[Deathpenalty]death penalty news-----TEXAS, CONN., ALA., OHIO
Jan. 25 TEXASexecution 1st Texas inmate put to death this year An Alabama man who was part of a ring that shuttled drugs from Texas to his home state was executed today for the slayings of four people in Houston nearly 14 years ago. When asked by a warden if he had any final statement, Marion Dudley did not respond, kept his eyes closed and never turned his head toward witnesses in the chamber, which included one of his survivors and relatives of one of the people killed. 8 minutes later at 6:16 p.m. CST, he was pronounced dead. Dudley, 33, of Tuscaloosa, Ala., had said he wasn't at the house the night of June 20, 1992, where 6 people were shot, 4 of them fatally, in what authorities said was a drug dealer ripoff. Dudley, who had record in his home state for burglary, assault, receiving stolen property and violating probation, was the 1st Texas inmate put to death this year. 19 convicted killers were executed in 2005 as Texas maintained its notoriety as the nation's most active capital punishment state. Another inmate is set for lethal injection next week and three more next month. They are among more than a dozen Texas prisoners with execution dates in the 1st 5 months of this year. Dudley's lawyer had hoped the U.S. Supreme Court would stop his punishment, arguing prosecutors improperly withheld from defense attorneys at his capital murder trial a letter to Alabama parole officials regarding an inmate from that state who testified against Dudley. Attorney Ken McLean, however, said he wasn't optimistic. "Absolutely, it's a reach," he said. "But if it's the only thing you've got ..." A few hours before his scheduled execution time, the high court rejected the appeal. The 2 survivors identified the then 20-year-old Dudley as 1 of the 3 gunmen who barged into the home of Jose Tovar, 32, and his wife, Rachel, then 33. In a recent interview on death row, Dudley said they were wrong. "I was not," he said. Jose Tovar was fatally shot in the head, as were his wife's son, Frank Farias, 17; Farias' girlfriend, Jessica Quinones, 19, who was 7 months pregnant; and a neighbor Audrey Brown, 21, who had just stopped by to visit. Rachel Tovar and another friend, Nicholas Cortez, 22 at the time, survived. All the victims were bound with towels or strips of sheets, hands tied behind their backs and nooses around their necks. Rachel Tovar managed to crawl to a neighbor's house for help. Besides Dudley, Arthur "Squirt" Brown, of Tuscaloosa, was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death. Now 35, he remains on death row. A 3rd man, Tony Dunson, also from Alabama and 19 at the time of the shootings, received a life sentence. Police said the 3 previously had been at the Tovar house to buy drugs and knew drugs and money were there. Brown ran the ring that for nine months had been moving marijuana and cocaine from Houston to Tuscaloosa, authorities said. A mini-van used as the getaway vehicle was recovered in the Alabama city, where evidence showed they bought a new Jeep SUV with cash, eventually traveling to Louisville, Ky., and Columbus, Ohio. About 2 1/2 weeks after the shootings, Dudley and Dunson were arrested in Fayetteville, N.C. "My number one problem was women," Dudley said from death row. "I was running around. Everything went downhill from there... I just wanted to get money, easy money. And once you start getting easy money, it's so hard to slow down." Dudley becomes the 1st condemned inmate to be put to death this year in Texas and the356th overall since the state resumed capital punishment on December 7, 1972. Dudley becomes the 117th condemned inmate to be put to death since Rick Perry became governor in 2001. Dudley becomes the 86th condemned inmate to be put to death from Harris County. That represents the 2nd highest total of executions from any single jurisdiction in the country, as only the entire state of Virginia has more (94.) Dudley becomes the 3rd condemned inmate to be put to death this year in the USA and the 1007th overall since the nation resumed executions on January 17, 1977. (sources: Associated Press & Rick Halperin) CONNECTICUT: State death penalty opponents watching Florida case Serial killer Michael Ross worried he might feel pain while being executed last year, reading numerous studies about lethal injection and haggling with state officials about the amount of sedative he would receive. In the end, his attorney said Wednesday, Ross was convinced that the sedative would be strong enough and he went willingly to his execution - even as Connecticut death penalty opponents raised similar concerns in an attempt to save his life. Now, concerns about potential pain caused by lethal injection are part of a Florida death row inmate's case headed to the U.S. Supreme Court. The court agreed Wednesday to hear the case of 48-year-old convicted murderer Clarence Hill, who argues that an appeals court improperly denied him the chance to fight the lethal inj
[Deathpenalty]death penalty news-----worldwide
Jan. 25 INDONESIA: Sulawesi bishop calls for cancelling death sentence imposed on 3 Catholics In a meeting with the attorney general in Jakarta today, Bishop Suwatan of the diocese of Manado asked him to call off the executions. A leader from the Muslim community in North Sulawesi was with him. The 3 men on death row are scapegoats. If they are executed, the true identity of the culprits wont be known. Mgr Joseph Suwatan, bishop of Manado, wants the death sentence imposed on 3 Indonesian Catholics be cancelled. He made the request in a meeting today with Indonesias Attorney General Abdul Rahman Saleh, in his Jakarta office. With him were Arifin Assegaf, a member of the Indonesian Ulemas Council (Majelis Ulama Indonesia or MUI) of North Sulawesi and Rev Nico Gara from the Manado-based Christian Indonesian University. Poso, the scene of bloody clashes between Christians and Muslims in 1998-2001 that left about 2,000 people dead, is within the jurisdiction of Bishop Suwatans diocese. And it is as a result of a series of murders in Poso in 2000 that the Palu District Court and Indonesias Supreme Court sentenced Fabianus Tibo, Dominggus da Silva and Marinus Riwu to death. The three Catholics have been in prison since 2001 and even if no date has been officially set, their execution is fast approaching. Although Bishop Suwatan did not release any statement following his meeting with the attorney general, MUI leader Assegaf, who is also a member of the inter-faith forum Poso Solidarity, explained why they took this step. "We want the death sentence to be cancelled because the 3 men have important revelations to make. This cannot be ignored," he said. Speaking from prison, Fabianus Tibo revealed that 16 people were involved in the 2000 sectarian clashes, including local authorities. But his information was not part of the trial record, or presented during the appeal process to the Supreme Court. According to the Muslim clergyman, Tibo and his fellow inmates are just "scapegoats of this organised crime. They are ordinary peasants, semi-literate and someone in Poso made sure that they would be found guilty for the clashes of 2000 and 2001". Rev Gara stressed the importance of cancelling the death sentences as well in order to address Tibos claims in a court of law. "Tibo is key witness," he said. "Should the executions take place the real identity of the culprits won't be known." Meanwhile, the 3 men's defence lawyer, John Panjaitan, announced that he was ready to submit new evidence on behalf of his clients. He also slammed those who have tried to "politicise" the case. "Their purpose is clear. Tibo and the others will be executed and the real culprits will not be found," he said. At the Attorney General's Office (AGO) however, the case is closed. "The supreme and local courts have decided and we can only execute their orders," said an AGO spokesperson. Within Indonesia the trial of the three Catholic men remains controversial. Its proceedings were marred by large-scale intimidation by Islamic fundamentalists. Moreover, no Muslim has so far been indicted, let alone tried for the events in question. (source: Asia News)
[Deathpenalty]death penalty news----TEXAS, OHIO, IOWA, MO.
Jan. 25 TEXASimminent execution Texas Prepares For Years First Execution A 33-year-old death row inmate from Alabama is scheduled to become the 1st Texas inmate to be executed this year. Marion Dudley is scheduled to receive a lethal injection just after 6 p.m. Wednesday in the states death chamber in Huntsville. Dudley acknowledges he dealt drugs, but he continues to insist he was not at a Houston home almost 14 years ago when 4 people were shot to death. Authorities say the slayings were a drug-dealer rip-off. A Harris County jury convicted Dudley of barging into a southwest Houston home in June 1992, tying up the people there and shooting them in the head. Killed were 19-year-old Jessica Quinones, who was 7 months pregnant; 32-year-old Jose Tovar, 21-year-old Audrey Brown and 17-year-old Frank Farias, 17. Jose Tovar's wife Rachel Tovar, who was 33 at the time, and Nicholas Cortez, who was then 22, survived the shooting. Dudleys execution is the 1st of 2 over the next week. (source: KWTX News) OHIO: Death sentence, conviction upheld for inmate who killed cellmate The Ohio Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld the conviction and death sentence of an inmate who strangled his cellmate and beat his head on the floor and then laughed and yelled while paramedics tried to revive him. Christopher Newton, 36, killed Jason Brewer, 27, as they shared a cell at the Mansfield Correctional Institution in 2001. "Newton has demonstrated that he is a menace to the life, health and safety of others even when he is protective custody in a maximum-security prison," the court said in a 7-0 ruling written by Justice Paul Pfeiffer. Brewer was serving a three- to 10-year sentence for attempted burglary while Newton was in prison for 8- to 15-year sentence for having a weapon illegally, attempted burglary and attempted escape. Brewer died a few hours after the attack at Ohio State University Medical Center. Newton told authorities he made a rope and later cut a strip from his prison jumpsuit to strangle Brewer when the rope broke. He also stomped on Newton's head, throat and chest. Newton admitted to the killing, and said he had never met or heard of Brewer until they had been put together in the cell. Newton claimed that he is severely mentally ill and ought not to be executed, but the court rejected that argument and said Newton has falsified psychiatric symptoms so as to appear to have a serious mental disorder to receive special treatment and medication. (source: Associated Press) IOWA: Republican senators file death penalty bill On day one of this legislative session, Republican senators filed a bill to reinstate a limited death penalty for those who prey on Iowa's children. Under the legislation, the death penalty would apply only to those who kidnap, sexually assault and murder a child under the age of 18. The legislation is needed because of a glaring weakness in current law. Currently, no additional punishment exists for sex offenders who go on to murder their victims. That means there is nothing to stop someone who kidnaps and rapes a child from murdering them as well. This is especially true when you consider that the child, in most instances, would be the only witness who could identify the sexual predator. The death penalty in these cases would close that loophole. During the 2005 session, Republican senators proposed a similar death penalty measure in the wake of the kidnapping and murder of Jetseta Gage, a 10-year old girl from Cedar Rapids. A registered sex offender was charged with the crime. Although lawmakers ultimately approved a bill to toughen Iowa's sex offender laws, Senate Democrats blocked debate on the death penalty provision. While Senate Democrats do not support the death penalty, a majority of Iowans do. An April 2005 poll conducted by the Des Moines Register reported 67 % of Iowans support reinstatement of capital punishment for certain crimes. When 2/3 of Iowans support the death penalty, it is wrong for Senate Democrats to block debate on this bill. Senate Democrats should stop holding the death penalty hostage and allow lawmakers to have a serious discussion on the issue during the 2006 session. (source: Times-Republican) MISSOURI: Mother, others plead for life of death row inmate It's one thing shared by two Kansas City mothers, Linda Taylor and Janel Harrison - the pain reflected in their eyes when they speak of their children. For Harrison, it is the pain of losing her daughter in one of Kansas Citys most infamous crimes. For Taylor, it is the pain of knowing her son participated in that crime and may soon be executed by the state of Missouri. On Wednesday, Taylor was joined by several dozen supporters and death penalty opponents to make a public plea to Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt and other officials to stop the execution of Michael A. Taylor, which could come as early as Feb. 1. For now, a federal judge has stayed the planned execution
[Deathpenalty]death penalty news---worldwide
Jan. 25 SOUTH AFRICA: Justice Is Reconciliation In South Africa, indeed around the world, we are raised on a strict diet of justice as retribution. With violent crimes on an upsurge, with the hideous crimes of child rape and abuse on the increase, there are frequent calls backed by wide public support to restore capital punishment. Mercifully, South Africa's constitutional court has ruled that the death penalty is unconstitutional. Sadly, in many places in the world, it seems that men and women have not advanced beyond the biblical admonition of "an eye for an eye" in their yearning for retribution. Indeed, some Muslim countries amputate the hands of convicted thieves in public. But that biblical adage was in fact invoked originally to curb blood feuds from claiming the innocent relatives of the person who committed the killing. "An eye for an eye" asks that the culprit should be the sole target, and not others, whose only crime was to be related to him. So the "eye for an eye" adage was not intended to mean what it has come to mean, namely that killing be paid for by another killing. Given the brutality of the apartheid era, that would have never worked in my homeland. Some South Africans called for Nuremberg-type trials, especially for perpetrators of those atrocities that were designed to maintain the vicious apartheid system. There were demands that the guilty be brought to book. But we were fortunate in that Nuremberg was not really an option for us. Nuremberg happened because the Allies inflicted unconditional surrender on the Nazis and so could impose a so-called victor's justice. In our case, neither the apartheid government nor the liberation movements could defeat each other. Moreover, in the case of Nuremberg, the prosecutors and judges could pack up their bags after the trial and leave Germany for their several homes. We had to make our homes in this, our common motherland, and learn to live with one another. Such trials would probably have gone on nearly forever, leaving gaping wounds open. It would have been difficult to procure the evidence to get convictions. We all know just how cunning bureaucrats can be in destroying incriminating evidence. So it was a mercy that our country chose to go the way of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission granting amnesty in exchange for the truth. This was ultimately based on the principles of restorative justice and ubuntu. At the TRC hearings we were exposed to gruesome details about atrocities that were committed to uphold or to oppose apartheid. "We gave him drugged coffee and shot him in the head and then we burned his body. As it takes seven to eight hours for a human body to burn, we had a braaivleis on the side, drinking beer and eating meat". How low men can sink in our inhumanity! Each time such horrible stories were published, we had to remind ourselves that, yes indeed, the acts were demonic, but the perpetrators remained each a child of God. A monster has no moral responsibility and so cannot be held accountable; but even more seriously, designating someone a monster closes the door to possible rehabilitation. We cannot give up on anybody. If it was true that people could not change, then the whole TRC process would have been impossible. It happened because we believed that even the worst racist had the capacity to change. And I think we in South Africa have not done badly. Because an "eye for an eye" can never work when communities are in conflict; reprisal leads to a counter-reprisal in the sort of blood spiral we are seeing in the Middle East. The type of justice South Africa practised, what I call "restorative justice" is, unlike retribution, not basically concerned with punishment. It sets high store by healing. It regards the offender as a person, as a subject with a sense of respon-sibility and a sense of shame, who needs to be reintegrated into the community. There is a wealth of wisdom in the old ways of African society. Justice was a communal affair and society set a high store by social harmony and peace. The belief was that a person is a person only through other persons, and a broken person needed to be helped to be healed. What the offence had disturbed should be restored, and the offender and the victim had to be helped to be reconciled. Justice as retribution often ignores the victim and the system is usually impersonal and cold. Restorative justice believes that even the worst offender can become a better person. This does not mean being soft on crime. Offenders must realise the seriousness of their offences through the kind of sentences they get, but there must be hope, hope that the offender can become a useful member of society, after paying the price they owe to society. When we act as if we really believe that someone can be better, is better, then they will often rise to our expectations. (source: The Times of India - Desmond Tutu is a winner of the Nobel Prize for Peace)
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, CALIF., KAN., R.I., PENN., OHIO
Jan. 25 TEXASimpending execution Woman to watch family members' killer be executed A Houston woman has been granted permission to watch Wednesday night's execution of a man who killed her husband and son. But Rachel Tovar says the execution won't end her nightmare. Marion Dudley is scheduled to be executed in Huntsville for the 1992 murders of four people, including Tovar's husband and son. But even though she'll be there to watch him die, she says it won't end her life of fear and remorse. "When you go through a big ordeal like this, you're not normal no more," she told us. Tovar says she's lived a life of fear, nightmares, and even shame since two family members and two friends were shot to death right in front of her during a drug deal in 1992. "14 years, I've been blamed for this and carried this cause of death of my family," she said. Marion Dudley is scheduled to die by lethal injection tonight in Huntsville. Some still blame Tovar because she helped her husband, Jose, deal cocaine. Dudley was one of their buyers until he decided to eliminate the middleman, who was Jose. But Dudley and two other men ended up killing Tovar's husband, son, her other's son's pregnant girlfriend, and a family friend. "After I heard that gun go off, it went off again and I heard the screams and I knew they were killing my babies," said Tovar. Tovar was shot in the back of the head and survived to testify and helped send two of the killers to death row. Dudley's execution is Wednesday, and on Tuesday, Tovar was granted permission to watch him die. "I just feel I need to be there for my family, for loved ones that are gone, so they can be at ease," she said. Still she admits that will not bring her peace. It will not make her forget. "I always ask, "Am I ever gonna be happy again?'" Dudley is asking the US Supreme Court to delay his execution and take a look at new evidence. But if the court says no, the killer will likely take his last breath Wednesday. As far as the other 2 killers in this case, Antonia Dunson, 33, is serving a life sentence. Arthur Brown, 35, is on death row with Dudley, awaiting an execution date. Tovar wants to watch him die, too. (source: KTRK-TV) ** Ballistics ties firearm to Pampa deaths -- DPS: Weapon found in possession of suspect in Missouri homicides In Pampa, a Texas Department of Public Safety crime lab has confirmed what it thinks is a preliminary link between a firearm allegedly belonging to a man charged in a Missouri double homicide to the slayings of 3 Pampa residents last fall. Texas Rangers on Tuesday did not release detailed information about the match but said ballistics evidence from the gunshot slayings of Brian Conrad, 31, Michell Conrad, 35, and her 14-year-old son, Zach Doan, matches a firearm reportedly found in the possession of Levi A. King, 23, said DPS Trooper Daniel Hawthorne. Michell Conrad was 6 months pregnant when she, her husband and her son were found shot to death Sept. 30 in their home, which is south of Pampa on Texas Highway 70. Michell Conrad's 10-year-old daughter survived. The written ballistics report is pending and no charges will be filed until officials receive the written report, Hawthorne said. He does not know when the final report might be complete. Other evidence is being examined, Hawthorne said. "Investigators feel very positive the case is moving in the right direction," Hawthorne said. "They feel charges are foreseen in the future." King, 23, is being held on two counts of first-degree murder in Pineville, Mo., in the slayings of Orlie and Dawn McCool, who were killed on the afternoon of Sept. 29, Missouri authorities said. A preliminary hearing in the Missouri case was set for March 10. King's public defender, Charles Moreland, said his client will plead not guilty to the Missouri charges. El Paso authorities arrested King the same day Michell Conrad's 10-year-old daughter reported the slaying of her family. The firearm used in the lab analysis was found in King's possession when he was arrested in El Paso, Hawthorne said. Rangers obtained the firearm when they traveled to Missouri to investigate King's possible connection to the killings. King became a suspect in the Pampa slayings after Missouri law enforcement officers told Rangers a name tag bearing Brian Conrad's name reportedly was found in King's truck. Gray County Sheriff Don Copeland said he was happy to hear the results. "It just confirms what we believed all the time, and we were very confident from the day he got arrested," Copeland said. The Rev. Lynn Hancock, the family's pastor at Briarwood Full Gospel Church in Pampa, expressed the same sentiments as Copeland after learning of the preliminary evidence match. "It took a little longer than we expected," Hancock said. Despite progress in the case, anguish in the Pampa community about the senseless killings has yet to disappear, Hancock said. "It has not gone away," Hancock s
[Deathpenalty]FW: Filibuster Option
Francis A. Boyle Law Building 504 E. Pennsylvania Ave. Champaign, IL 61820 USA 217-333-7954 (voice) 217-244-1478 (fax) fbo...@law.uiuc.edu (personal comments only) -Original Message- From: Institute for Public Accuracy [mailto:dcinstit...@igc.org] Sent: Wednesday, January 25, 2006 11:02 AM To: Institute for Public Accuracy Subject: Filibuster Option Institute for Public Accuracy 915 National Press Building, Washington, D.C. 20045 (202) 347-0020 * http://www.accuracy.org * i...@accuracy.org ___ Wednesday, January 25, 2006 The Filibuster Option ROBERT PARRY, robrtpa...@aol.com, http://www.ConsortiumNews.com "With the fate of the U.S. Constitution in the balance, it's hard to believe there's no senator prepared to filibuster Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito, whose theories on the 'unitary executive' could spell the end of the American democratic Republic," ConsortiumNews.com editor Parry writes in a recent article, "Alito Filibuster: It Only Takes One." Parry adds: "Alito's theory of the 'unitary executive' holds that Bush can cite his 'plenary' -- or unlimited -- powers as Commander in Chief to ignore laws he doesn't like, spy on citizens without warrants, imprison citizens without charges, authorize torture, order assassinations, and invade other countries at his own discretion." While at the Associated Press and Newsweek, Parry broke much of the Iran-Contra scandal. His most recent book is "Secrecy & Privilege: Rise of the Bush Dynasty from Watergate to Iraq." PAUL ROGAT LOEB, p...@paulloeb.org, http://www.paulloeb.org Loeb has written a series of articles on the filibuster option including "Alito's Clear and Present Danger" and "Filibustering Evasion." He is author of the book "Soul of a Citizen: Living With Conviction in a Cynical Time" and the editor of "The Impossible Will Take a Little While: A Citizen's Guide to Hope in a Time of Fear." FRANCIS BOYLE, fbo...@law.uiuc.edu Professor of law at the University of Illinois, Boyle said today: "Alito is an extremist. Any judge who refuses to declare that an innocent person has a constitutional right to be free from execution is by definition an extremist. ... If confirmed by the Senate, Alito will join Scalia, Thomas and Roberts to form a solid block of four Federalist Society justices. ... We need only one U.S. Senator with courage, integrity, principles and a safe seat in order to start the filibuster." JOHN BERG, jb...@suffolk.edu Professor and director of the graduate program in Professional Politics at Suffolk University in Boston, Berg is author of "Unequal Struggle: Class, Gender, Race and Power in the U.S. Congress." He said today: "The American system of checks and balances works imperfectly -- but it only works at all when there is some degree of balance. An Alito confirmation would put all the institutions of the federal government under the control of one party, at a time when more and more policy decisions are driven by partisanship." For more information, contact at the Institute for Public Accuracy: Sam Husseini, (202) 347-0020, (202) 421-6858; or David Zupan, (541) 484-9167 _ You received this message as a subscriber on the list: pub...@lists.accuracy.org To be removed from the list, send any message to: public-unsubscr...@lists.accuracy.org For all list information and functions, including changing your subscription mode and options, visit the Web page: http://lists.accuracy.org/lists/info/public From rhalp...@mail.smu.edu Wed Jan 25 13:22:19 2006 From: rhalp...@mail.smu.edu (Rick Halperin) Date: Wed Jan 25 13:14:30 2006 Subject: [Deathpenalty]death penalty newsUSA, FLA. Message-ID: Jan. 25 USA: Federal executions set to double in single week The number of executions carried out by the U.S. federal government since 1988 is set to double in May, with three lethal injections scheduled in a single week. Convicted murderers Richard Tipton, Cory Johnson and James Roane are scheduled to die in the federal death chamber in Terre Haute, Indiana, on May 9, May 10 and May 12, respectively. "They don't have much in the way of legal resources remaining other than a clemency petition to President George W. Bush," said David Elliot of the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty. The 3 were members of an inner-city gang in Richmond, Virginia, sentenced to death in 1993 for taking part in a series of drug-related murders. All three are black. In the U.S. criminal justice system most crimes are prosecuted by states rather than the federal government. Last year, all 60 executions carried out were administered by states. The federal death penalty was reinstated in November 1988 with the introduction of a law designed to combat drug trafficking known as the Drug Kingpin Act. Since then, Congress has added over 50 other crimes that qualify fo
[Deathpenalty]death penalty news----FLA., N.C., CALIF.
Jan. 25 FLORIDA: Hill won't be executed todayConvicted killer spared as legal wrangling continues The U.S. Supreme Court stay that spared Clarence Hill's life Tuesday night is expected to continue to keep him alive, with no action today even if the stay, signed by Justice Anthony Kennedy, is lifted. Hill was set to die for the 1982 shooting death of Pensacola police officer Stephen Taylor. Gov. Jeb Bush in November signed Hill's death warrant, setting the time for his execution at 6 p.m. Tuesday. Final appeals before circuit courts and the Florida Supreme Court and federal appeals courts failed. But Hill's attorneys had 3 pending motions before the nation's highest court and Kennedy granted the stay based on a filing that argued lethal injection is cruel and unusual punishment. Kennedy rejected two other appeals. Florida Assistant Attorney General Carolyn Snurkowski, who is handling the state's arguments in Hill's appeals, said the appeal that resulted in the stay was rejected Tuesday afternoon by the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta. An appeal was then filed with the Supreme Court at 4:45 p.m., just more than an hour before the scheduled execution. The state filed its responses at 5. Hill's attorney, Todd Doss, was not immediately available this morning. Kennedy's stay didn't come until 7 p.m. For an hour, witnesses that included Taylor's brother and sister, sat silently, staring forward at their own reflections in the glass panes that separate the witness room from the death chamber. A brown curtain stayed drawn, never opened to signal the execution was proceeding. Shortly after 7 p.m., Assistant Warden Randall Polk announced the stay and witnesses were led out. Department of Corrections officials will not say if Hill was strapped to a gurney, a needle inserted in his arm to deliver deadly chemicals, during that time. A department protocol document indicates the condemned is already in the death chamber when witnesses are brought in. "We were prepared to proceed," said Debbie Buchanan, a spokeswoman for the department, in what she described as a prepared statement vetted by attorneys. Robby Cunningham, also a department spokesman, said officers remain "on standby." But Russell Schweiss, a spokesman in Bush's office, said an execution today is not expected. Snurkowski said the death warrant signed against Hill remains valid for a week, a clock that began running at noon on Monday. If the stay is lifted, she said, the governor would discuss with the warden about readiness to conduct the execution. Another execution, of A.D. Rutherford, is scheduled for 6 p.m. next Tuesday. For now, Hill awaits a further order from Kennedy. In his order Tuesday night he said the stay could be lifted by him alone or the entire court. "I don't predict," Snurkowski said. The court's last-minute action left Hill alive and the victim's family waiting yet again. It was the 2nd time Hill skirted a signed warrant for his death. Hill, convicted murderer of Pensacola police officer Stephen Taylor during a bank robbery more than 23 years ago, was set to be executed by lethal injection at Florida State Prison. Witnesses were seated in the death chamber for just more than an hour when assistant warden Randall Polk announced the stay. "The U.S. Supreme Court will not make a ruling until tomorrow," Polk announced before witnesses were led out of the chamber. Department of Corrections officials Tuesday night said they didn't know what would happen. "We're ready, whatever the courts decide to do," said Robby Cunningham, public information officer for the DOC. Carolyn Snurkowski, the assistant attorney general handling Hill's appeals, said the U.S. Supreme Court had not elaborated on its ruling with her. The order suggests the high court is interested in re-examining whether Hill's civil rights were violated, even though the court rejected 2 other appeals Hill's lawyer had asked for under similar arguments. "We have to find out what the court will do next," Snurkowski said late Tuesday. "They were just as elusive as can be. ... I don't know what they're thinking." Among the 29 witnesses gathered were several of Taylor's family members, who said afterward that they were disappointed by the last-minute stay. "We are going to have to relive this yet again," said Gary Mace, 50, Taylor's cousin, who was to witness the execution. "We've been going through this for the past 23 years, and it's very painful for us to rehash our memories of Steve and that day." A native Pensacolian from a tight-knit family of five children, Taylor was just 26 when he was gunned down outside the Freedom Savings & Loan at Gregory and Palafox streets on Oct. 19, 1982. He was married and had a young daughter. In addition to Mace, Taylor's brother, Jack Taylor Jr. of Pensacola; his sister and brother-in-law, Linda and David Knouse of South Florida; and his widow, Suzanne Vickrey, and her husband from Pensacola had front-row se
[Deathpenalty]death penalty news----VA., MD., ARK., PENN., ILL.
Jan. 25 VIRGINIA: Va. Places Last In Funding For Court-Appointed Defense Virginias current earning caps for court-appointed attorneys are at odds with defendants rights to adequate representation, according to a nationwide group of criminal defense attorneys, and several who practice in Harrisonburg. In Virginia, court-appointed attorneys earn $90 an hour for criminal cases, but payments stop after a set number of hours, which varies depending on what their client is charged with. After that, the lawyer is working for nothing, attorneys say. "It puts me and anybody else who does court-appointed work in an automatic conflict of interest," said Darren Bostic, a criminal defense attorney in Harrisonburg since 1991. "Its in my best interest to settle a case, and settle it quick." The caps, which judges cant overrule, make Virginias court-appointed attorneys the lowest paid in the nation, said Steven Benjamin, chairman of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers indigent defense committee. Shortchanging court-appointed attorneys ultimately hurts poor defendants, said Benjamin, who practices in Richmond. "Our system is broken," he said. "[Virginias] criminal justice system no longer can reliably and accurately determine guilt or innocence." He points to the recent exoneration of convicts as evidence of a system that makes mistakes. In December, Gov. Mark Warner announced that two men convicted of sexual assault had been cleared by DNA evidence. The men, whom the governors office didnt name, were 2 of 31 cases chosen at random for DNA testing. An upward trend of DNA exoneration in Virginia is alarming, Benjamin says, because most cases dont have DNA to examine and maybe free those who are wrongly convicted. But all defendants facing incarceration in Virginia courts do have an attorney. Underpaying those attorneys makes wrongful convictions more likely, he said. The System Earning limits apply to all court-appointed, criminal cases except death penalty cases, regardless of the hours the attorney works, Benjamin said. Attorneys that defend clients facing more than 20 years in jail are capped at $1,186, said John Hart of Hart Law Offices in Harrisonburg. Cases where defendants face less than 20 years are capped at $428, he said. Misdemeanor charges are capped at $112 in district court and $148 in circuit court. A study commissioned by the American Bar Association and released in February 2004 said the Virginia system discourages "counsel from spending more than a few hours on circuit court cases and even less on district court cases." Bob Spangenberg, director of the Massachusetts-based law enforcement-consulting group, said his study drew the same conclusion that similar ones have made since the early 1970s. "They all find the same thing," he said. Virginia defense attorneys are "horribly under-funded and something has to be done, but nothing has been done." Jeff Bradley, who practices in Harrisonburg, says low pay is also hard to understand since the state is reimbursed for a lot of fees paid to court-appointed attorneys. The lawyers fees are included in court costs that defendants must pay back to the state when theyre released from jail, Bradley said. "It takes them a while," he said. "But theres a pretty continuous stream of reimbursement being paid the government." Defendants who are acquitted dont pay court costs, he said. Off The Clock Several defense lawyers who practice in Harrisonburg said they hope legislators will allow judges to override caps in certain cases. After 14 years practicing in Harrisonburg, Bostic continues to take court-appointed cases. The work keeps him on his toes, and sometimes leads to paying clients. In some cases, he says, the job can be done quickly and the pay is fine. But often, he says, its not. In those cases, lawyers continue working long after theyve earned the maximum available for that charge, Bostic said. But Bostic and several others say they challenge themselves to do the same job they would if they were retained by paying clients. "Youre charged with looking out for your clients best interest," Bradley said. "The court is not forcing anyone to take these cases; we do it because we want to." Sometimes fulfilling that obligation means lawyers must work long hours at low pay. In one trial, Bostic photographed a crime scene and argued his case in a preliminary hearing. Before trial, he wrote jury instructions, crafted arguments and even went clothes shopping for his client, who was charged with malicious wounding. After a trial, then a sentencing hearing, Bostic won a reduced charge for his client. For more than 40 hours of work, he says he was paid $428 to cover wages, business expenses and film. The court reimbursed him for the clothes he bought at a secondhand store. But Bostic says he isnt the only attorney working overtime. Long hours and low wages led John Holloran to quit non-capital court-appointed work in 1995.
[Deathpenalty]death penalty news----TEXAS, OHIO, IND., WYO., WASH.
Jan. 25 TEXAS: UNCERTAIN JUSTICEEfforts to determine whether a state has executed an innocent man reflect the country's growing unease with capital punishment The facts in Roger Keith Coleman's case were in many ways similar to those of dozens of men exonerated in recent years after having been convicted of rape and murder and sentenced to long prison terms or death row. The crucial difference in Coleman's case is that he had been executed. Before leaving office, Virginia Gov. Mark Warner ordered DNA testing that death penalty opponents hoped would prove Coleman was innocent of the 1981 rape and murder of Wanda McCoy, the crime for which the coal miner died in the electric chair in 1992. The test results showed that bodily fluids left at the crime scene perfectly matched Coleman's DNA. According to the best science available, Coleman almost certainly was guilty of McCoy's brutal murder. Coleman's attorney worked without pay for years to fulfill a promise that he would seek to clear his name. A negative DNA match, he believed, would have provided the nation's first incontrovertible scientific proof that a state had sent the wrong man to his death. In Coleman's case, Virginia got the right man. Death penalty opponents had counted on the test to give them a powerful argument to add to the mounting case against capital punishment as exacted in the United States. The DNA confirmation of Coleman's guilt, however, does not diminish the concern that innocent defendants have been wrongly convicted. In Texas this week, a dogged attorney's persistence paid off when, after three years of searching for biological material to test, a DNA test showed that Arthur Mumphrey of Montgomery County was not guilty of a 1986 sexual assault of a 13-year-old girl. Having served 18 years in prison, Mumphrey is expected to be pardoned. Polls show most Americans support the death penalty, but their support is waning. That decline, from 80 % in 1994 to around 64 % now, is attributed to the frequency with which legal aid organizations have used DNA testing to prove miscarriages of justice. The Innocence Project, a nonprofit legal clinic that works to exonerate the wrongly convicted, lists on its Web site 172 DNA exonerations since 1989, including two Texans pardoned for actual innocence last month by Gov. Rick Perry: Entre Nax Karage, who served seven years of a life sentence for murder, and Keith E. Turner, who served four years of a 20-year sentence for aggravated sexual assault. State lawmakers also are beginning to doubt the infallibility of capital justice. New Jersey legislators passed a moratorium on that state's criminal executions pending a review of the costs and fairness of application. Acting Gov. Richard J. Codey signed the bill Jan. 12 before leaving office. The state of Illinois maintains a moratorium on executions. Maryland had a moratorium but lifted it. The Associated Press reports that 12 of the 38 states that permit capital punishment have appointed death penalty study commissions. Texas is not considering a moratorium on executions, but it should. This state's death row holds 410 prisoners; 19 were executed last year. That represented nearly 1/3 of all U.S. executions in 2005. Yet the guilt of a number of Texas capital offenders, including one juvenile offender already put to death, is in dispute. Death row inmate Anthony Graves was convicted of murder primarily on the testimony of a man who recanted many times over before Graves was executed in 2000 for his role in the crime. Ruben Cantu, executed in 1993, was 17 at the time of the murder for which he received the death penalty. Like Graves', Cantu's conviction was based almost purely on the now-recanted testimony of one man. Harris County sends more people to death row than any other Texas jurisdiction. It remains to be seen how many of those convictions might have been tainted by the shoddy work of Houston Police Department crime lab investigators. One might question how meaningful a moratorium on executions will be in New Jersey, where only 10 prisoners reside on death row and the last execution took place in 1963. There's no question, however, that taking a capital punishment time-out in Texas to examine disputed cases could avoid the ultimate miscarriage of justice. (source: Editorial, Houston Chronicle, Jan. 23) OHIO: Emotions flow at Benner clemency hearing--Relatives of 2 victims speak against convicted killer, who is scheduled to be executed Rodney Bowser fought to compose himself as he talked Tuesday about his "baby sister" Trina, 1of 2 young women Glenn L. Benner II murdered nearly 20 years ago. His voice broke. He took deep breaths. He paused in mid-sentence. "I have an image of my sister that has been permanently burned into my brain," said Bowser, who, along with his parents, found Trina's partially clothed body in the trunk of her burning car in January 1986. Bowser stopped again, staring at the typewritten shee
[Deathpenalty]death penalty news----worldwide
Jan. 25 CHINA: Bribery draws a death sentence A former top Party official in Jiangsu Province was sentenced to death yesterday for taking bribes in Fujian Province. The sentence will be commuted to life in jail if Xu Guojian is a model prisoner for two years. Xu took bribes of 6.4 million yuan (US$793,956) from 1992 to 2004 when he was Party chief of Yancheng city and then head of the Organization Department of the Party's Jiangsu provincial committee. He helped gain favors for a traffic official and 4 officials at local companies, the court in Xiamen, Fujian, was told. (source: Shanghai Daily) AUSTRALIA: UN official urges more action on death penalty A senior United Nations (UN) official has criticised the Federal Government over what he says is its failure to stop the death penalty being imposed against Australians overseas. UN official Philip Alston made the comment as Indonesian prosecutors recommended that at least one of the so-called Bali 9 be executed if found guilty of allegedly planning and funding a heroin trafficking operation. Indonesian prosecutors said there was no reason to grant leniency to the alleged ringleader Myuran Sukumaran, but did recommend life imprisonment for one of his co-defendants Michael Czugaj. Mr Alston has told ABC Radio's AM program that the Australian Government needs to do more on the death penalty issue. "There are going to be many more Australians potentially on death row in various Asian countries and to pretend that's not the case, is burying your head in the sand," he said. "So the question now is what's the Government going to do." Mr Alston says Australia acted too late to spare the life of Melbourne man Van Nguyen, and it is now time to do more to ensure that one of the so-called Bali nine, if convicted, does not face execution. While Mr Alston says Australia should continue to help countries which have the death penalty fight crime, it should do so on the condition that no Australian is sentenced to death. "It's a matter of saying we have a strong opposition in Australia to the death penalty and we would condition our cooperation on your not applying the death penalty when you are operating on the basis of information or assistance provided by us," he said. (source: ABC News) THAILAND: Thai men in death penalty appeal -- The men's lawyer said they did not know what their sentence would be 2 Thai fishermen have appealed against their death sentences for the rape and murder of Cardiff student Katherine Horton on New Year's Day. Wichai Somkhaoyai, 24, and Bualoi Posit, 23, were handed the death penalty for the killing on Koh Samui. The pair's lawyer claimed they were convicted solely on DNA evidence and that they confessed to her murder "out of a sense of remorse". Human rights groups have voiced concern at the speed of the men's trial. The men received the sentence of death by lethal injection a week ago at a court in the southern Thai province of Surat Thani. The sentencing judge said their crime had "terrified people". Both had pleaded guilty to raping and killing 21-year-old year old Miss Horton, who was on holiday with a fellow student from Reading University. Thai authorities moved swiftly in the criminal investigation after Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra intervened, saying the student's killers should be executed because they had harmed the country's reputation. 'Little education' On Wednesday, the fishermen's lawyer said they were appealing on grounds that the death penalty was "too harsh" and that their conviction was secured without eyewitnesses. Katherine Horton's body was found on 2 January Amarin Nuimai said that his clients had co-operated with police and confessed to Miss Horton's murder without knowing the consequences. "Both of them had little education. They didn't even know what the maximum sentence they could face, so we have asked the court of appeals to reconsider the death sentences," Mr Nuimai told AFP news agency. A 29-page document outlining the appeal has been submitted to the authorities. The lawyer said he expected the appeals court to consider the high-profile case, given that it was a gruesome crime that affected Thailand's reputation. Miss Horton was attacked as she made a mobile phone call on Koh Samui's Lamai beach, where she and her friend had rented accommodation during their New Year break. The murder happened on the beach where the student was staying The fishermen's trial heard she was beaten with a parasol pole, raped and later dumped out at sea, where she drowned. The fishermen, the judges were told, had been watching pornographic films on their boat before swimming ashore to make the attack. After the trial, Miss Horton's family thanked Thai police for "their diligent and speedy apprehension of the offenders". But Fair Trials Abroad and Amnesty International criticised the speed of their sentences. Amnesty International said it was concerned about the spee
