[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----ALABAMA
Nov. 3 ALABAMAstay of execution Tommy Arthur's execution temporarily stayed by US Supreme Court The U.S. Supreme Court has temporarily stayed the execution. "IT IS ORDERED that execution of the sentence of death is hereby stayed pending further order of the undersigned or of the Court," the order states, according to AL.com's Lawrence Specker. The order was signed by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. Alabama prison's spokesman Bob Horton, however, said that the order is only a temporary stay and prison officials are still waiting to hear if the Supreme Court rules tonight. If the court rules before midnight and denies the stay then it is possible the execution could go forward tonight, Horton said. If the court doesn't rule by then, however, the state would have to reset the execution for another day because the death warrant is for Thursday only, he said. "We're in a holding pattern ... We're going to continue to wait for the Supreme Court," Horton said. Alabama has delayed tonight's execution of Tommy Arthur by two hours to allow the U.S. Supreme Court to consider motions by the inmate's attorneys, a prison spokesman said. The delay was set to end at 8 p.m. but, as of now, it is not clear when, or if, the execution will proceed. Alabama Department of Corrections Commissioner Jeff Dunn agreed to the temporary delay of the execution so the Supreme Court could review the split 11th Circuit decision on Wednesday to deny Arthur's stay of execution, said Alabama Department of Corrections Public Information Officer Bob Horton. If Alabama had not agreed to a temporary halt then the U.S. Supreme Court would have issued a temporary stay, Horton said. The execution had been set for 6 p.m. In that 2-1 decision 11th Circuit decision Circuit Judge Charles Wilson said the execution should have been stayed in order for Arthur's appeals on his lethal injection challenge. "Due to the scarcity of and secrecy surrounding lethal injection drugs, it is all but impossible for a prisoner to set forth a viable lethal-injection-based alternative," Wilson wrote in his dissent in Wednesday's opinion. "The Majority's decision therefore checkmates countless Alabama and Florida prisoners, nullifying their constitutional right to a humane execution." Wilson also stated that the majority in the ruling – Hull and Circuit Judge Stanley Marcus - determines that Arthur's suggestion of a firing squad was not feasible and readily implemented because Alabama law does not authorize the firing squad. "Arthur should be permitted to amend his complaint to include the firing squad as an execution alternative to Alabama's lethal injection protocol. The firing squad is a potentially viable alternative, and Arthur may be entitled to relief under Baze and Glossip (U.S. Supreme Court ruling) based on that method of execution," Wilson wrote. Arthur has remained defiant as he waits to see if the U.S. Supreme Court will stay his execution at the Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore. Arthur's attorneys overnight filed a petition to the U.S. Supreme Court seeking a stay after the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals refused to block the execution. Arthur today told AL.com in a telephone interview he is hopeful this execution will be stayed, as were six other execution dates he has faced in the last 15 years. "We've still got wiggle room," Arthur said this afternoon. "We're not done yet." Asked today if he accepted the reality he might not avoid today's execution, Arthur replied: "All I can do is sit here and hate it." Arthur said he has had no visitors today although his lawyers had just arrived at the prison when he spoke to AL.com. Arthur says he plans to make a final statement if he is executed today. 9source: al.com) ** Supreme Court stays execution of Alabama inmate The U.S. Supreme Court has stayed the execution of an Alabama inmate convicted in a 1982 murder-for-hire. The court on Thursday night stayed the execution of Tommy Arthur without comment, until further order of the court. 74-year-old Arthur had been scheduled to be executed Thursday evening by lethal injection at the Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore. Prison system spokesman Bob Horton said the state will wait until Arthur's death warrant expires at midnight to see if the execution can proceed. He was convicted of killing Troy Wicker. Police on Feb. 1, 1982 found Wicker shot to death in his bed. Wicker's wife initially said she had been raped and an intruder killed her husband. She later testified that she had sex with Arthur and promised him $10,000 to kill her husband. This is the 7th time Arthur, who has waged a lengthy legal battle challenging his conviction and the death penalty, has been granted an execution stay. (source: Associated Press)___ A service courtesy of Washburn University School
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide
Nov. 3 TURKEY: Turkey debates the non-retroactive death penalty A reinstatement of capital punishment appears to be in the pipeline in Turkey. Although it looks like Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahceli opened the door for it, it was actually President Recep Tayyip Erdogan who initially gave the signal that capital punishment would be included in the government???s constitutional draft. The inclusion of the death penalty into the draft would be useful both for obtaining MHP support and also during the rallies for the impending referendum on constitutional changes for a presidential system. Crowds would chant enthusiastically: "Hang them, hang them." Who should we hang? Prime Minister Binali Yildirim answered this on Nov. 1: The death penalty could be reintroduced for a certain "limited" number of crimes and, most importantly, "it should be known that it cannot be retroactive," he said. In other words, the death penalty will not be applicable for either the July 15 coup plotters or for the terrorist offenses of members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). Until the law is ratified, the punishment for such offenses will continue to be an aggravated life sentence. Capital punishment will be applicable only for acts committed after the date of approval. But is it not true that those chanting "death, death" in town squares actually want those guilty of past crimes to be hanged? The prime minister's statement that any reinstatement cannot be retroactive is very important and correct. Bahceli should now express his view on this question. It has been argued that "the people want the death penalty." But if that is the case, why don't we hold a referendum on the question of migrants? Or why did we criticize the holding of referendums in Europe on building minarets? How can we criticize the appeals to voters by populist politicians using Islamophobic and xenophobic rhetoric? Aren't they also saying, "this is what the people want"? To avoid this kind of populism, which is today rising across the world, the political class must be very careful about the law and must carefully scrutinize how decisions made with today's mass psychology could affect the country and future generations. The motivation behind new laws should not be the short-term pursuit of votes, but the responsibility of tomorrow. This is absolutely true for Turkey. Breaking away from European legal principles would cause huge damage to the economy and future generations. It's not just me saying that, it is also economists and members of the government like Ali Babacan and Mehmet Simsek. The MHP administration, meanwhile, could also ask former Central Bank governor Durmus Yilmaz how the economy would be affected by breaking away from European law. Pointing out that the Turkish economy's per capita GNP has never been able to exceed the $10,000 threshold, stuck in the "middle-income trap," Babacan said back in 2014 that "the legal norms of the Council of Europe are references for us ... Our only remedy is to practice the rule of law in Turkey in the best way." Simsek also said in 2015, when he was readying the government's economic program, that "Turkey will have 3 anchors in the coming term: Fiscal discipline will continue, the EU process will be invigorated, and structural reforms will be carried out." Sure, let's reintroduce the non-retroactive death penalty; let's hang 3 or 4 terrorists. What would happen then? The Council of Europe would suspend our membership and our EU accession process would freeze. We would self-sabotage 1 of the 3 anchors we rely on in the economy, casting a shadow on our "only remedy" by ourselves. Where would the economy go in this eventuality? At present, capital is starting to shrink in the world and foreign exchange rates are rapidly rising. At such a time, Turkey needs an inflow of foreign capital amounting to roughly $200 billion every year. True, South Korea is a very successful economy without being an EU member. But in the most recent World Rule of Law Index, South Korea was in 11th place while Turkey was in 80th place. That is why Babacan says "our sole remedy is EU Law." If we hamper our economy to this extent, will Turkey's fight against terrorism strengthen? Will terrorists drop their arms out of fear of execution? Was the PKK discouraged back when the death penalty was still in place in Turkey? For the good of the country, do we not need science, intellect, debate, moderation, common sense, diplomacy and law more than ever? (source: Hurriyet Daiy News) INDIA: Supreme Court stays execution of 2 men for killing 8 of family -- Then CJI Dattu had said it was a meticulously planned diabolic murder done without any provocation The Supreme Court has stayed the execution of 2 men for the brutal murder of their brother and his entire
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----UTAH, CALIF., USA
Nov. 3 UTAH: Utah legislator wants mandatory death penalty when police are targeted, killed With the shooting deaths of 2 Iowa police officers bolstering his resolve, a Utah legislator is proposing a mandatory death penalty clause for anyone convicted of targeting and killing a cop. Rep. Paul Ray, R-Clearfield, is drafting legislation that would enhance the penalties for anyone who specifically targets and assaults a police officer. A 1st draft of the bill is complete but not yet available, Ray said, and a number of questions remain about how the change would work. Regardless, the legislator is insistent that stiffer consequences are necessary to prevent increasingly common attacks on officers. When he received a news alert early Wednesday about the fatal ambush of two officers in Des Moines, Ray said he became "furious" and even more committed to stepping up the law in Utah. "These are guys who knowingly, every day, go to a job they know they may not return from," Ray said. "And then you've got cowards that are going out and targeting these guys, trying to make sure they don't go home to their families." Urbandale police officer Justin Martin, 24, and Des Moines Police Sgt. Anthony Beminio, 39, were gunned down shortly after 1 a.m. as they sat in their patrol cars, The Associated Press reported. The suspected shooter, 46-year-old Scott Michael Greene, surrendered hours later when he flagged down a Department of Natural Resources employee on a rural road west of the city. Ray said he began drafting his bill following attacks on police in July. 5 officers were shot and killed by a sniper in Dallas, and 3 others were gunned down in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, as they responded to calls of a man prowling the streets with a rifle. The legislation focuses on deliberate attacks that single out officers rather than assaults on police during the commission of other crimes, Ray said. He acknowledged that work remains to define what constitutes "targeting" an officer and how it would be proved under the law. Ray's bill would create a 2-step penalty enhancement for anyone convicted of targeting an officer in an assault, elevating a third-degree felony offense to a 1st-degree felony, for example. And in cases where the officer is killed, he is proposing mandatory pursuit of the death penalty, meaning district attorneys would no longer be able to choose whether to pursue capital punishment. Under current Utah law, murder of a law enforcement officer is an aggravated crime, meaning it is eligible for the death penalty if prosecutors choose to pursue it and a jury chooses to impose it. Karena Rogers daughter is about to go through puberty - and she is terrified of it. Ray says his bill keeps the jury phase for capital punishment sentencing and instead addresses the way charges are initially filed when an officer is shot and killed. "The thing that I'm tired of is on these high-profile cases - and I know the DAs are going to argue the other direction, and I get it - but they just plea them out," Ray said. "I want an ultimate penalty. If you target, you kill a police officer, you need to pay with your own life." In the case of Timothy Troy Walker, who shot and killed Draper Police Sgt. Derek Johnson in 2014 when the officer stopped to check whether Walker had been in an accident, Walker pleaded guilty to the murder to avoid the death penalty. Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill, while expressing support for a penalty enhancement, should it pass, voiced concern Wednesday about the death penalty mandate. Requiring prosecutors to pursue capital punishment takes away their ability to evaluate the strength of evidence and witnesses as the case progresses, Gill said. "Would we want to force a trial even if the case starts to deteriorate and risk losing the case?" he asked. It also overrides the wishes of the victim's family, forcing them to endure a trial and years of appeals, even if they would rather close the case quickly through a plea bargain. "I have had cases where this residual burden was too much for the family members to endure," Gill said. A penalty enhancement, however, "would certainly send a strong message as public policy that we will not tolerate targeting law enforcement officers," he said. Paul Cassell, University of Utah law professor and a former federal judge, also praised the idea of a penalty enhancement but worried about the capital punishment requirement. Cassell commended the way district and county attorneys in Utah have prosecuted murders of police officers, saying that unless there is a proven issue with how the cases are being handled, there's no need to change the law. He also cited the financial costs of death penalty cases and appeals - legislative analysts said last year that death penalty cases cost Utahns $1.6 million more on average than a life without parole case - and noted that
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TENN., IOWA, NEB., COLO.
Nov. 3 TENNESSEE: Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals heard arguments in Memphis for death penalty case from 1997 A death penalty case from 1997 is back in the spotlight tonight. The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, which is one step below with the United States Supreme Court, was in Memphis today hearing arguments. This is a rare move for the appeals court which usually hears their cases in Ohio. The death penalty case centered on a man named Anthony Thomas who was convicted of murdering an armored truck driver. Wednesday's appellate hearing involved talks of a payment to a star witness by the federal government to testify against Thomas. Robert Hutton, Thomas' attorney, said "so the courts will be looking at the evidence specifically in this case it's now admitted that a key witness was paid $750 and then when asked if she received any money denied that and so the question is should now that's known should Mr. Thomas get a new trial?" Court records show that witness, Angela Jackson, testified against Anthony Thomas. On Wednesday, Hutton had 30 minutes to make his case in front of 3 federal judges. "Really all we're talking about today is whether it would've made a difference?" District Attorney Amy Weirich was the prosecutor in this death case. Hutton claims she use the wording "one red cent" when asking the star witness if she received any money? That's something the 3 judges brought up several times during Wednesday's hearing that did not allow cameras or recorders in the court room. The government used their 30 minutes to argue the witness correctly answered the question she was asked about the $750 payment. They could not say how much the witness made at the time but argued the payment was for lost wages during the trial. The government also argued other evidence in the trial could have supported the prosecution beyond jacksons testimony. The judges seemed hesitant to believe the government's argument making statements like "if this is not perjury by a witness I don't know what is." D.A. Weirich's office sent a statement in response to a request for comment saying "your request should be directed to the U.S. Attorney's Office. It was their case originally." Requests from the U.S. Attorney Office has not yet been returned. The 3 judges can write an opinion that this case be sent back to the state for a retrial. If that does not happen, Thomas can petition the U.S. Supreme Court. But that's a longshot. They get roughly 4,000 of those requests every year and hear about 80. (source: fox13memphis.com) IOWA: Branstad: Too soon to consider death penalty for cop killers It's premature to talk about whether Iowa should reinstate the death penalty for people convicted of killing law enforcement officers, Gov. Terry Branstad said Wednesday. The governor also cautioned that the death penalty is not a "panacea" for attacks on law enforcement. Branstad, who has supported the limited use of the death penalty, which Iowa abolished in 1965, didn't rule out the introduction of a death penalty bill when the Legislature convenes in January. However, in the wake of the deaths of Des Moines Police Sgt. Anthony Beminio and Urbandale Officer Justin Martin, Branstad said now is the time to "show our solidarity and strong support for those people who risk their lives every day to protect the safety of our citizens." The 2 officers were fatally shot Wednesday while sitting in their patrol cars in what police called unprovoked ambushes. "This is a terrible tragedy," Branstad said after a campaign stop in Hiawatha with GOP candidates and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani. Several attempts to reinstate the death penalty have been made over the years. Typically, legislation is offered after a crime that attracts widespread public attention. The 2012 abductions and deaths of cousins Elizabeth Collins and Lyric Cook-Morrissey, then 8 and 10, of Black Hawk County prompted a death penalty debate at the Statehouse. The most recent legislation, offered in 2015, would have permitted executions in cases where a minor was kidnapped, raped and murdered. Sponsor Sen. Randy Feenstra, R-Hull, said a suspect has nothing to lose by committing murder to cover up kidnap and rape. Under Iowa law, punishment for 1st-degree murder, as well as the most serious cases of rape and murder can be life imprisonment. Majority Democrats, however, declined to debate the bill, Senate File 239. A new proposal likely would meet the same fate, according to Sen. Rob Hogg, D-Cedar Rapids, vice chairman of the Judiciary Committee. "Attempts to change that law have met with bipartisan opposition over at least the last 20 years, and I expect that bipartisan opposition to continue into the future," he said Wednesday. "Today we should all be focused on the law enforcement officers involved and their families," Hogg said. "Out of this tragedy, I hope we can
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, FLA., ALA., MISS., OHIO
Nov. 3 TEXAS: Death Row Inmate Sues Texas for DNA Tests With help from The Innocence Project, death row inmate Larry Ray Swearingen claims that DNA tests could prove his innocence of a 1998 murder, but the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has unconstitutionally denied him the opportunity to present the evidence. Swearingen sued the nine judges on the state's highest criminal appeals court on Oct. 28 in Federal Court, challenging the appellate court's interpretation of the criminal code, and demanding the release of evidence for DNA testing. "It's not a casual thing to bring a federal civil rights action, but the denial of DNA testing in a death penalty case is really something that is pretty extraordinary," said Bryce Benjet, an attorney with The Innocence Project of New York City. "We think it is appropriate for a federal judge to step in and enforce the Constitution," Benjet said in an interview. Swearingen was convicted of the 1998 murder of Melissa Trotter, of Willis, Texas, a 19-year-old freshman at Lone Star Community College-Montgomery. She was found in the Sam Houston National Forest, strangled to death by a pair of pantyhose. The state presented evidence at trial that Swearingen and Trotter had been seen leaving campus together the day she disappeared. Prosecutors said Swearingen kidnapped, raped, and murdered her after she refused his sexual advances. Swearingen's attorneys say in the new lawsuit that he was convicted "largely on the basis of circumstantial evidence." Swearingen has always maintained his innocence and has filed several motions to secure DNA testing under the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure, which requires post-conviction DNA testing if such evidence would more than likely have resulted in a not-guilty verdict. His first 2 motions were unsuccessful, but the Montgomery County Court granted 2 subsequent motions for DNA testing, which the court of appeals reversed. As those motions wended through the courts, the Texas Legislature made several amendments to the DNA testing statute in the criminal code. The Legislature cited Swearingen's case as the impetus for these changes, which included expanding the definition of what "biological material" could be tested and broadening the statute to require testing of evidence that has "a reasonable likelihood of containing biological material." "His case was the subject of legislative testimony, yet still, when it gets back to the Court of Criminal Appeals, they interpret the statute in a way that denies him testing," Benjet said. The 28-page lawsuit against the Court of Criminal Appeals states that Swearingen's repeated efforts to obtain DNA testing have been "thwarted" by the appellate court's "unreasonably narrow" interpretation of the criminal code, and that its interpretation "ignores the most powerful aspects of DNA testing and sets a bar that cannot be satisfied in most cases." This alone has denied him due process, his attorneys say, and "unconstitutionally deprived [him] access to the courts" to obtain other remedies which could prove his innocence. Swearingen seeks declaratory relief that the appeals court's interpretation of the code is unconstitutional. He also sued the director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, the Montgomery District [Court] Clerk and the Montgomery County Sheriff, to force release of evidence for testing, including the murder weapon, the rape kit, the victim's clothing and cigarette butts found near her body. Montgomery County prosecutor Bill Delmore told the Houston Chronicle last year that "a lot" of DNA testing had been done in Swearingen's case, and that Swearingen's DNA profile was matched to a hair on a pantyhose fragment found in his trailer and 2 hairs found in Swearingen's truck were matched to Trotter. "We're very confident that we have the right guy," Delmore told the Chronicle article in June 2015. "We've executed on far less." But Swearingen's attorneys call the pantyhose evidence found in Swearingen's trailer "troubling," as the pantyhose had not been found during the first 2 searches of the trailer. Also, "serious doubts have been raised about the reliability" of the tear line analysis that matched the fragment to the pantyhose found tied around Trotter's neck, according to the complaint. The only pre-trial DNA testing that revealed a male donor, taken from fingernail scrapings, excluded Swearingen, and the state offered no "plausible" explanation for the presence of someone else's DNA underneath Trotter's fingernails, his attorneys say in the complaint. They say the state speculated that "perhaps blood from an officer present during the autopsy who may have cut himself while shaving hours before inexplicably worked its way under the victim's fingernails," or that blood circulating through the morgue's air-conditioning system "somehow landed in the scrapings from Mr. Trotter's fingernails."
