Nov. 4
TEXAS:
Court upholds death penalty for man's killing of 2 sons
Texas' highest criminal court has upheld the death sentence of a Dallas man
convicted of drowning his 2 young sons in a creek 4 years ago because he was
angry with their mother for breaking up with him.
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals on Wednesday rejected arguments from
attorneys for 36-year-old Naim Rasool Muhammad that there were 54 errors at his
2013 Dallas trial.
Among their claims, attorneys contended evidence was insufficient, improper
jury selection left Muhammad with a biased jury, and some autopsy photos,
testimony and prosecution closing arguments all were improper.
Evidence showed Muhammad forced the boys, 5-year-old Naim and 3-year-old
Elijah, and their mother into a car. After she managed to flee, he drove to a
creek and held their heads under water.
(source: Associated Press)
NEW JERSEY:
Council weighs in with support for death penalty in New Jersey
An impassioned plea for the return of the death penalty for certain crimes was
delivered by the Jackson Township Council in a recent show of support for 2
bills in the state Legislature.
Council members recently passed a resolution in support of bills S-1741 and A-
2429 which call for the restoration of capital punishment for the murder of law
enforcement officers.
"It is extremely important that we let the brave men and women who protect us
24 hours a day know we stand behind them and support the most significant
punishment possible for this heinous crime," council President Barry Calogero
said.
Council members said the bills have been in limbo in the state Assembly since
2011.
"While irresponsible groups promote rhetoric that threatens police officers, it
is crucial that we support our peace keepers," said Assemblyman Ronald Dancer
(R-Ocean, Burlington, Monmouth and Middlesex), a sponsor of the bill.
Councilman Robert Nixon said the use of the death penalty for individuals who
kill a police officer would help protect officers.
"While you can argue about the legitimacy of the death penalty as a deterrent,
you cannot question the heinousness of that crime," Nixon said. "I think it was
a mistake that we abolished the death penalty for the murder of police officers
back when we did."
According to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, there have
been almost 30 shooting-related deaths of police officers in 2015. Compared to
2014, that number is a decrease of about 16 %.
"This is sickening and an appalling lack of respect for the law and the public
servants tasked to keep peace in our neighborhoods," Dancer said. "Open season
on police officers has to stop. An attack on the police is an attack on
law-abiding citizens everywhere."
The proposed state legislation also seeks to enact the death penalty on
individuals who are convicted of murdering anyone under the age of 18 or during
an act of terrorism.
Nixon said he believes the bills would help to protect more than just those
individuals if they are enacted into law.
"When somebody is going to assassinate a police officer while the officer is on
duty or because the (perpetrator) knows an individual is a police officer, they
will stop at nothing to kill anybody else in our society," Nixon said.
(source: Tri-Town News)
DELAWARE:
Coalition aims to rid Delaware of death penalty
Repealing capital punishment is at the forefront of a series of meetings
targeting racial disparities in the state's justice system.
The campaign is led by the Delaware Repeal Project, a group of organizations
and individuals against the death penalty, and the Complexities of Colors
Coalition, which tackles issues pertinent to the black community.
The campaign includes a series of community meetings meant to educate the
public about the death penalty, and to influence legislators to pass Senate
Bill 40 repealing the death penalty.
Introduced in March 2015, SB 40 barely passed the Senate April 2 by an 11-9
vote. It has since been blocked by the House Judiciary Committee, and it won't
move any further until the General Assembly reconvenes.
One such community meeting was held Oct. 29 at Whatcoat United Methodist Church
in Dover, the 2nd of 3. The next will be held in Wilmington Nov. 17, 7 p.m., at
the Tabernacle Full Gospel Baptist Church.
The meeting's panel was made up of the Rev. Rita Paige of Star Hill AME Church;
the Rev. Michael Rodgers of Central Baptist Church; Samuel Hoff, a professor at
Delaware State University, and Mary Batten, a senior political science major at
Delaware State University.
Rep. Sean Lynn, who is the primary sponsor of the bill, was asked to be the
keynote speaker. Donald Morton, executive director of the Complexities of Color
Coalition, moderated.
"It's important that we mobilize and engage as many members of the community as
a whole to address mass incarceration and the criminal justice system at
large," Morton said. "In the United States of America we investigate too much
in urban spaces, we arrest too much, we incarcerate too much and we kill too
many."
Each panelist, including Paige, agreed the death penalty wasn't a deterrent and
should be abolished.
"It will solve some of our problems," said Paige. "It will cut down on our
African Americans being executed for wrongful purposes."
Toward the end of the evening they asked the audience to reach out to their
elected representatives and encourage them to vote in favor of the bill.
According to coalition spokesman Daniel T. Walker, hosting these meetings is
only the beginning. When the General Assembly reconvenes in January the
Delaware NAACP and ACLU will start lobbying to convince legislators to support
the bill.
Delaware's death penalty
Nationwide, 31 states still employ capital punishment, according to the Death
Penalty Information Center.
Delaware's Gov. Caleb Boggs signed into law a bill abolishing the death penalty
in 1958, but in 1961 it was reinstated.
Delaware's most recent execution, in 2012, was Shannon M. Johnson, a black man
sentenced in 2006 for the murder of Cameron Hamlin. His execution proceeded
despite attempts by attorneys and his sister to argue he was mentally
incompetent and shouldn't have faced the death penalty.
In 2013 Sen. Karen Peterson introduced legislation to repeal capital
punishment, but that bill failed to pass the House.
Since 1992, 17 inmates have been executed in Delaware. 7 were black, 8 were
white, and 1 was Native American.
While more whites than African Americans have been executed over those 23
years, Morton said the campaign is more focused on the number of African
Americans on death row, where, according to the Department of Correction, there
are 9 blacks and 6 whites.
"We make up a small part of the overall community," Morton said. "But we are
largely [over]represented in prisons and on death row and that means there is
something that is broken with the system."
(soruce: middletowntranscript.com)
NORTH CAROLINA:
Man tied to missing women appears in court
The man charged with murder in a Pisgah View Apartments slaying and tied to the
disappearance of two Buncombe County women could face the death penalty.
Pierre Lamont Griffin II, 22, appeared in Buncombe County District Court
Wednesday morning on charges of 1st-degree murder, robbery with a dangerous
weapon and reckless driving and fleeing to elude arrest in connection with the
Oct. 27 killing of Uhon Trumanne Johnson, 31.
The 1st-degree murder charge carries the possibility of death or life without
parole, the county's top prosecutor said.
"It's a potential capital case," District Attorney Todd Williams said. "At this
early stage, no determination has been made about how the state will proceed."
Williams declined to comment on Griffin's connection to the missing women,
Alexandra King, 22, and Tatianna Diz, 20, or to say what factors might lead him
to seek the death penalty.
"We don't have the materials from law enforcement yet to analyze the case
effectively," Williams said.
Griffin is being represented by attorney Keith Hanson, who declined comment.
Griffin kept his head bowed during most of the brief hearing while the judge
read his charges.
Griffin was transported Tuesday afternoon to Buncombe County from Spartanburg
Regional Hospital in South Carolina, where he was recovering from injuries
suffered in an alleged three-county police chase following the Pisgah View
killing. Griffin was shot by two Henderson County deputies at the end of that
chase in Polk County, according to the Henderson County Sheriff's Office.
In addition to the charges connected to Johnson's slaying, Griffin on Tuesday
was charged with felony larceny and felony obtaining property by false pretense
in connection with an incident in July, according to arrest warrants. He's
accused of stealing a motorcycle valued at $4,800 from a Candler resident on
July 23, according to arrest warrants.
Griffin is next to appear in Buncombe District Court on Nov. 24 for a probable
cause hearing.
Police have not said what ties Griffin to King and Diz, who have not been seen
in more than a week after they left their residence at Canterbury Heights
Apartments the night of Oct. 27 to give Griffin a ride to nearby Deaverview
Apartments, according to search warrants. After their bloodied car was found in
a bank of the French Broad River near New Belgium Brewery the next morning,
crews have scoured the river for five days but found no clues.
(source: Ashville Citizen-Times)
MISSOURI:
Missouri will not execute Ernest Lee Johnson today
The Attorney General's Office has issued a statement saying that the 8th
Circuit Court of Appeals will consider Johnson's appeal in the "ordinary course
of business."
"Consequently," the statement continues, "there will not be an execution before
the warrant expires today."
The U.S. Supreme Court granted a stay in Johnson's case and sent back to the
8th Circuit Court of Appeals his appeal based on his claim that the lethal
injection of pentobarbital presents a risk of violent seizures that would
violate his rights against cruel and unusual punishment. The 8th Circuit
dismissed that appeal for Johnson???s failure to state a claim. The Supreme
Court required the 8th Circuit to decide whether that should have been
dismissed or whether the case should have been allowed to proceed.
The death warrant issued by the Missouri Supreme Court expires at 5:59 tonight.
Johnson, 55, was sentenced to death for 3 counts of 1st-degree murder for
killing Mary Bratcher, Mable Scruggs, and Fred Jones. He had also shot one
victim in the face and stabbed another 10 times in the hand with a screwdriver
before the fatal attacks with the hammer.
He was linked to the crime by shoes that matched bloody footprints at the
scene, money, checks, and a cash register receipt from the store, and bloody
clothing. Johnson in recent appeals of his sentence did not dispute his guilt
in the murders.
Johnson's attorneys argued in recent weeks that he should not be executed using
pentobarbital because it would pose a risk of violent and uncontrollable
seizures in him, as a result of scar tissue and other conditions that remained
after a 2008 surgery to remove a brain tumor. They argued that lethal gas,
still a legal method of execution in Missouri but unused since 1965, would pose
less risk of pain to Johnson.
Alternately his attorneys argued that Johnson suffered from intellectual
disability since childhood, and as such his execution would violate the
constitution.
(source: Missourinet.com)
ARKANSAS:
Annual Arkansas Poll shows widespread support for death penalty
An annual poll conducted last month found widespread support for the death
penalty, at a time when state law regarding secrecy of execution drugs is being
challenged.
The Arkansas Poll, a survey of views from Arkansas voters on a variety of
political and lifestyle topics, was conducted between Oct. 19 and Oct. 25 and
released by the University of Arkansas on Wednesday. The survey has a margin of
error of plus or minus 3.5 %.
According to the data, 71 % of respondents supported capital punishment for
people convicted of murder, with 19 % opposed. The figure in support is about
10 % higher than the national average seen in Gallup polling.
Support was strongest among men, white voters, Republicans and conservatives,
state polling showed.
Arkansas' annual poll found that 78 % of men were in favor of the death
penalty, compared with 67 % of women. It also showed that more whites than
members of minority groups supported it, 76 %to 50 %.
"What I find interesting is that support for the death penalty seems to be
higher across the board in Arkansas; women, minorities, Democrats and even
liberals support the death penalty at levels above the national averages for
these groups," Rodney Engen, UA associate professor of sociology, said in a
statement.
The poll also presented data as state voters begin to make early decisions
regarding in-state and federal races in the 2016 elections.
Approval for U.S. Sen. John Boozman remained consistent with 2014 results at 38
% this year. Boozman is focusing on a re-election campaign against Democratic
challenger Conner Eldridge, a former federal prosecutor.
Ahead of the coming U.S. presidential election, 42 % of Arkansas survey takers
said they would vote for a Republican. 32 % said they favored a Democratic
candidate, and 26 % were unsure.
Respondents were asked about their views on gun control. Of those surveyed, 39
% supported stricter gun control laws while 18 % believe laws should be less
strict on gun ownership. 36 % favored no changes in gun control.
On a related topic, 51 % of those surveyed said they support an open carry law,
with 40 % in opposition.
The poll marked a shift in support for a marijuana ballot measure in the state
at 68 % in favor this year, an increase from 44 % in 2012 data.
The Arkansas Poll surveyed a random sample of 800 adult voters in the state by
telephone, including 200 cellphone users. 44 % of those polled were male while
56 % were female.
(source: nwaonline.com)
NEBRASKA:
'Daily Show' segment on Nebraska won't air Wednesday
A new episode of "The Daily Show with Trevor Noah" won't air Wednesday because
the host had an emergency appendectomy earlier in the day.
The TV host was forced to pull out of the show while he recovers from the
Wednesday morning procedure.
Comedy Central announced that a repeat will air Wednesday evening instead of a
live show.
A producer for the show had suggested earlier this week that the segment on
Nebraska's death penalty could air Wednesday evening.
It's unclear when it might be rescheduled.
In October, the TV show sent one of its new correspondents, Desi Lydic, for an
interview and walk around the Capitol with Sen. Colby Coash. The crew also went
to The Mill in the Haymarket, and Lydic did a monologue, of sorts, with barista
Alison Schuerman.
(source: Journal Star)
USA:
Why Does the Death Penalty Persist?
At a campaign stop in Manchester, N.H., Hillary Clinton expressed a desire to
reform the application of the death penalty in the United States. She
explicitly insisted that she did not want to see it abolished, arguing that in
certain rare and egregious cases cases the death penalty is justified. However,
in the spirit of a growing movement for criminal justice reform, she
acknowledged that the death penalty is overused and applied in a discriminatory
way.
Jeb Bush (yes, he's still in the race) recently endorsed death penalty reform
as well. But contra Clinton, his focus was on how long it takes to carry out
death sentences. Apparently, he believes the biggest problem with the death
penalty is that we're not killing people fast enough.
But securing his nearly across-the-board liberal bona fides, Bernie Sanders
took to the Senate floor to oppose the policy root and branch:
"I believe the time is now for the United States to end capital punishment.
Right now, virtually every Western industrialized country has chosen to end
capital punishment. I would rather have our country stand side-by-side with
European democracies rather than with countries like China, Iran, Saudi Arabia
and others who maintain the death penalty.
I know that this is not necessarily a popular point of view, but it is in my
view the right point of view."
Though I often blog about political lies or misleading statements, I'm happy to
report that I have no quarrel with any of the facts the candidates mentioned.
The death penalty is applied in a discriminatory way. It takes a very long time
to carry out a death sentence. And the United States is far out of step with
the other Western countries on this matter.
Death sentence implementation is discriminatory in at least 2 ways. First, if
you're black and you commit a capital crime, your chance of being be put to
death is about double that of a white person who commits a capital crime. Some
people have argued that racial minorities are more likely to be targeted with
the death penalty because they commit more crimes; however, the research
controls for the race of individuals already charged with a capital crime,
which rules out this explanation.
Additionally, research has shown that capital cases in which the victim is
white are around 2.5 times more likely to result in a death sentence. So while
the death penalty excessively targets black people accused of crimes, it offers
less of its putative protection to black people who are the victims of crimes.
As for whether or not the death penalty deter future crimes, the research is
decidedly unclear. A survey of criminologists in 2009 found that 88 percent did
not believe that the death penalty deterred crime. Many believe that the
chances of getting caught, rather than the extent of punishment, is the biggest
determinant for whether or not would-be killers refrain from murder.
Naturally, there are some who do believe that the death penalty deters crime,
though even they tend to admit that the data is inconclusive. What's even more
telling, however, is their caveat: long lag times reduce the deterrent effects
of the death penalty, as Jeb Bush argued. A more swift death sentence could
possibly serve as a deterrent, but it's just as likely to increase the
likelihood that we will put falsely accused prisoners to death or rush through
important appeal processes.
And we know that many people have been falsely or wrongly put to death. As
Bryan Stevenson, longtime death penalty attorney, documents in his recent book
Just Mercy, many individuals have ended up on death row after being framed,
being neglectfully represented by overworked public defenders, or having
important extenuating circumstances, like mental health conditions, ignored.
Many other civilized countries are able to get along just fine without the
death penalty, and they avoid the serious costs associated with it. And if we
take up their perspective, we may being to see our policies in different light.
Consider a quote from an article in the Guardian in 2014:
"When it comes to the death penalty, the United States today is what South
Africa was in the 1980s. It is the subject of a targeted boycott of goods based
on behavior that the rest of the world views as immoral. That's a mighty
strange place to be for the self-declared leader of the free world."
We have good reason to believe that we are putting many innocent people to
death. But, as Hillary Clinton would ask, what about those rare cases when
we're sure we've got the right person? What about, for example, the Boston
Marathon bomber?
There still seems to me an open question about how culpable they are, but
regardless, the death penalty sends the wrong message. It says some people are
beyond hope, beyond reason, beyond moral improvement. And we have no need of a
justice system that tells us that.
(source: Cody Fenwick, care2.com)
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