[Deathpenalty]death penalty news --- INDIANA; NORTH CAROLINA
death penalty news September 24, 2005 INDIANA: Matheney execution becoming a circus The circus is coming to town Tuesday. In the center ring this time is death row inmate Alan Matheney, who is scheduled to die by lethal injection just after midnight on Wednesday. Anyone who's been around this area for the past 15 years remembers Matheney's case. He's the man who was given an eight-hour furlough to go to Indianapolis from Pendleton Reformatory. Instead, he drove to Mishawaka and clubbed Lisa Bianco, his ex-wife, to death with a shotgun. He hit her in the head so hard that the gun's stock broke in two. Matheney started the circus on Monday when he refused to show up at his clemency hearing. Under state law, if an inmate doesn't show at his clemency hearing, he forfeits the right to ask for clemency. Matheney claims (or at least his lawyers claim) he is mentally ill and doesn't understand what is going on. By the way, Matheney is represented by Alan Friedman and Carol Heise, who represented D.H. Fleenor six years ago and made the same argument, which apparently fell on deaf ears because Fleenor was executed in 1999. To his credit, Gov. Mitch Daniels has announced he will conduct a full clemency review of Matheney's case, even though he doesn't have to. "The governor will conduct his customary, independent review of the case where he takes into account all the particular facts and circumstances and the reasons that in this case Mr. Matheney provided to support his request for clemency," said a spokeswoman for the governor. Anyone who follows the death penalty in Indiana shouldn't be surprised at what is happening. It was to be expected since Daniels granted clemency to Arthur Baird on Aug. 29. Everyone on Death Row will now play the mentally ill card, hoping to be spared. At least Baird showed up for his hearing. He told the Parole Board he didn't understand what was going on when he murdered his wife, unborn child and parents. A mountain of testimony was presented that Baird had a mental problem and couldn't control his actions, but none of it kept a jury from sentencing him to die. "I didn't know I was mentally ill," said Baird. "I can't really say what should be done. My first choice would be to be released from prison. The first thing I would do is go to a mental health clinic and get in a mental health program and get the help I obviously need." Luckily for Hoosiers, he isn't getting his wish. Instead, Daniels reduced Baird's sentence to life without parole, an option that wasn't available to juries when Baird committed his crimes in 1985. It's because of guys like Baird and Matheney that I remain convinced the death penalty is not a deterrent to homicide. I'm also convinced chances are good Matheney will become the fifth person to be put to death in Indiana this year. If that happens it will be the most executions conducted by the Indiana Department of Correction since 1938, when nine men were put to death. It's impossible to defend people like Alan Matheney. He stalked his ex-wife, terrorized her and then brutally beat her to death. The state-sanctioned killing of Matheney may not be as brutal, but it's every bit as wrong. After all, Indiana has been putting people to death since 1897 and not one of those executions has stopped a single murder. (source: The (Michigan City, IN) News-Dispatch) NORTH CAROLINA: Play to examine death penalty issues Theatre-on-a-Stick opens its production of "The Exonerated," by Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen, this weekend. "The Exonerated" tells the true story of six people wrongly convicted of murder who were freed after spending from two to 22 years on death row. The play won the 2003 Drama Desk Award and was nominated for three NAACP awards. Three discussions and talk-backs pertinent to death penalty issues will be held. After the performance Sunday at the Brown-Penn Center, Darryl Hunt and Jennifer Cannino will lead the discussion. Hunt was released after serving 18 years of a life sentence for a 1984 rape and murder he didn't commit. Cannino was a rape victim who mistakenly identified Ronald Cotton as her attacker. Cotton served 10 years for the crime before a DNA test exonerated him. Mark Kleinschmidt, staff attorney, Center for Death Penalty Litigation, will lead a discussion after the performance at the Belk Centrum Sept. 30. On Oct. 2, a panel of religious and community leaders will be led by the Rev. Robert MacDicken of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Catawba Valley. Theatre-on-a-Stick is a group of individuals and organizations who have joined together to present theater not usually performed by the local established theaters. For this performance, the League of Women Voters of Catawba Valley and the Unitarian Universalist Church of Catawba Valley have teamed with other citizens interested in the death penalty issue. (source: The Charlotte Observer)
[Deathpenalty]death penalty news --- NJ; FLORIDA
death penalty news September 23, 2005 NEW JERSEY: Suspect in Warren murder will not face death penalty The Warren County Prosecutor's Office will not seek the death penalty if an Easton man charged with murdering his former girlfriend is convicted, authorities said Thursday. Alonzo Brown, 49, of the 600 block of James Street, is also charged with the attempted murder of a Glassboro, N.J., man. Brown allegedly shot the two victims Aug. 6, 2004, outside the Clarion Hotel and Conference Center on Route 22 in Pohatcong Township. Early on in the case, prosecutors notified the court they might seek the state's ultimate penalty if Brown is convicted of murder. Warren County Prosecutor Thomas Ferguson said Thursday the decision against seeking the death penalty followed a lengthy review of the case by the prosecutor's death-penalty committee. "We looked at the facts of the case as we know them and the law surrounding the death penalty in New Jersey," Ferguson said. He said the committee concluded a death sentence could not be sustained in the Brown case. The prosecutor declined to discuss specifics since the case is pending. "I think they made the appropriate decision in not seeking the death penalty," said defense attorney Bruce Farrier. Farrier said his client, jailed since the shootings, "is holding up well under the circumstances." In court Thursday, Farrier rejected a plea bargain offered by the assistant prosecutor trying the case, Angela Borkowski. The offer called on Brown to plead guilty to murder and attempted murder. The rejected plea agreement recommended a life sentence (30-year minimum) on the murder and a consecutive 20-year prison sentence on the attempted murder. Authorities said plea negotiations are continuing and the case is now headed to a grand jury. Carmen L. Santiago Gonzalez, 36, of Allentown, was pronounced dead at the scene of the 12:10 a.m. shooting. She died of a single gunshot wound to the chest, authorities said. Brown and Gonzalez had recently ended a romantic relationship, sources said. The accused murderer worked as a cook at the hotel at the time of the shootings. Gonzalez's companion that night, Theodore P. Harris, 45, of Glassboro, was shot three times, authorities said. Family members have said he has undergone several surgeries and that one of the bullets remains lodged near his spine. Brown is also charged with weapons offenses and three counts of pointing a gun at a man who intervened in the shootings. He is additionally charged with possession of the .38-caliber handgun he allegedly used to shoot the victims and possession of a .22-caliber handgun allegedly found in his vehicle, authorities said. Brown is being held at the Warren County jail in lieu of $1 million bail. Court papers show he admitted to the shootings when interviewed by investigators. (source: The Express-Times) FLORIDA: Man, 24, May Get Death Penalty A judge ruled Thursday that a 24-year-old man convicted of executing two cousins in April 2000 isn't retarded and remains eligible for the death penalty. After listening to testimony and arguments from prosecutors and Wright's lawyers, Polk Circuit Judge Dick Prince decided that Tavares Jerrod Wright could still be sent to death row for killing James Felker, 18, and David Lee Green, 21. Wright is scheduled for sentencing Thursday. On Nov. 13, a jury convicted Wright of abducting Felker and Green on April 21, 2000, from a Winn-Dixie parking lot in North Lakeland then fatally shooting them in an orange grove near Polk City. The trial of Wright's co-defendant, Samuel Pitts, 25, remains on hold as prosecutors appeal a ruling that suppresses statements Pitts made to detectives. After hearing the jury's verdict, Wright waived his right to have the jury recommend a life or death sentence. He agreed to let Prince make the decision without a jury recommendation. The judge requested that experts evaluate Wright to determine whether he is mentally retarded. Under Florida law, the death penalty cannot be imposed upon a mentally retarded defendant. Prosecutors argued that several psychological experts determined Wright's IQ to be between 75 and 82. The experts testified that an average IQ is about 100 and that scores below 70 would likely mean someone was retarded. "Clearly, Mr. Wright has been tested since he was 9- or 10-years-old up until just a couple months ago," said Assistant State Attorney John Aguero. "He's never been found to be retarded." The defense maintained that Wright's IQ must be considered along with the effects of other mental health problems. But Prince concluded that Wright did not meet the statutory requirements of a mentally retarded defendant. (source: The Ledger)
[Deathpenalty]death penalty news --- ALABAMA
death penalty news September 23, 2005 ALABAMA --- execution Ala. Man Executed for Killing Family of 3 A man convicted of killing a family of three and driving off in their vintage sports car was executed by injection Thursday. John W. Peoples Jr., 48, died at 6:27 p.m. at Holman Prison near Atmore, prison officials said. Peoples was convicted in 1983 in the killing of Pell City businessman Paul G. Franklin, his wife, Judy Choron Franklin, both 34, and their 10-year-old son, Paul. Peoples did not look at or offer an apology to relatives of the Franklins, but thanked his own family for their support. The Franklins' relatives said they were relieved that Peoples was dead, but were surprised at his apparent lack of remorse. "Seemed a lot easier on him the way he died versus the way they died," said Bill Choron, the slain woman's brother. The execution was carried out after the Supreme Court denied Peoples' request for a delay and Gov. Bob Riley turned down his bid for clemency. Peoples argued in his plea that he had a right to die by electrocution, as his original death sentence stipulated, instead of lethal injection, a method Alabama adopted beginning in 2002. The state, in its response to the Supreme Court, said Peoples missed the deadline to request the electric chair. The boy and his mother were beaten to death with a rifle, but the father's body was too decomposed by the time he was found for investigators to determine the cause of death. Prosecutors say Peoples killed the three because he wanted their 1968 red Corvette, and he was arrested after attempting to sell the car shortly after the killings. Peoples' cousin, Timothy Gooden, is serving a life sentence in the case. He allegedly was with Peoples the night of the slayings. John W. Peoples Jr. becomes the 4th inmate executed in Alabama this year and the 34th since the state resumed capital punishment on April 22, 1983. He is the 39th person put to death nationwide in 2005 and the 983rd overall since 1977. (source: AP / Tuscaloosa News & Joerg Sommer) Alabama inmates executed since death penalty reinstated By The Associated Press Condemned inmates executed in Alabama, and date of death, since the state restored its capital punishment law in the mid-1970s: John Louis Evans III, April 22, 1983 Arthur L. Jones, March 20, 1986 Wayne Eugene Ritter, Aug. 28, 1987 Michael Lindsey, May 26, 1989 Horace Dunkins, July 14, 1989 Herbert Richardson, Aug. 18, 1989 Arthur J. Julius, Nov. 17, 1989 Wallace Norrell Thomas, July 13, 1990 Larry G. Heath, March 20, 1992 Cornelius Singleton, Nov. 20, 1992 Willie Clisby, April 28, 1995 Varnall Weeks, May 12, 1995 Edward Horsley, Feb. 16, 1996 Billy Wayne Waldrop, Jan. 10, 1997 Walter Hill, May 2, 1997 Henry Francis Hays, June 6, 1997 Steven Allen Thompson, May 8, 1998 Brian Keith Baldwin, June 18, 1999 Victor Kennedy, Aug. 6, 1999 David Ray Duren, Jan. 7, 2000 Freddie Lee Wright, March 3, 2000 Robert Lee Tarver Jr., April 14, 2000 Pernell Ford, June 2, 2000 Lynda Lyon Block, May 10, 2002 Anthony Keith Johnson, Dec. 12, 2002 Michael Eugene Thompson, March 13, 2003 Gary L. Brown, April 24, 2003 Tommy J. Fortenberry, Aug. 7, 2003 James B. Hubbard, Aug. 5, 2004 David Kevin Hocker, Sept. 30, 2004 Mario Centobie, April 28, 2005 Jerry Paul Henderson, June 2, 2005 George Sibley Jr. Aug. 4, 2005 John W. Peoples Jr. Sept. 22, 2005 (source: Alabama Department of Corrections / Tuscaloosa News)
[Deathpenalty]death penalty news --- ALA.;USA; PENN.
death penalty news September 23, 2005 ALABAMA -- impending execution: Family Killer Execution Tonight Death row inmate John W- Peoples Junior is waiting on word for the U-S Supreme Court with his execution only a few hours away. Peoples is scheduled to die at 6 p-m at Holman Prison near Atmore for the murders of a Pell City couple and their ten-year-old son. Peoples appealed to the U-S Supreme Court to delay his execution after the Alabama Supreme Court rejected his appeal and Governor Riley denied clemency. Peoples was convicted of killing Pell City businessman Paul Franklin, his wife, Judy Choron Franklin, and their 10-year-old son, Paul Franklin Junior, in 1983 and fleeing in their vintage Corvette. (source: AP / WTVM9) USA: Pro-Life & Pro-Death Penalty BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: Here is Cher in Tampa, Florida. Welcome, Cher. Nice to have you on the program. CALLER: Hi, Rush. It's nice to talk to you. RUSH: Thanks. CALLER: This guy that called a few minutes ago aggravated me so much. I listen to you on the road all the time, but this guy just warranted a call talking about the differences, "How can we be against abortion and for the death penalty?" RUSH: Cher, Cher, Cher, Cher, Cher. Remember my advice? Don't argue with an idiot because people will not be able to tell the difference. CALLER: I tell you, I just don't understand how people cannot see the difference between an innocent child and a murderer. RUSH: You don't have to say this, everybody does. I'm telling you, this did not require any argument or debate. It didn't. I understand your outrage. You need to learn to be happy when this stuff happens. You need to learn to be happy when these people are willing to announce what they believe and how they lie about what we believe or what they stupidly believe we believe, whatever it is, but this is a new reason to celebrate. I know it's tough. I know it's tough to celebrate this -- CALLER: It's aggravating. RUSH: Yeah, it's aggravating. It's offensive, but it's stupid. CALLER: It really is. RUSH: It's absolutely stupid. It's literally stupid. CALLER: Well, it's not the only stupid thing he said, but that one just really stuck out. People can't actually -- you're hearing that more and more in the press, that comparison, and it's just -- they can't truly believe everybody is that stupid. RUSH: Look it. The way I look at it, if that's the best the guy could come up with, they're hopeless anyway. Pro-life and pro-death? I mean, abortion and the death penalty is a... I'll take this one on because I do get this one a lot. People who are on the cusp, just learning about politics, just learning to follow the ebb and flow, and they want to get it right, and they don't quite know who to listen to and who not to listen to, people on both sides sound persuasive, and this is a question that I do get frequently. "Rush, how do you explain the fact that you are pro-life, anti-abortion, but you're pro-death penalty?" And that to me is a softball hanging curve waiting to be knocked out of the park. Here's the answer. Why am I pro-life? Because life in the womb is the essence of innocence. The utter essence of innocence. Somebody who is to be put to death, not only does the Bible talk about it, not only does our Constitution talk about it (when they say nobody should be denied the right to life, liberty, pursuit the happiness without due process) someone who is condemned to death in this country has been judged by a jury of his peers and 14 years minimum of appeals, to have committed atrocious, unspeakable acts of mayhem and murder on at least another citizen and sometimes multiple citizens. There's nothing innocent whatsoever, and in terms of a just punishment, it fits. People say, "Well, what about the deterrent factor?" I don't care whether it deters anybody or not. I never looked at punishment of crime as a deterrent. I look at it as a punishment. But the whole argument fails when somebody wants to try to compare the utter essence of innocence that is a baby in the womb to a convicted murderer? That's why I say, had I engaged this caller this way, it would not have registered because, understand that you're not dealing with people who are acting on thoughts. It's pure raw emotion, and in most cases it's hatred and rage, and you have to understand this about them, too. They insulate themselves from these intellectual arguments and discussions by telling themselves they're superior to everybody else. They know more, that they're elitists, they've got a better handle on things and if we don't see it their way we're just unenlightened, we're just hopelessly stupid and dumb, reactionary racist, sexist, bigot homophobic, whatever. It's just the exact opposite. They're the bigots, they're the closed-minded ones, they're the intolerant ones, they're the ones that are incapable of thought and as such if we want to start ta
[Deathpenalty]death penalty news --- worldwide
death penalty news September 23, 2005 KAZAKHSTAN: Kazakhstan trial jury to judge using capital punishment It is planned to allocate KZT 4 bln 875 mln from the republican budget for initiation of trial jury, panel salary, stationary acquisition expenditures, equipment and alteration of premises, travel allowances. The final sum of expenses will be approved at 2007 budget. As specialists of Legislation Department of Justice Ministry said, according to the draft law "On Jurors" the jury will consider primarily criminal cases liable to death penalty. The chosen continental model of trial by jury entrusts annual assignment of the list of potential jurors to the local executive powers. The composition of the court envisages the participation of 2 professional judges and 11 jurors. People under 25, or those having criminal record, judges, lawyers, prosecutors, law enforcement officers, military men and civil servants are not allowed to participation in trial jury. To date draft law "On Jurors" is under consideration of the deputies of the Majilis of the Parliament of Kazakhstan. (source: Kazinform) BANGLADESH: Re-defining of Hudood laws needed It is also important to note that one should read all the verses on hudood punishments before coming to any conclusion about the nature of the punishment. Take cutting off hands, for example. Does it mean really cutting off the hands of a thief physically? If we take another verse of similar nature in the Chapter on Yusuf i.e. 12:31 which says, "So when she heard of their device, she sent for them and prepared for them a repast, and gave each of them a knife and said (to Joseph): Come out to them. So when they saw him, they deemed him great, and cut their hands (wa qatta'ana aydiyahunna) (in amazement), and said: Holy Allah! This is not a mortal. This is but a noble angel." Obviously here the words wa qatta'ana aydiyahunna does not mean they literally cut their hands but that they injured their hands. If we similarly read the verse 5:38 it would not mean cut off hands of thieves but symbolically injure their hands so that they remember it and do not repeat the crime in future. It should not mean cutting off the palm of the thief and render him afflicted for life. Also, we must read it in conjunction with the verse 5:33 wherein the minimum punishment for dacoity is imprisonment (aw yunfauna in al-ard). Thus when the minimum punishment for dacoity is imprisonment how can the punishment for a lesser crime i.e. theft could be cutting off hands. Thus the word qat'a should be interpreted not literally but differently. In Arabic when they say qata'a lisanahu it does not mean they cut off his tongue but it means they silenced him. At the most qat'a yad could be taken as an exemplary punishment for a very serious crime and ordinarily such punishment should not be inflicted for less serious crime. Instead efforts should be made, as pointed out, to reform the person. It is also important to note that in Islam one cannot demand duty without conceding corresponding rights. Thus if it is duty of an individual not to steal, it is his right to have all his physical and intellectuals need met by the society to lead a dignified life by affording him appropriate opportunities. Unfortunately, the Islamic world has interpreted this verse quite mechanically and have not read it along with other verses on this subject and neither have they tried to seen it in the overall context of the Islamic philosophy and values as pointed out. Thus there is need to revise the law particularly in the modern context where human dignity and human rights have central place. Another debatable had punishment is stoning the adulterer or adulteress to death which is known as rajm punishment. The Qur'an, of course, does not mention this punishment at all. The Qur'an mentions only flogging for zina. Thus we read in the verse 24:2 "The woman and the man guilty of adultery or fornication, flog each of them with a hundred stripes: Let not compassion move you in their case, in a matter prescribed by God, if ye believe in God and the last Day: And let a party of the believers witness their punishment." In Arabic the word zina means both adultery as well as fornication as there are no separate terms in Arabic. The 'ulema' maintain that here the punishment of flogging prescribed is for fornication and not for adultery. And that for adultery the punishment is rajm i.e. stoning to death. In fact, stoning to death was the punishment in the Jewish law. According to Bukhari (23:61) this punishment of rajm was given by the Prophet to a Jew and a Jewess and others were prescribed before the revelation of this chapter. That Islam never meant to prescribe rajm is clear from the verse 4:25, where it is stated expressly that the punishment for adultery in the case of slave-girls, when they are married, is half the punishment which is inflicted on free
