[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide
August 13 INDIA: Supreme Court stays execution of man on death row The Supreme Court has stayed the execution of a man sentenced to death in a case related to election rivalry in which 6 persons were murdered after panchayat polls in Uttar Pradesh in 2003. A bench comprising Justices Dipak Misra, Amitava Roy and A M Khanwilkar admitted the appeal filed by convict Madan and called for the trial court's records of the case lodged in Muzaffarnagar district. "Leave granted. Let the lower court's records be called for. There shall be a stay on the execution of the death sentence," it said. Madan was awarded the capital punishment by the trial court in July 2015 and the sentence was confirmed by the Allahabad High Court in February this year. The high court, while confirming his death sentence, had observed that he was 1 of the main assailants in the crime in which 6 persons had died. The high court had commuted to life term the death penalty awarded by the trial court to another convict in the case. According to the prosecution, Madan, along with his associates, had fired at the family members and supporters of the successful candidates, who were elected as members of a village panchayat. It had alleged that Madan and others were supporting the other candidate, who had lost the election, due to which he had a grudge against them. The prosecution had said that on October 14, 2003, when the relatives and supporters of the successful candidates were going to the house of deputy pradhan of the village, Madan and his associates attacked them and in the firing 6 people had died. During the trial, Madan and others had denied the allegations levelled against them and had claimed that they were falsely implicated in the case due to election rivalry. In its judgement, the high court had held that Madan and his associates had indiscriminately fired upon the victims and considering the gravity of offence, it was covered under the category of the rarest of rare cases warranting death penalty. (source: newindianexpress.com) BANGLADESH: HC defers N'ganj 7-murder verdict to Aug 22 The High Court has deferred its verdict on the Narayanganj 7-murder case until Aug 22. Though the decision was to be announced on Aug 13, the bench of Justices Bhabani Prasad Singha and Mustafa Zaman Islam rescheduled it on Sunday. "It has been delayed because the decision is not yet ready," said defence counsel Mansurul Haq Chowdhury. On Jul 26, the High Court bench set the Aug 1 date for the verdict after hearing the death reference and appeals in the case. Death sentences issued by trial courts are forwarded for approval to the High Court as 'death references'. 7 murder case The abduction and gruesome killing of seven people, including councillor Nazrul Islam and senior lawyer Chandan Kumar Sarkar from Narayanganj 3 years ago shocked the nation. The news later made international headlines when it emerged that members of the elite police unit the Rapid Action Battalion or RAB, were involved in the killings. Former Narayanganj City Corporation councillor Nur Hossain and 3 former senior officers of the local RAB unit, including its then chief, former army lieutenant colonel Tarek Sayeed Mohammad, are among the 26 people awarded the death penalty for the 2014 sensational 7-murder. Tarek is also a son-in-law of Disaster Management and Relief Minister Mofazzal Hossain Chowdhury Maya. On Saturday, the families of the victims told bdnews24.com that exemplary punishment should be confirmed for the convicts to stop such crimes happen again. Nazrul Islam's wife Selina Islam Beauty told bdnews24.com: "The entire world is watching the verdict. We lost our loved ones. We want Nur Hossain, the 3 former RAB officers and all other convicts to be hanged." "RAB is our protector, but it acted as the predator. They abducted and killed 7 people, including my husband. It was not simply murder; 7 families are destroyed," she added. She hoped the High Court would uphold the death penalties and those would be executed quickly. 16 of the death-row convicts were members of the elite force. 9 other RAB men were given various previous terms in the trial court verdict issued on Jan 16 this year. Nazrul's friend Moniruzzaman Swapan, driver Jahangir Alam, and lawyer Chandan's driver 'Ibrahim' were also among the 7 victims. Jahangir's wife Shamsunnahar Nupur said, "We are in misery after losing the only bread earner of our family. My daughter has not seen her father. She only cries holding his photo." Swapan's brother 'Ripon' demanded to hang of the convicts. Ibrahim's father Abdul Wahab Mia said, "My daughter-in-law and my grandchildren are living a miserable life after the death of my son. We are poor people. We want the execution of death sentences of the murderers, nothing else." On the afternoon of Apr 27, 2014, City Councillor Nazrul and 5 of his
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, FLA., ALA.
August 13 TEXASnew execution date Judge sets death date for Montgomery County killer Death row inmate Larry Swearingen, a Willis man who raped a 19-year-old coed before strangling her with panty hose nearly 2 decades ago, is now set to die on Nov. 16. After 7 thwarted attempts, Montgomery County has finally succeeded in setting yet another execution date for its only death row convict, a Willis man who raped a 19-year-old coed before strangling her with panty hose nearly 2 decades ago. Larry Swearingen, convicted of killing Montgomery College student Melissa Trotter in 1998 and dumping her body in the Sam Houston National Forest, is slated to meet his fate in Huntsville's death chamber on Nov. 16, a judge ruled late Wednesday. "It still won't bring back Melissa," her mother, Sandy Trotter said in July. "There are no winners in this because we still don't have Melissa." Victim advocate Andy Kahan said it's been a "painstaking" wait for the Trotter family. "Even when you finally believe that you're going to achieve justice, until it actually happens you're questioning whether the actual execution will take place or not," he said. And in Swearingen's case, those questions are particularly well placed. This is the state's 8th effort to get Swearingen's execution on the calendar. At least 4 times, similar requests yielded a death date, but every time the Court of Criminal Appeals stayed the execution. But it is those repeated bids for testing that have become the hallmark of Swearingen's legal case. For years, his lawyers have insisted that crime scene DNA taken from evidence near Trotter's body could hold the keys to prove his innocence. But prosecutors - and higher courts - have deemed such testing unnecessary. At least twice, a trial court judge sided with Swearingen's testing requests - but each time the state slapped down the lower court's grant, ruling that new DNA wouldn't be enough to counter the "mountain of evidence" pointing to Swearingen's guilt. Swearingen and Trotter were seen in the college's library together on Dec. 8, 1998 - the day of the teen's disappearance. Afterward, a biology teacher spotted Trotter leaving the school with a man. Hair and fiber evidence later showed that she'd been in Swearingen's car and home the day she vanished. The killer's wife testified that she came home that evening to find the place in disarray - and in the middle of it all were Trotter's lighter and cigarettes. Swearingen later filed a false burglary report, claiming his home had been broken into while he was out of town. That afternoon, Swearingen placed a call routed through a cell tower near FM 1097 in Willis - a spot he would have passed while heading from his house to the Sam Houston National Forest where Trotter's decomposing body was found 25 days later. "A too trusting 19-year-old in the wrong place at the wrong time," Sandy Trotter said, recalling her daughter's death. "It's just every parent's nightmare." Swearingen was convicted and sentenced to death in 2000. He went on to file what prosecutors described as "an abundance of habeas corpus applications, pro se motions, mandamus petitions, civil-right actions, and amended pleadings in both state and federal courts." The state's Court of Criminal Appeals rejected all 7 of Swearingen's habeas appeals, and in July a federal district court slapped down a civil suit seeking to win the convicted killer more DNA testing. Through it all, Swearingen maintained his innocence. "The way I look at it, I'm a POW of Texas," the former electrician has told the media. "It's my army against their army." Even though his bids for more testing ultimately didn't pan out, Swearingen's DNA complaints sparked charges in state law in 2015. That year, lawmakers expanded access to testing by removing the requirement that the accused prove biological material - like saliva, sweat or skin cells - exists before testing evidence for it. But no amount of DNA evidence would be enough to exonerate the convicted killer, prosecutors say. Visiting Judge J.D. Langley greenlit Wednesday's decision in the 9th state District Court after Judge Phil Grant recused himself from the case in June 2016 given his prior involvement as a prosecutor during his time in the District Attorney's office. "It appears there is no necessity for an evidentiary hearing related to any issue raised in either the motion or the response," Langley wrote. "The court can find no reason to further delay the imposition of the sentence." Even at this late date in legal saga, Montgomery County prosecutor Bill Delmore still anticipates pushback from Swearingen's attorneys. "I would say I'm cautiously optimistic that if there's an execution date we might finally see the culmination of this case," he said. "But I fully expect the attorneys for Swearingen to request another stay and they've been very tenacious in the pa
