[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide
April 17 INDONESIA: UK surfer faces death penalty in Bali for medicinal cannabis possession A British man has revealed the sheer terror of facing time inside one of the world‘s most notorious prisons and the death penalty after his arrest in Bali last week. Pip Holmes, a 45-year-old father from Cornwall in England‘s southwest, was arrested on December 3 as he went to pick up a package sent from Thailand which contained bottles of cannabis oil. Indonesian police said he received nearly 31g of cannabis oil in the mail and could face the death penalty if convicted. Indonesia has strict drug laws and dozens of convicted smugglers are on death row. Mr Holmes, who describes himself as an artist and surfer, claims he was caught with just a tiny amount — around 3g — of medicinal THC oil, which he uses to treat his arthritis. “Marijuana makes a considerable difference to the pain — it‘s not a leisure activity for me,” he told the . “I knew what I was getting into … I knew there were very strict laws, but I chose to come here anyway because the surf is the best in the world. “It feels like a great injustice, but I‘m not in the UK, I‘m in Bali, so it‘s my own fault … I‘m afraid because I don‘t know how long it‘s going to be before I can hug my children again. They are the only thing keeping me going right now.” Pip Holmes said he went to Bali 2 months ago for the surf. Mr Holmes was 1 of 5 detained foreigners paraded by officials at a news conference in Denpasar, Indonesia last week. In a written statement, Mr Holmes said he had already been moved from a cramped police cell in Bali to a rehabilitation centre. He told supporters that “for the last few days, each morning I have woken up in a terrible nightmare” and asked for them to donate money to cover his legal fees. “I still can‘t believe that I‘m here and I feel sick with fear,” he wrote. “As it stands, I don‘t know if I‘m about to spend a few months in a rehabilitation or if I‘m about to face 5 to 15 years in Kerobokan — one of the toughest prisons on earth.” Pip Holmes was arrested on December 3 He said he wants to be able to hug his children for their future birthdays and Christmases In his desperate plea for help, Mr Holmes said he had been “very stupid” and that he “knew what (he) was getting into”. “This is Asia, it‘s not like the west. I am guilty under Indonesian law of possession of narcotics, there‘s no denying that,” he wrote. “Even though medicinal THC is something so widely accepted elsewhere and it was such a small amount, I foolishly crossed the line in a very strict country. “The only way now to ensure my sentence is something I will survive is to invest in the right legal representation and rehabilitation.” Mr Holmes said he was hoping to serve a short sentence in rehabilitation before being deported to the UK. Pip Holmes‘ full statement Thank you for taking time away from Christmas shopping and making plans for the holidays. I so wish I could spend this Christmas exchanging gifts and pulling crackers with my loved ones too but as I write these words, I have recently been moved from a cramped Balinese police cell to a rehab facility and although things are looking up, I have no idea what is going to happen to me next. My children have been sending me pictures and voice messages telling me about all the things they want to us do for their birthdays next spring. My family, friends and loved ones are constantly telling me that everything is going to be OK and that they‘re going to get me the help I need. They keep on saying I‘m the strongest person they know and I can get through this. But the truth is, I‘m afraid. I‘ve never been so afraid. It‘s hard to be strong when you read the words “death penalty” in the paper in relation to your story. I‘m also afraid because I don‘t know how long it‘s going to be before I can hug my children again. They are the only thing keeping me going right now. What I‘d give to read them a story. To surf … to paint … or even just to be able to have a shower. For the last few days, each morning I have woken up in a terrible nightmare. I still can‘t believe that I‘m here and I feel sick with fear. (source: clarksburgcaller.com) SRI LANKA: 13 prisoners at risk of 'imminent execution' in Sri Lanka warns Amnesty International At least 13 prisoners in Sri Lankan prisoners are “at risk of imminent execution” warned Amnesty International, as they launched an urgent action appeal this week. “After 43 years without using the death penalty, the President of Sri Lanka, Maithripala Sirisena, is reportedly planning to execute prisoners on death row,” said Amnesty. “There is completely secrecy around the dates identities of the prisoners who are expected to be imminently executed. No information about their case histories has been shared. It is unknown whether the individuals had fair trials, access to lawyers
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide
April 17 PAKISTAN: Murderer Get Death Penalty In Islamabad An Additional District and Sessions court Tuesday awarded death sentence to an accused involved in a murder case of Koral police limits. The Koral police produced the Challan of an accused Zaheer Ahmed s/o Muhammad Bakhsh resident of Attock in the court who allegedly murdered Yahya Hussain in February last year over a dispute. The court after listening to the arguments of both parties declared the accused guilty and awarded death sentence to him. The court also released an accomplice giving the benefit of doubt. (source: urdupoint.com) INDIA: Man gets capital punishment for raping, killing 3-yr-old The court of additional session judge Lolark Dubey under district on Wednesday awarded to a man for raping and strangulating a three-year-old minor in Gumla district. Police said on September 23, 2018, the child was playing outside her house at Hesaguttu-Kohlutoli village under Puso police station in Gumla district when 20-year-old Bandhan Oraon lured her to his house. A police officer said, “Her mother, Etwari Oraon, went out to look for her across the village when a girl told her that she saw the minor playing with Bandhan outside his house. When she approached Bandhan, he told Etwari that her daughter was sleeping inside his house and that he would bring her home once she wakes up.” He added, “Etwari went back to his house after half-an-hour and Bandhan said the child’s body had become cold. When the mother went inside the house, she found her daughter dead and covered in a bloody bedsheet.” Notably, the judgement came within two-and-a-half months after cognizance of the case, in which 13 witnesses appeared. The court awarded the death penalty under the Indian Penal Code’s Section 376 AB and 302 and also imposed a fine worth Rs 10,000 on Bandhan. (source: doverdailynews.com) *** SC stays death sentence of Theni manWarrant has left no time for the convict to file an appeal, says Bench led by Chief Justice The Supreme Court on Tuesday stayed the execution of a 30-year-old man convicted for killing a college girl and her lover after raping her near Suruli Hills in Theni district in 2011. A Bench led by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi set aside the warrant of execution issued by the Theni principal sessions judge after the Madras High Court upheld the conviction of Diwakar for murder, and confirmed the death penalty on March 13. The date of execution of the convict, as per the warrant, was April 22. The CJI-led Bench noted that the warrant of execution left no time for the convict to file an appeal in the Supreme Court. If implemented, the convict would be executed even before the time allowed under law to file an appeal was exhausted. “The period for filing of a special leave petition/an appeal against the order of conviction and sentence passed is yet to be over, we are of the view that the warrant for execution of death sentence, dated March 27, 2019, 27.3.2019, is contrary to the law,” the apex court held. The Supreme Court further recorded: “We are also told that the petitioner is in the process of filing an appeal. The same as and when filed, will receive due attention of the court”. In its judgment, the High Court had termed the murder as a “brutal act on the helpless young couple, that too after raping the girl”. “The savageness of the act was shocking and such a person will be a menace to the society,” it had observed. The trial court had sentenced Diwakar to death in March 2018, saying the prosecution had proved its case beyond reasonable doubt. (source: The Hindu) EQUATORIAL GUINEA: Presidential announcement a welcome step towards abolishing the death penalty Reacting to the news that Equatorial Guinea’s President Teodoro Obiang Nguema will propose a draft law to abolish the death penalty, Marie-Evelyne Petrus Barry, Amnesty International West and Central Africa Director said: "This presidential announcement is a welcome move and, if the death penalty is abolished in Equatorial Guinea, the country will join more than half of the countries in the world that have consigned the cruel punishment to history – where it belongs. "Now that the announcement is made, we hope that President Teodoro Obiang Nguema will immediately take necessary steps to ensure his announcement is implemented without delay. Abolishing the death penalty will be a positive step in improving Equatorial Guinea’s human rights record, particularly the protection of the right to life. “We would also like this positive announcement to be followed by others in favour of the protection of freedoms of expression, opinion, association and assembly and for Equatorial Guinea to respect its human rights obligations. “Amnesty International opposes the death penalty in all cases without exception, regardless of the nature of the crime
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----USA, US MIL.
April 17 USA: We should preach about the death penalty on Good Friday To avoid preaching about the evil of the death penalty on Good Friday is akin to not preaching about the joy of the resurrection on Easter Sunday. The central scriptural context of the liturgical readings is focused on the state execution of Jesus Christ. And yet, if previous experiences are any indication, anecdotal evidence suggests that few Catholics will hear their pastors deliver a homily this Friday in which the Passion of the Lord is connected to the sin of capital punishment. The very nature and purpose of the Good Friday homily begs such an engagement. As the General Instruction of the Roman Missal makes clear, the homily ought to be an explanation of the readings that ties together the mystery we celebrate in faith and the needs and contexts of the people gathered in assembly. But the homily is not merely an opportunity for exegesis or catechesis, it is meant to inspire, challenge, lift up and embolden the faith of the hearers. The important 1982 U.S. bishops' conference document "Fulfilled in Your Hearing," on the role of the homily in liturgy, reminds us that "the homily is preached in order that a community of believers who have gathered to celebrate the liturgy may do so more deeply and more fully — more faithfully — and thus be transformed for Christian witness in the world" (no. 43). Likewise, in 2012, the U.S. bishops' conference issued another document on the homily on the 30th anniversary of "Fulfilled in Your Hearing." This text, titled "Preaching the Mystery of Faith," states: "The purpose and spirit of the homily is to inspire and move those who hear it, to enable them to understand in heart and mind what the mysteries of our redemption mean for our lives and how they might call us to repentance and change" (p. 30). Given the purpose and place of the homily, the subject of the death penalty in the context of the United States offers both the preacher and the assembly an important opportunity. For the former, while it takes courage to discuss a subject that will surely find a mixed reception in many congregations, it is an opportunity to directly address the continued and pressing relevance of the church's teaching on the inexcusability of capital punishment as borne witness to in the Lord's passion and in the many hundreds of death-row inmates today. For the assembly, it is an opportunity, as the U.S. bishops' conference documents on preaching recall, to grow in understanding of the faith, see the connection between that faith and an injustice in our midst, and thus move toward greater transformation in order to be Christian witnesses in the world. Beyond the homiletic impetus for it, the need to address capital punishment as a pressing moral issue in our day is heightened by the recent Amnesty International report on global trends in the death penalty, which was published just last week. While some of the statistics will not be surprising — the greatest number of state executions took place in nations like China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Vietnam, and Iraq — some of the report should be a particularly disturbing reminder of how unjust the United States' judicial system remains. For example, the report says that: "For the 10th consecutive year, the USA remained the only country to carry out executions in the region [of North and South America]." Think about that for a minute. The national narrative and accompanying rhetoric used by politicians on both sides of the aisle often claims that the United States is a beacon of democratic hope and a model of integrity for the world. Furthermore, many of our leaders and ordinary citizens alike enjoy thinking of our country as a "Christian nation," but one of the starkest signs of our moral hypocrisy is witnessed in the data that show we are the only nation in the Western Hemisphere that sentences its own citizens to death. And, according to the Amnesty report, as of 2018 the number of death sentences and executions increased in the United States from 2017. We are in the worldwide minority of countries that still maintains the death penalty, and those with whom we share that appalling company include an embarrassing collection of dictatorships and promoters of state terrorism. One of the traditional go-to justifications for supporting the death penalty among American Catholics had been a clause in the 1992 Catechism of the Catholic Church that acknowledged the possibility that state execution of criminals could be justified as a last resort and for the sake of the common good. That document was promulgated under St. John Paul II, who was an outspoken critic of the death penalty (including in the United States) and who, according to reporting by Jesuit Fr. Thomas Reese, didn't want to include the exception and would have preferred to see the practiced entirely abolished. "But some in the Vatican
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----OHIO, IND., ILL., MO., NEB., S.DAK.
Apirl 17 OHIO: Cleveland man guilty in Mr. Cars slayings, faces death penalty A jury on Tuesday found a Cleveland man guilty of aggravated murder in the execution-style killings of a couple and their dog inside the used car lot they owned. Joseph McAlpin will now face the death penalty in the March 2017 deaths of Michael Kuznik and Trina Tomola inside the Mr. Cars lot in the city’s Collinwood neighborhood. Jurors found McAlpin guilty of all counts he faced. The verdict will kick off a 2nd phase of the trial on Monday in which prosecutors will seek to convince jurors that McAlpin ought to be sentenced to death. Jurors will ultimately recommend a sentence of either death by execution or life in prison. Common Pleas Court Judge Brian Corrigan has the final say and can either accept the jury’s recommendation or lessen it. Members of the Kuznik and Tomola families, who attended much of the testimony throughout the 3-week trial, wept when Corrigan read the verdict. Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Michael O’Malley told reporters late Tuesday that he expected the verdict, but didn’t consider it a victory. “There are three children who don’t have their parents," O’Malley said. “Even though [McAlpin] was found guilty on all counts today, it’s really not a victory when you have to look at the family and the scars that will forever be on them.” McAlpin represented himself at trial, a move that is believed to be the 1st in a capital trial in Cuyahoga County history. He remained motionless and did not react as the verdict was read. Prosecutors relied on DNA evidence, cellphone records and testimony from a man who admitted to helping McAlpin carryout what was supposed to be a simple burglary to steal cars and titles. Prosecutors say McAlpin entered Mr. Cars and shot Kuznik, 47, in the showroom. The bullet grazed Kuznik’s face before he ran to a backroom, where McAlpin stood over him and shot him in the top of his head, prosecutors say. Investigators found McAlpin’s DNA in Kuznik’s back pocket, where prosecutors said he had put cash from 2 car sales earlier in the day. The cash was not found on Kuznik’s body. Tomola, 46, tried to run from the building during the robbery. McAlpin shot her in the back of her head, near an exit, prosecutors said. McAlpin also shot and killed the couple’s Doberman Pinscher, Axel, who accompanied the couple to work every day for protection, prosecutors said. He also disabled the car lot’s security video systems before stealing the cars. Investigators found McAlpin’s DNA on a computer modem that was inches from Tomola’s body, and inside a BMW sedan that was stolen during the killings, prosecutors said. McAlpin’s admitted accomplice, Andrew Keener, pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and agreed to testify for the state at trial. Keener told jurors that he and McAlpin’s brother, Jerome Diggs, waited outside the lot while McAlpin went in. Keener testified that he spoke on the phone several times with McAlpin while he was in the dealership before McAlpin summoned him to drive a Mercedes sedan away from the lot while McAlpin followed in the BMW. Keener is set to be sentenced after McAlpin’s trial wraps up. Diggs has pleaded not guilty to charges including aggravated murder, and his case is pending. Google Location Services put McAlpin’s location at the store at the time of the slayings, Assistant Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Brian Radigan said, as did information from cellphone towers. The Google locations stopped around 5:30 p.m., which Radigan said happened because the modem with McAlpin’s DNA on it was ripped from the wall. Cellphone towers later put McAlpin’s location on West 48th Street, where police found the stolen BMW, Radigan said. McAlpin pointed out that prosecutors had no eyewitnesses to the shooting and no video evidence of what happened inside the Collinwood used car lot. He criticized the DNA evidence prosecutors said showed he was inside the used car dealership and in a BMW that was stolen during the robbery. McAlpin also said he did not have his phone at the time of the slayings. Investigators used information from the cellphone, including Google Location Services and cellphone tower pings from McAlpin’s phone. He called Keener a liar who told police what they wanted to hear to spare himself. “I’m not a monster,” McAlpin said during closing arguments on Monday. (source: cleveland.com) Is this the beginning of the end for Ohio's death penalty? Jeffrey Wogenstahl was supposed to die today. If things had gone according to plan, he would have been strapped to a table this morning and injected with lethal drugs. His loved ones, lawyers and the family of the 10-year-girl he was convicted of killing could have watched. But that won't happen. Wogenstahl's case began in 1991 when 10-year-old Amber Garrett went missing and was found dead three days later in
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----N.H., N.Y., PENN., VA., N.C., GA., ALA., LA.
April 17 NEW HAMPSHIRE: Keep the death penalty To the Editor: It would be a 2nd mistake for the State of New Hampshire to go with other states in repealing the death penalty. The 1st mistake was not making use of the penalty which is leading to its own demise. Think about it. The opioid crises is getting out of control, and nobody thinks the death penalty is a deterrent. I ask you how many times will a dead drug dealer continue to make money on drugs. I would use the death penalty, reduce death row time and wipe the dealers off the face of this country. If we don’t, our county will die from within. Something to think about as New Hampshire votes to repeal the death penalty. I am with our governor who wants to keep the death penalty. Keep the death penalty governor, but you have to use it! Louis J. Santucci, Rochester (source: Letter to the Editor, forsters.com) NEW YORK: Former Death Row Inmate Speaks About Her Life After Being Exonerated On Tuesday, former death row inmate and anti-death penalty advocate Debra Milke shared her story with the Cornell community. Milke was invited by Prof. John Blume to speak to his LAW 4051: Death Penalty in America class, and the event was open to the public. In 1990, Milke was wrongfully convicted of 1st-degree murder of her 4-year-old son, Christopher, as well as conspiracy to commit 1st-degree murder, kidnapping and child abuse. After 22 years in prison, she won her appeal in the Ninth Circuit in March 2013 and was released from prison in September of the same year. She was exonerated in March 2015. Her story is an “emotional” one, she said. In 1989, Milke was a 25-year-old single mother living near Phoenix, Arizona, struggling to get by after leaving a “bad marriage,” when she took up her friend James “Jim” Styers’s offer to move into his apartment. On December 2, 1989, Milke’s son, Christopher, asked to go to the mall with Styers to see Santa Claus, and that was “the last time I saw my son alive,” said Milke. Many hours later, she was escorted into an interrogation room at the Pinal County police department, where Detective Armando Saldate Jr. entered the room and delivered the truth that Milke was awaiting with “despair.” “He just looked at me and he said, ‘We found your son. He was murdered and you’re under arrest.’ Just like that, in one breath,” Milke said. After that, Milke was charged with “a whole slew of crimes” based on a confession that Saldate claimed he obtained from Milke in that interrogation room. “That cop lied,” Milke said. “The prosecutors were making up things.” She was ultimately convicted of all charges. After being put into solitary confinement in prison and losing her first post-conviction appeal, Milke knew that she had to “figure out a way to help [herself].” She familiarized herself with legal language, learned how to read a brief, and got a new lawyer. In the next three decades, she continually lost appeals. However, despite the occasional “scary moments,” Milke refused to give up. “An innocent person doesn’t give up. You just don’t,” she said. Eventually, her case reached the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, and on March 14, 2013, the Ninth Circuit judges overruled her convictions on the basis of an unfair trial. Throughout the entire 3-decade-long ordeal, Milke maintained her “cautious optimism” and sense of humor as a coping mechanism for her situation. She remembered that during a practice run of her execution, a doctor was taking her blood to make sure she was healthy. “Well, check my cholesterol too,” she joked, adding that she probably made the doctor uncomfortable, but that she didn’t care. Milke describes her experience as having to deal with two tragedies at the same time — first, the loss of her son and second, her unfair trial and the subsequent years in the capital appeals system. “The win was bittersweet. The legal tragedy, I overcame, but then right at my doorstep was the reality that my son was gone,” she said, her voice catching. She had to put her pain “on a shelf because [she] couldn’t deal with both things at the same time.” “My son’s been gone for 30 years but it doesn’t matter how many years he’s been gone,” she continued. “Pain is — it’s very raw and it lasts, and it seems like it just happened sometimes, even though it’s been three decades.” Now, Milke is a member of Witness to Innocence, an advocacy organization composed of exonerated death row survivors, and travels the country to speak about her experiences. “I like to speak to students because you guys are the future,” she said. “I don’t know if any of you want to be lawyers, but the message I want to get across is that there is a human being behind a case number.” She also spoke out against the death penalty, stating that executing her son’s killer “won’t change anything. It’s not going to bring my son back.” “There are so many wrongful
