[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide
Dec. 31 INDIA: RAPE, MURDER OF 6-YEAR OLD GIRL: COURT AWARDS DEATH SENTENCE TO CONVICT'We have to collectively save our society from criminality' A court here sentenced a convict to death for raping and murdering a minor girl at Mehjoor Nagar area here in 2005. In the judgment, 2nd additional sessions Judge Srinagar, Tahir Khurshid Raina, holding that it as a rarest of rare cases, awarded the death penalty to convict Farooq Ahmad Pinzoo of Mehjoor Nagar for raping and murdering the girl. "A little doll (victim) of just 6 years of age, who was yet to bloom and add to the beauty of the world was crushed to death in the most horrendous and barbaric manner in 2005 by the convict. After doing this highly detestable act of extreme depravity, convict wrapped her body in a sack and threw it in a trench to conceal it from the eyes of the people around," the court said. "When all members of locality were on search, he was a restless mute spectator of this unfortunate incident. This incident sent a shockwave in the entire area and every one came out to search her and yearn and prayed for her safe recovery. Finally, on 5th day of her missing, her body was recovered from the trench in a sack," the court said. The court added that thousands of people assembled on the spot to see this horrible incident. "When people saw her body, there was a condemnation around and an outcry to nab the culprit soon. Public discontentment was so huge that police has to install a special camp there and after a month's they succeeded in nabbing the culprit who was none else but the resident of same locality whom the deceased of tender age would have taken with respect and custodian of her life," the court said. "Convict is awarded capital punishment. He shall be hanged till death," the court said while referring various Supreme Court judgments, terming the case as rarest of rare cases. After hearing additional public prosecutor advocate Mujeeb Andrabi and defence counsel on the quantum of punishment, the court said "fact remains, punishment is the way in which society expresses its condemnation for wrong doing and in order to maintain respect for law, it is essential that the punishment inflicted for grave crimes should adequately reflect the revulsion felt by the great majority of citizens for them." Earlier, advocate Mujeeb Andrabi pleaded that to the court for award of death penalty to the accused for commission of horrendous crime with a child of tender age. He argued that keeping in view the entire complexion of the case, it falls in the category of "rarest of the rare" which entails death penalty. "Let us not wait for angels to come from the sky to reform our society. We all have to collectively rise to the occasion and move in tandem to save our society from criminality and criminals and obnoxious elements to make it a habitat of civilized people with high morals, values and probity as their hallmark. This will only elevate our status in the community of nations," the court said while referring to the case. [also see: http://kashmirlife.net/rare-judgement-kashmir-court-awards-death-sentence-160610/] (source: greaterkashmir.com) * Death sentence to rape-murder convict in Srinagar A minor girl, who was murdered after rape, finally got justice after 12 years when a local court sentenced a convict to death in Srinagar. Declaring the rape and murder of a six-year-old girl in 2005 as rarest of rare case, the Second Additional Sessions Judge Srinagar, Tahir Khurshid Raina awarded death penalty to convict Farooq Ahmad Pinzoo of Mehjoor Nagar. The court in the order on Saturday after hearing arguments from prosecution and defence counsels said, "A little doll of just 6 years of age, who was yet to bloom and add to the beauty of the world was crushed to death in the most horrendous and barbaric manner in 2005 by the convict." (source: uniindia.com) NIGERIA: Women lawyers advocate death penalty for hawkers of babies The International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA) has advocated capital punishment for all persons caught in the act of buying and selling of babies. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the association, a Non- Governmental, Non-Profit Organisation comprised of women lawyers, made the call on Saturday, at an end-of-year party organised for privileged and under-privileged children in Benin. The Chairperson, Edo Chapter of FIDA, Mrs Maria Edeko, in her opening address at the occasion, said children were a gift from God, with rights that needed to be protected. While noting that there were other legal means of having children, for those unable to have children of their own, Edeko said the association was mounting a vigorous campaign against the hawking of children. She said that the association had evolved a plan to send a document to the National Assembly, on the matter. The Chairperson
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----FLA., ALA.
Dec. 31 FLORIDA: Reasons why death penalty must end in Florida On Dec. 14, the Death Penalty Information Center released its annual report analyzing the trends and patterns with the death penalty in 2017. Death sentences and executions were the 2nd lowest in a quarter century. Also, public support for the death penalty fell to its lowest level in 45 years. It is clear that the death penalty is falling out of favor. While Florida did account for 1/4 of the nation's executions, the Supreme Court's ruling in Hurst vs. Florida ended the state's outlier practice of non-unanimous jury decisions. This reform mandates unanimous jury decisions in capital punishment cases and has the potential to end Florida's disproportionate rates of death sentencing. Florida's unjust jury practice has ended, and it seems the end of capital punishment is not far behind. Historic low levels of public support, including a 10 % drop for those who identified as Republican, further highlights the looming end of the death penalty. This year has left no doubt. Clearly, those who we are executing are not "the worst of the worst" but are some of society's most marginalized. Jesus invites us to care for them. The Catholic Church has long been against the death penalty, and as Pope Francis reminded us in October, our use of the death penalty "heavily wounds human dignity." My brother bishop in Florida, Frank J. Dewane of Venice, chairman of the U.S. Bishops' Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development, stated on Good Friday that the death penalty has no place in a country that has other means of bringing justice. Catholic Mobilizing Network, the national organization working to lift up this need for mercy and justice, invites all people of faith and goodwill to educate, advocate and pray to end the death penalty by signing The National Catholic Pledge to End the Death Penalty. I encourage readers to join us in this work of life and end the death penalty. Most Reverend Felipe J. Estevez, Bishop, Diocese of St. Augustine (source: Letter to the Editor, The Florida Times-Union) ALABAMA: How Alabama chooses who to execute on death row next This story is a part of Ask Alabama, where you ask the questions, you vote to decide which questions we answer, and then we investigate. This week we're answering a question submitted by a reader from Hamilton who asked: How does the state of Alabama decide the next death row prisoner to execute? John Palombi knows a thing or two about death row. 4 of 5 of his clients make up the entirety of executions in Alabama since Christopher Eugene Brooks was put to death in January 2016 for the rape and murder of Jo Deann Campbell in 1992. Before that, it had been 2 1/2 years since a death row inmate had been executed. "It can be a difficult job sometimes. It has its fair share of ups and downs," said the assistant federal defender with the Office of the Federal Defender for the Middle District of Alabama. But the process to get to the stage where an inmate is strapped to a gurney in the execution chamber inside Holman Prison in Atmore can often take decades. The process is arduous and complex, as Palombi explains. "Once someone gets sentenced to death there's an automatic appeal in the state court system," he said. "Then after that it goes to the Alabama Supreme Court for the next part of the appeal, and then a person can ask the U.S. Supreme Court to take a look at their case. That's very, very rare. That's at the end of what we call direct appeal." After that comes the next stage, known as the state post-conviction appeal, also known as collateral attacks on the conviction, according to the Alabama's Death Penalty Appeal Process manual, a state-issued document that explains how appeals work. That's where the defense team look to find new evidence, instances of juror misconduct, or the most common thing is what's known as ineffective assistance of counsel, which is a claim that your initial attorney didn't do a good job defending you at trial. Then it moves on to the federal portion of the process. This is where Palombi comes in. "Once it hits federal court any issues that were raised way back during the direct appeal and any issues that were properly raised in the state portion of the collateral attack can now be raised again in federal court as long as they are federal constitutional issues." This is where the petitioner argues that the conviction should be overturned as it was obtained in violation of the inmates federal Constitutional rights. According to the Constitutional Rights Foundation, those could be the prospect of "cruel and unusual punishment" not having access to the due process of law, the promise of equal protection of the laws, and a fair trial. It's at this stage that the inmate becomes eligible for an execution date. Some of his clients went from trial to execution in as "little"
