[Deathpenalty] [SPAM] death penalty news----worldwide
Aug. 29 INDIA: Writers seek repeal of death penalty Several social activists, writers and intellectuals have urged the central government to scrap the death sentence from the Indian penal laws. Speaking to reporters here on Sunday, they recalled that more than 100 countries had abolished death sentence and India too signed a treaty of the United Nations against death penalty. Varavara Rao of Revolutionary Writers' Association opposed the death sentence awarded by a Ranchi court to poet and people's artiste Jiten Marandi and his associates Anil Ram, Manoj Rajwar and Chhatrapati Mandal. He said they were also opposing the death penalty to three accused in the Rajiv Gandhi murder case and Afzal Guru in the Parliament attack case. Film director and producer R Narayana Murthy termed the death sentence on Marandi as a brutal act. Sentencing singers and poets to death was like hanging democracy and those fighting for the rights of Adivasis, he said and appealed to the President to repeal Marandi's death sentence. The writers and intellectuals are organising a meeting at Sundarayya Vignana Kendram here on August 30 to register their protest against the death sentence on 4 artistes. Marandi's wife Aparna Marandi and others will address the gathering. Writers and singers Devi Priya, Yacoob, K Pratap Reddy, Dappu Ramesh, Telangana Journalists Forum leader Ramesh Hajari and others were present at the press conference. The Case of Jiten Marandi A sessions court in the state of Jharkhand stunned the nation by slapping a death sentence on Jiten Marandi, a very popular artiste and his three associates who were much loved and admired by people. Marandi was arrested in the case of the murder of Anup Marandi, the son of former chief minister Babulal Marandi. Maoists claimed responsibility for the murder and the police charge-sheeted some known Maoists. The name of one such person happened to be Jiten Marandi. This became handy to the police to implicate artiste Marandi to cover up their failure to apprehend the Maoist Marandi, writers and intellectuals explained to the media. The death sentence was pending before the Jharkhand High Court for confirmation. It is a shame on the part of our government which still wants to hand out the death sentence to eliminate those who oppose their unjust and undemocratic rule, when more than a hundred countries have done away with the death penalty. The death sentence on Jiten Marandi and his three associates is against the people of this country. We should raise our voice to abolish death sentence from Indian penal law, said Vara Vara Rao. (source: The New Indian Express) *** I don't have power to annul death penalty: CM 'I don't have any power to annul the death penalty of the trio, including Perarivalan, convicted in the assassination of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi after their mercy petitions were rejected by President Prathibha Patil', Tamilnadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa today said. She said that it was the then Chief Minister M Karunanidhi who rejected the mercy pleas of the trio. That he is now seeking action to halt the sentence exposes his double-standards. Making a statement under Rule 110, Jayalalithaa said, 'after the assasination of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi at Sriperumbudur on 21 May, 1991, the legal proceedings were conducted at the TADA Court in Poonamalle. A total of 26 persons convicted in the case were handed death sentence. But following an appeal by all the convicted, the Supreme Court confirmed death sentence for only four persons - Peraraivalan, Nalini, Santhan and Murugan. Jayalalithaa also pointed out that on 8 October, 1999, the review petitions of the four was dismissed by the apex court. 'On 17 October, 1999 they filed a mercy petition with Tamilnadu Governor who rejected it on 27 October, 1999. Meanwhile the Madras High Court isued a fresh order on 25 Novermber 1999 setting aside the Governor's decision and urged the State Cabinet to issue a fresh order on them', she said. Jayalalithaa further recalled that on 19 April 2000, the then Chief Minister Karunanidhi after a discussion with the Cabinet urged the court to accept Nalini's plea on compassionate grounds and reject the rest, thereby confirming their death sentence. On 21 April, 2000, the Governor gave nod to the Cabinet's decision and the death sentence for the trio was confirmed. 'At such a juncture, I am getting representations and letters from various quareters to halt the death sentence to the trio', Jayalalithaa said and added, 'Peraraivalan's mother and even Tamil Film Directors Association president Bharathiraja have written to me in this regard'. 'Interestingly even former Chief Minister M Karunanidhi has urged me to save the three from being hanged. At this outset, I wish to clarify that it was Karunanidhi who had confirmed their death
[Deathpenalty] [POSSIBLE SPAM] death penalty news----TEXAS, GA., KAN., CALIF.
Aug. 29 TEXAS: Roundtable to discuss Death Row minority defendants -- Roundtable to discuss Death Row minority defendants A panel of scholars and legal experts will discuss the impact of the death penalty, particularly on minority defendants at a roundtable to be held 6-8 p.m. at the University of St. Thomas in the Jerabeck Center’s Scanlan Room, 3800 Montrose Blvd. Topics to be addressed include capital punishment, disregard of Geneva Conventions and other accords concerning consulates and detained nationals. Panelists include: Ricardo Ampudia, a journalist, former Mexican Consul General of Houston and author of “Mexicans on Death Row,” which explores the history and ethics of capital punishment and how it affects the sentencing of Mexicans in the U.S. Scott J. Atlas, a former litigation partner with Vinson Elkins, who led the legal team that won the release of Ricardo Aldape Guerra, an undocumented worker who spent 14 years on Texas’ death row. He was the first Mexican National ever released from Texas’ death row. Nicole Casarez, attorney and UST professor, who teaches journalism, media law, public relations and media ethics. Casarez’s affiliation with the Texas Innocence Network has led to investigative work on several capital and non-capital cases, including that of Texas death row inmate Anthony Graves. David R. Dow, founder of the Texas Innocence Network, author of “The Autobiography of an Execution.” The event is free and open to the public, and is followed by a book-signing by Ampudia. (source: yourhoustonnews.com) GEORGIA: Arraignment of Jamie Hood postponed A Clarke County Superior Court judge postponed this morning’s scheduled arraignment of accused cop-killer Jamie Hood. Hood was supposed to have appeared before Judge H. Patrick Haggard to plead guilty or not guilty to a 70-count indictment that accuses him of murdering Athens-Clarke Senior Police Officer Elmer “Buddy” Christian in March and shooting to death another man, Kenneth Omari Wray, in December. Haggard put the arraignment on hold indefinitely after District Attorney Ken Mauldin on Friday filed notice of intent to seek the death penalty for Hood. With the death penalty now in play, the court must follow what’s called Unified Appeal Procedure — a system that sets the order in which trial judges schedules pretrial hearings before arraignment. The process fast-tracks pretrial appeals to the state Supreme Court, such as challenges to the makeup of the jury pool or arguments to suppress evidence. A Clarke County grand jury indicted Hood in June, signing off on a long list of charges, including murder, armed robbery, carjacking and kidnapping. An arraignment like the one scheduled for this morning gives a defendant a chance to hear the charges against him, but most waive that option. (source: Athens Banner-Herald) KANSASnew death sentence Kansas jury recommends death for Kahler An Osage County District Court jury has recommended the death penalty for Kraig Kahler in the slayings of 4 family members. The jury agreed with an assistant attorney general, who on Monday urged them to impose the death penalty, saying each of the 4 slaying victims died in anguish. Kahler’s wife, 2 daughters and his wife’s grandmother “all died with an awareness that gave them the torture of slow death,” said Amy Hanley, the assistant attorney general. They died with the awareness Kahler was armed with a gun, shooting at them and that he intended to kill each, Hanley told the jury. “This is the proper case,” Hanley said, to impose the death penalty, pointing to 2 aggravating circumstances she said justified the death penalty. More than 1 person was killed, and the 4 victims were murdered in a “heinous, atrocious or cruel manner,” she said. “He murdered them all, one-by-one,” she said. The jury began deliberations at 2:30 p.m. on whether to recommend the death penalty or life in prison without parole. On Friday, an Osage County District Court jury convicted Kahler of capital murder, 4 counts of 1st degree murder and 1 count of aggravated burglary, all tied to the Nov. 28, 2009, rampage in a Burlingame home. Kraig Kahler is former director of the Columbia Water and Light Department. Before deliberations Monday, defense attorney Amanda Vogelsberg read 2 notes to jurors from Kahler’s 12-year-old son. “I do not want my dad to receive the death penalty because it would be hard on my grandparents,” the 1st note said. The 2nd note said, “I do not want my whole family gone.” Defense attorney Tom Haney told jurors there were 12 mitigating circumstances that outweigh the aggravating circumstances. Kahler had no criminal history, he was operating under extreme mental and emotional stress, and he had a severe mental illness that impaired his ability to think and control his actions, Haney said. Haney also noted the statement by Kahler’s son, the lone
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide
Aug. 29 UNITED KINGDOM: Privy Council rejected argment death penalty was unconstitutional in 1995 Amid an escalating murder rate, the 2006 Privy Council decision that eliminated the mandatory death penalty for murder convicts has been the subject of much debate. However, few can recall that the Privy Council in 1995 rejected the argument that the mandatory death penalty was unconstitutional. In 2008, Dame Joan Sawyer commented on the effect of the 2006 decision. She said, As far as society was concerned the conviction was valid. We now have to come back to these cases more than 10 years after the Privy Council declared the mandatory death penalty constitutional in Larry Raymond Jones. The system cannot withstnd these vicissitudes. Jones, who was convicted of a drug-related hit, was released from prison in 2007 during a re-sentencing hearing which was held in the Supreme Court to comply with the Privy Council's current position on capital punishment. He was among 10 convicts released on re-sentencing because the 2006 landmark decision invalidated their death sentences. The consolidated appeals of Larry Raymond Jones, Peter Meadows, Anthony Neely, Jeremiah Poitier, Arnold Heastie and Nekita Hamilton against the constitutional validity of the mandatory death sentence led to a decision by authorities to suspend hangings pending a determination on the issue. The proceedings began on June 21, 1989, but the Privy Council did not make its final judgment until April 3, 1995. In the 1995 case, lawyers for the appellants based their argument on the wording of section 312 of the Penal Code. They submitted that the words liable to suffer death imported a discretion in the judge to pass some lesser sentence. The Court said that it was inconceivable that such a radical change in the law as the abolition of the death penalty for murder would have been enacted by something other than clear and express words rather than the ambiguous terms of section 312. In its 2006 decision, a differently constituted court that heard the appeals of Trono Davis and Forrester Bowe Jr. found that the mandatory death penalty was considered cruel and inhuman punishment since 1973. The court found that the mandatory death penalty fettered the judge's discretion to consider the convicts' personal circumstances and the facts of their crimes. (source: The Nassau Guardian) INDIA: Spare my son, don't hang him, pleads father As politics builds up around the three men sentenced to death in the assasination of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi in 1991, all that the septugenarian father of one of those on the death row can do is to plead for mercy. 70-year-old Gnanasekharan, father of A.G. Perarivalan alias Arivy, is literally running from pillar to post in an effort to somehow avert the Sep 9 execution and save his son's life. It is a situation that even an enemy should not be in, Gnanasekharan told IANS in a phone interview. We are counting days of my son's life here and just cannot bear the thought of a noose around his neck. His throat turns lumpy with grief. He was in no way part of the conspiracy to kill Rajiv Gandhi and does not deserve a death penalty, Gnanasekharan said. Perarivalan, Murugan alias Sriharan and T. Suthendraraja alias Santhan are from Chennai, and after President Pratibha Patil turned down their mercy petitions are to be hanged to death on Sep 9 in the jail at Vellore. He was 19 when arrested and now he is 37, Gnanasekharan said. Even though he has been in jail all these years, we are happy that he is at least alive. But now we really do not know what to do. He was confident of help from Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa. Our biggest hope was shattered when she said she had no power to alter sentence, now that the president has rejected the mercy petition, he said. If President K.R. Nayaranan could commute the sentence of Nalini, the first accused, why could the (present) president not do the same for my son, the 18th accused? he asked. A few years ago, the death sentence of Nalini was commuted to life imprisonment at the instance of Gandhi's widow and Congress president Sonia Gandhi. According to the charge sheet, Perarivalan's role in the assassination was helping another accused, Sivarjan, by purchasing two battery cells for the human bomb Dhanu who killed Gandhi. A woman suicide bomber blew up herself and Gandhi, who was the prime minister of India from 1984 to 1989, at an election rally in Sriperumbudur near Chennai May 21, 1991. On Aug 11, President Pratibha Patil rejected the mercy petitions of the three men linked to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), which ordered Gandhi's killing. In 1998, all 26 accused in the case - including the three - were sentenced to death by a special trial court. I met him 15 days ago and even then he was confident he will be free at some point, Gnanasekharan said
