[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide
April 12 BRAZIL: Death Penalty Splits Views in Brazil Brazilian adults are almost evenly divided on the topic of capital punishment, according to a poll by Datafolha published in Folha de Sao Paulo. 47 % of respondents would vote to reinstate the death penalty in a referendum, while 46 % would vote against. The South American country abolished capital punishment in 1979, with the exception of crimes of treason committed in a time of war. Brazil ratified the Protocol to the American Convention on Human Rights to Abolish the Death Penalty in August 1996. <>P> In 2006, Movement for the Valorization of Brazil's Culture, Idiom and Riches member Wagner Vasconcelos launched a controversial campaign to reinstate capital punishment for a wide range of offences, including corruption. Vasconcelos explained his rationale, saying, "We have proposed an amendment to the constitution so that corrupt politicians face independent peoples tribunals that have the power to impose the death penaltyfor large scale fraud of public money and betrayal of the fatherlands military and business secrets." Polling Data How would you vote in a referendum on whether Brazil should reinstate the death penalty? Mar. 2008 Mar. 2007 Aug. 2006 In favour 47% 55% 51% Against 46% 40% 42% Not sure 7% 5% 7% [source: Datafolha / Folha de Sao Paulo Methodology: Interviews with 4,044 Brazilian adults, conducted from Mar. 25 and Mar. 27, 2008. Margin of error is 2 %] (source: Angus Reid Global Monitoring) INDIA: 19-yr-old gets death penalty for murder A sessions court in Kochi on Friday sentenced a 19-year-old to death for killing an advocate in whose office he was employed. Principal sessions judge D Pappachan said despite the faith reposed in him by his employer advocate A P Abraham, accused Amalraj had executed the crime in the most cruel and inhuman manner. The court also handed down double life imprisonments to his accomplices, Rajesh and Shimon. Abraham, 78, was found dead in his office on July 13, 2007. He had been strangled with a rope the night before and given electric shocks with a live wire. Amalraj had cheated Abraham and withdrawn over Rs 8 lakh from his account using blank cheques. When he felt that Abraham had come to know of his mischief, Amalraj decided to kill his employer. He roped in professional hitmen for the job. The court concluded that it was the lust for money that made Amalraj commit murder. (source: Times of India) CHINA: China chief justice urges death penalty for violent crimes China's chief justice has instructed judges to impose harsh sentences, including the death penalty, for violent crimes, China's Xinhua news agency reported Saturday. Touring the Guangdong province last week, president of the Supreme People's Court Wang Shengjun, said that crimes posing a serious threat to the "social order" should be dealt with especially harshly. The death penalty is thought to enjoy popular support in China despite growing international opinion against the practice. The comments come amid efforts by the Supreme Court to drastically reduce the number of executions in China. In response to wrongful convictions and international criticism, China implemented reforms at the beginning of 2007 requiring all death sentences be approved by the Supreme People's Court. High court vice-president Jiang Xingchang said in September that death sentences handed down by Chinese courts were at a 10-year low in 2006 and the trend continued in 2007. (source: The Jurist) *** China's chief justice calls for death, harsh punishments for violent crimes China's chief justice has told judges to impose the death penalty and other harsh sentences for violent crimes, the official Xinhua News Agency reported Saturday. The comments from Wang Shengjun, president of the Supreme People's Court, struck a markedly different tone from that of his predecessor who had campaigned to reduce death sentences to the bare minimum - and only for the most heinous crimes. Tough punishments are needed to "increase the sense of security among the people," the agency quoted Wang as saying during a tour of the southern province of Guangdong in the past week. "Where the law mandates the death sentence, the death sentence should be given," Wang said. Crimes involving terrorism or organized groups, violence, and those that "seriously threaten social order" should be dealt with especially harshly, Wang said. Rights groups say China executes more people annually than the rest of the world combined, although actual death penalty figures are treated as a state secret in China. The number appeared to drop last year, however, under new legislation designed to reserve the death penalty for the most severe cases. Research by one monitoring group indicated that about 6,000 people were executed in 2007, about a 25 % drop from the year before. The death penalty is believed to have popular support in China, but the reform begun l
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----UTAH, ARIZ., OKLA.
April 12 UTAH: Plea deal is considered to avoid death penaltyTaylorsville man is accused of murder by stabbing 21 times a man he'd never met A Taylorsville man is considering a plea offer that would spare him the possibility of execution for allegedly using a meat cleaver and a knife to kill another man last year - an attack that was apparently random. David Lawrence Berry, 28, is charged with aggravated murder, which carries the potential of the death penalty, for the bloody slaying of 63-year-old Isidro Cano on Aug. 29, 2007. But earlier this week, Berry waived his right to a preliminary hearing in 3rd District Court, and he is now mulling a plea offer that would send him to prison for 20 years to life, prosecutor Christopher Bown said Friday. Berry is to appear in court next for an April 29 scheduling hearing before Judge Stephen Roth. The victim was attacked while he and his daughter-in-law were outside painting the daughter-in-law's Taylorsville trailer home. Ramona Patricia Cano said during an August interview that Berry walked up and stated: "Ma'am, I want to kill someone today." Ramona Cano said she yelled, "Run, run," to her father-in-law, but Isidro Cano was talking on a phone and paid no attention. When Berry grabbed Isidro Cano by the neck from behind and began stabbing him, Ramona Cano said she and another woman fled to get help. Ramona Cano said she returned to find her father-in-law lying on the ground near a bloody 10-inch-long knife. Berry - who was arrested at his father's nearby trailer home - had "the face of a crazy man," she said, and appeared to be under the influence of drugs. The next day a neighbor discovered a cleaver with blood and hair on it outside her trailer home, which is two lots away from the homicide scene, according to charging documents. An autopsy revealed the victim suffered 21 wounds consistent with being inflicted by "a knife and/or cleaver," charging documents state. The medical examiner listed the cause of death as "sharp force trauma to the head." Charging documents allege the slaying was committed in "an especially heinous, atrocious, cruel or exceptionally depraved manner," which is the basis for filing it as a potential death-penalty offense. Prosecutors said Berry and the victim had never met. The victim lived in Chihuahua, Mexico, and had come to Utah for a three-week visit with his two sons and two daughters, who live in the Salt Lake City area. (source: Salt Lake Tribune) ARIZONA: Phoenix Man Charged With 8th Murder One of the men accused in a series of random shootings in the Phoenix area has been indicted in an 8th killing, a prosecutor said Friday, meaning he's now charged in all the deaths in the investigation. Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas said the new murder count against Dale Hausner stemmed from help Hausner's former roommate, Samuel Dieteman, gave prosecutors. Dieteman, who also was charged in the investigation, pleaded guilty to 2 murder counts last week in an attempt to evade a possible death sentence. "This is an important break in a murder case that previously had been unresolved," Thomas said in a statement. Authorities say Hausner, 35, and Dieteman, 32, randomly shot and killed 8 people, wounded 17 more and killed several animals during a rampage that continued for several months over 2005 and 2006. It was 1 of 2 serial killing cases that sent fear through the Phoenix area at the same time. Hausner now has been charged with all deaths in the case; Dieteman is charged with only 2 that took place in summer 2006. The new indictment accuses Hausner of shooting Nathaniel Schoffner on Nov. 11, 2005, after he confronted Hausner as he was about to shoot a dog. Hausner also is charged with one new count of conspiracy to commit cruelty to animals and one new count of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder. Police arrested the two in August 2006 in their Mesa apartment and later charged them in the case. Authorities retrieved firearms, as well as news clippings of the police investigation and a map of the city marked with what police said were locations of some of their attacks. Thomas said he will pursue the death penalty against both men. Dieteman agreed last week to work with prosecutors, and his cooperation will be noted when a jury decides whether to recommend the death penalty. Hausner has pleaded not guilty to the counts against him so far. An arraignment hearing is pending for the eighth murder count, Thomas spokesman Mike Anthony Scerbo said. A call to Hausner's attorney Friday seeking comment about the latest charge was not immediately returned. (source: Associated Press) OKLAHOMA: TV star to speak at anti-death penalty banquet Human rights advocate and "MASH" television star Mike Farrell will be the guest speaker at an anti-death penalty banquet in Oklahoma City. The Oklahoma Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty will host a banquet at 6 p.m. Saturday at Our Lady's Cathedr
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----USA, DEL., N.Y., VA., TENN.
April 12 USA: The problem with measuring "evolving standards of decency" is that they tend to evolve and devolve in multiple directions at the same time. Trend It, Don't End It--Tracking the inscrutable social consensus on capital punishment for rapists. This week, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear a case about whether-for the first time in decades-a criminal can be executed for a crime that isn't murder. Patrick Kennedy was convicted in 2004 for the rape of a child, his 8-year-old stepdaughter, and the state of Louisiana contends that his crime is tantamount to murder and worthy of death. Nobody in this country has actually been executed for anything other than murder since 1964, although five states, including Louisiana, have laws permitting capital punishment for the rape of young children. Several others are contemplating broadening their laws to do the same. The court must determine, in Kennedy v. Louisiana, whether the Eighth Amendment's prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment bars the execution of someone who didn't commit a murder but did violate a young child. Kennedy is somewhat confounded by the quiet "moratorium" on executions the United States is experiencing, while the high court mulls another case. That one tests the constitutionality of the lethal injection procedures used in Kentucky and all but one of the 38 states permitting capital punishment. The court will decide the lethal-injection question this spring. But, in the meantime, there's been a pause in capital punishment since last September: a good opportunity to reflect on what life would be like without it and to take the public temperature on the death penalty in general. Capital punishment in America has been in a slow-repeat, slow-decline for years. According to the Death Penalty Information Center, which compiles statistics on capital punishment nationally, the number of executions has dropped steadily since 1998. Even before the 2007 moratorium took effect, the execution numbers had hit a 10-year low of 53 in 2006. American confidence in the death penalty has also dipped slightly: A Gallup poll taken in 2006 showed that while two-thirds of Americans endorsed capital punishment for murderers, given the choice between the death penalty and a life sentence without parole, slightly more preferred life in prison for the 1st time in decades. This dip has been variously attributed to the reported 127 death-row exonerations now logged by DPIC (though death penalty supporters strongly dispute that statistic), as well as popular books by the likes of John Grisham and pervasive evidence that racism still taints the capital sentencing system. Still, public opinion on the death penalty remains in favor of it-at least for murder. And while the number of states imposing or contemplating moratoriums on the death penalty grows, many seem bent on mending-not ending-the capital system with cleaner execution protocols and higher-quality capital defense. All of the statistics, polls, and trends I've just cited would be utterly irrelevant to any legal discussion of whether a child rapist can be executed, were it not for the odd constitutional test that weighs "cruel and unusual" punishment against "evolving standards of decency." This is an exercise in molar-grinding frustration for members of the Supreme Court devoted to adhering to the Constitution's original text. When the Supreme Court ended the death penalty for mentally retarded offenders in 2002 and again for those who were minors at the time of their crimes in 2005, it did so via an elaborate interpretive dance that required putting one finger on the pulse of foreign courts and the other to the wind of American public opinion. For those of us who are not big fans of public hangings on the Pubclicke Square, the notion that standards of unusual cruelty can "evolve" has its appeal. But the new fight over executing child rapists reveals that attempts to measure the shifting winds of public opinion for some ephemeral "national consensus" often says more about which justice is doing the measuring than whatever it is that's being measured. The Supreme Court tackled the death penalty with regard to the rape of a 16-year-old in 1977, in Coker v. Georgia, and prohibited capital punishment for the rape of an "adult." The majority found that "the death penalty, which is unique in its severity, is an excessive penalty for the rapist who, as such, does not take human life." Coker has since stood for the general principle that the death penalty is unavailable for nonmurder crimes, no matter how heinous. But Louisiana contends that child rape is different from adult rape, and its Supreme Court, in upholding the death penalty for Kennedy, wrote that "if the court is going to exercise its independent judgment to validate the death penalty for any non-homicide crime, it is going to be child rape." Kennedy's lawyers measure the national discomfort with executing child rapists by counting to 2
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----N.H., ARK., S.DAK., PENN., CALIF.
April 12 NEW HAMPSHIRE: Addison's death penalty hearing begins The death penalty case against the man accused of murdering a Manchester police officer 2 years ago could hinge on hearings that began with a sociologist arguing that black men are more likely to be sentenced to death. Lawyers for Michael Addison, 28, are looking to experts on race and the death penalty as they argue that the state's capital murder law is unconstitutionally flawed. At a Superior Court hearing that began Thursday, sociologist William Bowers testified that juries composed mostly of white men were more likely to sentence a black defendant to death, especially if the victim was white. Addison, who is black, is charged with shooting officer Michael Briggs, who was white. Addison's lawyers are trying to prove that racial bias can play a part in whether a jury sentences someone to death or life in prison. Prosecutors questioned the validity of the study that was the focus of Bowers' testimony and said the state's experts should be allowed to review and draw their own conclusions from its 1,200 interviews with death-case jurors. Bowers said the raw data is confidential, prompting judge Kathleen McGuire to jump in. "It's not clear to me why you're here to give opinions when you won't give up the raw data on which the opinions are based," she said. Bowers responded that on some issues, "we feel the evidence is strong enough . . . to make a statement of opinion to a scientific certainty." Senior Assistant Attorney General Maureen D. Smith said the courts have built safeguards against prejudice into the system. He also said other studies of death penalty cases are at odds with the Capital Jury Project that Bowers participated in. Briggs, 35, was fatally wounded in an alley on Oct. 15, 2006, after he and a partner approached Addison while investigating a domestic dispute. (source: Associated Press) ARKANSAS: Decay attorney files motion regarding death penalty An attorney for a Fayetteville man facing a capital murder trial wants a judge to prevent the state from seeking two separate deaths penalties in the shooting death of a Fayetteville couple. Julie Tolleson, a public defender representing Gregory C. Decay, 22, filed the motion Friday with the Washington County Circuit Clerk. Decay is accused of shooting Kevin B. Jones and Kendall R. Rice, both 24, inside their Fayetteville apartment on April 3. Decay faces 2 counts of capital murder. Jesse Lee Westeen, 20, also of Fayetteville, faces 2 counts of accomplice to capital murder in the case. He is accused of driving Decay to the apartment to shoot the couple. The state is seeking the death penalty for Decay, but not for Westeen. The Decay case is set for trial on April 21 before 4 th Judicial Circuit Judge William Storey in Division 1. Storey previously denied a motion to prevent the state from seeking the death penalty on constitutional grounds. Tolleson has argued that the death penalty should not be allowed because mitigating factors outweigh aggravating factors, but Storey has not ruled on this issue. Fourth Judicial District Prosecutor John Threet has said the aggravating factor justifying the death penalty is the fact that Decay committed more than one murder. In the motion filed Friday, Tolleson agues that separately using each murder to justify the death penalty in the other cases increases the risk of death exponentially. Tolleson wants the state to be required to decide which of the 2 alleged homicides will serve as the basis for the death sentence. She asks for this to be determined before the trial. In a separate motion filed this week, Tolleson said she plans to introduce as mitigating factors Decay's difficult upbringing and the trauma he faced from Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath. (source: Northwest Arkansas Times) SOUTH DAKOTA: Prosecutors won't seek death penalty in Wagner slaying A Marty man won't face the death penalty in the February death of Michael "Chico" Costello of Wagner. Attorney General Larry Long says the case against 35-year-old Stephen Cournoyer III does not meet any of the 10 mitigating and aggravating circumstances state law requires for considering capital punishment. Cournoyer stands accused of 1st-degree murder in the death of Costello at the Wagner apartment of Tamara Bruguier. He also is accused of beating Bruguier with a baseball bat. Long says prosecutors must follow state law, not outside factors, when deciding whether to seek capital punishment. Bruguier was hospitalized in Sioux City, Iowa, with extensive head injuries. She has since been released and is living in Charles Mix County. (source: Associated Press) PENNSYLVANIA: Mumia Abu-Jamal legal update This Legal Update is made on behalf of my client, Mumia Abu-Jamal, who remains on Pennsylvania's death row. Many people have inquired as to our reaction and position concerning recent legal developments, and what will happen now. Dear All
[Deathpenalty] FW: Torture Directed from White House
Francis A. Boyle Law Building 504 E. Pennsylvania Ave. Champaign, IL 61820 USA 217-333-7954 (phone) 217-244-1478 (fax) fboyle at law.uiuc.edu (personal comments only) -Original Message- From: Boyle, Francis Sent: Saturday, April 12, 2008 7:48 AM To: aalsmin-l at lists.ubalt.edu Subject: Torture Directed from White House Speaking to the WSWS, Francis Boyle, a professor of international law and human rights at the University of Illinois, said, "Clearly this was criminal activity at the time they committed it. At the very least, it violated the Geneva Conventions, the Convention Against Torture, the War Crimes Act, and the federal anti-torture statutes. Clearly these would be impeachable offenses." Boyle, who has campaigned for the impeachment and prosecution of administration officials, said that with the recent revelations, Rice should be added to the list of top officials guilty of war crimes. Asked why there have been no moves for impeachment, Boyle noted, "The Democrats have been complicit in pretty much everything the administration has done since September 11. They have continued to fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan since they assumed control of Congress in January 2007. It doesn't surprise me that they don't oppose torture." .. Far from being opposed within the political establishment, torture goes unpunished, the media presents the use of torture as a legitimate policy choice, and lawyers who argue for torture get leading positions at major universities. Such is the decay of democracy in the United States. Top Bush aides directed torture from the White House By Joe Kay 12 April 2008 Use this version to print | Send this link by email | Email the author Senior Bush administration officials, including Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, participated in White House meetings to discuss and approve specific methods of torture of detainees in the custody of US security forces, according to media reports. These reports are a further confirmation that those at the highest levels of the US government bear direct responsibility for war crimes committed over the past several years under the cover of Washington's "global war on terror." Citing unnamed sources, ABC News reported on Wednesday that the National Security Council's Principals Committee met in 2002 and 2003 to review the interrogation of several alleged Al Qaeda members held by the CIA. ABC reported, "The high-level discussions about these 'enhanced interrogation techniques' were so detailed, these sources said, some of these interrogation sessions were almost choreographed-down to the number of times CIA agents could use a specific tactic." Among the "enhanced interrogation techniques"-a euphemism for torture-was waterboarding, a notorious method that involves the near drowning of the prisoner. The Principals Committee at that time was chaired by then-National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice. It included Cheney, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Secretary of State Colin Powell, CIA Director George Tenet, and Attorney General John Ashcroft. According to ABC, the discussions began after the capture of Abu Zubaydah in the spring of 2002. Earlier this year, the Bush administration officially acknowledged that the CIA had used waterboarding on Zubaydah, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, and Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri. In December 2007, the administration also acknowledged that the CIA had destroyed videotapes depicting the interrogation of Zubaydah and al-Nashiri. It is quite possible that the Principals Committee or President Bush viewed these tapes in the course of supervising and approving the torture of these prisoners. In any case, the officials were involved in planning torture down to the intricate details, indicating an almost sadistic interest. According to an AP article published Friday, "At times, CIA officers would demonstrate some of the tactics, or at least detail how they worked, to make sure the small group of 'principals' fully understood what the al-Qaida detainees would undergo." ABC News reported that the CIA asked repeatedly for approval of specific interrogation plans. "Sources said that at each discussion, all the Principals present approved." Several measures taken by administration officials make it apparent that they were acutely aware that what they were approving violated international and domestic law. All of those participating could be subject to war crimes prosecution, in the US or in other countries. The AP reports, "The officials also took care to insulate President Bush" from the meetings. That is, there was an attempt to give the president plausible deniability in the event that the discussions were made public. Nonetheless, Bush defended the meetings and the torture decisions in an interview with ABC News Friday. "Well, we started to connect the dots, in order to protect the American people," he told ABC News White House correspondent Martha Rad
