[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, PENN., FLA., ALA., OHIO
Feb. 17 TEXAS: Lining Up a ConvictionA suggestive photo lineup put Juan Balderas on death row. Experts say he may have been wrongfully convicted, but will he get a new trial in time? At first glance, the photo lineup that helped send Juan Balderas to death row doesn't look too unusual. It shows 6 young Latino men staring blankly ahead. Balderas, in the bottom middle position, looks calm, almost as if he's daydreaming. But according to judges and experts, this lineup is deeply prejudicial. 2 small details - the black hoodie Balderas is wearing and the mark on his left cheek - may have singled him out to the witness who viewed this lineup. Balderas was sentenced to death for a 2005 Houston murder based on the testimony of a single eyewitness, and he???s maintained his innocence ever since. The witness identification procedure in Balderas' case gained the attention of the state's highest criminal court, with a majority of judges ruling in November that it was suggestive, and 1 judge arguing it was so prejudicial that Balderas deserved a new trial. Combined with allegations that prosecutors hid evidence from the defense during the trial, and that another witness has recanted his account of the shooting, the identification raises the troubling question of whether Balderas was wrongfully convicted. Meanwhile, a panel of experts formed to cut down on wrongful convictions is urging state legislators to beef up rules for witness identifications. Balderas' case is one example of how small errors in police treatment of eyewitnesses can lead to serious problems with a conviction. On December 6, 2005, 16-year-old Eduardo Hernandez was hanging out with friends at an apartment in Alief, a suburb in sprawling southwest Houston. A man in a black hoodie barged in, circled the room, and shot Hernandez 9 times in the back and head. Hernandez was part of a local street gang called La Tercera Crips. He had angered his fellow members by snitching and throwing hand signs for a rival gang, several would later testify. The only witness who saw the shooter's face was Wendy Bardales, the sister of Hernandez's girlfriend. She described the shooter as someone she had never seen before, a young Latino man about 5 feet 6 inches tall, skinny and clean-shaven. He had short black hair in a fade haircut and was wearing a black hoodie. And he had a dark mark on his cheek, she said. The night after the shooting, officers showed her a photo lineup, but she told them the shooter wasn't in it. Over the next few days, Houston police received anonymous tips suggesting that Balderas, another member of the gang, was involved. The week after the murder, an officer went back to Wendy with a new lineup of 6 photos, which the Observer obtained through a Texas Public Information Act request. Wendy recognized Balderas - the 2 had lived in the same apartment complex and had known each other for about a year. She told the officer that Balderas "could be the shooter," and that he "looked like the shooter," even though on the night of the murder she had told police that the shooter was someone she had never seen before. The officer returned to her house the next day, trying to pin her down on whether Balderas was the shooter, but she still didn't say she was sure. Finally, the officer told her to place her hands over the top of the face of each subject, in order to simulate the shooter's hoodie. When she did, the officer later testified, her eyes "grew wide" and "began to water." Wendy said she was positive that Balderas was the shooter. "A witness's actual memory can be forever changed if suggestive procedures are used." Experts who study witness identification procedures say it's a textbook example of an identification gone wrong. The 1st problem is the lineup itself. It includes only 1 person - Balderas - who matches the description Wendy gave police. None of the other 5 men are wearing a black hoodie or have any marks on their faces. They also don't match her description in other ways: Some are heavier, others not clean-shaven, others not wearing a fade haircut. "Given the witness's description, this photo array is extremely suggestive and creates enormous potential for a wrongful conviction," said Sandra Guerra Thompson, a University of Houston law professor who studies witness identification. "The suspect should not stand out, and given that he is the only person with those distinctive features, this is highly suggestive." Large police departments typically have huge databases of booking photos, so it shouldn't be a problem to find "filler" photos that better match a witness's description. The process is also an issue. Research over the past few years has made clear that even small, unintentionally leading statements by officers can make witnesses feel pressured to choose someone. Coaching, such as when the officer urged Wendy to cover parts of the faces, can
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----OKLA., COLO., ARIZ., IDAHO, NEV., WASH., USA
Feb. 17 OKLAHOMA: Oklahoma House advances measure ending electric chair executions The Oklahoma House approved legislation Thursday to eliminate the electric chair as a method of execution, although it's been more than 50 years since the state's last electrocution. The bill lists which execution methods are allowed, including lethal injection, nitrogen hypoxia - which causes death by depleting oxygen in the blood - firing squad and any other form not prohibited by the U.S. Constitution. Electrocution has not been used to execute an Oklahoma death row inmate since 1966, and a firing squad has never been used in the state. The measure also would give the Department of Corrections' director the choice of which method to use. House members voted 74-22 for the bill and sent it to the Senate for a vote. Oklahoma has executed 112 people since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976, the highest per-capita rate in the nation and second overall tally only to Texas, where 537 inmates have been put to death over the last 40 years, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. But executions have been on hold in Oklahoma since a botched execution in 2014 and drug mix-ups during the last 2 scheduled lethal injections in 2015. Oklahoma was the 1st state to authorize lethal injection as a method of execution, and capital punishment has strong, bipartisan support in the Oklahoma Legislature. Lawmakers approved the use of nitrogen gas as an alternative method of execution after an inmate writhed on the gurney during a 2014 lethal injection that prison officials tried unsuccessfully to halt. Last year, voters overwhelmingly approved a statewide referendum that enshrined the death penalty in the state constitution, making it more difficult for future legislators or the courts to end it. (source: Associated Press) * Oklahoma House passes bill that would provide alternative ways to carry out death penalty The Oklahoma House passes House Bill 1679, which would provide alternative ways to carry out death penalty. The measure provides that the available manners of execution are to be lethal drug, nitrogen hypoxia, firing squad, any method not prohibited by the United States Constitution. The manner of carrying out the punishment shall be selected by the Director of the Department of Corrections. (source: KOCO news) COLORADO: Still, Colorado must reconsider death penalty A year after an effort to lower the bar for implementation of the death-penalty in Colorado failed in the Senate Judiciary Committee, a move to repeal the state's death penalty failed this week in the same committee. As we noted when Berthoud Sen. Kevin Lundberg's bill failed last year, it's unfortunate that Sen. Lucia Guzman's bill didn't advance this session, because this is a public policy discussion that requires the state's attention. There are practical reasons for eliminating the death penalty. Boulder County District Attorney Stan Garnett has noted that prosecuting a death penalty case through a verdict can cost the prosecution more than $1 million, about a fifth of the annual budget of the district attorney's office. But saving money is a far lesser concern than questions about whether the death penalty, as applied now, is just. Execution is not applied uniformly. In 2013, the Denver Post reported on a review by University of Denver law experts of every first-degree murder case in Colorado over 12 years found that of 500 cases meeting the state's criteria for the death penalty, prosecutors sought death in only five, and a University of Colorado at Boulder study looked for particularly heinous cases where a death sentence could have been called for but was not and found many: "children who were kidnapped, raped and murdered. A cocaine addict who killed his wife and 16-month-old son." Nationwide, poorer defendants, and minorities, are most likely to face execution. Sir Mario Owens, who is black, is on death row in Colorado for the murder of 2 people. James Holmes, who is white, got life in prison after murdering 12 people and injuring 70 others. (It's worth noting that life in prison is a punishment that some "career criminals" receive for drug and gun crimes, not taking life.) The continued exonerations of Americans on death row - 157 in the past 44 years - reveals the risk of putting an innocent inmate to death. It is without question that Americans have been executed for crimes of which they were not guilty. It is the punishment that leaves no room for appeal or pardon, should evidence surface that the defendant was not guilty The death penalty is a punishment appropriate for murder. Therefore, lawmakers should listen to prosecutors and to the families of murder victims regarding the value of keeping the penalty available to the state. But there are too many questions and legitimate concerns to keep the death
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide
Feb. 17 NEW ZEALAND: 60th anniversay of New Zealand's last hanging Walter Bolton was the last man to be hung in New Zealand before capital punishment was repealed. The trap door opened. His body fell. On this day 60 years ago, Whanganui farmer Walter James Bolton became the last person in New Zealand to be hanged after being found guilty of murdering his wife of 43 years, Beatrice Bolton, by poisoning her with arsenic. Bolton, 68, was hanged at the gallows in Auckland Prison, now known as Mt Eden Prison, at 6.30pm for the part he played in the crime. Stuff reports show the prosecution alleged Bolton killed Beatrice because he was in love with another woman - his sister-in-law Florence Doughty - with whom he had a sexual affair. Lawyers for the Crown claimed Bolton had concocted a potion of arsenic from sheep dip and laced his wife's tea with it on several occasions, requiring hospital treatment, before killing her with a large dose on July 11, 1956. His execution was made controversial by the suggestion that his wife had not been murdered at all. Bolton and his wife were married for 43 years and had 6 children and a relatively close relationship, journalist Bernie Steeds wrote in an article on the couple. In the 15 months before she died, her mystery illness was never diagnosed, but an autopsy identified arsenic as the cause. It was suggested Bolton had put the poison in her cups of tea, though no trace of the poison was ever found. Steeds said sheep dip may have found its way into the house's spring and Bolton also had traces of arsenic in his hair and fingernails. Active people get rid of arsenic more quickly, and Beatrice had been unwell, and had rested a lot before the poisoning was alleged to have begun, he said. But an all-male jury in Bolton's hometown found him guilty, and despite his claims of innocence, he lost his Court of Appeal case. In a book written by Sherwood Young, Guilty On The Gallows, a police officer who attended Bolton's execution was interviewed. Only 20 at the time, the officer described what it was like. "When the sheriff gave the signal, the hangman moved the lever. There was a loud metallic clang as the trap door opened. Bolton disappeared from sight behind the tarpaulin. "A prison warden released the rope while I supported the body. It looked about 7 feet long, hanging there. The toes were almost touching the ground. The tongue was out of his mouth. When the rope was removed it slurped back into his mouth. "I will never forget this experience." Other stories later claimed Bolton's execution had gone horribly wrong. Rather than having his neck broken the instant the trapdoor opened, they alleged Bolton slowly strangled to death. 53 men and 1 woman were executed in New Zealand between 1842 and 1957. The death penalty was abolished in 1941, reinstated in 1950, and then abolished again in 1989. (source: stuff.co.nz) INDONESIA: 2 charged with Kuantan kidnapping of businessman, face death penalty 2 men were charged at the magistrate's court here today with kidnapping a businessman to secure a RM19 million ransom 2 years ago. Lim Sin Chye, 44, from Kemaman, Terengganu and Ang Boon Leong, 39, from Kepong, Kuala Lumpur, were accused of kidnapping Datuk Chin Yoke Choon, 53, to hold him for ransom. The duo is alleged to have kidnapped Chin, who is the managing director of Tunas Manja Group, at the parking lot of a hotel at Bandar Indera Mahkota here, at 5.55pm on Dec 26, 2015. The victim was later freed. Lim and Ang face the death penalty if convicted under Section 3 of the Kidnapping Act 1961. No plea was recorded from the duo today, and magistrate Noor Zaihan Mohamad Ali fixed Feb 28 for mention. Later, at two separate sessions courts, the duo claimed trial to being members of underworld group "Geng William", an offence that may see them jailed for up to 20 years if convicted under Section 130V(1) of the Penal Code. In the 2 separate courts, Lim and Ang also claimed trial to fraternising without good cause with the same underworld group, an offence which carries a maximum 20-year jail term on conviction, under Section 130Y of the Code. In sessions court 1, judge Unaizah Mohd denied bail to Lim because he was detained under the provisions of the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012. In sessions court 4, judge Siti Aminah Ghazali also did not grant bail to Ang on the same grounds. Both judges fixed Feb 28 for mention of the cases. Deputy public prosecutors Muhamad Asyraf Md Kamal and Shahrul Ekhsan Hassim prosecuted, while the duo was unrepresented. Previously, on Dec 30, purported underworld members Low Sing Hwa, 29, and Tham Hock Ann, 36, were charged at the magistrate's court here with committing the same offence. (source: nst.com.my) IRAN: Iran Regime Sold the Corpse of an Executed Prisoner for $3,000 Selling unclaimed corpses in Iran has been
