[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide
Sept. 14 JAPAN: Pope may meet Japanese man seeking retrial over death sentence Arrangements are being made for a meeting between Pope Francis and Iwao Hakamada, who is seeking a retrial for his conviction in a 1966 quadruple homicide, during the pontiff’s visit to Japan in late November, it was learned Saturday. The meeting may be held just before or after a Mass planned at the Tokyo Dome, according to supporters of Hakamada, 83, whose death sentence was suspended in 2014. It is still uncertain, however, whether the meeting will become a reality due in part to Hakamada’s health problems, the supporters said. The pope opposes the death penalty, and any remarks he may make about Japan’s system of capital punishment are expected to attract attention. According to supporters, Hakamada’s lawyers and others sent a letter to the pope last year, expressing hope for a meeting. Hakamada was arrested and indicted in 1966 over the murder of 4 people in the same family in Shizuoka Prefecture. His death sentence was finalized in 1980. In 2014, about 48 years after the arrest, he was released from prison after Shizuoka District Court granted a retrial to him. But the Tokyo High Court overrode the decision in 2018. The suspension of the death sentence and imprisonment was maintained, but Hakamada’s side has appealed to the Supreme Court. (source: japantimes.co.jp) VIETNAM: Vietnamese drug trafficker arrested Border guards of Vietnam's central Thanh Hoa province have detained a local man for trafficking 7 cakes of heroin and 56,000 pills of synthetic drug, Vietnam News Agency reported on Friday. The 55-year-old man from the province's Quan Son district was caught red-handed transporting the illicit drugs on a national road in the mountainous district on Thursday. According to the Vietnamese law, those convicted of smuggling over 600 grams of heroin or more than 2.5 kg of methamphetamine are punishable by death. Making or trading 100 grams of heroin or 300 grams of other illegal drugs also faces death penalty. In a partial dissent, however, Judge Marsha Berzon wrote that Ramirez should be allowed to pursue his claim that he should not receive the death penalty because he is intellectually disabled. Gabrielsen agreed, saying Berzon’s dissent could be the basis of a future appeal. “I think she hit it right on the head,” he said. “I think she was absolutely on the money.” (source: xinhuanet.com) SAUDI ARABIA: 130 executed in Saudi Arabia in 2019, most of whom were bin Salman’s opponents An international human rights organisation has revealed that the Saudi authorities have executed more than 130 people since the beginning of this year, most of whom were opponents of Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman. In a report presented at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, the Anti Death Penalty Project organisation announced that six of the executed opponents were children at the time of their arrest. (sourceL Middle East Monitor) IRAN: Iran vs the 21st century: 85 children on death row Simmering tensions in the Persian Gulf, resumed uranium enrichment programs, and supporting proxy military operations in Syria’s civil conflict and Yemen headline the current impasse between the West and the Islamic Republic of Iran. Add the diplomatic deadlock in the wake of the United States pulling out of the so-called Iran nuclear Deal, and there’s serious cause for concern over Teheran’s next moves. Now as the UN General Assembly approaches, there’s guarded optimism over a possible meeting between Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and Donald Trump on the sidelines of the world gathering. Such an encounter could “break the ice” for further discussions. The U.S. has toughened economic sanctions on the Islamic Republic, including its once lucrative petroleum sector. Yet it’s Iran’s mullahs who stand to gain should there be some sort of revised “deal” over their proscribed nuclear capacity. Stifling sanctions have crippled Teheran’s standing. But beyond the geopolitical and the diplomatic assessments, there is one lens which is rarely applied to viewing Iran: the sordid human rights situation inside the country of 83 million people where a corrupt and loathsome regime has instilled a reign of fear, intolerance and stupidity in the fabled land of Persia. A recent United Nations human rights report on the Islamic Republic of Iran underscores a situation “marked by the ongoing targeting of human rights lawyers and defenders, trade unionists, peaceful protesters and journalists.” The UN High Commissioner on Human Rights “continued to receive reports of torture, arbitrary detention and trials that failed to adhere to international standards.” Iran’s use and abuse of the death penalty causes particular concern among human rights monitors. The High Commissioner received information “that at least 253 people were executed in
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, PENN., ARIZ., CALIF., USA
Sept. 14 TEXAS: Death penalty waived in Royse City capital murder caseThe office of Hunt County District Attorney Noble D. Walker Jr. has waived the death penalty in connection with a capital murder case out of Royse City. 2 men will not be sentenced to death by lethal injection if they are convicted of capital murder in connection with the February homicides of 2 people in Royse City. Hunt County District Attorney Noble D. Walker Jr. said his office filed the motion Friday with the 354th District Court in the cases against Dearis Rayvone Davis, 19, of Arlington and Calvin Earl Rayford, 18, of Rowlett. “We have waived the death penalty as a punishment based on the evidence in the case,” Walker said, declining further comment. Davis and Rayford are each being held in lieu of $1 million bond on charges of capital murder of multiple persons, filed by the Royse City Police Department. Both were taken into custody May 29 and were indicted in August on the capital murder charges by the Hunt County grand jury involving the deaths of Courtland Trowell-Wilmore and a juvenile male whose family is asking for his name to be withheld from publication. The Royse City Police Department reported it had found 2 people dead in the Woodland Creek subdivision during the early hours of Feb. 3, with a 3rd individual believed to have left the scene. One of the two victims was a high school student at the time of his death, and the other was a former student. Capital murder carries a sentence upon conviction of lethal injection or life in prison without the possibility of parole. Davis will now need a new attorney, as he had been represented by the West Texas Regional Public Defender for Capital Cases program, which only handles death penalty cases, while Rayford has hired a defense attorney. Arraignment hearings in their cases are scheduled later this month in the 354th District Court. (source: Greenville Herald-Banner) PENNSYLVANIA: Commentators Criticize Pennsylvania Death Penalty, Call for Reform or Abolition As the September 11, 2019 Pennsylvania Supreme Court argument date approached in 2 cases challenging the constitutionality of the state’s death penalty, commentators and stakeholders weighed in on the case in op-eds across the state. These opinion articles highlighted the work of a June 2018 report by the Pennsylvania Task Force and Advisory Committee on Capital Punishment that found deep flaws in the administration of the Commonwealth’s death penalty, as well as the experiences of exonerees and victims’ family members. Daniel Filler, a law professor and member of the Task Force’s advisory committee, wrote in The Philadelphia Inquirer, “Our legislators have not stepped up to ensure a fair and effective process for deciding [death penalty] cases. Pennsylvania is the only state in the country that does not fund a statewide capital defender program or contribute to the costs of representing indigent capital defendants. Each county must fund the defense individually, and most simply cannot afford the price tag. Without adequate representation, Pennsylvania has sentenced numerous defendants to death only to later find that they were severely mentally ill or innocent or intellectually disabled and thus ineligible for a death sentence.” Filler urged the court to step in to act where the legislature had failed, saying, “Our society has rules and norms and at some point a court can no longer ignore a death penalty system that does not conform to them.” The (Allentown) Morning Call published an op-ed by former federal prosecutor Thomas Farrell, who wrote, “As a former prosecutor, I am deeply troubled by this fact: Pennsylvania does not choose fairly those it condemns to death.” He noted the racial and geographic disparities that plague Pennsylvania’s death penalty, saying, “If Pennsylvania wants a death penalty system worthy of its ultimate power, then it needs to start by reforming its process for capital prosecutions. Life or death for a murder defendant depends more than anything on in which of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties he is prosecuted. … The pernicious effects of race, whether the defendant’s or the victim’s, continue to distort prosecutorial and sentencing decisions.” Farrell concluded, “when it comes to the death penalty, an imperfection can mean a wrongful execution. Almost as momentous, it means we the people — through our legislature, courts, prosecutors, and juries — have acted unjustly. That risk has persisted for over 40 years despite our best efforts to get it right. It’s time to stop.” In a separate op-ed for The Legal Intelligencer, law professor Jules Epstein—who authored one of the amicus briefs filed in support of the prisoners’ challenge—echoed those sentiments, presenting specific data on racial bias in Pennsylvania. “At its simplest, the data conclusively show the following—white victim cases result
