[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----KY., TENN., WYO., NEV., CALIF., USA
May 1 KENTUCKY: Prosecutor: Daviess Co. sees most death penalties at once in history Matt Adams, Arnett Baines and Cylar Shemwell are all now facing the death penalty. All 3 charged with murder. “We have not had this type of violence in Daviess County at any point in history that I know of," Bruce Kuegel the Commonwealth’s attorney said. Kuegel has served as the commonwealth attorney in Daviess county for the past 11 years. He says he doesn’t remember a time when so many murders have happened. “We’re at a level now that’s just unheard of," he said. "And it’s staggering to us.” He shares that death penalty cases often take a long time to prepare. Baines' trial is set for March of 2021. Kuegel says there is so much evidence to go through in these cases. “We’re in uncharted territory," Kuegel said. "We have never experienced this many death penalty cases at the same time.” And while Kuegel is seeking the ultimate penalty in these cases, it doesn’t always mean death for the defendant. Filing the death penalty adds 2 additional penalties, life in prison without parole or 25 years in prison before parole is considered. To file for the death penalty in Kentucky, the crime must have specific aggravated circumstances. But for Kuegel, he says it's not something he files without considering everyone involved. “You have to be cognizant of the effect that this is having on the families," Kuegel said. "And by the same token, you have to look at the effect that it’s having on the community and what the community expects.” (source: WFIE news) TENNESSEE: Death penalty an option for Middle Tennessee man accused of killing 7 The death penalty could be an option for a Sumner County man accused of the worst homicide event in Tennessee's last 20 years. Sumner County District Attorney Ray Whitley says the death penalty is an option for Michael Cummins, the man accused of killing 7 people in Westmoreland over the weekend. Among those killed by blunt force trauma include Cummins' mother, father, and uncle. Cummins has not been officially charged due to being in the hospital and waiting on the Medical Examiner's findings. Once he is released, Cummins will be charged with probation violation. The DA will then use information from the Medical Examiner to determine other charges. According to the Medical Examiner's report released on Tuesday, all seven victims in the Westmoreland killings died from multiple blunt force injuries and some of the victims also had sharp force injuries. (source: Fox News) WYOMING: Group seeking to eliminate death penalty in Wyoming kicks off effort The diverse group behind the push to end Wyoming’s death penalty has geared up for a significant push to pass a bill by the end of the 2020 legislative session. The Wyoming ACLU, League of Women Voters, Wyoming NAACP and representatives from the Catholic Diocese of Cheyenne, Holy Apostles Orthodox Christian Church of Cheyenne and other religious groups announced their intent to push for a repeal bill in the 2020 budget session. “When we continue to allow the laws that allow for the death penalty to exist, as people were saying, this is being done in our name,” said Sabrina King, director of campaigns for the ACLU of Wyoming, during a Tuesday news conference in Cheyenne. “It’s incumbent on us to ensure that the laws that exist are the laws we feel are ... are doing the work that we believe in,” King said. “All the people who are standing here, and all of us who will be working on this over the course of the next year, are becoming part of a movement that has been going on, frankly, for decades and centuries.” The group wants to capitalize on the efforts of the 2019 legislative session that saw a repeal bill fail 18-12 in the Senate. House Bill 145 was able to pass out of the House on a 36-21 vote, however. That type of success surprised supporters and encouraged them to continue to push the issue into the 2020 budget session. “We went further with more votes than we’ve had before, and we realized how much actual support is in the Legislature, and outside, as well,” said Marguerite Herman, lobbyist for the League of Women Voters of Wyoming. “This is not just tilting at windmills. We think we have a good chance to get the votes. We’re going to have to turn some minds and turn some hearts. But we think we can do it.” Rep. Jared Olsen, R-Cheyenne, sponsored HB 145, and said Tuesday the success of repealing the death penalty in Wyoming would hinge on educating not only lawmakers, but also the state as a whole. “I think the difference between success and failure is education. I watched that unfold throughout the session,” Olsen said. “I watched it unfold for myself.” Olsen pointed to how his own views evolved on the issue, going from a death penalty supporter to the lawmaker who sponsored the repeal bill. He said he was swayed by the
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, S.C., GA., FLA., ALA., LA.
May 1 TEXAS stay of impending execution Federal judge grants Houston death row inmate Dexter Johnson a stay 2 days before execution Shortly after losing a long-shot bid for clemency, Houston-area death row prisoner Dexter Johnson won a stay some 48 hours before he was scheduled to die by lethal injection in the Huntsville execution chamber. For more than a decade, the condemned killer lodged appeal after appeal based on allegations of brain damage and intellectual disability, but in the end it was the possibility of a conflicted attorney and ineffective lawyering that prompted a federal district judge to side with him. The high school dropout with schizophrenia was originally sentenced to die for a 2006 carjacking that left 23-year-old Maria Aparece and 17-year-old Huy Ngo dead. That June, Johnson and 4 accomplices came across the young couple sitting in Aparece's Toyota, as they chatted outside Ngo's home. Johnson and 2 others threatened them with a pistol and a shotgun, according to testimony at trial. Then, 3 of the attackers drove the pair around Houston in Aparece's car, stealing her cash and credit cards and trying to get money from her bank accounts. Behind them, 2 other accomplices followed in their own car. Eventually, the violent crew pulled over and, according to trial testimony, Johnson raped Aparece in the backseat. Her boyfriend was forced to listen to it all on his knees as the other attackers taunted him. Then, Johnson shot Ngo in the head before slaughtering Aparece. At trial, Johnson's defense team argued that it was someone else who walked the couple into the woods and fired the fatal shot. According to prosecutors, the double-slaying was just one of many crimes that Johnson pulled off during a month-long spree of violence that spring and summer. Johnson has long maintained his innocence, but still a Harris County jury sentenced him to death. In December, a local judge gave the green light to the May 2 execution. Shortly afterward, Johnson wrote to the federal court complaining about his attorney, Patrick McCann. Since McCann had been on the case for years, the court did not kick him off but instead appointed a second legal team, headed by federal defender Jeremy Schepers. The North Texas attorney was tasked with figuring out whether McCann's earlier work was up to par. While McCann continued to work on Johnson's case, filing appeals based on claims of intellectual disability, Schepers investigated McCann's work and alleged that the Houston attorney "violated ethical and professional duties throughout his representation," according to court records. In sealed federal filings, McCann disputed that characterization but the claims were enough for the the federal judge to grant Johnson a stay to allow Schepers more time to investigate and litigate his concerns. As of now, McCann is still on the case; the judge asked for a hearing to determine whether he should be removed. Even after the last-minute win for the condemned man, the stay could have been overturned by a federal appeals court - but the Office of the Attorney General told defense counsel they have no plans to contest the order. Neither Schepers nor McCann opted to weigh in on the record. Meanwhile, McCann's co-counsel - Houston-area attorney Mandy Miller - defended him Tuesday in an emailed statement. "While we dispute the attack on Mr. McCann's prior representation, we are grateful for a stay – no matter why it was granted," she wrote. "We will continue to litigate the claim of intellectual disability that will prevent Mr. Johnson's execution, in the event the stay is lifted. Once our duty to Mr. Johnson is fulfilled, Mr. McCann will gladly answer to the federal court for any questions regarding the work he has put into this case for nearly a decade." Though the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals recently turned down the condemned man's intellectual disability claims, Miller and McCann on Tuesday filed a motion asking the court to reconsider, and are also working on an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. The Harris County District Attorney's Office remained confident Johnson would get another execution date. "His day of reckoning is inevitable," First Assistant District Attorney Tom Berg said. "The issue at hand has nothing to do with the district attorney's office and we anticipate a new execution date will be set shortly." With Johnson's date likely called off, there just 2 others - including a Montgomery County man convicted of killing a college student - scheduled in Texas for the remainder of the year. (source: Houston Chronicle) Texas will no longer share death row inmate's final statements Texas prison officials on Tuesday abruptly halted the practice of sharing death row inmate's final written statements after a lawmaker expressed outrage over the state relaying the last words of an avowed racist
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide
May 1 SOMALIA: A court in S0malia slaps 3 with death penalty for murder over love match A regional court in Mogadishu, the Somali capital on Tuesday, April 30 has sentenced 3 people, including a woman, to death for "burning man alive" last year, Garowe Online reports. < The 3 defendants, 2 from the same family and a woman were all found guilty of brutally killing Ahmed Mukhtar Salah "Ahmed Dowlo" last September after his nephew married their daughter secretly. Ahmed Dowlo from ethnically dicriminated Bantu clan was torched to death by a lynch-mob from in-laws after his nephew married to a different so-called "high-ranking" clan in a Garage in Yaqshid district. The court has acquitted 4 others convicted for involvement in the murder case while 1 of the 3 people sentenced to death on Tuesday is at large, according to the victim's family. Mohamed Mukhtar who is the brother of the victim, said still justice has not been serviced, arguing that others involved the case, including the bride's mother who allegedly orchestrated the killing, are free. The father of the bride had accepted the marriage and give the couple his blessing but, the mother's side protested according to a relative and subsequently committted the heinous killing. Unfortunately, the couples were on their honeymoon in somewhere in Mogadishu at the time of the murder which caused shock and outrage in the country, triggering calls from the public for justice. (source: garoweonline.com) MALDIVES: High Court upholds death penalty for Hussain Waheed’s killer The High Court on Tuesday upheld capital punishment for 1 of 2 culprits convicted of murdering Hussain Waheed with a sharp weapon in capital Male', in December 2013. The Juvenile Court passed the death sentence in 2015 on the two individuals, who were minors at the time of the crime. The High Court upheld the verdict for one of the culprits in November 2017. While the two were of age at the time of their sentencing, their identities are protected as per the Child Protection Act. Following the appeals, the High Court read the verdict for the 2nd culprit on Tuesday, upholding the Juvenile Court's death sentence. The court stated that witness testimonies proved that the individual had driven to the crime scene on the back of a motorcycle and stabbed Hussain Waheed. It also noted that doctors' testimonies and Waheed's death certificate showed that his passing was caused by the injuries he sustained from the attack. Highlighting that the weapon was a knife, the High Court stated that such an object could be used for murder, and that the attacker's murderous intention could be deduced from the fact that Waheed was stabbed in the chest. The verdict also stated that intentions, crime scene, and the manner in which the crime is carried out must be taken into account in murder cases, as per Islamic Sharia. Touching upon the witnesses put forward by the prosecutors, the verdict stated that the testimonies of 2 witnesses were rejected as they had criminal records. However, the verdict read that there were no grounds to doubt the integrity of the rest of the witnesses, and that their testimonies proved that the defendant had stabbed Waheed. The sentence also noted that Islamic law holds everyone who has reached puberty accountable for their actions despite being minors, and that anyone aged fifteen is regarded as having reached puberty. While the defendant was 17 years old at the time of the crime, the court stated that Maldivian law holds individuals above the age of 15 accountable for any criminal offences they commit. The court further noted that all inheritors of Hussain Waheed have declared for the death penalty. Hence, the judges bench comprising Hussain Shaheed, Abdul Rauf Ibrahim and Shujau Usman, declared to uphold the Juvenile Court's verdict of capital punishment. Chief Judge Shujau Usman presided over the case. As per Maldivian law, capital punishment can be executed only after exhausting all the stages of the appeal process. (source: edition.mv) INDIA: Bombay HC sets aside man's death penalty for killing woman, child The Bombay High Court Tuesday set free a Nashik man who was sentenced to death last year by a court here for killing a 32-year-old woman and her 6-year-old child. A bench of justices BP Dharmadhikari and P D Naik held that the police failed to carry out proper investigation and build a watertight case against convict Ramdas Shinde. The bench, therefore, dismissed the Maharashtra government's plea seeking confirmation of the death penalty, and upheld Shinde's appeals challenging his conviction and sentence. On April 26 last year, the court in Nashik had convicted and sentenced Shinde for stabbing to death the woman and her child, who stayed as tenants in his father's property. The prosecution had claimed that the victim woman had snubbed Shinde's sexual
