[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide
March 6 IRAQ: Iraq orders execution of foreign women for IS involvement Iraq is issuing death penalty and life sentences against foreign women found guilty of involvement with the Islamic State - and hundreds await trials. Iraq has detained hundreds of foreign women allegedly affiliated with the Islamic State (IS) and has sentenced 17 Turkish women to death by hanging. Women from other countries, including France and Germany, also have received death sentences and Baghdad is now facing pressure from those countries to instead extradite the women to their home nations. Humanitarian officials estimate Iraq is holding about 1,700 foreign women and children. Many of the women are accused of being affiliated by marriage to IS fighters or of providing aid. Trials began after military operations ended and the country declared itself liberated from IS on Dec. 9. Just last week, 16 Turkish women were sentenced to die. Others have been sentenced to life in prison. All of their sentences can be appealed. France has on more than one occasion expressed its position against the trials. On Jan. 30, French Justice Minister Nicole Belloubet threatened to intervene in cases of its nationals, though she didn't specify what type of intervention. Belloubet's comment came after the Iraqi judiciary on Jan. 22 sentenced to death a German national of Moroccan origin for allegedly having joined IS. Iraq has no universal law or convention providing for extradition. It does have bilateral extradition treaties with specific countries, but those treaties have yet to be put into action and don't cover terrorism-related crimes. Human rights organizations, including the Paris-based International Federation for Human Rights and the French Human Rights League, are pressuring the Iraqi government to extradite French suspects to face trials in France, citing a fear of "unfair trials" in Iraq. "We are trying to retrieve our nationals to prosecute them in Paris," a French human rights official told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity. "The Iraqi government is incapable of ensuring them fair trials; we do not expect it to do so. 3 French women will be facing trial [soon], and we fear they will be sentenced" before France can reach a satisfactory solution with the Iraqi government. "We are against the death penalty," the official said. The Iraqi penal code says people accused of committing crimes in Iraq must be tried there. However, once the prisoners have been tried, their countries can have them extradited to serve their sentences in their home countries. But not everyone in France would welcome their return. France wants to ensure that its citizens receive fair trials, but its judicial system is already overburdened. Some in the government also object to imprisoning jihadis in French jails for fear they will incite other prisoners. While it may be that there is less resistance to having female rather than male Islamic militants returned to France, the country has made its stance on jihadis clear in the past. Hisham al-Hashimi, a researcher on extremist groups, told Al-Monitor, "There are 509 women of European nationalities who face trials in Iraq, including 300 Turks." He added, "Iraq will not extradite these women ... before they are tried, [but] Baghdad wants them to serve their [prison] sentences in their countries. Iraq is trying to communicate with these countries, but it seems that the European countries and Turkey do not want these women back." In a surprise move, Iraq handed over to Moscow 27 children and 4 Russian women alleged to be IS members whom Iraqi authorities claimed had been "brainwashed" or tricked into joining IS. Back in Russia, these women are to face charges of illegally entering Iraq. Iraq appears to be speeding up trial proceedings against the foreign women, perhaps because it doesn't want to yield to foreign demands against the death penalty. And the government doesn't want to create a public uproar by showing leniency in some of the trials, or risk a political crisis with parties supporting Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, who has said that people who commit crimes in Iraq will be tried in Iraq. The women who have been sentenced may appeal their judgments before the Iraqi Court of Cassation. And it could be that international political pressure, particularly from European countries, may still lead Iraq to extradite women believed to have been merely affiliated with IS rather than directly involved in terrorist acts. (source: Mustafa Saadoun is an Iraqi journalist covering human rights and also the founder and director of the Iraqi Observatory for Human Rights. He formerly worked as a reporter for the Iraqi Council of Representativesal-monitor.com) PAKISTAN: LHC summons Zainab rape and murder case record on convict's appeal: report A Lahore High Court (LHC) division bench on Monday summoned the case record an
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----OHIO, IND., MO., NEB., CALIF., WASH., USA
March 6 OHIO: Franklin County seeing more death-penalty cases Killers who gun down police officers. Serial predators who serve time, only to get out, find new prey and kill. Murderers who snatch away the lives of young children. Those are among the groups Ohio prosecutors typically target for the death penalty. But death-penalty cases have been relatively uncommon in Franklin County - until this year. The last time someone was sentenced to death in Franklin County was in 2012. A 3-judge panel showed no remorse for Caron Montgomery, who stabbed his girlfriend and her 2 children to death. Franklin County has seen 2 death-penalty indictments in 2017 and 2 this year, and a 3rd one is possible in the case of Quentin L. Smith, who is charged in the fatal shooting of 2 Westerville police officers. Normally, Franklin County sees about one death-penalty indictment a year. Jury selection in a death-penalty case began last week for Brian Golsby, a violent offender accused of kidnapping, raping and killing Ohio State University student Reagan Tokes last year. "I think Columbus has become a more violent place ... with extremely violent crimes that seem to cry out for that to be an appropriate sentence," Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O'Brien said when asked about the increased number of death-penalty indictments. O'Brien changed the way death-penalty cases are evaluated in 2005 after working on a federal death-penalty case. That also was the year that state law changed to allow a life sentence without chance of parole. Now, prosecutors assess the defendant as much as possible. A good defense attorney can use mitigating factors such as mental health to sometimes sway jurors to a lesser sentence. "It's hard to gauge," O'Brien said. "We try to make a determination by putting ourselves in the seats of the jurors. Would we have a reasonable likelihood of making that judgment?" Jurors, for example, didn't feel that Lincoln Rutledge should die for killing Columbus Police Officer Steven Smith in 2016. Rutledge's defense was built on his mental state leading up to the shooting during a SWAT call. "I think that's what won the day with jurors for a life sentence in his case," O'Brien said. Historically, some counties - notably Hamilton County, home to Cincinnati - have had high rates of death-penalty indictments and sentences. Hamilton County is the source of the most inmates on Ohio's death row, with 24. Cuyahoga County has 21. Franklin County has 10. Ohio has 137 inmates awaiting execution. "There is no evidence that murders are worse in Cincinnati than they are in Columbus or Cleveland. What's different are the views of the prosecutors," said Robert Dunham, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, a nonprofit group based in Washington, D.C., that researches the death penalty. Counties in which there are high conviction rates for the death penalty often have prosecutors who say their decision is based solely on the facts of the case, Dunham said. That's true for Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters. "Either (the case) fits the law, or it doesn't. I know there (are) prosecutors who don't like it," Deters said of the death penalty. "There (are) judges who don't like it. Frankly, I don't care either way. If you want to get rid of it, get rid of it. In Ohio, we have a death-penalty statute." Dunham noted, however, that state laws don't require prosecutors to seek the death penalty. They have discretion. "It is unquestionably related to local politics," Dunham said. "What we have seen historically" is that, "as a prosecutor becomes entrenched, challenges to him or her tend to be more difficult." O'Brien said his office asks the victim's family members what they would like to see as a sentence. Prosecutors ultimately make the call, though. "We just try and do the best we can ... with what we believe is the appropriate charge and the appropriate punishment, and factor in whether we believe a jury will impose a death sentence with the facts as we best know them," O'Brien said. In cities such as Houston, Birmingham, Alabama, and Jacksonville and Tampa, Florida, where prosecutors used the death penalty often, they were challenged and defeated at the polls, Dunham said. Over the years, many people have softened their views about the use of the death penalty. It raises the question about whether a murder committed in 1 county would result in a different legal outcome if it had been committed in another county where the prosecutor holds a different philosophy. "It may be the case that the prosecutorial practices in Hamilton County reflect the views of Hamilton County," Dunham said. "That doesn't make the outcomes any less arbitrary." Deters said that in Cincinnati, there are "some very bad crimes, very bad violence, hideous criminals down here," that require the death penalty if there aren't legal issues of proof with
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----PENN., N.C., GA., FLA., ALA., LA.
March 6 PENNSYLVANIA: Trial begins in Whitehall baseball bat homicide Prosecutors on Monday described a Montgomery County man accused of killing a romantic rival with a baseball bat in Whitehall Township in 2016 as "cold, calculating and controlling," and said he tried to force others to lie for him in an attempt to manipulate the justice system. Larry Ray Yaw's defense attorney conceded that the attack occurred, but told jurors that Yaw committed the crime in a blind rage and didn't intend to kill the the victim. "This is not a whodunnit," attorney Matthew Potts said. "Larry lost control." Yaw, 34, of Gilbertsville is standing trial for the April 3, 2016, killing of Brian Frank, 44. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty. Police say Yaw burst into Frank's apartment in the 900 block of Third Street just before 8 a.m. carrying a handgun and aluminum baseball bat. Senior Deputy District Attorney Michael Edwards told the jury that Yaw is guilty of 1st-degree murder. He said Yaw kicked down Franks's bedroom door and savagely attacked him with the bat. "He didn't just take his gun and shoot Mr. Frank. He didn't make it quick. He wanted to make Mr. Frank suffer," Edwards said. After kicking in a bedroom door that turned out to belong to Frank's roommate, police say Yaw went into Frank's bedroom. The roommate then heard loud noises and Frank screaming in pain, police say. Yaw allegedly warned the roommate, "If you tell the cops I was here, I will be back for you." After Yaw fled, police were called to the apartment. Officers found Frank bleeding from the face and the back of his head, convulsing and in obvious pain. Frank was unable to speak and was taken to an area hospital. He died the next day. "He was moaning and writing in pain," said Whitehall Township police officer Raymond Seiling, the first responder on the scene. "He was flopping around in his bed like a fish." Yaw has pleaded not guilty. He is charged with homicide, aggravated assault, burglary, kidnapping and a firearms offense. He's being held in the county jail without bail. Jurors were selected last week. The trial before Lehigh County Judge Maria L. Dantos in Allentown is expected to last several days. (source: Allentown Morning Call) NORTH CAROLINA: NC Supreme Court reviews racial bias in death penalty cases4 inmates' sentences commuted, then reinstated The North Carolina Supreme Court will hear cases that will decide whether racial bias is enough to move felons from death row. Marcus Robinson, Quintel Augustine, Tilmon Golphin and Christina Walters were the first inmates to prove under the North Carolina Racial Justice Act that racial discrimination led to their death sentences, which were reduced to life without parole. Superior Court Judge Gregory Weeks' 2012 decision was overturned, and they were returned to death row. All four defendants are black. "These Racial Justice Act cases are every bit as important to our state's progress on civil rights issues," said Charlotte civil rights attorney James Ferguson, who represents Augustine. Weeks said the defendants proved prosecutors removed black people from jury service at double the rate of other potential jurors. The defendants also argued prosecutors' own notes, training materials, and testimony showed bias. A Cumberland County prosecutor, for example, wrote notes such as "blk wino," "thug," and "black, high drug" to describe prospective African American jurors in a capital case. "The decision to hear these cases is an encouraging sign that the North Carolina high court will act on the widespread bias tainting capital cases," said Cassandra Stubbs, 1 of Robinson's attorneys and director of the ACLU's Capital Punishment Project. "The state court's action comes on the heels of recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions - Foster v. Chapman and Pena-Rodriquez v. Colorado - that emphasize the constitutional imperative to guard against racial bias. If North Carolina rules in the defendants' favor, it will join a spate of recent state court decisions rejecting discrimination as part of jury selection." In his ruling, Weeks, an African American, found "a wealth of evidence showing the persistent, pervasive, and distorting role of race in jury selection throughout North Carolina." Under the Racial Justice Act, which prohibited racial discrimination in sentencing in capital cases, Weeks removed Robinson, Augustine, Golphin and Walters from death row in 2012 and sentenced them to life without parole. In 2015, the North Carolina Supreme Court overturned Weeks' decision, saying the hearings should be done over because the state wasn't given enough time to prepare and that 3 of the defendants, who were tried together, should have their own separate hearings. The defendants were sent back to death row. In January 2017, Superior Court Judge Erwin Spainhour threw out all 4 cases, saying the defenda
