[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide
Jan. 4 TUNISIA: Tunisia sentences man to death for murder and rape of infant An Army Corporal accused of murdering a four-year-old child has been sentenced to death by firearm, the lawyer of the victim's family confirmed. "The Permanent Military Court of Tunis, on Tuesday, pronounced the death penalty by firearm against the killer of child Yassine Aouachri," Zoubeir Yahyaoui added in a statement to Tunisian Agence Presse. The defendant has the right to appeal against the ruling. Capital punishment can only take place when it is validated by the President of the Republic. The last time capital punishment was used in Tunisia was in 1991. Mohamed Amine Yahyaoui, 25, was charged with misappropriation of a minor, using violence that resulted in the death, rape, sequestration and maltreatment of a juvenile with premeditation. The 4-year-old child, who was abducted on 17 May 2016 in front of a primary school in the Mellassine neighbourhood, was found murdered the same day in an abandoned house in Cite Hellal. Yahyaoui had made 4 attempts to kidnap a child before capturing Yassine. (source: Middle East Monitor) ___ A service courtesy of Washburn University School of Law www.washburnlaw.edu DeathPenalty mailing list DeathPenalty@lists.washlaw.edu http://lists.washlaw.edu/mailman/listinfo/deathpenalty Unsubscribe: http://lists.washlaw.edu/mailman/options/deathpenalty
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----PENN., FLA., CALIF., WASH., USA, US MIL.
Jan. 4 PENNSYLVANIA: DA Zappala rescinds intent to seek death penalty in 2013 Duquesne double slaying Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr. today rescinded his decision to seek the death penalty against a man charged with a 2013 double homicide in Duquesne. The notification about the prosecution's plans for defendant Michael Robinson was sent to Common Pleas Judge Jill E. Rangos, who is presiding over the trial expected to start Monday. In his notice to the court, Mr. Zappala writes, "intervening events have caused me to reconsider my decision to seek a penalty of death..." He did not elaborate in the filing. Defense attorneys in the case have vigorously attempted to challenge the prosecution's DNA evidence and specifically the computer code powering the program that authorities say links Mr. Robinson to the slayings. Prosecutors announced their intention to seek the death penalty in June 2013. Mr. Robinson is charged with 2 counts of homicide in the May 6, 2013, shooting deaths of Lawrence Short, 29, of Clairton and Tyrone Coleman, 18, of Duquesne, who were killed on Crawford Avenue in Duquesne. FLORIDA: Typo upends Florida Supreme Court's death penalty ruling Just hours after declaring prosecutors could not seek death sentences under existing state law, the Florida Supreme Court on Wednesday rescinded the order, an uncommon move that casts fresh uncertainty on the state's death penalty. The reason: A typo. In a 5-2 ruling Wednesday morning, the court rejected Attorney General Pam Bondi's request to let prosecutors seek the death penalty as long as juries voted unanimously. The court threw out the state's revamped death sentencing law in October because it required only a 10-2 super majority of the jury to put someone to death. Then at 1 p.m., the Supreme Court rescinded the order, saying it was "prematurely issued," and deleted it from the court's website. The Wednesday morning ruling was vacated because of a "clerical error," said Craig Waters, a spokesman for the court. Instead of writing that death penalty laws in section 921.141 of Florida Statutes were unconstitutional, the court identified section 941.141 - a statute which does not exist. "It may have simply been a scrivener's error and they wanted to rescind the order to correct the scrivener's error," said Rex Dimmig, the public defender in Polk, Highlands and Hardee counties. "It could be that simple; it could be something more complicated." Waters did not say if or when the court planned to re-issue the ruling, which provided brief clarity for a death penalty system that was in limbo. After the court ruled in October that juries had to be unanimous to sentence someone to death, Bondi and prosecutors said capital trials ought to continue but that jurors should be instructed that the rules had changed. Defense attorneys saw things differently: If the death penalty law was unconstitutional, then no one could be sentenced to death, they argued. That's what the justices decided early Wednesday, writing that the whole statute was unconstitutional and "cannot be applied to pending prosecutions." How the court will act now is uncertain, but it is likely the Legislature will rewrite the state's death penalty statutes when they come into session March 7. Next week, the House Judiciary Committee will start deliberating on the issue. Last month, the committee's chairman, Rep. Chris Sprowls, R-Palm Harbor, told the Times/Herald that rewriting death penalty laws is a priority. "We have to act," said Sprowls, a former prosecutor. "By the time we conclude our business, we have to have a death penalty statute that can be relied upon and that's legal, so that victims have access to justice." (source: miamiherald.com) * Florida Supreme Court: Prosecutors can't seek death penalty Florida's highest court is making it clear the state's current death penalty law cannot be applied to people currently awaiting trial for murder. The Florida Supreme Court Wednesday rejected a request by Attorney General Pam Bondi to clarify 2 rulings it made last October. In a 5-2 decision the court stressed Florida's law "cannot be applied to pending prosecutions." Last fall the court concluded death sentences must require a unanimous jury and then struck down a 2016 law that allowed a defendant to be sentenced to death as long as 10 of 12 jurors recommended it. Shortly after that ruling Bondi's senior attorney asked the court to revisit its decision to "avoid any potential miscarriage of justice." Bondi's office asserted death penalty cases could proceed in Florida as long as juries were told they must reach a unanimous decision. (source: Associated Press) CALIFORNIA: Accused Huntington Beach Killer Could Face Death Penalty --- A Huntington Beach real estate agent accused of killing 2 women and dumping their bodies in Newport Beach
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide
Jan. 4 KUWAIT: Death penalty sought in bid to cut murders in the family - Drugs, broken families cause of rise in domestic crimes There has been a recent increase in the rate of domestic crimes in the country, which are uncommon in the Kuwaiti society, such as parents killing their child and putting the corpse inside a deep freezer or a child killing his parent and sibling, and many such incidents. These incidents necessitate urgent well-studied responses for curbing such a phenomenon that threaten the family entity as well as social stability. In an investigative report, experts affirmed that the spread of crimes and violence in Kuwait is attributed to the ease in acquiring weapons, lack of religious principles and family disintegration, in addition to widespread use of narcotics and lack of respect for the law. They stressed the importance of intensifying awareness campaigns inside schools for children as well as for parents on proper upbringing of children, and initiating fierce war against drugs, which have been attributed to many of these crimes. Citizens who participated in this report called for imposing tough penalties on criminals in order to reduce the rate of domestic crimes, insisting that capital punishment should be given to those who kill their parents, siblings and even friends. They said responsible parents should be aware of the risks involved in the presence of weapons inside homes, stressing that proper and secure storage for such weapons should be ensured. They insisted that law enforcers should ensure reverence of the law is maintained in order to deter crimes. In this regard, a professor of Psychology at Kuwait University Dr. Khodar Al-Baroun said the increase in the rate of domestic crimes in the society is due to high level of family disintegration, which is usually caused by high divorce rate, and growing use of narcotics. Meanwhile, Lawyer Hamdan Al-Namshan stressed that domestic crimes in Kuwait have increased, which could be attributed to lack of family atmosphere compared to the past, as well as congestion of family members who live under the same roof. He insisted that a proper housing welfare solution might reduce the number of domestic crimes in a significant manner due to the fact that it will reduce the number of family disputes that erupt among the members of a huge family who live under the same roof. Furthermore, a Muslim preacher Saleh Al-Ghanim affirmed that the penalty imposed on those who kill intentionally is to be killed in retribution. He stressed that domestic crimes are considered worse than other crimes due to the family ties, adding that implementation of Sharia law is the right solution due to its strictness in dealing with such crimes. (source: Arab Times) SAUDI ARABIA: Saudis to Behead 23-Year-Old Disabled Man for Protesting Government The Sunni kingdom of Saudi Arabia, a member of the United Nations Human Rights Council, is expected to decapitate a disabled 23-year-old man who was sentenced to death for participating in anti-government protests in the predominantly Shiite eastern part of the country. Munir al-Adam is awaiting his execution after being sentenced for "attacks on police," among other crimes, which prosecutors claim he partook in during a series of protests in 2011, reports the Independent. Adam, who is appealing his sentence, was reportedly arrested in February 2012 when he was 18 years old and accused of taking part in protests in his Shiite-majority hometown of Qatif the previous year. "There are regular protests in the [Qatif] area against the Saudi government," notes the Independent. "The 23-year-old is partially blind and was already partially deaf at the time of arrest; he alleges he is now completely deaf in 1 ear as a result of being severely beaten by police," it adds. In a statement, his family rejects the verdict and claims Adam was tortured into confessing to the alleged crimes, reports the Times. The Independent cites Adam as indicating that "he had only signed a document admitting the offenses after being repeatedly beaten." Adam reportedly noted that the had been accused of "sending texts" when he was too poor to own a cell phone. "Munir Adam's appalling case illustrates how the Saudi authorities are all too happy to subject the most vulnerable people to the swordsman's blade," declared Maya Foa, of human rights organization Reprieve. "Saudi Arabia???s close allies, including the UK, must urge the kingdom to release Munir, along with juveniles and others who were sentenced to death for protesting." As of mid-October, Saudi Arabia had executed 134 people this year, most of them by public beheading, according to a tally by Agence France-Presse (AFP) and Human Rights Watch. "Most people executed in Saudi Arabia are convicted for murder and drug trafficking, although nearly 50 people convicted of terrorism offences were
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, VA., FLA., ALA., OHIO, CALIF., WASH., USA
Jan. 4 TEXAS: Paxton sues FDA for delaying import of death penalty drug Attorney General Ken Paxton announced Tuesday his office has filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for delaying the state's importation of a drug used in capital punishment. The lawsuit argues the FDA's claimed legal grounds for refusing the drugs' entry into the United States are invalid, citing an FDA exemption for law enforcement purposes. Thiopental sodium, also known as Sodium thiopental, is part of the 3-drug cocktail used in lethal injections. In its December newsletter, the Council of State Governments said, while Texas has 317 inmates on death row, it only has enough of a key lethal injection drug to execute 2 of them, stemming from a nationwide shortage of the drug. The Attorney General's Office is asking the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas to declare the FDA's delay unlawful and compel the agency to make a final decision on the admissibility of the drug, which was detained by the FDA 17 months ago. "There are only 2 reasons why the FDA would take 17 months to make a final decision on Texas' importation of thiopental sodium: gross incompetence or willful obstruction," said Attorney General Paxton. "The FDA has an obligation to fulfill its responsibilities faithfully and in a timely manner. My office will not allow the FDA to sit on its hands and thereby impair Texas' responsibility to carry out its law enforcement duties." In April 2016, KXAN reported that the FDA blocked an appeal to bring in Sodium thiopental. (source: KXAN news) Supreme Court examines death penalty for the disabled Bobby James Moore got the death penalty for a murder he committed in 1980 at a Houston supermarket. But 36 years later, he apparently has a new argument: He is intellectually disabled and cannot be executed under a 2002 U.S. Supreme Court ruling. The Supreme Court heard his case at the end of November. Moore was 21 when he and some friends decided to rob Birdsall Super Market. His job was to stand guard with a shotgun. Things did not go as planned. Almost immediately after two clerks in the courtesy booth learned they were being robbed, one of them screamed. Moore pointed his shotgun at the second clerk, a 72-year-old man named James McCarble, and shot him in the head. McCarble died instantly. Police caught up with Moore 10 days later at his grandmother's house in Louisiana, where he confessed to the crime. In 2002, the Supreme Court ruled executing the mentally disabled violates the Eighth Amendment prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment. But the court left it up to the states to determine mental ability within certain parameters. During oral arguments in November, lawyer Clifford Sloan cast Texas as an oddball state that uses something other than current clinical standards to diagnose intellectual disability -- a 1992 definition along with other factors thought up by judges, not scientists. The Texas appeals court said Moore had abilities that showed he was not so intellectually disabled as to be exempt from capital punishment. Both sides agreed Moore had a terrible childhood. He dropped out of school in 9th grade. His father beat him. He was kicked out of the house at 14. He had 4 felony convictions by age 17. "At the age of 13, Mr. Moore did not understand the days of the week, the months of the year, the seasons, how to tell time, the principle that subtraction is the opposite of addition, standard units of measurement. And there are numerous other deficits like that that are undisputed," Sloan said. Justice Stephen Breyer had his doubts about whether the Supreme Court could establish a consistent standard for judging mental ability. Texas Solicitor General Scott Keller argued the state's criteria for intellectual disability is consistent with Supreme Court precedent as well as clinical standards. He also noted the legal finding of intellectual disability is different from a medical diagnosis. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg had a concern of her own about letting states set their own standards: "Isn't making it discretionary a huge problem in this area, because if you let one trial court judge apply it and another one doesn't have to apply them, then you're opening the door to inconsistent results depending upon who is sitting on the trial court bench, something that we try to prevent from happening in capital cases." The current justices are divided on the much more basic question of whether the death penalty is constitutional at all, for anyone. Breyer is a frequent critic of capital punishment, as is Justice Sonia Sotomayor. In 2014, the court struck down Florida's law that said if an inmate's IQ is over 70, evidence of other intellectual disability need not be considered. (source: Baptist Press) ** Executions under Greg Abbott, Jan. 21,
