[Deathpenalty] death penalty news---OHIO, USA, ARIZ., MD., CALIF., ALA.
March 27 OHIO: Inmate wants judge off appeals A federal judge has been asked to remove herself from reconsidering a British-born Ohio death row inmate's fate because she previously reviewed his conviction while serving on the Ohio Supreme Court. Kenny Richey's lawyers said U.S. Circuit Judge Deborah Cook, who was appointed to the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals by President Bush, had taken part in rulings that went against the 40-year-old prisoner in 1995 and 1998. Traditionally, federal judges step down from reviewing cases where they had a prior role and it is widely expected that Cook will follow tradition. Richey, who was born in Scotland, is a cause celebre in Britain, where the death penalty has been outlawed. TV documentaries have been made for British audiences proclaiming he was convicted on flawed evidence in Ohio, and the British government has filed legal briefs on his behalf in the U.S. appeals court. He has denied firebombing an apartment in Columbus Grove, a village north of Lima, where a 2-year-old girl was burned to death in 1987. The request that Cook step down came after the Ohio attorney general's office moved for all 12 judges on the Cincinnati-based federal appeals court to restore Richey's death sentence. So far, there has been no signal from the appeals court, or from Cook, about the next step. Last January, a three-judge panel ordered a new trial, saying there were gaps in the evidence against Richey. The panel also found that Richey's 1st lawyer made grave mistakes and was incompetent to defend him during the 1987 murder trial in rural Putnam County. Assistant Attorney General Michael L. Collyer of Cleveland said the panel exceeded its authority and found its own facts without mention of contrary facts to rule in favor of Richey. Richey's lawyer, Ken Parsigian of Boston, said the state was rehashing old legal arguments. He said the appeals court should permit the panel's well-reasoned decision to stand. (source: Cleveland Plain Dealer) USA: No shortage of women who dream of snaring a husband on Death Row -- Experts ponder why deadliest criminals get so many proposals Scott Peterson, the man who was convicted of murdering his wife and unborn child, had been on Death Row barely an hour when the 1st proposal arrived from a woman who wants to be the new Mrs. Scott Peterson. 3 dozen phone calls came in to the warden's office on Peterson's 1st day at his new home in San Quentin State Prison -- women were pleading for his mailing address, and one smitten 18-year-old said she wanted to marry him. As far as anyone knows, these women don't really know Peterson -- and unlike Laci Peterson, they certainly haven't spent any time with him, usually a requisite for getting married -- but, according to several experts on the world of the condemned, it doesn't really matter. What matters is the allure of marrying a notorious man, regardless of the fact that he may well end his days with a state-approved needle sticking out of his arm. There's the danger of it all, and, ultimately, the safety of it: If things go wrong, the wife can walk away. They love the celebrity status, said Jack Levin, a criminologist who is director of the Brudnick Center on Violence at Northeastern University in Boston. Levin is co-author of the book Extreme Killing: Understanding Serial and Mass Murder, which explores, among other things, what Levin called killer groupies. These are the same women who might correspond with a rock star or a rap artist, Levin said. When such a woman writes to a rock star, he said, the best she can hope for is a computerized signature on a photograph. When she writes to a serial killer on death row, she might get a marriage proposal. Others give the potential prison brides more benefit of the doubt. A lot of women are really taken with the man's criminal case, and they overwhelmingly believe these men are innocent, said Rick Halperin, a history professor at Southern Methodist University and president of the Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty. Many think the man shouldn't be alone and that even if he doesn't get out, there should be somebody there supporting him. Prison weddings in California are a regular occurrence. In general, about 20 inmates get married in ceremonies held on the first Friday of even-numbered months at San Quentin, and usually at least one condemned inmate is among them. And death row inmates have no shortage of suitors. In fact, the more notorious the murderer, the less he has to work for female companionship, San Quentin spokesman Eric Messick said. You take our 5 highest-profile killers here, and you've got your answer about who the most popular inmates are, Messick said. I think it's just the publicity that attracts people. Letters of adoration flow in daily to death row inmates from all over the world, some of them 20 handwritten pages long. Richard Allen Davis, the man who kidnapped 12-year-old Polly Klaas from her
[Deathpenalty]death penalty news----worldwide
March 28 JAPAN: Gangster gets death sentence for killing 4 in Maebashi bar shooting The Maebashi District Court handed down the death sentence Monday against a gangster for killing 4 in a shooting at a bar in Maebashi, Gunma Prefecture, in 2003. According to the ruling, Masato Kohinata, 35, a senior member of the Yano Mutsumi-kai syndicate, went on a shooting spree at the bar in Maebashi, killing three customers and seriously wounding their target and another person. The bodyguard was shot dead outside the bar. (source: Kyodo News) SOUTH KOREA: Human Rights Panel to Advise Repeal of Death Penalty Members of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) reached a general consensus that the South Korean government should abrogate capital punishment, according to sources Monday. The government panel convened a session of all members to discuss the matter after a group of lawmakers recently presented a bill aimed at introducing a life imprisonment system without parole instead of abolishing the death penalty to the National Assembly. Although they differed on complementary measures, all 10 members of the advisory body virtually agreed that capital punishment should be eliminated, a commission member said. Life imprisonment without parole could be harsher than the death penalty, said Lee Hae-hak, one of the members. However, the NHRC will likely make a formal decision on the issue in a week or 2 when the panel's top position, currently vacant, is filled by a new president. (source: The Korea Times) INDIA: People's Union for Democratic Rights 5, Miranda House Teachers' Flats, Chhatra Marg, Delhi University, Delhi 110007 PRESS RELEASE - 9 March 2005 End secrecy and silence on death penalty and executions The People's Union for Democratic Rights (PUDR) called upon the Government today to end the silence and secrecy on the execution of death sentences and make public all information on people executed since independence. While the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) has provided information of executions post 1995, no such information has been made available before this period. In August 2004, Dhananjoy Chatterjee was widely reported in the media as the 55th person to be hanged in India. No source was attributed to this number, nor was any contrary information revealed by any government agency. The general belief that India uses the death sentence rarely and only few people have been executed was thus strengthened. Information recently unearthed by PUDR however clearly shows that at least 1422 executions were carried out in a single decade (1953 - 1963) in various states in India. This information provided in Appendix XXXIV of the 35th Report of the Law Commission of India, 1967 sheds new light on the subject of the death penalty and raises important questions as to why the Government maintained its silence. The continued suppression of information by the various agencies of the State is a deliberate attempt at misinformation and raises concerns, said a PUDR spokesperson. Previously various journalists have reported that the Government does not maintain information on executions. Refuting this argument, the PUDR spokesperson pointed out that given the depth of statistical detail on crime otherwise provided; it was not plausible that the silence on death penalty and executions was for lack for information. Reiterating the need for transparency within the criminal justice system, PUDR observed that there was no space in a democratic nation for executions to be carried out in secrecy and silence. Now that we know of 1422 executions already carried out, we fear the total number since Independence would be high in the thousands, concluded the spokesperson. PUDR opposes the imposition of the death penalty in all cases. It further believes that an informed public debate on the death penalty cannot take place in the absence of information on executions that the State is withholding. Deepika Tandon, (Secretary, PUDR) Number of people executed in various states from 1953 - 1963 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 Total Andamans 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 2 2 Andhra Pradesh 20 3 15 12 13 8 20 16 9 3 119 Bihar 6 3 7 3 5 2 4 4 2 0 36 Gujarat 2 1 2 1 0 3 4 1 2 5 21 Himachal Pradesh 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 Kerala 11 9 2 0 5 10 16 9 7 15 84 Madhya Pradesh 6 10 7 5 7 1 3 0 39 Madras State 44 53 56 50 59 71 45 51 33 23 485 Maharashtra 4 4 5 4 4 6 8 10 7 4 56 Manipur 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 Mysore State 1 1 4 1 2 1 3 3 0 0 16 Orissa 2 3 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 3 10 Punjab 10 11 16 11 12 12 20 21 11 4 140 Tripura 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 UP 24 46 41 54 41 47 47 44 36 17 397 West Bengal 1 1 2 4 1 1 2 0 3 0 15 TOTAL (yearly) 21 108 150 151 153 144 181 174 150 107 73 1422 (source: PUDR)
[Deathpenalty]death penalty news----TEXAS, FLA., USA
March 28 TEXAS: Testimony scheduled to start in Irving man's murder trial In Denton, a man accused of killing his pregnant wife and mother-in-law 2 years ago goes on trial for his life today. Christopher Jay Swift of Irving says he was insane when he killed Amy Sabeh-Swift, 27, and Sandra Stevens Sabeh, 61, in April 2003, according to his attorney, Derek Adame of Denton. We are using his demeanor at the time of his arrest and his behavior and statements he made to police to show he had a break with reality, Adame said. In a interview with KXAS/Channel 5 on May 2, 2003, Swift admitted killing the 2 women but said his young son had ordered him to do it. Swift was originally indicted on individual murder charges out of Dallas and Denton counties because Sabeh-Swift's body was found in Irving and Sabeh's in Lake Dallas. But the cases were combined, Swift was reindicted, and prosecutors are asking for the death penalty, said Lee Ann Breading, Denton County first assistant district attorney. Swift, now 30, remains in the Denton County Jail without bail, records show. Sabeh-Swift, who was eight months pregnant, was found dead in her home at Irving View RV Park in Irving on April 30, 2003. Her mother's body was found the same day at Kingswood Mobile Home Park in Lake Dallas. Sabeh-Swift, an aide at the Denton State School, had been strangled and stabbed in her Dallas County home. Swift's mother-in-law had been strangled. Police arrested Swift, on a warrant alleging murder, in Dallas hours after the bodies were found. Sabeh-Swift's unborn child also died, but charges are not being pursued in that death, police said. Swift's son Zachery, who was 5 years old at the time, is believed to have witnessed the slayings. After the 2 women were killed, Swift checked into a motel in Farmers Branch, where he abandoned Zachery after the youngster fell asleep, authorities said. Zachery called police after he woke up later that day. During his TV interview, Swift said his faith in God led him to believe that Zachery wanted him to commit the slayings. He also said he believed that his mother-in-law would approve of her daughter's death. Swift added that he had married out of convenience. 'Cause I was going to prison, and I need somebody to send me some money, and ... he said, then laughed, adding that he did not love his wife. Zachery is in the custody of his maternal grandfather, said Marissa Gonzales, a spokeswoman for Child Protective Services. At one point, Swift was listed with residences in both Irving and Lake Dallas, but jail records indicate his most recent home was in Irving. Testimony is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. today in L. Dee Shipman's 211th Judicial District Court. (source: Fort Worth Star-Telegram) FLORIDA: Missing person, or cold killing? Miami-Dade prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for 50-year-old Jesus Rodriguez in his wife's murder. But investigators have not found the woman, missing since November 2001. On Oct. 29, 2001, Isabel Rodriguez went to Miami-Dade Family Court seeking protection from her estranged husband, Jesus. In court papers, she said her husband threatened to kill her if she got any money from him in their divorce. A judge scheduled a hearing a month later. Isabel wasn't there -- but a homicide detective was. Now, more than 3 years after her disappearance, investigators still have not found Isabel Rodriguez. Her husband has insisted that she abandoned their children and may have fled to Honduras. But prosecutors say they have compiled a string of clues -- plotting a trail from divorce court to a suspicious fire on an Everglades farm -- implicating Jesus in his wife's death. Jesus Rodriguez's trial on 1st-degree murder charges begins Monday in Miami-Dade Circuit Court. Prosecutors, who are seeking the death penalty, concede their case against him is entirely circumstantial: Investigators burrowed through concrete, dispatched cadaver dogs and flew helicopters with infrared cameras over Rodriguez's property without finding any hard evidence that Isabel is dead. It's not easy for prosecutors to prove a murder case without producing a murder victim -- but it has been done, legal experts say. Miami-Dade prosecutors will have to do it again soon in another high-profile case: This month, a grand jury indicted a caregiver with the murder of missing Kendall foster child Rilya Wilson, whose body has never been found. In the Rodriguez case, prosecutors say Jesus' actions before and after his wife's disappearance -- and his statements to police and other jail inmates -- are enough to prove he killed his wife. There is no reasonable hypothesis that the victim is alive, assistant state attorney Abbe Rifkin said in court papers. But Rodriguez's lawyer, Andrew Rier, said prosecutors will have a hard time proving his client -- the owner of a once-successful trucking company with no prior convictions -- murdered Isabel. Jurors want evidence, Rier said. It's
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news---USA---EMPTY CHAIR death penalty documentary
Hi, I'm writing to let you know of a new documentary film that might be a valuable resource in TCADP's outreach and educational work around the death penalty. THE EMPTY CHAIR is a 42 minute film that reveals a rarely seen view of murder's aftermath: families left behind, their lives torn apart by the random loss of a loved one. The film tells four stories of murder victims families reliving the crimes and confronting the loss of loved ones. Their instinct for revenge during trial and the debate for punishment by death climaxes in a search to forgive and heal. More information on the film is available at http://www.justiceproductions.com www.justiceproductions.com. Justice Productions is now offering a $45 discounted rate to organizations and activists that want to use the film in their ongoing moratorium or abolition work. If you would like to preview a copy please be in touch with me by email or phone (910) 342-9000. Thanks, Molly Ramey Working Films 602 South Fifth Avenue Wilmington, NC 28401 (910) 342-9000 Fax: (910) 342-9003 www.workingfilms.org http://www.workingfilms.org/ Working Films is a nationally recognized action-driven link between high quality documentary filmmaking and serious grassroots organizing. Now in our fifth year, our work supports efforts for social, economic, and environmental justice.
[Deathpenalty]death penalty news----COLO., N.Y., IOWA, PENN.
March 28 COLORADO: Court overturns Harlan death penalty A convicted murderer was spared execution today when the Colorado Supreme Court ruled a jury's death penalty recommendation was tainted because jurors consulted a Bible during deliberations. The court ordered Robert Harlan to serve life in prison without the possibility of parole. The Supreme Court finds that it can no longer say the death penalty verdict was not influenced by passion, prejudice or any other arbitrary factor, the court said in a 47-page ruling. The court said Bible passages, including the verse that commands an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, could lead jurors to vote for death. Harlan's attorneys challenged the sentence after discovering 5 jurors had looked up Bible verses, copied some of them down and then talked about them behind closed doors. Prosecutors said jurors should be allowed to refer to the Bible or other religious texts during deliberations. Harlan was convicted and sentenced to death in 1995 for the murder and rape of Rhonda Maloney and the shooting of Jaquie Creazzo, a Good Samaritan who tried to come to Maloney's aid when she escaped from Harlan's car. Creazzo was paralyzed in the attack. An Adams County judge had overturned the death penalty after learning of the role the Bible played in the jury room, but the state had appealed. (source: Rocky Mountain News) NEW YORK: Breeding Psychotics As the State Legislature considers reinstating the death penalty, lost in the debate is any mention of the appalling conditions that are often inflicted on prisoners sentenced to death. Since the death penalty was re-enacted during Gov. George E. Pataki's 1st term, seven people have been condemned to die, but none have been executed. Prisoners on death row have been kept in virtual solitary confinement while they await the outcome of their appeals, exoneration or execution. A recent study by the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, of which I am a co-author, has found that the conditions on New York's death row are among the harshest in the nation. According to the study, each condemned man in New York is locked in his isolated 78 square-foot space for 23 hours each day. Each cell contains only a toilet, a sink, a bed, a mattress and a pillow. The cells are not air-conditioned and fans are not permitted. All meals are given to inmates in their cells during the daytime shift, which means that inmates go more than 16 hours without food. The inmates cannot see other prisoners from their cells and are not permitted to hold prison jobs, attend programs or engage in organized activities. When a prisoner is allowed out of his cell for his one hour a day, he is confined to a solitary cage of about 2,000 square feet, aptly called a dog run. Compounding the isolation, visits are greatly restricted and take place in booths separated by a plexiglass barrier that prevents physical contact. Inmates are limited to 2 10-minute phone calls per week. Judge James L. Dennis of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, in New Orleans, has said that restrictive death row conditions are enough to weaken even the strongestindividual. Psychologists who have studied such conditions have concluded that they can lead to severe psychological consequences, including withdrawal, hopelessness, hallucinations, aggression, rage, paranoia and psychosis. Death row inmates who may be rendered insane by these conditions may no longer be deemed competent when the time comes to execute them. There is also the possibility that inmates will be driven by these conditions to abandon their appeals and volunteer for execution, a phenomenon that occurs with more than 10 % of all inmates on death row nationally. And, of course, some prisoners subjected to these conditions might actually be innocent - last month, an Ohio inmate who was convicted in 1985 became the 119th innocent person to be freed from death row since 1973. Not only are conditions harsh, but the state is also highly secretive about how it runs death row. The Department of Correctional Services has refused to open death row to inspection even to representatives of the New York City bar association asserting undefined security concerns. When the death penalty law was passed, the Legislature and Governor Pataki gave the department the authority to close death row to inspection by judges, members of the Legislature, district attorneys, ministers in towns where prisons are located and even by the governor himself. Inmates on death row are not the only ones who must endure these horrible conditions. New York confines approximately 5,000 other inmates by locking them into their cells for 23 hours a day. Approximately 2,800 of these inmates are housed in disciplinary lockdown units, some of which approach the severity and degree of isolation of the notorious supermax prisons in other states. The conditions in these units are analogous to those on death
[Deathpenalty]death penalty news----TEXAS, MO., DEL., OHIO, USA
March 28 TEXAS: Texas tops U.S. states in executing foreigners The issue of international law and foreign opposition to the death penalty long has dogged capital punishment in the nation's most active death penalty state. 6 foreign nationals have been executed in Texas, more than any other state, since executions resumed here in 1982. 4 of the 6 claimed Mexican citizenship. In several of those cases, courts rejected arguments that the offenders at the time of their arrest were denied help from their individual foreign consulates as stipulated under provision of the 1963 Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, which the United States has signed. More than 2 dozen foreign-born inmates - at least 16 from Mexico - are on Texas death row, including one woman, Linda Carty, a native of the British Virgin Islands. The population is second only to California. The case of one of the Texas men, Jose Medellin, went before the U.S. Supreme Court for oral arguments Monday, with lawyers for the prisoner contending he improperly was denied legal help from the Mexican consulate when he was arrested for the 1993 slayings of 2 Houston girls, Jennifer Ertman, 14, and Elizabeth Pena, 16. I think they do have certain rights under the treaty to be informed, Richard Dieter, executive director of the Washington-based Death Penalty Information Center, said Monday of foreigners arrested in this country. Perhaps the Mexican government may have made a difference when it comes to sentencing, providing legal help. Medellin voluntarily confessed to the brutal gang rape and murder of two teenage girls, said Jerry Strickland, a spokesman for the Texas attorney generals office. He was convicted after a fair trial, applying U.S. and Texas law. The state of Texas believes no international court supersedes the laws of Texas or the laws of the United States. A ruling from the Supreme Court is expected later in the year. One Texas inmate from Mexico, Cesar Fierro, has been on death row for more than 26 years for a 1979 slaying in El Paso, making him among the longest-serving death row prisoners in the nation. His case has been cited by the United Nations' World Court as an example of what the Supreme Court was hearing Monday. In 1993, Ramon Montoya became the first Mexican executed in Texas in 51 years and the 1st from his country to be executed in the United States since the Supreme Court in 1976 allowed the death penalty to resume. The lethal injection of Montoya, 38, sparked protests in Mexico and denunciations from the government there. Montoya was convicted of killing a Dallas police officer in 1983. Similar demonstrations and Mexican government opposition failed to stop the 1997 execution of Ireneo Montoya, 30, who was not related to Ramon Montoya. Appeals courts rejected arguments Ireneo Montoya was not allowed to contact the Mexican consulate after he was arrested and signed a confession to the slaying of a Cameron County motorist in 1985. Joseph Faulder, 61, executed in 1999 for a slaying 24 years earlier during a burglary in Gladewater in East Texas, said he was from British Columbia in Canada and was denied help from the Canadian consulate. Evidence in his unsuccessful appeals showed authorities knew he was from Canada but ignored the treaty that specifies a foreigner when arrested should be promptly informed of his consular rights. Faulder became the 1st Canadian executed in nearly a half-century. Other foreign-born inmates to die in Texas include Carlos Santana, 40, from the Dominican Republic, executed in 1993 for the slaying of a Houston armored truck guard during a robbery in 1981. Miguel Flores, 31, from Mexico, was put to death in 2000 for the 1989 abduction and fatal stabbing of a 20-year-old woman in Borger in the Texas Panhandle. Javier Suarez Medina, 33, also from Mexico, received injection in 2002 for the death of a Dallas police officer shot during an undercover drug buy. (source: Associated Press) MISSOURInew execution date Execution set for man who beat, stabbed grandmother In Jefferson City, the Missouri Supreme Court on Monday set an April 27 execution date for a man who killed his St. Louis grandmother in 1993 after she refused to give him money to buy crack cocaine. Donald Jones, 38, was convicted on June 16, 1994, of 1st-degree murder and armed criminal action in the beating and stabbing of Dorothy Knuckles, 68. A judge sentenced him to death on July 22, 1994. About midnight on March 6, 1993, Jones went to his grandmother's home seeking money to buy drugs, Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon's office said Monday. When Knuckles tried to warn him about using drugs and alcohol, he hit her with a butcher block, then stabbed her to silence her screams, Nixon's office said. Jones took the grandmother's videocassette recorder, some money and her car keys. Prosecutors said he later sold the VCR and rented out the car to get drugs. Phone messages left with Jones' lawyers for
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----CALIF., CONN., TENN., CONN., N.Y.
March 28 CALIFORNIA: High court to hear California appeal of death sentence reversal The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear California's appeal of a lower court ruling that overturned the death sentence for a Kern County man convicted of killing a woman 23 years ago. Ronald Sanders, 52, was convicted of clubbing to death Janice Allen, 52, of Bakersfield. She and her boyfriend were bound and gagged when Sanders robbed the apartment for cocaine. The boyfriend survived. Last year, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Sanders' jury might have been improperly instructed, leading to the death sentence. The court said jurors were asked, among other things, to vote for execution if they found the murder heinous, atrocious and cruel. The appeals court said the jury instruction was too vague and required jurors to guess at its meaning. The San Francisco-based appeals court, however, upheld the murder conviction by the same Kern County jury. That means Sanders, who is on death row in San Quentin State Prison, will remain in prison for life unless the Supreme Court rules in the prosecution's favor or authorities convince a new jury to sentence him to death. The high court agreed to take the case without commenting. Sanders' attorney, Nina Rivkind, said she was disappointed with the Supreme Court decision. I think the decision of the 9th Circuit was correct, and I'm looking forward to convincing the Supreme Court of that, Rivkind said. The state Attorney General's office has 45 days to file papers with the court, she said. State Deputy Attorney General Patrick Whalen said prosecutors are looking forward to bringing the case before the high court. It gives us another opportunity to reverse the 9th circuit's decision, Whalen said. The case is Brown v. Sanders, 04-980. (source: Associated Press) CONNECTICUT: Lawmakers say votes are not there to end death penalty A bill that would abolish Connecticut's death penalty weeks before the state's 1st execution in 45 years has no chance of surviving a vote Wednesday in the state House, supporters acknowledged Monday. The bill, which was approved Monday by the Appropriations Committee on a 28-21 vote, would replace the death sentence with life in prison without parole. Its passage would halt the execution of serial killer Michael Ross, who is scheduled to die by lethal injection on May 11. Rep. Michael Lawlor, D-East Haven, co-chairman of the Judiciary Committee and a death penalty opponent, said early vote counts indicate there are only about 50 to 55 votes in the 151-member House for outlawing executions. Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell has said she would veto any bill that abolishes the death penalty. That would mean the opponents would have to muster a 2-3 majority in both the House and Senate to override Rell's veto. The bill's supporters take solace that it has made it this far. Previous legislation to abolish the death penalty has died in committee. Legislators actually want this vote to be heard, Harrison said. For the 1st time, this is a real serious discussion. If the death penalty is abolished, Ross and the 6 other men on death row will have their sentences commuted to life in prison without the chance for parole. According to the legislature's nonpartisan Office of Fiscal Analysis, that would save the state at least $1 million. Preperations for Ross' execution have already cost the state over $292,00. The state's Division of Public Defender Services spends about $1 million each year to defend people who face possible execution. OFA said the state could also save some money by moving the men on death row to other maximum security prisons. It costs about $66,000 a year to house an inmate at Northern Correctional Institution because of the additional staff assigned to handle problem prisoners. It costs about $35,000 at other prisons. ** Death penalty opponents demand rules from parole board The state Board of Pardons and Parole should create regulations before New England's first execution in 45 years is carried out, death penalty opponents told a judge Monday. Members of the Missionary Society of Connecticut want the board to, among other things, govern how Connecticut will allow condemned inmates to waive their rights to appeal death sentences. The board was created by the General Assembly last year and met in October for the 1st time. Serial killer Michael Ross, who said he will forgo further appeals, is scheduled to die by injection May 11. His would be the 1st execution in New England since 1960. We expect our government to obey the law, said society lawyer James Wade. The law says the Board of Pardons and Parole is required to adopt regulations. If you're going to kill people, you've got to set up regulations, Wade said. Attorney General Richard Blumenthal argued that policies are in place and that the Missionary Society, an arm of the Connecticut Conference of the United Church of
[Deathpenalty]death penalty news----worldwide
March 29 SOUTH KOREA: South Korean justice minister opposes abolishing death penalty? South Korea's justice minister said Tuesday he opposed moves by lawmakers to abolish the death penalty. If one deprives others of their lives, one should pay for it with his life, Kim Seung-kyu told reporters, according to South Korea's Yonhap News Agency. Punishments are not just about rehabilitation, but also about paying the price. A parliamentary committee is considering a bill to abolish capital punishment, replacing the death penalty with a more strictly applied life sentence. The National Assembly was expected to vote on it soon. Currently a defendant given a life sentence can expect a request for parole to be considered after 10 years. The life of a criminal is precious, but so is that of the victim, Kim was quoted as saying. Kim said life imprisonment is a more inhumane penalty than the death penalty because the convicted has no hope of ever being free again. At least 59 people are on death row in South Korea, but no prisoners have been executed since former President Kim Dae-jung took office in 1998, Yonhap said. (source: The China Post) INDONESIA: AG death penalty for corruption convicts Attorney General Abdurrahman Saleh said he supported the idea of the death penalty for corruption, but added that certain legal obstacles would have to be removed before such a step could be taken. I agree that those involved in corruption should be executed. We need to take drastic steps to eradicate this crime. If things that are forbidden under Islamic law are eradicated, sin too will be eradicated, he said during a Muhammadiyah congress in Pekalongan on Sunday. Abdurrahman said those guilty of corruption already could face the death penalty, but only in certain situations. The death penalty can only be applied if the country is in an emergency situation. He said firm steps were needed to eradicate corruption, and the death penalty could play a role in this. According to the attorney general, the government was already firm in fighting corruption, even without the death penalty option. However, I will propose (the death penalty) after this Muhammadiyah congress, he said. It has been easy, so far, to get the President's permission to investigate corruption cases. The President has authorized the investigation of hundreds of officials, including governors and regents, he said. About 170 corruption cases were working their way through the courts within the 1st 100 days of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's administration, Abdurrahman said. In February, the rights group Impartial said the death penalty, applied mostly to drug cases, was a betrayal of citizens' constitutional rights. The death penalty is a political tool because the government wants to look firm and strict by imposing it. But it is a total violation of human rights, Imparsial director Rachland Nashiddik said. The attorney general suggested that the country's method of execution be changed from firing squad to lethal injection or hanging, for humanitarian reasons. I heard the pain lasts longer when someone is shot. The law states that the death penalty must be carried out by firing squad, but that can be changed, he said. Abdurrahman said that after a conversation with Astini, who was executed last week for murder, he asked himself if a more humane way to carry out executions could not be found. He said he would contact the Indonesian Medical Association about more humane methods of execution. A spokesman for the Attorney General's Office, Soehandoyo, said the attorney general was only discussing ideas, and the House of Representatives would have to be involved in changing the law to introduce the death penalty for corruption. (source: The Jakarta Post) ** Prisoner in bid to prevent Australian woman's execution An Australian beauty student caught at an Indonesian airport with 4kg of marijuana in her boogie-board bag is relying on the testimony of an alleged rapist today to save her from a firing squad. The case of accused drug smuggler Schapelle Corby has captivated Australia since she was arrested in October at Denpasar airport. Now, an Australian prison inmate who has been called her best chance of escaping the death penalty, has been flown into Bali to give evidence on her behalf. Victorian remand inmate John Patrick Ford will testify that Corby was an unwitting courier used by a ring of Australian drug traffickers - a move that puts his own life at risk. In an 11th-hour move, Ford arrived in Bali in handcuffs and under tight security and will be held at Denpasar police headquarters until he takes the stand today. In order to avoid a gangland hit on their star witness, Corby's lawyers said they would seek a court order for Ford's evidence to be heard in secret. In what could potentially be a lifeline for Corby, Ford signed a statement for her lawyers and told police he
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news-----USA, ALA., COLO., FLA., OHIO, CONN.
March 29 USA: Justices Consider Rights of Foreigners The Supreme Court seemed divided over how best to handle a dispute over the role of international law in U.S. death penalty cases yesterday, as the justices heard oral arguments in the case of a Mexican who says Texas violated his rights under a U.S.-ratified treaty when it sentenced him to death more than a decade ago. The court took up Medellin v. Dretke, No. 04-5928, which centers on a ruling last year by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague. The international court ruled that the United States had violated the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations by failing to tell 51 Mexicans charged with capital murder that they had a right under the convention to meet with diplomats from their home country. One of the Mexicans, Jose Ernesto Medellin, and his supporters had urged the court to rule that the ICJ ruling is binding in U.S. courts -- an argument that, if endorsed by the Supreme Court, would have laid an important precedent in favor of the authority of international law generally. But Texas, citing Supreme Court rulings, countered that the ICJ could not override state procedural rules under which Medellin had forfeited his right to invoke the Vienna Convention by not asserting it until 1998, rather than at his trial in 1994. A month ago, however, President Bush intervened in this looming clash between global law and Texas law, issuing a determination that he alone, as the country's chief diplomat, has the power to decide how the country should react to the international court's rulings. Noting that the United States had agreed to accept ICJ rulings on cases involving the Vienna Convention, he instructed the state courts to give Medellin and the other Mexicans new hearings, as the ICJ had proposed, and told the Supreme Court it should bow out. Then he withdrew the United States from international court jurisdiction under the convention, to avoid future cases. Medellin's lawyer, Donald F. Donovan, asked the court to suspend its proceedings until he has a chance to seek a new hearing in state court, as provided for in the president's determination. But Justice Sandra Day O'Connor said it would be more likely we would dismiss the case. This is a very unusual request, she added. And Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist said that granting a stay could be seen as validating the position of the government without an opinion from the court. Rehnquist, suffering from thyroid cancer, appeared active and engaged in his 2nd week back on the bench. He frequently asked questions and spoke clearly, albeit with the aid of a device he wears on his throat because of a tracheotomy. But, in a reminder that his condition remains fragile, the chief justice experienced problems with his tracheotomy tube on Sunday and was taken by ambulance to the Virginia Hospital Center in Arlington, where he was treated as an outpatient, court spokesman Ed Turner said yesterday. Texas Solicitor General R. Ted Cruz asked the court to avoid the many interesting international law questions that swirl around the case and rule in favor of Texas now. Even if Medellin's rights under the treaty had been violated, Cruz argued, that could not entitle him to a new hearing. That is because a federal law enacted in 1996 -- the treaty went into effect in 1969 -- says that death row inmates can seek a fresh hearing only on new claims that their constitutional rights were violated. But Justice David H. Souter said the court wouldn't even have to venture into [that], if we accept the president's determination. Cruz replied that Texas sees significant constitutional problems with any unilateral [presidential] decision that tells state courts what to do. But that constitutional issue, he acknowledged, would inevitably reach the Supreme Court, after Texas courts have dealt with Medellin's effort to enforce the president's determination there. Why doesn't the ICJ judgment get the same recognition as any judgment by any other court? Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg asked Cruz. Cruz replied that international law contemplates the Vienna Convention will be enforced through U.N. Security Council action. U.S. Deputy Solicitor General Michael Dreeben, urging the court to let Bush's proposal for new state court hearings run its course, told the court that if this court treats the ICJ as a free-standing source of law . . . it would rob the president of freedom of action in international affairs. (source: Washington Post) Girls' killer had his day in court, state saysAppeal claims U.S. did not follow rules of '63 treaty The conviction of a Mexican national for the infamous killing of 2 Houston girls should be upheld even though he was not advised of his right to help from his country's consulate, a lawyer for the state of Texas told the U.S. Supreme Court Monday. In the dispute over the domestic application of international law, Texas
[Deathpenalty] (death penalty-related) request from Tom Davis, reporter of The Bergen (N.J.) Record
Friends-- please contact Tom directly if you can be of any help. *** -- Forwarded message -- Date: Tue, 29 Mar 2005 11:32:46 -0500 From: Davis, Thomas dav...@northjersey.com To: Rick Halperin Subject: from Tom Davis of The Bergen Record Hi Rick. Basically, I was chosen for a Rosalynn Carter Mental Health Journalism Fellowship, led by the former first lady. I was given a $10,000 stipend to do a project related to mental illness. My project is on the treatment of people with mental illness who have been incarcerated, or could be incarcerated. This could be anybody from alleged petty thieves to murderers to political prisoners. I've traveled the country to investigate programs in places like, believe it or not, Alaska, where some people with a pioneering spirit have come up with alternatives for people with mental illness other than jail. But I've also traveled the country to look at the ugliness of mental illness and crime, including Texas. I was moved by Lois Robisons' story about her son. I'd like to compare what other countries, particularly those that don't have a death penalty, would deal with a similar situation to Lois'. I'd like to see what they offer as alternatives, and, of course, how they compare to here (and also how other countries view the way the mentally ill are handled here). I was curious to know if you or somebody could point me to particular countries that could address these questions. I was also wondering if you've looked at countries such as the Sierra Leone or Bosnia where the treatment of prisoners in general is a travesty (I hear that the treatment of the jailed mentally ill in Australia is deplorable). Thanks for your help Rick. Looking forward to hearing from you.
[Deathpenalty]death penalty news-----TEXAS
March 29 TEXAS: Legal fees for Cobb, David exceed $34,000 To date, the cost to Lamar County for the legal defense of capital murder defendants Christopher Cobb and Michael Dewayne Davis is more than $34,000, according to records at the district clerks office. Attorney Steven Miears of Sherman was appointed to represent both men, who declared they are indigent and cannot afford lawyers. Cobb, 22, is accused in the Aug. 29, 2004, deaths of his great-grandparents, Charley Smith, 89, and Ruth Smith, 88, whose bodies were found in their residence north of Elk Hollow Golf Club the next morning. Hes accused of killing them for money to buy drugs. Davis, 38, is accused in the slaying of Marvin Davis, 79, no relation, whose body was found Jan. 8, 2004, in his trailer at Genes Flea Market on the Northeast Loop. Hes accused of strangling or fatally beating him during a burglary or robbery. Miears is the lead attorney in both cases. Because the death penalty may be sought, Miears was allowed to add another attorney, Jack Herrington of Paris. State District Judge Jim Lovett, in whose court both murder cases reside, has approved: In the case of Christopher Cobb: 14 hours for Miears at $125 an hour, or $1,750; 17.5 hours for Herrington at $100 an hour, or $1,750; 38.5 hours for Herringtons staff at $35 an hour, or $1,347.50; Herringtons office expenses of $989.97; 20.75 hours for an investigator, William Bill Brown of Nortex Investigative Services of Paris, at $50 an hour, or $1,037.50; 3.5 hours for investigator James L. Jim Chadwick of Paris, at $35 an hour, or $122.50; and $64.14, $204.49 and $492.20 for medical records. Thats $5,837.47 for attorneys, $1,160 for investigators, and $760.83 for medical records, for a total of $7,758.30. In the case of Michael Dewayne Davis: $3,213.19 and $5,593.75 for Miears; $7,343.75 for another attorney, Richardson; $77.22 for Richardsons expenses; $3,777.94 and $1,305.50 for Herrington; $1,003.94, $1,162.50, $900.49 and $1,000 for investigators; and $898.27 for an expert. Thats $21,311.35 for attorneys, $4,066.93 for investigators, and $898.27 for an expert, for a total of $26,276.55. So far, the total for the legal defense of Cobb and Davis is $34,034.85. (source: Paris News) *** Murder trial returns to court after 2 years A capital murder trial resumed Monday after a delay of 2 years, with the same jury seated in the box, waiting for testimony. The trial had been on hold while the courts were debating the question of the admissibility of DNA evidence. In November, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals upheld a decision to allow DNA evidence in the murder trial of Joe Edward LaRue, 41, accused of capital murder in the slaying of Donna Pentecost. Pentecost was a 33-year-old Port Neches woman found bludgeoned to death in her yard Oct. 15, 1989. According to investigators, she also had been sexually assaulted. On Monday, the state, which is seeking the death penalty in the case, offered LaRue a 50-year sentence in exchange for a guilty plea, but he refused it. The case slowly has been wending its way to trial in the 15 1/2 years since her death. LaRue was indicted in this case in 1991, but charges were dropped in 1994 for lack of evidence. The case was refiled in 2001 after DNA testing technology had improved. LaRue has been in custody in Jefferson County since his second capital murder indictment in November 2001. He was arrested in New Mexico in 1999 on assault charges. In testimony Monday, prosecution witness Gary Byrd described how he and LaRue, Pentecost's coworkers at Jordan Industries at the time, came to discover her nude body outside her house, her head covered by a rag. Police investigators believe a 40-pound concrete block found nearby was used to crush her skull. Byrd said Jordan Industries provided staff to refineries on a contractual basis. The weekend Pentecost was killed, a job she wanted to work became available in Sulphur, La. When she didn't show up, LaRue suggested he, Byrd and another worker go pick her up at her house. They knocked at her door, but she didn't answer, Byrd said. Byrd walked to the corner of the house where he saw what looked like a mannequin, he said. Then he walked closer and realized it was a body. I let out, 'Oh, my God,' and I just kind of stood there, he said, adding that LaRue had a similar response. They didn't go in the house, but returned to Jordan Industries and called the police from there. On her last day of life, Pentecost, who had two sons, and a friend, Ianita Phelps, had taken their children to the South Texas State Fair at the old fairgrounds in Beaumont and then to Kmart to shop for Halloween costumes. Then her friend dropped her off at home, taking Pentecost's kids back to spend the night at her house. Phelps saw Pentecost as a caring mother and a good person. But according to other witnesses, Pentecost had another side she concealed from Phelps and others. Defense attorney
[Deathpenalty]death penalty news----FLA., USA., VA., MO.
March 29 FLORIDA: And justice for allThe flaw in lawmakers' calls to constrict death row appeals was underscored last week when the state Supreme Court granted James Floyd a new trial. Everyone's liberty dies by inches whenever someone is denied a fair trial. So it was a victory for the people, not a defeat, when the Florida Supreme Court granted James Floyd a new trial last week. Floyd, a black man, was caught forging checks that belonged to murder victim Annie Anderson. That, and the word of a jailhouse snitch that he had confessed to killing her, were enough to send him to death row more than 20 years ago. But the state did not disclose to the defense or jury two critical facts that undermine confidence in his conviction. A neighbor told St. Petersburg police she had seen two white men entering Anderson's home and leaving in suspicious haste. The snitch had written to prosecutors offering to barter Floyd's freedom for his own. Floyd might be guilty after all; he seemed to concede it in pleading for mercy at a resentencing hearing 17 years ago. At such a moment, of course, even an innocent man might say anything. Moreover, his original alibi that he had found the checks at a dump was not inconsistent with the possibility that the men the neighbor saw had stolen and discarded them. Police might well have had plausible reasons for not pursuing those men, but the defense was entitled to know about them. It may never be known why there was not timely disclosure of the neighbor's account. Bernie McCabe, who has since become the Pinellas-Pasco state attorney, says such evidence would not be withheld now, and that is good to know. But another troubling question remains: Why didn't Floyd get a new trial immediately after the critical information came to light 11 years ago? Florida law does not open a criminal case file until the conviction has been sustained on direct appeal. So it was 1994 before the lawyers in Floyd's postconviction appeal found the documents through a public records request. It took four more years to get them into court, because the state objected that the appeal had been improperly filed. On seeing what had been withheld from the defense, the attorney general's office should have confessed error and agreed to a new trial. Richard Luce, the circuit judge who had taken over the case, should have granted one. But in 1999 he dismissed the appeal without even hearing evidence on the substance of the neighbor's information. The Supreme Court ruled in 2002 that he should have held a hearing. He complied, but wound up denying a new trial yet again. On March 24, the Supreme Court finally did what Luce should have done six years earlier. This troubling case history points to what the governor and some legislators overlook in their hue and cry to constrict death row appeals. The long delays are often the fault of trial judges who choose to let the Supreme Court take the heat for ordering new trials. This appears to be an inescapable result of the fact that circuit judges still have to worry about potential opponents every six years. There is no ready cure for this, which makes it all the more important that the Legislature not undermine the Supreme Court's authority. (source: Editorial, St. Petersburg Times) USA: Justices May Sidestep Death Row Decision -- A World Court ruling and a surprise order by Bush complicate the cases of 51 Mexican nationals sentenced to die in several states. The Supreme Court said Monday that it might put off a decision on whether 51 Mexican nationals on death row in California, Texas and several other states were entitled to reopen their cases because of a ruling by the International Court of Justice in The Hague. Instead, the justices said the state courts in Texas should take up the matter first to deal with an unusual order by President Bush. One month ago, Bush surprised lawyers on both sides of the dispute by declaring that the state courts must consider whether to give the Mexican defendants new trials or new sentencing hearings. The president said the United States had a duty to discharge its international obligations by complying with a clear ruling of the international court. In the Vienna Convention of 1963, U.S. officials agreed that they must be informed when Americans were arrested abroad. The same principle applied to foreign nationals who were arrested and held in the United States. 2 years ago, Mexico sued the United States because it had not been informed when Mexican nationals were arrested, tried and sentenced to death. The suit was brought on behalf of 51 Mexican nationals on death rows in California, Texas, Illinois, Nevada, Ohio, Oregon, Oklahoma, Arizona and Arkansas. The international court, also known as the World Court, ruled for Mexico and said U.S. officials must review and reconsider the convictions and sentences of the 51 Mexican nationals. Until Bush's order, it was unclear how - or whether - the United
[Deathpenalty]death penalty news----PENN., IOWA, NEV., USA
March 29 PENNSYLVANIA: Rights Row Over Septuagenarian Facing Death Penalty A 70-year-old woman from Pennsylvania known for her delicious cookies faces execution by lethal injection for allegedly bludgeoning her 84-year-old neighbour to death with a hammer. The case has provoked outrage from human rights groups, who argue that she is too old for the death penalty. Kathy MacClellan lived a short walk from Marguerite Eyer, the alleged victim, in a community of prefabricated houses called Hickory Hills. Residents, most of them elderly, have to undergo a background check and crime was almost unheard of until Eyer, who lived alone, was found bleeding to death on her kitchen floor, alleging that Kathy Mac ... did it with a hammer. Amnesty International has launched an urgent appeal for MacClellan, originally from the Netherlands, saying that prosecutors are barred by international law from seeking the death penalty because of her age. MacClellans lawyers are investigating a mental health defence she was found lying in the foetal position outside the dead womans home, allegedly with blood on her face, hair and trousers. Prosecutors say that they plan to seek the death penalty, claiming that she was motivated by greed and that the attack was unusually vicious. Ms Paula Roscioli, first deputy district attorney for Northampton County, Pennsylvania, said: The defendant didnt just strike the victim once, causing her immediate death; she struck her at least 37 times with the claw end of a hammer, and this victim lived for a significant period of time in excruciating pain. Mr John Morganelli, the district attorney, said: I was shocked when I saw the photos of this womans face. It was unrecognisable. He said that it was the most brutal killing he had seen in 13 years in the job. Activists are bracing themselves for what would be one of the most controversial capital murder trials since the death penalty was reintroduced here in 1977. Former President Jimmy Carter signed a convention that year restricting executions to offenders aged between 18 and 70, but the Senate has never ratified it. Opponents of the death penalty hope that the case will prompt the Supreme Court to act as it did recently by banning executions of juvenile offenders and the mentally retarded. (source: The London Times) IOWA: Rants won't bring up death penalty bill in House Iowa House Speaker Christopher Rants said Monday it's unlikely he would allow the House to consider reinstating the death penalty in Iowa even after the alleged kidnapping and murder of a Cedar Rapids girl last week. Frankly, I think it would be hard to pass in a narrowly divided House, said Rants, R-Sioux City. He said he also doubts it could get the votes in the Senate, which is evenly divided between Republicans and Democrats. With a month to go in the Legislative session, no bills instituting the death penalty have gained committee approval ahead of a funnel deadline, and Rants said he doesn't see one moving forward. The last time lawmakers took the death penalty issue all the way to the floor for debate was in 1995. The measure was approved 54-44 in the House but defeated in the Senate on a 39-11 vote after an emotional debate. The issue is being stirred up again after prosecutors charged 37-year-old Roger Paul Bentley of Brandon with 1st-degree murder and 1st-degree kidnapping in the slaying of 10-year-old Jetseta Gage. Bentley, a registered sex offender, is accused of abducting the girl Thursday night from her home in Cedar Rapids. Police found her body the next day at a mobile home where Bentley had been staying in rural Johnson County. Rants said a number of lawmakers have urged him to take up a debate on the death penalty after the girl's death, but said he's not inclined to do so this year, even though he personally supports it. Instead, lawmakers will move forward with legislation this week that will tighten restrictions on sex offenders and seeks to improve Iowa's sex offender registry. The courts struck down an Iowa law that prohibited registered sex offenders from living within 2,000 feet of a school or registered day care center, finding it was unconstitutional. Rants said lawmakers will look at retooling that law to impose a 1,000-foot limit instead in the hopes it would survive a court challenge. Rep. Joe Hutter, R-Bettendorf, is co-sponsoring a bill that would create a team to review Iowa's sex offender registry laws and give lawmakers a report by the end of the year. This was a concern of the legislators on both sides before this happened, said Hutter, a retired police officer. Rep. Jim Van Fossen, R-Davenport, said the Cedar Rapids case and others like it across the nation make the argument that Iowa needs a death penalty as a deterrent. In situations like this, I think this is a perfect case for the death penalty, Van Fossen said. Van Fossen is also a retired police officer. Rep. Don Shoultz, D-Waterloo, has been through
[Deathpenalty]death penalty news----ALA., CONN., MISS., OHIO
March 29 ALABAMA: Prosecutors allege Rudolph, activist link Federal prosecutors preparing to try Eric Rudolph in a fatal abortion clinic blast want to show jurors that the serial bombing suspect had ties to a Tennessee church led by an anti-abortion activist. Rudolph could face the death penalty if convicted in the 1998 Birmingham bombing, which killed an off-duty police officer and critically injured a nurse. In court papers filed during the weekend, prosecutors said Rudolph's expressed anti-abortion views and his association with anti-abortion activists will clearly help set the stage for the crime, give it context, and will help the jury understand the reasons for it. The defense objects to the evidence as irrelevant and as a violation of Rudolph's First Amendment rights. The defense also is trying to limit evidence about Rudolph's negative views about the government, African-Americans, Jews and homosexuals, according to the government. Prosecutors claim such attitudes were inextricably linked to Rudolph's views against abortion. A hearing on the proposed evidence was set Tuesday in Huntsville. Preliminary jury selection for Rudolph's trial is set for April 6. Opening statements may not begin until early June. Rudolph also is accused of setting the bomb that killed a woman during the Atlanta Olympics in 1996 and bombings in metro Atlanta in 1997, including one that targeted a gay nightclub. He was captured in 2003 after more than 5 years on the run. Prosecutors indicated they want to introduce testimony about Rudolph's association with a fundamentalist church in Benton, Tenn., led by Dr. John Grady, an early activist against abortion in Florida. In a telephone interview Monday, Grady, 74, told The Associated Press he did not recall Rudolph ever visiting his small congregation, but that certainly doesn't mean he didn't. The congregation, which he described as Catholic, lacks a full-time priest, and Grady said he serves as a lay leader. Grady, who has written a booklet offered for sale by anti-abortion groups, said he is very much opposed to abortion and called it the crime of the century. But implying that his beliefs could fuel Rudolph to bomb an abortion clinic is really stretching it, he said. Grady said he does not expect to testify in Rudolph's trial. Separately, prosecutors suggested Rudolph may have financed the bombing by growing marijuana around his home in western North Carolina. (source: Associated Press) CONNECTICUT: Connecticut's Death Penalty on lawmakers agenda---Should Connecticut's death penalty be repealed?---Should there even be a vote on the issue? A vote in the state house is scheduled for tomorrow but late this afternoon many state reps said they don't want to move forward on the issue. There hasn't been full scale debate in the General Assembly on Connecticut's death penalty law for several years. As of this hour the death penalty debate in the full House of Representatives is scheduled to begin sometime early tomorrow afternoon but democrats emerged from a closed door caucus meeting late this afternoon, sharply divided on whether a debate should even be conducted. The proposal would not only repeal the state's death penalty, it would commute serial killer Michael Ross and the other killers on death row to life in prison without possibility of parole. We are leaning towards doing the bill tomorrow (but) quite frankly there were twenty-nine members that weren't present. Majority Leader Donovan and I are going to contact them before the end of the evening. Every vote count of the House of Representatives has concluded that the death penalty repeal bill has absolutely no chance of passing so some members say, why bother. But, even Governor Jodi Rell, who opposes repeal and says she'll veto the bill even if it did pass, thinks having a formal debate on the issue would be a good thing. I do believe that having a debate on the death penalty is probably important to many members, some of these people have never been there before, have not heard this debate. It will be good for them to listen, says Rell. There are approximately fifteen democrats and fifteen republican state reps who were not here the last time this issue was formally debated. Representative Jim Shapiro is one of them. I believe we should have this debate. I'm in favor of the death penalty. I'm against repealing it, says Shapiro. And because of the Michael Ross case, it's believed many of the newer members share his view. You wish that you lived in a world where this weren't necessary, but for these ultimate crimes, like Michael Ross committed, there is the ultimate penalty, and I think that's important. If they do move forward tomorrow, some estimates say there are less than 50 votes in favor of repeal among democrats, less than 10 among Republicans. The debate would probably go for several hours. (source: WTNH News) *** Failure predicted for death
[Deathpenalty]death penalty news----worldwide
March 30 AUSTRALIA/INDONESIA: AUSTRALIANS PAY BRIBE TO VISIT CORBY IN BALI PRISON The Corby drug trial has become Bali's latest tourist attraction. Australians are taking time off to lend moral support to Schapelle Corby. As Corby arrived at Denpasar District Court yesterday, for the final day of defence evidence, a group of Australian wellwishers looked on and expressed sympathy and amazement. A Sydney judge and her magistrate friend - both of whom requested anonymity - said they had set aside time, to observe how the Indonesian court was handling the high-profile case. Australians came out of sympathy for a fellow Australian and also to see the Indonesian justice system at work, so they can warn our children to lock their luggage if they come to Bali. Darwin footballers from the Northern Territory Football League team, The Waratahs, have also visited Corby in jail. The players said Corby was cheerful, although facing the death penalty if convicted. Several of the players also sat in, on her trial. She's an Aussie in trouble and we wanted to give her our support, Shane Carroll said. Corby told the players her only amusement had been playing on a run-down tennis court inside the compound. But convicted Bali bomber Amrozi, whose cell is next to the court, persuaded authorities to stop her because he objected to women taking part in sport. Corby feels a bit uncomfortable being so close to the Bali bombers, Mr Carroll said. The football players were on a club end-of-season trip when they visited Corby in jail, three times. They took her a hamper, which included her favourite lollipops, cakes and cigarettes. The players met Corby in the jail visitors' room and did not see her cell. Mr Carroll said the Bali jail made Darwin Prison, look like the Hilton. The Bali jail is very run-down. There are no comforts. She's kept her sense of humour. She knows it's high stakes now. She'll be set free, executed or serve a very long prison sentence. She says Bali has been the worst holiday of her life. The jail sentences over there are much harsher than in Australia. said Mr Carroll. Corby herself has been amazed at the number of Aussie wellwishers turning up in court as well as to Bali's notorious Kerobokan Prison, where a 10,000 rupiah ($1.50) bribe will get them past the prison guards to visit her. It helps keep Schapelle going, her sister Mercedes said. Bali is awash with drugs and is known to be the drug capital of Asia. It is obvious that no one is bringing marijuana to Bali because it is not cost-effective. However, unlike the 85% of Australians who voted in a Sky News Poll recently, most Indonesians think Corby is guilty and are calling for her death sentence. Justice is strange. They must have a kangaroo court system in Bali. Mastermind Bashir gets a slap on the wrist for inciting the Bali bombers to kill 202 people (including 88 Australians) and maim many others for life, while an Australian woman locked up in a Bali jail faces the firing squad for allegedly smuggling weeds. (source: Australian Coalition Against the Death Penalty)
[Deathpenalty]death penalty news----TEXAS, PENN., USA, OHIO
March 30 TEXAS: State: Victim had defense woundsWitness is better suspect, defense says Prosecutors in the capital murder trial of Bevy Wilson outlined their evidence Tuesday, saying they intend to show Wilson savagely beat a 10-year-old boy and his father then went to a nearby bar and had a beer. Defense attorneys, however, said the case against their client is full of holes and prosecutors should be looking at their main witness as a possible suspect in the killing. Wilson, 46, went on trial Tuesday in the February 2003 killing of Richard Carbaugh, 34, and his son, Dominic Carbaugh, 10. Testimony will continue today in the 117th District Court. The father and son were beaten to death with a claw hammer in their Barton Street apartment in Flour Bluff. Their bodies were found next to each other, propped up against a kitchen door. Prosecutors said they plan to call a witness who will testify he saw the beating and heard Wilson before the killing accuse Carbaugh of being a child molester. In opening statements, First Assistant District Attorney Mark Skurka said Wilson stabbed the elder Carbaugh 17 times and beat him with a claw hammer before plunging a knife into his head. Skurka also said Carbaugh had defense wounds on his arms, indicating that he had put up a fight to save his life. Dominic suffered 21 blows to his head and body with a hammer or steel bar after he left a bedroom to help his father, Skurka said. Dominic had been at a family member's home earlier in the day and had returned home just before he was killed. What started as a boy coming home to his dad ended in tragedy, Skurka said. Prosecutors intend to call a man who says he witnessed the killings, helped Wilson clean up the crime scene and then called police from a neighbor's home. Skurka said the case is full of forensic evidence, including blood from the victims that was found on Wilson's clothing, but defense attorneys said they plan use that evidence to raise doubts about the case. Attorney Scott Ellison said the prosecution's witness was himself covered in the victims' blood. Ellison also said the witness's fingerprints were found at the crime scene, while Wilson's were not. The issue in this case is who did it, Ellison said. Wilson was on probation for an earlier aggravated assault charge at the time of Carbaugh's death. He is being held in the Nueces County Jail on a $1 million bond. If convicted, Wilson could face the death penalty. (source: Corpus Christi Caller-Times) PENNSYLVANIA: State Supreme Court rejects new trial in first Spotz killing Multiple murderer and death row inmate Mark Spotz will not get a new trial in one of the four slayings for which he was convicted, the state Supreme Court ruled Tuesday. In 2001, the Superior Court ordered a new trial for Spotz, ruling that he received inadequate counsel before being convicted in the death of his older brother, Dustin. Spotz, 34, was sentenced to 17 1/2 to 35 years in prison in that shooting. On Tuesday, the Supreme Court ruled that Spotz needed to file a different kind of an appeal if he was seeking to address claims of ineffective counsel. Despite the ruling, Spotz's fate rests with the three death sentences he received for killing 3 women in 3 days after shooting his brother. Spotz, who is on death row at Graterford prison in Montgomery County, fatally shot his brother at their Clearfield County home on Jan. 31, 1995, and then fled, killing 3 women in Schuylkill, York and Cumberland counties on successive days before surrendering to police in a Carlisle motel room. He was convicted of voluntary manslaughter in his brother's slaying and sentenced to death for murdering the 3 women. Death warrants signed by former Governors Tom Ridge and Mark Schweiker were stayed by appellate courts. Two years ago, the Vatican asked Gov. Ed Rendell to commute Spotz's death sentence, saying Spotz in prison has earned degrees in Christian counseling and worked to help young people avoid lives of violent crime. Rendell declined the request. (source: Associated Press) USA: Boost for death penalty opponents The consistent ethic approach to social issues in the Catholic world just got a little more consistent with the U.S. bishops' Catholic Campaign to End the Use of the Death Penalty. While it is clear that the church does not teach by consulting opinion polls, it is nevertheless an advantage to have public sentiment moving your way. And the bishops made no small use of a December poll by Quinnipiac University that found more than 60 % of Americans supportive of the death penalty, where a decade earlier, 80 % favored executing convicted murderers. Certainly, papal teaching on the matter has had some effect. The pope has consistently spoken out against the death penalty and has personally intervened on behalf of convicted killers in the United States on several occasions. It should be instructive to bishops as teachers, however, to note
[Deathpenalty]death penalty news----MO., CONN., GA.
March 30 MISSOURI: Death penalty to be sought in trooper's slaying A prosecutor said Wednesday he will seek the death penalty for a southeast Missouri man accused a day earlier of slaying a state trooper with a shotgun and a rifle in an ambush outside the officer's home. Carter County Prosecutor Michael Ligons on Tuesday charged Lance Shockley, 28, of Van Buren, with first-degree murder and armed criminal action. Authorities allege that Shockley ambushed Missouri State Highway Patrol Sgt. Carl Dewayne Graham Jr., 37, March 20 near Van Buren as Graham continued focusing on him as a suspect in a deadly hit-and-run wreck months earlier. It's not too early to say that I will seek the death penalty. I will, Ligons told The Associated Press. He declined to elaborate. Graham was killed while still in uniform and just after he had completed his shift for the day. The patrol has ruled that the 12-year veteran of the force was the 24th state trooper to die on the job. Shockley was arrested March 23 and charged with leaving the scene of the fatal Nov. 26 accident that Graham investigated in Carter County. Investigators sought a possible link between the investigation and Graham's death. A probable cause affidavit filed with the criminal complaint alleged that on the day of Graham's death, Shockley asked for directions to the officer's home. That afternoon, Shockley allegedly borrowed his grandmother's red Pontiac Grand Am, which several witnesses said they saw parked on a secluded gravel road about 3/10 of a mile from Graham's house. Graham was shot multiple times, according to evidence from the scene and an autopsy. A bullet from Graham's body was .22-caliber, and the trooper received additional wounds from either a 10- or 12-gauge shotgun, according to the complaint. Interviews during the investigation found that Shockley owns multiple firearms, including at least one 12-gauge shotgun. Authorities said they found a .22-caliber bullet at Shockley's home. Ballistic testing of that round with one recovered from Graham's body conclusively revealed that both were fired from the same firearm, the affidavit said. An investigator said Wednesday that authorities have not ruled out the prospect that another person had a role in Graham's death. There are other people of interest involved in this case, patrol Sgt. Jason Clark said. We're not excluding anybody right now. Graham, the patrol's zone supervisor for Carter and Reynolds counties, was the divorced father of a 4-year-old son and was engaged to be married. Graham's father has said he hoped anyone responsible for his son's death would be executed. I have a gnawing feeling that can't rest - that someone did this to my boy, Carl Dewayne Graham Sr. said last week. Shockley, who remains jailed without bond, has had previous run-ins with authorities, including one confrontation that produced 4 misdemeanors and eventual probation that authorities now seek to revoke. In July 2003, Ligons accused Shockley of trying to assault a park ranger, threatening that worker, making physical contact with a Carter County deputy and resisting arrest. After Shockley pleaded guilty in March of last year, a judge suspended imposition of the sentence for 2 years - effectively putting Shockley on probation - and ordered the man to stay off the Current River from April 15 to September 15 each year of probation. (source: Associated Press) CONNECTICUT: Ross victim speaks out against death penalty A woman who was raped by serial killer Michael Ross over 20 years ago spoke out Wednesday against Connecticut's death penalty. Ross, who has admitted killing eight women in Connecticut and New York is scheduled to die in May. He would become the 1st person executed in New England in 45 years. Vivian Dobson was 21 when she was attacked by Ross in 1983. She escaped after pulling a knife on him. She said Ross dared her to stab him. I'm not a killer. I couldn't do it, she said through tears. I'm so sorry to the parents because I lived and their babies died. And I can't change that. But I don't want to be a part of killing somebody else. Dobson told her story hours before the state House of Representatives was set to debate a bill that would abolish the death penalty. The bill was not expected to pass. Dobson testified against Ross during the penalty phase of his trial, but said she regrets being part of a process that put him on death row. Her name and story never became public because court files regarding her participation were sealed. For 18 years, I've been hiding my feelings and holding in my feelings to help those poor girls that he took away from everybody. And I can't. I can't. I can't do it, she said. Because not only have I been carrying guilt for these babies, I've been carrying guilt because now his blood's going to be on my hands, too. And I can't do it. That's not me. (source: Associated Press) * Breaking The Hold Of Michael Ross
[Deathpenalty]death penalty news----N.C., CONN., TENN., MO.
March 30 NORTH CAROLINA: Relatives of murder victims lobby for N.C. execution moratorium Patricia Parker doesn't know if she wants her brother's killer punished by death. It's not a black or white issue for me, she said Wednesday after joining at the Legislature with other supporters of a bill proposing a 2-year suspension of the death penalty. It's tinged with great grief. I pray that I make the right decision so that I can find peace in my heart. Parker's brother, Wendell, was slain on his birthday two years ago, stabbed and bludgeoned several times inside his home in Georgia where he lived alone. No one has been charged in his death. Parker, who lives in Asheville, said his death forced her to re-examine a judicial system she now believes lacks the fairness necessary to hand out the death penalty. Five other relatives of murder victims joined Parker to lobby lawmakers for the moratorium. The proposal would allow lawmakers to review issues of race and geography, as well as the adequacy of defense lawyers and the behavior of prosecutors. Prosecutions and sentencings would continue during the hiatus. The state Senate passed similar legislation in 2003, making it the first legislative chamber in the South to approve a moratorium. The House never took up the issue during that session, but supporters came into last year with momentum after convicted killers Alan Gell and Darryl Hunt were exonerated of their crimes. Gell spent six years on death row before his lawyers found that prosecutors had withheld evidence in his case. Hunt served 18 years in prison before a DNA test revealed another suspect who has since been convicted of the slaying. But the issue never came to the House floor, stymied by a power-sharing deal between former Co-Speakers Jim Black, D-Mecklenburg, and Richard Morgan, R-Moore, that called for neither to bring to a vote legislation opposed by the other. Black supports a moratorium, while Morgan objects to it. Black is now the sole speaker after Democrats regained control of the chamber. Moratorium supporters contended last session that they had a bipartisan coalition of at least 61 votes to bring the issue to the House floor. That would have been enough votes to pass the legislation, if the coalition remained intact. Rep. Joe Hackney, D-Orange, one of supporters of the moratorium, said he didn't know whether most House lawmakers would support the proposal, but believed it has a good chance of approval this session. Rep. Larry Womble, D-Forsyth, vice chair of the Legislative Black Caucus, said the moratorium is among the caucus' top priorities. Opponents of the moratorium argue that recent death penalty reforms - more stringent requirements for defense lawyers, more discretion for prosecutors to seek lesser penalties and a more open discovery process - have occurred without stopping executions. Hackney argued that a study may find that the state needs to pay more attention to innocence claims or make recommendations about ongoing cases. Rep. Earline Parmon, D-Forsyth, said the state shouldn't continue executions until it figures out how to improve the justice system. This is not a question of whether we believe in the death penalty or not, but whether we are dispensing justice fairly, she said. Parker agreed it doesn't make sense to continue with a system that has proven flaws. I do not want anything done that makes another mistake, she said. I don't want to ever have to think that the wrong person was punished for my brother's death. It will only bring more heartache in the world. (source: Associated Press) CONNECTICUT: Lawmakers debate abolishing death penalty A little over a month before Connecticut is scheduled to execute serial killer Michael Ross, members of the House of Representatives debated a bill Wednesday that would abolish Connecticut's death penalty. Those who want to end capital punishment acknowledged the legislation had no chance of passing, but said it gave them an opportunity to debate the public policy before New England's first execution since 1960. Today is our opportunity to think about whether we want that to be law of our state, said Rep. Michael Lawlor, D-East Haven, co-chairman of the Judiciary Committee. The House was expected to vote late Wednesday afternoon. The legislation would require that all capital felonies be punished with life in prison without possibility of release. Under the bill, all seven men on Connecticut's death row would have their sentences commuted to life. That possibility angered some legislators, including Rep. Steven Mikutel, D-Griswold, whose district includes the families of some of Ross' victims. It's about standing up to evil. We should treat the people on death row as enemies of the state, Mikutel said. They should die. Ross, 45, was sentenced to die for killing 4 young women and girls in eastern Connecticut in the early 1980s. He has decided to forgo his remaining appeals. The killer, an
[Deathpenalty]death penalty news----FLA., OHIO, CALIF., VA.
March 30 FLORIDA: New sentencing for only woman on Florida's death row Citing a flawed defense, a judge has granted a new sentencing hearing for the only woman on Florida's death row. Virginia Larzelere, 52, of Edgewater was sentenced to die for scheming to get at her husband's insurance by hiring her son to gun him down in his dental office as a patient sat in the waiting room in 1991. A jury split 7-5 in favor of the death penalty. Her son, Jason Larzelere, was acquitted of killing his adoptive father and accepted a $75,000 insurance settlement in 1994. He was 18 at the time of the slaying by a masked gunman. Volusia Circuit Judge John Watson, who presided over the mother's 1992 trial, released an order Monday saying her lawyers did not present important evidence during the original penalty phase. The Florida Supreme Court unanimously affirmed her conviction in 1996. Watson concluded her attorneys did not spend enough time preparing for the penalty phase and noted her jury did not hear evidence about her mental health and that she had been sexually abused as a child. I wish her the best, said attorney John R. Howes, one of Larzelere's lawyers in the early 1990s. Any time someone gets a death sentence overturned, God bless them. I don't want her executed. God bless her. Wrongly Convicted Could Seek $200,000 From State Faced with the case of a man who spent 22 years in prison for a rape he didn't commit, a House panel Wednesday approved a proposal that would let innocent people who are wrongfully imprisoned seek either $200,000 or a package of health and education benefits. The offer, though, falls far short of what Wilton Dedge wants from the state, his lawyer told the House Claims Committee. You don't have very much and what you've got is not very good, said Talbot Sandy D'Alemberte, a former president of the American Bar Association and Florida State University. Seven months after being cleared by DNA results, Dedge is facing a hard battle in his fight for restitution. Dedge wants lawmakers to give him $5 million for the nearly 8,000 days he spent in prison, for his lost wages, the money his family spent to defend and visit him and the work done by the lawyers who fought for his exoneration. The House proposal would simply allow Dedge and others like him to ask the Legislature for the $200,000 or benefits package. It would not prohibit people from seeking a larger amount from the Legislature if they have won a lawsuit. Dedge hasn't filed a lawsuit. D'Alemberte reminded the committee that the state had fully compensated citrus growers whose trees were destroyed in the 1980s after the state mistakenly believed they were contaminated by canker. If we care about the taking of property, there should be full compensation for the taking of liberty, D'Alemberte said. Rep. John Quinones, who chairs the committee, said the state can't put a price on liberty. There's no way we're going to be able to compensate someone wholly, said Quinones, R-Kissimmee. D'Alemberte pointed to the cost of the work that Dedge had done in prison - and the costs incurred by his parents, who spent their retirement savings and mortgaged their house to defend him. Does the state have any sense of moral responsibility for returning the value of labor? he asked. Quinones and D'Alemberte agreed that not many people would be eligible for the proposed process, which wouldn't apply to people who pleaded guilty or no contest. Jennifer Greenberg, director of the Florida Innocence Initiative, said the idea was woefully inadequate all the way around. The damage done to these folks by the state is all-encompassing, is devastating, she said, adding it's not simply a matter of depriving someone of a normal life. It is survival in the most brutal living conditions in our state, she said. Paul Harvill, a former investigator for state lawyers representing death row inmates, called the bill shameful. The bill is simply, in my opinion, inadequate justice and compensation, he said. Harvill said people in state prison and county jail live in fear of being raped or stabbed. Incarcerated, you feel like you're the walking dead, he said. And you may end up dead. (source for both: Associated Press) OHIO: Death row appeal denied by supreme court The U.S. Supreme Court declined Monday to hear an appeal from an Ohio prisoner who is one of the longest-serving death row inmates in the state for the 1982 killing of a postal worker. John Spirko claimed the state's case against him was weakened when death penalty charges against his co-defendant were dropped last year. Spirko, who has maintained that he's innocent of the murder, also says prosecutors withheld key evidence and presented a false case. An important element of the Van Wert County prosecutor's case was a witness who recognized co-defendant Delaney Gibson, a friend of Spirko, near the Elgin post office on Aug. 9, 1982, the day that
[Deathpenalty]death penalty news-----S. DAK., MD.
March 30 SOUTH DAKOTA: Supreme Court sides with death row inmate, says filing deadline may sometimes be suspended The Supreme Court on Wednesday sided with a South Dakota death row inmate, saying it may be possible for him to return to federal court once state courts finish reviewing challenges to his conviction for a 1992 murder. The Anti-terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 contains a 1-year statute of limitations that would have barred Charles Russell Rhines, facing execution by lethal injection, from coming back to federal court, where he had taken his case in 2000. Regarding the federal law's deadline, we recognize the gravity of this problem and the difficulty it has posed, Justice Sandra Day O'Connor wrote in a 9-0 decision. A federal judge held the one-year federal deadline in abeyance while Rhines' claims in state court are dealt with. Setting aside an appeals court ruling, the Supreme Court said such an abeyance is permissible, but only in limited circumstances because of the possibility that death row inmates might engage in delaying tactics to avoid execution. The court sent the case back to the federal appeals court to consider. It's a mixed bag, state Deputy Attorney General Craig Eichstadt said of the Supreme Court's ruling. The ruling could allow Rhines to put his federal court appeal on hold until all issues are settled in state court, but it says that abeyance cannot be allowed unless Rhines shows a good reason why those issues were not raised earlier in state court, Eichstadt said. Rhines' lawyer, Bob Lange of Sioux Falls, said he is pleased with the Supreme Court decision. Rhines has not sought to delay the appeals process, his claims have merit, and there is good reason why some of the claims were not raised earlier in state court, Lange said. The Supreme Court ruling means the federal judge may be able put Rhines' federal claims on hold pending the conclusion of proceedings in state court, Lange said. It does not mean he's out on the street tomorrow. It simply means that certain of his claims are still alive, Lange said. The case now returns to the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals to determine whether the federal judge's decision was proper considering the standards set out in Wednesday's decision by the Supreme Court. The appeals court could require U.S. District Judge Karen Schreier to review her earlier decision to put Rhines' federal appeal on hold, Eichstadt and Lange said. In 2003, the federal appeals court ruled that Schreier could not freeze the clock on Rhines' federal habeas corpus petition while he returned to state court with legal claims that had not been exhausted in the state court system. In a habeas corpus procedure, prisoners challenge the legality of their sentences and claim that their constitutional rights have been violated. Rhines, 48, was sentenced to be executed after being found guilty of slaying a former co-worker during the 1992 burglary of a Rapid City doughnut shop. Donnivan Schaeffer, 22, was stabbed to death when he stumbled upon the burglary. Congress passed the federal Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act in 1996 to limit the lengthy appeals that typically precede executions. Rhines filed a federal habeas in 2000 after the apparent end of proceedings in the state court system. He claims such things as violation of his right to remain silent during police questioning, improper jury selection and ineffective legal representation. He also argues that the death penalty is unconstitutional. Schreier ruled in 2002 that Rhines habeas petition contained several claims that had not been exhausted in state court. She placed his federal habeas on hold while ordering him to return quickly to state court on the unsettled issues. If the federal judge had dismissed Rhines' petition, he would have been unable to refile it after the state courts finished their work. Federal law and a 1980 Supreme Court ruling require prisoners to exhaust all state remedies before filing for federal habeas corpus relief, giving state judges first crack at correcting any legal mistakes. South Dakota Attorney General Larry Long had urged the U.S. Supreme Court to enforce a strict time limit on federal habeas corpus petitions filed by state prisoners. The attorney general said Rhines is trying to circumvent Congress' intention that legal issues raised by people convicted of crimes in state courts be fully exhausted there before those matters may be raised at the federal level. The case is Rhines v. Weber, Warden, 03-9056. ON THE NET -- The opinion is available at: http://wid.ap.org/documents/scotus/050330rhines.pdf (source: Associated Press) MARYLANDimpending execution Death row inmate to speak to campusPrisoner, socialist group argue death penalty sentence was racially biased A Maryland death row inmate who may have as few as 20 days left to live will speak via telephone with the campus community at the Nyumburu
[Deathpenalty]death penalty news----worldwide
March 30 LIBYA/BULGARIA: Libyan Prosecutors Urge Revision of Bulgarian Nurses Death Sentences Prosecutors have asked Libyas Supreme Court to revoke death sentences of 5 Bulgarian nurses convicted of causing an AIDS outbreak and return the case for reconsideration to a lower court that issued the verdict. The Supreme Court was scheduled to rule on the motion on May 31, Bulgarias state TV reported Wednesday, a day after the 5-judge panel heard appeals by the nurses and a Palestinian doctor sentenced to a firing squad along with them. The TV said the prosecutors cited omissions the lower court in the city Benghazi made, while convicting the medics of intentionally injecting blood contaminated with the HIV virus that causes AIDS to more than 400 children at a local hospital. Libya says more than 40 children have developed AIDS and died. The Benghazi court has ignored evidence by international experts, who testified the infection had started due to poor hygiene at the hospital years before it hired the medics in 1998. Instead, it credited confessions of guilt the nurses have renounced saying police extorted them by torture during the preliminary interrogations. Defense attorneys have urged the court to acquit and release the medics. The TV quoted legal experts as saying that reconsideration of the case in Benghazi could take another couple of years. The medics have been in Libyan custody since February 1999. (source: Bulgarian News Network) (In) EUROPE: Muslim thinker fights death penalty -- Dr Ramadan says such punishments should be put in context A prominent Muslim intellectual in Europe, Tariq Ramadan, has called for a moratorium on corporal punishment, stoning and the death penalty in the Muslim world. Under what are known as the hudud laws, adulterers can be stoned to death and thieves can have their right hands amputated. Dr Ramadan has now launched a campaign which he hopes will resonate across the Muslim world, as well as in the West. To Western liberals, it is indefensible that such punishments are still carried out in parts of the Muslim world - such as Pakistan, Iran and Saudi Arabia - and they argue the practices should be outlawed. But Dr Ramadan counters that - since these punishments have a basis in classical Islamic law - it is the wrong approach. The real issue, he says, is the context in which the hudud penalties are applicable. He argues that the political and legal systems in the Muslim world do not allow for just and equal treatment of the individual and that you can't go on killing poor people and women who, he says, are the main victims of the current situation. Sensitive issue His call for a moratorium is likely to be controversial. While it does not go far enough for Western liberals, it goes too far for many conservative Muslims. As arguably Europe's best-known Muslim intellectual, Dr Ramadan has sparked controversy with his views, especially in France. But at the same time he has built up a large following, especially among young Muslim men and women living in the West. This is partly because he is the grandson of Hassan al-Banna - founder of Egypt's oldest and biggest Islamist movement, the Muslim Brotherhood, and partly because of his message that it is possible to be Muslim and Western at the same time. He also argues that Muslim intellectuals living in the West have the freedom to speak out on sensitive issues and are therefore in a position to influence opinion in the heartlands of the Muslim world. (source: BBC News)
[Deathpenalty]death penalty news-----worldwide
March 31 PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY: Palestinian Authority: Executions Loom Despite Unfair Trials Amid grave concern that prisoners facing execution by the Palestinian Authority did not receive fair trials, Human Rights Watch urged Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to place an immediate moratorium on the use of the death penalty. Recent press reports indicate that Abbas is considering certifying death sentences for up to 15 people, many of whom were convicted years ago. There are currently at least 27 people sitting on death row under the Palestinian Authority. In a letter to the Palestinian Authority president, also known as Abu Mazen, Human Rights Watch expressed concern that most, if not all, of these individuals were denied a fair trial and an opportunity to appeal. Executing prisoners convicted in unfair trials would only undermine Abu Mazens attempt to bolster his law and order credentials, said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. To ensure the rule of law and security for Palestinians, the Palestinian Authority needs to establish an independent judiciary that respects due process. International human rights standards stipulate that where the death penalty has not been abolished, it be imposed only in cases where due process has been scrupulously applied, including the right of the defendant to competent defense counsel, to be presumed innocent until proven guilty and to appeal both the factual and legal aspects of the case to a higher tribunal. In its letter to Abbas, Human Rights Watch detailed several cases of Palestinians executed under the Palestinian Authority after grossly unfair trials by military and state security courts. In one such case, Ra'ed and Muhammad Abu Sultan were executed on August 30, 1998, after a summary and unfair trial before a special military court, only three days after Palestinian security services charged them with committing 2 killings. The Palestinian Authority should remove from death row all persons who were tried in these courts and grant them new trials that comport with international standards, Human Rights Watch said. The Palestinian Authority has drawn a veil of secrecy over the basis for these mens convictions, and even their identities, said Whitson If Abu Mazen wants to demonstrate his commitment to improving governance for Palestinians, he should make such information freely available. Human Rights Watch called on President Abbas to disclose all information regarding the identities and status of prisoners on death row, the crimes for which they have been convicted, the manner in which they were charged, sentenced and tried, the prisons in which they are being held, and details of any impending executions. Until the death penalty is abolished, Human Rights watch also urged President Abbas to limit the scope of its use. While international law stipulates that in countries where the death penalty has not been abolished it should be imposed only for a small number of the most serious crimes, the Palestinian Authority extends the application of the death penalty for 42 offenses. Abu Mazen should place a moratorium as a first step toward abolishing capital punishment throughout the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Whitson said. Human Rights Watch opposes capital punishment in all circumstances because of its cruel and inhumane nature, as well as the growing global consensus that the death penalty should be abolished. More than 100 countries have effectively abolished the death penalty, and 54 have ratified the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights on abolition of the death penalty. (source: Human Rights Watch) MALAYSIA: Lee appeals against death sentence for murder Kenneth Lee has filed a notice of appeal against the decision of the Court of Appeal to sentence him to death for murder. Lee, whose Muslim name is Omar Iskandar Lee Abdullah, is appealing to the Federal Court against the appellate courts verdict and sentence. The notice of appeal was filed on behalf of Lee by his counsel Rabinder Singh yesterday. On Saturday, the Court of Appeal overturned Lees manslaughter conviction meted by the High Court and instead found him guilty of the murder of an accountant 5 years ago. The High Court had jailed him 8 years. Court of Appeal Justices Abdul Kadir Sulaiman, Ghazali Mohd Yusoff and Tengku Baharuddin Shah Tengku Mahmud found him guilty of the murder of Lee Good Yew in Jalan Istana Baru, Kuala Lumpur, at 7. 55pm on Aug 22, 2000. (source: The Star)
[Deathpenalty]death penalty news----USA----April Execution Alert
Scheduled Executions: April 5: Glen Ocha (FL): http://www.demaction.org/dia/organizations/ncadp/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=5 24 April 15: Richard Longworth (SC) http://www.demaction.org/dia/organizations/ncadp/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=5 25 April 20: Milton Mathis (TX): http://www.demaction.org/dia/organizations/ncadp/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=5 26 April 20: Douglas Alan Roberts (TX): http://www.demaction.org/dia/organizations/ncadp/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=5 27 April 21: Bill J. Benefiel (IN): http://www.demaction.org/dia/organizations/ncadp/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=5 28 April 28 : Mario Centobie (AL): http://www.demaction.org/dia/organizations/ncadp/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=5 29 *April 27: Donald Jones (MO): (Alert not posted) FLORIDA Glen Ocha April 5, 2005 6:00 PM EST http://www.demaction.org/dia/organizations/ncadp/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=5 24 The state of Florida is scheduled to execute Glen Ocha, who has legally changed his name to Raven Raven, April 5, 2005 for the 1999 murder of Carol Skjerva in Osceola County. Ocha met Skjerva at a bar while under the influence of alcohol and ecstasy. She drove him home and the two had consensual sex. Afterwards she made a disparaging comment which enraged him. He then strangled her and placed her detached head in his lap and began talking to her. He was arrested the following day for disorderly intoxication while in the possession of Skherva's car. He confessed to the murder and told authorities where her body could be located. Ocha plead guilty and waived his right to a trial by jury, as well as to the presentation of mitigating evidence. At the trial he refused to let a public defender present evidence to try and avoid an execution. Furthermore, he asked the trial judge to sentence him to death. He later wrote in a letter, Sir, I wish for my execution to come swift and unhampered. Please understand my sincerest request! Its better for me, and everyone for me to face my punishment sooner than later. He then fired an attorney who tried to help him appeal his death sentence. At trial, two psychological experts stated they believed further testing on Ocha was necessary. One psychologist went so far as to suggest he undergo a neuro-psychiatric evaluation to rule out the possibility of a brain tumor which may have affected his behavior and thinking. Ocha did not receive any of the additional testing suggested by the mental health experts. If these tests had taken place they may have provided valuable information at the trial concerning his mental health and competency to stand trial. Ocha had a history of suicidal thoughts and drug and alcohol abuse. He had previously suffered two severe head injuries which are often linked to violent disturbing behaviors. Ocha also suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder and a learning disability. Ocha suffered from a chaotic and violent childhood. He had a history of psychiatric disturbances and mental illness and may possibly have a bipolar disorder. It is apparent that Ocha is not sane and needs medical help, a point that is further supported by his legal name change from Glen Ocha to Raven Raven. The history of Ocha's suicidal tendencies are clearly documented. When previously arrested for an unrelated crime he asked the arresting officers to shoot him. In 1999, while incarcerated in Volusia County, he was placed on suicide watch. Five of the last eight executions in Florida have been of prisoners who have waived their appeals and volunteered to be put to death. During Governor Bush's tenure, 16 persons on death row have been executed, seven of whom have dropped their appeals in order to expedite their own deaths. The execution of those with mental illness is prohibited by international law as well as by most countries in the world. In April of 2000, The UN Commission on Human Rights urged that all states that do maintain the death penalty do not impose it on those who are suffering from any form of mental disorder. However, it is a common occurrence in the United States. There is clear evidence that Ocha is mentally ill and suicidal. By signing his death warrant Governor Jeb Bush is merely assisting in the suicide of a sick man and continuing the unjust practice of executing the mentally ill. Please take a moment to urge Governor Bush to stop the suicide of Glen Ocha! SOUTH CAROLINA Richard Longworth April 15, 2005 6:00 PM EST http://www.demaction.org/dia/organizations/ncadp/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=5 25 The state of South Carolina is set to execute Richard Longworth, 37, on April 15, 2005 for the 1991 murders of Alex Hopps and James Greene in Spartanburg County. On January 7, 1991, Longworth and accomplice David Rocheville robbed a Spartanburg movie theatre, shooting and killing employees Hopps and Greene. Police arrested both men, who later confessed to the crimes. Longworth and Rocheville were both
[Deathpenalty]FW: NCAA: Boo to Illinois!
Francis A. Boyle
Law Building
504 E. Pennsylvania Ave.
Champaign, IL 61820 USA
217-333-7954 (voice)
217-244-1478 (fax)
fbo...@law.uiuc.edu mailto:fbo...@law.uiuc.edu
(personal comments only)
-Original Message-
From: owner-aalsmi...@ube.ubalt.edu [mailto:owner-aalsmi...@ube.ubalt.edu]
On Behalf Of Boyle, Francis
Sent: Wednesday, March 30, 2005 1:52 PM
To: 'AALS Section on Minority Grps. mailing list' ('AALS Section on Minority
Grps. mailing list')
Subject: NCAA: Boo to Illinois!
Francis A. Boyle
Law Building
504 E. Pennsylvania Ave.
Champaign, IL 61820 USA
217-333-7954 (voice)
217-244-1478 (fax)
fbo...@law.uiuc.edu mailto:fbo...@law.uiuc.edu
(personal comments only)
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Subject: Google Alert - counterpunch
Google Alert for: counterpunch
Why You Should Boo http://www.counterpunch.org/boyle03302005.html
Illinois
CounterPunch - Petrolia,CA,USA
By FRANCIS BOYLE. The self-styled Fighting Illini of the University of
Illinois at Urbana-Champaign are on their way to the NCAA Final Four in St.
...
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From: rhalp...@mail.smu.edu (Rick Halperin)
Date: Tue Aug 16 12:15:43 2005
Subject: [Deathpenalty]death penalty newsOHIO, N.C., ILL., DEL.
Message-ID: pine.wnt.4.44.0503311125420.3300-100...@its08705.smu.edu
March 31
OHIO:
Victim opposed death penalty, lawyer argues
An attorney argued without rebuttal before the Ohio Supreme Court for
overturning a death sentence of a man convicted of killing 2 people.
Prosecutors weren't allowed to participate because of a missed deadline.
Assistant Public Defender Robert Lowe argued Tuesday that jurors weren't
told that 1 of the victims, a a student at Kenyon College, opposed capital
punishment.
He also systematically questioned the four death penalty specifications
attached to the aggravated murder conviction of Gregory McKnight.
The state Attorney General's Office and Vinton County Prosecutor Timothy
Gleeson said they were confident the trial record is strong enough to
uphold the convictions and sentences.
McKnight, 28, was convicted in 2002 in the southern Ohio county of
shooting his co-worker Emily Murray, 20, and Greg Julious, 20, of
Chillicothe. McKnight was sentenced to life in prison for killing Julious,
whose body was dismembered and burned.
Murray's family had filed a court statement that protracted court
proceedings in a death sentence case would increase their pain, Lowe said,
and that Emily is the type of person who would give McKnight mercy.
McKnight got the death sentence because he also was convicted of
kidnapping and robbing Murray. Jurors determined he killed to avoid
detection of another crime and that the 2 murders were part of a pattern
of behavior meant to kill 2 or more people.
Justice Paul Pfeifer especially questioned the last charge. The 2 victims
didn't know each other and the killings were at different times.
The statute does not say you get death if you murder 2 people. It says
you get death if you murder two people in a continuing course of conduct,
he said. Pfeifer called the robbery conviction a tougher hurdle for the
defense.
Lowe said Murray had been seen driving near McKnight's property, and
argued there was no direct evidence of kidnapping her or stealing the car,
which was found there after her death. He also said hiding the bodies does
not mean the killings were done to cover another crime.
The empty prosecutor's table irked Pfeifer. Unfortunately, regrettably,
inexcusably the state is not here, he said.
Murray's mother, Cynthia, who watched over the Internet from her home in
Cold Spring, N.Y., told the Columbus Dispatch it was frustrating there was
no rebuttal.
Prosecutors missed by one day the deadline to participate in written and
oral arguments before the high court. An appeal to the Supreme Court is
the 1st step in the lengthy state and federal appeals process in death
penalty cases.
State prosecutors became involved after the trial judge ruled that local
prosecutors could not seek the death penalty because the county might not
be able to afford a proper prosecution and pay for McKnight's defense.
The judge changed his mind when Attorney General Jim Petro was named
special prosecutor to aid Gleeson.
(source: Cincinnati Enquirer)
NORTH CAROLINA:
Death penalty foes count noses in HouseThey seek 2-year freeze on
[Deathpenalty]death penalty news----FLA., PENN., MO., GA.
March 31 FLORIDA: Judge orders new penalty phase for convicted killer If jurors were told about Virginia Larzelere's abusive childhood, they may have recommended a life sentence instead of the death penalty for killing her dentist husband, according to the judge who threw out her sentence this week. In a 40-page ruling, Circuit Judge John W. Watson III said her attorneys were ineffective because they did not investigate and present evidence at her 1992 trial about her claims of being sexually abused and having an alcoholic father. Now Larzelere, 52, the lone woman on Florida's death row, will get a new penalty phase in which jurors recommend life or death. This particular case is an issue about justice, injustice and the fallacy of the system, said Gary McDaniel, a Fort Lauderdale private detective and witness in Larzelere's latest appeal. Larzelere was tried for the 1991 slaying of her husband Norman at his Edgewater office and convicted of 1st-degree murder in 1992. The jury recommended death 7 to 5. In a lengthy appeal that started in the local circuit court nearly three years ago, Larzelere sought a new trial and sentencing because of ineffective counsel and a violation of her civil rights during her trial. Judge Watson's ruling, which was made public on Monday, ordered a new penalty phase for Larzelere but denied a new trial. Based on the totality of this evidence, this court finds that counsel's performance was deficient because counsel did not spend sufficient time preparing for the penalty phase, Watson wrote in his order signed March 24. Her attorneys never sought out the defendant's background, never sufficiently followed up on the investigator's report outlining the abuse and family history and never interviewed the defendant's family members, the judge wrote. Her lead lawyer at the time of the trial, Jack Wilkins, was later disbarred and convicted of perjury and other federal crimes, according to court records. He really didn't serve her well, David Hendry, one of the attorneys who handled her appeal, said Wednesday. Considering the close verdict, something that happened in Larzelere's childhood may have shown her to be a more sympathetic figure to the jury as they deliberated her fate, Hendry said. Hendry expects appeals to be filed from all sides in state Supreme Court. Prosecutors may appeal to keep her death sentence and her attorneys may ask for a new trial. Ms. Larzelere still maintains her innocence, Hendry said. Reversals in death penalty cases don't happen often, Hendry said. In 1996, the state Supreme Court affirmed Larzelere's conviction and sentencing. A status conference is to be set within 2 months to determine when a new penalty phase will be scheduled. John Howes, one of Larzelere's attorneys who mainly cross-examined witnesses said her background was not part of his role in the trial. If she gets a new sentencing hearing, good for her, he said. The last thing in the world I want at the end of the day is to have one of my clients on death row. McDaniel, the private investigator who worked to find evidence that helped clear Larzelere's son in the murder in 1992, said he hopes Larzelere's innocence will be proven. McDaniel said the original grand jury, of which he has been unable to find any record of proceedings, might have information that could free Larzelere. I have only one hope, he said. That one of the original grand jurors will come forward. (source: Daytona Beach News-Journal) For 22 years in jail, panel offers $200,000The House committee's offer to exonerated prisoner Wilton Dedge was rejected and called shameful. A Brevard County man who spent 22 years in prison for a rape he did not commit could get no more than $200,000 in compensation under a proposal approved by a House committee Wednesday. For Wilton Dedge, that works out to about $9,000 for each year served. The 43-year-old contractor spent more than 1/2 his life in prison before DNA evidence proved his innocence last year. Legislators who voted for the proposal called it a first step. Critics assailed it as shameful and woefully inadequate. Dedge's lawyer rejected it out of hand. The Senate wasn't impressed, either. Senate President Tom Lee, R-Brandon, said a $200,000 cap in such cases was probably not enough money. Dedge was sentenced to 2 consecutive life terms in 1982 after being convicted of sexual battery, aggravated battery and burglary. Under Florida's doctrine of sovereign immunity, Dedge could receive no more than $200,000 unless he filed a claims bill in the Legislature - a costly and cumbersome process that can take years to resolve. Unlike many people who seek claims, Dedge does not have a jury damage award to bolster his request for money. That's because he has not sued for damages, but he does have a court order absolving him of any wrongdoing. At least 19 states have laws to compensate people who are falsely imprisoned but Florida
[Deathpenalty]death penalty news----P.RICO, CONN., MD., USA
March 31 PUERTO RICO: Boricuas say no to the death penalty The subject of the death penalty has heated up in Puerto Rico, where capital punishment is prohibited by the Constitution of 1952. In theory, because it`s never been tested, residents of Puerto Rico who commit a federal crime that carries the death penalty could be sentenced to die. Such is the case with two Puerto Ricans who have been tried and convicted of killing a security guard and who, on April 11, will go before the same jury that found them guilty to determine whether they will be sentenced to the death penalty. On March 22 a federal jury found Hernando Medina Villegas and Lorenzo Cataln Romn guilty of killing the security guard in 2002. The U.S. Attorney's Office has said it has jurisdiction because the case involves interstate commerce. If the 2 men are condemned to die, the federal criminal justice system would have to take the extraordinary step of bringing them to the mainland to execute them. Despite the high crime rate in Puerto Rico, opinion polls have consistently found that the people are opposed to the reinstatement of the death penalty. On Tuesday, the governor, Anbal Acevedo Vil, formally asked the U.S. to refrain from imposing the death penalty in Puerto Rico. People from the civic sector, religious organizations ranging from the Roman Catholic Church to conservative groups, people who support independence and people who support statehood, and those in the labor movement have all come out against the death penalty on the island. Yesterday, the Association of American Jurists, a non-governmental organization acting as a consultant at the United Nations, released a statement opposing the application of the death penalty on the island. The Puerto Rican people -and the Puerto Rican constitution- are clear in their opposition to the death penalty. The federal government must not impose its will on the island nation. Puerto Rican justice must prevail. (source: El Diario) CONNECTICUT: Westport's Representatives Split on Death Penalty Abolition Vote Westport's 2 state representatives split their votes on Wednesday's unsuccessful attempt to abolish Connecticut's death penalty. The measure was defeated 89-60. Democrat Joe Mioli, a freshman representative whose district covers all but a sliver of Westport, vote yes. Republican Cathy Tymniak, whose district includes a portion of the Greens Farms area, voted no. The five-hour debate came with New England's first execution in 45 years looming. The bill would have replaced the death sentence with life in prison without the possibility of release -- a move that leaves serial killer Michael Ross' fate up to the courts. Legislators who want to end capital punishment had acknowledged for weeks that the abolition bill had no chance of passing. However, they said the House vote allowed them to debate the public policy before Ross' scheduled May 11 execution by lethal injection. (source: WestportNow.com) House defeats bill to abolish death penalty After more than four hours of impassioned speeches and heart-wrenching tales of murder yesterday, the state House of Representatives defeated a bill to abolish the state's death penalty, 89-60. The bill would have commuted the death sentence to life in prison with no possibility of release for murder with special circumstances, including killing of police, serial murders and killing of children. The bill was introduced by state Rep. Michael Lawlor, D-East Haven, who spent 47 minutes outlining 10 reasons why the state should abolish the death penalty. We do know there have been innocent people on death row, Lawlor said, citing recent cases where DNA evidence has resulted in exoneration for death row inmates in Illinois. We know that innocent people have come within hours of execution. Though I can't prove it, I'm sure there have been innocent people put to death in this country in the last 50 years. Connecticut has not put anyone to death since Joseph Mad Dog Taborsky was sent to the electric chair in 1960 for killing five men and one woman during a 10-week robbery spree of liquor stores and gas stations in the Hartford area. The state is preparing to put serial killer Michael Ross to death by lethal injection May 11. Ross is on death row for the murders of four young women in eastern Connecticut in the early 1980s. His arrest in 1984 ended a 3-year spree of attacks that stretched from Connecticut to New York, North Carolina, Illinois and Ohio. He raped most of his victims and killed 8 of them, 6 in Connecticut. Lawlor said most other countries have abandoned capital punishment as barbaric, and noted that countries are not allowed to join the European Union unless they abolish the death penalty and remove it from their constitutions. Lawlor said studies show it is not less expensive to impose the death penalty compared to keeping someone in prison for life. And he said the argument that it brings
[Deathpenalty]FW: Terri Schiavo: RIP
Francis A. Boyle Law Building 504 E. Pennsylvania Ave. Champaign, IL 61820 USA 217-333-7954 (voice) 217-244-1478 (fax) fbo...@law.uiuc.edu mailto:fbo...@law.uiuc.edu (personal comments only) -Original Message- From: Boyle, Francis Sent: Thursday, March 31, 2005 11:26 AM To: 'Abolish - The Mailing List For People Working to Abolish the Death Penalty' Subject: Terri Schiavo: RIP Basically, Terri was tortured to death in violation of the Convention against Torture, the US Anti-Torture Act, the Torture Victim Protection Act, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Francis A. Boyle Board of Directors, Amnesty International USA (1988-92) Francis A. Boyle Law Building 504 E. Pennsylvania Ave. Champaign, IL 61820 USA 217-333-7954 (voice) 217-244-1478 (fax) fbo...@law.uiuc.edu mailto:fbo...@law.uiuc.edu (personal comments only) -- next part -- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.washlaw.edu/mailman/private/deathpenalty/attachments/20050331/a648f810/attachment.htm From rhalp...@mail.smu.edu Thu Mar 31 11:28:24 2005 From: rhalp...@mail.smu.edu (Rick Halperin) Date: Tue Aug 16 12:15:43 2005 Subject: [Deathpenalty]death penalty newsTENN., IND. Message-ID: pine.wnt.4.44.0503311128170.3300-100...@its08705.smu.edu March 31 TENNESSEE: Suspect in Tennessee death may have ties to other casesHitchhiker accused of killing woman who gave him a ride A man wanted in the death of an Oklahoma woman whose body was found in Tennessee last week was arrested Wednesday in northwestern Pennsylvania and may have ties to other crimes, Erie County District Attorney Brad Foulk said. Bobby Joe McCauley, 30, is accused of killing 29-year-old Amanda Bateman. He was brought late Wednesday before Erie County District Judge James Dwyer on charges of 1st-degree murder and being a fugitive from justice. He is being held on a $1 million cash bond. Mr. McCauley is a person of interest -- to us, the Pennsylvania State Police, and potentially to the FBI -- in other investigations, Foulk said. Henderson County, Tennessee, authorities issued a warrant for McCauley's arrest after finding Bateman's body March 23 in Natchez Trace State Park off Interstate 40 in western Tennessee, according to Jennifer Johnson with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation in Nashville. Authorities were pointed to McCauley after a phone call he made to a family member on Bateman's cell phone. McCauley called his mother and said he had killed someone, Johnson said. Bateman had earlier called her own family, saying she had given a ride to a stranger in Memphis, Tennessee. She was en route from Chandler, Oklahoma, to visit her parents in Franklin, Tennessee -- about 200 miles northeast of Memphis -- but never arrived. Her car later turned up near Dallas, Texas, with McCauley's fingerprints in the car, Johnson said. McCauley is a diagnosed schizophrenic and has not been on his medicine for the condition, Johnson said. McCauley was arrested about 3 p.m. Wednesday at a Harbor Creek, Pennsylvania, truck stop, just northeast of Erie along Interstate 90, following a tip called into an FBI field office in the state. According to Foulk, McCauley was captured without incident by state and local law enforcement officers, along with FBI agents, as he stood at a pay phone. Foulk said the suspect has been cooperative with investigators and told them he knew why they were there. He indicated he was hitchhiking and was just passing through Erie County, said Foulk. Bateman's mother, Ann Phillips, said her daughter made it a practice to give rides to strangers. She picked up hitchhikers. She felt that was her way of serving God, by helping people, Phillips said. We really don't approve of it. We felt it was too risky for her to do, but she felt that it was a good thing. David Phillips, her father, said Bateman picked up hitchhikers so she could share her Christian faith. She has done that all over the country and this is the first problem case, but she -- probably even knowing that something like this would have happened -- she'd still do it ... and died for people's sins. The McCauley case bears some similarities to a string of unsolved murders across at least six states over the last 3 years. In February 2004, investigators from Oklahoma, Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, Tennessee and Mississippi met at Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation headquarters to compare notes on at least 7 murder cases, but considered several others. The female victims in the earlier cases range in age from 19 to 47 and had a striking number of similarities: - Most were last seen at truck stops along Interstate 40 in Oklahoma. - Most of the victims' bodies were found dumped along highways. - Most had a history of prostitution or were known prostitutes. - Most of the victims' bodies were found naked, with no other belongings in the area. - Some
[Deathpenalty]death penalty news----worldwide
March 31 IRAQ: Iraq judge: Saddam to get death sentence An Iraqi judge on the court that will try Saddam Hussein said the former Iraqi dictator committed many crimes and likely will be sentenced to death. The judge, who requested anonymity, was quoted Thursday in the Saudi daily al-Madina as saying the former dictator's interrogation is complete and more than 40 homicide charges will be filed. He said the charges include killing political rivals and dissidents in the Baath party with his own hands, and committing genocide and other crimes against the Kurds in northern Iraq and against Shiites in south and central Iraq. There also are some 300 charges on wasting national wealth, corruption, occupation, organizing terrorist action against Iraq's neighbors and bribing officials and diplomats implementing U.N. resolutions in Iraq. He said Saddam bears direct responsibility for the killing of 91,000 Iraqis, including 6,000 Kurds, and likely will be sentenced to death if convicted. (source: United Press International)
[Deathpenalty]death penalty news----worldwide
March 31 PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY: News Release Issued by the International Secretariat of Amnesty International AI Index: MDE 21/003/2005 30 March 2005 Palestinian Authority (PA): Amnesty International calls on the PA not to resume executions and to end impunity Amnesty International is concerned about recent steps taken by the newly elected President of the Palestinian Authority (PA), Mahmoud Abbas, to resume executions. According to available information up to 30 Palestinians are currently detained on death row. Most of them were sentenced to death between 1996 and 2004 for murder or rape and others were convicted of collaborating with Israeli forces to assassinate Palestinians. Shortly after his election in January 2005, President Abbas submitted the files of some prisoners on death row to the Grand Mufti, seeking his advice with a view to ratifying some of the death sentences. The Presidents ratification is the last step before executions can be carried out. The Grand Mufti has reportedly advised President Abbas that in his view some five prisoners convicted of murder and rape should be executed. Since the execution in June 2002 of two men convicted of rape and murder, there has been a de facto moratorium on executions by the PA. Amnesty International considered this a positive development, in line with a worldwide trend towards abolition of the death penalty, and is now concerned at the PAs intention to resume executions. The moves to resume executions are seemingly intended by the PA to demonstrate its determination to restore law and order in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, where in recent years PA security and law-enforcement institutions have been largely destroyed or prevented from operating by Israeli forces. These moves are occurring as the PA is seeking to re-establish some degree of control in parts of the Occupied Territories in the context of the renewed dialogue/negotiations with Israel and the recent truce between Israeli forces and Palestinian armed groups. Amnesty International has urged President 'Abbas not to ratify any of the death sentences and to maintain the de facto moratorium on executions. The organization opposes the death penalty in all cases and considers it as the ultimate form of cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment, and a violation of the right to life as enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Moreover, the death penalty has never been shown to deter crime more effectively than other punishments. Amnesty International is also concerned that some of those sentenced to death were convicted by the State Security Court or by the Military Court, where trials were grossly unfair and violated the accuseds internationally guaranteed rights. Such trials were conducted by military judges, often in a summary manner, and were at times held in camera. Many of the accused were denied the right to choose their defence counsel and to appeal to a higher and independent court. In view of the irreversible nature of the death penalty, trials in capital cases must scrupulously observe all the international standards protecting the right to a fair trial, including the right to be defended by legal counsel of ones choice and the right to review by a higher tribunal. The PA has the right and indeed the duty to bring to justice those responsible for crimes, but it should do so in conformity with internationally recognized standards and ensure that all defendants have the right to a fair trial by an independent court. As the PA seeks to reassert its authority in parts of the Occupied Territories, it should give priority to reforming the justice and legal systems and ensuring that they protect and respect the rights to fair trial for all. Resuming execution will not contribute to these goals. Amnesty International also calls on the PA to put an end to the impunity so far afforded to those responsible for certain crimes, including killings of Palestinian collaborators and Israeli civilians as well as honour killings. BACKGROUND The PA has not investigated deliberate killings by Palestinian armed groups of both Palestinians and Israeli civilians, and family (honour) killings. Those responsible for such crimes have continued to enjoy impunity and have not been brought to justice despite the fact that their identity was often known, as they had carried out the killings in public or publicly claimed responsibility for their acts. In recent years al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades groups have claimed responsibility for most of the killings of Palestinians whom they alleged had collaborated with Israeli forces. Killings of women by relatives on grounds of family honour, and other abuses of women in the family have also frequently gone unpunished. View all AI documents on the Palestinian Authority: http://amnesty-news.c.topica.com/maadlF5abfBjFbb0havb/ * You may repost this message onto other sources
[Deathpenalty]death penalty news----TEXAS, PENN., MD., CALIF.
March 31 TEXAS: State drops death penalty for Joe LaRue In a case that has already had enough twists and turns to require a road map, the capital murder trial of Joe LaRue changed course once again Wednesday when the jury was dismissed and the state removed its request to seek the death penalty. LaRue, 42, is charged with raping and killing co-worker Donna Pentecost, 33, at her Port Neches home in 1989. The defendant was originally indicted for the killing in 2001, but the charges were later dropped due to a lack of evidence. As DNA technology improved, LaRue was indicted again and a trial began in March 2003. At the time, prosecutors charged LaRue with capital murder and were seeking the death penalty after reviewing DNA evidence that they believed proved LaRue was the killer. That trial was halted when Judge Layne Walker ruled that the DNA evidence was not admissable because prosecutors did not release laboratory findings to LaRue's defense attorneys in a timely manner. The case was then in limbo for two years while the state appealed the judge's ruling. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals finally agreed to allow the DNA evidence and Monday the trial resumed in Walker's court with the same 12 jurors from the 2003 trial. Jurors heard two days of testimony focusing on the collection of evidence by the Port Neches Police Department and other investigators. Wednesday morning prosecutor Ramon Rodriguez began to question Port Neches Police Chief Gene Marsh, who was the lead detective at the time of the murder in 1989, about a polygraph test given to the victim's common law husband. Because polygraph evidence is not admissible in Texas courts, defense attorney Doug Barlow immediately objected and a recess was called. The mention of the polygraph could have given the defense grounds to ask for a mistrial, they instead agreed to let the jury be dismissed. Known as a bench trial, Walker will now hear all the evidence and decide on LaRue's guilt or innocence and his punishment. Walker said this is only the 2nd time he has seen a defendent waive his right to a jury trial in this manner. At the same time, the state agreed not to seek the death penalty for LaRue. No one wanted a mistrial, Barlow said. My client wants to move forward. Without the death penalty, if found guilty of capital murder LaRue could face life in prison or he could be found guilty of lesser charges including murder, which carries a 5 to 99 year sentence, or even manslaughter, a charge with a 2 to 20-year sentence. The trial will resume Monday and Walker is expected to make a decision by Tuesday afternoon. (source: The News) PENNSYLVANIA: Death Penalty Sought In Case Of Girl Found Burned In Trash CanLamar Haymes Remains Mute When Asked For Plea A prosecutor said he would seek the death penalty for a man accused of the rape, murder and dismemberment of a 15-year-old girl in December. Lamar Haymes, 29, of Yeadon, was arraigned Wednesday in the death of Deanna Wright-McIntosh, 15, a Penn Wood High School sophomore whose charred remains were found Dec. 30 in a steel trash drum in a vacant lot in West Philadelphia. Deputy District Attorney John F.X. Reilly certified the killing as a capital crime. Haymes' charges included 1st-degree murder, rape, kidnapping and abuse of a corpse. When asked how he pleaded, defense attorney Raymond Williams said Haymes would remain mute. Common Pleas Judge Charles C. Keeler entered a routine plea of innocent for Haymes, who is scheduled for a pretrial hearing May 9. (source: Associated Press) MARYLAND: Prosecutors Seek Death Penalty For Anne Arundel County Murders Prosecutors in Anne Arundel County plan to seek the death penalty for a man already convicted in one murder and recently linked to 3 others. Thirty-five-year-old Alexander Watson is serving a life sentence for the 1994 stabbing death of a Forestville office manager. Last summer, he was linked by DNA to the murders of women who lived near him in 1986, 1988 and 1993. One of those cases, the 1988 rape and slaying of a Gambrills jogger, is eligible for the death sentence. Prosecutors will seek life sentences in the other 2 cases -- the 1986 rape and murder of a Gambrills mother of two and the 1993 slaying of a Glen Burnie teenager. County State's Attorney Frank Weathersbee says, in his words, If the death penalty is for anyone, it is for Mr. Watson. (source: Associated Press) CALIFORNIA: Prejudging jurors -- In real world, stereotypes are factored in The Bay Area media are riveted on the death-penalty appeal of convicted murderer Fred Freeman, whose hearing has become a venue for charges, countercharges, character assassination and gossip. The issue is whether former Alameda County prosecutor Jack Quatman committed misconduct. Quatman, who now practices law in Montana, claimed that he illegally kept several potential jurors off the Freeman jury because of their Jewish-sounding surnames, adding that he
[Deathpenalty]death penalty news-----FLA., CONN., MD., MISS.
March 31 FLORIDA: Killer of Miami-Dade anti-drug crusader loses death row appeal In Tallahassee, a death row inmate condemned for gunning down a Miami-Dade County grocer who waged a war against drugs in his neighborhood lost appeals Thursday in the state Supreme Court. Ronnie Johnson was sentenced to death for the 1989 murder of Lee Arthur Lawrence, who was killed in a fusillade of up to 30 bullets fired from a semiautomatic weapon when he went out to pick up garbage from his parking lot. Johnson, 44, was also condemned for the fatal shooting of Tequila Larkins, who was fatally shot in her laundromat a week before Lawrence was killed. Police said that Larkins was a reputed drug dealer. Florida's high court rejected appeals from Johnson in both cases Thursday. The unsigned opinions were unanimous with the exception of Justice R. Fred Lewis who concurred in the result only. Lawrence's parking lot was the scene of frequent drug transactions and the market was the target of a failed firebombing attempt in 1987. Lawrence, 51, was widely known in his community for his anti-drug stance, visiting schools and organizing residents to fight against dealers. Three days before he was fatally shot, Miami-Dade County's top law enforcement official met with Lawrence, ministers and concerned people about how to fight drugs. Several hundred people attended Lawrence's funeral, including Jeb Bush, who was a private citizen running for governor at the time. (source: South Florida Sun-Sentinel) CONNECTICUT: House keeps death penalty on books The state House of Representatives upheld Connecticut's death-penalty statute Wednesday, rejecting a measure that would have replaced capital punishment with life imprisonment without parole. In an 89-60 vote following more than 5 hours of debate, the House also effectively ended any chance of legislative intervention before the scheduled May 11 execution of serial killer and rapist Michael Ross. Advocates of capital punishment argued the ultimate penalty is necessary to provide justice for those who have lost loved ones in the most heinous of crimes. But opponents countered that state-sanctioned executions debase society as a whole and that killing anyone cannot provide true healing. Government must be just. It must exact justice, Deputy House Minority Leader Lawrence F. Cafero Jr., R-Norwalk, said. I believe it is society's retribution. Only the worst of the worst get the death penalty, said Rep. Steven Mikutel, D-Griswold, whose constituents include families of some of Ross' victims. Ross, 45, a Brooklyn native, has admitted to killing eight teenage girls and young women in eastern Connecticut and New York in the 1980s, most of whom he also raped. He is one of just seven people on death row in this state. Connecticut has not executed an inmate since 1960. The Cornell University graduate came within hours of being put to death by lethal injection on Jan. 29. But the execution was postponed so his mental competency could be examined. Mikutel and Cafero argued that capital punishment here is unlike the systems in most other states, demanding an extremely high level of proof and limited to a small category of murders. Such crimes include killing a victim who first was raped or kidnapped, multiple slayings in the same incident, murder for hire, or the murder of a police officer. I do believe there are some people in this world that we can truly say are evil, added Rep. Pamela Z. Sawyer, R-Bolton. But Rep. John C. Geragosian, D-New Britain, said that while government should do all it can to comfort those who have lost loved ones to heinous acts, killing the guilty won't provide real peace. It's about what we value as a society, he said, adding that Connecticut can do better than that. Rep. William Dyson, D-New Haven, who has regularly worn a placard protesting the death penalty at the state Legislative Office Building for months, said he can empathize with victims' families who want to see their loved ones' murderers executed. However, he said the state sends the wrong message when it kills the killers. If it's symbolic, so be it, Dyson said of Wednesday's debate. Give it your vote. Give it your vote. It says something about who we are and who we want to be. Rep. Michael Lawlor, D-East Haven, co-chairman of the Judiciary Committee, argued that the years of appeals associated with such cases simply give the condemned killers huge amounts of media attention and force victims' families to relive the pain again and again. Lawlor, a former prosecutor, also argued that an inordinate number of Connecticut's death-penalty cases were tried in the Waterbury judicial district, adding that the system is flawed because it gives state's attorneys great discretion in whether to pursue the death sentence in any case. Death-penalty opponents have conceded for weeks that their chances of overturning the statute this spring were slim. Gov. M. Jodi Rell declared in
[Deathpenalty]death penalty news----N. MEX., N.Y., OHIO, USA
March 1 NEW MEXICO: State To Seek Death in Slaying of Young Single Mom The Santa Fe District Attorney's Office announced Monday that it will seek the death penalty against a 59-year-old woman accused of killing a 19-year-old single mother last year. Karen Smallwood whose last known residence was in Tucson, Ariz., is charged with first-degree murder and other crimes in connection with the Oct. 13, 2004, shooting death of Ursula Duran, 19. Deputy District Attorney David Foster announced the state's intent to seek the death penalty against Smallwood during a court hearing Monday. Foster said Duran's homicide was the killing of a witness to a crime, an element needed to impose the death penalty. Duran's mother and boyfriend discovered Duran's body at her aunt's Calle Cacique home in southeast Santa Fe, where she had been housesitting. She had been shot multiple times. Smallwood was arrested in Florida in November 2004, after police tracked the use of Duran's ATM card after her death. After Smallwood's arrest in Florida, a search of her vehicle there turned up a Sig Sauer P226 9 mm pistol and 4 boxes of ammunition, court records state. The pistol had blood on it, and shots that were later fired from the pistol at the state Department of Public Safety Crime Lab matched projectiles found at the scene of Duran's homicide. Duran's mother, Elaine Duran, was at the court hearing Monday and spoke to the media for the 1st time about her daughter's death. Elaine Duran said that she and her daughter's ex-boyfriend, Thomas Lujan, are both helping look after Duran's baby boy, Isaiah, who was just 2 at the time of his mother's death. She also spoke of the pain of having to tell young Isaiah why his mother isn't there to take care of him any more. Elaine said that her daughter will be remembered for her smile. She agreed that her daughter's murder was senseless. I just feel that the way my daughter was killed was worse than you would have expected of an animal, Elaine Duran said. You'd have more compassion for an animal. Foster, who stood by Elaine Duran while she spoke with reporters, said that the DA's office consulted with Elaine Duran and other family members before deciding to seek the death penalty. Elaine Duran said, What was taken away from us was someone who was very valued in this life. It hasn't gotten any easier since Ursula's death, Elaine said. There's a void in your life that never gets filled, she said. Foster's announcement Monday came on the same day that the state House of Representatives passed legislation that would ban the death penalty in New Mexico. For such a bill to become law, it must also be passed by the Senate and signed by Governor Bill Richardson. (source: Albuquerque Journal) ** House repeals death penalty New Mexicos two death-row inmates, Robert Fry of Farmington and Timothy Allen of Bloomfield, could still be executed even if a bill to repeal the death penalty became law, Rep. Gail Beam, D-Albuquerque, said Monday during a floor debate at the Roundhouse. House Bill 576 passed a short time later on a 38-31 vote. It would take affect July 1 - if passed by the Senate and signed by Gov. Bill Richardson - and would not be retroactive, said Beam, the bills sponsor. Only defendants convicted from that date forward of a capital felony would be given a sentence of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole instead of the death sentence, she said, adding the governor always has the power to commute any sentence. Rep. Ray Begaye, D-Shiprock, voted in favor of abolishing the death penalty only after it was made clear to him during the floor debate that Fry would remain on death row. Begaye, a cousin of one of Frys victims, also complained the appeal process in Frys case was taking too long. In the case of Robert Fry, he committed the crime, he confessed to the crime. Theres been too many appeals, Begaye said, maintaining death row was valuable because, There are individuals who are deranged who just want to end it. Beam replied that the state was not in the business of assisted suicide. Begaye then changed his perspective on the death penalty, saying the Navajo Nation opposed it. We don't believe in the death penalty. Some of our elders say, putting a person to death is not of their ways but the way of God, said Begaye, a Navajo tribal member. Rep. Richard Cheney, R-Farmington, voted against the bill. During the floor debate he rapidly jumped from one Bible verse to another, quoting scripture to explain why he believed the death penalty was a necessity. Cheney also called it a myth that a disproportionate number of minorities nationwide were on death row. There were 72 executions nationwide in 2002, he said. Of those, 53 were whites and 18 were blacks. The delegates struggled with the decision during the floor debate. We have a deeper problem - the violent nature of society where the death penalty does nothing, Rep. Antonio Lujan, D-Las
[Deathpenalty] FW: [florida_support] FW: + (a) Bishop Lynch statement; (b) repor t on his Earthquake ex perience
Francis A. Boyle Law Building 504 E. Pennsylvania Ave. Champaign, IL 61820 USA 217-333-7954 (voice) 217-244-1478 (fax) fbo...@law.uiuc.edu (personal comments only) -Original Message- From: Boyle, Francis [mailto:fbo...@law.uiuc.edu] Sent: Friday, April 01, 2005 8:49 AM To: Florida_Support Subject: [florida_support] FW: + (a) Bishop Lynch statement; (b) report on his Earthquake ex perience Importance: High With all due respect to the Bishop, it is Michael Schiavo, his Attorney Felos and Judge Greer who are legally responsible for torturing Mrs. Schiavo to death in violation of the Convention against Torture, the US Anti-Torture Statute, the Torture Victim Protection Act, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Francis A. Boyle Professor of Law Board of Directors,Amnesty International USA (1988-92) Francis A. Boyle Law Building 504 E. Pennsylvania Ave. Champaign, IL 61820 USA 217-333-7954 (voice) 217-244-1478 (fax) fbo...@law.uiuc.edu (personal comments only) -Original Message- From: kevcro...@webtv.net [mailto:kevcro...@webtv.net] Sent: Thursday, March 31, 2005 9:45 PM To: kevcro...@webtv.net Cc: fbo...@law.uiuc.edu; writefor...@yahoo.com; feetoffir...@yahoo.com; romca...@yahoo.com; littlestor...@yahoo.com; mjay...@worldnet.att.net; peterwils...@lycos.com; mhb...@nycap.rr.com; edb...@tampabay.rr.com; dkf...@juno.com; frtmad...@aol.com; fatherb...@mostholyname.org; v...@dosp.org; shelt...@dosp.org; edi...@thefloridacatholic.org; mstpie...@thefloridacatholic.org; mcarl...@thefloridacatholic.org; pav...@priestsforlife.org; fr_domi...@ewtn.com; fr_mi...@ewtn.com; fr_fr...@ewtn.com; fr_fran...@ewtn.com; fr_anth...@ewtn.com; fr_m...@ewtn.com; fr_jos...@ewtn.com; fr_shan...@ewtn.com; weboffa...@ewtn.com; mbe...@ewtn.com; charring...@ewtn.com; journeyh...@ewtn.com; ewtnn...@ewtn.com; n...@zenit.org; r...@ewtn.com; n...@catholicna.com; sundaynightl...@ewtn.com; thresh...@ewtn.com; worldo...@ewtn.com; n...@zenit.org; nationald...@upi.com; jour...@c-span.org; a...@npr.org; connec...@msnbc.com; c...@msnbc.com; nigh...@nbc.com; chern...@comcast.net; ict...@goccn.org; joetalks...@aol.com; vi...@foxnews.com; orei...@foxnews.com; cav...@foxnews.com; ontherec...@foxnews.com; jscarboro...@msnbc.com; kolberm...@msnbc.com; bkel...@liveprayer.com; geo...@coasttocoastam.com; m...@glennbeck.com; li...@praythenews.com; indyc...@praythenews.com; john_paul...@vatican.va Subject: + (a) Bishop Lynch statement; (b) report on his Earthquake experience (a) Subject: Statement of Bishop Robert N. Lynch, head of Diocese of St. Petersburg -- A printed version of this statement was picked up after Mass by my wife, Maggie Hall (with three of our 4 kids along), at St. Cecelia Catholic Church, Clearwater, Florida, on March 20, 2005, Palm Sunday -- two days after Terri Schiavo's feeding tube was removed. Last week Bishop Lynch left for Indonesia as part of a tsunami aid delegation and has stayed overseas during the rising Right-to-Life crisis. He's to return to St. Petersburg this Sunday, April 3. + Kev + Px = + = = = + = -- STATEMENT OF BISHOP ROBERT N. LYNCH: The bishops of Florida have once again addressed the issue of the withdrawal of the artificial feeding tube from Terri Schiavo. As in the past, I join them in addressing this complex and tragic situation. As the local bishop and pastor for all the family parties involved, I would like to add the following. At the end of the day (the judicial, legislative days) the decision to remove Terri's artificial feeding tube will be that of her husband, Michael. It is he who will give the order, not the courts and certainly [not] the governor or legislature or the medical personnel surrounding and caring for Terri. In other words, as I have said from the beginning of this sad situation, the decision will be made within a family. A significant part of that family feels they are outside of the decision-making process and they are in great pain and suffering mightily. I urge and pray that before the finality, one last effort be made for mediation. Normally, at the end of life, families of the person in extremis agree that it is time to allow the Lord to call a loved one to Himself, feeling that they have done all they possibly might to provide alternatives to death, every possible treatment protocol which might be helpful has been attempted. There is a peace. This will not happen in this instance because of the seeming intractability of both sides. I beg and pray that both sides might step back a little and allow some mediation in these final hours. The legacy of Terri's situation should not be that of those who love her the most, loathing the actions of one another, but of a heroic moment of concern for the feelings of each other, guided by moral and ethical considerations, with a single focus of achieving the best result for Terri. I ask the Catholics of
[Deathpenalty]death penalty news----MD., N.C., FLA., KAN.
April 1 MARYLAND: Death Row Inmate Granted Stay Of Execution The state's highest court has granted a stay of execution to death row inmate Vernon Evans. He was scheduled to put to be death by lethal injection in the 5-day period that begins April 18th. But the Court of Appeals granted a defense request to block the execution until his latest appeal could be considered. The defense asked for time to argue that Evans' sentence was unfair, based on a University of Maryland study in 2003 that found racial and geographic disparities in the application of the death penalty in the state. Oral arguments on the appeal are scheduled for June 7th. The same study is the basis for an appeal by another condemned man -- Wesley Baker -- that the Court of Appeals is also scheduled to hear in June. Evans was one of two men convicted and sentenced to death for the April 1983 killings of David Piechowicz and Susan Kennedy at a motel in Pikesville. (source: Associated Press) NORTH CAROLINA: Death row convict to get new trial--Judge says officials withheld evidence A judge has ruled that a Greensboro man should have a new trial after a quarter century on death row, saying investigators and prosecutors withheld evidence that could have helped him. Michael Pinch, 45, is the 8th death-row inmate in recent years granted a new trial on a finding of misconduct by prosecutors. Defense lawyers hailed the ruling Thursday as further proof that the criminal justice system has been biased against the accused. The kind of trial Michael Pinch got, you cannot give to anyone anymore, said Pinch's attorney, James Cooney III of Charlotte. Pinch has admitted shooting two men in October 1979 at Strokers' Motorcycle Clubhouse in Greensboro but claimed he was guilty of 2nd-degree murder, arguing that he did not plan the crime. He avoided execution for 25 years because his numerous appeals were inching through the courts. Rockingham County Superior Court Judge Melzer A. Morgan Jr., in granting him a new trial, cited 6 legal reasons why Pinch didn't receive a fair trial. Among other things, he said, police failed to tell Pinch's lawyers that a key witness failed a lie detector test and gave 3 different statements, and that one victim had a history of stabbing people. The prosecutor, Charles W. Wannamaker III, failed to share notes of interviews with witnesses, which differed significantly from their trial testimony, Morgan found. And prosecutors and police failed to share notes and a tape of an interview with a witness about another man's role in the killings. Wannamaker, reached by telephone Thursday night, declined to comment. Guilford County District Attorney Stuart Albright said the state Attorney General's Office will appeal the judge's ruling. Albright said that if the case is retried, he is inclined to seek another death sentence but would decide based on the evidence and available witnesses. If Pinch were to receive a life sentence for 1st-degree murder, he would be eligible for parole. If convicted of 2nd-degree murder, he would be freed because he already has served the maximum sentence. His relatives were elated by the ruling. It's a step in the right direction, said Andrea Gaines, a cousin who lives in Old Saybrook, Conn. Gaines, 40, said she has visited Pinch in prison every three months for 4 years. Relatives of the victims Freddie Pacheco, 19, and Tommy Dale Ausley, 18, said a killer has gotten a break. I don't understand it whatsoever. I never will understand it, said Ausley's father, George, 68, a Greensboro fence contractor. I'm really mad about this situation. Prosecutors contended during the trial that before Pinch arrived at the motorcycle club that night in 1979, he had talked about killing Pacheco and had borrowed a shotgun. Prosecutors said Pinch shot Pacheco and then Ausley, whom Pinch didn't know and who had begged Pinch for his life. The prosecutors said Pinch then orchestrated moving the victims' bodies into the back of a car and leaving the car in southwest Greensboro. The defense argued at trial that the killings culminated a drunken, brawling evening and that Pinch was too intoxicated to have formed the intent to kill. Morgan ruled that the verdict might have been different if the defense had the evidence that was not shared. There is a reasonable probability that Pinch did not receive a fair trial and verdicts worthy of confidence, Morgan wrote in the 153-page order. There is a reasonable probability that there would have been a different result, guilty of 2nd-degree murder, had the withheld information been available and presented. In his ruling, Morgan highlighted what he called a recurring problem: Police and prosecutors flout the law by failing to turn over evidence that would aid the defense and that impeaches their witnesses. Time and again, law enforcement has failed to provide prosecutors with contradictory information or information that doesn't fit into their
[Deathpenalty]death penalty news----IOWA, GA., USA
April 1 IOWA: Deadlocked Senate headed toward death penalty showdown The deadlocked Iowa Senate appears headed for a showdown over one of the most emotional issues lawmakers have faced this session - the question of reinstating the death penalty. Republican leaders insist they'll push for a vote on the issue, perhaps as early as next week. Democratic leaders say they won't allow debate. And with the Senate split at 25-to-25, the outcome is far from clear. The debate has erupted in the wake of the abduction and slaying of a 10-year-old Cedar Rapids girl. A registered sex offender is charged with the crime. The Legislature is moving forward with efforts to toughen sex abuse laws, but some lawmakers also are talking about reviving the state's death penalty, abolished in 1965, as part of the debate. (source: Associated Press) *** Lawmakers death penalty debate clouds sex offender restrictions A debate over the death penalty may complicate attempts to boost restrictions on sex offenders, as Iowa Senate Republicans said Thursday that capital punishment must be part of the discussion, while Democrats said such a demand is crass posturing. Senate Democratic Leader Mike Gronstal of Council Bluffs said he would not allow debate on the death penalty because both sides know there isnt enough support. But Republican leaders, who share control of the Senate with Democrats, said the issue deserves an airing after last weeks kidnapping and murder of Jetseta Gage, 10, of Cedar Rapids. A convicted sex offender, Paul Bentley, 37, has been charged in the crime. We don't need to wait a year to have a debate that the people of Iowa want us to have today, said Senate Co-president Jeff Lamberti, R-Ankeny. So if Mike Gronstal wants to put a hold on that, then I guess he can talk to, and answer to, the people of Iowa who want us to have this debate. The Iowa House passed a bill Thursday inspired by the Cedar Rapids tragedy, barring sex offenders from living near schools and day-care centers and requiring them to be closely monitored after leaving prison. House Speaker Christopher Rants, R-Sioux City, said Monday that there wont be a death penalty debate in his chamber this year because such a measure probably wouldnt pass. While the House bill took shape in just a few days, Senate leaders expect to take weeks, allowing time for testimony from corrections and mental-health experts. But senators spent Thursday morning exchanging potshots, with Democrats accusing Republicans of exploiting the situation for partisan gain. Sen. Larry McKibben, R-Marshalltown, started the fracas, speaking on the Senate floor next to blown-up black-and-white photographs of the victim and her alleged killer. Sometimes we all know that it takes tragedy, and sometimes we enlarge tragedy, to cause us to act, he said. McKibben said the death penalty should be allowed for people who commit multiple felonies like kidnapping, rape or murder, otherwise there is an incentive for criminals to kill witnesses. A similar argument was made in previous unsuccessful pushes to legalize the death penalty, most recently in 1997. At that time, Republicans controlled both houses of the Legislature and had a pro-death penalty governor, Republican Terry Branstad. Gronstal said he doesnt want to have the debate all over again because the death penalty has an even smaller chance of passing and likely would be vetoed by Democratic Gov. Tom Vilsack. We're not going to spend our time on an issue we know is dead, Gronstal said. Later Thursday, the Senate Judiciary Committee named a special panel to study the House bill and look at ways to improve it. (source: Quad Cities Times) GEORGIA: Town Shocked by Death Row Decision People in a small Georgia town are trying to make sense of a decision to allow a convicted killer off of death row. 15 years ago, the town of Eastman, Ga., was shocked by the murder of a popular businessman. Now, a Supreme Court decision says the killer cannot be put to death. It is the kind of town where minor crimes still make headlines, where murders are as frequent as presidential elections. It's a town where people like Doug Coley aren't supposed to die the way he died. We had to break in and he was there, breathing his last breath, said Doug Coley's father Buddy Coley. Buddy Coley still lives right across the street from the grocery store he used to own, where he and his son worked together. Now it's known as the place where Doug Coley fell victim to the murder Eastman can't forget. It really hurt this town. This was a super nice family, had a great business, it was just shocking that something like this could happen in Eastman, said Eastman Police Chief Furman Wiggins. On February 2nd, 1990, Doug Coley was working late. He was alone in the store until he was joined by a killer. Coley was stabbed 38 times, his throat cut, and robbed of his wallet and $500. Just minutes after the murder
[Deathpenalty]death penalty news----TEXAS, VA., ILL., USA
April 1 TEXAS: Photos move jurors to tearsCrime scene photos show murder scene Jurors gasped and became teary-eyed Thursday after prosecutors showed crime scene photos in the capital murder trial of a man accused of beating a man and his 10-year-old son to death with a claw hammer. Bevy Lee Wilson, 46, is on trial in the February 2003 death of Richard Carbaugh, 34, and his son, Dominic, in their Barton Street apartment in Flour Bluff. The jurors looked on as crime scene images of blood-spattered toys and furniture flashed onto a larg screen in the courtroom. Pictures of the kitchen, where the bodies were found, showed blood splattered all the way to the ceiling, swaths of blood on the walls and puddles on the floor that flowed under and out the back door. One of the last pictures shown by prosecutor Sandra Alaniz drew gasps and several jurors - both women and men - teared up at the images of Carbaugh and Dominic with their heads bashed in, lying in pools of blood on the kitchen floor. The bloody hammer lay on the stove above them. Carbaugh also had a steak knife embedded in his skull. Wilson stared at his hands and doodled on a legal pad while the pictures were projected on the screen. Defense attorney Scott Ellison quizzed Kathy Cassada, a Corpus Christi Crime Scene technician who testified for most of the day, about evidence collected at the scene. Carbaugh's neighbor, David Sensinger, 29, testified that while he was cooking dinner, he heard grunting and groaning from next door that sounded like the times he and his brothers roughhoused when they were younger. When prosecutors Mark Skurka and Sandra Alaniz questioned why he did not call the police, Sensinger said the noise was over quickly enough that he and his mother, Lucy, who testified Wednesday that she had seen Wilson at the Carbaugh home that day, did not think anything of it. It's in the Bluff, Sensinger said. You hear things you don't hear in other parts of Corpus. It's so natural to hear people scream or hear people wrestling that you don't think about it. Defense attorney Doug Tinker said he expects to start defense arguments next week and that he expects the trial to last through next week. If convicted, Wilson could face the death penalty. (source: Corpus Christi Caller-Times) Trial twists, turns In another twist in a case marked by delays and reversal of a decision about DNA evidence, on Wednesday the state waived the death penalty and Joe Edward LaRue waived his right to trial by jury in his capital murder trial. LaRue is on trial in the 1989 bludgeoning death and sexual assault of Port Neches resident Donna Pentecost. He faces up to life in prison if found guilty of her death. LaRue and 2 other co-workers at Jordan Industries, where Pentecost was employed, reported finding Pentecost dead in her yard in the 300 block of Avenue B Oct. 16, 1989. Police later found a 40-pound paving stone they believe was the murder weapon. Testimony began Monday in LaRue's capital murder trial. Following defense attorneys' objection Wednesday to a statement about the polygraph of a witness during prosecutor's questioning of Port Neches Police Chief Gene Marsh, Judge Layne Walker of the 252nd District Court called for a recess. After about 4 hours of discussion, court reconvened and Walker announced the waivers of the death penalty and jury trial. At that time, he dismissed the jury that had been impaneled for more than 2 years while higher courts debated the DNA evidence issue. Walker will decide LaRue's guilt or innocence and if guilty, determine his sentence. The trial will resume Monday. Walker thanked jurors for their patience with the long interruption. I know you're about ready to hang me out to dry, Walker joked to the jury Wednesday, But I'm going to release you. Walker told them their long wait had not been in vain. Although they had not finished hearing the case, they had saved taxpayers some money because the state had not had to go through the long process of choosing another jury in a death penalty case. In a telephone interview later, Walker estimated the cost to the county in excess of $50,000, including the cost of delaying his normal criminal docket during the time of jury selection. When he made the decision in 2003, he thought the appeals courts would expedite the DNA question since the jury was on hold. I thought it was going to take a couple of months and it turned into a 2-year fiasco, he said. It was beyond me. But, Walker said, if he had it to do over again, he'd make the same decision. One juror, Kraig DeVillier, contacted at home, said he was disappointed to be dismissed after 3 days, because the trial was interesting. But in another way it was a relief, because the prospect of handing down the death penalty wasn't very appealing. The 40-year-old Nederland refinery employee said he'd never expected to have to be on call for such a long time when he answered his
[Deathpenalty]death penalty news----DEL., ARK., MD.
April 1 DELAWARE---new execution date (not serious) Date set for Capano's executionAppeals make it unlikely he'll die that day A Superior Court judge Thursday set June 7 as the date convicted killer Thomas J. Capano will be executed for the 1996 murder of Anne Marie Fahey. The previous execution date was stayed because of Capano's appeal, and it is unlikely the former prosecutor will be executed on the new date. He has 30 days to file an appeal with the Delaware Supreme Court, and that's what's going to happen, said Capano's attorney, Joseph M. Bernstein. Just about any day he set within reason is academic. Earlier this month, Sussex County Resident Judge T. Henley Graves denied Capano's motions for post-conviction relief, rejecting arguments that Capano had ineffective legal counsel at trial and that his death sentence should be set aside because of a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling. Capano had argued that the Supreme Court's ruling in Ring v. Arizona in 2002 required juries to unanimously recommend the death sentence. The jury in Capano's case did not. It is the sentence of this court that you shall be kept in the custody of the Department of Correction until ... Tuesday, June 7, 2005, and on that day, between the hours of 12 a.m. and 3 a.m., you shall be ... injected intravenously with a substance or substances in a lethal quantity sufficient to cause death until you are dead, Graves said Thursday. As Graves passed the sentence, Bernstein stood next to Capano, who has gained weight in prison. Capano's feet were shackled and he wore an orange jumpsuit and had a white beard. For the most part, he only whispered to Bernstein. But when Graves denied Capano's request to hear any future sentencings over Videophone, Capano blurted: We did before. Graves explained that because of the magnitude of the death penalty, he felt it was important that he be present. If this occurs again, I will expect sentencing to take place in open court, with the defendant present and counsel present, Graves said. Capano, who suffers from the stomach disorder colitis, has been requesting not to be present at his sentencings. He has some fairly well-documented health problems, Bernstein said. When you come up here ... they get you up at 4 in the morning and you don't eat. For somebody with health problems that's difficult. Capano was convicted of the 1996 murder of Fahey, 30, who was the scheduling secretary for then-Gov. Tom Carper, now a U.S. senator. (source: The News Journal) ARKANSAS: Attorneys Still Work For Killer Federal public defenders continue to pursue appeals on behalf of Rickey Dale Newman, even after the death-row inmate fired the attorneys in open court. The public defenders said they would appeal two rulings made by Crawford County Circuit Judge Gary Cottrell in court documents filed Tuesday. Cottrell, at Newmans request, dismissed the public defenders motions for additional DNA testing and for a hearing to determine whether Newman had effective counsel at trial. Newman got permission from Cottrell to fire the attorneys on Feb. 3. He said the lawyers were acting against his wishes to be executed for the February 2001 slaying of Marie Cholette. Newman has asked the state Supreme Court to dissolve a temporary stay of execution in place since September. The newest court filings state the public defenders office is acting on Newmans behalf in appealing Cottrells decision to the state Supreme Court. Also pending in Cottrells court is a motion for the judge to reconsider his dismissal of the claims last month. The public defenders office claims Newman is motivated by an incompetent, illness-driven desire to die. Attorneys seek to determine whether he is mentally fit for execution. They also asked to intervene in the case on behalf of Newmans aunt, Betty Moore. However, Moore said in a letter to Crawford County Public Defender Bob Marquette she would not continue her effort to stop her nephews execution. She stated in the letter: I thought I was trying to help him, but he don't want or need my help anymore. Marquette was present at Newman's June 2002 trial to advise Newman, who acted as his own attorney. (source: Fort Smith Times Record) MARYLAND: State's top court grants inmate stay of executionEvans was scheduled to die by lethal injection this month; Attorneys point to study citing racial, geographic disparities Md.'s application of death penalty The state's highest court has granted a stay to a death row inmate who had been scheduled to be put to death by lethal injection sometime during the week of April 18. Vernon Evans Jr. had asked the Court of Appeals for more time to argue that his sentence should be overturned based on a study citing racial and geographical disparities in Maryland's application of the death penalty. The court scheduled oral arguments on the matter for June 7. Evans was sentenced to death for the April 1983 killing of David Scott
[Deathpenalty]death penalty news----ALA., MICH., N.C.
April 2 ALABAMA: Death penalty debateMore in state join execution opposition Right or wrong? Just or cruel? Biblical? Death penalty opponents and supporters are finding much in recent weeks to spar about. For instance: Gov. Bob Riley met this week with three Alabamians whose agenda included a moratorium on the death penalty. One of them, Esther Brown of Lanett, said afterward that she does not foresee any change in the state's extensive use of the penalty. In Florida, the Citrus County sheriff called for the death penalty for a man who confessed to raping and killing 9-year-old Jessica Marie Lunsford. In Atlanta, Brian Nichols could face the death penalty for allegedly murdering 4 people. An inmate on Alabama's death row, Mario Centobie, is scheduled for execution April 28. Prayer vigils are set at the prison in Atmore and in Birmingham, Montgomery and Mobile. A brief prayer will be at John Carroll Catholic High School in Birmingham. On March 1 the United States Supreme Court abolished the death penalty for convicted killers who committed their crimes before age 18. During Holy Week, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops announced a new campaign against the death penalty, stepping up lobbying and educational work. Christ died as a criminal, brutally executed, said Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, archbishop of Washington. Such developments show anew how people in the United States aren't of one mind on the death penalty. That is true in Alabama, where more people are on death row per capita than in any other state. Opposition from religious groups in Alabama is growing, said the Rev. Jack Zylman of Birmingham, state death penalty coordinator for Amnesty International. Zylman, a retired Unitarian minister, doesn't understand why any Christian would support the death penalty. He said the faith is about finding and rescuing the lost, not killing them. Call for moratorium Meanwhile, about 60 organizations, many of them religious, are asking for a moratorium on the penalty in Alabama, said Brown. She is executive secretary-treasurer of Project Hope to Abolish the Death Penalty, an organization founded and mostly run by death row inmates. The North Alabama Conference of the United Methodist Church, the Episcopal Diocese of Alabama and Pax Christi of Huntsville joined the call for a moratorium until the issue is investigated for disparities. Congregations, ministerial groups and others have also recently adopted the moratorium resolution. But in a state dominated by Baptists, there is a noticeable absence of them on the list. Brown said that the North Courtland City Council is among county commissions and city councils - almost all with majority black membership - who signed on. I am surprised how in love Alabama is with the death penalty, because it is racist and against the poor, said Brown. A state like Alabama with its terrible, terrible history should be bending over backwards to see that there is justice for all. 46 % of Alabama's death row inmates are black although the black population in the state is only 26 p%, Brown said. She described many who oppose her as Old Testamentarians. What happens is that people take one part of the Bible that fits their hatred and go with that, Brown said. No longer eye for eye? Alabamians on both sides quote the Bible and church teachings. A Decatur attorney who is a United Methodist believes the death penalty is contrary to Christian principles. Brian White quoted Jesus' words in Matthew: You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.' But I say to you, Do not resist one who is evil. But if any one strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. No reasoned interpretation of that passage could set up vengeance as a proper motive of a follower of Christ, he said. White said that Christ's message of love supersedes Old Testament codes that death penalty supporters cite. Carrying out a death penalty ends a life that could be redeemed and reconciled to God, he added. Not a fair system Further, the death penalty is capriciously handed out, he believes. Mostly minorities and the poor populate death row. Sometimes, judges are not fair, prosecutors are not honest and defense lawyers are not competent, he said. White said that people once on death row who were verifiable, factually innocent have been acquitted. Alabama can put away murderers with its laws about life sentence without possibility of parole; in this state it means they will never get out, he said. We can protect the law-abiding people from dangerous people without killing them and thereby debasing our society by making the state a killer, he said. The United Methodist Church officially opposes the death penalty. In 1980 its General Conference also called for its abolishment. Likewise, the General Assembly of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) adopted a resolution opposing the penalty in 1985. Holy Scriptures clearly mandate that
[Deathpenalty]death penalty news----worldwide
April 2 NORTH KOREA: Executions designed to deter defectors In a brutal new crackdown on defections and smuggling to China, the North Korean regime has conducted public executions of at least 3 people and possibly dozens more, according to human rights advocates here who have examined a recently obtained videotape. The grainy footage is believed to show firing squads executing alleged human traffickers in front of large crowds in Hoeryong, a North Korean border town that has been a major transit point for tens of thousands of people escaping their impoverished homeland. Many brokers work in Hoeryong helping defectors cross the Tumen River into China and arranging illegal marriages for North Korean women with Chinese men. Broadcast last week by the Japanese television network NTV, the footage marks the 1st time that purported evidence of public executions has been smuggled out of North Korea. The video apparently was shot with a hidden camera and brought out by defectors. Human rights investigators in Seoul said they believed the footage is genuine. Public executions would mark a change in approach by North Korean authorities, who in recent years have tried to avoid giving fresh ammunition to human rights advocates. For the last 2 or 3 years, the North Korean regime has been very conscious about criticism they've received from the international community, and any executions they conducted were done quietly indoors, said Han Ki-hong, president of the Seoul-based Network for North Korean Democracy and Human Rights. I would guess by holding a public execution like this close to the border, they wanted to get some publicity to send a message to residents throughout the region. Han's group believes there may have been as many as 70 people executed around the border area in recent months, but there is no documentary evidence to back up sketchy reports. In the video aired this week, one scene shows hundreds of people, many on bicycles, gathered around on a grassy riverbank near Hoeryong's main market. From a sound truck, officials order the crowd to stand back. Men in the crowd can be heard complaining in North Korean accents that somebody is blocking their view. In the distance, there are blurry figures that seem to be two men being tied to wooden posts. Then, the sound of three bursts of gunfire. Children then rush forward, apparently to see the bodies being loaded into the back of a military truck. 9 prisoners, who received lesser sentences, can be seen being herded away with their hands tied behind their backs. Another execution was apparently held the following day in the outskirts of Hoeryong in front of a train station decorated with a large portrait of North Korea's founder Kim Il Sung. Before the gunshots are heard on the videotape, a judge reads the charges against the defendant, who was accused of helping defectors escape. These criminal acts ... are most unpardonable anti-revolutionary acts of betrayal, the judge says, according to a partial transcript released by human-rights advocates. Today's political situation demands that we be on the alert ... to prevent imperialist ideological and cultural infiltration. (source; Los Angeles Times) PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY: The Palestinian Authority's Plans to Reinstate Executions Since the Palestinian Authority was established, dozens of citizens have been found guilty of treason by its civil, military, and state security courts. The offenses have included passing information to foreign countries, murder and rape. Many of the guilty Palestinian civilians have been sentenced to death by firing squad. [1] However, to date only a few of these death sentences have actually been carried out. According to the Basic Palestinian Law, which serves as the interim Palestinian constitution, the death sentence will not be carried out by any court except after being approved by the president of the Palestinian National Authority. [2] During his rule, previous PA Chairman Yasser Arafat approved a small number of executions; now, the cases of those condemned to death await the approval of PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen). [3] Approval of Executions in the Context of the PA's Reform Program Recently, a number of leading Palestinian officials announced the PA's intention to carry out pending death sentences. Northern Gaza Governor Sakhr Bsiso announced that Abu Mazen recently approved [the carrying out of] a number of death sentences. [4] As the Palestinian Justice Minister Farid Al-Jallad explained, The PA will carry out the death penalty with regard to a number of Palestinians accused of collaboration and passing information to Israel. [5] Military Justice System Director Saeb Al-Qidwa even announced that the executions will be carried out by the security apparatuses, under the supervision of the civil and military judicial apparatuses. [6] It should be noted that the Palestinian Minister of Justice Farid Al-Jallad and the Mufti of
[Deathpenalty]FW: Terri Schiavo-- Read the FAQ
Francis A. Boyle Law Building 504 E. Pennsylvania Ave. Champaign, IL 61820 USA 217-333-7954 (voice) 217-244-1478 (fax) fbo...@law.uiuc.edu (personal comments only) -Original Message- From: Boyle, Francis Sent: Saturday, April 02, 2005 11:26 AM To: Boyle, Francis; 'Florida_Support'; 'Death Penalty (Death Penalty)'; 'nppr...@compar.com'; 'thenobelpeaceprizetor...@yahoogroups.com'; deathpenalty...@yahoogroups.com Cc: 'Abraham J. Bonowitz'; 'Karl Keys Esq.'; 'Teresa Norris'; 'Sissel Egeland' Subject: RE: Terri Schiavo-- Read the FAQ Importance: High Despite repeated requests to Abe to be removed from his bogus little list because of his disgraceful act of censorship of my criticisms of Florida's judicial torture/murder/execution of Terri Schiavo, he has refused to do so. Consequently, I will putting Abolish on my Filter list. Adieu. Francis A. Boyle Professor of Law Board of Directors, Amnesty International USA (1988-92) Francis A. Boyle Law Building 504 E. Pennsylvania Ave. Champaign, IL 61820 USA 217-333-7954 (voice) 217-244-1478 (fax) fbo...@law.uiuc.edu (personal comments only) -Original Message- From: Boyle, Francis Sent: Saturday, April 02, 2005 9:59 AM To: Florida_Support; Death Penalty (Death Penalty); nppr...@compar.com; 'thenobelpeaceprizetor...@yahoogroups.com' Cc: 'Abraham J. Bonowitz'; Karl Keys Esq.; Teresa Norris; Sissel Egeland Subject: RIP:Terri Schiavo-- Read the FAQ Importance: High Abe censored me off the list because he did not like my comments about the judicial execution by Judge Greer of Terri Schiavo in violation of the Convention against Torture, the US Anti-Torture Statute, The Torture Victim Protection Act, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.And this despite the fact that he had posted on Schiavo himself. As a matter of principle, and standing in solidarity with Terri Schiavo and her family , I ask to be removed from this Abolish list for good. I want nothing more to do with Abe's bogus little list. I am deleting Abolish from my PAB. In the future, I will post on Florida Support and other DP lists. Francis A. Boyle Professor of Law Board of Directors, Amnesty International USA (1988-92) Francis A. Boyle Law Building 504 E. Pennsylvania Ave. Champaign, IL 61820 USA 217-333-7954 (voice) 217-244-1478 (fax) fbo...@law.uiuc.edu (personal comments only) -Original Message- From: Abolish - The Mailing List For People Working to Abolish the Death Penalty [mailto:abol...@maelstrom.stjohns.edu] On Behalf Of Abraham J. Bonowitz Sent: Saturday, April 02, 2005 9:49 AM To: abol...@maelstrom.stjohns.edu Subject: Read the FAQ Greetings All, Francis' membership on this list has now been set to restricted status and his posts will not come through to this list without first being approved by one of the list owners. Again, I offer a reminder to read the FAQ and stay within the posting guidelines. The link to the FAQ is at the bottom of every message posted to this list. --abe Abolish List Co-Owner, along with Karl Teresa ** THE ABOLISH LIST This list serves solely as a forum for the exchange of ideas and information by people who support alternatives to the death penalty and the immediate abolition of Capital Punishment. Abolist List FAQ: http://capitaldefenseweekly.com/abolishfaq.htm Archives: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/abolish.html ** From fbo...@law.uiuc.edu Sat Apr 2 14:34:20 2005 From: fbo...@law.uiuc.edu (Boyle, Francis) Date: Tue Aug 16 12:15:44 2005 Subject: [Deathpenalty]RIP:John Paul II Terri Schiavo-- Read the FAQ Message-ID: 3c9010c6652ab645bc025f2372a86bb219ddf...@mail.law.uiuc.edu Just before he died the Pope authorized a spokesperson to state in his name that Terri Schiavo was murdered and that all the judges and politicians involved bore responsibility. fab. Francis A. Boyle Law Building 504 E. Pennsylvania Ave. Champaign, IL 61820 USA 217-333-7954 (voice) 217-244-1478 (fax) fbo...@law.uiuc.edu (personal comments only) -Original Message- From: Boyle, Francis Sent: Saturday, April 02, 2005 9:59 AM To: Florida_Support; Death Penalty (Death Penalty); nppr...@compar.com; 'thenobelpeaceprizetor...@yahoogroups.com' Cc: 'Abraham J. Bonowitz'; Karl Keys Esq.; Teresa Norris; Sissel Egeland Subject: RIP:Terri Schiavo-- Read the FAQ Importance: High Abe censored me off the list because he did not like my comments about the judicial execution by Judge Greer of Terri Schiavo in violation of the Convention against Torture, the US Anti-Torture Statute, The Torture Victim Protection Act, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.And this despite the fact that he had posted on Schiavo himself. As a matter of principle, and standing in
[Deathpenalty]death penalty news----TEXAS, MISS., USA, N.Y.
April 3 TEXAS: New Trial Centers on Questions of Death Penalty So Far Ricky Joseph Langley wanted a new trial after being convicted of murder, and he got it. But now his lawyers are arguing about just how new they want the trial to be. The lawyers for Langley are opposing the prosecutor's intention to seek the death penalty for their client. They say the last jury to hear Langley's case convicted him of 2nd-degree murder -- effectively rejecting the death penalty. And they say it would be unfair to seek the death penalty this time around. Prosecutors say Langley's last trial shouldn't have a bearing on whether they pursue a 1st-degree murder charge this time around. Langley has already been convicted twice -- and both convictions have been overturned. He's accused of strangling a 6-year-old boy from the town of Iowa. (source: KBTV News) MISSISSIPPI: Federal appeals court denies appeal by Miss. death row inmate In Jackson, a federal appeals court has upheld a ruling denying death row inmate John B. Nixon Sr.'s claims that his attorney didn't do a good job and that his Rankin County jury shouldn't have been told about a previous rape conviction. Nixon appealed to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans after a federal judge in Jackson - in decisions between 1998 and 2002 - denied Nixon's claims. The 5th Circuit this past week ruled that Nixon's claim of ineffective counsel involved only disagreement over courtroom strategy. And the appeals court said the evidence against Nixon was so overwhelming that the introduction of the rape conviction was a minor issue for consideration by the jury. Nixon, a former Utica auto repairman, was convicted of capital murder in the Jan. 2, 1985, murder-for-hire of Virginia Tucker, 45, in her Brandon home. Tucker's ex-husband, Elester Joseph Ponthieux of Raymond, is serving a life sentence for hiring Nixon to kill her. Virginia Tucker's husband, Thomas, was wounded and identified Nixon as the attacker. 2 of Nixon's sons and a friend were also convicted in the killing. Among the ineffective counsel issues raised by Nixon were that his attorney presented an unprofessional closing argument during sentencing. Appeals Judge Edith H. Jones, writing for the 5th Circuit, said Nixon's attorneys made the decision to plead for his life rather than rehash the evidence that convicted him at trial. As a strategic decision, this was not unreasonable, Jones wrote. Jones said Nixon's sons were willing to testify against him and other family members wouldn't testify for him. Contrary to Nixon's claim that this argument all but invited a death sentence, defense counsel was merely acknowledging the jury's verdict and asking for mercy, Jones wrote. According to court documents, Nixon had pleaded guilty to rape in 1958 in Texas. At Nixon's trial, prosecutors were allowed to use the rape conviction to support their seeking the death penalty. Nixon argued the information on the rape conviction unfairly turned the jury against him. Nixon said he probably would have gotten the same life sentence as Ponthieux except for the rape conviction. The 5th Circuit said the two cases were different. Jones said the evidence showed Nixon agreed to kill the Tuckers for money, brought his two sons along with him, rejected the Tuckers' attempts to pay him to leave them alone and wounded Thomas Tucker when he tried to flee. Jones said the jury heard only the barest details of the rape conviction. Nixon was the paid killer and the central character in the grisly events, Jones wrote. Nixon, moreover, was engaging in heartless, calculated murder for hire and bringing his children into the criminal enterprise as well; these facts qualitatively distinguish Nixon's guilt from that of Ponthieux. (source: Associated Press) USA: Deadly errors Television host Bill Kurtis, once a strong defender of the death penalty, is now an outspoken critic of a judicial system that sentences people to die. The Death Penalty on Trial tells captivating stories about two men convicted of brutal murders. Both were sentenced to die. Neither man killed anyone. Yet the flaws and weaknesses in our judicial system almost sent both innocent men to their deaths. Kurtis, who produces Cold Case Files and anchors American Justice for AE Television, identifies several reasons why our courts often convict the wrong people: overzealous and dishonest prosecutors, corrupt police officers, unreliable witnesses, incompetent defense lawyers and jailhouse informants looking to get a break for themselves. Eyewitnesses have been shown to be notoriously unreliable. Jailhouse informants, while sometimes shockingly impressive, simply lie. There are powerful moral and ethical arguments against the death penalty. Kurtis simply looks at the facts. And he comes to a simple conclusion. The potential for mistakes and errors in our justice system is too great to justify using the death penalty as an ultimate
[Deathpenalty]death penalty news----worldwide
April 4 AUSTRALIA: PM would oppose Corby's execution The Federal Government will go into overdrive to stop accused Gold Coast drug smuggler Schapelle Corby being executed should an Indonesian court find her guilty and impose the death penalty. Justice Minister Chris Ellison yesterday said everything possible would be done to keep Corby alive, including personal representations by Prime Minister John Howard. I am not going to pre-empt any outcomes, but I can tell you what the Government's policy is . . . relating to the death penalty and that is we go into overdrive in making representations to avoid that being carried out, he told the Ten Network. Recently the Prime Minister John Howard made personal representations to Singapore in relation to the death sentence of an Australian national in that country. Corby, 27, is on trial for allegedly importing 4.1kg of marijuana into Indonesia in an unlocked bodyboard bag last October. She faces the death penalty or life in jail if found guilty. Mr Ellison said negotiations with Indonesia were under way to establish a transfer of prisoner agreement, which would allow Corby - if convicted - to serve her sentence in Australia. I must say that the Indonesian authorities have been very co-operative in relation to this matter, he said. Mr Ellison also rejected the suggestion a guilty verdict would harm relations between the two countries. In Schapelle Corby's case, she has been represented, she has had the opportunity to bring in evidence (and) the court adjourned the hearing to enable fresh evidence to be brought before it, he said. I think the Indonesian authorities have co-operated with our requests and I don't think a finding of guilt will affect our relationship with Indonesia. The comments came as Indonesian President Dr Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and his wife arrived in Australia last night for a four-day visit to Canberra and Sydney. Mr Ellison said the Australian Federal Police, in co-operation with the Queensland Police Service, were continuing to investigate allegations aired at Corby's Bali trial last week. John Ford, a Victorian prisoner, told the court Corby was the victim of a domestic drug trafficking run. He claimed the marijuana found in Corby's body board bag was owned by Melbourne man Ronnie Vigenser. But in a paid interview with the Nine Network, Mr Vigenser denied it was his marijuana. Mr Ellison said the public airing of aspects of the case outside court was unhelpful. I think it is best left to the Australian Federal Police to carry out this investigation rather than some public parade of what people say and who says what, he said. Really, it is a matter for the Australian Federal Police, they are the authority to deal with this. Prosecutors will this week submit what they believe is an appropriate sentence for Corby. (source: The Courier-Mail)
[Deathpenalty]Fw: Why You Should Boo Illinois
Francis A. Boyle Law Building 504 E. Pennsylvania Ave. Champaign, Ill. 61820 USA 217-333-7954 (voice) 217-244-1478 (fax) (personal comments only) - Original Message - From: Jeff Blankfort To: undisclosed-recipients Sent: Sunday, April 03, 2005 1:46 AM Subject: Why You Should Boo Illinois The University of Illinois which will be playing North Carolina on Monday night for the National Collegiate basketball championship is one of many US sports team, college as well as professional, that has adopted the name, and created crude caricatures as mascots, of Indian nations which were decimated or totally eliminated in order to make the US what it is today, the greatest threat ever to the future of our entire species. In this essay Prof. Francis Boyle puts this omnipresent example of US racism in its proper perspective. The names of sports teams have been changed, the most notable being when Stanford University responded to criticism and changed the team name from Indians to Cardinal (sic). Jeff http://www.counterpunch.org/boyle03302005.html March 30, 2005 The Racist Mascot from Urbana-Champaign Why You Should Boo Illinois By FRANCIS BOYLE The self-styled Fighting Illini of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign are on their way to the NCAA Final Four in St. Louis with their racist and genocidal sports teams mascot, Chief Illiniwak, still in tow. In his Year 501: The Conquest Continues (1993) Noam Chomsky suggests an apt metaphor for such American Indian sports mascots that I will elaborate upon here in order to conform to our local and most peculiar rites on this campus: Suppose the Nazis had won the Second World War. Sixty years later, a prestigious German state university has a mascot for all of its sports teams and sports fans by the name of The Rabbi. Basically what happens is that a student from the White Aryan Youth League dresses up in an authentic costume for an Hasidic Rabbi, complete with the curl-locks and beard. The sports teams collectively call themselves The Fighting Jews, and the school's band is called The Marching Jews. All the sports fans in town wear jackets and t-shirts with pictures of The Rabbi prominently displayed on them. And most cars have Rabbi stickers planted all over them. A year ago the University's Board of Trustees ran out of town on a rail a courageous and principled Chancellor who had the temerity to publicly suggest that the time had now come to retire the Rabbi. So of course there is a heated campaign on among the students and alumni to Save the Rabbi! This German state university plays its soccer matches over at the Nuremberg Stadium in front of an audience of about 75,000 White Aryans , almost all of whom are wearing pro- Rabbi images and clothes. At half-time the Marching Jews take to the stadium floor and begin playing what they purport to be Jewish sounding music along the lines of Fiddler-on-the-Roof. Then all 75,000 White Aryans rise as one and shout in unison: Rabbi, Rabbi, Rabbi, Rabbi gesticulating wildly and working themselves up into a feeding frenzy. One lone faculty member sits there in protest shouting Racist Rabbi! and everyone in the vicinity proceeds to throw garbage at him. Finally, the moment these ardent White Aryans have all waited for has arrived. The Rabbi runs out onto the arena floor from among the Marching Jews,proceeds to the center of the Nuremberg Stadium, and dances the Hava Nagila while the Marching Jews play on and march into an intricately choreographed maneuver that they all brag about and take special pride in that culminates with the band being organized into a swastika. So the Rabbi continues to dance the Hava Nagila while the Marching Jews form themselves into a swastika..By now all 75,000 White Aryans are hysterical, shouting, screaming and yelling: Rabbi, Rabbi, Rabbi. This semi-religious spectacle that the Nazis are well known for staging, especially at the Nuremberg stadium, goes on for a good ten minutes. It all concludes with everyone joining hands to sign Deutschland Uber Alles, with the Rabbi leading all 75,000 White Aryans in the song. Then the Rabbi proceeds to dance the Hava Nagila out of the stadium followed by the Marching Jews. Everyone goes wild, clapping and cheering. This Rabbi ceremony brings tears to the eyes of many drunken alumni and students who had started several hours beforehand getting inebriated on schnapps and good German beer at pre-game tailgate parties.. When it is all over, a visiting law professor from another country asks his host at the soccer match what this spectacle was all about.Without missing a beat the former Dean of the Law School turns to his guest and says:We are honoring the Jews. Whom the Nazis had just exterminated 60 years ago, so of course the memory of the Jews needs to be honored by this spectacle at every home soccer match and basketball game. The Illiniwek Indians were ethnically cleansed out of
[Deathpenalty]death penalty news----TEXAS, USA, CONN., NEV., FLA.
April 4 TEXAS: Inmates selling art in spite of state's 'murderabilia' law Vague part of the statute may mean criminals are using notoriety for profit The sketch traces the shapely backside of a nude female as she glances over one shoulder. It appeared on a Web site peddling art from the hand of Elmer Wayne Henley, who is serving a life sentence for his involvement in a sex-torture ring that killed 26 boys in the Houston area. I am wondering how one is able to paint such a graphic piece and then ship it from a maximum-security state prison, wrote Andy Kahan, the Houston mayor's crime-victim advocate, in a recent letter to prison authorities. He included a copy of a Web page operated by Henley's outside dealer along with the names of 8 Texas death row inmates who also have hawked their art from behind bars. But Greg Gladden, the Texas president of the American Civil Liberties Union, believes inmates should have a constitutional right to express their creativity without government interference. The issue remains far from settled after Kahan first raised concerns over death row inmate James Allridge III selling his art to actress Susan Sarandon and other celebrities. Allridge was executed Aug. 26. The sale of inmate art has sparked a recent attorney general's opinion, angered a state lawmaker chairing the urban affairs committee and forced a review by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. A state criminal law, adopted in 2001, prohibits inmates from profiteering from murderabilia, as memorabilia sold by inmates is commonly called. The law calls for the confiscation of any profits that are inflated because of a criminal's notoriety. Items that have been posted for sale on the Internet have included art and autographed letters, hair strands and foot scrapings. Challenges anticipated For months, Kahan has been waiting to see whether anyone will enforce the law. One of the law's key problems is that it does not specifically name the district attorney, attorney general or a Texas Department of Corrections attorney as the enforcer. Also, because the law has been adopted by only one other state, California, Kahan anticipates its constitutionality will be challenged. Kahan has traveled across the country lecturing about the law and garnered national publicity in numerous venues, including People magazine and ABC's 20/20. Last month, after repeated inquiries from Kahan, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice amended its prison rules on inmates operating unauthorized businesses from their cells to mirror the law. However, to date, no action has been taken against any inmates who have posted art or other items for sale on the Internet, said prison spokesman Mike Viesca. Kahan thinks government prosecutors are wary because of fuzzy issues such as how to determine whether the art's value has been inflated. Hoped for test case Kahan had hoped Allridge would be the first test case before he was executed 6 months ago for a robbery-murder spree in Fort Worth in 1985. Allridge used colored pencils to draw photographlike pictures of animals and flowers. His greeting cards sold for as much as $10 a box, and a large print went for $465. He had said his art allowed him to give back something to society: I don't ask for forgiveness or recognition from anyone for what I do. I do it simply because it's the right thing. Celebrities such as Sarandon, who won an Academy Award in 1996 for her portrayal of a spiritual adviser to a death row inmate in Dead Man Walking, had advocated commuting Allridge's sentence to life. Sarandon, who became Allridge's pen pal, pointed to his art as a sign that he was rehabilitated. State Rep. Robert Talton, who wrote the murderabilia law, asked Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott whether Allridge's art sales were in violation of the law. Abbott's opinion, issued Jan. 25, stated that a court would likely conclude that Allridge had sold art and had a measure of notoriety. But the state would have to prove whether the value of the artwork was increased by Allridge's notoriety, which is a question for a court and not the attorney general, Abbott wrote. His opinion essentially left the issue unresolved. Under the murderabilia law, any increase in value can be confiscated and set aside for crime victims. The value is zero except for the notoriety the criminal gets from his crime and the Hollywood folks, said Talton, R-Pasadena. It's like my art. It's only worth something to me. Kahan said the Alabama Web site selling Henley's art recently has posted a disclaimer. It states Henley is not receiving any profit from the site. The owner of the site could not be reached for comment, but Kahan scoffs at the idea that Henley receives no financial compensation. He notes the new prison rule bars a prisoner from selling items not only to benefit himself but also a 3rd party on his behalf. Henley artwork in shows Henley paints with acrylics. Besides the woman shown on the Web
[Deathpenalty]death penalty news---worldwide
April 4 PHILIPPINES: Death sentence on killers of TV cameraman upheld The Court of Appeals on Monday upheld a decision issued by the Quezon City Regional Trial Court, which sentenced to death 8 men, including a fireman, who killed a PTV-4 cameraman 6 years ago. Sentenced to death after they were found guilty of armed robbery and homicide were FO1 Felipe de la Cruz, Odie Dona, Alfredo Baraccas, Eduardo Palakpak, Bernardo Ranara, Jomari de los Reyes, Dominador Recepcion and Robert Alfonso. Court records indicate that the 8 commandeered a passenger jeepney in Monumento, Caloocan, City on July 28, 1999. They then proceeded to Commonwealth Avenue, Quezon City, where they robbed a gasoline station. They also robbed a convenience store along Tandang Sora Street near Mindanao Avenue where they killed PTV-4 cameraman Elmer Duque and security guard Nestor Mayatma. (source: ABS-CBN News)
[Deathpenalty]death penalty news----FLA., N.Y., USA, IOWA
April 4 FLORIDAimpending execution Woman's killer scheduled for execution Tuesday; wants no appeals Glen Ocha is scheduled to be executed by injection Tuesday at Florida State Prison near Starke, ending his quest to die after being arrested for the 1999 strangulation of a woman who gave him a ride home from a bar. His latest defense attorney, Greg L. Hill, and Carolyn Snurkowski, a capital appeals attorney for Attorney General Charlie Crist, said Monday there are no appeals pending to save the life of the 47-year-old man. He pleaded guilty to the Oct. 5, 1999, killing of Carol Skjerva, 28, who was working at a convenience store. Ocha, who changed his name to Raven Raven while in prison, is scheduled to die at 6 p.m. Tuesday. An anonymous executioner, who is paid $150 for his services, will inject a lethal cocktail of chemicals to stop his heart and his breathing. Court documents show Ocha met Skjerva at a bar in Kissimmee, where he was employed engraving beer mugs. He was drunk and high on Ecstasy when she drove him home to Buenaventura Lakes and they had intercourse. When Skjerva told Ocha she was going to tell her boyfriend and made fun of his anatomy, he became enraged. He made her sit in a chair and gathered some rope from his garage before strangling her 3 times until his arms began tiring. Then he hanged Skjerva from a kitchen door and drank a beer while she died. After hiding her body inside a home entertainment system in his garage, Ocha took Skjerva's car and drove to Daytona Beach. When he was arrested for disorderly intoxication, he confessed to killing the woman. Ocha pleaded guilty and would not let a public defender present evidence to try and avoid execution. After the Supreme Court affirmed his conviction in 2002, Ocha filed a motion with the trial court to drop his appeals and dismiss his attorneys. In May, the Florida Supreme Court ordered the trial court to hold a hearing on his competency. When it ruled June 11 that Ocha was competent, he discharged his state lawyer, Mark Gruber. Gruber said he fought to get Ocha ruled incompetent. He had demonstrated the kind of behavior that was at time erratic, Gruber said. In a letter to Assistant Attorney General Stephen D. Ake, Ocha asked that his execution be carried out without delays. Sir I wish for my execution to come swift and unhampered. Hill was scheduled to meet with his client Monday, but said he did not expect to file any motions for Ocha. He seems more than coherent, Hill said. Court records show Ocha has exhibited suicidal behavior since 1978, when he asked police to shoot him. Once in jail, Ocha tied his jacket to the bars and attempted to hang himself. He has a long history of drug and alcohol abuse. After a 2-year stint in the Army, he was given a general discharge because he used drugs. Snurkowski said Ocha's case was recently reviewed by Osecola County Circuit Judge Margaret Waller, who ruled that Ocha, a 10th-grade drop out, could end all his appeals. Abe Bonowitz, director of Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, claims the execution of Ocha is another case of suicide by governor. Of the 16 inmates executed under death warrants signed by Gov. Jeb Bush, 7 have dropped appeals and did not fight their execution. This was a very heinous crime ... After a thorough and thoughtful appeals process, that was the end of it, said Bush spokesman Jacob DiPeitre after Bush signed the death warrant. Ocha will be the 60th person executed in Florida since the 1976 reinstatement of the death penalty and the first since May 26, when John Blackwelder who was so intent on being executed that he killed a fellow inmate and pleaded guilty. On the Net: Florida Department of Corrections (source: Associated Press) NEW YORK: Death Penalty Likely To Die 10 years after it was enacted, New York's death penalty law is essentially kaput - and Assembly leaders appear in no rush to revive it. A report on the statute, set to be released by the Assembly this week, will instead highlight problems with capital punishment and turn the discussion toward sentences of life without parole, sources told the Daily News. If you make a mistake with life without parole ... there is a live person you can talk to about the situation, said Assemblyman Joseph Lentol (D-Brooklyn), chairman of the panel that would have to approve any amendment to the law. Lentol, who voted for the death penalty in 1995, said his change of heart stems mainly from advances in DNA technology that have been used to prove death row inmates' innocence in some states. New York's highest court tossed out key parts of the state's death penalty law in June, sending it back to lawmakers for a fix. But instead of making the change, the Democrat-led Assembly held hearings, at which about 90% of people testifying said they favor an end to the death penalty, Lentol said. The death penalty statute passed with strong bipartisan support in 1995 after Gov.
[Deathpenalty]death penalty news-----worldwide
April 4 SAUDI ARABIAexecutions 6 Somalis beheaded in Saudi Arabia for armed robbery 6 Somalis were beheaded the Mecca region on Monday after being convicted of a spate of armed robberies against taxi drivers, the Saudi interior ministry said. The 6 were convicted of forming a gang which dragged taxi drivers to remote places, beat them up, threatened them with a knife and stole their money... as well as stealing a number of taxis, the ministry said in a statement carried by the official SPA news agency. It named the 6 as Abdullah bin Adam Abdullah, Abdul Fattah bin Ali Hassan, Hussein bin Harun Mahmud, Ali bin Sheikh Yussef, Abdul Nur bin Mohammad Wahili and Abdullah bin Hassan Abdi. The latest executions bring to 36 the number of beheadings announced by Saudi authorities so far this year, more than the number of executions for the whole of 2004. 35 people were beheaded in the kingdom in 2004, according to an AFP tally based on official statements. Executions are generally carried out in public in Saudi Arabia, which applies a strict form of Islamic law. The death penalty is meted out for murder, rape, apostasy, armed robbery and drug trafficking. (source: Agence France Presse) JORDAN: Jordan activists face death penaltyRiot police secure the area around the court during the trial Jordan's state security court has endorsed death sentences against 2 activists convicted of plotting attacks against Jewish and Western tourists during millennium celebrations. The military tribunal in Amman on Monday also upheld jail sentences against 7 other defendants at the third appeal since they were convicted in September 2000 of planning bombings using sulphuric and nitric acids against tourist sites in Jordan. Judicial sources said lawyers for alleged ringleader Khadir Abu Hushar and his fellow accused, who consistently charged that the verdict was unfair and that testimony was made under duress, are expected to appeal again. Abu Hushar and Usama Sammar face the death penalty while 2 others have had their death sentences commuted to life in prison while the rest face jail sentences of between seven-and-a-half and 10 years. The men were among a group of 28 defandants who went on trial in 2000, including 6 who were aquitted, and 12 fugitives. (source: Aljazeera)
[Deathpenalty] RIP:Terri Schiavo: [CUADPUpdate] Starvin' for Justice '05 - 12t h Annual FV General Announcement
yeah, just like Terri Schiavo--starved and thirsted to death. fab. Francis A. Boyle Law Building 504 E. Pennsylvania Ave. Champaign, IL 61820 USA 217-333-7954 (voice) 217-244-1478 (fax) fbo...@law.uiuc.edu (personal comments only) -Original Message- From: cuadpupdate-boun...@cuadp.org [mailto:cuadpupdate-boun...@cuadp.org] On Behalf Of Abraham J. Bonowitz Sent: Monday, April 04, 2005 4:21 PM To: cuadpupd...@cuadp.org Subject: [CUADPUpdate] Starvin' for Justice '05 - 12th Annual FV General Announcement Sent to ALL Abolitionists Please Forward Please excuse cross-posts ANNOUNCING INVITING YOU TO PARTICIPATE IN The A B O L I T I O N I S T A C T I O N C O M M I T T E E ' S STARVIN' FOR JUSTICE 2005 12th Annual Fast Vigil to Abolish the Death Penalty at the U.S. Supreme Court June 29 - July 2, 2005 Read the who, what, when, where, why and how of this important annual abolitionist event by visiting the completely REVAMPED FV WEB SITE at http://www.abolition.org. The annual Fast Vigil takes place on the sidewalk in front of the U.S. Supreme Court, considered by many to be the heart of the legalized killing machines in this country. In addition to the strong public witness, this is an excellent opportunity to meet other abolitionists and to recharge your batteries while engaging in public outreach and maintaining a physical presence at the Court. ***FASTING IS OPTIONAL*** BOTTOM LINE, this is a great experience and training ground for people who want to practice, or become very adept, at talking about the dp. CAN'T BE IN DC? BE IN SOLIDARITY! Prisoners, activists from other countries, and abolitionists who are unable to come to Washington, D.C. have fasted or held events in solidarity with the action at the Court. This tradition continues to grow as well - those who participate in solidarity are asked to communicate details of their actions and contact information to the Fast Vigil organizers. Please visit http://www.abolition.org for more information. BE A CO-SPONSOR! Organizational sponsors help by contributing financial, people or material resources to the effort to produce this event, and by spreading the word about this event to their members and supporters. Individual contributors may give at whatever level is comfortable. Individuals who support the FV at a level of $100 or more receive a commemorative Fast Vigil or AAC t-shirt! Details are at http://www.abolition.org Please JOIN the following organizations which have already signed on to support the 12th Annual Fast Vigil to Abolish the Death Penalty: * Alaskans Against the Death Penalty * Amnesty International USA Program to Abolish the Death Penalty * American Friends Service Committee * Citizens United for Alternatives to the Death Penalty * Community for Creative Nonviolence * Computer Partners * Directional Graphics - Call 619-531-1790 for signs and banners! * Death Penalty Focus * Dorothy Day Catholic Worker House * Equal Justice USA * Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty * Journey of Hope ...From Violence to Healing, Inc. * Marianist Social Justice Collaborative * Mirror Image, Inc * Murder Victim's Families for Human Rights * National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty * New Jerseyans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty * Ohioans to STOP Executions * Oregonians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty * People of Faith Against the Death Penalty * Unitarian Universalists for Alternatives to the Death Penalty * Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty * Church of Christ - Justice and Witness Ministries * United Methodist Church General Board of Church and Society SENT BY: Abe on behalf of the AAC The Abolitionist Action Committee is an ad-hoc group of individuals committed to highly visible and effective public education for alternatives to the death penalty through nonviolent direct action. AAC c/o CUADP PMB 297 177 U.S. Hwy #1 Tequesta, FL 33469 800-973-6548 a...@abolition.org http://www.abolition.org For financial legal purposes only, the AAC is a project of CUADP ___ To subscribe: mailto:cuadpupdate-subscr...@cuadp.org To unsubscribe: mailto:cuadpupdate-unsubscr...@cuadp.org List archives: http://www.cuadp.org/pipermail/cuadpupdate From rhalp...@mail.smu.edu Tue Apr 5 00:01:41 2005 From: rhalp...@mail.smu.edu (Rick Halperin) Date: Tue Aug 16 12:15:44 2005 Subject: [Deathpenalty]death penalty newsTENN., GA., ALA. Message-ID: pine.wnt.4.44.0504042301310.3856-100...@its08705.smu.edu April 4 TENNESSEE: Death Penalty Case Begins To Move Through Courts 32 year old Jerry William Jones is accused of killing 4 people and kidnapping 3 children back in January 2004. Jones was indicted on 22 criminal
[Deathpenalty]death penalty news-----worldwide
April 4 GLOBAL: Death penalty 'at record levels' Nearly 4,000 people were executed worldwide in 2004 - the most in nearly a decade, Amnesty International says. China carried out more executions than all other countries combined - at least 3,400 - the human rights group says. The global rise in executions was alarming, said Amnesty's UK director Kate Allen, who called the figures from China genuinely frightening. China says it will tighten conditions under which people can be executed, and the US has already done so. The US came 4th in Amnesty's table of executions, with 59 in 2004. Iran came 2nd, with at least 159, followed by Vietnam with at least 64. The 3,797 executions in 2004 were the 2nd-largest annual total in the last 25 years, the organisation said. And it noted that its numbers represented the minimum number of executions it could confirm. Many countries continue to execute people in secret, Ms Allen said. Fairness debate China's Premier Wen Jiabao said last month that Beijing would improve its justice system so the death penalty would be given carefully and fairly, the official Xinhua news agency reported. Sarah Green, a spokeswoman for Amnesty in London, welcomed the announcement, but said the group wanted action, not words. It is good to hear people talking about changing their systems. We look forward to seeing the results, she told the BBC News website. The organisation has two objections to the death penalty, she said - it violates fundamental rights and is applied unfairly. There is lots of evidence to show this is not a perfect punishment, she says. It was more likely to be applied to people who cannot afford lawyers, who cannot get anyone to stand as a witness for them, she added. Discrimination soon enters the equation, for women in particular. It's very concerning. US changes The United States - one of the very few democracies on Amnesty's list - last month banned the death penalty for crimes committed by minors. The number of death sentences is falling in the US, according to the New York Times. Many US executions are carried out by lethal injection A total of 144 death sentences were handed down in 2003, the lowest level since 1997, the newspaper reported. Ms Green welcomed the fall in death sentences, but said the US should go further and ban the death penalty. We believe it's wrong. The cardinal basic human rights laws say there is a right to life and a right not to be punished in a cruel way. She disputed surveys that show a majority of Americans support the death penalty. Slightly more Americans opposed the death penalty than supported it - if a life sentence without the possibility of parole was the alternative, she said. More than 100 people had left death row in the US when their convictions were overturned, she said. There is so much evidence that the death penalty is being applied unfairly, the very possibility of executing anybody who is innocent is reason not to have it, she said. And she cited a question former UK Prime Minister Ted Heath asked of death penalty supporters: The real test is, is that person willing to be the innocent one who is executed? (source: BBC News) * China leads death list as number of executions around the world soars Executions around the world are nearing record levels, and the Unites States is among the four countries which account for 97 per cent of the total, a report has found. At least 3,797 people were executed in 25 countries in 2004, according to a report released today by Amnesty International. The report says China easily operates the most stringent capital punishment regime, with an estimated 3,400 executions last year. In second place, Iran executed at least 159, Vietnam at least 64, and 59 prisoners were put to death in the US. The number of executions worldwide last year was the highest since 1996, when 4,272 were carried out. No official figures are available for China's execution rate, and Amnesty has changed the method it uses to calculate the number of executions there. According to Amnesty's report for 2003 China carried out at least 726 executions. The much higher figure of 3,400 executed last yearis an estimate based on internet reports of trials, although it is still described as the tip of the iceberg. Kate Allen, Amnesty International's UK director, said China's record was genuinely frightening. Amnesty quoted a delegate at the National People's Congress in March last year, who said that nearly 10,000 people were executed every year in China. Corruption is among the crimes which carries the death penalty. Ms Allen said: It is deeply disturbing that the vast majority of those executed in the world last year did not even have fair trials, and many were convicted on the basis of 'evidence' extracted under torture. The death penalty is cruel and unnecessary, does not deter crime, and runs the risk of killing the wrongly convicted. It is time to
[Deathpenalty]death penalty news --- worldwide
death penalty news April 5, 2005 GLOBAL: Death penalty figures: Your reaction Nearly 4,000 people were executed worldwide in 2004 - the highest number in nearly ten years, say Amnesty International. The human rights group found that China carried out more executions than all other countries combined - at least 3,400. Iran came second, with at least 159, followed by Vietnam. The US were fourth in the table with 59 executions in 2004. The 3,797 executions in 2004 are said to be the second-largest annual total in the last 25 years. Amnesty's UK director Kate Allen desribed the figures as alarming. What is your reaction to the figures released by Amnesty International? Send us your comments. -- The following comments reflect the balance of opinion we have received so far: I cannot understand why Americans can accept their nation continually appearing alongside, and often higher up the list, than the so-called axis-of-evil countries on human rights issues. So much for the land of the free. Iain Farquharson, UK --- The death penalty should be outlawed. Our government has proven time and time again that it is far too incompetent on relatively minor issues to be given such authority. Don Wildauer, Phoenixville, PA, USA --- I'm an American that thinks the death penalty should be reserved for very specific, patently obvious cases. Reasonable doubt isn't nearly enough. However, I'm amazed that the few responses so far have been targeted at the US. I'm not a math major but it looks like the newest member of the civilized world (economy) is about 58 times more out of control. Where's the outrage there? Scott C., CA - now Newbury --- These are horrendous figures, and are more appalling when one considers that not all executions are reported. Killing someone because they have killed is a futile waste of life. Gandhi said that if everyone took an eye for an eye then we would all end up blind. Countries which use the death penalty are morally bankrupt. Mark, London --- Already the US bashing commences, while people herald the coming of China as a superpower. Of course, don't let the fact that China executes fifty times as many people as the US stop you. At least in the US they had due process. If you don't want to be executed, simply refrain from murdering people while in my country. Victor, USA --- These numbers are hard to accept, however I am against the death penalty. Such violent criminals should be sent to hard labor camps instead and live out the rest of their lives in pain. George, US --- The death penalty solves nothing. It is not a deterrent to crime since no one ever thinks of the penalty when committing a crime. Larry Vance, Connecticut, USA --- Why do I know that although the US only carry out 1.4% of the world's executions they'll receive 99% of the criticism? This merely shows that China can do what it wants, when it wants no-one will even speak up against them, much less try and change things. Peter, Nottingham --- Answer to Peter, Nottingham: China receives less criticism as compared to the US, because China doesn't claim its model is the best and does not try to force it onto the rest of the world. Pavel, Bulgaria --- This is a ridiculously high number. Especially in civilized North America. If the death penalty is to remain, then its application should be when the verdict is that the individual is guilty beyond ALL doubt, not just beyond reasonable doubt. Too many innocent people have been executed by the state. A. Geue, Ottawa, Canada --- To say these figures are truly shocking is an understatement. I cannot understand how America, the land of the free, those who want to 'cultivate a culture of life' can possibly defend their position on the death penalty. Heledd, Cardiff, Wales --- The more people we have to kill, the weaker we are. George Waldman, Detroit, USA --- Not enough! More hardened serial law breakers should accept the same fate, instead of the tax payer funding them in hotel style prisons with top of the range amenities. Britain should follow suit! Jason, London (source: BBC website)
[Deathpenalty]death penalty news----worldwide
April 5 AUSTRALIA/INDONESIA: Death penalty bad news for Corby: AI Indonesia has recently resumed its use of the death penalty in a move that does not bode well for accused Australian drug trafficker Schapelle Corby, Amnesty International(AI) has warned. The human rights organisation's anti-death penalty network coordinator Tim Goodwin said while countries were gradually moving away from capital punishment, the world's largest Muslim nation had abruptly resumed executions last year. Since then 4 people have been put to death in relatively quick succession, he said. They had not executed somebody in a couple of years and before that there was a gap back to 1996 or something like that, Brisbane-based Mr Goodwin told AAP. The resumption is definitely a worrying sign. Corby is on trial for her life after customs officers found 4.1kg of marijuana in her boogie board bag at Bali's Denpasar airport last October. The 27-year-old Gold Coast beauty therapy student has repeatedly expressed her innocence but, if found guilty, she could face death by firing squad. Australian Justice Minister Chris Ellison has vowed to fight to spare Corby's life and to possibly repatriate her to Australia under existing transfer-of-prisoner agreements. Prime Minister John Howard has also become personally involved by indirectly raising the matter with visiting Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. I feel for her, I feel for her family, I feel for anybody - guilty or innocent - in a situation like that, obviously far more if they're innocent, he said. In the meantime, Corby faces an anxious wait for the court's verdict, expected within the next 4 to 5 weeks. Her whole case hinges on Victorian prisoner John Patrick Ford, who testified the drugs had been planted by an airline baggage handlers' drug syndicate. The presiding judge in the Corby case, Linton Sirait, told this week's Bulletin magazine he awaits evidence that conclusively proves her innocence. Even Corby's Indonesian lawyer Lely Sri Rahayu Lubis has said she doubts they have presented enough evidence to have her released. Meanwhile, Gold Coast businessman Ron Bakir, who is funding Corby's defence, said the waiting game had pushed the young woman almost to the point of collapse. She was vomiting all day yesterday, he told AAP. She's just stressed out big time - it's getting to her day by day. Mr Goodwin said being a Caucasian women might actually be a disadvantage for Corby, because the regimes that used the death penalty were often inconsistent with its application. In some countries it's applied with outright discrimination ... in a good many countries the law applies disproportionately against foreigners, he said. Mr Goodwin said it was also interesting to note of the 4 people recently executed in Indonesia, 2 were women. He said this was a surprising figure when one remembered women committed only a small percentage of major crimes. (source: AAP) PAPUA NEW GUINEA: PNG clergyman calls for death penalty for gun-related offences Papua New Guinea A prominent clergyman in Papua New Guinea has called for capital punishment for people convicted of gun-related offences. The head of the Gutnius Lutheran Church, Bishop David Piso, says the government has been given the power to enforce the law with capital punishment and should use that power as a deterrent. Bishop Piso says introducing the death penalty would also eradicate the tribal payback system. The bishop says the church and its members are extremely concerned about the excessive use of guns and their availability in the Enga Province, as well as other parts of Papua New Guinea. (source: ABC Radio Australia News) GLOBAL: News Release Issued by the International Secretariat of Amnesty International AI Index: ACT 50/011/20055 April 2005 Death Penalty: 3,797 executed in 2004 During 2004, more than 3,797 people were executed in 25 countries and at least 7,395 were sentenced to death in 64 countries, said Amnesty International today. Releasing its annual worldwide statistics on the use of capital punishment, Amnesty International called on the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, currently meeting in Geneva, to condemn the death penalty as a violation of fundamental human rights. The figures released today are sadly only the tip of the iceberg. The true picture is hard to uncover as many countries continue to execute people secretly -- contravening United Nations standards calling for disclosure of information on capital punishment, said Amnesty International. A few countries accounted for the majority of executions carried out during 2004. China executed at least 3,400 people, but sources inside the country have estimated the number to be near 10,000. Iran executed at least 159, and Viet Nam at least 64. There were 59 executions in the USA, down from 65 in 2003. Despite the worldwide trend towards abolition, these figures highlight the ongoing need for
[Deathpenalty]death penalty news----FLORIDA
April 5 FLORIDA: MEDIA ADVISORYMonday, April 4, 2005Contact: D. Michael McCarron, Executive Director(850) 222-3803mccar...@flacathconf.org Florida Bishops Urge Commutation of Death Sentence for Glen Ocha The Catholic Bishops of Florida appeal to Governor Bush to commute the death sentence of Glen Ocha, scheduled for execution on April 5. The feelings of despair that have led Mr. Ocha to request execution will rob him of the possibility of redemption and forgiveness for his crime. We mourn for the family of his victim, Carol Skjerva, but killing Mr. Ocha will not compensate for their loss but only diminish respect for all life in all circumstances. Pope John Paul II, during his 1999 visit to St. Louis, stated the dignity of human life must never be taken away, even in the case of someone who has done great evil. The alternative sentence of life in prison without possibility of parole protects society from harm and punishes individuals for their transgressions. We believe a national decrease in executions shows there is dwindling support for the death penalty since society can otherwise be protected from those who have harmed others. Governor Bush, we ask that you stay Glen Ocha's execution and commute his sentence to life in prison without possibility of parole. (source: Catholics Bishops of Fla.) * PRESS RELEASE from FLORIDIANS FOR ALTERNATIVES TO THE DEATH PENALTY (FADP.org) 5 April 2005---CONTACT: Abe Bonowitz: 800-973-6548 / mobile 561-371-5204 EXECUTION TODAY - GOVERNOR THOUGHT ABOUT STAY TO HONOR THE POPE Florida Governor Jeb Bush this morning told reporters that he had considered staying this evenings scheduled execution of Glen Ocha to honor the memory of the Pope, but that he decided not to. Ocha (pronounced O'Shea), who has legally changed his name to Raven Raven, is a suicidal and mentally ill man who waived his appeals and is scheduled for execution at 6pm today in revenge for his murder of Carol Skjerva. Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty (FADP) calls on Governor Jeb Bush to reverse himself and stop the state-assisted suicide of Glen Ocha. Instead of honoring Pope John Paul II, Governor Bush has today chosen to mock him, said FADP Director Abe Bonowitz. The Pope has been outspoken about the value of all life, and repeatedly called for an end to the use of the death penalty. Governor Bush, a convert to Catholicism, has clearly demonstrated that he's willing to inject his religion and personal beliefs into his politics, said Bonowitz, referring to Bush's political actions on abortion and the Schiavo case. He has pushed through unconstitutional legislation to try to codify his beliefs on the sanctity of life. Governor Bush's claim that he is only carrying out the law when he executes prisoners simply reeks of hypocrisy. As Terry Schiavo is mourned this evening, Glen Ocha gets his wish: Suicide-by-Governor. Detailed background on this case is available at http://www.fadp.org/takeact.html#background If this killing goes forward, it will be the 60th execution in Florida since 1979, the 17th under Governor Jeb Bush, and Bush's 8th assisted-suicide. More information about Florida executions is available at http://www.fadp.org/Florida_executions.html. Members of FADP and other organizations opposed to the death penalty will protest the execution at Florida State Prison and at locations across the state at the time of the killing. (See http://www.fadp.org/localprotests.html for protest plans and locations.) FADP Director Abe Bonowitz is available for interviews at 800-973-6548 ON THE WEB: www.FADP.org SENT BY: Abraham J. Bonowitz, Director, Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty (FADP) 800-973-6548 http://www.fadp.org , PMB 335, 2603 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Hwy, Gainesville, FL 32609 Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty works for restorative justice in the form of effective alternatives to the death penalty. It does so by # supporting and coordinating the work of organizations and individuals # educating and energizing the general public and state legislators # supporting the many persons affected by capital crime and punishment # advocating specific legislative improvements (source: FADP)
[Deathpenalty]death penalty news-----worldwide
URGENT ACTION APPEAL -- 5 April 2005 UA 79/05Fear of imminent execution YEMEN: Hafez Ibrahim (m), aged 17 Seventeen-year-old Hafez Ibrahim is reportedly scheduled to be executed on 6 April, for a murder which allegedly committed when he was 16. The Yemeni penal code expressly prohibits the execution of anyone under 18. He was reportedly not allowed to appeal against the sentence. According to a report in the daily newspaper al- Ayyam on 5 April, Hafez Ibrahim has called for the president to intervene, stop the execution and allow him to appeal against the sentence. BACKGROUND INFORMATION Amnesty International has longstanding concerns about the use of the death penalty in Yemen, particularly as death sentences are often passed after proceedings which fall short of international standards for fair trial. While Amnesty International recognizes the right and responsibility of governments to bring to justice those suspected of recognizably criminal offences, it is unconditionally opposed to the death penalty in all cases as the ultimate violation of the right to life. RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible: - urging the President to prevent the execution Hafez Ibrahim, and stressing that the Yemeni Constitution prohibits the execution of juveniles; - acknowledging the right of the government to bring to justice those responsible for criminal offences, but expressing unconditional opposition to the death penalty; - reminding the authorities of international standards for fair trial in capital cases, including the right to seek pardon or commutation of the sentence. APPEALS TO: President: His Excellency General=B4Ali =B4Abdullah Saleh President of the Republic of Yemen Sanaa Republic of Yemen Faxes: 011 967 127 4147 Salutation: Your Excellency Minister of Interior: His Excellency Dr Rashid Muhammad al-Alimi Ministry of Interior Sanaa Republic of Yemen Faxes: 011 967 1 332 511 Salutation: Your Excellency Minister of Human Rights: Her Excellency Amat al Aeem al Suswah Ministry for Human Rights Sana'a, Republic of Yemen Faxes: 011 967 1 444 838 Salutation: Your Excellency COPIES TO: Ambassador Abdulwahab A. Al-Hajjri Embassy of the Republic of Yemen 2600 Virginia Ave. NW Suite 705 Washington DC 20037 Fax: 1202 337 2017 Email: ambassa...@yemenembassy.org Please send appeals immediately. Check with the Colorado office between 9:00 am and 6:00 pm, Mountain Time, weekdays only, if sending appeals after April 17, 2005. Amnesty International is a worldwide grassroots movement that promotes and defends human rights. This Urgent Action may be reposted if kept intact, including contact information and stop action date (if applicable). Thank you for your help with this appeal. Urgent Action Network Amnesty International USA PO Box 1270 Nederland CO 80466-1270 Email: u...@aiusa.org http://www.amnestyusa.org/urgent/ Phone: 303 258 1170 Fax: 303 258 7881 -- END OF URGENT ACTION APPEAL --
[Deathpenalty]death penalty news----TEXAS, FLA., LA., USA
April 5 TEXAS: LACI PETERSON'S MOTHER TO SPEAK AT CONFERENCE The annual Northeast Texas Crime Victims' Conference in Tyler next week will present speakers involved in two national murder cases, one in which a man has been sentenced to death for murdering his pregnant wife and another who stands accused of killing his spouse. The week of April 9-16 has been declared as National Crime Victims' Rights Week. The Smith County District Attorney's Office and the Office of the Attorney General's Crime Victims Services Division will sponsor the 2-day conference held at Marvin United Methodist Church, 300 W. Erwin St. Speakers will include Sharon Rocha, mother of Laci Peterson, who disappeared on Christmas Eve 2002. Prosecutors said her husband, Scott Peterson, killed her and then dumped her body in San Francisco Bay. The badly decomposed remains of the victim and her fetus washed ashore 4 months later. Peterson was convicted of 2 counts of murder and sentenced to death last month. Mrs. Rocha will share the heartache of losing her only daughter and grandson, Connor, said Betty Whitten, Smith County Crime Victims' Services director, in a prepared statement. Chief Deputy District Attorney John Goold, from Modesto, Calif., who spoke at the conference last year about the Peterson case, will return. Senior Detective Kelly Kent of the Salt Lake City Police Department will speak about the Lori Hacking murder case, which is expected to go to trial this month. The victim's husband, Mark Hacking, reported in July that she had failed to return from a morning jog, setting off extensive searches by volunteers and police. He later allegedly admitted to his brothers he shot her as she slept and disposed of her body in a trash bin. Police found Hacking's body Oct. 1 at a landfill. Herman Millholland, director of the AG's Crime Victims' Services Division, also will give a lecture, Ms. Whitten said. The conference is scheduled for next Tuesday and Wednesday. For more information call Ms. Whitten at (903) 535-0534, or Jean Frazier at the AG's Office at (512) 936-1245. (source: Tyler Morning Telegraph ) Reward offered for triple murder suspect The University Park Police Department has announced a $10,000 reward for the arrest and conviction of a murder suspect. Authorities are looking for Israel Barretero - also known as Israel Gomez - in connection with last month's fatal shootings of 3 men on the North Central Expressway service road at Mockingbird Lane. Police believe Barretro opened fire from the sunroof of a white Jaguar after an altercation at a nearby bar. The driver of the Jaguar, Jimmy Velasquez, 20, was arrested last month on 2 charges of capital murder and 1 charge of aggravated assault. Barretero, 21, remains at large. Anyone with information about the case is asked to call University Park police at 214-363-3000. (source: WFAA-TV News) ** DNA evidence shows link--Analyst: Stain on boot was from victim's blood A state scientist testified Monday that a stain found on a pair of boots worn by capital murder defendant Bevy Lee Wilson was blood from Richard Carbaugh, the man he is accused of killing. Lisa Baylor, a DNA analyst for the Department of Public Safety crime lab, also said a pair of pants found behind a neighborhood fence was stained with blood from Carbaugh and his 10-year-old son, Dominic, and had Wilson's semen stains on the pants. Baylor said she also found skin cells from an unknown woman on the pants. Wilson, 46, is charged with capital murder in the February 2003 deaths of the elder Carbaugh and his son. They were found beaten to death in their Barton Street apartment. Wilson could face the death penalty if convicted. The stains were some of the roughly 250 DNA samples collected by police at the crime scene and from clothing worn by Wilson and Thomas Sower, who testified he was an eyewitness to the crime. DNA is the basic building block of life and can be used to identify an individual. It is contained in blood, semen and every cell in the body. Defense attorneys have suggested that Sower also should be under suspicion because of his presence at the scene of the crime. Baylor said Monday that a long-sleeve shirt found in the bed of a pickup had blood from both Dominic and Richard Carbaugh. Baylor also said she found skin cells from Sower around the neckline of the shirt. Several jurors leaned forward in their chairs as Baylor showed them the articles of clothing she tested and several took notes on what they saw. Wilson also took notes on a yellow pad. The trial was delayed briefly after lunch because of concerns that one of the jurors might have encountered Wilson while he was being escorted in handcuffs and shackles. Defense attorney Douglas Tinker asked District Judge Sandra Watts for a mistrial because of the impression of guilt the encounter could have caused. It is a strict policy not to let jurors see a shackled inmate.
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----PENN., CALIF., U.S. MILIT., OHIO
April 5 PENNSYLVANIA: Other recusal reasons cited in Downs' letter to AG Among the reasons cited by Bradford County District Attorney Stephen Downs to recuse himself from the Dustin Briggs case were a lack of resources available to his office and the possibility he might be called as a witness in the event the matter went to trial. It was recently brought to light that one of the reasons Downs asked the Pennsylvania Attorney General's Office to take over the case was that he was upset with Bradford County Sheriff Steve Evans and how his office had handled the situation involving Briggs. Evans in turn blasted Downs in a recent press statement, saying the district attorney had no concept of what it is like to arrest someone. However, in the letter, dated Aug. 17, 2004, from Downs to the attorney general's office, the sheriff is but one of a number of reasons given by the district attorney in his reasons to be recused from the Briggs case. Briggs, of Gillett, has been accused of shooting and killing Bradford County sheriff's deputies Michael VanKuren and Christopher Burgert on March 31, 2004, at a junkyard in Wells Township owned by his father, Arlan Briggs. The deputies were on the property, intending to serve a warrant on Dustin Briggs' girlfriend, April Harris, when the incident occurred. Dustin Briggs was later arrested and is in the Bradford County jail, awaiting trial on criminal homicide charges in connection with the case. One of the reasons cited by Downs was an actual or apparent conflict of interest concerning the possibility that he could be called to testify as a witness if the case went to trial. Downs explained in the letter that he had been with investigators at the Bradford County jail who were interviewing Briggs a few days after his arrest, and that as a result he might be called to testify by the commonwealth as a result. Because Bradford County is a rural county, I worked closely with the fallen deputies, and I may be perceived as having a conflict of interest in prosecuting Briggs, or in seeking the death penalty against him, Downs explained in the letter. Likewise my closeness to the fallen deputies might well interfere with my ability to clearly identify and deal with potentially problematic issues in this prosecution. In his letter, Downs also explained that he believes his office did not have sufficient resources to properly prosecute the case, which was why he was asking the attorney general's office to step in. Downs pointed out that he works full-time as district attorney, even though he is designated as part-time as defined by law. He said that his office handles about 1,500 adult criminal cases per year as well as 300 juvenile cases. Another factor that keeps him and his office staff busy, Downs said, is the fact that there are four magisterial district judges in Bradford County -- which is geographically the second-largest county in Pennsylvania. With no central courts for preliminary hearings in Bradford County, Downs said, each district judge must hold such hearings in the local magisterial office. In addition, Downs said, Bradford County is served by 2 full-time judges of the Court of Common Pleas, both who hear criminal cases, sometimes at the same time. Finally, it is my sincere belief that the significance of this case, involving as it does the murder of on-duty law enforcement officers, is and ought to be seen by the public as transcending merely local concern. No less that the direct involvement of the Office of the Attorney General itself in the prosecution of this case will send the much-needed message throughout this commonwealth of the gravity of these crimes, and the well-warranted widespread revulsion which such crimes deserve, Downs concluded. Downs has been recused from the case, which is now being handled by Pennsylvania Assistant Attorney General Patrick Blessington. Both Bradford County judges Jeffrey Smith and John Mott also recused themselves, and the case is being heard by Senior Judge Barry Feudale of Northumberland County. (source: Daily and Sunday Review) CALIFORNIA: Peterson costs climb to $3.83MDistrict attorney's office says it devoted 20,000 hours on case P Scott Peterson's journey through the justice system cost taxpayers at least $3.83 million, according to new estimates provided by government agencies. The Stanislaus County district attorney's office invested more than 20,000 hours into the high-profile trial at a public cost of $637,000, the office reported Monday. Prosecutors spent far more time preparing their case, officials said. None of three attorneys dedicated to the trial received overtime pay, and accounting stopped at 40 hours per week. In reality, they sometimes put in twice that amount. Peterson, 32, dumped the body of his pregnant wife, Laci, in San Francisco Bay on Christmas Eve 2002. Remains of mother and son washed ashore near his boating route 4 months later. Jurors in December returned a
[Deathpenalty]death penalty news----worldwide
April 5 BAHAMAS: Death Row inmates end hunger strikeInmates claim their 'civil and constitutional right' were being breached Death Row inmates at Her Majesty's Fox Hill Prison ended their 3-day hunger strike to engage in talks with prison officials on Sunday. According to reports reaching the Nassau Guardian the condemned men were assured during the weekend meeting that their complaints about civil and constitutional infractions would be addressed. Reportedly, 12 inmates began the hunger strike on Friday to bring attention to their inhumane conditions. They vowed that they would continue refusing their daily rations of food and drink until their demands for improved detention conditions were met or an acceptable arrangement put in place. Following the meeting, the Guardian was anonymously informed that matters had returned to normal and the men were satisfied that their concerns would be taken care of. The Guardian attempted to contact newly-appointed Superintendent of Prisons, Dr Elliston Rahming, but was told that he was on another call, after which he was reportedly due to attend a meeting. The calls were not returned up to press time. However, it is believed that Dr Rahming played a significant role in Sunday's meeting, during which an understanding was reached. The Guardian was told that the inmate's complaints are long-standing. Issues In a petition hand-delivered to the Nassau Guardian by attorney Paul Moss and signed by 13 Death Row inmates, they claimed that their civil and constitutional rights were being breached. We the concerned majority on death row with all due respect have some very pertinent and monumental issues that need to be addressed so that an amicable and fair agreement can be reached without any ill-will or animosity being harboured by either side. We are seeking to be showered everyday according to the prison rules. We are seeking daily exercise in an appropriate area that is sufficiently ventilated, free from the inhalation of stench emanating from overnight faeces, and an exposed urine hole, which is stacked in the area we exercise in. It is unacceptable and inhumane, the letter said. According to the 4-page document, allegedly signed by 13 inmates, an alternative option that is accessible is the development of a basketball court that can be constructed using half of the backyard. They said the manual labour is free, and the project would achieve great strides in terms of providing good fundamental recreation, which is one of the main tools needed for reform. Longer visits For those of us who have family coming from other Family Islands and elsewhere overseas, we are seeking a special visitation time frame of one hour, because it is absolutely unfair to have loving and concerned visitors flying in to see their loved ones spending excessive amounts of money just for a 20-30 minute visit. It is a grave injustice and inconvenience to a concerned family. We are seeking a transparent and consistent system whereby we can be facilitated unrestricted access to shopping from the Prison Commissary because as it stands now we are being denied a fundamental right that was being enforced from the inception of the Prison Commissary in 1998. But with the passage of time, this fundamental right has been taken away without any explanation of any kind. In addition to the above, in many cases monies have been deposited on to our accounts by family members but we have not been allowed to spend our money even for essential toilette articles, the letter read. Decision taken It went on to advise that starting 1 April, the concerned majority on death row because of grave infractions of our fundamental civil and constitutional rights have come to a unanimous decision to refuse our daily rations - no food, no drink, refusing our showers, and our exercise time in the yard. These circumstances will not change until we receive genuine changes afforded to us as citizens of this Commonwealth of The Bahamas which is enshrined within the constitution, the letter said. Among those signing the petition are inmates Trono Davis, Michael Edwards, Forrester Bowe Jr., L Sheldon Cartwright, Keith Aaron, Robert G. Greene, Leslie Webster, Ellison Smith, Anthony Evans, Wesley Giste and Peta Cash. Attorney Moss told the Guardian that he did not know any of the death row inmates personally, but stated that another inmate on their directions gave the letter to him. On several occasions, Mr Moss spoke out against prison conditions. Having regard to the various issues that I have raised with the prison over the last couple of years or so, certainly the conditions are as described there. Last week an inmate described for me how they used their slop buckets and it was very disturbing to think about it. In my view, the appointment of Dr Elliston Rahming is perhaps the single greatest appointment this government has made, but it is going to take much more than an appointment. He certainly needs the
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----FLA., N.C., PENN., ARK., LA., CALIF.
April 5 FLORIDAexecution//volunteer Florida inmate who dropped appeals executed for 1999 slaying An inmate who pleaded guilty to strangling a woman who gave him a ride home from a bar was executed Tuesday, after firing his attorneys and dropping his legal appeals. Glen Ocha's execution came hours after Gov. Jeb Bush said he thought about delaying it out of respect for Pope John Paul II's death, but decided against it because of sympathy for the victim's family. Bush's office said Ocha, 47, was pronounced dead at 6:10 p.m. That was a few minutes after an anonymous executioner injected a lethal cocktail of 3 chemicals to stop Ocha's heart and his breathing. In his final statement, made from his death gurney just before the lethal cocktail was administered, Ocha said, This is the punishment that I deserve. He also said, I would like to say I apologize to Carol Skjerva, the girl that I murdered, and her family and her friends. After the statement he closed his eyes, he breathed heavily for about a minute and then there was no further movement. Ocha had waived a jury trial and pleaded guilty to the Oct. 5, 1999, killing of convenience store employee Skjerva, 28, who had given him a ride home from the Kissimmee bar where he worked. After having sexual relations, Ocha said, he choked her 3 times until his arms got tired. He then hanged Skjerva from a kitchen door and drank a beer while she died. Ocha, who changed his name in prison to Raven Raven, received a final meal Tuesday morning. He received final visits from two Catholic priests, the Rev. Dale Recinella of Macclenny and retired Bishop John Snyder from Jacksonville, plus a visit with his brother, Martin Ocha, said Sterling Ivey, a spokesman for the state Department of Corrections. Bush, a convert to Roman Catholicism, told reporters earlier Tuesday in Tallahassee that I actually was prepared to delay the execution out of courtesy for and respect for the pope's passing. But he also said he has a duty to state law and has sympathy for the victims. Bush's decision drew criticism from Abe Bonowitz, director of Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty. He had said Ocha's execution would be suicide by governor. Greg L. Hill, who was appointed as a backup attorney for Ocha, met with his client Monday evening at the prison and said it was Ocha's desire to accept responsibility for his actions. He met his victim at a bar in Kissimmee, where he engraved beer mugs. He was drunk and high on Ecstasy when she drove him home and they had sex. He said he became enraged when Skjerva told Ocha she was going to tell her boyfriend and made fun of his anatomy. After hiding her body inside a home entertainment system in his garage, Ocha took Skjerva's car and drove to Daytona Beach. He confessed to the killing when he was arrested for disorderly intoxication. Ocha would not let a public defender present evidence to avoid execution. After the state Supreme Court affirmed his conviction in 2002, Ocha filed a motion with the trial court to drop his appeals and dismiss his attorneys. In May, the Supreme Court ordered the trial court to hold a hearing on his mental competency. Ocha discharged his state lawyer, Mark Gruber, when he was ruled competent June 11. Ocha had warned that he will kill again if he did not receive the death penalty. Of the 16 inmates executed under death warrants signed by Bush, 7 did not fight their execution. Ocha was the 60th person executed in Florida since the 1976 reinstatement of the death penalty and the 1st since May 26, when John Blackwelder who was so intent on being executed that he killed a fellow inmate and pleaded guilty. Florida resumed capital punishment in 1979; only Texas (340), Virginia (94), and Missouri (62) have executed more condemned inmates since the death penalty was re-legalized in the USA on July 2, 1976. Ocha becomes the 13th condemned inmate to be put to death this year in the USA and the 957th overall since America resumed executions on January 17, 1977. On the Net: Florida Department of Corrections: http://www.dc.state.fl.us/ Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty: http://www.fadp.org (sources: Associated Press Rick Halperin) NORTH CAROLINA: Judge allows prosecution to seek death penalty Accused of killing a Duke University recruitment coordinator, Thomas Anthony Pitt stands a chance of becoming the 1st person in 8 years to receive the death penalty in Durham. Assistant District Attorney David Saacks said Tuesday that at least one aggravating factor exists in the case: Evidence that the May 2004 slaying of Curt Blackman was particularly brutal, or especially heinous, atrocious or cruel in legal parlance. Saacks told Judge Orlando F. Hudson that Blackman was stabbed numerous times, blindfolded, gagged and bound at his hands and feet. It was grisly, the prosecutor said. Hudson gave Saacks the go-ahead to seek capital punishment. An aggravating factor must be
[Deathpenalty]death penalty news----TEXAS, FLA., ARIZ., CONN.
April 6 TEXAS: SENATE REJECTS LIFE WITHOUT PAROLE OPTION East Texas lawmakers were split over the issue of giving jurors the power to sentence capital murderers to life in prison without parole. On Tuesday, the state Senate rejected a bill that would have done that. Texas juries have only two options after reaching a guilty verdict in capital murder cases: execution by lethal injection or life in prison with the possibility of parole after 40 years. The bill by Sen. Eddie Lucio, D-Brownsville, had the support of most senators but failed to garner the 2/3 support required by Senate rules to bring it up for debate. By a 19-12 decision, the bill failed by 2 votes. All 12 no votes were cast by Republicans, including 2 of the 3 who represent Smith County. I did not support that bill, said state Sen. Kevin Eltife, R-Tyler. I'm concerned that it would actually weaken the death penalty, if it gives juries the option of sentencing people to life without parole. I visited with some of the law enforcement officials in my area, and they expressed concerns about this bill. State Sen. Todd Staples, R-Palestine, said he voted against the bill because the 3rd option would confuse jurors forced to make life and death decisions. We need to streamline so jurors fully understand the decision they're making, Staples said. The current system has been tried and tested and meets the need for the state. But state Sen. Bob Deuell, R-Greenville, supported the bill. I think if you look at all the murders that occur in the state, every case is different, and jurors need that option, Deuell said. I trust jurors to make that decision. Lucio has pushed for the 3rd option for several years. The bill failed in 2003 when it was 1 vote short. After the bill failed again Tuesday, Lucio was conferring with several lawmakers in an attempt to resurrect it. Lucio said his bill would give juries a critical option in dealing with juveniles who commit murder. The U.S. Supreme Court last month banned the execution of those who commit crimes while younger than 18. In 2002, the court also struck down executions of mentally retarded inmates. Critics of the bill, including some prosecutors and victims' rights advocates, have argued that a life-without-parole option would weaken capital punishment by giving jurors a middle ground to avoid agreeing on the death penalty. Life without parole does not weaken the death penalty. It is tough on crime, said Lucio, who supports the death penalty. It provides certainty to the families of the victims because they know those individuals would never walk the streets again. Lucio had faced some pressure to change his bill to eliminate the life sentence that allowed parole after 40 years, which he refuses to do. I'm against eliminating options, Lucio said. Of 38 states that execute capital offenders, only Texas and New Mexico do not have the life-without-parole option. The 2/3 rule is designed to keep the Senate from getting bogged down with bills that don't have widespread support, and senators typically make sure they have the necessary numbers before trying to get a bill to the floor. The Senate passed the bill in 2001, but it failed in the House by seven votes. Lucio said he has the votes to pass the bill, which requires a simple majority, if he can get the votes he needs to bring it to the Senate floor. I should have been given the opportunity to debate this issue, he said. (source: Tyler Morning Telegraph) * 79th LEGISLATURE Future uncertain for life-without-parole bill -- Bill to create option to death penalty and parole languishes in Senate committee. A sharply divided Texas Senate on Tuesday shot down an initial move to debate life without parole as a third option for Texas juries in capital murder cases, a change some prosecutors argue would weaken the death penalty. By a 19-12 vote - 2 votes shy of the required two-thirds to bring a measure up for debate - senators refused to suspend a rule that would have allowed Senate Bill 60 to be considered for initial approval. It was a surprise defeat for Sen. Eddie Lucio, the author, and an indication that the bill faces a most uncertain future. It had been billed as one of the major criminal justice initiatives of the legislative session, if approved. 47 other states have life without parole. In Texas, juries have to vote for execution or life with parole, for which convicts can be considered after serving 40 years. I am disappointed but never upset, said Lucio, D-Brownsville. I'm going to work on members to get the votes to bring it up. . . . Right now, I don't know when that will be. Lucio said he thought he had enough votes Tuesday. Until he gets them, the bill will languish on the Senate's calendar. Lucio and others had claimed growing support for a change that has repeatedly failed in the past eight years. This year, supporters said they thought it had the best chance ever. 4 years ago,
[Deathpenalty]death penalty news----N.Y., USA
April 6 NEW YORK: Assembly must vote on death penalty As predicted, the Assembly's Democrats are headed toward killing New York's death penalty by bottling it up in committee rather than allowing the full house to vote on the most important criminal justice issue on the agenda. Speaker Sheldon Silver and Codes Committee Chairman Joseph Lentol should reconsider and allow all 150 members to cast their votes. New York's 19 million citizens deserve to know where their representatives stand on capital punishment. Each lawmaker owes it to his or her constituents to vote the penalty up or down in full view. To do otherwise is to dodge and engage in cynical political calculation. The matter has been thrust on the Assembly because the state's highest court invalidated the death penalty's sentencing provision. The Senate voted a simple fix that Gov. Pataki is ready to sign, if and when the Assembly concurs. But lots of the Democrats who form the Assembly's majority hardly concur. So rather than chance that some Democrats would join with Republicans to form a majority that would repair the statute, Silver threw the issue into three committees for hearings that amounted to an elaborate funeral, and now burial. With a straight face, Silver says his use of the committees shows he's dedicated to running the Assembly with the openness that's been demanded by reform advocates. In fact, he is only exercising the same old iron grip. Most of his Democrats support life without parole instead of the death penalty, so he's giving them their way, regardless of how the full Assembly would vote. Passage would seem assured on a floor vote. For 20 years, the Assembly approved the death penalty, only to have it vetoed by Govs. Hugh Carey and Mario Cuomo. Then, the law passed under Pataki in 1995. Most Democrats voted no, but GOP support pushed the bill over the top. History could well repeat if Silver permitted a floor vote. No one knows for sure, but Silver, who has supported the death penalty in the past, and Lentol are determined not to find out. They intend to take a vote by the 14 Democrats and 4 Republicans on the panel. Since most Dems are opposed, the law would die. And Lentol plans to fight a Republican motion to discharge the bill to the floor, where its fate should properly be decided. (source: Editorial, New York Daily News) ASSEMBLY DEATH PENALTY REPORT REVEALS SYSTEM BROKEN BEYOND REPAIR The New York State Assembly today released its report of 5 public hearings on the death penalty held this winter. The report summarizes the testimony of 170 witnesses, including family members of murder victims, innocent men convicted of murders they did not commit, district attorneys and police officers, academics, and religious leaders. Less than 10 percent of the 170 witnesses presented testimony in favor of reinstating the death penalty, despite efforts by the Assembly to recruit additional witnesses. The Assembly report makes official what New Yorkers have learned about our death penalty its failing and not worth it, said David Kaczynski, Executive Director of New Yorkers Against the Death Penalty. Most New Yorkers -- most Americans, in fact prefer life without parole to the death penalty, because we are tired of throwing away money on a system that risks executing the innocent and diverts resources from real victims services and law enforcement. The Assemblys' hearings were among the most comprehensive legislative hearings held on the death penalty in the modern era, with additional hearings being added to accommodate all who wanted to testify. The report summarizing the testimony is a 58-page indictment of a New Yorks failed death penalty system. Moreover, much has changed in the past ten years, the report states. Public attitudes about the death penalty have evolved. The use of capital punishment in this country and throughout the world has changed. A wave of exonerations of sentenced inmates, some through the use of newly analyzed DNA evidence, has raised new concerns about wrongful convictions. In New York, the sentence of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole has become widely applied in first degree murder cases. That sentencing option did not exist in New York prior to 1995. With the release of the report, the question of whether or not to reinstate the death penalty now goes to the Assembly Codes Committee for a vote. The Senate passed a similar bill last month without holding any hearings. The Senate moved ahead with a political bill that fixes nothing, said Kaczynski. The companion bill, A.1452, is unconstitutional and doomed to waste another $200 million of taxpayer money on a failed policy. The Assembly has taken the right approach by conscientiously looking at the facts and listening to the people. We urge the Codes Committee to listen to New Yorkers and reject the death penalty once and for all. The report also comes just after the United States Conference
[Deathpenalty]death penalty news----worldwide
April 6 IRAN: Iran, a Christian convert to face death penalty for apostasy Hamid Pourmand, a lay leader in a church and a convert from Islam, will appear before an Islamic court next week to face charges of apostasy, Christians in Iran have learned. If found guilty Pourmand is likely to face the death penalty. Pourmand is a lay leader in the Assemblies of God church in Bandar-i Bushehr and converted to Christianity in 1980. At the time of his arrest he was a Colonel in the Iranian army. He was arrested September 9, 2004, together with 85 other participants of the annual general conference of denomination. The other Christians were released within the next 3 days, but pastor Pourmand was charged with hiding his conversion from his superiors. According to Iranian law only Muslims can be officers in the army. On February 16, 2005, pastor Pourmand was found guilty of this charge, even though he presented several papers in court which proved his superior were aware he was a Christian. He was sentenced to three years imprisonment, discharge from the army, and loss of his entire income, pension and housing for his family. A few days later his wife and two children were forced to vacate their house. Yesterday, Christians learned of the new charges of apostasy from Islam and proselytising other Muslims. Apostasy is a capital offence in Iran. In the last 16 years 3 Iranian church leaders have been charged was apostasy and found guilty. All three were sentenced to death. Pastor Hussein Soodman was hanged in 1989. Deacon Maher already had a noose around his neck when he signalled his willingness to recant and was released after signing a paper to that effect in 1992. Pastor Mehdi Dibaj was condemned to death in December 1993. He was released 3 weeks later after a strong international outcry; only to be found murdered 6 months later. Christians in Iran have expressed great fears for pastor Hamid's life. (source: AsiaNews) JAPAN: Death row convict wins rare retrial In an extremely rare move, the Nagoya High Court ruled Tuesday that a man who has been on death row for 33 years should be granted a retrial in the fatal poisoning of 5 women. Masaru Okunishi, 79, who initially confessed to the 1961 murders, recanted before he was indicted and has since maintained his innocence. Okunishi and his lawyers had filed six previous requests for a retrial but all were turned down. However, the Nagoya High Court ruled there were grave doubts about the reliability of Okunishi's confession and said there was a possibility the crime was committed by someone else. Okunishi's lawyers released a statement from their client in which Okunishi thanked the judges and those who had supported him. My father and mother died believing in my innocence, so I think they are now happy, Okunishi said. I feel like I have been given a new life. Officials with the Nagoya High Public Prosecutors Office were in the process of considering whether to object to Tuesday's ruling. If an objection is filed within 3 days, another judge at the Nagoya High Court will make a ruling. If no objection is filed, Okunishi's case will go to trial again. If a retrial is held, it would be only the fifth postwar case in Japan involving an individual who had been given the death sentence. In all 4 previous cases, the individuals were found innocent during retrial. In this instance, the original murder case stems from a neighborhood party held on March 28, 1961, in Nabari, Mie Prefecture. 5 women died, and 12 others suffered from poisoning symptoms after drinking wine that was later found to contain pesticide. Okunishi's lawyers analyzed the pesticide that was mixed into the wine and argued that it was different from the pesticide Okunishi confessed to putting into the wine. The high court agreed that an analysis conducted by chemists indicated that the toxin mixed into the wine was different from the one Okunishi had confessed to using. The court also found that new evidence presented by Okunishi's lawyers left open the possibility that someone other than Okunishi could have both acquired the poison and found the time to place the poison into the wine undetected. The court also cast doubt on Okunishi's confession, ruling there were contradictions with objective facts and a lack of responses that would be expected from Okunishi if he had actually carried out the crime. Okunishi initially confessed to placing the poison into the wine, telling investigators he wanted to end a romantic triangle. Both his wife and lover died after drinking the wine. The Tsu District Court ruled in December 1964 that Okunishi was not guilty of murder. However, prosecutors appealed, and in September 1969, the Nagoya High Court ruled that Okunishi was guilty and handed him the death sentence. The Supreme Court upheld the high court ruling in 1972. After filing 4 requests for a retrial, all of which were rejected, Okunishi received the backing of the Japan
[Deathpenalty]death penalty news --- worldwide
death penalty news April 7, 2005 YEMEN: Amnesty pleads for Yemeni youth Amnesty International pleaded with Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh Wednesday to commute the death sentence handed down to a juvenile. The group said in a statement published Wednesday on its Web site Hafez Ibrahim, 17, was convicted for killing a man when he was 16 and sentenced to death. The execution was initially set for Wednesday in Taaz in southern Yemen, but sources said Ibrahim and his family had not yet received written notification of the action, which indicates implementation of the sentence has been postponed. Amnesty International argued Yemeni law bans the execution of minors under 18, which makes Ibrahim's execution illegal. It said Ibrahim was not allowed to appeal the sentence. Amnesty International also urged its members and supporters to address pleas to the Yemeni president, the interior minister and the minister of human rights to stop the execution. (source:UPI / expressnewsline.com) SOUTH KOREA: Debate on death penalty The proposal to end capital punishment has come to the fore again, with the National Human Rights Commission adopting a resolution against the death penalty. The resolution, together with a bill pending at the National Assembly, is certain to renew a heated debate on the issue. On Wednesday, the commission adopted the resolution with support from eight of the nine members present. The sole dissenting voice said capital punishment helps prevent crime, a claim denied by those advocating its repeal. Those opposed to capital punishment were not unified when it came to details concerning what should replace it, life with or without parole, and whether or not to retain it during wartime. Still, the commission's resolution will boost a bill awaiting action at the National Assembly, which now has 293 members with six seats vacant. The bill, initiated by Rep. Yoo Ihn-tae, once an inmate placed on death row for his fight against a dictatorship, was submitted in December with support from 174 other lawmakers as well. But the bill is fiercely contested by law-enforcement agencies. Testifying recently before the Judiciary-Legislation Committee, Minister of Justice Kim Seong-kyu cited a public demand for justice and a fight against terrorism as among reasons he was opposed to the bill. The justice minister was supported by the new prosecutor general. During his confirmation hearing at the National Assembly last month, Kim Jong-bin said the prevalence of heinous crime is terrifying the public and that it is too early to repeal the death penalty. The two opposing views reflect the sentiment of the public, which neither endorses the current legal system administering the death penalty nor supports its downright repeal. According to a public survey conducted in July last year, a majority of the respondents, more precisely 51.4 percent, called for an extremely limited application of the death penalty. Only one out of every nine respondents demanded capital punishment be removed with no conditions attached. A potential breakthrough in the standoff between the lawmakers sponsoring the bill and the law-enforcement agencies is offered by the appeals court in Seoul, which recently commuted a lower court's death sentence to life. In its decision, the high court said, Capital punishment should be used to the minimum and as a means of last resort, that is, when it is deemed impossible for the state to make the culprit penitent if it should use all means available. The lawmakers sponsoring the bill are urged to think again before pushing for it. Caution is advised for two reasons. First, the law-enforcement agencies are not demanding that the death penalty be permanently maintained. Instead, they say its repeal should wait until it is favorably received by the public. Second, they should take notice that no one on death row has been executed since Dec. 31, 1997, a fait accompli showing that executions can be withheld without revising the Criminal Code. (source: Editorial, The Korea Herald) EUROPE / GLOBAL: COUNCIL OF EUROPE CONFERENCE OF MINISTERS OF JUSTICE Speech by Vice-President Franco Frattini, Commissioner responsible for Justice, Freedom and Security I would, first of all, like to say how pleased and honoured I am to be here today. The Council of Europe is the forerunner in the area of human rights, rule of law and democracy in Europe. The European Union values highly the work of the Council of Europe in these key fields. Our common aims with the Council of Europe have led to a very close and mutually beneficial cooperation: the Commission attends a range of the Council of Europe working groups that help shape the legal framework in these areas. We have many joint country-specific programmes designed to facilitate and support legal and institutional reform, mostly in the Balkans, Caucasus, Russia, Moldova, Ukraine
[Deathpenalty]death penalty news --- PENN., USA/VIRG., ALA., USA
death penalty news April 7, 2005 PENNSYLVANIA: Death penalty possible for Haymes The man accused of the rape, murder and dismemberment of 15-year-old Deanna Wright-McIntosh faces the possibility of the death penalty if convicted. Deputy District Attorney John F. X. Reilly cited two aggravating circumstances to certify the murder a capital crime during a Wednesday, March 30 arraignment for Lamar Haymes in Delaware County Court House. Haymes, 29, of the 400 block of Hazel Avenue in Yeadon was shackled at the waist and clad in a bright orange prison-issue jumpsuit. He smiled and gave a small wave to four female family members seated in the nearly deserted court room. You're not guilty, one woman called out in a stage whisper. Haymes, however, remained silent on advice of counsel, Public Defender Raymond Williams. Judge Charles Keeler entered a routine plea of not guilty. There is a gag order in effect in the case. Haymes is charged with three counts of murder and a lengthy list of related crimes for allegedly beating the girl to death, then dismembering and burning her body to cover up the crime, according to testimony from witnesses at the preliminary hearing in Upper Darby District Court Feb. 15. One of the women questioned Williams as to why Haymes was not in street clothes for the arraignment. Defendants usually wear street clothing when they are appearing before a jury but no jury is involved at this point. A plea of not guilty also was entered for Haymes on a second case in which he is charged with raping a woman on Dec. 4. He allegedly was accompanied~ by several men when he picked the woman up in North Philadelphia. They drove to Yeadon Community Park on Union Avenue and the woman and Haymes allegedly exited the van. He is accused of attacking the woman in a remote area of the park. She allegedly fled to a Baltimore Avenue restaurant and called police. The woman allegedly picked Haymes out of a photo array as her alleged attacker, according to police. She was not present at the arraignment. Judge Keeler set May 9 for a pre-trial hearing. A second defendant in the murder case, Anwaar Malik Gettys of the first block of Linden Avenue in Lansdowne is being arraigned separately. Police allege the murder took place in Gettys' home. He is charged with abuse of a corpse and related offenses for allegedly helping to dispose of Wright-McIntosh's body on a vacant lot in West Philadelphia. (source: NewsofDelawareCounty.com) Blystone was adamant at death penalty hearing Transcripts filed 22 years ago in Fayette County court show that a judge had warned a man during a death penalty hearing about the consequences of declining testimony his lawyer had arranged in an effort to save his life. I don't want anybody brought into it, a then 27-year-old Scott Wayne Blystone told Judge Fred Adams. The hearing in 1983 was held to determine whether Blystone should be sentenced to death or life in prison for the execution-style killing of hitchhiker Dalton Smithburger Jr. Authorities said Blystone shot Smithburger six times in the back of the head after robbing him of $13. Jurors convicted Blystone of first-degree murder. Last week, U.S. District Judge Gary L. Lancaster, of Pittsburgh, handed down a 130-page decision that overturned Blystone's death sentence on the grounds that Fayette County Public Defender Jeff Whiteko failed to develop or present evidence that may have led jurors to spare his life. According to the ruling, if a new sentencing hearing is not set for Blystone within four months, his death sentence will be reduced to life in prison. Fayette County Court Administrator Karen Kuhn said on Wednesday she was just learning of the ruling and did not know if a new sentencing hearing had been scheduled. Whiteko said he has trouble understanding Lancaster's reasoning. They have alleged ineffective assistance for 22 years, he said. And all the sudden now they got it? He said he remembers developing an argument based on the testimony of Blystone's parents and an official from Mayview State Hospital, who would explain results of Blystone's mental examinations. Whiteko said Blystone had an IQ of between 145 and 165, but was haunted by feelings of inadequacy. IQ, or Intelligence Quotient, is a measurement of mental ability. Almost 70 percent of the population falls between scores of 85 and 115. Blystone's score would be considered genius-level. Records of the 1983 death penalty hearing show that Blystone did not allow Whiteko to present any testimony despite Whiteko's persistence. After lengthy discussions with Mr. Blystone and over my strenuous objection, he states that he wishes to offer no evidence, Whiteko told Adams. I have talked to his parents and interviewed them on several occasions, and I wish to put them on the stand and I wish to put Mr. Blystone on the stand, but after trying for two hours there has been no
[Deathpenalty]death penalty news --- USA
death penalty news April 7, 2005 USA: The death penalty necessary justice for criminals found guilty It may be the most ominous walk in the world. A mere 20 yards from a stark death row cell to the death chamber - arguably the loneliest and most despairing juncture in a human life. Now, the moments preceding this annihilation of a life is bizarre, at best. The accused is offered a last meal of their choice: lobster, steak, pheasant and truffles? He is kindly given some solace while talking to a spiritual advisor or religious leader of their faith. Finally, he is offered an opportunity to unite with friends and loved ones. Now, the convict solemnly takes his final walk down the bare hallway leading to the place where he knows, with an almost inescapable degree of certainty, he will take his last breath. This is the place he will die. How can a supposedly civilized society extract its justice from a system of vengeance like this? It's simple. These people, convicted beyond a reasonable doubt, will die in a way that neither you nor I are ever likely to be so lucky, or entitled to experience. Assorted methods are used across the country to carry out executions. At Raiford, Florida's execution site, convicts enter the room and are strapped to a gurney. After being asked if they have any last words and the final order from an official is given, they are injected with a painkiller and anesthesia, to render them unconscious and ensure they feel absolutely no pain. They drift off into a peaceful, painless slumber. A fatal mix of drugs then begins its journey into their veins to stop the heart and force the cessation of life. It is quiet, peaceful, serene and absolutely painless. The offender's exodus from the world is a luxury. A luxury that their victims - who may have begged for their lives, who may have been tortured or abused - never had. There are those bleeding hearts that will tell you that the death penalty has never served as a deterrent to crime. Statistics tell me that not a single executed convict has ever committed another crime. That is proof enough for me. The death penalty should not only be kept in place, but also enforced more quickly. Those sentenced to the death penalty that spend years, if not decades, on death row are spending taxpayers money to stay in almost luxurious prisons, said sophomore Lindsey Donaldson. With the current state of criminology, DNA and forensic science, it is a virtual certainty that the convicted are, in reality, the perpetrators. Of the prisoners exonerated in the last five years, the majority were convicted prior to the 1990s. This fact proves that while there still may be a margin for error, it is dwindling with time and remarkable technological breakthroughs. On Feb. 26, an article in The Boston Globe announced that a group of lawmakers in Springfield are aiming to terminate Illinois' moratorium on death penalty executions. Rather than adhere to the reasonable-doubt clause, they hope to abide instead by guilt beyond any doubt when formulating a conclusion during the penalty phase in a capitol case. The lawmakers believe this will minimize the risk of putting the wrong person to death because it will eliminate any chance of error, only sentencing those who have been proven guilty beyond any doubt to death. In other words, those criminals with blood on their hands. The death penalty should be used in extreme cases only, like when a person has brutally killed people. But in reality, I don't think I'm for it. I think the worst punishment in life is to spend it in prison, thinking about the crime you've committed day in and day out, said junior Alethea Perez. I truly hurt for that one man or woman wrongly accused and convicted. But, not nearly as much as I hurt for the victims and families of the Ted Bundys, John Wayne Gacys, Jeffrey Dahmers and Charles Mansons of the world. As a result of our insistence that the rights of the accused weigh more than the rights of the victims, these men could be stalking you and your children right now. So, which innocents have greater rights? (source: Opinion, The Beacon)
[Deathpenalty]death penalty news --- S.C., N.C.
death penalty news April 7, 2005 SOUTH CAROLINA: Killer of officer from Rhode Island gets death penalty A man has been sentenced to death in South Carolina for killing a police officer who was a native of Warwick. Luzenski Allen Cottrell killed Myrtle Beach police Officer Joe McGarry on December 29th, 2002. McGarry had been checking to see if Cottrell had resolved some tickets he had written weeks earlier for drug offenses. A fellow officer says Cottrell pulled out a gun and started shooting without warning. That led to a gunfight in the parking lot that threatened the other officer and store customers. Cottrell asked the jury yesterday to keep him off death row for the sake of his three-year-old daughter, but they sentenced him to death. (source: AP) NORTH CAROLINA --- military trial: Akbar Jury Selection Focuses On Religion, Death Penalty Jury selection in the court-martial of Army Sgt. Hasan Akbar on Thursday focused on religion, the death penalty and mental health. Akbar is charged with killing two officers in a 2003 grenade attack in Kuwait. The chief prosecutor asked a member of the jury pool if his religious beliefs support his view of the death penalty, and the soldier responded, Yes, they do. When defense lawyers asked one of the potential jurors about Muslims, the soldier said he didn't have close friends who were Muslim but considered himself pretty fair-minded. He also said he thought some members of that faith interpret it the way they want to. Testimony is scheduled to start Monday after lawyers reduce a pool of 20 soldiers into the panel of 12 that will hear the case. Nearly half the pool, mostly officers and high-ranking sergeants, had been questioned by mid-morning Thursday. (source: AP / NBC17)
[Deathpenalty]death penalty news --- IOWA, CONN.
death penalty news April 8, 2005 IOWA: Senate Considers Adding Limited Death Penalty To Sex Offender Measure - Members Propose Penalties Against Repeat Offenders Senators considering sex offender legislation that was passed by the House said they want to consider adding a limited death penalty element. The limited death penalty would apply to people who are convicted of kidnapping, raping and killing a child. The addition is one of several changes that the Senate Judiciary Committee is considering before moving the sex offender bill to the Senate for debate. Other additions being considered include adding a life sentence to those sex offenders who commit such acts for a second time, and lifetime supervision for any sex offender. It will no longer be an experience where you sit in prison for 2? years and then you walk out the door free. They'll be sitting there for 10 years, and then hopefully be under lifetime supervision and [then] second offense, life, Sen. Chuck Larson, of Linn County. Senators expect the sex offender bill will go to the Senate floor for debate in a few weeks. (source: TheIowaChannel.com) CONNECTICUT: Doctor: Serial Killer Mentally Competent Psychiatrist Says Connecticut Serial Killer Who Wants to Be Executed Is Mentally Competent A state psychiatrist Thursday stood by his earlier finding that serial killer Michael Ross is mentally competent in deciding to forgo further appeals and volunteer to be executed. Dr. Michael Norko was the first witness to testify in new competency hearings for Ross, who is scheduled to die by injection May 11 in what would be the first execution in New England in nearly 45 years. He has admitted killing eight young women in Connecticut and New York in the 1980s. He clearly understands what's at stake, Norko said. The evidence is this is his decision, which he makes in contrast to what his friends, supporters and lawyers have advised him to do. Norko also testified that he's seen no evidence that Ross' decision was made out of despair and depression wrought by years of close confinement on death row. He's been able to cope OK on death row, Norko said. Overall he has been able to utilize his strengths to adapt to his circumstances to the extent that it's possible to adapt to the circumstances. Norko found Ross competent in December, but later questioned that finding after reading letters Ross wrote from prison. However, under questioning from prosecutor Kevin Kane, Norko didn't waver from his earlier findings based on a re-evaluation. Ross' attorney T.R. Paulding and court-appointed lawyer Thomas Groark were expected to cross-examine Norko later in the day. After hearing Norko's original findings, a judge ruled that Ross was competent, and that ruling was upheld by the state Supreme Court. Ross came within hours of being put to death on Jan. 28, but the execution was delayed when Paulding announced a potential conflict of interest. It was later disclosed that Chief U.S. District Judge Robert N. Chatigny had threatened to go after Paulding's law license if he found that Paulding, in pressing for a prompt execution, had neglected or ignored evidence that his client was incompetent. (source: AP / ABCNews)
[Deathpenalty]death penalty news --- FLORIDA
death penalty news April 8, 2005 FLORIDA: Raven Raven dies in muted public notice We've come a long way in how we kill. They injected him with drugs Tuesday, and convicted killer Raven Raven, once known as Glenn Ocha, quietly died many miles from the scene of his crime -- the 1999 murder of Carol Skjerva in Buenaventura Lakes. Only a select few got to witness his execution by lethal injection at Florida State Prison in Starke. That's a lot different from the black and white photographs of Eddie Broome on a scaffold outside the Osceola County Courthouse. Broome was Osceola's last legal hanging. A crowd turned up because such events were popular social outings. The date was Jan. 19, 1912, and it happened on a gallows built right outside the historic courthouse. There are a series of black and white pictures in the state archives documenting the final moments leading up to Broome's death. Those photos may be the basis for local folklore about a hanging tree used on blacks on the courthouse's north side. Of course, it's entirely possible that there were lynchings in the area. We are talking about the days when blacks and other minorities were almost always treated as second-class citizens. But no one has ever presented me with historic record of such illegal, immoral killings from those stately oaks. Broome's case is in the history books. He was arraigned in November 1910 in the shooting of Samuel Boatright and indicted the next January, according to old accounts. Broome claimed he was attacked by a knife-wielding Boatright. His attorneys asked for a trial delay to find witnesses for Broome's self-defense plea. It's not clear if the men -- from Tampa and Miami -- ever turned up, but Broome was convicted Dec. 1, 1911, and sentenced four days later. Broome's crime would not be that remarkable today. Headlines in the Osceola Journal of the time screamed: Eddie Broome is Finally Executed. Death is Speedy and Painless. In all he was tried, found guilty, sentenced and put to death in less than two months. The justice system doesn't move that quickly these days -- especially in capital cases. Raven didn't fight his execution, and so it moved faster than most. This week, the Sentinel's headline for Raven was of modest size and placement, stating: After words of remorse, killer is executed. Skjerva's death was gruesome. And while I feel for her family, I'm still torn about the merits of the death penalty. We have other means to protect society, so do we kill the convicted for retribution? On one hand, I believe in punishment. But on the other, I believe in the sanctity of life and the fact that we will all be judged by a higher power. You could argue that some killers are akin to animals, with no trace of humanity. Does that make it ethical to execute? It's a weighty question that I'd probably have a hard time staying steadfast on. But Gov. Jeb Bush didn't waiver in fulfilling his legal obligations in the Raven case. No matter what you believe, Raven became the 60th person executed in Florida since the 1976 reinstatement of the death penalty. It's a list that doesn't include all those, like Broome, who in another era paid for their crimes publicly -- and a lot closer to home. (source: Commentary by Marc Pino, Orlando Sentinel)
[Deathpenalty]death penalty news --- N.Y., USA
death penalty news April 8, 2005 NEW YORK: Putting death penalty on Death Row Talk about a mercy killing: Albany is finally on the verge of putting the death penalty out of its misery. It was last summer that the state's highest court, the Court of Appeals, pulled the plug on capital punishment in New York. Since then, the death law has lingered in a persistent vegetative state, not officially dead yet, but pretty darn close. Come this Tuesday, the Codes Committee of the Assembly is set to pass the legislative equivalent of a DNR, a do-not-resuscitate order - effectively deep-sixing one of the most pointless and most expensive laws in the history of crime fighting in New York. Who says Albany never learns from its mistakes? So much has changed in 10 years, David Kaczynski was saying from the capital yesterday. In 1995, we didn't have all this experience with DNA. We didn't have the questions about innocent people being killed. Ten years ago, crime was such a bigger emotional issue. Kaczynski runs a small but smart lobbying group called New Yorkers Against the Death Penalty. He was opposed to the state killing people when that was a lonely position and his cause seemed hopeless. He's just as opposed today, as he stands at the edge of an extraordinary victory. He can give you a thousand reasons - practical, moral, financial, political and personal - why capital punishment is a dreadful idea for a place like New York. Or anywhere, actually. Support for the death penalty has cooled significantly, he said, and the polls do seem to back him up. Remarkably, a Siena College survey last month found that only 29 percent of New Yorkers support death for first-degree murderers. Fifty-six percent said life in prison without parole is a more fitting punishment. Asked straight up if the death penalty has a place in New York law, 42 percent said yes, 46 said no. Voter backlash? What voter backlash? People are learning that when you try to play God, it is hard to get it right, Kaczynski said. Hard to make sure you have the right person every time. At the same time, we now have what was unavailable prior to 1995 - a sentence of life without parole. We have a fallback position to the death penalty. We can protect ourselves without shedding blood, without risking the death of an innocent person. All of that put together has affected public opinion and that has changed the politics. It would be naive, I suppose, to say that some moral argument has changed the hearts and minds of New York legislators. If history is any guide, that's an awful lot to expect from the people we send to Albany. It may just be that some assemblymen who once pandered to the public's death wishes are now reversing course, pandering to the public's pleas for restraint. Or maybe it was the death of an eloquently anti-death-penalty pope. Whatever! What a difference 10 years can make! If you doubt this, remember what happened to Mario Cuomo. A principled death-penalty opponent who vetoed every capital-punishment bill that crossed his desk, Cuomo paid the ultimate electoral price in 1994. After a campaign all about death, he was beaten by the pro-death Gov. George Pataki, who promptly gave crime-weary New Yorkers the death penalty they seemed so much to crave. Of course, no one was ever killed under that law, even though seven people were sentenced to die. The state's last execution was in 1963, under an earlier death penalty that was also found unconstitutional. And here's a depressing tabulation for a state with budget woes: We've now spent $200 million for 10 years worth of a death penalty that didn't kill anyone. Trial and appeal costs. Death-row construction and staffing. Prosecutor training and expert witnesses. Can't anyone think of better ways of fighting crime? More cops on the street? More drug-treatment slots? Job training, anti-gang programs or remedial reading classes? Irony alert: Cuomo's son, Andrew, the former federal housing secretary, is among the stronger voices working to keep the death bill in the ground where it belongs. And Pataki, nearing the end of his third term, doesn't seem to have the clout left to resurrect the death penalty. This could all be settled by next week. Joseph Lentol, the Brooklyn assemblyman who chairs the Codes Committee, says the death penalty just doesn't have the votes anymore. Lentol himself has gone from pro- to anti-death. And David Kaczynski is waiting anxiously through the weekend for the proper burial. We know the results now, he said. We've had this death penalty that sentenced seven people and didn't kill anyone. Nobody in Albany is gonna get punished for being against the death penalty now. (source: Ellis Henican Column, Newsday.com) USA: It's high time to kill the death penalty As we mourn Pope John Paul II's passing, it is important for us to reflect upon the culture of life that embodied his papacy. An important
[Deathpenalty]death penalty news --- worldwide
death penalty news April 9, 2005 GLOBAL: U.N. Urges Countries to Shed Light on Death Penalty A U.N. human rights investigator Friday urged countries to remove the cloak of secrecy surrounding the death penalty and disclose the number of executions and people on death row. Philip Alston, U.N. special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, said secrecy undermined safeguards that can prevent errors or abuses and ensure fair and just procedures at all stages. There is a need for every country that retains the death penalty to disclose publicly the number of executions, the crimes for which the people have been convicted, and ideally their identities, Alston told a news briefing. The argument is simple -- you cannot say that 'we have the death penalty because the majority of people in my country want it' and at the same time not tell the people what the situation is. It denies the human dignity of those sentenced, many of whom are still eligible to appeal, and it denies the rights of family members to know the fate of their closest relatives, he said. He also said he had sought an invitation to China and expected to visit Iran this year. Amnesty International, in a report this week, said China topped executions worldwide with 3,400 last year, followed by Iran with 159. Both states had executed under 18 year-olds in violation of international law, the London-based group said. Alston, an Australian jurist and law professor, was speaking to a news briefing after addressing the U.N. Commission on Human Rights. The forum's 53 member states are holding their annual six-week session in Geneva through April 22. (source: Reuters)
[Deathpenalty]death penalty news --- GEORGIA, IOWA
death penalty news April 8, 2005 GEORGIA: 'Aggravated circumstances' led to death penalty decision - DA seeks capital punishment in slaying of Pendergrass officer Killing a working policeman is such a heinous crime that Piedmont District Attorney Tim Madison decided last week to seek the death penalty for the man accused of killing a Pendergrass officer. Richard Whitaker, 27, of Flowery Branch, faces charges of felony murder, aggravated assault on a peace officer, possession of fire-arms by a convicted felon and five others. Police officer Chris Ruse was shot and killed Dec. 29. Madison filed a notice of intent March 31 with the Jackson County Superior Court that cites three reasons for seeking the toughest possible punishment for Whitaker. After we reviewed the case and interviewed the witnesses, it appeared there were two occasions of aggravated circumstance, one for murder and the second for murder to avoid a lawful arrest (of Whitaker himself), Madison said. To seek the death penalty there has to be at least one and in this case there were two, he said. A third factor in the decision is that Whitaker allegedly committed the crime while out on bond after a conviction for possession of methamphetamine and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, according to the notice. The trial's next step will be a first appearance hearing followed by an arraignment, which should happen sometime in the next 60 days, Madison said. The other man with Whitaker during the incident, Nolan Leon Chauvin IV, pleaded guilty to lesser charges last month. As part of Chauvin's plea bargain, he has agreed to testify against Whitaker, Madison said. Whitaker and Chauvin are being held in the Jackson County jail without bond. Ruse was 45 at the time of the Dec. 29 shooting, which happened about one mile from the Hall County border on U.S. 129. Authorities said Ruse had attempted to pull over a pickup truck for a traffic violation. (source: The Gainesville Times) IOWA: McKibben Calls for Debate on Death Penalty Currently, conviction on each such offense is punishable by life in prison without parole. Iowa does not have a death penalty. The toughest punishment we have in Iowa is life without parole, said McKibben. We simply can't stack up multiple life without parole penalties and have it mean something to these criminals. Clearly, the possibility of life without parole wasn't enough to deter Roger Bentley. We need to have a serious debate in the Legislature about instituting the death penalty for offenders like Bentley. McKibben also called on the Senate to take action on measures proposed earlier this week by Senate Republicans that would target sex offenders. Those proposals include the following: increasing penalties for the offense of lascivious acts with a child, more treatment for offenders while they're incarcerated, requiring mandatory supervision after sex offenders are released from prison, requiring those on the sex offender registry to provide DNA samples and restricting sex offenders from residing within 1,000 feet from schools and day care centers. On Thursday, the Senate Judiciary Committee appointed a bipartisan subcommittee to work on developing legislation aimed toughening Iowa's sex offender laws. McKibben, who was appointed to the committee, said future legislation must include these proposals. The subcommittee will be co-chaired by Sens. Chuck Larson (R-Cedar Rapids) and Bob Dvorsky (D-Coralville). Members on the committee include McKibben, Nancy Boettger (R-Harlan), Wally Horn (D-Cedar Rapids) and Gene Fraise (D-Fort Madison). In addition to the Senate proposals, the legislation developed by the subcommittee could also include items from a sex offender bill approved by the House on Wednesday. Sex offenders are among the most monstrous criminals in our society and they must be dealt with seriously, said McKibben. The state needs to ensure its taking every step to protect our children from these sexual predators. (source: Mid Iowa Enterprise)
[Deathpenalty]death penalty news --- USA; FLORIDA
death penalty news April 8, 2005 USA: Congress Should Not Expand the Death Penalty Joint Letter Opposing Capital Sentencing Provisions in H.R. 1279 April 4, 2005 The Honorable Howard Coble Chair, Judiciary Committee Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security Subcommittee House of Representatives Washington, DC 20515 The Honorable Robert C. Scott Ranking Member, Judiciary Committee Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security Subcommittee House of Representatives Washington, DC 20515 Re: H.R. 1279, The Gang Deterrence and Community Protection Act of 2005. Dear Representatives Coble and Scott: The undersigned organizations write to oppose the capital sentencing provisions in the Gang Deterrence and Community Protection Act of 2005 (H.R. 1279), which is scheduled for a hearing and markup on April 5. This bill would unwisely create several new death-eligible offenses and increase the penalty for some existing crimes to death, at a time of growing concern regarding the fairness and reliability of our nation's capital punishment system. Further, it grossly expands venue in capital cases so that crimes need not be prosecuted in the jurisdiction where they occurred, raising troubling questions of whether accused persons would have a fair trial by a jury of his or her peers. The increasing numbers of innocent people released from death row illustrates the fallibility of this system. Last year, a University of Michigan study identified 199 murder exonerations since 1989, 73 of them in capital cases. The same study found that death row inmates represent a quarter of 1 percent of the prison population but 22 percent of the exonerated. Since 1973, 119 innocent people have been released from death row. The death penalty is also racially and economically discriminatory. After its careful study of the death penalty in the United States, the United Nations' Human Rights Commission in 1998 issued a report which rightly concludes: Race, ethnic origin and economic status appear to be key determinants of who will, and who will not, receive a sentence of death. These problems are not confined to state systems; a recent Department of Justice survey documents racial, ethnic and geographic disparity in the charging of federal capital cases. Indeed, the review found that in 75 percent of the cases in which a federal prosecutor sought the death penalty, the defendant was a member of a minority group. The explanation for these extremely troubling disparities is unclear, but the possibility of discrimination and bias cannot be ruled out. We are also concerned that, in creating new federal death-eligible offenses out of traditional state crimes, the law will flout evolving community standards regarding the appropriateness of the death penalty for certain offenses. In contrast to the trend in many states, federal prosecutors appear to be seeking the death penalty more often than they did in the past. The expansive language of H.R. 1279 will only exacerbate these problems. This bill is so broadly drawn as to create death-eligible offenses in a wide range of crimes in which death occurs. This runs counter to Supreme Court jurisprudence that requires death penalty statutes to be narrowly drawn so that only the worst of the worst offenders are sentenced to death. H.R. 1279 also expands venue in capital cases, making any location even tangentially related to the crime a possible site for the trial. This change in law will increase the inequities that already exist in the federal death penalty system, giving prosecutors tremendous discretion to forum shop for the most death-friendly jurisdiction in which to try their case. The ability of federal prosecutors to choose their venue, across a wide range of possible states and jurisdictions, will lead to an increase in the racial and geographic disparities already at play in the federal death penalty system. For these reasons, we urge you to amend H.R. 1279 to eliminate the federal death-eligible offenses and to eliminate Section 110 that expands venue in capital cases. Thank you very much for your attention to this important matter. Respectfully Submitted, Laura W. Murphy Director American Civil Liberties Union Washington Legislative Office Tonya McClary Director of the Criminal Justice Program American Friends Service Committee Alexandra Arriaga Director of Governmental Relations Amnesty International USA Rabbi Marla Feldman Director Commission on Social Action of Reform Judaism Mike Farrell President Death Penalty Focus Shari Silberstein Co-Director Equal Justice USA/Quixote Center Jamie Fellner, Esq. Director, U.S. Program Human Rights Watch Wade Henderson Executive Director Leadership Conference on Civil Rights Renny Cushing Executive Director Murder Victims' Families for Human Rights Hilary Shelton Director NAACP Washington Bureau Barry C. Scheck President National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers Diann Rust-Tierney
[Deathpenalty]death penalty news----worldwide
April 7 JAPAN: Death penalty upheld for top Japanese cult member The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld a death sentence for Kazuaki Okazaki, a former senior member of the Aum Supreme Truth cult, for murdering lawyer Tsutsumi Sakamoto, his family and another member of the cult. Presiding Justice Niro Shimada rejected Okazaki's appeal, saying: The crimes were organized, carefully planned, ruthless and brutal. The defendant's criminal responsibility is extremely serious due to his aggressive participation in the killing of the people as a senior member of the cult. The appeal exhausted the defendant's last avenue to reduce the sentence, which the Tokyo District and Tokyo High courts handed down. Okazaki, 44, became the first among 13 Aum defendants with death sentences in the district and high courts to have reached the end of the road. The decision was unanimous among the court's 3 justices and confirmed the judgments of lower courts, which held that the murders were masterminded by Aum leader Chizuo Matsumoto, also known as Shoko Asahara. Matsumoto, 50, received a death sentence in his 1st-stage trial and has appealed the ruling. The Supreme Court's decision to uphold capital punishment for a perpetrator of Sakamoto's murder, which is largely seen as the starting point of the cult's criminal activities, will likely affect the trials of Matsumoto and other Aum leaders, judicial experts said. Okazaki, who changed his family name to Miyamae after being adopted by a Buddhist priest, has accepted prosecutors' charges since his 1st-stage trial. In the Supreme Court, his lawyers mainly disputed: -Whether his punishment should be reduced due to his voluntary surrender to police and contributions to the investigation. -Whether Okazaki was in a state of diminished capacity at the time of committing the crimes due to being brainwashed by Matsumoto. Judges at the first- and second-stage trials did not see any reason to reduce his sentence and concluded that his surrender placed priority on protecting his own interests, even though his surrender was legally recognized as voluntary. Thursday's ruling upheld this view, confirming the lower courts' judgments on the effects of mind control. According to the ruling, Matsumoto's brainwashing had not destroyed Okazaki's personality and he willingly obeyed Matsumoto's orders. The ruling concluded that his only motive had been to protect the organizational interests of the cult. Concerning the murder of the Sakamotos, the ruling said: He killed a lawyer and his family even though the man had only acted professionally. It was a crime of a strong antisocial nature that neglected to take any consideration of this nation's law. Lawyers insisted the defendant had deeply regretted his crimes since he had been arrested and had called on other members of the cult to leave the group in letters sent to the media. (source: The Yomiuri Shimbun)
[Deathpenalty]death penalty news----VA., S.C., ARIZ.
April 7 VIRGINIA: Death sentence upheld in Arlington pool hall slaying A federal appeals court upheld the death sentence of an Arlington man who had his appeal argued by former independent counsel Kenneth W. Starr. The 4th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Wednesday rejected Starr's argument that Robin M. Lovitt was denied his due process rights because a court clerk destroyed much of the physical evidence in the case, making post-conviction DNA testing impossible. Although the clerk made a serious error in judgment, the physical evidence had not been discarded in bad faith and the mistake occurred after Lovitt's trial, the three-judge panel wrote. Lovitt, 41, was convicted and sentenced to death for the November 1998 robbery and slaying of Clayton Dicks, 45, a night manager at the pool hall. Dicks was stabbed with scissors and about $200 was stolen. Starr, who led the investigation that led to the impeachment of President Bill Clinton, handled the Lovitt case pro bono. Starr's law firm, Kirkland Ellis, responded to the appeals court ruling with a statement: The death penalty simply is not an appropriate punishment in a case so suffused with constitutional error, and we will continue to pursue all available channels for relief. Emily Lucier, a spokeswoman for the Virginia attorney general's office, said prosecutors were pleased. This case has received an unprecedented amount of review of all of his claims, and his sentence should be carried out, she said. (source: Associated Press) SOUTH CAROLINAnew death sentence Killer Of Myrtle Beach Officer Gets Death Penalty A plea to keep him off death row for his 3-year-old daughter's sake wasn't enough to convince a jury to spare the life of a man who admitted killing a Myrtle Beach police officer more than 2 years ago. Horry County jurors deliberated about 2 hours Wednesday before sentencing Luzenski Allen Cottrell to death for shooting officer Joe McGarry in the head during a chance encounter. McGarry was killed outside a Dunkin' Donuts on Dec. 29, 2002 after checking to see if Cottrell had resolved some tickets McGarry had written weeks earlier for drug offenses. A fellow officer who was meeting McGarry to talk about his upcoming wedding said Cottrell pulled out a gun and started shooting without warning, leading to a gunfight in the parking lot that threatened the other officer and store customers. Speaking before his lawyer's closing argument, Cottrell admitted killing the officer, but asked jurors to spare his life because he has a young daughter. As the verdict was read, Cottrell showed little emotion and left the courtroom barely acknowledging his family. Cottrell's lawyer said the trial might have ended differently if a judge had not allowed testimony in the penalty phase about two other 2002 killings his client has been charged with but has not been tried. I never had a case where untried crimes of this severity were put before a jury, said attorney William Nettles, who plans to appeal. Prosecutor Greg Hembree successfully argued the 2 other murder charges would help jurors understand Cottrell's character. He's just got a thirst for killing and he kills for no good reason, Hembree said. McGarry was the 3rd officer in Horry County gunned down between 2000 and 2002. 2 of the killers have gotten the death penalty, while the other was sentenced to life in prison. If you kill and officer in Horry County you will face a death sentence and likely will get it, Hembree said. (source: Associated Press) ARIZONA: County to pay $1.4 mil to exonerated inmate Maricopa County supervisors on Wednesday unanimously approved a $1.4 million settlement with Ray Krone, the exonerated death-row inmate who spent more than a decade behind bars. Chairman Max Wilson apologized to Krone and said, I'm sorry it happened and it shows that we're just human. Krone, who now lives in Pennsylvania, said he was happy with the settlement but complained that those directly responsible had not expressed remorse to him. The supervisors offered their apologies even though they had not been involved in what happened to Krone. Krone, 48, was first convicted of 1st-degree murder and kidnapping in 1992. DNA tests later proved he didn't rape and murder a Phoenix bartender. Krone, a former postal worker, had filed a federal lawsuit against the Maricopa County Attorney's Office and Phoenix police. The suit involving Phoenix is ongoing. The county will cover $722,000 of the $1.4 million settlement. Insurance will cover the rest. Although Supervisor Fulton Brock voted to approve the settlement, he indicated that he didn't agree with where the board was going on the issue. For Ray Krone, his crooked smile became a criminal offense. Krone was wrongfully convicted twice of killing a Phoenix woman based largely on expert testimony that purportedly matched his teeth with bite marks found on the victim. Now the ABC reality show Extreme Makeover plans to
[Deathpenalty]death penalty news----worldwide
April 8 AUSTRALIA/INDONESIA: Nun's call to avert Schapelle Corby death penalty Sydney Josephite Sr Susan Connelly has called on the Australian Government to act to ensure that - innocent or guilty - Australian Schapelle Corby is returned home, rather than remain in Indonesia, where she faces the prospect of the 'death penalty by firing Squad'. Queensland Gold Coast resident Schapelle Corby has been detained in a Balinese prison and now awaits sentencing from a panel of judges on whether she will be committed to the death penalty, by a firing squad, for allegedly attempting to import four kilograms of cannabis into Indonesia. Sr Connelly, best known for her activism on behalf of the people of East Timor, said it is disgusting and barbaric in this day and age that a 'death penalty by firing squad' law exists, and that an Australian citizen should be subject to it. She said: This law is out-dated and inhumane, and considering that convicted terrorist Abu Bakar Bashir has only been sentenced to 2 years and six months jail (with the prospect of appeal) for his proven 'conspiracy' participation in the Bali bombings that killed 183 people, in the same country, it is inconsistent and absurd that another person should face the death penalty for allegedly smuggling cannabis into the country. Sr Connelly said that the Australian Government and airlines should be taking more responsibility for the incident, as it is the fault of the Australian airlines/airport that the drugs even left Australia in the first place. Corby's defence - and the weight of public opinion in Australia - claims that the drugs were planted in her bag by unscrupulous airline staff, for transit within Australia, but were not removed as intended. Sr Connelly is circulating a petition to be sent to the Australian Government. The Church's opposition to the death penalty has been highlighted this week with the death of Pope John Paul II, who condemned the practice alongside abortion and other manifestations of what he called the culture of death. Following representation in 1997 from Sr Helen Prejean, the nun who inspired 'Dead Man Walking', Pope John Paul II removed from the Catholic Catechism a loophole reference justifying the death penalty in certain circumstances. When he visited the United States 2 years later, he denounced the death penalty as cruel and unnecessary. (source: Catholic News) * Australia Pleads No Corby Death Penalty Australia has pleaded with Indonesia not to seek the death penalty in the drugs trial of an Australian woman on the holiday island of Bali, Justice Minister Chris Ellison said on Friday. Beauty therapist Schapelle Corby, 27, is accused of smuggling 4.1 kg of marijuana into Bali in 2004. The drugs were allegedly stashed in a boogie board, or bodyboard, bag. Corby has said she did not know the drugs were there. At this stage of the court proceedings I understand there is an avenue for the attorney-general in Indonesia to make representations to the prosecution in the preparation of their submission on sentencing, Ellison told Australian radio from Jakarta. I indicated to the Indonesian attorney-general our strong desire, indeed indicating to him the long standing policy of Australian governments, that the death penalty not be carried out and, indeed, in this case that it not be sought, he said. The case has attracted wide media attention in Australia at a time of improved relations with its majority Muslim neighbour. Analysts have warned of a backlash that would seriously damage that new relationship if the death penalty was carried out. Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said during a visit to Australia this week that he was watching the case closely. Judges in Bali on Thursday postponed a key trial session in which prosecutors had been expected to present their sentencing demand. Corby has denied the trafficking charges against her, but under law could be executed by firing squad if found guilty. Australian Prime Minister John Howard on Friday backed Ellison's plea to the Indonesian government. Ellison said Indonesia's government was treating the matter seriously and Indonesia's attorney-general had taken his request on board. Australia and Indonesia have also agreed to begin talks on a prisoner transfer agreement. Ellison said there were about 11 Australians in jail in Indonesia and more than 30 Indonesians imprisoned in Australia. (source: Reuters) UNITED NATIONS: U.N. Urges Countries to Shed Light on Death Penalty A U.N. human rights investigator Friday urged countries to remove the cloak of secrecy surrounding the death penalty and disclose the number of executions and people on death row. Philip Alston, U.N. special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, said secrecy undermined safeguards that can prevent errors or abuses and ensure fair and just procedures at all stages. There is a need for every country
[Deathpenalty]death penalty news----FLA., USA., CONN., MO.
April 9 FLORIDA: Woman seeking father meets death-row inmateA DNA test will tell whether the convicted killer is a New Jersey woman's father. Tonya Cartagena is finally getting to know the man who very well may be her father -- convicted death row inmate Sonny Ray Jeffries. The 22-year-old woman, who recently moved to Central Florida from New Jersey, met with Jeffries before his court hearing Friday and received word that he will consent to a DNA test. His participation should put to rest Cartagena's one burning question: Who is her father? I'm convinced [Jeffries is the father] but . . . I'm not getting my hopes up, she said Friday. I do want to know for sure if he's my dad. Because if he's my dad, we can start fresh . . . and try to catch up on a lot of things. Cartagena said she intends to maintain a relationship with Jeffries -- even from death row -- if he is her father. If it turns out Jeffries is not, Cartagena said she will give up her search. The Jeffries case made news last month, after the death row inmate went to court to determine whether he is competent to give advice to his attorney. Jeffries, who was convicted and sentenced to death in the stomping death of an Orlando landlady during a 1993 robbery, has indicated that he wants to waive his appeals and speed his sentence. That means Jeffries seeks to die by lethal injection sooner. But his appeals attorney, Daphney Gaylord, has argued that Jeffries has a lengthy history of mental illness and is not competent. Whether Jeffries is mentally ill has been central to his case for a long time. He and Harry Thomas robbed and killed Wilma Martin, 68, in her Orlando home in August 1993. Thomas pleaded guilty to 2nd-degree murder and was sentenced to 20 years in prison. But it took almost 5 years for Jeffries to go to trial because he was sent to a state mental hospital twice. Then, in 1998, a jury found Jeffries guilty of killing Martin, who rented a house to his brother. Jeffries represented himself during the trial. After his conviction, he admitted killing Martin but said untreated gonorrhea drove him mad. On Friday, doctors presented differing opinions on Jeffries' mental state and competence. Orange Circuit Judge Bob Wattles isn't expected to rule on his competence for at least 2 weeks. Cartagena read about Jeffries in the Orlando Sentinel and learned about his wishes to give up his appeals and, likely, be put to death. Last summer, she discovered that the man she grew up thinking was her biological father was not, after a DNA test. Then family members and her mother indicated that Jeffries could be her father. And she learned where Jeffries resides. But her earlier attempts to communicate with Jeffries, who is normally held at the Union Correctional Institution in Raiford, were unsuccessful. In court Friday, the heavily shackled Jeffries and Cartagena met in a private room and briefly chatted. They share similar features -- especially their eyes -- and skin color. When they returned to the courtroom, Wattles said he would enter an order for the DNA test based on Jeffries' consent. The test results may only be used to determine paternity, Wattles said. Cartagena said she was nervous during their meeting. Jeffries asked about her family and her 3 young children -- who might be Jeffries' grandchildren. She didn't have baby pictures to show him. And they didn't embrace each other, she said. I'm not ready for that yet, said Cartagena, who also described the meeting as very weird. It kind of makes me sad, Cartagena said of Jeffries' intent to waive his appeals. But this is what he wants and nobody can change his mind. She said that he indicated to her that he wants to get it done and over with. But Gaylord, Jeffries' lawyer, said he was excited about the meeting and the prospect that he may have a daughter he never knew. I believe it has had an impact on his mind-set. I think it has had an impact. So that's good for us, Gaylord said. (source: Orlando Sentinel) *** Florida Seeking Death Penalty For Christopher Popjes The 2 men charged in the death of a 14-year old Florida boy could get the death penalty. This morning, a Florida grand jury decided to charge Christopher Popjes, formerly known as Christopher Buist, on 1st degree murder charges. Meanwhile, West Michigan native William Popjes was arraigned today. He pled not guilty. The state of Florida decided to seek the death penalty for both. The pair will be in court again next month. (source: WZZM News) USA: Time to terminate the death penalty -- At issue: Should the U.S. end the death penalty? -- Our view: The system is badly broken and no longer is a deterrent. Recent news is pushing the capital punishment debate back into the spotlight. This week, Amnesty International reported that 3,797 people were openly executed in 25 countries last year, but that it has evidence to assume the actual number may have been closer
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news-----TEXAS, IDAHO, OHIO, N.Y., N.C.
APRIL 9 TEXAS: Texas warden who presided over nearly 100 executions writes about career Jim Willett figured he could make more money and better accommodate his class schedule at Sam Houston State University by quitting his job pumping gas and taking a job as a prison guard. I had no intention of staying there, said Willett, whose first day on the job was just down the street from his school in downtown Huntsville at the legendary Walls Unit, the flagship of the state prison system. He manned a picket - a guard tower - right above the Texas death chamber. As soon as I got my degree, I was getting out, Willett said. He got out. 30 years later. His experiences - tragic, humorous, grim and personal - are chronicled in Warden: Texas Prison Life and Death from the Inside Out, an autobiography being released in April. Co-written with Ron Rozelle, Willett's former college roommate and now a creative writing teacher in the Brazosport Independent School District, the book follows Willett's moves through a Texas corrections agency that grew from about 20,000 inmates when he started in 1971 to among the nation's largest at more than 150,000 by the time he left. Willett, who grew up in Groesbeck, rose through the ranks from a rookie boot to Texas Warden of the Year before retiring in 2001 at the Walls Unit - officially the Huntsville Unit of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, but known by its nickname for its tall red brick walls. Along the way, Willett had a front-row seat for some of the most spectacular events in modern Texas prison history and gained notoriety for presiding over nearly 100 executions, more than any warden in America. I would hope somebody who reads the book would say they found it entertaining, educational and learn some inside stuff about the prison system, Willett, 55, said in an interview at the Texas Prison Museum, which he now directs. He writes about being on the front lines during the longest prison siege in U.S. history. For 11 days in 1974, inmates at the Walls Unit took hostages in a standoff that ended with the deaths of 2 inmates and two of the 8 hostages. Willett was among officers who went through the clothing worn by the inmates killed, wishing I was wearing gloves and a mask, and flicked away tiny particles of skin and bone when I came to them, he writes. Willett also was outside the death house in 1982 as inmate Charlie Brooks was set to become the 1st condemned prisoner in America to receive lethal injection. The only thing I was sure of was that I was damned glad to not be in there, he writes. I figured that I could go the rest of my life without watching someone die. That wouldn't happen, and Willett in the late 1990s, after taking over as warden in Huntsville, became almost synonymous with the most active capital punishment program in the country. To the best of my memory, I have never physically hurt anybody in my life, Willett said. To be associated with this, it's just an ironic thing. My way of making it through all those things was: You're just a cog in this wheel. In the book, he laments about the incessant requests, particularly from media, for a glimpse into his deadly duties. They were always about executions, he writes about interview requests. Our inmates made toys for orphans, raised money for a child burn victim, and bought canned food at the commissary to donate to the poor. That wasn't news. Me taking off my glasses (his sign to the executioner to begin the flow of lethal drugs) and shutting a human life down was news. Willett focuses on a handful of lethal injections in the book, which took about a year to assemble. His first was notable because the needle unexpectedly popped out of inmate Joe Cannon's arm and had to be re-inserted. In 2000, he gave the signal to execute convicted murderer Gary Graham, who resisted violently as officers tried to get him from a holding cell to the death chamber while hundreds of people demonstrated outside Willett's prison and officers in riot gear stood watch. Then there was notorious serial killer Kenneth McDuff, believed to be the only condemned inmate in the nation ever paroled and then returned to death row for another murder. Executed in 1998, he was linked to 14 slayings. Executions are still the worst part of my job. Hands down, wrote Willett, who kept a journal of executions he presided over. There have even been nights when my heart - at least a part of it - has gone out to the inmate himself, stretched out on the gurney. Not tonight. Tonight, no matter what the opponents of capital punishment might say, I know that we've ridded the world of a man that it will be better off without. One drama Willett managed to avoid during his career was being in charge of a prison where an escape occurred. On that last night, when I got out and started to drive off, I thought how lucky I was, he said. Nobody had escaped. That's your worse fear, at least it was for me. What a great thing to
[Deathpenalty]death penalty news----CALIF., USA, IOWA, FLA.
April 10 CALIFORNIA: Drawing ConclusionsDespite verdict, investigator remains on Peterson case Even though a 12-member jury recently convicted Scott Peterson of murdering his wife and unborn child, private detective Carl Jensen of Roseville is still working on the case. The reason? Unlike the jury and many people throughout the country, he doesn't believe Peterson is the one who committed the crime. Jensen says he was the lead investigator for Peterson's defense and his main job throughout the trial was trying to find the person the defense team believed committed the crime and murdered Laci Peterson, who was eight months pregnant at the time of her death. Jensen believes Peterson was convicted of murder and sentenced to death on the basis of circumstantial evidence. Based on everything I know, I don't believe Scott is guilty, Jensen said. I feel everybody deserves a strong defense. My job is to gather the facts to prove the truth. I find it despicable when someone doesn't tell the truth. Jensen recalls having a significant caseload when Peterson's lead attorney, Mark Geragos, called and asked Jensen to help with the defense team. Jensen said that whenever he starts a new case it doesn't matter which side he's on, defense or prosecution. The important aspect is finding the truth. When I go into something, I don't decide whether the person is guilty or not, he said. My job is to find the truth. I'm a hard worker. People are always telling me that. According to the law, prisoners like Peterson who are on death row have an automatic right to appeal their case. Jensen said Peterson also has the right to a writ of habeas corpus, which is a judicial mandate to a prison official ordering that an inmate be brought to court in order to determine whether or not the defendant has been imprisoned lawfully. While Peterson's appeal is automatic, Jensen said the next step is to find someone to agree to defend him. Jensen says he was the 1st outsider to see Peterson after his arrival at San Quentin. Although he refuses to answer specific questions concerning the case or provide his personal observations of Peterson, Jensen recalls the San Quentin meeting as a disturbing experience. But it's a reality check of where we are in this case. It's difficult because I feel he's innocent, said Jensen, who would not reveal how many hours a week he is currently on the case or if he is still being paid for his efforts. I believe in our legal system, but I also believe it is sometimes flawed. Working with Peterson and the defense team required long hours and Jensen had to readjust his own family's schedule. He said the experience has been stressful for him and his family, but he has no regrets about being involved. I know people will criticize me because I'm still working on this, but everyone deserves due process, he said. I always think, this could be my son or daughter and that's what motivates me to keep going and find the truth. Jensen has worked on tough cases before. In addition to being an investigator, Jensen says he worked for the FBI, where he focused on foreign intelligence, such as the former Soviet Union's KGB. His career has spanned 26 years and includes experience in the corporate and private sectors as an investigator, as well as U.S. Navy Investigative Services. He claims to have made significant accomplishments in criminal defense work and pro per cases where defendants act as their own attorney. Jensen's daughter, Heather, a 2004 Granite Bay High School graduate, said her family was extremely supportive of her father's decision to work on Peterson's trial. It was a huge part of our lives, Heather said. I admire my dad, especially now, for continuing with the case. He's doing what he believes. I'd be disappointed if he didn't continue. Jenson's daughter said she learned not to completely believe everything she heard or saw through the news media. Instead she did her own research and formed her own opinion about the case. She also believes Peterson is not guilty. Jensen said before becoming involved with the Peterson case he used to be in favor of the death penalty. Now he's not so sure because he feels Peterson was convicted on circumstantial evidence. This case has really changed my mind, he said. Even though Jensen and his daughter believe someone other than Peterson committed the crime, many local residents don't agree. Granite Bay resident Christine Jantzen and Jenny Bremen of El Dorado Hills agreed with the guilty verdict. I think he was found guilty because of the deceit that was evident throughout and the double life he seemed to be leading, Jantzen said. I think he was trying to get rid of her (Laci). Bremen echoed Jantzen's thoughts. I was happy with the verdict, she said. I think he did it because of the lack of emotion he displayed from the beginning. I just don't think that someone whose wife was missing would act the way he did. (source: The Roseville
[Deathpenalty]death penalty news----ALA., MISS., OHIO, VER.
April 10 ALABAMA: Lawyer opposing death row helps save bomber's lifeAdvocate had role in other plea pacts The lawyer who brokered the agreement to spare the life of Eric Rudolph, the convicted serial bomber, has helped to keep other high-profile defendants off death row -- including Ted Kaczynski, the Unabomber. That lawyer, Judy Clarke, has been described as a 1-woman Dream Team by a colleague who helped her defend Susan Smith, the South Carolina mom who avoided a death sentence after being convicted of drowning her two boys in 1995. (The Dream Team of lawyers helped to acquit O.J. Simpson of the murder of his wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and a waiter, Ronald Goldman, in 1994.) Clarke helped Kaczynski to arrange a plea and avoid a death sentence, and on Friday, Rudolph followed suit, agreeing to plead guilty to the deadly 1996 Olympic park bombing in Atlanta, a fatal 1998 abortion clinic blast in Birmingham, and two others in Atlanta in 1997. A staunch opponent of capital punishment, Clarke works for the federal defender's office in San Diego. She just doesn't believe in the death penalty, so she does everything she can to keep that from happening, said Doug Jones, who was US attorney in Birmingham as the clinics were bombed. In court, where she typically wears dark suits with floppy bow ties, Clarke showed what appeared to be an easy familiarity with Rudolph. She often leaned over to whisper to him or occasionally put a hand on his shoulder to make a point. Rudolph, believed to be a follower of a white supremacist religion that is anti-abortion, anti-gay and anti-Semitic, became an almost mythic figure to some in the region as he eluded a manhunt in the Appalachian wilderness that lasted more than 5 years. He was captured in Murphy, N.C., in 2003 and charged with carrying out a string of bombings that killed 2 people and wounded more than 120. Clarke has Southern roots; she grew up in Asheville, N.C., not far from where Rudolph built his bombs. This could have helped Rudolph get comfortable enough to make the bargain, said Jones, who has known Clarke for years. I think she obviously ended up being critical in this case, Jones, who is now a lawyer in private practice, said yesterday. Clarke herself, who rarely grants interviews, did not return messages seeking comment. A former president of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, Clarke gained prominence with the Susan Smith case, when she convinced jurors that Smith did not deserve to die for drowning her sons by strapping them in a car and driving it into a lake. She gave her $83,000 fee for the case to a group that defends the poor in capital cases. Before an Alabama judge appointed her to represent Rudolph, Clarke was assisting with the defense of Zacarias Moussaoui, the only US defendant charged in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Rudolph will receive four consecutive life terms if judges agree to the plea arrangement; hearings are set for Wednesday. He may be sent to the same federal prison in Colorado that houses Kaczynski. Rudolph still must tell judges enough about the crimes to prove that he really committed the bombings. He directed authorities to stashes of 250 pounds of stolen dynamite and a bomb in western North Carolina. That information helped prompt prosecutors to make the agreement. But Rudolph apparently isn't under any requirement to explain how or why he launched the string of bombings. Emily Lyons, a nurse who was critically wounded in the Alabama bombing, said she was troubled by the possibility that she may never know what really happened. Rudolph's remote-controlled bomb, which prosecutors say was housed in a green toolbox disguised with fake greenery, blasted away Lyons' memory of that day as it caused severe wounds to her body. I have no concept of what a bomb does except for what happened to me, Lyons said in an interview. I want to know what happened. I want them to piece the day together for me. (source: Associated Press) MISSISSIPPI: Death row inmate found dead days before hearing Mississippi corrections officials are investigating the death of inmate Jason Glen Taylor. Department of Corrections spokeswoman Tara Frazier said Taylor, 25, was found dead Friday in Unit 32 at the Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman. Unit 32 houses death row. Details of Taylor's death were being withheld pending an investigation, she said. Taylor was scheduled to appear in Harrison County Circuit Court on Monday on a motion for a new trial, said Assistant District Attorney Lisa Dodson. Donald G. Rafferty, one of Taylor's attorneys, said he didn't know the details of his death, but I am very saddened by the whole tragic event. The crime and now this have ruined a lot of people's lives. Taylor was sentenced to death following his conviction in the Oct. 12, 2002, robbery and slaying of 18-year-old Chelle Cazeaux. She was shot in the back and struck in the head while working alone at
[Deathpenalty]death penalty news----TEXAS, VA., CONN.
April 10 TEXAS: Sterling appeal has AG working: Death row inmate seeks stay from Supreme Court The Texas Attorney General's Office is working on its response to a U.S. Supreme Court appeal filed by the attorneys representing death row inmate Gary Lynn Sterling. Sterling is scheduled for a May 25 execution date, two months to the day before his 38th birthday. He has been on death row for more than 15 years. Jerry Strickland, a spokesman for the capital litigation department of the AG's office, said the work will continue throughout April. We have until April 22 to file our response, Strickland said this week. We are basically responding to (Sterling's) claims. Sterling was convicted for the May 14, 1988 of Navarro County resident John W. Carty. He was first apprehended in connection with the May 17, 1988 murders of two elderly brothers in Hill County -- Leroy and William M. Porter, 70 and 72 years old, respectively. Sterling received two life sentences for the Porter murders as part of a plea bargain agreement with the Hill County prosecutor. He admitted to the slaying of Carty after he was arrested for the Porter murders, directing law enforcement officers of Hill and Navarro counties to the body in an area near the Brushie Prairie community. Also found with Carty were the remains of 52-year-old Deloris June Smith. It was later determined that Carty had been beaten to death with an automotive bumper jack. Sterling was never tried in connection with the Smith murder. The defense appeal is based on a contention of ineffective defense counsel in his original trial, according to a copy of defense appeal documents provided by the AG's office this week. Local attorney Rob Dunn was court-appointed to represent Sterling at the February 1989 trial. Austin attorney Robert C. Owen is representing Sterling at the federal appeals level. Neither Dunn nor Owen returned calls for comment this week. Owen's office was contacted Wednesday and a voice mail message was left. A woman who answered a phone call Friday to Dunn's office said he was gone for the week. Owen's Writ of Certiorari (the legal name for the appeals document filed on Sterling's behalf) contends that Dunn had knowledge one of the jurors selected for the 1989 trial was likely a racist. Sterling is black while his victim, Carty, was white. As a part of the appeal document, Owen cites an interview his investigator had with that juror -- an affidavit covering it was submitted as part of an earlier, unsuccessful appeal -- in which it became clear that (the juror) harbored racial bias against African-Americans. The attorney also notes later appeal hearing testimony by Dunn where Dunn admitted he knew the juror personally and he felt it likely the juror had racist feelings. Dunn argued at that hearing, however, that allowing the person to become part of the jury was a strategic decision. Dunn said he felt the personal relationship he had with the juror would outweigh any shortcomings the juror's possible racial bias might have. At earlier levels of the appeals process, courts have refused to find evidence satisfying requirements to prove ineffective counsel claims by the defense. The arguments will be front and center when the Supreme Court takes up the case. They will have slightly more than four weeks from the attorney general's office's deadline for filing its response until execution day. Should the nation's highest court refuse to overturn the death sentence in this case, Sterling's only remaining option will be the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles and Gov. Rick Perry. The board can vote to recommend a stay of execution, then the governor has the right to uphold the stay or ignore it. In Navarro County's most recent death row case, the board voted 15-0 against Cameron Todd Willingham and he was executed Feb. 17, 2004. It is rare for the board to vote in favor of a death row inmate. (source: Corsicana Daily Sun) Man who took son on murder spree sentenced to die An Irving man who brought along his young son as he killed his pregnant wife and mother-in-law was sentenced Thursday to die by lethal injection. A Denton County jury reached that decision against Christopher Swift, 30, who went on the killing spree in April 2003. Jurors sentenced Swift to die after determining that he was a risk to society and that there were no mitigating circumstances for him to serve a life sentence, court officials said. The same jury convicted Swift on Wednesday of capital murder in the slayings of his wife, Amy Sabeh-Swift, 27, at their Irving home, and his mother-in-law, Sandra Sabeh, 61, at her Lake Dallas home. His wife was 8 months' pregnant and her unborn child also died. Prosecutors did not pursue charges in that case. Defense attorneys had argued that Swift was insane at the time of the deadly attacks. After killing his wife and mother-in-law, Swift checked into a Farmers Branch motel and abandoned his
[Deathpenalty]death penalty news----worlwdide
April 11 IRAQ: New Iraqi president opposed to Saddam death sentence Iraq's new president, Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani, hinted in an interview published Sunday that he opposed the idea of ousted dictator Saddam Hussein being sentenced to death. I am among the lawyers who signed an international petition against the death penalty in the world and it would be problem for me if Iraqi courts issued death sentences, he told the pan-Arab Asharq al-Awsat newspaper. Talabani, who was sworn in as president Thursday, was answering a question about the fate of Saddam, who is in U.S. custody in Iraq awaiting trial for war crimes and crimes against humanity and could face the death penalty. The new head of state, who spent much of his life fighting Saddam's regime, stressed however that he could not decide on a pardon individually if the deposed president was sentenced to death. The issue of a possible pardon is the responsibility of the presidential council and I cannot make an individual decision, he told the London-based newspaper. Kurds were among the communities who suffered the most under the iron-fisted rule of Saddam. Among the main charges facing him and his henchmen is the brutal Anfal campaign against the Kurds carried out in the 1980s. However, Talabani kicked off his tenure as the war-torn country's president on a conciliatory note, proposing amnesty for insurgents in a bid to reach political unity. Talabani also sought to allay fears that as a Kurd he would pursue his own community's agenda and let national and Arab interests fall by the wayside. For 50 years, I have worked actively for an alliance between Kurds and Arabs and deployed tremendous efforts to establish good relations with leaders in the western world and in the Arab world, he said. We are keen to revive Iraq's real Arab and international role, bearing in mind that Iraq is a founding member of the Arab League. Iraq will play an effective Arab role by consolidating Arab solidarity and security and taking part with its Arab brothers in efforts to find a solution to crucial issues that as the Palestinian one, he added. (source: Agence France Presse) SOUTH KOREA: Ministry to overhaul death penalty statutes The Ministry of Justice has commenced a review of the death penalty statutes which stipulate nearly 90 different offenses subject to capital punishment, ministry officials said yesterday. We're looking into the death penalty statutes to reduce the number of crimes that can be punished by the penalty, focusing mainly on those offenses which do not involve risking or taking someone's life, Yonhap quoted a ministry official as saying. The ministry, which has been opposing a move by politicians to abolish capital punishment, came up with the measure to prepare for the possibility that the National Assembly may decide to retain it, upholding the general sentiment still in support of the death penalty. As a ministry obliged to protect people's life and body from crimes, we remain cautious on the abolishment of capital punishment, but it is desirable to seek a stricter application of the punishment, the official said. A bill to replace capital punishment with life imprisonment without parole or pardon is now pending in the parliament, submitted by Uri lawmaker Yoo Ihn-tae and signed by a total of 175 lawmakers. Putting spurs to the death penalty opponents' drive, the National Human Rights Commission decided Wednesday to recommend to the government that it repeal the death penalty because it undermines human dignity. However, a survey conducted by the commission in 2003 found 69.5 % supporting the death penalty and another survey by the private Korea Social Opinions Research Institute in 2004 showed 66.3 % were in favor of the death penalty. According to the ministry, there exist 87 clauses in 17 different laws leading to capital punishment in Korea. Almost 1/2 of them are from the Military Criminal Law, while 15 others belong to Criminal Law, eight to the Additional Punishment Law on Specific Crimes, and 4 from the National Security Law. Experts have been criticizing the current legal system for excessively applying capital punishment, citing the example of other countries such as the United States and Japan which have only 5 or 6 crimes punished by the death penalty. The ministry's overhaul plan is seen as a response to such arguments, aiming to revise 55 offense clauses that are not crimes against someone's life but subject to capital punishment. We need a thorough study on whether there has been any case in the past in which offenders of those crimes were actually sentenced to death, and whether the changes in our society call for any change in the way we punish offenders of a certain crime, the ministry official said. In Korea, there are 57 criminal convicts on death row but no executions have taken place since 1998. (source: The Korea Herald)
[Deathpenalty]death penalty news----worldwide
URGENT ACTION APPEAL UPDATE Note: Please write on behalf of this person even though you may not have received the original UA when issued on January 13, 2003. Thanks! 8 April 2005 Further Information on EXTRA 05/03 issued 15 January 2003 and re-issued 18 March 2005; 29 April 2004; 24 June 2003; 7 March 2003 - Death penalty UZBEKISTAN: Farid Nasibullin (m ), aged 31 Amnesty International has learnt that a prisoner on death row, Akhrorkhuzha Tolipkhuzhaev, was executed at the beginning of March, even though the Uzbekistani authorities assured the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Committee that he was still alive on 21 March 2005. This heightens fears that Farid Nasibullin could be executed at any time. On 6 April Akhrorkhuzha Tolipkhuzhaev's father received a death certificate confirming that his son had been executed five weeks earlier, on 1 March. On 21 March, members of the UN Human Rights Committee had questioned Uzbekistani government representatives about allegations that the execution had taken place, despite an earlier request by the Committee for a stay of execution. The government representatives had insisted that Akhrorkhuzha Tolipkhuzhaev was still alive. The fact that Akhrorkhuzha Tolipkhuzhaev had not been the subject of mass international appeals appears to have been a decisive factor in his death. Farid Nasibullin is one of eight people on death row on whose behalf the UN Human Rights Committee has requested a stay of execution while it considers whether their cases have violated key provisions of the International Covenant for Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). The Uzbekistani authorities are obliged to comply with the Committee's requests, and gave assurances to the Committee that all eight were alive. However, as the authorities have blatantly disregarded their international obligations by executing Akhrorkhuzha Tolipkhuzhaev, there are no longer any guarantees that they will respect the Committee's request to stay any of these executions. BACKGROUND INFORMATION The Uzbekistani authorities told the (UN) Human Rights Committee in March 2005 that during 2003 and 2004 they had executed a total of 15 death row prisoners on whose behalf the UN Human Rights Committee had intervened. Uzbekistan has ratified the first Optional Protocol to the ICCPR, and has therefore committed itself to follow the recommendations of the UN Human Rights Committee, including requests for stays of execution. According to a statement by President Islam Karimov on 2 December 2004, between 50 and 60 people were sentenced to death during that year. However, in violation of Uzbekistan's international obligations, the country has never published comprehensive statistics on the numbers of death sentences and executions. Relatives and death row prisoners themselves are not informed of the date of execution in advance. The location of the burial sites of executed prisoners is kept secret, compounding the anguish of their relatives. RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible: - urging the President to commute the death sentence of Farid Nasibullin and all other prisoners on death row; - expressing dismay that official assurances that Akhrorkhuzha Tolipkhuzhaev was still alive were given to the UN Human Rights Committee when he had in fact been executed three weeks earlier; - expressing serious concern that Farid Nasibullin, and seven other death row prisoners on whose behalf the UN Human Rights Committee has intervened, may also have been executed; - urging the authorities to provide tangible proof that Farid Nasibullin and the other seven are still alive; - urging the authorities to prove that they are upholding their obligations as a party to the first Optional Protocol to the ICCPR, which include honouring the Committee's requests for stays of execution. APPEALS TO: (Please note that it can be difficult getting through to fax numbers in Uzbekistan. If a voice answers, repeat 'fax' until you hear the signal; otherwise leave your fax machine on auto-redial if possible. Fax machines may be switched off outside office hours - 10 hours ahead of Eastern Daylight Savings Time): President : Islam A. KARIMOV, Rezidentsia prezidenta ul. Uzbekistanskaia, 43 Tashkent 700163 UZBEKISTAN Fax: 011 998 71 139 15 17 (Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Please write for the attention of President Karimov at the top of your fax) Email: presidents_off...@press-service.uz Salutation: Dear President Karimov Minister of Internal Affairs: Zakirzhan ALMATOV Ministerstvo vnutrennikh del RU, ul. Novruz , 1 Tashkent 700029 UZBEKISTAN Fax: 011 998 71 133 89 34 Salutation: Dear Minister Almatov Head of the National Centre for Human Rights: Akmal Saidov Natsionalny tsentr po pravam cheloveka 5/3, Mustakillik Maidoni g. Tashkent Respublika Uzbekistan 700029 UZBEKISTAN Fax: 011 998 71 139 13 56 / 139 45 16 E-mail: off...@nchr.uz Salutation: Dear Senator Saidov COPIES TO: Minister of Foreign Affairs:
[Deathpenalty]death penalty news-----worldwide
April 11 SUDAN: Two Zaghawa Tribe Members Severely Tortured, now Face Death Penalty Monday April 11th, 2005 16:10. Sudan Organisation Against Torture SOAT Press Release: April 11 2005 On 22 February 2005 at 11.30am, Sudanese armed forces arrested two men from the Zaghawa tribe in Shourom village, Nyala province, Southern Darfur state on suspicion of joining the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA). The details of the men are as follows: 1. Mahmoud Abaker Osman, (38 yrs) merchant, Zaghawa 2. Diggo Abdel Jabbar, Omda (community leader), (45 yrs), merchant, Zaghawa Mahmoud Abaker Osman and Diggo Abdel Jabbar are currently detained in Nyala prison, and face charges that carry the death penalty. The two men were reportedly tortured repeatedly and severely whilst in the custody of the armed forces and military intelligence, and have serious injuries as a result. Both men have been denied access to medical treatment and there are serious concerns for their health. Following their arrest on 22 February 2005, the two men were reportedly taken by government armed forces to a military camp in Sanya Afondu village (approximately 70 Km south east of Nyala) where they were detained in a hole in the ground for 11 days. During this time, eight soldiers, under the control of a senior ranking military official, beat the men with sticks all over their bodies, beat them with metal sticks on the head and legs, flogged them on the back and chest and burnt their feet and hands with fire. On 4 March 2005, the two men were transferred into the custody of the Military Intelligence in Nyala, where they were detained incommunicado, and denied food for five days. On 13 March 2005, Mahmoud Abaker Osman and Diggo Abdel Jabbar were taken to Nyala Wasat (central) police station and charged under Article 51 (Waging War against the State) and Article 58 (Abetment to Mutiny) of the 1991 Sudanese Penal Code, which carry the death penalty. On 19 March 2005, after six days in police custody, the two men were transferred to Nyala prison where they remain in detention and are denied access to medical treatment. Mahmoud Abaker Osman and Diggo Abdel Jabbar are now awaiting trial before the Specialised Criminal Courts in Darfur, which hold summary trials that fall far short of international standards and accept confessions extracted under torture. Background Over the past two years, a pattern of widespread and systematic recourse to torture perpetrated by the National Security Agency (NSA) and the Military Intelligence operating in Darfur has emerged. Torture is widely used in Darfur, often to extract confessions of membership or affiliation to the armed opposition groups operating in the region. Members of the sedentary communities in Darfur, such as the Zaghawa, Fur and Maselit, are particularly targeted as they are perceived to support the armed opposition movements. Detainees in Darfur are often not informed of the reason for arrest and are detained incommunicado without charge or trial for extended periods of time. They can be brought before Specialised Criminal Courts in Darfur which hand down cruel, inhuman and degrading punishments, including the death penalty. Specialised Criminal Courts which operate in Darfur fall far short of international standards for fair trial. Confessions extracted under torture are accepted as evidence and there are curbs on the right to appeal. The right to defence is limited, with lawyers often reliant on the good will of the judge to enable them to attend the court and represent their client. SOAT expresses serious concern for the health and well-being of Mahmoud Abaker Osman and Diggo Abdel Jabbar who have sustained severe injuries through torture and calls on the Sudanese authorities to: Grant the two men immediate access to medical treatment and legal advice Immediately investigate the alleged incidents of torture and ensure that those responsible are brought to justice Take all necessary measures to ensure the physical and psychological integrity of the detainees Ensure that Mahmoud Abaker Osman and Diggo Abdel Jabbar are brought promptly brought before a court that operates in compliance with international standards of fair trial. SOAT is an international human rights organisation established in the UK in 1993. If you have any questions about this or any other SOAT information, please contact us: Argo House Kilburn Park Road London NW6 5LF, UK Tel: +44 (0)20 7625 8055 Fax: +44 (0)20 7372 2656 E-mail: i...@soatsudan.org Website: www.soatsudan.org
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----P. RICO, OHIO, N.Y., N.H., CONN., IOWA
April 11 PUERTO RICO: Murder case unites Puerto Ricans against death penaltyCapital punishment prohibited on island, but Washington says federal crimes an exception. The possible execution of two men convicted of murdering a security guard is arousing broad opposition in this U.S. territory, where some are calling it only the latest intrusion by the federal government into local affairs. Puerto Rico abolished capital punishment in 1929, but Washington has reserved the right to execute suspects convicted of federal crimes. Now Lorenzo Catalan Roman and Hernando Medina Villegas, convicted by a federal jury last month in the 2002 shooting death of Gilberto Rodriguez Cabrera during an armored-car robbery in the central town of Gurabo, could become the 1st islanders to be put to death in nearly 80 years. The sentencing phase of the trial begins today before U.S. District Judge Juan Perez Gimenez in San Juan. This is what it means to live in a colony, said island Sen. Maria de Lourdes Santiago, a member of the Puerto Rico Independence Party. A court from another country, at the request of prosecutors who respond to the government of that country, can punish with death a Puerto Rican for a crime committed on Puerto Rican soil, without it mattering that our constitution prohibits it. It isn't only the minority independentistas who object. The island House and Senate, both controlled by the statehood-seeking New Progressive Party, have approved resolutions registering their opposition. The New Progressive Party Resident Commissioner Luis Fortuno, the island's non-voting delegate to Congress, was sounding out colleagues on the possibility of exempting Puerto Rico from capital punishment. And Gov. Anibal Acevedo Vila, the leader of the commonwealth-supporting Popular Democratic Party, has asked U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez not to seek the death penalty here. When the Department of Justice has to make the decision of whether to request of a jury to consider the death penalty, one of the elements they must take into consideration is the community, said Acevedo Vila, an attorney by profession. This is so deep in terms of the values of the Puerto Rican community that it's in our constitution. On an island where the homicide rate is three times the national average, not everyone opposes capital punishment. Some here say the possibility of execution could deter would-be criminals. Our values are going down the drain, said Miguel Martinez, a 60-year-old security guard in San Juan. The death penalty may be the only way to revive respect for them. But if callers to radio programs and statements by politicians are any indication, opposition to capital punishment here appears both overwhelming and broad-based. The cause appears to have united Puerto Ricans across ideological lines like none since the campaign against the Navy's practice bombing of Vieques. Puerto Ricans massively reject the death penalty, said Julio Fontanet, president of the Puerto Rico Bar Association. The largest organization of island lawyers already has filed its objections with the federal government, the Organization of American States and the United Nations. The American Civil Liberties Union, the Legal Assistance Society and the Caribbean Justice and Peace Project also have weighed in against executing Catalan and Medina. Amnesty International organized a protest outside the federal courthouse here on Good Friday calling for No more crucifixions. Puerto Rico wrote the prohibition of capital punishment in its commonwealth constitution of 1952. In 2000, the Puerto Rico Supreme Court found that any application here of the death penalty is unconstitutional. But the following year the 1st Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in Boston overturned that ruling, saying the island is subject to federal law. The U.S. Supreme Court upheld that decision. Catalan and Villegas were accused in three armed robberies of Ranger American Armored Services in 2001 and 2002. Rodriguez was shot during the third robbery, outside the Saulo Rodriguez Credit Union in Gurabo in March 2002. Another guard was wounded. During the trial at U.S. District Court in San Juan, the defense argued that the case should have been tried in local courts. But federal prosecutors said they had jurisdiction because the shooting interfered with interstate commerce. Defense attorney Juan Alvarez said the shooting, which was captured on videotape and lasted 31 seconds, was not premeditated. They reacted, they didn't think, he said during closing arguments. A jury must find premeditation to impose the death penalty. But prosecutor Lynn Doble called the evidence against the men solid and decisive. She told jurors that Rodriguez's last words were, No, no, please, no. The same jury now will hear the penalty phase of the trial. Prosecutors may present evidence of aggravating circumstances, such as information about the manner of the killing, any criminal record of the
[Deathpenalty]death penalty news----TEXAS
April 12 TEXAS: Keel-Hauling Death Row Defendants Should Austin Republican Rep. Terry Keel's HB 268 pass through the Lege as currently written, Texas may become the first state in the nation to fast-track federal appeals for indigent death row defendants - clearing the way for the state to whisk their gurneys to the death chamber, potentially without the benefit of any meaningful federal appellate review. To hear Keel tell it, that outcome would be an affirmation that his bill has so effectively raised standards for attorney appointment in indigent capital cases that the feds will be willing to trust the well-oiled efficiency of the Texas death penalty system. Primarily, the bill seeks to expand the pool of qualified lawyers by making eligible former prosecutors and appellate lawyers who have no previous experience defending capital cases at trial. Under current law, a lawyer must have experience as a second-chair defender to be eligible for lead counsel. Keel argues that since there are relatively few death trials each year, that's too great a hurdle, and effectively just a way for defense attorneys to protect their legal turf. But the qualifications would also apply to those attorneys eligible to handle post-conviction habeas corpus appeals thereby qualifying the state for federal opt-in status, triggering a set of federal provisions that would drastically reduce the amount of time attorneys have to file federal appeals, as well as reducing the ability of defendants to receive stays of execution. Congress' last real modification of the law governing federal death case review came nearly a decade ago, during the Clinton administration, with the passage of the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996. If a state's statutory standards meet AEDPA requirements basically, only that the state provide standards of competency for the appointment of habeas counsel the state may qualify to opt in to special procedures, including reducing the period allowed for filing an appeal from a year to six months drastically reducing the amount of time attorneys have to investigate and prepare their cases and prohibiting federal courts from staying an execution if the attorney is tardy in filing a federal writ. Lawyers would have to litigate death cases under the gun to beat execution dates. According to the Texas Defender Service's 2002 report on Texas death penalty appeals, late filing has been a problem, in part because the federal rules are complicated and many attorneys misunderstand them including those the state otherwise deems eligible for appointment. Even under the current deadlines, Texas has executed four death row prisoners whose cases were never reviewed by a federal court because their attorneys filed their appeals late a circumstance that has not happened in any other state. No one, including the Court of Criminal Appeals, which maintains the list, does anything to ensure that the attorneys listed are actually able to handle the job. Nonetheless, Keel's bill would apply the same standards required for trial appointment to habeas appeal attorneys, thus triggering the opt-in language. Theoretically, the opt-in provisions are intended as a quid pro quo offering a s tate-hastened finality in death cases in return for providing competent lawyers to indigent capital defendants. Yet if Keel's bill passes, it would be a quid without the quo, says Jim Marcus of TDS, because the standards don't require that the work of the eligible attorneys be reviewed to ensure that they're actually providing competent and effective counsel. For example, under Keel's bill, David Chapman, who represented executed inmate Leonard Rojas, would still be qualified for appointment, even though he failed to timely file Rojas' appeal and had received 3 probated suspensions from the Texas State Bar - the 3rd coming just 2 weeks before the CCA denied the appeal he filed on Rojas' behalf. Two months after Rojas' execution, CCA Judge Tom Price authored a stinging opinion in Rojas' case, decrying the court's unwillingness to intervene despite serious issues regarding Chapman's competency. Presiding Judge Sharon Keller's response proclaimed that Rojas' statutory right to competent counsel applies only to the attorney's initial qualifications such as Keel's list of appointment standards and does not apply to the final product of representation. On March 1, Austin attorney Gary Hart, who has been handling death row appeals for nearly a decade, told Keel's Criminal Jurisprudence Committee that applying blanket standards for appellate appointments would be extremely dangerous and extremely embarrassing, ultimately. There are ways to accomplish the same thing without making Texas the first opt-in state in the entire country. Although Keel told the committee that it was not his intent for Texas to become an opt-in state, he said he would not favor requiring the state to conduct an annual review of the lawyers on
[Deathpenalty]death penalty news --- worldwide
death penalty news April 12, 2005 SINGAPORE: Sons bid to free father on death row Two 14-year-old Singapore brothers have begun a rare campaign in the city state to free their jailed father fromdeath row, where he faces execution for trafficking about 1 kg of marijuana. Twins Gopalan and Krishnan Murugesu, on the advice of their father's lawyer, handed out about 500 flyers in a busy shopping districtseeking support for a petition against the execution, saying their father's death would make them orphans. My parents are divorced and my father has been looking after us. My mother remarried, lives somewhere else and doesn't see usanymore. If he is hanged...we will become orphans, 14-year-old Krishnan Murugesu was quoted by local Today newspaper as saying onTuesday. The twins, under care of their unemployed grandmother since their father was arrested in August 2003, rely on handouts from a welfareagency for daily expenses, said his lawyer, M. Ravi. Shanmugam Murugesu, 38, arrested at the Malaysian border, lost an appeal against a conviction of trafficking about a kg (2.2 lb) ofcannabis. His lawyer is seeking clemency from Singapore President S.R. Nathan. Singapore enforces some of the world's toughest drug laws. Anyone aged 18 or over convicted of carrying more than 500 grammes ofcannabis faces mandatory execution by hanging. In its 2004 report, rights group Amnesty International said about 400 people have been hanged in Singapore since 1991, mostly for drugtrafficking, giving the wealthy city-state of 4.2 million people possibly the highest execution rate in the world relative to its population. Amnesty said only 6 people sentenced to death in Singapore has been spared execution. Singapore has staunchly defended its use of the death penalty and maintained that capital punishment has deterred major drug syndicatesfrom establishing themselves in Singapore. (source: Reuters)
[Deathpenalty]death penalty news --- worldwide
death penalty news April 12, 2005 CHINA: Chinese police take heat for coerced confessions An unusual surge of heated public debate has engulfed China over the wrongful convictions of two men for murder, one of whom was executed. The two cases have cast a spotlight on police using torture and beatings to extract confessions from criminal suspects, and the lack of effective appeal procedures. Government censors, sensitive to rising public anger over the cases, have permitted an unusual outpouring of anger on the Internet and in newspaper editorial pages over the miscarriage of justice, allowing apparent momentum to build for judicial reforms. In the most recent case, a 39-year-old former security guard from Hubei province in central China, She Xianglin, was released from prison this month when it became obvious that he hadn't murdered his wife. She's wife disappeared in 1994 after a domestic dispute. Soon after, police found a decomposed female body in a nearby reservoir. Assuming it was the missing wife, they accused him of murder. After several rounds of interrogation, She confessed. He was sentenced to death, but that was reduced later to a 15-year prison term. She's wife actually had moved to Shandong province in the north, however, where she married another man. She reappeared in Hubei province in late March. She, who was incarcerated 3,995 days, lost part of a finger and all his toenails under police control, and now has difficulty walking. He's eligible for 220,000 yuan, about $26,600, in compensation for wrongful imprisonment. His case has touched raw nerves in China, where citizens are gaining awareness of their legal rights. By Friday afternoon, more than 1,000 messages about the case had been posted on a popular Internet portal, Sohu.com. Similar portals had huge numbers of messages. Many users harshly criticized the police and courts. Some said they found She's compensation pitiful. Others flayed police for beating a confession out of him. It will be hard for us to achieve a harmonious society if we fail to bring scum from the law enforcement and legal fields to justice, one user wrote. I am trembling with fear, another user said. Maybe the next wronged person will be you or I. In the other murder case, a young farmer in Hebei province, Nie Shubin, was executed in 1994 after courts convicted him of stopping a bicyclist in a cornfield and raping and killing her. Earlier this year, a criminal suspect in a neighboring province admitted to the rape and murder, describing the murder scene in detail. In describing the cases for its readers, the newspaper Beijing Youth News lambasted the dreadful system that allowed police to pressure people for confessions, thus allowing an ironclad case to be built around specious evidence. Limited judicial reforms may be in the works. The state-owned China Daily newspaper said this week that the nation's highest tribunal, the Supreme People's Court, soon might start reviewing every death-penalty case to ensure fair and prudent use of capital punishment. International human rights groups say that somewhere between 5,000 and 20,000 criminal suspects are executed each year in China, more than in all other countries combined. Torture is endemic under police detention, said Nicolas Becquelin of the Hong Kong office of Human Rights in China. Coerced confessions are routine, he said. Becquelin said authorities in Beijing might be allowing the unusual airing of gripes over the legal system to respond to public wishes with limited reforms that were already in the works. Authorities keep careful tabs on the airing of grievances on the Internet, knowing that small protests can turn suddenly into public eruptions of anger. In a notorious case in early 2004, as many as 100,000 Internet users a day were posting messages to complain of a BMW driver in the northeastern city of Harbin who was acquitted after she ran over a peasant and killed him. (source: Contra Costa Times)
[Deathpenalty]death penalty news --- GA; NJ; USA / MIL.
death penalty news April 12, 2005 GEORGIA: State lawyer goes to bat for death penalty defendants Attorney Chris Adams grew frustrated as he stood in the lobby of police headquarters trying to see Atlanta's most infamous man. Adams claimed to be Brian Nichols' lawyer on March 12 even though the two had never met, but he could not get past the lobby. Prosecutors said Nichols had a right to see a lawyer only if he asked for one ? and he had not done so yet. Thwarted, Adams, the state's capital defender, took his case to the news media that had been waiting outside since Nichols' surrender hours earlier. He insisted he should be allowed to advise Nichols of his rights. It was absolutely clear from watching TV this was a man who desperately needed the assistance of a lawyer, Adams said recently. By throwing himself into the case, Adams was demonstrating the doggedness other lawyers and clients have seen in him over the years. Adams has since been formally appointed to represent Nichols, who has yet to be indicted in the March 11 shooting rampage that began at the Fulton County Courthouse downtown. It was inevitable Adams would get Nichols' case. The capital defender office is responsible for the legal representation of death penalty defendants who cannot afford their own lawyers. Adams, who grew up in Carrollton, was drawn into public defender work in Charleston, S.C., and knew he found his calling after visiting new clients at the jail one morning shortly after he took the job. Back at the office, a colleague asked Adams why he was whistling so much. I could see how I was the only person who really cared for many of my clients and how much they needed my help, Adams, 38, said in a recent interview. Ashley Pennington, who supervised Adams in Charleston, said Adams is ideally suited to head Georgia's new capital defender office. He's one of the brightest, most gifted lawyers I've ever worked with, Pennington said. He's got great instincts. He's somebody I think is going to be a huge asset to the state of Georgia. Adams began representing capital defendants five years ago when he left Charleston to work for the Southern Center for Human Rights in Atlanta. The third day on the job, Adams was handed a letter from a death penalty defendant in Alabama who said he had been sitting in jail for months without a visit from the lawyer assigned to represent him. Adams drove to Phenix City, Ala., the next day and talked to Albert Joe Ryans for several hours. As Adams prepared to leave, Ryans broke down crying, Adams recalled. Albert, are you OK? Adams asked his new client. My prayers have been answered, replied Ryans, who was accused with two other men of killing a Phenix City car wash attendant in 1998. After prosecutors rested their case during Ryans' trial in 2002, the judge handed down a directed verdict of acquittal, dismissing all charges. Acquittals in capital cases are extremely rare, but it was the second time Adams had experienced one. Adams served as co-counsel for Gary Wayne Drinkard after his murder conviction and death sentence were overturned on appeal. During a 2001 retrial, jurors found Drinkard not guilty of a 1993 homicide. Don Adams admits to taking a deep breath when he learned his son was appointed to be Nichols' lawyer. But we also know that everyone deserves the best defense they can get, said the elder Adams, who taught education psychology for 20 years at West Georgia College, now the University of West Georgia. He said his son's faith will help him in his new job. It's obvious the Methodist Church had an influence on him and influenced him strongly to help his fellow man, Don Adams said. During summer vacations from college, Chris Adams worked at Camp Glisson, first as a counselor and later as director of the UnitedMethodist Church-based summer program. It was there where Adams met Helen Neill, now the noontime anchor at TV station WGCL. They kept in touch after Adams turned down a scholarship at the University of Georgia to attend Georgetown University law school in Washington and then worked as a public defender in Charleston. When Adams decided to move to Atlanta in 2000, Neill told him that she, too, was returning to Atlanta, leaving a TV station in Columbus, Ohio. They were married two years ago. Adams said the combination of representing Nichols and heading a new office has meant long hours. On April 25, he goes to trial in Brunswick, representing another client facing capital charges. Adams declined to discuss the Nichols case, except to say he will do all he can to keep Nichols from getting a death sentence. While Adams was trying to get inside police headquarters on March 12, Nichols was giving a statement to authorities. During his interview, Nichols admitted to killing Judge Rowland Barnes, court reporter Julie Brandau, Sheriff's Deputy Hoyt Teasley and federal agent David Wilhelm, authorities have said.
[Deathpenalty]death penalty news --- NEW YORK
death penalty news April 12, 2005 NEW YORK: Assembly Committee Kills Death Penalty Bill The Democratic-controlled state Assembly's powerful Codes Committee voted 11-7 Tuesday not to send legislation aimed at reinstating New York's death penalty to the full house for a vote, a move that may effectively kill the effort for this year. Such legislation has been pushed hard by Republican Gov. George Pataki and the state Senate's Republican majority leader, Joseph Bruno. New York's death penalty was reinstated in 1995 by the Legislature and the newly elected Pataki who had vowed, as part of his successful campaign to oust then-Democratic Gov. Mario Cuomo, to bring capital punishment back. Cuomo, in 12 years as governor, had routinely vetoed death penalty legislation. The 1995 death penalty law was effectively declared invalid by a ruling from the state's highest court last year. Since the law took effect in 1995, no person in New York has been executed. I'm very pleased, said Albany's Roman Catholic bishop, Howard Hubbard, after the committee vote. I think the death penalty has not proven effective and is morally repugnant. While he has been a death penalty supporter in the past, state Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, a Manhattan Democrat, has cooled to the policy in recent months. (source: AP)
[Deathpenalty]death penalty news----N.Y., TEXAS, IOWA, COLO., GA.
April 12 NEW YORK: New York State Legislative Committee Defeats Death Penalty; Vote Comes as Skepticism of the Death Penalty Increases Nationwide Contact: Shari Silberstein of Quixote Center, 301-699-0042, ext. 119 (office); or sha...@quixote.org The New York State Assembly Codes Committee today defeated a bill to reinstate New York's death penalty. The vote comes after five full days of public testimony that the death penalty is riddled with flaws and wastes millions of dollars. The Assembly's report of the hearing was released last week, adding to a growing wave of voices questioning the death penalty across the country. New York is not alone. There is a growing consensus in this country that as a matter of policy, the death penalty is an expensive failure, said Shari Silberstein, Co-Director of the Quixote Center, a national faith-based organization working for a moratorium on executions while questions of fairness are studied and addressed. The system is so riddled with flaws that even those who philosophically believe the death penalty is acceptable are expressing concerns and, in some cases, deciding that it simply isn't worth it, Silberstein continued. This recognition explains why virtually all of the 170 citizens who offered testimony in New York wanted to leave the death penalty off the books. New York has been without a death penalty since last summer, when the state's Court of Appeals declared the statute unconstitutional. Efforts to reinstate the death penalty have so far been unsuccessful, in part because some former supporters of capital punishment have changed their positions as a result of new information. For the past five years, the conversation around the death penalty has expanded to include questions of innocence, fairness, and alternatives, said Silberstein. It is increasingly clear that the very real risk of executing the innocent, not to mention the expense and effort required to even try and improve the system, has led people to turn away from the death penalty in recent years. Observers point to a growing skepticism about the death penalty among local, state, and federal legislators and within the judiciary. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops recently reinvigorated their call to abolish the death penalty citing new statistics that shows less than 50% of Catholics now support the capital punishment. New Jersey remains under court- ordered moratorium. Legislation to abolish the practice passed the New Mexico House of Representatives in February, and a similar bill received 60 votes in the Connecticut legislature last month. The U.S. Supreme Court also barred the execution of juveniles earlier this year. Nearly 4,000 groups, churches, business, and professional associations have called for a moratorium on executions, including 142 city, town, and county councils. Even President Bush expressed open concern about the quality of death penalty trials during his most recent State of the Union Address. Also recently, Republican Senators Rick Santorum (PA) and Sam Brownback (KS) have expressed reservations. Over the past five years we've learned a lot about the realities of capital punishment. We know it costs far more than life in prison, that it creates ongoing anguish for victims' families, that it diverts scarce resources from other critical programs, that it is used unevenly and unfairly, and that it risks executing the innocent, said Silberstein. New Yorkers have expressed today what the rest of us across the country are continuing to learn - that our nation's death penalty system is broken. -- The Quixote Center is a national organization founded in 1976. The Center's Equal Justice USA program pioneered the national grassroots movement for a moratorium on executions in 1997. Nationwide, over 3,700 national and local groups, businesses, and faith communities have called for a halt to executions, including 142 local governments. (For a complete listing, call 301-699- 0042 or see the National Tally at http://www.ejusa.org ). To learn more about the Quixote Center's Equal Justice USA program, visit http://www.ejusa.org . (source: US Newswire) *** Powerful committee in New York state Assembly kills death penalty bill A powerful committee of the state Assembly voted Tuesday not to send legislation aimed at reinstating New York's death penalty to the full house, a move that may effectively kill the effort for this year. Such legislation has been pushed hard by Republican Gov. George Pataki and the state Senate's Republican majority leader, Joseph Bruno. I'm very pleased, Albany's Roman Catholic bishop, Howard Hubbard, said after the 11-7 vote by the Assembly's Codes Committee. I think the death penalty has not proven effective and is morally repugnant. New York's death penalty was reinstated in 1995 by the Legislature and Pataki, who had vowed to bring capital punishment back during the 1994 campaign when he ousted incumbent
[Deathpenalty]death penalty news------OHIO, KAN., VA., LA., TENN.
April 12 OHIO: In rare move, justices wrote victims' family to explain ruling In a rare move, 2 Ohio Supreme Court justices wrote to family members outraged by a court decision that overturned a man's murder conviction and death sentence in the killing of 2 college students because they happened out-of-state. Justices Evelyn Lundberg Stratton and Maureen O'Connor sent the letter to relatives of Aaron Land, 20, and Brian Muha, 18, students at Franciscan University in Steubenville in eastern Ohio. The 2 were kidnapped in Ohio and killed in Pennsylvania in 1999. The 2 justices were part of an unanimous decision last year that overturned Terrell Yarbrough's murder conviction and death sentence in Ohio. Please know that none of us wanted this legal outcome and all of us were painfully aware of its consequences, according to the Feb. 15 letter. The justices were responding to a Dec. 8 letter sent by 148 friends and family members of the victims criticizing the court decision. In its Dec. 1 ruling, the Supreme Court said Yarbrough should have been tried in Pennsylvania where the 2 were killed. A bill was quickly introduced after the court's decision to close the out-of-state loophole. Gov. Bob Taft planned to sign it into law Tuesday. Legal experts say it's almost unheard for justices to write this kind of letter about a court decision. Messages were left with Lundberg Stratton and O'Connor seeking comment. ** ACLU asks court to block move of death row to supermax prison Civil rights advocates asked a federal court Tuesday to block the move of the state's death row to a supermaximum security prison near Youngstown. Moving death row inmates to the Ohio State Penitentiary would deny them their constitutional due process rights, the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio argued in a motion filed in U.S. District Court in Cleveland. State prison officials last month said they plan move death row from Mansfield to the 500-bed prison near Youngstown sometime this summer to save money. The prison is designed for the most dangerous inmates. Except for an hour a day, inmates are kept in 90-square-foot cells built to prevent them from communicating with each other. Inmates also face tighter security, with strip searches, and less access to telephones and personal items. A message seeking comment was left for Attorney General Jim Petro's office. The ACLU is also involved in a class-action lawsuit against the state in 2001. That lawsuit contends that supermax prisons are too restrictive and that inmates should be given an opportunity to contest a state's decision to transfer them to such a facility. The case is pending before the U.S. Supreme Court. The prison opened in 1998 after a deadly inmate riot 5 years earlier at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville. ON THE NETACLU: http://www.acluohio.org/ Ohio Death Row: http://www.drc.state.oh.us/Public/deathrow.htm (source for both: Associated Press) KANSAS: Prosecutors may seek death penalty against Newton man Prosecutors could seek the death penalty against a Newton man suspected of fatally shooting a sheriff's deputy during this weekend's deadly standoff. Gregory A. Moore, 46, is facing one count of capital murder in the death of Harvey County Deputy Sheriff Kurt Ford, 38, according to the criminal complaint filed in Harvey County District Court. Filing the capital murder charge allows Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline to seek the death penalty, but the final decision about whether pursue that has not yet been made, Whitney Watson, spokesman for Kline's office, said Tuesday. Moore was also charged with 2 counts of attempted capital murder - one for allegedly shooting and injuring Hesston Police Detective Christopher Eilert and another for allegedly shooting at Harvey County investigator B.J. Tyner. Eilert, who was shot 4 times, has been released from the hospital. Other charges include one count of aggravated kidnapping and 1 count of criminal possession of a firearm. The firearms charge noted Moore has an earlier felony conviction for aggravated battery. Moore was in handcuffs and shackles for his 1st appearance Monday in a courtroom packed with law enforcement officers and relatives of the victims. District Judge Richard Walker ordered Moore held without bond pending a May 9 preliminary hearing. The state's Death Penalty Defense Unit was appointed to represent him. Kansas' death penalty law was ruled unconstitutional in December by the Kansas Supreme Court, but that ruling was stayed during the appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. Moore would only face capital punishment if the Supreme Court upholds Kansas' death penalty law. Officers went to Moore's home after a 14-year-old girl called police around 12:50 a.m. Saturday to report that her mother, Alveda Sparks, was being beaten and that the suspect had a gun. During the ensuing standoff, two officers rushed into the house and were met
[Deathpenalty]death penalty news --- NEW YORK
death penalty news April 12, 2005 NEW YORK: Albany Panel Closes Door on Death Penalty Measure Democrats in the State Assembly closed the door today on reviving the death penalty in New York State this year, handing a significant victory to groups that are trying to build national momentum against capital punishment. With a vote by a key Assembly committee, the state's death penalty law now appears likely to stay off the books for some years to come. The state's top court struck down the law in June, finding a central element of its sentencing provisions unconstitutional, and the opposition in the Assembly is unlikely to change anytime soon because there is so little turnover among incumbents in Albany. New York also joins a handful of states where politicians have stepped away from death penalty laws that their predecessors enacted in 38 states after the United States Supreme Court restored capital punishment in 1976. The State Legislature passed its law in 1995, although New York has never executed a person under it. Opponents of the death penalty from around the country packed a Capitol hearing room here today to mark the Assembly's action, and hailed it afterward as an important moment in the continuing legal and political battles over the future of the laws. In particular, they noted that some supporters of the 1995 law had now changed their minds on the death penalty's infallibility, a shift they hope to stoke elsewhere. There is going to be a ripple effect coming out of Albany against capital punishment, no question, said Shari Silberstein, co-director of the Quizote Center, a national religious group that is pressing for moratoriums on executions, who attended the hearings. When a major state like New York moves away from the death penalty, other states take notice and ask questions of their own. The Democratic resistance to the death penalty could also inject an uncertain political element into the 2006 races for governor and Legislature in New York. Gov. George E. Pataki showed the emotional appeal of the issue in 1994 when he unseated Mario M. Cuomo in part by promising voters that he, unlike Mr. Cuomo, would sign a death penalty law. The Assembly's action today came at a half-hour meeting of the chamber's Codes Committee, which voted 11 to 7 against a bill that would have made changes to the death penalty law to address the state Court of Appeals decision in June. All 11 nays came from Democrats; the committee's four Republicans and three Democrats voted to send the bill to the floor of the Assembly, where the prospect for passage was expected to be close. The death penalty is, in effect, killed for this year, said Assemblyman Joseph Lentol, a Democrat who is chairman of the committee, and one of the members who backed the law in 1995 but voted against it today because of new, personal doubts. (source: New York Times)
[Deathpenalty]death penalty news-----USA, N.C., CALIF., OHIO, VA.
April 12 USA: How Important is Roper v. Simmons?by David R. Dow 3 of my clients will not be executed, and none of the credit is mine. They have been saved by the Supreme Court's decision in Roper v. Simmons, which held that the states cannot execute murderers who were younger than the age of 18 at the time they committed a crime. Give or take a score, there are 3,500 people on death row in the United States. The Court's decision in Roper saved perhaps 70. So Roper affected two percent of the nation's death row population. (In Texas, the decision has had a broader impact, nullifying death sentences of around seven percent of the state's death row population.) As a death penalty opponent, I do not want to sound ungrateful or churlish, but, outside of the people whose cases it immediately affects, the decision in Roper is trivial. It is not especially important doctrinally, and in some respects it is actually rather damaging. 2 1/2 years ago, in Atkins v. Virginia, the Supreme Court ruled that the states cannot execute the mentally retarded. Unlike chronological age, which has well-defined boundaries, mental retardation is comparatively imprecise. A murderer was or was not younger than age 18 at the time of the crime. Whether a murderer is mentally retarded is far less clear and is often controversial. Experts use accepted methods and tests to ascertain mental retardation, but they disagree among themselves, because the issue is complex, not as simple as consulting a calendar. Yet despite the difficulty of saying whether a particular death row inmate is retarded, a conservative estimate is that 5 % of the nation's death row population satisfies the clinical criteria, and perhaps the number is as large as ten percent. Atkins was an important decision, however, not simply because it affected twice or 5 times as many inmates as Roper, but as well because of the impact it has had on death penalty advocacy. Like the decision in Roper, the decision in Atkins will immediately help only a modest number of inmates. Unlike Roper, however, Atkins has dynamic consequences that reverberate throughout death row. The reason is that even though only 5 or 10 % of death row inmates will prove to be retarded, a much larger number have plausible claims under Atkins. In other words, even though a small % of the death row population will ultimately prove to be retarded, and hence entitled to relief under Atkins, as many as 1/2 the inmates on death row have some indicia of mental retardation. Of the dozen death row inmates I currently represent, easily half of them have plausible mental retardation claims. They will therefore now receive the benefit of an investigation that they would not otherwise have received. These investigations are vital because lawyers often find unexpected information, and so the likelihood that something useful will be found is increased. To take just one dramatic example: A death row inmate in Texas was recently set for execution. We believed there was a chance he was mentally retarded, within the meaning of Atkins, and therefore sought out evidence to establish it. We found no proof of his retardation; however, we did locate evidence tending to suggest that the inmate was not in fact guilty at all. Without Atkins, the investigation that led us to conclude that he is innocent would never have been undertaken. Unlike Atkins, Roper has no such dynamic consequence. There is no mystery as to which 2 % of the death row population benefits from Roper. There is no incentive for lawyers to do something that they were not already doing. And in fact, exactly the contrary is true. Under federal law, as well as under the laws of every death penalty state except one, death row inmates are entitled to lawyers to represent them in state and federal habeas corpus proceedings. That is not true for prison inmates not on death row-- - which means that as soon as the 70 or so juveniles who were on death row when Roper was decided get moved off of death row--they also lose their right to counsel. Yet of the 3 juveniles I represent, 2 of them have exceedingly strong claims of actual innocence, and the 3rd has a nontrivial claim of innocence. Even if I were willing to work on these cases without the prospect of having expenses paid for by a state or federal court, I also have to confront the fact that these cases are no longer urgent. Put somewhat actuarially, my clients still on death row face imminent demise, meaning that my clients not on death row - even assuming I continue to represent them - are constantly pushed to the bottom of my to do list. In the long run, cases that draw lines are trivial because the enterprise of drawing lines has little if any legal or moral content. It doesn't much matter whether the legal age for voting is 18 or 19. In contrast, saying that states cannot prevent women or blacks from voting is a point with profound moral content. I am relieved that 3 young men whom I believe
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news-----MO., NEV., IOWA, LA., N.Y., FLA.
April 12 MISSOURI: Prosecutor to seek death penalty in cocaine-injection slaying A prosecutor said Tuesday that he will seek the death penalty for 2 people accused of injecting a former Macon County prosecutor with a lethal dose of cocaine. The notice of intent was filed by Christian County Prosecutor Ron Cleek. Thomas Naumann, 49, and Crystal Broyles, of Nixa, are both charged with first-degree murder in the death of David Masters, 52. His body was found last month along the James River. Last week, Cleek dropped murder charges against Brandi Storment, 23, of Springfield on in exchange for her full cooperation with investigators. Investigators say Masters was confronted by housemates Broyles and Naumann because he allegedly was 3 weeks behind on rent and had made unwanted sexual advances toward Broyles. Masters was killed after telling Broyles and Naumann he wanted to die of a cocaine overdose instead of being shot. His body was found the next day, with what a pathologist said was more than 40 times a lethal dose in his system. (source: Associated Press) NEVADA: Judge rejects recusal request The judge set to preside over the new penalty hearing for a man who was originally sentenced to death for the 1998 execution-style killings of 4 young men has decided not to recuse himself from the case over a potential conflict of interest involving the judge's law clerk. Chief Deputy District Attorney Robert Daskas on Friday filed an emergency motion asking the Nevada Supreme Court to rule on whether District Judge Lee Gates should be prohibited from handling Donte Johnson's re-sentencing. The reason: Gates' law clerk, Nancy Bernstein, was previously an intern in the district attorney's office and worked on part of the prosecution's case against Johnson. On April 4, Daskas had asked Gates to recuse himself from the new penalty phase scheduled to start April 19. Gates took the issue under advisement, and on April 7 announced that he had decided not to recuse himself from the case. That prompted Daskas to seek a ruling from the state's highest court. Johnson has stipulated he would not raise the issue in any future appeals he files after his new penalty phase, but he could technically still raise the issue as part of an ineffective counsel claim. He could argue his attorneys were ineffective in advising him that no conflict of interest existed to require Gates to recuse himself. The Nevada Supreme Court ordered a new penalty phase for Johnson after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that only a jury could impose the death penalty. A 3-judge panel had sentenced Johnson to death after the original jury could not agree on the penalty. Johnson was sentenced to death row by the three-judge panel for the murders of Matthew Mowen, 19, Jeffrey Biddle, 19, Tracey Gorringer, 20, and Peter Talamantez, 20. They were killed in August 1998 in a house they had rented on Terra Linda Avenue in southeastern Las Vegas. Johnson was aided in the killings by 24-year-old Terrell Cochise Young and 23-year-old Sikia Smith. Young and Smith were both sentenced to life in prison for the shootings. The Nevada Supreme Court, however, ordered a new trial for Young, saying District Judge Joseph Pavlikowski failed to addresses Young's contention that there was animosity and a lack of communication between the accused killer and his court-appointed lawyer Lew Wolfbrandt at the 1999 trial. Young made several motions to replace Wolfbrandt, but they were denied by Pavlikowski. Young complained that Wolfbrandt failed to see him in jail for 8 months. Young's new trial is scheduled before District Judge Nancy Saitta on Sept. 12. (source: Las Vegas Sun) IOWA: Jury selection begins in federal death penalty case Jury selection begins this morning in Sioux City in the federal death penalty trial of Angela Johnson. The 43-year-old Klemme native is the former girlfriend of Dustin Honken, who was convicted last fall in the drug slayings of 5 people, including two children, in the Mason City area in 1993. The jury recommended the death penalty. Johnson is charged with conspiring with Honken in the execution-style slayings. Attorneys predict Johnson's trial will last about as long as Honken's 8-week trial and feature much of the same evidence...but Johnson's trial will also feature some unique twists, including testimony about her mental state in the days after the bodies were discovered. Johnson tried to commit suicide in jail after the bodies were found by investigators who used a map she drew and gave to a jailhouse informant. (source: RadioIowa News) LOUISIANA: Court OKs conviction, death penalty in killings of Clinton couple A death sentence was upheld Tuesday for Gregory Boo Brown, convicted in the 1998 execution-style killings of a Clinton couple. The state Supreme Court, in a unanimous decision, rejected a list of issues raised by Brown in the deaths of William and Ann Gay. The victims, both in their 60s,
[Deathpenalty]death penalty news----NEW YORK
April 13 NEW YORK: New York Assembly Democrats Close Off Death Penalty for 2005 Democrats in the State Assembly closed the door Tuesday on reviving the death penalty in New York State this year, handing a significant victory to opponents of capital punishment who are trying to build national momentum. Barring a long-shot procedural maneuver by Assembly Republicans, the state's death penalty law now appears likely to stay off the books for some years to come. New York's top court struck down the law in June, finding a central element of its sentencing provisions unconstitutional, and Democratic resistance is unlikely to change soon because of entrenched incumbency in Albany. New York now joins a handful of states where politicians have stepped away from death penalty laws that their predecessors passed after the United States Supreme Court restored capital punishment in 1976. Thirty-eight states have enacted capital punishment since then, the most recent being New York in 1995, although no one was executed under the law. This is a historic step by New York, which is the 1st state in a long, long time to scrutinize the death penalty with public hearings, debate it, and then essentially reject it, said Richard Dieter, executive director of Death Penalty Information Center, a nonprofit group that has been critical of capital punishment in practice. Opponents from around the nation helped pack a Capitol hearing room on Tuesday to mark the vote by a powerful Assembly committee that effectively killed the legislation. Afterward, they hailed it as a signal moment in the legal and political battles around the issue, noting that some lawmakers who voted for the 1995 law had now changed their minds, citing fairness and fallibility, a shift they hope to encourage elsewhere. There is going to be a ripple effect coming out of Albany against capital punishment, no question, said Shari Silberstein, who attended the hearings and is codirector of the Quixote Center, a group that describes itself as faith-based and is pressing for moratoriums on executions. When a major state like New York moves away from the death penalty, other states take notice and ask questions of their own. The defeat at Democrats' hands could also inject an uncertain political element into the 2006 races for governor and the Legislature in New York. George E. Pataki proved the emotional appeal of the death penalty in 1994 when he beat Gov. Mario M. Cuomo in part by promising voters that he, unlike Mr. Cuomo, would sign a capital punishment law. Mr. Pataki, a Republican who plans to disclose by summer if he will seek a 4th term, said on Tuesday that it was outrageous for Democrats to derail the death penalty in a committee. The Assembly leadership's 'so what' attitude toward criminals, whether they're sex offenders, deadly drivers, or heinous murderers, is simply shameful, Mr. Pataki said. The leader of the Assembly Republicans, Charles H. Nesbitt, said the fight was not over, suggesting that the Republican Party might try to attach a death penalty amendment to an unrelated bill in hopes of forcing a floor vote. While Republicans predicted tough going, they also said they could threaten to use the issue as an election-year wedge. The likely Democratic nominee for governor, Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, also supports the death penalty, but it is unclear whether he would be drawn into a showdown on the issue. Darren Dopp, a spokesman for Mr. Spitzer, said yesterday that the attorney general would not comment. Lawmakers in Connecticut, Nebraska and New Mexico have tried to overhaul or repeal their death penalty laws in recent years, but none have gone as far as the Assembly in effectively consigning the law to limbo for the time being. A moratorium is in place in Illinois, and a lawsuit aimed at the Kansas law is in the courts. The Assembly's action on Tuesday came at a half-hour meeting of the Codes Committee, which voted 11 to 7 against allowing a full Assembly vote on a bill to adjust the death penalty law and satisfy the constitutional objections of the State Court of Appeals. The State Senate approved a virtually identical bill in March by a vote of 37 to 22, and Mr. Pataki had pledged to sign the legislation. The 11 nays came from Democrats; the committee's 4 Republicans and 3 other Democrats voted to send the bill to the floor of the Assembly, where it was likely to have faced a close vote. The death penalty is, in effect, killed for this year, said Assemblyman Joseph R. Lentol, a Brooklyn Democrat who is chairman of the committee. A fiery, 20-minute debate among committee members preceded the vote, although its brevity contrasted with the 40 hours of emotional testimony at 5 public hearings held by the committee and two other panels this winter. Assemblyman Mark Weprin, a Queens Democrat, said he could not support the death penalty when he believed that there were innocent people on death row. I just don't know how you
[Deathpenalty]death penalty news----N.Y., LA., VA., UTAH, ALA.
April 13 NEW YORK: N.Y. DEATH PENALTY IS D.O.A. Assembly Democrats yesterday put what could be the final nail in the coffin of the state's death penalty - leaving Gov. Pataki fuming. The Assembly Codes Committee voted down legislation aimed at fixing a major sentencing provision of the death-penalty law, which had been struck down last year by the state's highest court as unconstitutional. By a vote of 11-7, the committee voted against reporting the bill to the full house of the Assembly for a vote. 3 Democrats and all 4 Republicans on the panel voted in favor of reporting the bill out of committee. Without a fix to the law, there is effectively no death penalty in New York. Pataki, whose support for reinstating the death penalty helped propel him to victory over incumbent Gov. Mario Cuomo in 1994, called yesterday's committee vote outrageous. The Assembly leadership is denying its own members the ability to put a strong and sensible capital-punishment law back on the books, he said. Assembly Republicans vowed to introduce next week a motion that effectively would bypass the committee and allow the measure to come before the full Assembly, but similar efforts on other legislation have failed in the past. The bill is dead, Assembly Codes Committee Chairman Joseph Lentol said after an hour of emotional debate by committee members. Until it was effectively taken off the books last year, no one had been executed under the death penalty law, which was reinstated in 1995 after Pataki was elected. Lentol, who voted in favor of the law a decade ago, argued that rather than risk putting innocent people to death, justice can now be served with a maximum sentence of life in prison without the chance of parole. (source: New York Post) ** Death penalty bill will not be put to a vote The Assembly Codes Committee gave the death penalty a lethal injection Tuesday by voting to kill a bill that would have addressed a Court of Appeals decision rendering the statute unconstitutional. After rebuking repeated requests by the Assembly Republicans to allow the bill to the floor so it could be debated and voted on by the entire 150-member chamber, the Democratic-led committee voted 11-7 to kill it in committee. The bill, which is one-word different than one passed by the Senate, would have remedied the Court of Appeals concern that sentencing guidelines coerced jurors into voting to impose a penalty of death. The vote ensures Michael Murder Hoffler, a 3-time convicted felony drug dealer, will be spared the death penalty if convicted of murdering confidential informant Christopher Drabik. Hoffler's trial starts in Rensselaer County Court on May 9. Also, Tuesday, County Court Judge Patrick McGrath sentenced Gregory G Heckstall to life without parole for his role in Drabik's death. District Attorney Patricia DeAngelis filed a notice to seek the death penalty against Heckstall and Hoffler after the Court of Appeals June ruling with the hopes the Legislature would fix the statute by the time the 2 went to trial. DeAngelis would not comment on the Assembly's action, but during Heckstall's sentencing she said he deserved to die and that life without parole is too good for the hired gun brought up from New York City with the sole purpose of shooting a man. However, while Republicans bemoaned the fact only a handful of Assembly members determined the immediate future of the death penalty, most observers on hand were happy to see it abolished. The death penalty does not ultimately resolve the matter. People exercising violence to combat violence is not the answer, said Bishop Howard Hubbard. I believe there are other ways to protect society from violent offenders and I think that by not restoring the death penalty that wrongful convictions will not result in executions. Rather than impose a quick fix to the death penalty like the Senate and the governor, the Assembly held five public hearings during which 170 people testified, the great majority of whom spoke against capital punishment. Generally, those opposed said the death penalty is cost prohibitive, is not a deterrent, the majority on death row are minorities and there is an ever-present risk of putting an innocent person to death. The Assembly, in essence, used the court's ruling to open debate on the pros and cons of the death penalty rather than focusing on what the court deemed unconstitutional. What is clear is that attitudes have changed in the 10 years since the death penalty was re-instated. After a 10-year experience a lot has transpired, said Chairman of the Assembly Codes Committee, Joseph Lentol, D-Brooklyn, who voted to kill the bill Tuesday but voted for the death penalty in 1995 when it passed the Assembly by a vote of 94-52. In 10 years, the state spent $170 million implementing the death penalty yet has not put one person to death. Assemblyman Ronald Canestrari, D-Cohoes, also voted for the death penalty 10 years
[Deathpenalty]death penalty news----MO., GA., KAN., CONN.
April 13 MISSOURI: Missouri opens new chamber for executions The next time Missouri carries out an execution, the condemned person will see only family and friends. Other witnesses will watch unseen through one-way glass. The installation of reflective windows for two of the three separate witness rooms is the most obvious difference between the new death chamber and the one used at the Potosi Correctional Center since 1990. In showing it to reporters Tuesday, Department of Corrections officials said the new arrangement would provide better access and positioning for witnesses. Unless the courts or Gov. Matt Blunt intervene, the state will put it to use on April 27, when Donald Jones, 38, of St. Louis, is scheduled to die for murdering his grandmother, Dorothy Knuckles, in 1993. Officially, the execution chamber is Room 148 of V (as in Visitor) Building at the Eastern Reception and Diagnostic Center, a 2-year-old prison on the east end of Bonne Terre, 60 miles south of St. Louis. The 17-by-10-foot chamber has white cinder block walls, rows of windows framed in glossy black steel along three of the walls, an air vent and 2 fire sprinklers that jut through the ceiling. All is splashed in bright neon lights. John Fougere, department spokesman, described the room as austere. It is that, as well as straightforward in purpose - bored into the wall next to a brown steel gurney is a 1 3/4-inch hole through which will flow the killing chemicals in intravenous lines. Fougere said Missouri was following a trend by installing reflective one-way glass between the prisoner being executed and the separate rooms for relatives of the prisoner's victim and state observers, who include police officers and reporters. Standard glass is used in the third room for the prisoner's family and friends, who will be visible to the state observers and the victim's relatives. We think it's most important for the offender to see his own witnesses, Fougere said. I don't know that it's better, but it is the way most states do it these days. The three witness rooms are larger than those at the Potosi prison, more securely separated and better insulated for sound. At Potosi, only a curtain and corrections officers separated victims' families from state observers. Officers had to lead witnesses to and from the chamber through a winding maze of hallways, assembly rooms and a courtyard. At Bonne Terre, V Building is just inside the perimeter's triple fence line. Officers will take witnesses at separate times across one large room to the chamber area. Room 148 is the state's 3rd execution chamber in modern times. From 1938 to 1965, Missouri executed 39 people in the gas chamber at its old penitentiary in Jefferson City. It was used again in 1989 for the first execution by injection under current procedures and U.S. Supreme Court rules. (Counties held their own executions until the state took them over in 1938.) The state then built a chamber in its Potosi Correctional Center and used it until March 16, when it executed Stanley Hall of St. Louis for throwing Barbara Jo Wood to her death from a bridge in 1994. Missouri has 54 men under death sentence, all of whom live among the general population at the Potosi prison. On the day a prisoner is to be executed, officers will take him the 15 or so miles from Potosi to Bonne Terre. There he will wait in a 2-room area that has a stainless-steel shower stall, a television and 2 telephones. A black steel door separates the area from Room 148. Outside the waiting room, beyond a secured green door, lies the last of the world he will have seen - an asphalt drive and an interior fence, across from which is the prison baseball field. (source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch) GEORGIA: Death row life analyzed The Georgia Innocence Project has received almost 1,900 requests from inmates in the past 3 years for assistance in proving their innocence, many of them coming from death row. Aimee Maxwell and Billy Neal Moore spoke at the School of Law Tuesday, offering first-hand experiences dealing with death row. Maxwell is the executive director of the Georgia Innocence Project (GIP), a non-profit organization -- founded in 2002 -- dedicated to helping people currently in prison and on death row prove through DNA that they are innocent. However, Maxwell said not every case is eligible for help: We can only help when a crime was committed, DNA was left behind and the police have the DNA, she said. She discussed the case of Clarence Harrison, who was wrongly accused of a rape in 1986 in which the victim identified him in a line-up. The Project was able to locate the evidence involved in Harrison's case, and Harrison was quickly proven innocent and set free in one week. Eyewitness identification is scary evidence, Maxwell said. This is evidence to be suspect of. I was pro-death penalty before, and I came here and both the speakers, especially (Maxwell), made me rethink that, said
[Deathpenalty]death penalty news----worldwide
April 13 INDIA: 3 of family get death sentence A Local Court has awarded death sentence to 3 members of a family (father and 2 sons) in a triple murder case. The accused who were sentenced to death included Balbir Singh and his 2 sons Krishan and Ranjit of Anwali village. They had been facing trial in connection with the case of murder of Lakhan and his 2 sons Mahinder and Suresh of the same village. According to the prosecution, Lakhan and his sons Mahinder, Suresh and Satbir were working in their fields when they were attacked by the convicted persons on December 1, 2001. In the attack, Lakhan and his son Mahinder died on the spot, whereas Suresh succumbed to injuries in a hospital at Rohtak. Additional Sessions Judge A K Vimal yesterday also acquitted 2 women Murti and Kavita who were involved in this case from the charge of murder. All the 3 accused who were awarded death sentence were also fined Rs 5,000 each. (source: The Hindu) UZBEKISTAN: Uzbekistan executes man after torture-rights group Uzbekistan executed a prisoner last month, bringing to at least 10 the number killed since a 2003 U.N. appeal for it to suspend the death penalty due to torture concerns, a human rights group said on Wednesday. The Central Asian state is a staunch U.S. ally in its war on terror, providing a military airbase for operations in neighbouring Afghanistan, but has come under intense criticism by Western human rights groups for torturing prisoners. Akhrorkhodzha Tolipkhodzhayev, a 25-year-old soldier, was executed by firing squad on March 1, said Tamara Chikunova, director of rights group Mothers Against Execution and Torture. She said Tolipkhodzhayev, convicted of murdering two children while robbing a flat, had been extradited from next- door Kazakhstan where he had been imprisoned for robbery. But there was evidence his confession was extracted under torture. Documents from the military hospital confirm he was admitted with heavy wounds to his body. This was during the investigation, Chikunova said. Uzbek officials could not be reached for comment. In 2003, the U.N. Committee on Human Rights called on Uzbekistan to suspend all executions. Uzbek President Islam Karimov, in power since the country was a Soviet republic, said in December he would like executions to stop, but gave no timeframe. Officials have also repeatedly said they are working to eradicate torture. Karimov, who brooks no dissent in the mostly Muslim country and has outlawed opposition parties, said that ending executions was partly a matter of public opinion. He said 50 to 60 people were sentenced to death last year. (source: Reuters)
[Deathpenalty]death penalty news-----CALIF., ILL., S.C.
April 13 CALIFORNIA: Jury recommends death penalty in LA murder case A jury recommended the death penalty Wednesday for an Orange County man convicted of murdering a business rival and three members of her family. Pravin Peter Govin, 35, of Cypress, was due back in Superior Court on June 13 for formal sentencing. He was found guilty last week of murder, robbery, burglary and arson in the May 2002 slayings of Gita Kumar, 42; son, Paras, 18; daughter, Tulsi, 16; and mother-in-law, Sitaban Patel, 63. They were blindfolded and tied up before being strangled with plastic ties and burned in a fire at the family's Hollywood Hills home. Prosecutors said the killings stemmed from a business dispute over an alley that separated a hotel Govin owned and a hotel owned by the victims' family in the Studio City area. My family can rest in peace now, said Kumar's husband, Harish. Defense attorney John Sweeney said he was confident an appellate court would overturn the case. It was the 2nd trial for Govin. Jurors deadlocked the 1st time but convicted his older brother, Victor Govin, of the same charges and later sentenced him to death. Another co-defendant, Carlos Amador, pleaded guilty to 4 counts of 2nd degree murder in a plea agreement and faces 15 years to life in prison. (source: Associated Press) *** Death Row-Bound Peterson Attracts Female Suitors Condemned killer Scott Peterson has been receiving as many as 25 pieces of mail a day since arriving on San Quentin's death row, many coming from females including at least 3 wedding proposals, according to a prison spokesman. San Quentin spokesman Vernell Crittendon said Peterson's 1st month at the prison has been rather uneventful. He currently is in the prison's adjustment center along with recent Bay Area additions brothers Justin and Glenn Helzer -- convicted of the slayings of 5 people -- and Stuart Alexander -- convicted of gunning down 3 meat inspectors. Scott has been adjusting to prison life on death row rather well, Crittendon said. He's on with a number of death row inmates we are processing at this time. Justin and Glenn Helzer as well as Stuart Alexander, the Sausage King. The prison spokesman said Peterson was approved last Friday to go out and begin exercising in a walk-alone caged area -- called dog cages by the inmates -- barely bigger than his cell. When he is in his cell, Crittendon said Peterson has no access to personal property yet but does enjoy reading mail. He is doing a lot or reading, particularly mail, the prison spokesman said. He is still receiving a large amount of mail, I didn't actually count them but I'd say he probably receives 25 piece of mail a day. Much of that mail is from people who do not know Scott Peterson personally and most of them are femalesThree of them I recall were actually wedding proposals to him. There have also been a number of media requests for interviews. Crittendon said Peterson could meet the women who are writing to him by simply sending them a visitor's questionnaire. Once the questionnaire is returned, prison officials review it and then would give the person a security clearance to come and visit Peterson. Peterson is not the only member of San Quentin's death row to attract a female following. Convicted mass killer Richard Ramirez, the infamous Night Stalker, was married at the prison on October 3, 1996. Crittendon said as for visitors, Peterson's family received their security clearance last Friday and could now come and visit him. Peterson will remain in the adjustment center for another 4-6 weeks while prison officials observe how he interacts with fellow prisoners. He will then be moved to death row. Peterson was sentenced to death in March for the murder of his wife, Laci, and the couple's unborn son. At his sentencing, Judge Alfred A. Delucchi accepted the jury's recommendation of death and called the killings cruel, uncaring, heartless and callous. An eight-months-pregnant Laci Peterson disappeared on Christmas Eve 2002. Prosecutors said Peterson killed her and then dumped her body in San Francisco Bay. The badly decomposed remains of Laci and her fetus washed ashore 4 months later. Prosecutors said Peterson strangled his wife to escape marriage and impending fatherhood, longing to return to the bachelor life as he carried on an affair with massage therapist Amber Frey. In a probation report sent to the court, Modesto Police Detective Craig Grogan called Peterson a very dangerous man and without a conscience. (source: KTVU News) ILLINOIS: State to Seek Death Penalty for Tucker The man who went on a fatal shooting spree in the Valley earlier this year was back in court on Wednesday. Aubrey Tucker appeared in a Lawrence County, Illinois courtroom and learned the State will seek the death penalty against him. Tucker is charged with 1 count of murder and 3 counts of attempted murder for shooting his ex-girlfriend and 3 other members
[Deathpenalty]death penalty news----worldwide
April 14 AUSTRALIA/INDONESIA: Judgment day for Corby Accused drug trafficker Schapelle Corby will today learn if she will face the death penalty if a Bali court finds her guilty of the charge. Prosecutors will today tell the Denpasar District Court what punishment the 27-year-old former Gold Coast beauty therapist should receive if convicted. Corby was caught with 4.1 kg of marijuana in her unlocked bodyboard bag at Denpasar airport in last October, but she says she is innocent and the drugs were planted, probably by a baggage handler involved in an Australian drug ring. The drug smuggling charge faces a maximum penalty of death by firing squad in Indonesia. According to the prosecution indictment, if there is not enough evidence to convict Corby of trafficking, she could be convicted under two lesser laws carrying maximum prison terms of 15 years and 10 years respectively. In a similar case in Bali recently, prosecutors demanded the death penalty for a taxi driver who admitted possessing 3.9kg of marijuana. But observers have suggested high level talks between Australia and Indonesia regarding Corby's case could spare her the same fate. The Federal Government has pleaded with the Indonesians for clemency, with Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono last week promising to personally see that justice was done. However Corby's Indonesian lawyer Lely Sri Rahayu Lubis has said she is pessimistic Corby will be released due to a lack of primary defence evidence. Meanwhile, security has been tightened at the Indonesian consulate in Perth after staff received a letter containing bullets and a threat that they would be killed unless Corby was released from jail. Foreign Minister Alexander Downer has promised to review security at all Indonesian missions in Australia. The letter arrived at the consulate in the Perth central business district on Monday, sparking a major police investigation. Corby's lawyers and the Government have said the threat is damaging to her case. (source: The Daily Telegraph) ** Don't push for death penalty: Downer Australia has told Indonesia it hopes prosecutors will not push for the death penalty if Schapelle Corby is found guilty of drug trafficking. In the case of Schapelle Corby we've said to the Indonesians we hope that the prosecution won't push for the death penalty ... if she is found guilty, Foreign Minister Alexander Downer told ABC radio. We don't have the death penalty in any state in Australia and wherever an Australian may be sentenced to death we always plead for clemency. Prosecutors will today tell the Denpasar District Court in Bali what punishment the 27-year-old former Gold Coast beauty student should receive if convicted. Corby was caught with 4.1 kg of marijuana in her unlocked bodyboard bag at Denpasar airport in last October, but she says she is innocent and the drugs were planted, probably by a baggage handler involved in an Australian drug ring. The drug smuggling charge can attract a maximum penalty of death by firing squad in Indonesia. Mr Downer said if Corby were convicted and given a custodial sentence, he hoped she could serve it in Australia. The federal government is seeking a prisoner exchange agreement with Indonesia under which Australians could serve out their jail time in Australia, and vice versa, he said. Not specifically again to Schapelle Corby, but more generally, we'd like to have a prisoner exchange agreement with Indonesia, he said. We have, I think ... 11 Australians who are in prison in Indonesia and, well, we'd have to look at them on a case by case basis. But we'd hope that under this agreement they, in general, they could serve out their sentences in Australia. (source: AAP) IRAQ: Saddam Escape Execution? It could be. There are those saying that a deal is being worked out by which Saddam Hussein could escape execution. He could get life, but not be put to death. That would mean that by allowing Hussein to live, the Sunnis would be placated. Sunnis held the power under Husseins despotic rule. To allow their former dictator to keep on breathing in a jail cell till he died a natural death could bring some of the Sunnis more integrally into the New Iraq politic. Not so, say others who believe that there is no other answer for the Hussein atrocities but putting him to death. They consider it logical and just. If it is not seen through, then there could be open rebellion within the politic and out into the grassroots. Whats going on then in New Iraq concerning the eventual take on Hussein? According to The Daily Telegraph as reported today by Aljazeera News, Saddam Hussein could avoid execution under a secret proposal by rebel leaders that Iraq's new administration is seriously considering, a senior government source said. Who's making these deals? Its reported that Sunni nationalists and those who once were a part of Husseins Baath party are having talks with newly
[Deathpenalty]death penalty news --- USA; CONN.
death penalty news April 14, 2005 USA: Lethal injection execution 'cruel' - U.S. researchers American researchers have called for an halt to lethal injection, the most common method of capital punishment in the United States, because it is not always a humane and painless way to die. Some executed prisoners may have suffered unnecessarily because they had not been sedated properly, they said. The current way inmates are given lethal injections does not even meet veterinary standards for putting down animals, they added. The research was carried out by Leonidas Koniaris of the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, and colleagues. Failures in protocol design, implementation, monitoring and review might have led to unnecessary suffering of at least some of those executed, Koniaris said in a study published in The Lancet medical journal. Therefore, to prevent unnecessary cruelty and suffering, cessation and public review of lethal injections is warranted. Anesthesia is given during a lethal injection to minimize suffering. Without it the prisoner would suffocate and experience horrible pain, according to Koniaris. But in their analysis of protocols followed during lethal injections in Texas and Virginia, where 45 percent of executions in the United States are conducted, they found there was no monitoring of the anesthesia. Emergency medical technicians who administered the drugs had no training in anesthesia and there were no reviews after the executions. When the researchers examined data from autopsies done following 49 executions in Arizona, Georgia and North and South Carolina, they found concentrations of the drug in the blood in 43 cases were lower than that needed for surgery. Twenty-one prisoners had drug levels that were consistent with awareness. We suggest that it is possible that some of these inmates were fully aware during their executions, said Koniaris. An editorial in the journal said if the inmates were awake it would have been a cruel way to die because they would have been unable to move or breathe while potassium burned through their veins. Capital punishment is not only an atrocity, but also a stain on the record of the world's most powerful democracy, it said. Since 1976, lethal injection had been used in 788 of the 956 executions in the United States, according to The Lancet. (source: Reuters) CONNECTICUT: 2nd death row inmate opts for execution A second inmate on Connecticut's death row has announced his desire to forgo further appeals and face execution, possibly setting the stage for another flurry of court action like the one surrounding serial killer Michael Ross. Sedrick Cobb, sentenced to death for kidnapping, raping and killing a 23-year-old woman in 1989, said he wants to drop his appeals in a letter to Superior Court Judge Stanley T. Fuger Jr., the Hartford Courant reported in today's editions. The court received the letter on April 4. Fuger presided over a lengthy hearing last year on Cobb's claim that he was not adequately represented by his lawyers during his trial. I do this without stress, mental duress, it's just the right time, Cobb wrote to the judge. I request a date in your court to make this official, so that you can ask of me any questions or concerns that you have. Ross, on death row for killing four young women in eastern Connecticut in the early 1980s, faces lethal injection on May 11. He would be the first person executed in New England in 45 years if the death sentence is carried out as planned. Ross' case is now tied up in a hearing in New London Superior Court to determine if he is competent in deciding to forgo his remaining appeals. Ross decided to drop his appeals last year and his execution was set for Jan. 26, but the competency issue has delayed the date several times. The hearing was to resume today. In his letter to Fuger, Cobb also said that he is no longer represented by Stamford attorney David Golub, who handled his complex habeas corpus petition and argued unsuccessfully that Public Defender Gerard Smyth provided Cobb with substandard legal representation during his trial. Golub said Wednesday that Cobb's case is very different from Ross' case. Sedrick Cobb is not Michael Ross, Golub said. He has a very strong appeal and the appeal raises very important issues not only for Mr. Cobb, but for the administration of the death penalty in general. Golub, who still is officially Cobb's lawyer, said he plans to meet with Cobb as soon as he can to discuss the matter. It's not the first time Cobb has asked to volunteer for execution. In the summer of 2003, he startled the criminal justice system by writing a note to Fuger saying he wanted to withdraw his habeas petition and have an execution date set. At a hearing July 9 of that year, Fuger urged him to reconsider, saying the result would be catastrophic. Cobb later reneged. Cobb was convicted of
[Deathpenalty]death penalty news --- N.Y.
death penalty news April 14, 2005 NEW YORK: New York's Death Penalty Dies The Assembly Codes Committee killed the state's death penalty Tuesday, April 12, voting 11-7 against legislation that would have addressed a sentencing provision of the death penalty law which caused the Court of Appeals to strike down the law last year as being unconstitutional. Republicans had repeatedly asked that the bill be allowed on the floor for debate and vote by the full 150-member chamber but the Democratic-led committee killed the bill in committee. Gov. George Pataki called the vote outrageous and said that the Assembly leadership is denying its own members the ability to put a strong and sensible capital punishment law back on the books. It was Pataki's support of the death penalty in his 1994 campaign which helped him defeat former Gov. Mario Cuomo. Last June, by a ruling of four to three, the state's highest court had placed a moratorium on the death penalty law because of a provision in the statute that was ruled unconstitutional. The provision, which violates the state's Constitution's guarantee to due process, required judges to tell jurors that if, in determining sentencing, they became deadlocked, the judge would impose a sentence that would leave the defendant eligible for parole after 20 to 25 years. This instruction risked coercing jurors to vote for execution to prevent the possibility of defendants from ever being released. The death penalty was reinstated in New York after Pataki defeated Cuomo. No one was ever executed under the 1995 death penalty law. Support for the death penalty has diminished in recent years. The latest polls show that only 34% of New Yorkers support the death penalty, compared with 47% who supported it in 1994. (source: Empire Journal)
