[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide
Jan. 8 PAKISTAN: Extrajudicial killing: Sindh govt seeks presidential pardon for 5 Rangers personnel The provincial authorities have sent a petition to President Mamnoon Hussain, seeking pardon for the 5 Rangers personnel who were convicted by the Anti-Terrorism Court over charges of killing a student in Karachi in 2011. The young man was shot at by the Rangers personnel at the Benazir Bhutto Park in Boat Basin area of Clifton in 2011 and was then left to die inside the park. A month ago, the petition to grant pardon and remit/commute sentences of the Rangers personnel under Article-45 of the Constitution was sent to the president, the official said. The fatal shooting was filmed by a cameraman and telecast on various TV channels, sparking a public backlash over the brutality of trained paramilitary troops. Families of the convicted security personnel approached the prison officials, subsequently, the IGP Prisons sent an application to the Home Department. The Home Department also submitted a summary before the Sindh chief minister, which was approved and sent to the Governor's House. As per procedure, the Governor's House has moved the summary to the Prime Minister's House to seek opinion and submit the same before the president for the pardon of the convicted personnel. Private TV channels reported that the president has granted pardon to the convicted Rangers personnel namely Shahid Zafar, Muhammad Afzal Khan, Baha-ur-Rehman, Muhammad Tariq and Manthar Ali. It may be recalled that a constable was awarded the death penalty and his colleagues were jailed for life for the murder under Section 302 of the Pakistan Penal Code and Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act of 1997. The killing of Sarfraz Shah had triggered public outcry, prompting the then chief justice of Pakistan to take suo moto notice in this regard. Subsequently, both the Rangers chief and the Sindh Police chief were removed over orders of the top court. (source: Pakistan TOday) INDIA: Bootleggers may face death penalty in UP as Guv gives nod to bill Lucknow, Jan 8 Those dealing in illicit or spurious liquor in Uttar Pradesh may face the gallows as a stringent bill providing for death penalty and life imprisonment to such offenders, passed by the state legislature recently, got the governor's nod. Uttar Pradesh now becomes the 3rd state after Delhi and Gujarat to have an Act under which bootleggers may be sent to the gallows, if consumption of spurious liquor leads to loss of life. The UP Excise (Amendment) Bill, 2017, has the provisions of death penalty, life sentence and a fine to the tune of Rs 10 lakh and not less than Rs five lakh in case of death due to consumption of spurious liquor. It also provides for rigorous imprisonment up to ten years and not less than 6 years in case of disability caused by consumption of spurious liquor and fine to the tune of Rs 5 lakh and not less than Rs 3 lakh. Hooch tragedies take a heavy toll every year in Uttar Pradesh. In July, 17 people died in Azamgarh after they consumed spurious liquor. In 2015, 28 people were killed in a similar incident in the Malihabad area of Lucknow. (source: outlookindia.com) VIETNAM: Vietnam starts high-profile trial over oil firm losses Vietnam put 22 executives on trial over losses at the state oil firm on Monday, including a businessman Germany accuses Hanoi of kidnapping from a Berlin park and the communist state???s first politburo member to face trial in decades. The executives are accused over losses at state oil firm PetroVietnam. The most serious offences could carry the death penalty. A widespread crackdown on fraud and mismanagement in the energy and banking sectors has gathered pace since the security establishment gained greater influence in the ruling party last year. The trial opened under high security at the Hanoi People's Court. Crowds gathered outside but there was no public access. The most senior former executive on trial is Dinh La Thang, who was arrested last month. He is a former politburo member who was dismissed from his post over the losses at PetroVietnam and then stripped of his role as party head of Ho Chi Minh City. Also on trial is Trinh Xuan Thanh, who Germany says was kidnapped last year and taken home against his will to face accusations over losses of more than $150 million at a subsidiary of PetroVietnam. Thanh appeared on state television in August and said he had decided to return home and turn himself in. Neither Thang nor Thanh made any comment at the court and Reuters was unable to contact the lawyers representing them. Government critics have voiced suspicions that the corruption crackdown is politically motivated, at least in part, and aimed against those close to former prime minister Nguyen Tan Dung, who lost out in an internal power struggle in 2016. The trial is due to last until Jan. 21. In a separate c
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, N.C., OHIO, N.MEX., IDAHO, CALIF., WASH., USA
Jan. 8 TEXAS: East Texas man speaks after 30 years on death row For the past 3 decades, an East Texas man has been serving his sentence on death row. David Lee Lewis, 52, was convicted of killing a Lufkin woman when he was burglarizing her home back in 1986. He is appealing his death row sentence on grounds of being intellectually disabled. Lewis learned his fate, a sentence to death back in 1987 but what was unknown at that time was that he would be serving that sentence for the next 30 years. "I've been living on this for 30 some years and it's a weight that I don't want anyone to carry," Lewis said. For many years he said he wanted to forget it all happened. "I've tried to put it away but it's something you can never forget. It's always with you," Lewis said. Lewis said the weight he is referring to is the conviction of shooting and killing a 74-year-old Myrtle Ruby. It was in a home near Pollock, off of Old Wells Highway, where Lewis went inside with the idea to steal guns, but what took him by surprise was to find a woman standing in the dark hallway. He said he fired his gun where the bullet landed on her face. "When I seen it was an old woman I was like oh man. Cuz I couldn't see her," Lewis said. "All I could see was a silhouette of somebody coming through as I was coming out and I just raised the gun and pulled the trigger and hit her in the eye. And she turned towards me and started to fall, screaming and that's when I struck her. I think the blow to the head is what killed her because she was still alive from the shot because she was screaming. And when I turned the light and seen who it was, I was like oh no." Lewis said he lives with the regret every day in prison, often finding himself in in constant conflict with his own emotions whether if he forgives himself or not. "It's hard to forgive yourself for something like that, especially when you see the pain in the daughter's face," Lewis said. "That's something you never can forget." It was late Sunday evening in November of 1986 when Ruby was returning home from church. Evidence shows she was surprised to see Lewis in the hallway of her home while he was burglarizing the place. Records show Lewis then stole her car, drove to his uncle's home down the road and went on a hunting trip. He was arrested when he returned and confessed. "I never thought about it really (un)til around 2004. I kept it hidden and didn't want to face what I had done until one day I had to accept it and I actually felt the pain that I caused the family and it's a pain I never want the feel again, taking somebody's loved one like that, it's horrible," Lewis said. During his 1st trial he pleaded not guilty, but a jury ultimately convicted him sentencing with the death penalty. However, his capital murder conviction and death sentence were reversed in 1993 by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals because part of his court records was lost. He was retried the same year, this time pleading guilty where a jury convicted and again sentenced him to death. He appealed his death penalty conviction on grounds of intellectual disability. As he awaits to learn the final outcome from the courts, he said he'll continue to fight to overturn the death penalty and continue serving a life sentence. He said his final message is he wants Ruby's family to know he's in deep remorse of his actions. "I'm sorry I took that life. I didn't understand how precious that life was," Lewis said. KTRE did reach out Myrtle Ruby's family for an interview. They declined our request, saying it would be too painful. As of 2007, United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit denied Lewis' claim that would prohibit an execution of an intellectual disabled criminal. The court said the filing was made outside the reasonable time period. No decision on a date has been set yet on his execution. (source: KTRE news) NORTH CAROLINA: Trial begins Monday for man facing death penalty in 2014 Fuquay-Varina double homicide The trial for a man facing the death penalty in connection with a 2014 double homicide in Fuquay-Varina is scheduled to begin Monday morning. Donovan Richardson was 1 of 3 men charged in connection with shooting and killing Arthur Lee Brown, 78, and David Eugene McKoy, 66, on July 19, 2014. Authorities said robbery appeared to be a motive in the shooting. Jury selection in the trial lasted through the month of December and opening arguments in the case will begin Monday morning. The trial is expected to last several weeks. The last person to face the death penalty in Wake County was Nathan Holden, who was convicted of the 2014 murder of his ex-wife's parents and sentenced to life in prison without parole in March 2017. A Wake County jury has not sentenced anyone to death since 2007, and a decision to do so requires a unanimous decision by all 12 jurors. Gregory Crawford, 22, pleaded guilty
