[Deathpenalty] death penalty news-----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

Feb. 18



CANADA:

Opposition finds itself allied with accused multiple-murderer


Marguerite Veillette, 8, and her three siblings died in a fire allegedly
set by their father.

When the three federal opposition leaders lined up last fall to fight the
Conservative government's new hard-line stance toward Canadians facing the
death penalty in other countries, they couldn't have predicted it would
land them in the corner of a man accused of killing his wife in an
argument over his mistress, and then of killing his 4 children -
2-year-old twins, a 4-year-old son and 8-year-old daughter - to cover up
the first murder.

But on Friday, when an Ohio prosecutor announced a five-count
death-penalty indictment against former Montrealer Michel Veillette, the
34-year-old Canadian was instantly allied in his bid to avoid execution
with Liberal Leader Stephane Dion, the NDP's Jack Layton and Bloc
Quebecois chief Gilles Duceppe.

The three leaders' avowed opposition to capital punishment - in all
circumstances and in all places where Canadians face execution - now
stands in dramatic contrast to Prime Minister Stephen Harper's new
"case-by-case" approach to deciding when Canada will intervene to seek
clemency for Canadians facing the death penalty outside of this country.

"The law in the State of Ohio, where this crime was committed, is that we
have the death penalty," Warren County Prosecutor Rachel Hutzel said last
week, after revealing details of a grand jury's indictment against
Veillette and her plan to vigorously pursue a death sentence for the
accused Canadian.

"He may have been a Canadian citizen, but he was here when he killed his
wife and those 4 little kids," she alleged.

Veillette, who had moved with his family to Mason, Ohio, has claimed that
he stabbed his wife, Canadian citizen Nadya Ferrari, 33, in self-defence
on Jan. 11 after she attacked him with a frying pan and a knife over his
extramarital affair.

He also claimed that she set their house on fire, a blaze that left all 4
of the couple's children - Marguerite, 8, Vincent, 4, and 2-year-old
twins, Jacob and Mia - dead from smoke inhalation.

But Ohio investigators and Hutzel believe he planned to kill his wife and
then deliberately set fire to the house in a bid to lay blame on Ferrari
for all of the deaths.

"We intend to bring Michel Veillette to justice for this horrible crime
against this entire family," Hutzel told reporters during a news
conference on Friday. "He killed his wife, then planned the killing of the
children to cover it up."

Veillette is charged with aggravated murder in the case, and the
children's ages all but guaranteed that, under Ohio law, he will be facing
the death penalty if convicted.

Montreal-area MP Marlene Jennings, the deputy Liberal house leader, said
Monday the severity of the allegations against Veillette won't alter her
party's commitment to oppose capital punishment.

If he's convicted and sentenced to death, she said, "the Canadian
government has to step in and advocate for clemency. No civilized society
should have the death penalty."

Canada abolished capital punishment in 1976. And until Oct. 31, when the
Harper government reversed long-standing federal policy on the issue,
Canadians on death row in other countries could count on Canadian consular
officials and political leaders to pressure foreign authorities to commute
any death sentence to life imprisonment.

The most high-profile appeal for clemency came in 1999, when Canada
unsuccessfully lobbied then-Texas governor George W. Bush to spare the
life of Alberta-born inmate Stanley Faulder, who had been convicted of the
brutal slaying of an elderly woman in the state.

He was executed by lethal injection despite a chorus of condemnation from
Canadian political leaders and human rights advocates.

The recent reversal of Canada's clemency policy was prompted by the case
of Ronald Smith, a Red Deer, Alta., native who admitted murdering 2
Blackfoot Indian men during a drunken 1982 road trip to Montana.

Smith initially requested the death penalty but later appealed the
sentence. His legal fight to avoid execution - backed by Canada until last
fall - is still before the U.S. courts. But after Canwest News Service
reported in October that Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer was being
pressured by Canadian officials to grant clemency to Smith, the Harper
government decided it would halt efforts to help Smith or any other
Canadian who ends up facing a death sentence in democratic countries, such
as the U.S., where there has been a fair trial.

That decision prompted an uproar in Parliament, with the 3 opposition
partied united in denouncing what they called a tacit endorsement of
capital punishment.

The government has since scrapped its initial position that any Canadian
on death row in any democratic country would be denied federal
intervention. Instead, Justice Minister Rob Nicholson announced a
"case-by-case" approach on the issue, but made clear that "mass" or
"multiple" murderers such as Smith - precisely what Veillette is alleged
to be - would get no help from the Harper government to avoid execution.

However, that still leaves Veillette with Dion, Layton, Duceppe and their
parties on his side - at least on the question of whether the computer
engineer should be put to death if convicted of killing his family.

Dion and Layton wrote directly to Schweitzer last fall to appeal for
Smith's life, and Duceppe spearheaded a petition signed by all opposition
MPs urging clemency for the Alberta man.

Dion has been the most adamant of the opposition leaders that Canada
should never stand silent if one of its citizens faces execution.

He condemned capital punishment as "barbaric" in a recent interview with
Canwest News Service, and has pledged to make the Conservatives' new
clemency stance an election issue to highlight the Harper government's
"hidden agenda" to revamp Canadian values if it achieves a House of
Commons majority.

The Liberals recently pushed a non-binding motion through the House
demanding that the government return to a policy of seeking clemency in
all cases.

Dion has also argued that the Harper government's hands-off policy towards
some Canadians on death row in the U.S. will inevitably undermine efforts
to help condemned Canadians in non-democratic countries - such as Saudi
Arabia, China or Ethiopia, where 4 other Canadians currently face possible
death sentences.

(source: Canwest News Service)