[Deathpenalty] death penalty news-----TEXAS, CONN., ILL., MD.
Jan. 14 TEXAS: Nation's 1st execution of 2009 Wednesday in Texas Even a defense lawyer for convicted murderer Curtis Moore acknowledged the horrific nature of the 3 slayings that convinced a jury to send Moore to death row. Facts-wise, it was difficult because of the nature of how the killings happened and the fact the bodies were burned, George Gallagher recalled. You have an uphill battle. Moore, 40, was set for lethal injection Wednesday evening. His execution, the 1st of the year in the United States, would be the 1st of 6 scheduled for this month in Texas, the nation's most active death penalty state. Moore's appeals in the courts were exhausted. On Monday, the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles rejected a clemency request that cited his possible mental retardation as reason to spare him. Moore already made one trip to the Huntsville death house. In 2002, less than three hours before he was to receive lethal injection, the U.S. Supreme Court stopped his scheduled execution so claims from his attorneys that he was mentally retarded and ineligible for execution could be reviewed. In October, the high court refused his appeal, clearing the way for Wednesday's execution date to be set. Moore was condemned for a pair of shootings in November 1995 in Fort Worth. Roderick Moore, 24, who was not related to him, and LaTanya Boone, 21, both of Fort Worth, were found shot to death in a roadside ditch across from an elementary school. The same night, firefighters summoned to put out a car fire found Darrel Hoyle, 21, of Fort Worth, and Henry Truevillian Jr., 20, of Forest Hill, shot and burned. Truevillian was dead but Hoyle survived and helped lead police to the arrest of Moore and his nephew, Anthony Moore, then 17. The 3 men were abducted after agreeing to meet Curtis Moore and his nephew at a stable where Roderick Moore boarded and trained horses. Then Boone was abducted from the apartment she shared with Roderick Moore, her boyfriend. Testimony at Curtis Moore's trial showed the shootings culminated a drug ripoff, that he doused Hoyle and Truevillian with gasoline and ignited them as they were bound and in the trunk of a car parked in a deserted lot outside a Fort Worth bar. Hoyle regained consciousness 6 days after he was attacked and gave information that led authorities to Anthony Moore, known on the streets in Fort Worth as Kojak, and that Curtis Moore drove a pink truck. Curtis Moore was arrested about 2 weeks later, his hands and arms still showing burns suffered when authorities said he tried to keep Hoyle from fleeing the flames. Curtis was trying to push him back in the trunk, said Joetta Keene, who prosecuted Moore. Everybody got burned, including Curtis, Gallagher said. That was hard to get around. At the punishment phase, prosecutors were able to show jurors Moore's violent past. He had a huge criminal history, Keene said. He kept giving us more evidence. He stabbed a guy in jail. Moore's record showed convictions for theft, robbery, and weapon and drug possession. The record also showed he repeatedly was paroled, then returned to prison with parole violations. Moore blamed his nephew for the slayings and said he tried to rescue the victims from the burning car. But he acknowledged holding them at gunpoint, ordering them hogtied and stuffed into the trunk of the car. Anthony Moore pleaded guilty to 2 counts of murder under a plea agreement and is serving 2 life prison sentences. (source: Associated Press) Texas Death Penalty Machinery Set to High as Executions Resume14 Executions Scheduled Over the Next 4 Months The 1st U.S. execution of 2009 is scheduled to take place today in the state of Texas. Curtis Moore is set to be put to death for the 1996 murders of Roderick Moore, Latasha Boone, and Henry Truevillen in Tarrant County. Currently there are 14 executions scheduled to take place in Texas between now and April 7, including 6 in January alone. Among all other 35 death penalty states, only 10 executions have been scheduled for this same time period. The inmates with execution dates were convicted and sentenced to death in 8 different counties; 4 inmates were convicted in Tarrant County and 3 in Bexar County. Once again the State of Texas is quick out of the starting gate in the race to execute, said Kristin Houl, Executive Director of the Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty (TCADP). While other states are projected to carry out more executions than usual this year, none will even come close to overtaking Texas' status as the most active - and most notorious - death penalty state. In 2008, Texas accounted for just under 1/2 of the 37 executions that took place nationwide. Overall, it accounts for more than 1/3 of the 1,136 executions that have occurred in the United States since 1977. The accelerated pace of executions coincides with a time of increased public scrutiny and concern about the fairness and reliability of this ultimate
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----ALA., FLA., N.C., MISS., USA
Jan. 14 ALABAMA: Alabama is scheduled to put James Harvey Callahan to death this week James Harvey Callahan is scheduled to die Thursday. But courts have been asked to step in to spare Callahan from being put to death for the 1982 murder of Rebecca Suzanne Howell of Jacksonville. It's our view that governments ought not be in the business, period, of setting the timetable for killers like Callahan to go to their graves. We believe those who commit the worst offenses and pose the greatest threat to society should spend the rest of their days in prison, yes. But we believe the ultimate length of those inmates' sentences -- i.e., the length of their lives -- is something best left to their maker. The Callahan case is an example of so much of what is wrong with the alternative, not just for defendants but for victims and their families, too. We as humans are simply not capable of dispensing perfect judgment. Callahan has been tried, convicted and sentenced to death twice for Howell's murder. Execution dates have been set and stayed. If his execution proceeds this week, 27 years will have passed between crime and punishment. And still there are questions. Not about Callahan's guilt or innocence, to be sure. Defense lawyers' latest attempt to postpone the execution doesn't argue Callahan did not commit this crime. But it did raise intriguing questions that should be answered before Callahan is put to death. Before sitting in judgment at the trial, then-Calhoun County Circuit Judge Sam Monk showed up for part of Callahan's interrogation by police. Monk talked with Callahan about his constitutional rights; the judge told him he could talk with an attorney but he didn't have to. Callahan made incriminating statements during the interrogation. Monk later ruled they were admissible and rejected defense lawyers' efforts to get him not to preside at Callahan's trial. Prosecutors say Monk's actions have not been viewed as a problem by courts. Indeed, the Alabama Supreme Court refused Tuesday to block Callahan's execution. The case now heads to the U.S. Supreme Court. It's worth a look. Circuit judges don't routinely take part in police interrogations of the defendants who later appear before them. This is not to say Monk didn't have good intentions. More likely, his actions illustrate the problem with rendering justice in savage crimes that most outrage the community. These are the moments that demand the most restraint from police and prosecutors, but they are often the very cases that invite authorities to go the extra step -- and sometimes a step too far -- in pursuit of the perpetrator. What happened here suggests judges aren't immune to the temptation. Whether Callahan dies this week or not, his case again brings into focus the fundamental problem with our society inflicting a mortal punishment: We're mortals ourselves. (source: Editorial, Birmingham News) *** Montgomery foundation that defends death row inmates and juveniles hit by Madoff caseGroup that defends inmates won't get major donor's funds The Equal Justice Initiative, a Montgomery-based organization that defends Death Row inmates and juvenile offenders, says it will be harder to carry out its mission because one of its major donors has lost funds to Bernard Madoff's alleged Ponzi scheme. New York-based JEHT (Justice, Equality, Human dignity and Tolerance) Foundation was gutted by Madoff's New York-based operation, according to EJI. JEHT is a national philanthropic organization that provided funds for 25 % of EJI's budget. Madoff, 70, was arrested last month at his Manhattan apartment and charged with securities fraud for allegedly using billions of dollars from new investors to pay older ones. Madoff told authorities that investors may have lost $50 billion, prosecutors say. The funds of the donors to the Foundation, Jeanne Levy-Church and Kenneth Levy-Church, were managed by Bernard L. Madoff, JEHT president and CEO Robert Crane said in a statement on the foundation's Web site. EJI was expecting to get funds from JEHT last month to cover some of its 2008 operations, but JEHT has stopped making grants and will shut down at the end of this month. Much of its money went to efforts promoting criminal and juvenile justice reforms. The timing of this major loss of funding could not be worse, said EJI Director Bryan Stevenson in a statement on his organization's Web site. We're facing an unprecedented demand for help, our resources already were stretched thin, and we have no opportunity to recover the lost support. (source: Birmingham News) FLORIDA: Gassing mentally ill inmates is outA judge rules that it qualifies as cruel and unusual punishment. 2 mentally ill inmates suffered unconstitutional cruel and unusual punishment at the hands of Florida State Prison officials who disciplined them with pepper spray, tear gas and other chemical agents, a judge has ruled. But the same punishment was appropriate
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide
Jan. 14 IRAN: Iran Stones 2 Men to Death; 3rd FleesSentences Carried Out Despite Judicial Moratorium in 2002 2 men convicted of adultery in the northeastern city of Mashhad were stoned to death in December, but a 3rd convicted man escaped while the punishment was being carried out, a spokesman for Iran's judiciary said Tuesday. Ali Reza Jamshidi also said a moratorium on the controversial punishment, announced in 2002 by the head of the judiciary, Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi, was an advisory rather than an edict. Judges can't act based simply on advisories by the head of the judiciary, since judges are independent, he said, according to the semiofficial Iranian Students' News Agency. The European Union, the United Nations and human rights advocates inside and outside Iran have decried stoning, which is enshrined in the country's Islamic legal code as a punishment for homosexuality and adultery. Condemned men are buried in sand up to their waists, and women up to their necks, and are pelted with stones until they die or manage to escape. Under the law, a condemned person's life is spared if he can free himself. Shahroudi's 2002 comments had suggested Iran was moving away from the practice. Since then, however, 5 people have been stoned after local judges issued the sentence, human rights groups in Iran say. It is not known how many people were stoned before the moratorium was announced. Last August, the judiciary said that the lives of 4 people sentenced to stoning had been spared and that the implementation of other sentences had been halted pending a review of the cases. Ten people, including 8 women, are now awaiting stoning, according to human rights activists. There was a very clear promise that there would be no more stonings, said Asieh Amini, an independent journalist who specializes in human rights cases. Today, the spokesperson says that judges can act independently and that punishments were carried out since then. This shows that even the word of the highest judicial authorities don't carry any weight. Jamshidi, the spokesman, said the judiciary is awaiting passage of a new law in which some circumstances for the stoning punishment have been foreseen. He did not give a time frame. The bill does not call for the abolition of stoning, he said, but specifies that the punishment not be carried out if it insults the image of Islam. Amini said the proposed legislation would do nothing to prevent stoning, since it is unclear who would decide whether a particular sentence reflects badly on Islam. These stoning verdicts are an insult to Islam, anyway, Amini said. Jamshidi said the December stonings in Mashhad were carried out on two men who had been convicted of having relationships with married women. The third man managed to escape from the pit, he said, adding that the man had also been convicted of adultery. He gave no further information on the man's fate. On Monday, Shahroudi personally blocked the stoning of two married women, saying video footage of them having sex with 2 men other than their husbands was inconclusive, the Ettemaad newspaper, which is critical of the government, reported Tuesday. Iran's Supreme Court had earlier upheld the sentence. In his weekly news conference, the judicial spokesman also said that Esha Momeni, an Iranian American student at California State University at Northridge who was detained in October, will not be allowed to leave the country for at least another month, saying that a new issue has turned up in her case. He did not specify the issue. Momeni was arrested after conducting video interviews with activists for her master's thesis on women's rights. Authorities accused her of propagating against the system. She was released in November after paying $200,000 bail but was not allowed to leave Iran. (source: Washington Post) ** EU condemns Iran on recent stoning executions The European Union today denounced the execution by stoning of 2 men in Iran for adultery, and called on the Islamic Republic to end such executions. Irans Judiciary spokesperson, Alireza Jamshidi, today confirmed that 2 men had been stoned to death in the northeastern city of Mashhad in December. A 3rd man, identified as an Afghan national, had freed himself from the hole, thus sparing his life, according to custom, the official IRNA news agency reported. The European Union strongly condemns new cases of execution by stoning in the Islamic Republic of Iran, said a statement issued by the Czech Republic, the current head of the rotating EU presidency. The EU also called on Iranian authorities to investigate the issue, and ensure that the practice of execution by stoning is effectively and permanently terminated. Under Iran's Islamic law, adultery is punishable by stoning, despite a 2002 directive by Judiciary Chief Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi imposing a moratorium on the punishment. These most recent executions not only go
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, PENN.
Jan. 14 TEXASexecution Texan put to death in nation's 1st execution of '09The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles refused a clemency petition that said Curtis Moore could be mentally retarded and ineligible for the death penalty. A man convicted of murdering 3 people during a night of robberies more than 13 years ago in Fort Worth has been put to death in the nation's 1st execution of the year. Curtis Moore, 40, was pronounced dead at 6:21 p.m. on Wednesday, 8 minutes after the drugs began flowing in a lethal injection. He had exhausted his appeals in the courts, and the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles earlier this week refused a clemency petition that said he could be mentally retarded and ineligible for the death penalty. Courts earlier rejected similar mental retardation claims. In a brief, final statement, Moore thanked a woman who administers to the spiritual needs of death row inmates. I want to thank you for all the beautiful years of friendship and ministry, Moore told Irene Wilcox as she watched through a window a few feet from him. Moore never acknowledged a man who survived his attacks or 5 relatives of the 3 who died. He already made one trip to the Huntsville death house, in 2002, but was returned less than 3 hours before he could have received lethal injection when the U.S. Supreme Court agreed his mental retardation claims could be reviewed. In October 2008, the high court refused his appeal, clearing the way for Wednesday's punishment date. Moore was condemned for the fatal shootings of Roderick Moore, 24, who was not related to him, and LaTanya Boone, 21, both of Fort Worth. The 2 were found shot to death in a roadside ditch across from a Fort Worth elementary school in November 1995. That same night, firefighters summoned to put out a car fire found Darrel Hoyle, 21, of Fort Worth, and Henry Truevillian Jr., 20, of Forest Hill, shot and burned. Truevillian, robbed of $5, was dead. Hoyle, robbed of $150, survived and helped lead police to the arrest of Moore and his nephew, Anthony Moore, then 17. The 3 men were abducted after agreeing to meet Curtis Moore and his nephew at a stable where Roderick Moore boarded and trained horses. Boone was abducted from the apartment she shared with Roderick Moore, her boyfriend. Testimony at Curtis Moore's trial showed the shootings culminated a drug ripoff, that he doused Hoyle and Truevillian with gasoline and ignited them as they were bound and in the trunk of a car. Hoyle, who regained consciousness 6 days after he was attacked, gave information that led authorities to Moore's nephew, who also was known as Kojak. Hoyle also told authorities he didnt know the name of Kojak's partner but that he drove a pink truck. Curtis Moore had such a vehicle and he and his nephew were both arrested about 2 weeks later. Moore's hands and arms still showed burns he suffered when, authorities said, he tried to keep Hoyle from fleeing the flames. At the punishment phase, prosecutors showed jurors Moore's violent past, including prison time for theft, robbery and weapon and drug possession. Testimony showed he was responsible for a stabbing while in jail awaiting trial. He kept giving us more evidence, Joetta Keene, who prosecuted Moore, recalled. Moore blamed his nephew, who pleaded guilty to 2 counts of murder in exchange for 2 life prison terms, for the slayings and contended he tried to rescue the victims from the burning car. But he acknowledged holding them at gunpoint and ordering them hogtied and stuffed into the trunk of the car. Moore's trial lawyer, George Gallagher, said once jurors convicted Moore, there was little he could do to prevent them from deciding on the death penalty because Moore wouldn't allow him to put on an aggressive case during punishment. When he was found guilty, he said if they want to kill me, let them kill me, Gallagher, now a state district judge, said. He told us: Don't put on any mitigating stuff. He also didn't want family members put on the stand for him or any kind of psychiatric testimony that might be favorable to him. Moore is the 1st of 6 prisoners scheduled to die this month in Texas, the nation's most active death penalty state. Moore becomes the 1st condemned inmate to be put to death this year in Texas, and the 424th overall since the state resumed capital punishment on Dec. 7, 1982. Moore becomes the 185th condemned inmate to be put to death in Texas since Rick Perry became governor in 2001. Moore becomes the 1st condemned inmate to be put to death this year in the USA and the 1137th overall since the nation resumed executions on January 17, 1977. (sources: Associated Press Rick Halperin) PENNSYLVANIA: DA considers death penalty in fatal shooting outside restaurant District Attorney William Higgins said Wednesday that he is leaning toward seeking the death penalty for a man accused of shooting and killing his estranged wife in a McDonalds parking lot. Higgins said he
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide
Jan. 15 ALGERIA: Human right activists to Sheikh Chibane: Death penalty in Algeria meant to terrify political opponents The statements made by Sheikh Abderahmane Chibane, Head of Muslim Scholars Association, have raised the upset of several human rights activists who plead for abrogating death penalty from the penal system. Sheikh Chibane had accused them of infidelity to Islam, for they objected a Quaranic statement, namely Talion. Boudjemaa Ghachir, Head of the Algerian Human Rights League, told El Khabar, yesterday: the League is hurt by statements of Sheikh Chibane; we wish Chibane was a man of dialogue and persuasion, rather than a Takfiri man, because the latter is easier than persuading by arguments. In turn, Mustapha Bouchachi, Head of Algerian League for Human Rights Defence, said: the majority of crimes that law subjects death penalty on in Algeria are of political purpose. Therefore, death penalty is used to terrify political opponents. He further recalled the case of Colonel Chaabani who was executed in 1964, saying: If he had not been executed, he would have had given interesting testimonies. Bouchachi has displayed motives that urge for abrogating death sentence, including the non independence of judicial branch from the executive, and that the Algerian Justice does not acquire high tech means to conduct accurate investigate on crimes, thus the rate of making mistakes in terms of issuing death sentences is going to be high, yet it would be impossible to bring someone to life again. (source: El Khabar) PHILIPPINES: Death penalty backers warned: Be careful what you wish for Those calling for the revival of the death penalty in the wake of the Alabang Boys drug mess should be careful of what they wish for - they may end up at the receiving end, a Catholic bishop said. Lingayen-Dagupan archbishop Oscar Cruz said the death penalty may be a dangerous weapon especially when used together with weak law enforcement, dysfunctional justice and the great divide between rich and poor. Would that those advocating death penalty are very, very certain that they themselves would not be subjected thereto in the event that they are found - truly or falsely - guilty of heinous crimes in the course of time, he said in his web log. Several sectors called for the revival of the death penalty law in the wake of irregularities surrounding the Alabang Boys drug scandal. On the other hand, Cruz said those publicly and loudly advocating the revival of the death penalty appear to be seeking political mileage. With weak law enforcement agencies, a dysfunctional justice system plus the great divide between the powerful rich and the helpless poor before the law of the land, how on earth could death penalty be justified? While there are still some capable and upright law enforcement agents, while there are also certain competent and trustworthy members of the judiciary all of whom look and treat everybody as equal before the law these valuable public servants are not only relatively few but in fact still becoming fewer during the incumbency of a locally and internationally well acknowledged corrupt and corrupting national leadership, he said. On the other hand, he said criminals in uniform plus hoodlums in robe equal injustice, while power plus corruption equal injustice, and goons with guns plus gold equal injustice. This is why all kinds of prisons all over the land are filled with powerless and penniless individuals who are readily caught, ceremoniously tried and immediately convicted, he said. As usual, the well-known 'big fishes' much bigger criminals, more lawless characters and antisocial individuals are all together free to benefit from their gross misdeeds and enjoy life much. These basically unjust realities in the Country are definitely neither the rational nor decent premises of a death penalty, he said. Cruz said, a credible and effective law enforcement and dependable and trusted justice system is the winning combination that deters crimes. The truth of the matter is that human justice, no matter how strict and proper, nevertheless still remains fallible. And death penalty is so terminal that human life remains ended no matter how well a wrong judgment is subsequently corrected. That is why life imprisonment, no matter how long since inflicted and notwithstanding the prolonged difficulty thereto appended, is nevertheless subject to correction when proven unjustly imposed. How does one correct an execution once already done? he added. (source: GMA News) MEXICO: Mexico: Death Penalty Gaining Support The street peddler's face darkened when asked how the Mexican government should deal with the rash of kidnappings and drug slayings terrorizing the nation. They should catch the perpetrators and kill them, said Luis Bote, 21, as he served steaming tacos from a basket on his bicycle. Only if the criminals are afraid will these crimes ever stop. Bote isn't alone. Such
