[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----ALABAMA, USA
February 7 ALABAMAexecution Alabama executes inmate who wanted imam present A Muslim inmate who complained in a legal challenge that Alabama wouldn't let his Islamic spiritual adviser be present in the execution chamber has been put to death after the nation's highest court cleared the way. Authorities say 42-year-old Dominique Ray was pronounced dead Thursday night of a lethal injection at the state prison in Atmore. Ray's attorneys had challenged Alabama's execution procedure, saying it favors Christian inmates because a Christian chaplain employed by the prison typically is in the chamber during an execution. Ray requested an imam instead but that was denied. The state said it refuses to let a non-prison employee into the execution room, but agreed not to have the chaplain present. Ray's spiritual adviser watched from an adjoining witness room. The U.S. Supreme Court overruled a lower court decision Wednesday staying the execution plans. Ray was convicted of the 1995 murder of 15-year-old Tiffany Harville. Ray becomes the 1st condemned inmate to be put to death this year in Alabama and the 64th overall since the state resumed capital punishment in 1983. Ray becomes the 2nd condemned inmate to be put to death this year in the USA and the 1, 492nd overall since the nation resumed executions on Janaury 17, 1977, about 7 months after the US Supreme Court re-legalized the death penalty nationwide in its July 2, 1976 Gregg v Georgia decision. (sources: Associated Press & Rick Halperin) *** USAcountdown to nation's 1500th execution With the execution of Dominique Ray in Alabama on February 7, the USA has now executed 1,492 condemned individuals since the death penalty was relegalized on July 2, 1976 in the US Supreme Court Gregg v Georgia decision. Gary Gilmore was the first perons executed, in Utah, on January 17, 1977. Below is a list of scheduled executions as the nation approaches a terrible milestone of 1500 executions in the modern era. NOTE: The list is likely to change over the coming months as new execution dates are added and possible stays of execution occur. 1493---Feb. 28Billy CobleTexas 1494---Mar. 28Patrick MurphyTexas 1495---Apr. 11Mark RobertsonTexas 1496---Apr. 24John King--Texas 1497---May 2--Dexter JohnsonTexas 1498---May 16-Donnie Johnson---Tennessee 1499---May 29-Cleveland JacksonOhio 1500---July 10--Kareem Jackson--Ohio 1501---Aug. 14-Gregory Lott---Ohio (source: Rick Halperin) ___ A service courtesy of Washburn University School of Law www.washburnlaw.edu DeathPenalty mailing list DeathPenalty@lists.washlaw.edu http://lists.washlaw.edu/mailman/listinfo/deathpenalty Unsubscribe: http://lists.washlaw.edu/mailman/options/deathpenalty
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----ALABAMA
February 7 ALABAMAstay of execution lifted Supreme Court: Execution of Muslim inmate can proceed The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday rejected claims from a Muslim inmate who said his religious rights were being violated, clearing the way for the lethal injection to go forward Thursday night. In a 5-4 decision, justices vacated a stay issued by a lower court that had been blocking the execution of Dominique Ray, 42. Ray argued Alabama's execution procedure favors Christian inmates because a Christian chaplain employed by the prison typically remains in the execution chamber during a lethal injection, but the state would not let his imam be present. Justice Elena Kagan wrote in a dissent that the dissenting justice considered the decision to let the execution go forward "profoundly wrong." Attorneys for the state said Ray had ample opportunity to visit with his imam before his scheduled execution, that only prison employees are allowed in the chamber for security reasons, and that the imam can visit him before he's led to the execution chamber and witness the execution from an adjoining room. Prison system spokesman Bob Horton said Ray was visited by his imam both Wednesday and Thursday and that Ray again renewed a request to have the adviser present — the request that has been denied. Other states generally allow spiritual advisers to accompany condemned inmates up to the execution chamber but not into it, said Robert Dunham, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, which studies capital punishment in the United States. Durham said did not know of any other state where the execution protocol calls for a Christian chaplain to be present in the execution chamber. Ray was sentenced to death for the slaying of 15-year-old Tiffany Harville. The girl disappeared from her Selma home in July 1995, and her decomposing body was found in a cotton field a month later. Ray was convicted in 1999 after another man, Marcus Owden, confessed to his role in the crime and implicated Ray. Owden told police that they had picked the girl up for a night out on the town and then raped her. Owden said that Ray cut the girl's throat. Owden pleaded guilty to murder, testified against Ray and is serving a life sentence without parole. A jury recommended the death penalty for Ray by an 11-1 vote. Ray's attorneys had also asked in legal filings to stay the execution on other grounds. Lawyers say it was not disclosed to the defense team that records from a state psychiatric facility suggested Owden suffered from schizophrenia and delusions. The Supreme Court also rejected that claim Thursday. (source: Associated Press) ___ A service courtesy of Washburn University School of Law www.washburnlaw.edu DeathPenalty mailing list DeathPenalty@lists.washlaw.edu http://lists.washlaw.edu/mailman/listinfo/deathpenalty Unsubscribe: http://lists.washlaw.edu/mailman/options/deathpenalty
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide
February 7 EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT: MEPs want to prohibit trade with countries that still have death penalty Speaking at the opening of seventh World Congress Against the Death Penalty on February 5, a number of European Parliamentarians took the opportunity to demand that the EU prohibit trade with countries who still retain capital punishment. Members of the European Parliament political parties, the Socialist & Democrats and Greens/EFA, said Brussels should apply the principle of conditionality with respect to a country’s human rights record when distributing EU funds in African, Caribbean, and Pacific, or ACP, states. “As EU citizens, we say ‘No’ to the death penalty…this message must be heard across the world. The EU should make it easier for authorities to block trade, for example, to countries which still retain the death penalty,” Alex Mayer, a Member of the Committee of Economic and Monetary affairs said. The initiative to make the abolition of the death penalty a prerequisite for trade relations with the EU was also endorsed by Klaus Buchner, a member of the sub-committee on human rights, who said trade is a primary tool to encourage states to respect both the rule of law and an individual’s fundamental rights. The initiative, however, has little chance to attain any legal framework in the near future as in the run-up to the unpredictable economic and political consequences posed by Brexit, few in the EU have the appetite to risk trade relations with any state linked to the EU by the Cotonou Agreement that covers over 100 countries with a total population of some 1.5 billion people. The ACP-EU Partnership Agreement was signed in Cotonou, Benin in 2000 and expires in 2020. It is the most comprehensive partnership agreement between developing countries and the EU. At present, there are 53 states in the world who still have the death penalty, including China, India, the US, Japan, and Singapore. (source: New Europe) NIGERIA: Court sentences NURTW chairman to death for killing Lagos policeman The world currently clamours to eradicate capital punishment due to the notion that punishment should give room for rehabilitation – in other words, the death sentence is giving up on a human being. But on the other hand, Positivists minds clamour equal punishment for people who simply kill others. That argument is due to arise again as the chairman of National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), Boundary/Aiyetoro Unit, Saheed Arogundade has been sentenced to death by hanging. His offence, he killed a Police officer, Gbenga Oladipupo, at Gbara junction, Ayetoro, Ajegunle, Lagos around 8am on April 10, 2010. According to Instablog9ja, Arogundade was sentenced to death by Justice Olabisi Akinlade of Lagos High Court, Ikeja, yesterday. after he found Arogundade guilty of murder. In November 2011, the prosecution arraigned Arogundade alongside Mustapha Layeni, Adebayo Abdullahi, Seyi Pabiekun, Sikiru Rufai and Yusuf Arogundade on a 2-count charge of conspiracy and murder. When Oladipupo was reportedly stabbed to death by the convict and his cohorts in 2010, he was reportedly going to Olayinka Street, Ayetoro, to visit his mother. His corpse was later deposited at Isolo General Hospital morgue. The deceased was stabbed to death for limiting the NURTW’s income around Aiyetoro area, Lagos by encouraging the operation of tricycles. (source: pulse.ng) MALAYSIA: RESPA: Death penalty should remain The Retired Senior Police Officers Association of Malaysia (Respa) supports the stand of families of murdered victims who want the death sentence to remain. Its president Tan Sri Ismail Che Rus said that no crime should go unpunished, whatever the degree of punishment. “In respect of the death penalty, the sentence should depend on the severity and circumstances of the crime. “We support the stand of families of murdered victims that the death sentence should remain while also supporting the views of cross-sections of the public that the death penalty should be reserved for serious crimes so that justice will truly be served,” he said in a statement on Thursday. The association also feels that those currently on death row can have their sentences commuted to life imprisonment after due and careful evaluation of their sentences, taking into consideration that they have truly repented, he added. “For drug trafficking cases under the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952, there are instances where the mandatory death sentence is warranted due to overwhelming grounds. “There are also other cases under the Act, in which the accused is sent for rehabilitation. We support the principle that sentencing of offences should be more in favour of rehabilitation and be an avenue for a person to turn over a new leaf,” Ismail said. He was commenting on the government’s plans to amend and repeal a total 117 laws on punishment for serious offe
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----MO., COLO., ARIZ., MONT., ID., WASH.
February 7 MISSOURI: Proposed Law For Death Row Organ DonationsHouse Bill 630 would give inmates on death row the chance to donate organs, but there are concerns. The controversial bill introduced a couple of weeks ago in the Missouri House of Representatives would give those on death row a chance to donate their organs if they give their consent. House Bill 630 is proposed by a representative from North of Kansas City, Dr Jim Neely. He says this will provide a way to shorten the waiting list for organ donations in Missouri. "There are a few inmates who are showing some contrition and remorse. If they're going to be executed they have apparently made the comment that, why not donate their organs or tissues if it would help somebody else if we are going to go the execution route," Neely says, According to the Missourians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty website, there are only 25 names on death row in the state right now, which is far less that the number of people waiting for an organ. "There's a waiting time, and anything we can do to lessen the amount of time a person has to wait the better off it would be," Neely says. Tyler McClay with the Missouri Catholic Conference says not so fast. Their group is opposed to the death penalty altogether, and he has some concerns. "There may be influences there that render them more unable to give voluntary consent that say the average inmate," says McClay. He also is skeptical of the state getting involved in the business of harvesting organs. "The bill says that they would change the way that they way do the execution in order to harvest the organ so it's unclear to us how exactly that's going to work whether that's going to put the state in an awkward position." Dr. Neely says that would be something that is in the hands of the Department of Corrections. "The Department of Corrections would have to promugate some rules to allow this to go forward in the manner that would make these organs and tissues viable," Neely explains. One concern could be the health of an organ that comes from a body that has been lethally injected. Neely says they need guidance from the world of anestheisiology on a way to make it possible. (source: ozarksfirst.com) COLORADO: Death penalty repeal: Capitol Dems say ‘full steam ahead’ on legislation this year“A flat-out repeal of the death penalty is what we want to do,” said Sen. Angela Williams, who plans to sponsor a bill 20 states have banned or suspended the death penalty, and this could be the year Colorado joins them. Public support for capital punishment is declining. And Democrats, some of whom campaigned on doing away with state-sponsored executions, now control state government. Sen. Lois Court of Denver will support such legislation, but she knows passage is never assured. She recalls the painful path a similar bill took in 2013 — one year after the deadly Aurora theater shootings, when, like this year, Democrats held the statehouse and the governor’s mansion. Court, then a state representative, remembers sitting in the bill’s final committee hearing. She opposed capital punishment then, as she does now. But back in 2013, events, public mood and perhaps politics played a role the committee’s ultimate decision to reject the repeal bill. Before the vote was called, Court pointed out to fellow committee members that voters did not ask lawmakers to repeal the death penalty that year. And, she said, the governor at the time, John Hickenlooper, was conflicted on the issue, signaling he might veto the bill. Adding to the fraught atmosphere in the committee room was the presence of Rep. Rhonda Fields, whose son, Javad Marshall-Fields, was murdered in 2005. Fields, who is now a senator, supported the prosecutors’ decision to seek the death penalty, and still does today. You could “feel the weight” in the room, as one lawmaker put it. When the roll was called to kill the bill, Court sighed, “yes.” Six years later, Court says, the situation is different. Public support is swinging against capital punishment, as evidenced by the recent election of Attorney General Phil Weiser, who campaigned against capital punishment. So, too, did some newly elected Democratic lawmakers. And, Court said, Gov. Jared Polis is on board. “The governor now says he’ll sign it,” Court said, now the Senate president pro tempore. “Full steam ahead.” Supporters of the repeal, who cite the high cost of prosecuting a death sentence and racial biases in the criminal justice system, could introduce a bill in the Senate as soon as this month. “A flat out repeal of the death penalty is what we want to do,” said Sen. Angela Williams, a Democrat from Denver who plans to introduce the bill in the Senate. Since the nationwide moratorium on death penalty was lifted in 1976, and the punishment was reinstated in Colorado, the state has executed 1 man,
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----PENN., N.C., GA., ALA., LA., KY.
February 7 PENNSYLVANIA: Execution date set for York County man who murdered friend's ex-wife during burglary Pennsylvania Corrections Secretary John Wetzel has signed a notice of execution for Timothy Jacoby, a man who fatally shot his friend's ex-wife when he burglarized her home in York County. Wetzel signed the notice on Monday, which set the date of the execution for March 8, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections. But it’s unlikely that will happen. In an interview, Jeff Marshall, Jacoby’s attorney, said he’s going to file a motion to stay the execution. He said his client has filed a post-conviction relief act petition — and, under the law, the death penalty can’t be carried out while that or any resulting appeals are pending. Gov. Tom Wolf has also placed a moratorium on executions, describing the system for capital punishment as “riddled with flaws, making it error prone, expensive, and anything but infallible.” In Pennsylvania, no one has been put to death since 1999. In 2014, Jacoby, 45, of West Manchester Township, was found guilty of 1st-degree murder and related offenses and sentenced to death. He killed Monica Schmeyer, 55, of West Manheim Township, on March 31, 2010. Jacoby was a member of an informal group that met at a Hooters on Route 30 called the Orange Shorts Society. It was named after the color of the shorts that the waitresses wore at the restaurant. Schmeyer’s ex-wife, Jon, was part of the group. He talked about his divorce and noted that he paid her $1,700 in alimony each month in cash. She had a habit of keeping money in white envelopes throughout her home. On the day of the murder, Jacoby didn’t show up for a meeting of the Orange Shorts Society. Law enforcement conducted a years-long investigation and charged him in the killing. (source: York Daily Record) NORTH CAROLINA: NC public opinion on the death penalty appears to have reached a tipping point There is powerful new polling data today on the public attitudes of North Carolinians toward the death penalty. A press release from the good people at the Center for Death Penalty Litigation explains: New poll shows death penalty supporters now in the minority among N.C. votersPublic concerns grow over racial bias and the execution of innocent people North Carolina has long been considered a solidly pro-death penalty state, but a new poll finds that N.C. voters overwhelmingly believe the death penalty is error-prone and racially biased – and a majority believe it should be replaced with alternative punishments. The poll of 501 voters across the state, conducted last week by Public Policy Polling, comes as a capital trial begins in Wake County. It is the 1st comprehensive statewide survey of death penalty views in North Carolina. It reveals that a steep decline in new death sentences – North Carolina juries have sent only a single person to death row since 2014 – is the result of a sea change in public opinion about the death penalty that reaches across political divides. Of those polled, 47 percent voted for Donald Trump and 45 percent for Hillary Clinton. “I was stunned when I saw these numbers,” said David Weiss, a capital defense attorney at the Center for Death Penalty Litigation in Durham. “70 % of people believe an innocent person has likely been executed in North Carolina. Almost 60 % believe that racial bias affects who is sentenced to death in our state. With these kinds of serious concerns about the death penalty, it’s inconceivable that North Carolina could execute anyone or even continue to sentence people to death.” The poll found that voters have concerns about the death penalty’s fairness on several fronts: More than 70 % said defendants should have the right to bring forward evidence of racial discrimination in capital trials and jury selection. 70 % believe it is likely that an innocent person has been executed in North Carolina. 68 % said they support the creation of a new law to exempt people with severe mental illness from the death penalty. 61 % said they believe the courts should reexamine the death sentences of prisoners who were tried before a series of legal reforms were enacted to protect defendants’ rights and ensure fair trials. More than 3/4 of North Carolina’s death row prisoners were sentenced before these reforms. 57 % said it is likely that racial bias influences who is sentenced to death. The poll also showed that voters are willing to consider a range of alternatives to the death penalty: When given a choice between the death penalty and a maximum sentence of life without parole, more than 50 % of voters said they favor life without parole, while only 44 % leaned toward keeping the death penalty. The rest were unsure. When offered a larger range of alternatives, including requirements that offenders work and pay restitution to victims’ families, only 25 percent
