini's successor until falling out with the clerical regime over his criticisms. After Khomeini's death the supreme leader post went to Khamenei, a former president, who holds it to this day. During Tuesday's press conference Mohammad Mohaddessin, chairman of the NCRI???s foreign affairs committee, said the executions of political prisoners occurred mostly in the weeks after a fatwa (religious edict) was issued by Khomeini in 1988. "A death commission was created in Tehran and in 10 other Iranian provinces to conduct the fatwa," he said. "Until now only the names of the members of the death commission in Tehran had been exposed, since Khomeini himself appointed them." "Now we have more names of members involved in the massacre and we are making them public." Mohaddessin said they included Khamenei - president and a key regime decision-maker at the time - as well as Rafsanjani, who at the time was parliamentary speaker, but went on to serve 2 terms as president, from 1989-1997. (Since then, Rafsanjani has headed 2 of the regime's most important institutions - the Assembly of Experts, a body of top religious scholars which nominates the supreme leader, and the Expediency Council, a body that advises the supreme leader. He still holds the latter post.) Another prominent Iranian implicated in the executions was Ali Fallahian, who at the time was a deputy intelligence minister, then went on to become intelligence minister during the
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----N.MEX., NEV., CALIF., WASH., USA
Sept. 7 NEW MEXICO: Most survey respondents back governor's call for reinstating death penalty Most respondents to last week's Observer survey support Gov. Susana Martinez's call for reinstating the death penalty for those convicted of killing children or law enforcement officers. The Observer noted that the governor intends to push for the measure change in the 2017 Legislature and asked readers, "Do you support the governor's position?" According to the survey: --113 checked the reply, "I fully support the governor." --38 checked, "No. Reinstating the death penalty would be a step backward for the state of New Mexico and should never be accepted." --14 replied, "I did not support the death penalty, but recent events involving the deaths of police officers and children have changed my mind." --1 replied, "No opinion." (source: rrobserver.com) NEVADA: Death penalty trial for a man accused in rape, murder of 15-year-old postponed The death penalty trial for a man accused in the rape and murder of a 15-year-old Arbor View High School freshman was postponed Tuesday after his lawyers said they wanted a hearing on his mental capacity. A psychiatrist hired by Deputy Public Defender Christy Craig found that 24-year-old Javier Righetti has an IQ that ranges between 65 and 75, and he has the "inability to remove himself from a bad idea." Prosecutors said they are not opposed to the hearing, but asked District Judge Michelle Leavitt for time to conduct their own tests on Righetti. In March, the judge tossed out Righetti's guilty to 1st-degree murder in the September 2011 death of Alyssa Otremba. Prosecutors said Righetti's admission did not meet their requirements. He also pleaded guilty to 9 other counts, including 1st-degree kidnapping and sexual assault with a child. Righetti's plea did not include a theory of liability that included "willful, deliberate and premeditated" murder, which prosecutors said must be included in the agreement. Chief Deputy District Attorney Giancarlo Pesci said at the time that prosecutors cut no deal with Righetti, and that he was supposed to plead guilty to every charge alleged. Defense attorneys appealed to the Nevada Supreme Court, which has yet to make a ruling. Righetti told Las Vegas police that after raping Alyssa in September 2011, he tortured her by using a knife to stab her more than 80 times in the face and other body parts, according to authorities. He carved the initials "LV" on the freshman???s body because he felt it was "gangster" and returned later to burn the body, authorities said. The slaying occurred on the Friday that ended Alyssa's 1st week at Arbor View High School. She had stayed home from school that day after not feeling well in the morning. But she wanted to pick up a textbook from a classmate so she could do her homework for the weekend. A report from psychiatrist George Woods stated that Righetti met criteria for "mild intellectual disability" and has trouble understanding direction. "The term 'mildly impaired' should not be taken lightly," Woods wrote. "In neuropsychological parlance, mildly impaired speaks of significant brain injury, with 90 % or more of the general population able to perform tasks better than the impaired individual." In 2002, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that executing inmates with "mental retardation" violates the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment. At Pesci's request, the judge allowed an expert hired by the prosecution to examine and interview Righetti without defense attorneys present. (source: Las Vegas Review-Journal) CALIFORNIA: Possible motive revealed in double homicide A Tehama County man charged with murder in the shooting deaths of his ex-wife and her father last year was hustled out of Superior Court Tuesday after disrupting his proceedings with an angry outburst over the safety of his daughters. John Wayne Noonkester, scheduled to begin standing trial March 8 and who still possibly faces the death penalty if convicted, was removed from court after interrupting the judge, demanding his right to speak and claiming his 2 children were in the care of a "pedophile-loving" member of his ex-wife's family. Taken from court and shouting over his shoulder"they're still not safe," Noonkester could have returned to court to make his statements if he simmered down, Judge C. Todd Bottke said. But his defense attorney, Joe Gazzigli, said that would not be necessary. As possible settlement negotiations continue, Noonkester, 33, was ordered in January to stand trial on 2 counts of 1st-degree murder and other charges in connection with a July 3, 2015, shooting rampage that left his ex-wife, Kimberlee Thomas, 29, and her father, Keith Thomas, 53, dead outside the Little Country Store in Lake California after an argument. Noonkester's shooting rampage may have been partially sparked by his belief that
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide
Sept. 7 UNITED KINGDOM/ETHIOPIA: Government sued by daughter of man on Ethiopia's death row The 9-year-old daughter of a British activist facing execution in Ethiopia is suing the British government for failing to press for her father's release.Menabe Tsege's case against the Foreign Office will be heard at the High Court in London today. Her lawyers began judicial proceedings over ministers' handling of the case of her father, Andargachew "Andy" Tsege, a British citizen and exiled leader of Ethiopian opposition movement Ginbot 7. He was kidnapped in June 2014 while transiting through Yemen and illegally rendered to Ethiopia, where he had been sentenced to death at a trial in absentia in 2009. According to the lawyers, the illegality of Mr Tsege's kidnapping, detention and death sentence makes the British government's stance unlawful. The Foreign Office has not requested his release but has merely asked the Ethiopian government to allow him access to a lawyer. International human rights organisation Reprieve warned that Mr Tsege has no chance of receiving a fair trial. "It's clear that Andy faces no prospect of due process in Ethiopia, as he's already received an illegal in absentia death sentence which the Ethiopian government has confirmed he has no hope of appealing," said Maya Foa, director of the death penalty team at Reprieve. "The British government must not allow Andy's abuse to go on any longer. It must urgently call for his release, so that he can return to his family in London."During a visit to Ethiopia in June, then foreign secretary Philip Hammond said he had "received a commitment from the prime minister that Mr Tsege will be allowed access to independent legal advice," but this promise has yet to be kept. Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson published an open letter on August 26 pledging that the government would continue to request that Mr Tsege be allowed access to legal representation and seek to ensure that the death sentence is not carried out. "Britain does not interfere in the legal systems of other countries by challenging convictions," Mr Johnson added. (source: The Morning Star) KENYA: No hanging since 1987: Is death penalty still relevant? As the state collects Kenyans' views on the death penalty and life imprisonment, the fact that no one has been executed since 1987, capital offences are increasing and prisons are congested, raises more questions than answers. Should the 2 punishments be abolished and replaced with alternative punishments that are lesser but equally deterrent? Should what constitutes capital crimes be redefined to include the corruption offences plaguing the country? While lawyers say the right to life is inalienable, some members of the public say capital punishment should be retained for serial killers, terrorists and sexual offenders. The public's views, collected since June by the Power of Mercy Advisory Committee (Pomac), will inform a policy on restructuring the country???s correctional system. There are about 3,000 inmates on death sentence and life imprisonment in various maximum correctional facilities. Currently, only murder, robbery with violence, some military offences, treason and oathing for crime by proscribed groups, including terrorist groups, are classified as capital offences. They are punishable by death or life imprisonment upon conviction. Some sexual and drug trafficking offences attract the 2 forms of capital punishment, although they are not listed as capital offences in the penal code. During debates, some people said corruption offences should be classified among capital crimes that should attract capital punishment. "The last time a death row convict was executed was 1987, but judges and magistrates still hang convicts because legally, death sentence is the only punishment prescribed by the law for convicts of such offences," Pomac vice chairperson Regina Boisabi said at Nairobi West Prison. "Some of them have been pardoned and released by the President after our recommendations, but the number changes every day, depending on outcomes of judgments and rulings delivered on appeals on daily basis," she said. Search for answers Pomac, chaired by Attorney General Githu Muigai, has held public debates in 19 counties and intends to visit the rest in six months. It is also using the meetings to get public opinion on the legal, political and administrative measures necessary to manage capital offenders and administer capital punishment. Participants include the National Crime Research Centre, prisons and human rights defenders. Makau Masila, an inmate serving a 7-year jail term in Nairobi West Prison, said after 15 to 25 years in jail, a death row convict or prisoner on life sentence should be set free, depending on post-conviction behaviour. He said there are inmates serving capital punishment who get reformed and fully rehabilitated and
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, N.H., N.C, ., FLA., MISS., OHIO
Sept. 7 TEXAS: Death penalty does not represent justice I strongly disagree with the recent Amarillo Globe-News editorial on the death penalty (Editorial: Death penalty can be justified, Aug. 20, amarillo.com.) Society can be protected without taking another human life since we now have "life without parole" as an optional punishment for capital murder. Furthermore, our criminal justice system is very imperfect - many innocent people have been sent to death row - at least 13 in Texas and over 150 nationwide. And there is strong evidence that we have executed innocent people. Even if there is strong evidence that someone is guilty, the death penalty is applied in an arbitrary and capricious manner because of economic, racial and geographic biases in the criminal justice system. Because of these problems, the death penalty will probably be declared unconstitutional in the not-too-distant future. David Atwood Founder of the Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty Houston (source: Letter to the Editor, Amarillo Globe-News) * Texas appeals judge questions fairness of life without paroleOnce a Republican, now a Democrat, Judge Larry Meyers says no-parole sentences lack legal protections. Life without parole is a slow-motion death penalty, longtime Texas judge says. Judge Larry Meyers, the longest-serving member of the state's highest criminal court, has grown uncomfortable with the way Texas allows for life in prison without parole, calling it a slow-motion death sentence without the same legal protections given to defendants who face the death penalty. It can be argued, Meyers said, that the prospect of decades of prison - ended only by death from old age, medical problems or even violence - is as harsh or harsher than execution. Even so, life without parole can be given in some capital murder cases without jurors answering two questions that must be considered before issuing a death sentence - is the defendant a future danger to society, and are there any mitigating factors such as mental disability or childhood abuse that weigh against capital punishment? "I'm not saying the death penalty is unconstitutional. I think right now it's about as fair as it could be," Meyers said. "But there are 2 variations of the death penalty; one is just longer than the other. People are getting a (life without parole) death sentence without the same safeguards and procedures that you get when there is a death sentence." Meyers, the only Democrat on the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, plans to make changing the life-without-parole system an issue of his re-election campaign, an admittedly uphill battle after he switched from the Republican Party in 2013 over disagreements in its direction under the surging tea party movement. His Republican opponent in the Nov. 8 election, 22-year state District Judge Mary Lou Keel of Houston, believes Meyers has strayed from his principal task as a judge. "Policy issues like this are best left to the Legislature," Keel said. "Doesn't he have enough work to do as a judge?" Keel and Meyers are vying for 1 of the 9 seats on a court that has the last word on criminal matters in Texas. Death row down 40% Life without parole, an option for capital murder cases since 2005, has been credited with helping to sharply reduce the number of death row inmates by allowing prosecutors to reserve capital punishment for the worst cases, yet ensure that other convicted murderers are permanently removed from society. Since life without parole became an option, the population of Texas' death row has fallen to 244 inmates, down about 40 p%, as the pace of executions has outstripped the number of new death sentences. In contrast, 782 inmates were serving life without parole for capital murder as of July 31. An additional 54 inmates are serving life without parole after repeat convictions for sexually violent offenses, including crimes against children, since the Legislature allowed the punishment for the crime of continuous sexual abuse in 2007. In capital murder cases, life without parole is handed down 2 ways: -- In cases in which the prosecutor seeks death by lethal injection, if jurors convict, a 2nd trial begins over the punishment. Prosecutors try to prove that the defendant will pose a future danger to society unless put to death, and defense lawyers attempt to convince jurors that execution isn't the appropriate punishment. Jurors must be unanimous on the future danger question, and they must all reject the defense's mitigating evidence. If 1 juror disagrees on either point, the sentence automatically becomes life without parole. -- In cases in which the prosecutor waives the death penalty, life without parole is the only available option for capital murder. Seeking life without parole is by far the simpler option. Jurors are easier to seat - death penalty opponents
