[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

Apeil 10



MEXICO:

Mexico will ask Texas to commute Mexican prisoner's death sentence


The president of Mexico's National Human Rights Commission has asked Texas
officials to commute a death sentence to life in prison for a Mexican
prisoner convicted of raping and killing a Houston doctor.

Jose Luis Soberanes made the request in a letter to the Texas parole
board, the commission said Monday in a news release. The board can only
make a recommendation to Texas Gov. Rick Perry, the only official with the
authority to commute the sentence.

Soberanes is asking for life in prison for Angel Maturino Resendiz, who is
scheduled to be executed on May 10 for the 1998 murder of Dr. Claudia
Benton, 39.

Mexico opposes the death penalty and has refused to extradite criminals
who face execution to the United States. But in November, the country's
Supreme Court overturned a 4-year-old ban preventing extradition for
suspects who could face life without parole.

Resendiz, now 45, turned himself in to a law enforcement official in El
Paso, Texas, in 1999. During his May 2000 trial, Resendiz asked for the
death penalty. After his conviction he pledged to drop all his appeals to
hasten his execution, but later changed his mind.

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals rejected his appeal in March 2004. The
court had previously affirmed his 2000 conviction and death sentence.

Resendiz is known as the "railroad killer" because he has been linked with
14 murders in Texas, California, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky and Illinois -
all near railroad tracks.

Resendiz's defense attorneys have argued that he is innocent by reason of
insanity. Prosecutors say he was lucid when he killed Benton.

(source: Univision)






BOTSWANA:

Girlfriend Killer Escapes Death Sentence


Justice Lakhvinder Singh Walia sentenced a 24-year-old man to 20 years
imprisonment for murder. Tshekiso Outule was jailed for killing the mother
of his child Bantshabetse Reboeleng in January 2003 in Lerala.

When passing sentence, Walia said that Outule had committed an offence
punishable by death. "I have found extenuating circumstances and defence
counsel has drawn my attention to the mitigation factors of the accused
being a 1st offender, his youth and his expressions of remorse," said
Walia.

He said given the brutality, savagery and the utter senselessness of
Outule's act, he had seriously considered imposing the death sentence,
extenuating circumstances notwithstanding.

"I'm however, moved by two factors in deciding to spare his life. The 1st,
as submitted by defence counsel (Monica Awuah), is that the accused doesnt
and is not likely to pose a threat to society and the 2nd, the rendering
of the accused's young child an orphan," Walia said. He said the child is
still trying to come to terms with the 1st tragedy and the absence of
effective counselling in remote areas of Botswana will no doubt add to the
probability of harm.

"I cannot, however, shut my eyes to the epidemic of domestic
violence-related death. This court is inundated with cases of man-on-woman
violence resulting from broken relationships. Communities have hardly
recovered from one incident of such violence before the next one occurs."
He stated that while sociologists and other experts tackle the root causes
of such behaviour, the courts must be seen to be doing their part by
imposing sufficiently deterrent sentences by at least reflecting the
society's outrage at the burgeoning rise in crimes of violence against
women.

"Although minded to impose a more severe sentence, following sentencing
trends in this jurisdiction, I sentence the accused to 20 years
imprisonment. The accused has the right of appeal against his conviction
and/or sentence which he must exercise within 6 weeks," pronounced Walia.

(source: Mmegi)