[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, GA., OHIO, USA, S.DAK.
July 20 TEXAS: Man indicted in Kleberg County capital murder A Kleberg County grand jury indicted a man Thursday on a charge of capital murder in the May 14 death of Frank William Will Wearden, District Attorney John Hubert said. Michael Lee Lerma, 20, faces the death penalty or life in prison without parole if convicted. Wearden was seen early May 14 at a Kingsville bar, authorities said. His vehicle later was seen on convenience store surveillance footage in Riviera. Footage also showed a man attempting to use Wearden's credit cards at the store's ATM. That man was identified as Lerma, a former employee at the store, according to a news release from the Kleberg County Sheriff's Office. Investigators interviewed a nearby farmworker who heard screams that morning, leading authorities to blood spatters and eventually Wearden's body, tied up and covered in grass in a ditch near a county road intersection. Lerma was arrested at his home, where Wearden's pickup was parked outside, the sheriff's office reported. (source: Corpus Christi Caller-Times) GEORGIAimpending execution Court won't halt execution of Georgia death row inmate A state court has declined to halt the execution of a Georgia death row inmate set to die Monday. A Butts County Superior Court judge Thursday denied requests filed by Warren Lee Hill's lawyer. Lawyer Brian Kammer argued Hill is mentally disabled and shouldn't be executed. Similar requests are pending at the U.S. Supreme Court. The court said Hill has proven an IQ of 70 beyond a reasonable doubt, and he meets the overall criteria for being mentally disabled by a preponderance of the evidence. But Georgia law requires death row inmates to prove beyond a reasonable doubt they are mentally disabled to avoid execution, and the court said Hill failed to do that. Hill was serving a life sentence when he was convicted in the 1990 death of a fellow inmate. (source: Atlanta Journal Constitution) OHIO: Ohio death penalty committee looks at racial bias An Ohio Supreme Court committee studying the state's capital punishment law on Thursday rejected a recommendation to collect past data to detect racial bias in death penalty cases. The committee also postponed votes on a recommendation to collect information in the future on all homicides that might be eligible for capital punishment as another way of detecting racial bias. The committee considered but tabled a proposal to analyze existing death penalty data collected by the state public defender's office. Those 2 proposals are likely to pass in the future when the committee gets more details about the recommendations, said James Brogan, a former state appeals court judge who is chairman of the committee. Brogan said everyone agrees race shouldn't play a role in the death penalty, but a number of studies nationally have already shown that is the case. We don't know exactly the role in Ohio, although it does appear that in a number of cases, it seems more likely when a black defendant kills a white victim, that they're more likely to receive the death penalty, than if a black kills a black, which is disconcerting, Brogan said after the task force's meeting. That indicates that race matters, he said. Among precedents cited in the Race and Ethnicity subcommittee recommendations is a 2005 Associated Press study that found that Ohio offenders who killed white victims were more likely to face a death sentence than those whose victims were black. Numerous other studies of capital punishment laws around the country have also found that death penalty charges are more likely when a victim is white than a minority. The committee approved a recommendation to require prosecutors, lawyers and judges involved in death penalty cases to be trained to protect against racial bias. It also approved a recommendation to allow lawyers to seek the removal of judges in cases where there is a reasonable basis for concluding that the judge's decision making could be affected by racially discriminatory factors. Finally, the committee approved a recommendation requiring that defense attorneys receive training in how best to proceed when they believe a potential juror is removed for possibly discriminatory reasons. The committee rejected the creation of jury instructions involving race in death penalty cases that would also require jurors to report racial discrimination voiced by other jurors during deliberations. In 2009, North Carolina enacted its Racial Justice Act, directing judges to reduce a death-row inmate's sentence to life in prison if they find race was a significant factor in a convicted murderer receiving a death sentence or in the composition of jurors hearing a case. Lawmakers this month approved a scaled-back version of the law that death penalty supporters say will rely less on statistics they call misleading. They also say it will untie
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----USA, FLA., COLO.
July 20 USA: A view from the trenches of death penalty appeals In May, Victor Stephens, who is black, pleaded guilty to charges stemming from the shooting of a white store owner. The plea, which came after he had been granted a new trial, brought a life sentence but removed him permanently from death row in Alabama, where he was first sentenced in 1987. Stephens' attorney, J.S. Chris Christie Jr., is a partner at Bradley Arant Boult Cummings in Birmingham, Ala., and co-chairman of the firm's pro bono committee. According to Christie, Stephens was the third inmate the firm has gotten off death row since it began handling capital cases in 1988. Christie talked to The National Law Journal about Bradley Arant's death penalty work, for which the firm will receive an exceptional service award from the American Bar Association's death penalty project next month. The remarks below have been edited for length and clarity. National Law Journal: Your firm has been actively involved in handling death penalty cases since 1988. How has this type of pro bono work evolved over the years? Chris Christie: That's when I joined the firm. One of the other associates a couple of years senior had a death penalty case he was working on. David Hymer [now a partner] successfully completed that case in the mid-90s, working in conjunction with Bryan Stevenson with the Equal Justice Initiative. EJI is a nonprofit that is involved in issues like this full time. The lawyers who work there represent people on death row or other similar matters. The 2nd case started in 1993. The managing partner here asked me to serve as local counsel for a New York firm representing somebody on death row. That man's name was Victor Stephens. In or around 2000, the American Bar Association's death penalty representation project started recruiting firms from outside Alabama to represent people without counsel in Alabama. And Bradley Arant made a strategic decision that it could be more effective working as active local counsel with other firms hesitant to take on an Alabama case because of travel and not being familiar with the courts. NLJ: The firm has represented 19 people on death row in Alabama so far. How does that compare to the total number of people on death row in the state? C.C.: Alabama has about 200 people on death row. The number changes. For example, Victor Stephens was taken off in May 2012, but 2 people were added. The exact number was 201, so about 11 % of the people on death row. NLJ: Of those 19 cases, one person was executed and 2 died in prison. Stephens is 1 of 3 people the firm has successfully gotten removed from death row. Talk about that case. C.C.: This is something I worked on from 1993 to 2012. Victor Stephens in 1986 was part of robbing a convenience store. The store owner shot him and, while the store owner was reloading his gun, Victor Stephens shot the store owner with a .25-caliber pistol that he had. Victor Stephens confessed to shooting the store owner with a .25 pistol after being shot with a shot gun. At his trial in 1987, he was convicted of capital murder. That night, they held a sentencing hearing. The jury recommended life without parole. The judge held the final sentencing until after he'd been nominated to the Court of Criminal Appeals and before the general election that fall, and sentenced Victor Stephens to death, overriding the jury's finding that he should be sentenced to life without parole. That went up through the normal appellate process and post conviction proceedings started — and that's when I got involved, in 1993. NLJ: What was the legal argument that got him off death row? C.C.: The argument on which he actually was awarded a new trial was on the jury selection. The prosecution used 21 of its 22 regular strikes, and its first 21 strikes were to remove blacks from the jury. His counsel made a timely objection, and the state offered what appeared to be race-neutral reasons for strikes of 21 blacks. When we got into the investigation, post conviction, we interviewed the jurors who were struck, and it was discovered that we were able to identify — of the jurors who would cooperate and talk to us — that for four of them the reasons given for the strikes were not true. One of the jurors [purportedly] had a son who had been involved in criminal activity, and at the state habeas corpus hearing we proved she didn't have a son. [Subsequently,] Victor Stephens confessed to being there, and he reached a plea agreement where he pleaded guilty to a lesser felony and has been sentenced to life and has continued to serve his time. NLJ: Alabama has a number of unique characteristics when it comes to death penalty cases. What are they? C.C.: Alabama has the most people per capita of any state on death row. It's also the only state that overrides jury recommendations and sentences to death. Delaware and Florida also have
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide
July 20 URGENT ACTION APPEAL - From Amnesty International USA -- For a print-friendly version of this Urgent Action (PDF): http://www.amnestyusa.org/actioncenter/actions/uaa21912.pdf UA: 219/12 Issue Date: 20 July 2012 Country: Saudi Arabia MEN RISK DEATH SENTENCES IN SAUDI ARABIA Canadian national Mohamed Kohail and Jordanian national Mehanna Sa'd face having their death sentences reinstated if they do not pay financial compensation within six months to the family of a Syrian boy whom they are accused of murdering. On 3 June, the General Court in Jeddah issued a diya (financial compensation) agreement demanding Mohamed Kohail and Mehanna Sa'd pay compensation of five million Saudi Arabian riyals (approximately US$1.4 million) to the family of a boy whom the pair are accused of killing in 2007. The compensation must be paid within six months or the death sentences against Mohamed Kohail and Mehanna Sa'd could be reinstated. Mohamed Kohail and Mehanna Sa'd were charged in early 2007 with the murder of a Syrian boy, who died in a schoolyard brawl in January 2007. They were sentenced to death by the Jeddah General Court in March 2008 after a trial which did not conform to international fair trial standards. They were reportedly held incommunicado for approximately a month and a half after their arrests and beaten in an attempt to make them confess. Their lawyer was only allowed to attend two court sessions during the men's trial and was not allowed to challenge the evidence brought against his clients. In November 2008, the Court of Cassation confirmed the men's death sentences and then referred the sentences to the Supreme Judicial Council for approval. In February 2009, the Supreme Judicial Council sent the case back to the Jeddah General Court, for review. In April 2009, this court upheld their death sentences, which subsequently came before the then recently created Supreme Court. In January 2010 the Supreme Court was said to have revoked their death sentences and sent their case back to the Jeddah General Court for another review. On 3 June 2012, the court issued the diya agreement following negotiations with the victim's family. Under Saudi Arabian law, in some murder cases, the victim's relatives have the power to seek execution, request diya (compensation) or grant a pardon freely. Please write immediately in Arabic, English or your own language: - Urging the authorities not to reinstate the death sentences against Mohamed Kohail and Mehanna Sa'd. PLEASE SEND APPEALS BEFORE 31 AUGUST 2012 TO: King and Prime Minister King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud The Custodian of the two Holy Mosques Office of His Majesty the King Royal Court, Riyadh KINGDOM OF SAUDI ARABIA Fax: (via Ministry of the Interior) 011 966 1 403 3125 (please keep trying) Salutation: Your Majesty Minister of the Interior Prince Ahmed bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud Ministry of the Interior P.O. Box 2933 Airport Road, Riyadh, 11134 KINGDOM OF SAUDI ARABIA Fax: 011 966 1 403 3125 Salutation: Your Royal Highness And copies to: Minister of Justice Shaykh Dr Mohammed bin Abdul Kareem Al-Issa Minister of Justice Ministry of Justice University Street, Riyadh 11137 KINGDOM OF SAUDI ARABIA Fax: 011 966 1 401 1741 –OR– 011 966 1 402 0311 Salutation: Your Excellency Ambassador Adel A. Al-Jubeir Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia 601 New Hampshire Ave. NW Washington DC 20037 Phone: 1 202 342 3800 Fax: 1 202 944 5983 Email: i...@saudiembassy.net Please check with the AIUSA Urgent Action Office if sending appeals after the above date. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION Saudi Arabia applies the death penalty for a wide range of offences. Court proceedings fall far short of international standards for fair trial. Defendants are rarely allowed formal representation by lawyers, and in many cases are not informed of the progress of legal proceedings against them. They may be convicted solely on the basis of confessions obtained under duress or deception. The UN Safeguards guaranteeing the protection of the rights of those facing the death penalty states that there should be adequate opportunity for defence and appeal, and the imposition of the death penalty should be prohibited when there is room for alternative interpretation of the evidence. In Saudi Arabia there have been disturbing patterns of discrimination against vulnerable individuals. Many of those executed over the past years were foreign nationals, mostly migrant workers from poor and developing countries. In 2012 so far, Amnesty International has recorded at least 50 people executed. In 2011 at least 82 executions took place, more than triple the figure of 27 for 2010. In 2009, at least 69 people are known to have been executed, in 2008 at least 102, and in 2007 at least 158. In a report published in 2008 on the use of the death penalty in Saudi Arabia, Amnesty International highlighted the extensive use of the death
