[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide
Sept. 18 INDIA: Odisha: Death penalty for Salipur rape & murder accused A POCSO court today awarded death penalty to accused youth convicted in 2018 Salipur minor girl rape and murder case. Yesterday, the special POCSO Court, Cuttack, had convicted accused Mohammed Mustaque under sections 302, 363, 376 a-b of IPC and section 6 of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. The accused had raped a 6-year-old girl near a school under Salipur police limits on April 21, 2018. He had crushed her head with a stone following rape. The girl was rushed to the SCB Medical College & Hospital in critical condition, where she succumbed to injuries while undergoing treatment on April 29 last year. This is the 5th case in Odisha where the accused persons were sentenced to death for the heinous crime. (source: Odisha Sun Times) MALAYSIA: Nov 27 death penalty appeal for Banting man who sold medicinal cannabis The Court of Appeal has set November 27 to hear the appeal by a 30-year-old father who was sentenced to death for trafficking cannabis which he claimed was used for medicinal purposes. A 3-man panel comprising Justices Datuk Yaacob Md Sam, Datuk Zabariah Mohd Yusof and Datuk Lau Bee Lan fixed the hearing date when the matter came up before the court today. Earlier, Justice Yaacob granted an application by Muhammad Lukman Mohamad’s lawyer Hisyam Teh Poh Teik to include two additional grounds in the petition of appeal. Deputy public prosecutor Datuk Nazran Mohd Sham did not object to the application. On August 30 last year, the Shah Alam High Court found Muhammad Lukman guilty on 3 charges of trafficking 3,010mm of delta 9 Tetrahydrocannabinol (cannabis extract), 1,422g of delta 9 Tetrahydrocannabinol and 279.81g of cannabis. He was accused of committing the offences at a house in Bandar Mahkota, Banting at 6.45pm on December 7, 2015. (source: malaymail.com) SRI LANKA: 2 Indian drug peddlers sentenced to life term in Sri Lanka 2 Indian nationals have been sentenced to life terms in Sri Lanka for drug peddling, police said on Wednesday. The 2 named Dhanivel Mani and Lebbai Jalaluddin Mohifeen Mohadeem have been held in Sri Lanka since 2016. They were sentenced by the Negombo High Court on Tuesday after they admitted to pedaling heroin, police spokesman Ruwan Gunasekera said. They were arrested by the Sri Lanka Customs and handed over to the Police Narcotics Bureau. The sentencing came as President Maithripala Sirisena was contemplating action to renew the capital punishment for a drug-related crime. Sirisena's move was halted by the apex court in response to a petition filed by public interest activists. The President had signed 4 death warrants when the Supreme Court stayed the executions till October 30. Sirisena's decision came in spite of a UN moratorium on the death penalty which Sri Lanka has been a part of. All Sirisena's presidential predecessors since 1978 had declined to sign death warrants for capital punishment. The death sentence is commuted to life terms. Sirisena said he was compelled to reintroduce the death penalty related to drug crimes due to the growing menace of drugs. (source: Press Trust of India) PAKISTAN: SC converts death sentence of 7 accused into imprisonment The Supreme Court on Wednesday converted the death sentence of 7 murder accused into 10-year imprisonment. A trial court awarded capital punishment to 7 accused while 6 accused were awarded life sentence over murder of 2 brothers in Sialkot in 2010. The high court also maintained the trial court verdict. The incident took place in Sialkot in 2010 where an angry mob shot and killed 2 brothers Hafiz Muneeb and Hafiz Mughez by terming them bandits. The apex court also took suo moto notice over the incident. A 3-member Bench of the apex court headed by Chief Justice Asif Saeed Khan Khosa comprising Justice Mazhar Alam Khan Miankhel and Justice Qazi Muhammad Amin Ahmad heard the case through video link from SC Lahore Registry. During the course of proceedings, the Chief Justice said that two stories were made in this case and 2 FIRs were registered. In first FIR injured persons were mentioned but in the second FIR no injured person was mentioned, he added. He said that these are disadvantages of the suo moto notices. He said that the State had the power to punish in case of any crime. If people had captured the robbers, they did not have authority to punish them, he added. He said that violence could not be allowed at all in society. If courts released accused, people would get a licence to torture, he added. The court after hearing the arguments converted death sentence of 7 accused and life imprisonment of 5 to 10 years imprisonment. Detailed judgment of the case will be issued later. (source: nation.com.pk) Shahid Afridi calls for public hanging of rapists Former
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, GA., FLA., ARK.
Sept. 19 TEXASimpending execution Death Watch: Failures at Trial Anchor Last-Chance Appeal for SparksIf SCOTUS does not act, Sparks will be the 3rd man executed in Texas this month Robert Sparks was deep in the throes of a psychotic break at the time of his crimes – that is not disputed. He was hearing voices; he thought his wife was trying to poison him. He stabbed her and his 2 stepsons to death and raped his 2 stepdaughters, but he felt he'd be exonerated. Instead he was sentenced to death in 2008 in one of the most emotionally charged trials in the history of Dallas County. Now, his execution date approaches on Wednesday, Sept. 25. Claiming insanity isn't a good strategy to overturn a death sentence; by law, defendants have to be not merely mentally ill, but uncomprehending of what is happening to them. Thus Sparks' lawyers, in what could be his final appeal before the U.S. Supreme Court, are looking elsewhere: to the flawed testimony of expert witness A.P. Merillat and inappropriate conduct of bailiff Bobby Moorehead. Merillat was for many years a go-to witness for prosecutors in Texas in capital murder cases. His specialty was convincing juries that a defendant would be a future danger, a requirement to sentence a person to death. His testimony, according to the appeal, helped send at least 15 men to death row, including Sparks. But Merillat's star was tarnished in 2012 when the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals condemned his testimony as false in the trials of Adrian Estrada and Manuel Velez. In both cases, Merillat assured jurors that without a death sentence the defendants would land in general population, able to attack fellow prisoners in the mess hall, the library, the visitation area. But Merillat was mistaken; because of the viciousness of their crimes, both prisoners would have been segregated. The CCA knocked their death sentences down to life without parole, and Merillat was out of a job as an expert witness. As a witness for the prosecution in Sparks' trial, Merillat again insisted Sparks would land in general population. Only upon cross-examination did he admit, reluctantly, that Sparks might be segregated from other prisoners. But at the end of cross-examination, he bizarrely doubled down on his original message. In Sparks' prior appeals, the CCA and 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled, in the words of the current filing, that "Merillat's false testimony was corrected when he briefly flirted with the truth on cross examination." Sparks' lawyers say Merillat's testimony, taken as a whole, left the jury with a false impression, thus violating due process. The other major claim in Sparks' appeal concerns the conduct of bailiff Moorehead, who wore a black tie with a white needle emblazoned on it the last day of the trial. His attorneys argue the display violated Sparks' right to an impartial jury, a claim the CCA and 5CA have previously rejected, ruling the defense failed to prove that the jury saw the tie. But the appeal notes that Moorehead sat directly behind Sparks, 10 yards from the jury – "the media present at trial saw the tie, defense counsel saw the tie ... and portions of the jury box provided an unobstructed view of the tie." If SCOTUS does not act, Sparks will be the 3rd man executed at Huntsville this month – Mark Soliz was put to death on Sept. 10 and Billy Crutsinger on Sept. 4 – and the 7th since the start of the year. Another 8 are scheduled to die between now and December 11. To date, 564 Texans have died at the hands of the state since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976. (source: Austin Chronicle) Executions under Greg Abbott, Jan. 21, 2015-present46 Executions in Texas: Dec. 7, 1982present-564 Abbott#scheduled execution date-nameTx. # 47-Sept. 25---Robert Sparks---565 48-Oct. 2-Stephen Barbee--566 49-Oct. 10Randy Halprin---567 50-Oct. 16Randall Mays568 51-Oct. 30Ruben Gutierrez-569 52-Nov. 6-Justen Hall-570 53-Nov. 13Patrick Murphy--571 54-Nov. 20Rodney Reed-572 55-Dec. 11Travis Runnels--573 (sources: TDCJ & Rick Halperin) * After Ranger testifies, end in sight for Little Elm capital murder trial Jurors in the capital murder trial against Daniel Greco are expected to begin their deliberations Wednesday after both prosecutors and defense attorneys stopped calling witnesses and admitting evidence Tuesday afternoon. The day ended with Judge Jonathan Bailey storming out of the 431st District Court, saying he was “ticked” after Greco’s defense attorneys submitted several requests
