[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----ALABAMA
Oct. 19 ALABAMAexecution Alabamna executes Torrey Twane McNabb Following last-minute court challenges, Alabama carried the execution Thursday evening of Torrey Twane McNabb, convicted of killing a Montgomery police officer in 1997. McNabb's attorneys filed appeals in the case throughout Thursday to halt the execution that was set for 6 p.m. at the Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore. the last stay was lifted between 8 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. McNabb's official time of death was 9:38 p.m. McNabb's final words were: "Mom, sis, look at my eyes. I'm unafraid ... To the state of Alabama, I hate you motherf***ers. I hate you. I hate you." A brief portion of his final words was unintelligible. McNabb becomes the 3rd condemned inmate to be put to death this year in Alabama and the 61st overall since the state resumed capital punishment in 1983. McNabb becomes the 21st condemned inmate to be put to death this year in the USA and the 1463rd overall since the nation resumed executions on January 17, 1977. The USA carried out 20 executions last year, and currently there are 6 executions scheduled nationwide in November and 1 in December. (sources: al.com & Rick Halperin) ___ 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----ALABAMA
Oct. 19 ALABAMAimpending execution U.S. Supreme Court OKs execution of Montgomery cop-killer The U.S. Supreme Court has cleared the way for tonight's execution of Alabama death row inmate Torrey Twane McNabb. The execution by lethal injection is set for 6 p.m. at the Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore. McNabb, 40, who was convicted in the shooting death of a Montgomery police officer, had tonight's execution stayed by a federal judge on Monday. A three-member panel of the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday kept that stay in place. The Alabama Attorney General's Office, on behalf of the Alabama Department of Corrections, then appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court late Wednesday in an effort to have the execution go on at 6 p.m. tonight. In a brief order issued just after 4 p.m. today, the U.S. Supreme Court ordered the stay be lifted, clearing the way for tonight's execution. "Alabama has already carried out four executions using this protocol," the AG stated in its appeal to the Supreme Court. "Three of those executed inmates were co-plaintiffs in this case, and their stay requests were denied by both this Court and the Eleventh Circuit." McNabb has spent the last 18 years on death row, after being convicted of fatally shooting Montgomery police officer Anderson Gordon in September 1997. McNabb was convicted on two capital murder counts-- one for killing Gordon while he was on duty, and one for killing him as Gordon sat in his patrol car. McNabb also was found guilty of two additional counts of attempted murder. (source: al.com) ___ 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----ALABAMA
Oct. 19 ALABAMA: U.S. Supreme Court to consider Torrey McNabb execution The fate of an inmate convicted of murdering a Montgomery police officer 20 years ago is in the hands of the nation’s highest court. The Alabama Attorney General’s Office Wednesday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to allow Thursday’s scheduled execution of Torrey McNabb to go forward, arguing the inmate has failed to show that a challenge to the state’s method of execution is likely to succeed. “(McNabb) offered no new evidence in support of his request for a stay, essentially relying on the same allegations, expert reports, and deposition excerpts that he attached to his complaint and that have been part of the record for some time,” lawyers for the Attorney General’s Office wrote. If the high court lifts the lower court’s stay, officials will execute McNabb, 40, on Thursday evening. McNabb’s attorneys argue that should not take place before a federal district court holds hearings on the inmates’ challenge. McNabb shot Montgomery police officer Anderson Gordon III on Sept. 24, 1997 while Gordon was in a parked police car responding to an accident. McNabb fired at another officer who pursued him before police captured him. At his trial in January 1999, McNabb admitted to shooting Gordon and apologized to Gordon’s family from the witness stand. Both he and his attorneys argued that McNabb ingested a large amount of cocaine that day, which made him paranoid. The jury convicted McNabb and recommended a sentence of death. That sentence has been upheld in federal and state courts. Alabama executes condemned inmates using a three-drug lethal injection process. The inmate is first administered midazolam, which aims to render the condemned inmate unconscious. After a consciousness check, officials inject the inmate with rocuronium bromide, which paralyzes the muscles, and potassium chloride, which stops the heart. The state has executed four inmates under the protocol since the beginning of 2016. Three executions took place without visible incident. But Ronald Bert Smith gasped and coughed for 13 minutes of his 34-minute execution last December, a reaction similar to other botched executions involving midazolam. Critics say the drug cannot maintain unconsciousness in the face of high-stress events, such as an inmate’s pending execution. The inmates argue for alternative methods of execution, such as large single-dose injections of midazolam or pentobarbital. The state argues the inmates have not shown those methods would be less painful, or practical. U.S. District Judge Keith Watkins dismissed the inmates’ lawsuit last November, but the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ordered new hearings in the case last month. Citing that directive, Watkins stayed the execution of Jeffery Borden earlier this month and entered his stay of McNabb’s execution on Monday. A three-judge panel of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. (source: Montgomery Advertiser) ___ 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----worldwide
Oct. 19 THAILAND: Is the Thai legal system good enough to justify death penalty? Re: "Thailand moves toward abolishing death penalty", The Nation, yesterday. I can't cite any evidence for Thailand as I don't even know where to look. However, as a keen reader of news, I have seen several recent cases in the US where people were convicted of a capital offence and then later exonerated, usually by DNA evidence. If one believes that the death penalty is a reasonable sentence (I don't), then there has to be 100 % confidence in the legal system. Does anyone here have 100 % confidence in the Thai legal system? I didn't think so... Samui Bodoh -- Nor in that of any nation on the planet. In the United Kingdom, dozens of people who would have been executed were later found to be not guilty. People who want the death penalty tend to be low intelligence specimens who believe the state-sponsored murder of innocents is an acceptable price until of course it's their family member! John Richards -- Thailand is well and truly surrounded by countries that have the death penalty. Cambodia is one exception while Laos is in transition. Interestingly, the Philippines has no death penalty but President Duterte and his cronies seemingly can execute members of the public at will without trial. He is also attempting to reintroduce the death penalty in the legal system. Cadbury -- Abolishing the death penalty is a step backward. In Australia each of these criminals costs the country about $110,000 (Bt2.8 million) per year to keep in jail. They get a nice room, no bills. They get ice-cream and pizzas. Why are they rewarded for their crime? Cancerian (source: source: Letters to the Editor, The Nation) SAUDI ARABIA: Saudi Arabia is executing teenagers for using social media - you call that 'reform'?Some juveniles are facing the death penalty for using Whatsapp and Facebook to organise protests. This week, British Foreign Office Minister Alistair Burt used a trip to Riyadh to reaffirm the UK's strong support for Saudi Arabia. The visit comes amid an unprecedented jump in executions in the Kingdom. Saudi authorities have executed over 100 people since January, setting the regime on course to meet the record totals of executions we've seen in the last 3 years. These terrible numbers put Saudi Arabia comfortably within the ranks of the world's top 5 executing countries. As is so often the case, the most vulnerable people in society end up awaiting the executioner's blade. Since 2012, and the height of Arab Spring protests calling for democracy, scores of people, including juveniles, have been arrested, tortured and sentenced to death for the 'crime' of attending protests. Some have been executed. For example, Ali al-Ribh. Ali was a juvenile and in school when he was arrested. He was tortured into making a false confession, and subjected to a sham trial before Saudi Arabia's notorious Specialized Criminal Court. The Kingdom says the Court was set up to hear terrorism cases, but it has been routinely used to convict human rights defenders, protesters and perceived political opponents. Burt's visit comes as the Kingdom threatens another wave of executions of vulnerable protesters, including children. Mujtaba al-Sweikat, a talented student who had a place at an American university to study, was arrested at an airport en route to the US. Sweikat was arrested for attending pro-democracy protests in the country in 2012 when he was 17. He, like Ali, was tortured into "confessing" to various crimes, and now faces imminent execution, along with another 13 Saudi Arabian men. Facing death alongside him are 5 other juveniles - Ali al-Nimr, Dawood al-Marhoon, Abdullah al-Zaher, and Abdul Kareem al-Hawaj - as well as Munir al-Adam, a disabled young man. Some of their so-called crimes include using Whatsapp and Facebook to organise protests. Despite these ongoing abuses, Saudi Arabia's closest allies have been restrained in their criticism of the Kingdom's appalling use of the death penalty. On this week's trip to Riyadh, Burt stuck to the now-familiar mantra that the UK government is helping the Kingdom to 'reform'. He said Britain "work[s] closely with Saudi Arabia in some 'important areas' " and notably, that the UK "supports the delivery of Saudi Arabia's ambitious reform programme." But the Kingdom's reform programme is nothing more than a fig leaf offered to the international community. It fails to address Saudi Arabia's infamously poor human rights record, and the political repression that has seen juveniles like Mujtaba facing execution. Knowing this, it is deeply questionable that the UK government lends such strong support to the Kingdom's criminal justice system - a system that plays a central role in abuses, and shows no signs of reform. The British government has provided millions of pounds' worth of training to Saudi poli
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, VA., GA., FLA., ALA., KAN., USA
Oct. 19 TEXASstay of impending executions 'Tourniquet Killer' execution date reset to January 2018'Tourniquet Killer' claims death row inmate convinced him to confess to murder The execution date for Anthony Allen Shore, also known as the "Tourniquet Killer," has been reset for Jan. 18, 2018. He was scheduled to be put to death Wednesday. On the eve of his scheduled execution, Shore told investigators that a fellow inmate attempted to persuade Shore to take responsibility for the December 1998 abduction and killing of 19-year-old Melissa Trotter. Larry Ray Swearingen was convicted of Trotter's murder and is scheduled to be executed on Nov. 16. Shore, who confessed to four slayings, was scheduled to be executed Wednesday evening, but the date has been reset while an investigation can be conducted. Montgomery County District Attorney Brett Ligon said investigators from his office spoke with Shore on Tuesday and he told them he decided to expose the scheme and not cooperate with Swearingen. The prosecutor said Swearingen tried a similar scheme before his trial for Trotter's killing. The U.S. Supreme Court refused an appeal from Swearingen last October. His attorneys have long wanted additional DNA testing of evidence they say could show he didn't kill Trotter. During Tuesday's interview, Shore told investigators he initially refused Swearingen's request, but the 2 eventually became friends and he decided to try to exonerate Swearingen as a favor. Shore told investigators that Swearingen gave him a hand-drawn map of the location where Swearingen left physical evidence of Trotter's murder. Ligon asked Gov. Greg Abbott to grant Shore a single 30-day reprieve in order to process the contents of Shore's cell. On July 21, authorities discovered a folder in Shore's cell containing approximately 10 items pertaining to Trotter's murder, including copies of court exhibits and scene photos, a hand-drawn page of a calendar for the month of December 1998 with handwritten notations regarding weather conditions, and a hand-drawn map which appears to depict the location where Trotter's body was found. The handwriting on the map appears to be Swearingen's, authorities said. (source: click2houston.com) * Texas court halts execution to review claims that co-defendant lied at trialThe execution of Clinton Young, convicted in a 2001 Midland-area murder, was stopped by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. The courts will look into claims that Young's co-defendant lied in his testimony against Young. The execution of a man who insists he was framed in a 2001 murder was halted by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals on Wednesday, 1 week before he was set to die. The court sent the case of Clinton Young back to trial court to look into claims that Young's co-defendant, a main witness for the state at trial, lied in his testimony. Young's lawyers claim four jailhouse witnesses have sworn they heard the co-defendant, David Page, brag about killing Samuel Petrey and blaming it on Young. "I'm very grateful to the Criminal Court of Appeals for granting this stay and for giving me a chance to prove my innocence in court," Young told his attorneys on the phone, according to a statement. In November 2001, Young and Page, ages 18 and 20, took part in a drug-related crime spree that involved fatally shooting Doyle Douglas and Samuel Petrey and stealing their cars over 2 days on opposite ends of the state, according to court documents. Douglas was shot in Longview on Nov. 24. The next day, Petrey was killed in Midland, more than 450 miles away. Young was convicted and sentenced to death in Petrey's murder in 2003, with Page testifying against him. Page took a plea deal and was given 30 years in prison under an aggravated kidnapping conviction, according to court filings. He is currently eligible for parole but was denied release last year. At trial, Page said Young shot Petrey, but Young has said he was sleeping off a methamphetamine high when the man was killed. Seeking to prove his innocence and stop his upcoming execution, Young's lawyers filed an appeal earlier this month claiming Page's testimony was false based on the new witness statements. The statements all include Page mentioning how the gloves he was wearing while shooting Petrey allowed him to blame Young for the murder. The appellate court sent the case back to trial court to resolve this new claim of false testimony. "We are confident the court will conclude that Page lied under oath to save himself and that our client is innocent of the crime that put him on death row," said Margo Rocconi, one of Young's lawyers, in a statement. The Midland District Attorney's Office did not immediately respond to comment on Young's case Wednesday. (source: Texas Tribune) ** Executions under Greg Abbott, Jan. 21,
