[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide
April 30 INDONESIA: How lies, arrogance and cockiness earned Bali 9 kingpins the death sentence Bali 9 kingpins Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran's lies, arrogance and shameless cockiness with Indonesians earned them the death penalty they could have avoided, a new book claims. After their arrests for masterminding the 8.3kg heroin plot, the 2 Australians were "full of swagger and bravado and smart-alec quips". They were "full of everything except contrition", according to a new account of the pair's lives on death row and execution by firing squad by Indonesia specialist and News Corp journalist Cindy Wockner. According Wockner's book, Chan "smirked" and was "insolent" in the face of an Indonesian judge he treated as "stupid". This approach was disastrous "in a legal system that places a great deal of emphasis on co-operation, on courtesy and politeness in court and on admissions of guilt and expressions of remorse". It gained them the death penalty when it might have been avoided, Wockner writes in her book, The Pastor and the Painter. She describes the men's impudence and shameless approach, and the fights they had with Renae Lawrence and other Bali 9 members. Wockner tells how various members of the Bali 9 including Lawrence changed their stories to police and court officials, with predictably catastrophic results. Wockner would later grow fond of Chan and Sukumaran and weep when they met the firing squad, and her book is the story of their lives from "Aussie schoolboys to convicted drug traffickers to redemption on Indonesia's death row". However, she admits she did not like them in their early days at Bali's Kerobokan prison. Her book also gives an insider's account of the days leading up to the men's execution on Nuskambangan Island on April 29, 2015. The Bali 9 were arrested 10 years earlier on Myuran Sukumaran's 24th birthday, he in a hotel at Bali's Kuta Beach and Chan at Ngurah rai airport. Chan was carrying no drugs, but police arrested 4 mules with most the heroin strapped to their bodies, Renae Lawrence, Martin Stephens, Michael Czugaj and Scott Rush. Wockner writes that upon his arrest Chan said, "Whatever happened to Schapelle Corby happened to me" and that he and Sukumaran denied all knowledge of the drugs. Renae Lawrence was talking on the advice of her lawyer to earn a discount on her sentence, and revealed she had done a successful heroin run with Chan seven months earlier. The Bali 9 were kept in police holding cells for 3 months, Chan and Sukumaran kept deliberately at different police stations 15km apart. They then were moved to Kerobokan jail, at the time home to Schapelle Corby who visitors paid prison guards 5000 Rupiah (50 cents) each to see. Chan and Sukumaran hired the same lawyers and would be tried separately; the 4 mules each had different lawyers for their separate trials. At Sukumaran's trial, which began in January 2006, he claimed he had come to Bali solely as a tourist, and had nothing to do with Chan, or with the heroin or strapping the mules. Wockner writes Sukumaran told the judges so many times he didn't know the answer to their question, that "it became ridiculous". "He told the judges he couldn't remember what kind of mobile phone he had. "They had enough. 'Have you ever had the disease of amnesia?'," a judge asked. When Sukumaran required an explanation as to what amnesia was, and said he couldn't remember when he'd had it, "the judges were not impressed". A week later, Chan's trial began and Sukumaran was called as a witness, but refused to testify because he was a suspect in the same case. Given a warning by the judge, he stonewalled. Chan did the same, despite "increasingly angry" retorts by the judges. Cracks appeared in whatever solidarity there might have been between the 9 accused Australians and Lawrence in particular refused to have anything to do with the others. Chan also told them Lawrence's claim that he had threatened to kill her or her family if she refused to carry the heroin was untrue. A clearly angry Lawrence told the court that this denial was "lies". Wockner writes that Chan was "insolent" in the face of persistent questioning by the judges to which he responded either "no", "I don't know" or ???I don't remember". The questions included: "Do you know about a narcotics case called the Bali 9?" When Sukumaran came to testify he, too, refused to answer questions and when his statement to police about his noninvolvement with any aspect of the drugs was read out, Lawrence said it was also lies. But Lawrence did herself no favours. Despite admitting her role in the Bali 9 plot, but saying it was under the instruction and threats of Chan, she abandoned her police statement about the successful 2004 heroin run. Martin Stephens gave evidence at Chan's trial and said he and his family had also been threatened with harm. Chan's version of
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----MASS., ALA., KY., NEB., USA
April 30 MASSACHUSETTS: Cop's killing exploited for political purposes The soil over Sgt. Sean Gannon's grave has not yet settled, and the right-wing opinionators just can't restrain themselves from exploiting the opportunity to spout mindless law-and-order grievances. In her April 19 column, Cynthia Stead harps on why we need a death penalty, never mind that states with no death penalty have for decades had a 20 % lower murder rate on average than states with one. That same day letter writer Terry Layo got in step with Ms. Stead, joined the following day by letter writers William Doherty and Adam Lange complaining about a lax legal system that allows judges and prosecutors to accept plea bargains and lets people out early on parole. These folks, naturally, don't offer any insight on how to pay for all the extra jail cells, prison guards and prosecutor salaries, especially since the latest GOP tax giveaway to the super-rich. On April 21 letter writer John Harris dismisses the need for stricter gun laws, complaining that we don't enforce existing laws, referencing the suspect's numerous firearms law violations. His ideological blindness just won't let him see how strict registration laws, making it more difficult for ex-cons like suspect Thomas Latanowich to get guns, might have prevented the tragic killing of Officer Gannon. Rich Latimer Falmouth (source: Letter to the Editor, Cape Cod Times) ALABAMA: Overturning a Death Row Conviction"In any death penalty case to the Supreme Court, there is a very strong presumption of deference to state court judgments that the death row inmate has to overcome." - Don Verrilli Munger, Tolles & Olson attorney Don Verrilli won a U.S. Supreme Court victory, overturning the conviction of James McWilliams, an Alabama death row inmate. McWilliams was convicted of capital murder in 1986 and subsequently sentenced to death. Verrilli served as co-counsel with the Southern Center for Human Rights. They argued that McWilliams had been sentenced to death without the expert mental health assistance required by the Supreme Court's 1985 decision in Ake v. Oklahoma. "In any death penalty case to the Supreme Court, there is a very strong presumption of deference to state court judgments that the death row inmate has to overcome," Verrilli said. "While there was a clearly set right from Ake, what the scope of that right is and how it is applied was unclear, so we had the lack of clarity combined with deference to state court judgments." The Supreme Court's decision to hear the case marked a turning point, Verrilli said. "The court takes only a tiny fraction of the cases presented to it," Verrilli explained. "If they weren't interested in your defendant, they would just not hear it." In Ake, the Supreme Court held that "when a defendant has made a preliminary showing that his sanity at the time of the offense is likely to be a significant factor at trial, the Constitution requires that a state provide access to a psychiatrist's assistance on this issue if the defendant cannot otherwise afford one." In McWilliams, Verrilli said "the offer of expertise was a doctor who was an employee of the state, not an expert that's on your side." On June 19, 2017, in a 5-4 decision, the high court ruled in favor of McWilliams. In the majority opinion written by Justice Stephen Breyer, the court held that Alabama's mental health assistance fell "dramatically short of what Ake requires." Verrilli said McWilliams' case "has the potential to be quite significant as it reinforces and clarifies the scope of the right that capital defendants have to the experts they need to be able to make their case." Stephen Bright, Harvey Karp Visiting Lecturer in Law at the Yale Law School, co-counseled the case. "Don and Michael DeSanctis of the D.C. office and Joshua Meltzer of the San Francisco office of the firm co-counseled the case with me and 2 other lawyers from the Southern Center for Human Rights," Bright said. "Their insights, analysis and experience were indispensable in writing the briefs, preparing for oral argument, and bringing about the favorable decision. The ability to call any of them and discuss aspects of the case was invaluable." (source: The National Law Journal) KENTUCKY: Hearing Delayed Until Friday For Suspects In Death Of Daniel Ellis The 2 men accused in the death of a Richmond police officer are scheduled to return to court. Police say Officer Daniel Ellis was investigating a gas station robbery back in 2015, when he was lured into the apartment of Gregory Ratliff, then shot by Raleigh Sizemore. Both Ratliff and Sizemore are eligible for the death penalty. Their hearing was originally scheduled for 9:30 Monday morning, but got moved to Friday. (source: lex18.com) NEBRASKA: The Public Pulse: No conflict in Ricketts' efforts on death penalty Marylyn Felion
