Dec. 8 TEXAS: Sparks capital murder trial starts punishment phase today Now that Robert Sparks is a convicted murderer, the question turns to whether he deserves to die for killing his wife and two stepson, and raping his 2 stepdaughters. The same jury that found him guilty of capital murder will begin hearing evidence this morning about whether he should receive the death penalty or life in prison with no opportunity for parole. Last week Mr. Sparks' attorney, Paul Johnson, told the jury that his client is guilty. But he said during closing arguments that is just a snapshot of this crime. Mr. Johnson said that he now plans to fill in the other photos in the album and show why this happened. Some of the comments at the end of the online stories about this case have questioned why there is even a trial, especially when a man has repeated confessions to police and television news reporters. More often than not, death penalty cases are not about who committed the crime, but about what the punishment should be. I regularly see defense attorneys with piles of evidence stacked against their client wait to see if prosecutors prove their case, and then prepare to save their client's life in the punishment trial. (source: Dallas Morning News) ALABAMA: Executions should be studied instead of enacted this year Although the death penalty has never been proved as a deterrent to crime, the Alabama Supreme Court has scheduled five capital punishment dates for the first 5 months of 2009. Of the 5 inmates scheduled for execution, 1 has been on death row for 18 years, 1 for 19 years, 1 for 21 years and 2 for 26 years. The state's death penalty advocates seem almost giddy. Alabama went all of this year without an execution, though some were scheduled. Appeals delayed them, and appeals may delay executions scheduled next year. Aside from the appellate process, however, Alabama ought to delay all executions to allow for a thorough study of its capital punishment process. Alabama executed three people last year and saw its murder rate rise from 8.3 per 100,000 population to 8.9. It has steadily increased since 2005, when the murder rate for Alabama rose from 5.6 per 100,000 to 8.2. There were 4 executions in the state that year. Attorney General Troy King argues that executions help bring closure to the families of victims. 'It's been too long. It's welcomed news,' he said of the five death dates that the Supreme Court set last week. 'We have five families who have been waiting some more than 20 years to see an execution date, to see justice delivered.' It is true that the extraordinarily long delays between sentencing and execution have caused mental anguish for all involved. But even convicted murderers have constitutional rights, and the wheels of justice sometimes turn slowly in Alabama. The bigger issue is whether the state should continue to use the death penalty. According to Richard Dieter, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center in Washington, capital punishment is growing more infrequent nationally. Only Alabama and Texas seem to be committed to the death penalty. If the majority of Alabamians fully support capital punishment, the state is entitled to continue to schedule executions. However, it is hard to see how conscionable citizens can justify them, considering the serious objections that have been raised to how Alabama administers the death penalty. The state is notorious for its unique law that allows a judge to override the recommendation of a jury in a capital case and order death instead of life without the possibility of parole. It also is notorious for failing to guarantee legal representation for inmates appealing their capital convictions. And the effectiveness of attorneys assigned to defend indigent suspects is questionable. Moreover, there are issues of income and race. For the past few years, Sen. Hank Sanders, D-Selma, has asked for a moratorium to allow the state to study its capital punishment system. That makes better sense than scheduling multiple executions as the Supreme Court has done next year. (source: Editorial, Tuscaloosa News) USA: Top 9/11 suspects to plead guilty ---- The military tribunal may never go ahead in its current form, analysts say Alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and 4 co-defendants have told a military judge at Guantanamo Bay they want to confess and plead guilty. The judge at the pre-trial hearing, Col Stephen Henley, said he would question the men to ensure that was their wish. Mr Mohammed had earlier said he wished to be executed and achieve martyrdom, but had still mounted a defence. The 5 accused face the death penalty if convicted of a role in killing 2,973 people in the suicide plane attacks. No date has been set for the 5 men's full military tribunal, and their appearance in court on Monday followed hearings held under a judge who resigned last month. The BBC's Jonathan Beale says the hearing started amid an air of uncertainty over the future of the Guantanamo Bay detention centre, where Mr Mohammed and some 250 other terrorism suspects are being held. US President-elect Barack Obama has promised to close it down amid controversy over the inmates' legal status and interrogation techniques used on them, casting doubt on whether the tribunal would ever go ahead in its current form. 'No intimidation' For the first time, 9 relatives of the victims were flown to Cuba by the US military to watch Monday's pre-trial proceedings. They were separated from Mr Mohammed and his 4 co-defendants by glass. At the opening of the proceedings, the military judge read aloud a letter in which the men said wanted immediately to "withdraw all motions... and wished to enter pleas in what was termed as confessions in this case". "We all 5 have reached an agreement to request from the commission an immediate hearing session in order to announce our confessions... with our earnest desire in this regard without being under any kind of pressure, threat, intimidations or promise from any party," Col Stephen Henley told the court. When asked by the judge if he was prepared to enter a plea of guilty to all the charges should he be allowed to withdraw their motions, Mr Mohammed said "yes". "We don't want to waste time," he added, according to the AFP news agency. The Kuwaiti-born suspect also told the judge that he did not trust his military-appointed lawyer. He has already admitted being responsible "from A to Z" for the 9/11 attacks on the US, according to the Pentagon, although questions remain about whether the confession was obtained by torture. At a hearing in June, when informed that he faced the death penalty, Mr Mohammed said he had been looking to "be a martyr for long time". "This is what I want, he stated. His co-defendants are: Ramzi Binalshibh, a Yemeni described by the US as the co-ordinator of the 9/11 attacks who, according to intelligence officials, was supposed to be have been one of the hijackers, but was unable to get a US visa Mustafa Ahmad al-Hawsawi, a Saudi man said by US intelligence officials to be 1 of 2 key financial people used by Mr Mohammed to arrange the funding for the 11 September hijackings Ali Abd al-Aziz Ali, also known as Amar al-Balochi, who is accused of serving as a key lieutenant to Mr Mohammed, his uncle Walid Bin Attash, a Yemeni national who, according to the Pentagon, has admitted masterminding the bombing of the American destroyer USS Cole in Yemen in 2000, and is also accused of involvement in the 9/11 attacks (source: BBC News) ****************** Capital punishment rights a murderer's wrong Kill 'em all. Strap them to the chair and juice them with 2,400 volts. Bake at 140 degrees Fahrenheit for 30 seconds and then let cool for the autopsy. Now that I have your attention, let's get this death penalty thing straight. Death penalty opponents forget who we're talking about. Death rows all across the nation are filled with unremorseful human poisons, walking diseases whose sickening, vile crimes have elevated past evil into some other domain. Is there any human poison that truly deserves to be spared from it? Why? Is there ever a time when ridding our world of these walking, talking diseases is the wrong thing to do? When? Some would say, "Two wrongs don't make a right." Well, let's just break that down. How about an easy one? Allen Lee Davis (who from here on in will be referred to as "Inhuman Scumbag") was undeniably convicted of killing a pregnant woman by beating her until she was unrecognizable, shooting a 9-year-old girl in the face the day before her birthday and shooting a 5-year-old girl in the back before crushing her skull. Incontrovertibly a wrong. So, if killing Scumbag doesn't make a right, what would Mr. Death Penalty Opponent propose? What does Mr. Two Wrongs' sense of justice tell him to do? Well, he wants to have the state of Florida provide him with food and medical care for the rest of his life. Allow him to watch TV, listen to the radio and provide him with a variety of reading materials, lest he get bored. Allow him plenty of cigarettes and snacks in his cell. We don't want him to feel deprived now, do we? Oh, and also allow visitors and exercise privileges. Does that sound about right to you, Mr. Death Penalty Opponent? The reality is Florida allowed Scumbag to live in relative comfort for 16 years. That's longer than he allowed for those 2 little girls. Think about that sentence. So, let me get this straight. Letting that continue would be a "right," but executing this grotesque, obese waste would be a "wrong?" Barbaric? Uncivilized? You're still thinking that an execution is the same thing as a killing. You're still thinking that what that state does is even close to what the inmates have done. Separate the 2. Think of executing a waste as the same thing as removing a bottle of poison from your refrigerator. The refrigerator will be a better and safer place. Has the poison been wronged? Are we a less civil society for removing the poison? "No, but the poison isn't human," one might say. Well, neither is Scumbag. Only a soulless mechanism of death could have done what he did, same as a bottle of poison. Don't think of him as anything else. Granted I am only this staunch in cases where the individual has confessed and the crimes are particularly heinous, both of which were true in Scumbag's case. At 7:15 a.m. on July 8, 1999, the world became a better place, and most people didn't even know it. Ending Scumbag's life was right. No part of the universe is in detriment because he no longer exists. In fact, it is a better place. That's not wrong; that's common sense. (source: Chris Curry; The (San Jose State Univ.) Spartan Daily) OHIO: US trial for Ohio doctor in wife's poison death The Cypriot lawyers for a doctor accused of poisoning his wife said Monday their client was dropping an extradition appeal and will return to Ohio to face murder charges. Lawyer Marios Georgiou said his client Yazeed Essa has agreed to go back to the U.S. to stand trial for the 2005 cyanide poisoning death of his wife Rosemarie Essa, 38. Georgiou said Essa's U.S. lawyers have struck a plea-bargain agreement with prosecutors to drop charges accusing his sister and brother of assisting a fugitive in exchange for his return to stand trial in Ohio. Essa, 39, disappeared in March, 2005 before his indictment on aggravated murder charges in Cuyahoga County after his wife collapsed in her car and died near their home in Gates Mills, outside Cleveland. Essa was arrested in October 2006 in Cyprus as he attempted to clear customs after arriving from Beirut, Lebanon. Georgiou said his client fought extradition for fear that he might face the death penalty in an Ohio trial and was determined to take his case all the way to the European Court of Human Rights. But Essa's U.S. lawyers have now deemed prosecutors' earlier assurances not to seek the death penalty as "satisfactory". The lawyers also have uncovered evidence that could prove their client's innocence, Georgiou said. He did not elaborate. Essa left behind the couple's 2 children, then aged 4 and 2, when he disappeared. His late wife's brother is taking care of them. (source: Akron Beacon Journal) NEW HAMPSHIRE: Addison's former teacher testifies A man who taught both Michael Addison and his mother was the latest witness as jurors decide whether to impose the death penalty for the killing a Manchester, N.H., police officer. Addison was convicted last month of capital murder in the 2006 shooting death of Officer Michael Briggs. As jurors decide whether to impose the death penalty, Addison's defense team has been calling witnesses to focus on his troubled childhood. On Monday, Marvin Rudenstein described teaching a specialized classroom for children with behavioral problems. He remembered Addison's mother as moody, stubborn and often agitated but said Addison had a great smile, was well-liked by his peers and was easy to reach. (source: Associated Press) ****************** The Execution Channel Why do people at the circus watch with fascination as the daring young man on the flying trapeze performs without a net? Why was Evil Knievel so popular with the masses? Why do the NASCAR crashes make the news more often than the guys crossing the finish line? Because people are fascinated by both the possibility and the actuality of death. Sure, we're cheering for them to survive the dangerous thing they're doing, but if they don't, we sure as hell want to be able to say we saw it. Mr. Stephen D. Clark of Portsmouth, a staunch opponent to the death penalty, is of the opinion that public executions would help abolish the death penalty. It seems odd that a person who composed such an intelligent and well written letter may never have cracked open a history book. Prior to the invention of television, public executions were the most popular and well attended "social" events in any given community. As a species in general, were rather blood thirsty. Take those kookie French, for example. Historians, sociologists, and psychologists agree that if it hadn't been for the public executions, the Reign of Terror would never have escalated to the level of frenzy that almost emptied the country of its nobility. And what about the Roman Coliseum? Standing room only, folks. After all, if someone got the thumbs down sign, the attendees got to witness an execution. Regardless of the Emperors thumb signal, chances were pretty solid that you'd get to see someone die. Talk about feeding time at the zoo! And before all you Americans get on your high horses about how evolved this particular nation is, try to remember that the witch trials in New England werent nearly as well attended as the hangings. "Oh!", I hear you cry, "That was a long time ago!" Sure it was. And yet, the last American public execution, which took place in Kentucky in 1936, drew over 20,000 people to a field to watch a young man hang. The crowd was thrilled. Want to hazard a guess at what it would take to get over 20,000 depression era Kentuckians to leave their struggling farms for a day to show up in those numbers? It sure wasn't simply the prospect of seeing justice in action. It was human blood lust, plain and simple. If it had been New York, they probably would have had hot dog vendors and t-shirt sales, as well. Still too long ago for you? Try this. Tommy Lee Jones won an Emmy in 1982 for his portrayal of Gary Gilmore in the movie, The Executioner's Song. At the end of the movie, we got to watch the execution. Not recent enough? On November 21st, 2008, Abraham Biggs committed suicide via webcam, and the world tuned in to see someone die. No, it wasn't an execution, per se, but the fact that nobody alerted anyone who could help in time to save him still illustrates the point. It was execution by complacency. I'd like to believe that weve become more compassionate, but we haven't. In fact, I suspect a direct result of public executions would be a new source of revenue for Comcast, The Execution Channel. Although, they'd probably test drive it as a pay-per-view event. Personally, I'm with you 100%, Mr. Clark, on the bit where murder is murder, whether done by a private individual or the state, and thats exactly what capital punishment is. On the other hand, you negated your own argument that public executions would be a deterrent to capital punishment when you said, "I want us all to see the executions we vote for. I'm against capital punishment, but, if there was a hanging in Portsmouth, I'd go see it." (source: Lily Robertson; Portsmouth (NH) News Herald) COLORADO: Judge to Order Death Sentence for Convicted Killer The man convicted of killing a young couple in 2005 in Aurora will officially receive the death sentence Monday. Sir Mario Owens murdered Javad Marshall-Fields and his fiancee, Vivian Wolfe. The couple was sitting in a car at an intersection when they were shot and killed. Prosecutors said Owens targeted Marshall-Fields, so that the young man could not testify against Owens in another murder case. Owens was already serving a life sentence in prison for the 1st murder. Prosecutors argued the death penalty was justified in the shootings of Marshall-Fields and Wolfe. Jurors decided months ago that Owens should receive the death penalty. A judge was scheduled to officially hand down the sentence Monday morning in Arapahoe County Court. There is currently only 1 other person on death row in Colorado. Nathan Dunlap received his death sentence for murdering four people inside a Chuck E. Cheese restaurant in Aurora in 1993. (source: MyFoxColorado)
