[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide
July 3 TAIWAN: Supreme Court upholds death for man convicted of double murder and rape The father and husband of 2 women killed by Huang Lin-kai speaks to reporters outside the Supreme Court in Taipei yesterday. The Supreme Court yesterday upheld the death sentence for Huang Lin-kai, who was convicted of the double murder of his former girlfriend and her mother, saying the "enormity of his crimes" preclude any chances of rehabilitation. Yesterday's ruling was the 1st time this year that the Supreme Court upheld a sentence for capital punishment, as judges in the lower courts are increasingly reluctant to hand out the death penalty. Huang, who was a military conscript at the time, was convicted of the rape and murder of his ex-girlfriend, surnamed Wang, and of killing her mother, after breaking into their house on Oct. 1, 2013. Prosecutors cited anger over the breakup and a dispute about money as the motives behind the double homicide. The Supreme Court upheld Huang's death sentence for killing his ex-girlfriend, in addition to the life imprisonment sentence without the possibility of parole that he received for killing her mother. The nation's top court said that while Huang's murder of the mother was cold-blooded, it was an unpremeditated crime and did not meet the legal requirements for capital punishment. However, after Huang murdered the mother, he waited in the residence for an hour before ambushing Wang to commit premeditated rape and murder, as evidenced by the mask and rope he brought with him, the court said. "Huang planned meticulously for his strangling of the woman, surnamed Wang. Prior to killing Wang, Huang committed the additional crime of forcible sexual intercourse. The inhumanity and enormity of his crimes give the judges of the panel no option but to pronounce a death sentence," it said. The husband and father of the murder victims told reporters: "I hope they shoot him soon and stop wasting food." The Huang family had paid no damages to him or his 3 surviving daughters, the husband said, accusing the Huang family of liquidating their assets to avoid liabilities incurred by civil lawsuits. (source: Taipei Times) INDIA: 'Delay in execution of death row convict is dehumanising' Delay in the execution of a death row convict after his capital punishment has been confirmed by the highest judicial forum, torments the prisoner, has a dehumanising effect on him and violates the law, the Delhi High Court has said. "As between funeral fire and mental worry, it is the latter which is more devastating, for, funeral fire burns only the dead body while mental worry burns the living one," a bench of Justices G S Sistani and Vinod Goel said while referring to former Supreme Court judge K Jagannatha Shetty's observation in a similar matter. The bench, in its judgement, commuted to life term the capital punishment awarded to 31-year-old Sonu Sardar in a case relating to the murder of 5 persons including 2 children in November 2004 in Chhattisgarh. It set aside the President of India's and Chhattisgarh Governor's orders rejecting the mercy plea, but made it clear that "life imprisonment means (till the) end of one's life". Noting that there was a delay of about 3 years in the process of adjudicating the convict's mercy petition, the bench said "there can be no doubt that it is incumbent upon the executive to expedite the process at every stage." The President had rejected Sardar's mercy petition on May 5, 2014 and the Governor in April 2013. "Once the sentence of death has been confirmed by the final judicial forum, any hope of acquittal which might be lingering on in the mind of the condemned prisoner is foreclosed and the spectre of death starts looming upon him. "One never knows when he might be called upon to answer the call of the hangman. This uncertainty, i.e. the doubt of a tomorrow, is what burns the living body," the court said. The bench said this was "a form of additional torment not mandated by law, not part of the sentence awarded to the convict and hence, it violates the constitutional protections. "This delay inserts a dehumanising factor in the execution of the sentence of death inasmuch it deprives one of his life in an unjust, unfair and unreasonable way, running awry of the due process of law enshrined in Article 21 (protection of life and personal liberty) of the Constitution," the high court added. The bench noted that there was a delay, which though "unexplained, is not unreasonable, nor is it inordinate to be a supervening circumstance vitiating the decisions of the Governor and the President". Sardar, along with his brother and accomplices, had killed 5 persons of a family, including a woman and 2 children, during a dacoity bid in Chhattisgarh's Cher village on November 26, 2004. The trial court had slapped death penalty on him in February 2008 and the Chhattisgarh
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, N.C., GA., FLA., OHIO, OKLA., USA
July 3 TEXAS: Death penalty nearing historic lows in Texas and nationwide The death penalty is on the downswing - not just in Texas, but nationwide. A mid-year review by the Death Penalty Information Center found that the use of capital punishment is likely to hover near historic lows in 2017, with just 13 executions completed and 12 more slated to occur. Last year, just 14 executions had been carried out by mid-point in the year. Even the Lone Star State, which has typically been a heavy user of capital punishment, has seen a long-term drop in executions. In 2016, the state executed the fewest inmates it had in 2 decades, as the Chronicle reported in December. "There is clearly a political climate change under way in the United States on the death penalty," Robert Dunham, DPIC executive director, said last year. "It has many different causes - you can't attribute it to any single thing - but there are a combination of factors that have led to substantial change in America's view of the death penalty." Some of the factors at play in the changing trend could include legal uncertainties, moratoriums, and death penalty drug shortages, according to The Washington Post. And on top of those logistical issues, public opinion has slowly shifted away from the practice. A Pew Research Survey in 2016 found that support for the death penalty had fallen below 50 % for the 1st time in almost half a century. While a Gallup poll a year earlier found a slightly higher level of support in the general populace with 60 % favoring the practice, even that higher number represents a decline. "People feel much more comfortable with that alternative because if you make a mistake, you can fix it later," ACLU senior staff attorney Brian Stull said last year. "That is certainly lurking in the background." But the current dip may not be record-setting; as of now, 2017 execution figures look to be slightly above the 26-year-low seen in 2016. But, that could change depending on whether Ohio is able to carry out the 5 executions scheduled between now and December. And it's also possible 2017 could see a new low in death sentences handed out. So far, states have only doled out 16 death sentences. Last year saw just 31 by the end of the year. But even though Texas has witnessed a marked decrease in the use of capital punishment, it's still near the head of the pack for the remainder of the year, with 5 executions scheduled for the 2nd half of 2017. (source: Houston Chronicle) NORTH CAROLINA: Bradley found guilty in murder of Shannon Rippy Van Newkirk More than 3 years after Shannon Rippy Van Newkirk was last seen, a Pender County jury on Thursday found James Opelton Bradley guilty of 2nd-degree murder in her presumed death. Superior Court Judge Paul Jones sentenced Bradley to 30.4 to 37.5 years in prison. Bradley's defense attorneys said they would appeal the verdict. New Hanover County District Attorney Ben David David said he is "thrilled" with the verdict and is confident it will hold up under appeal. Bradley, 54, of Wilmington was charged with 1st-degree murder April 29, 2014, after Wilmington Police Department detectives looking for Van Newkirk unearthed a woman's nude and bound body from a shallow grave in a Pender County farm field. Missing Van Newkirk, 53, of Wilmington was last seen April 5, 2014, at the Husk Bar in downtown Wilmington. Her mother Roberta Lewis reported Van Newkirk missing after she didn't show up for a brunch to celebrate her 54th birthday on April 6, 2014. Van Newkirk and Bradley were employed by Steve Mott's landscaping company and occasionally went to work on a farm Mott owns in Hampstead. It was on that farm where the woman's buried body was found, wrapped in garbage bags. Detectives at first thought the woman's body was Van Newkirk's. Tattoos observed during an autopsy confirmed it was not Van Newkirk, but the body of Elisha Tucker, 33, of Wilmington, who had been missing since August 2013. A DNA expert testified during the trial that Tucker's DNA was found on the carpet pad of Bradley's Chevrolet Tahoe. Crystal Sitosky, a Wilmington woman who said she had seen Bradley with Tucker in the summer of 2013, also testified she went to meet with Bradley on the property where Tucker's body eventually was found. Bradley also is charged with 1st-degree murder in Tucker's death, but a trial date has not been set. The state has said it will seek the death penalty in that case. (source: Wilmington Star News) GEORGIA: Alleged gunman in Savannah gang revenge slaying makes court appearance The alleged shooter in what prosecutors call a gang revenge slaying of Dominique Powell in Tatemville today appeared in court as officials begin new death-penalty proceedings on a June re-indictment. Timothy Coleman Jr., 21, appeared with his lawyer from the state Capital Defense Office in a "first apperance" before
