[Deathpenalty] [POSSIBLE SPAM] death penalty news----TEXAS
Feb. 29 TEXASexecution Leader of 'Texas 7' prison-break gang put to death The leader of the fugitive gang known as the "Texas 7" was executed Wednesday for killing a suburban Dallas police officer during a robbery 11 years ago after organizing and pulling off Texas' biggest prison break. George Rivas, 41, from El Paso, received lethal injection for gunning down Aubrey Hawkins, a 29-year-old Irving police officer who interrupted the gang's holdup of a sporting goods store on Christmas Eve in 2000. The seven inmates had fled a South Texas prison about two weeks earlier. The gang was caught in Colorado about a month after the officer's death. One committed suicide rather than be arrested. Rivas and 5 others with lengthy sentences who bolted with him were returned to Texas where they separately were convicted of capital murder and sentenced to die. Rivas became the 2nd of the group executed. "I do apologize for everything that happened. Not because I'm here, but for closure in your hearts," Rivas said Wednesday evening in a statement intended for Hawkins' family. "I really do believe you deserve that." The slain officer's relatives were absent, but 4 officers who worked with him and the district attorney who prosecuted the case attended on his family's behalf. They stood in the death chamber watching through a window just a few feet from Rivas. The inmate thanked his friends who were watching through another window and said he loved them. A Canadian woman whom Rivas recently married by proxy, also looked on. "I am grateful for everything in my life," Rivas said. "To my wife, I will be waiting for you." 10 minutes later, at 6:22 p.m., he was pronounced dead. More than 2 dozen police officers in uniforms stood quietly in a line outside the Huntsville prison during the execution, then walked in unison to stand behind the state criminal justice spokesman as he announced Rivas' death. Texas' parole board voted 7-0 this week to reject a clemency petition for Rivas. No 11th-hour appeals were made to try to head off the execution, the 2nd this year in the nation's most active death penalty state. Rivas and accomplices he handpicked for the escape broke out of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice Connally Unit, about an hour south of San Antonio, on Dec. 13, 2000. They overpowered workers, stole their clothes, broke into the prison armory for weapons and drove off in a prison truck. They left behind an ominous note: "You haven't heard the last of us yet." While out of prison, they supported themselves by committing robberies. Hawkins was shot 11 times and run over with a stolen SUV driven by Rivas as the gang held up a sporting goods store closing on the holiday eve. They drove off with loot that included $70,000 in cash, 44 firearms and ammunition for the guns. They were arrested a month later in Colorado, ending a six-week nationwide manhunt. One of the fugitives, Larry Harper, committed suicide as officers closed in. In 2008, accomplice Michael Rodriguez, 45, who at the time of the breakout had a life term for arranging the slaying of his wife, ordered his appeals dropped and was executed. The 4 others remain on death row awaiting the outcome of court appeals. "Today is not about George Rivas," said Toby Shook, the former Dallas County assistant district attorney who prosecuted Rivas and the others for Hawkins' death. "Today is about justice for Aubrey Hawkins and Aubrey's fellow police officers." Rivas planned the escape while serving 17 life sentences for aggravated kidnapping and aggravated robbery and another life sentence for burglary. One of his trial lawyers, Wayne Huff, has said Rivas picked accomplices for the breakout "who probably were more dangerous than he was" and failed to consider they might get caught doing robberies. "When that cop pulled up, no one knew what to do," Huff said, calling the officer's slaying "just a tragic situation." Rivas and 2 other members of the fugitive gang were arrested at a convenience store near a trailer park in Woodland Park, Colo. 2 others were in a motor home at the trailer park, where Harper shot himself to death. The last 2 were apprehended at a motel in Colorado Springs, Colo. The men had told the people who ran the RV park they were Christian missionaries from Texas, but a neighbor recognized them as the case was profiled on the "America's Most Wanted" TV show and called police. The 4 "Texas 7" members still awaiting execution are Patrick Murphy Jr. 49; Joseph Garcia, 40; Randy Halprin, 34; and Donald Newbury, 49. Newbury was set for injection in early February but was spared, at least temporarily, by a U.S. Supreme Court order. Rivas becomes the 2nd condemned inmate to be put to death this year in Texas and the 479th overall since the state resumed capital punishment on December 7, 1982. Rivas becomes the 240th condemned inmate to be put to death since R
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----OHIO, MO., VA., CALIF., ALA.
Mar. 1 OHIO: Joseph Thomas Still Facing Death Sentence Judge Richard Collins denies the defendant's motions to dismiss the death sentence as a possible punishment Lake County Common Pleas Judge has denied all of murder suspect Joseph Thomas's motions to dismiss the death sentence as a possible punishment if he is convicted. Thomas, 27, is accused of raping and murdering bartender Annie McSween. His trial is scheduled to begin Sept. 5. Thomas's attorneys filed several motions in January, asking the judge to dismiss the death sentence. They claimed Thomas should not face the death sentence because the grand jury -- who decides if a defendant could potentially face death if convicted -- doesn't listen to mitigating evidence from the defendant. Collins disagreed with Thomas. He said having the grand jury consider mitigating evidence would change the way its operated historically. "The grand jury, moreover, is in the business of finding probably cause, not assessing possible defenses," Collins wrote in his decision. Thomas also claimed the death penalty was unconstitutional for several other reasons, including: •prosecutors can decide whether or not they want to pursue the death penalty •it is racially discriminatory •it is unconstitutionally vague •it violates the mandate against cruel and unusual punishment •it violates international laws and treaties. Collins disagreed with all of these arguments. He said the Ohio Supreme Court had already ruled that the death penalty didn't violate any international treaties and the U.S. Supreme Court said it wasn't cruel and unusual punishment. In reference to Thomas's claim that the death penalty discriminates against certain races, Collins noted that Thomas didn't say he was being unfairly discriminated against. "A capital defendant cannot evade a death sentence merely by demonstrating the statistical disparity of capital defendants or victims of a particular race," Collins said. Thomas is accused of killing Annie McSween, who lived in Mentor. McSween, 49 was found murdered Nov. 26, 2010, near Mario's Lakeway Lounge on Andrews Road. McSween had tended bar at Lakeway Lounge the night she was murdered. She closed the bar, but never made it home. Her body was found behind the house at 5612 Andrews Road, next to the bar, at 8:39 a.m. She had been beaten, strangled and repeatedly stabbed, Lake County Deputy Coroner Dr. Mark Komar said. She likely bled to death. (source: Mentor Patch) MISSOURI: Study says Mo death penalty too broad Missouri has too many reasons for which prosecutors can pursue the death penalty against murder suspects and needs to do a better job of preserving forensic evidence such as DNA samples, according to a report being released Thursday. The report is the result of a 1-year study sponsored by the American Bar Association that was conducted by a panel of law professors, private-sector attorneys and federal judges who had been nominated to the bench by Republican and Democratic presidents. The Associated Press obtained a copy of the report before it was to be publicly released later Thursday at a Capitol news conference. The study notes that Missouri has 17 "aggravating circumstances" that give prosecutors wide discretion by which they can argue to jurors that someone should be sentenced to death. One justification, for example, is that the murder was "wantonly vile." The result is that the circumstances "are so broadly drafted as to qualify virtually any intentional homicide as a death penalty case," the report says. The report recommends narrowing the law so that only the most serious murder cases are eligible for the death penalty. It also says Missouri should do a better job of preserving "biological evidence" in death penalty cases for as long as the inmate remains behind bars. In some cases, biological evidence that does not lead to a conviction has been destroyed, leaving the inmate with little opportunity to pursue new tests if technology advances. The report is not entirely critical of Missouri's death penalty system. It praises the state in at least five areas, including for maintaining what it describes as an independent judiciary. Judges on Missouri's appellate courts and urban trial courts are appointed by the governor after being nominated by special panels while circuit judges in other areas run under partisan labels. Missouri is the 10th state for which the American Bar Association has released an analysis of its death penalty system, and additional studies are ongoing in Texas and Virginia. Although Missouri has curtailed the number of executions carried out in recent years, it ranks fifth nationally in executions since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated capital punishment in 1976. (source: Associated Press) VIRGINIAfederal death penalty to be sought) Feds seek death penalty against Zion murder suspectEx-Mar
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide
March 1 INDONESIA: Hundreds of Indonesians Face Death Row, Serious Sentences Abroad More than 200 Indonesian citizens are currently facing the death penalty or other heavy sentences overseas, government officials said on Thursday. They are sitting in jails across Asia, from Malaysia to Iran. According to a count by the government-sanctioned task force on migrant worker protection, better known as Satgas TKI, 149 Indonesian citizens are facing serious sentences in Malaysia, while 37 migrants face similar threats in Saudi Arabia. 14 others are sitting on death row in China, and one each in Brunei, Singapore and Iran. The most serious cases lie in Saudi Arabia, where 3 migrant workers — Tuti Tursilawati, Siti Zaenab and Satina — are each facing "a critical situation," task force spokesman Humphrey Djemat said in the statement. One of those workers, a woman named Tuti from the West Java town of Majalengka, was sentenced to death after killing her employer during a struggle where he was allegedly trying to rape her, Humphrey said. The task force, with the help of former Indonesian president BJ Habibie, have made appeals for clemency. Tuti's case is currently under review. "The review is expected to last three months," Humphrey said. "In the meantime, Satgas TKI and the Embassy of Indonesia in Riyadh are trying to make a peaceful settlement with the victim's family." Under Saudi law, a convict can be released from death row if they are pardoned by the victim's family. Satgas TKI claims to have helped 49 Indonesians escape death row in the 6 months since the task force was formed. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has extended the task force's term for another 6 months. (source: Jakarta Globe) * Firing squad fear for Australian drug accused A VICTORIAN man could face the death penalty after allegedly being caught carrying dozens of drug-filled capsules in his stomach in Bali. Authorities expect that Ballarat-born Edward Norman Myatt, 54, will be hit with serious charges after allegedly being caught with the capsules at Denpasar's Ngurah Rai Airport. Mr Myatt last night was in custody in the Indonesian city, where a succession of Australians have ignored warnings about drug smuggling and found themselves in dire trouble. Serious drug offenders can face the death penalty by firing squad. Authorities said Mr Myatt was arrested after landing in Bali on a flight from the Thai capital of Bangkok. He was ushered from Tuesday's flight into a secure area for a preliminary examination before being taken to hospital. A grim-faced Mr Myatt was later led by investigators to a police station. Indonesian police sources said he was allegedly carrying a large quantity of drugs on his body, concealed inside tiny capsules. Mr Myatt is alleged to have swallowed some of the capsules. Police were yesterday still waiting for Mr Myatt to pass remaining capsules. The contents of the capsules are expected to be analysed in coming days. It is not clear why he had come under the scrutiny that led to police checks. Mr Myatt had not been charged late last night. A Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade spokeswoman said consular officials were seeking approval to offer assistance to Mr Myatt. "Indonesian authorities detained a 54-year-old Victorian man at Denpasar Airport on 28 February and expect to charge him with drug offences," the spokeswoman said. "Consular officials in Bali are seeking access in order to offer consular assistance to the man." Mr Myatt is the latest in a long list of Australians picked up on drug smuggling allegations at Ngurah Rai Airport in recent years. Among those arrested since 2005 have been the Bali 9, cannabis mule Schapelle Corby and a NSW teenager charged last year and since released. Melbourne lawyer Julian McMahon, who represents Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, of the Bali 9, said the early stages after being arrested were important in Bali. "He'll need legal representation and he'll need to be very sensible in how he conducts himself. They (local police) regard the way you conduct yourself as important," he said. If charged, it is unclear whether Mr Myatt would be taken to the notorious Kerobokan jail because of recent rioting by inmates. (source: News.com.au) * Opposition to Indonesian executions must be colourblind David McRae The execution of the three Bali bombers in 2008 was a low point in Australia's opposition to the death penalty. Both the Howard and Rudd governments expressed their support for the executions, undermining Australia's commitment to abolition. As another member of the Bali bombing plot, Umar Patek, stands trial in Jakarta, it is essential that the government not repeat this mistake. To do so would further compromise Australia's ability to raise the issue of the death penalty with Indonesia, just as our key regional n
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, MO.
March 1 TEXASnew execution date Steven Staley has been given a May 16 execution date; it should be considered serious. (sources: TDCJ & Rick Halperin) MISSOURI: ABA report: Missouri death penalty procedures rife with problems An American Bar Association analysis of Missouri’s death penalty procedures finds much room for improvement. The report, to be formally announced today, faults the state for: * not holding on to DNA evidence for as long as a person is incarcerated; * not having clear requirements for recording depositions; * not providing two attorneys and an investigator for defendants in death-penalty cases and appeals; * not paying public defenders in capital cases fairly; * not tracking racial statistics in death-penalty cases; * and requiring that a defendant’s mental disability be documented — as opposed to just manifested — before they reach 18. The report, “Evaluating Fairness and Accuracy in State Death Penalty Systems: The Missouri Death Penalty Assessment Report,” (view PDF of report) was conducted by a team of 8 Missouri law professors, attorneys and judges with varying views on the death penalty. It looked at a dozen key areas that affect who is executed by the state and how fairly such punishment is meted out. “The ABA doesn’t take a position on the death penalty itself but calls for states to impose a moratorium if certain problems have not been corrected,” said Virginia Sloan, chair of the ABA Death Penalty Moratorium Project. The Missouri report is part of a second wave of such reports that have looked at the death penalty in Alabama, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Tennessee since 2003. Funding for all the reports came from the European Union, which strongly opposes the death penalty. The report said the state’s “areas of strength” were its accreditation of crime labs, provision of defense services, trial instructions to jurors in capital cases, the independence of its judiciary and its treatment of “mentally retarded” offenders. Reform, however, was called for in six areas: aggravating circumstances, at the pretrial stage, at the trial stage, at the post-trial stage, data collection and funding issues. It says that the state allows too broad of a range of aggravating circumstances to result in a penalty of death. Legislation in Missouri was introduced at the beginning of this year by Rep. Mike Colona, D-St. Louis, to hold off on executions in Missouri until a statewide report can be completed. Look for a more in-depth story in the March 5 issue of Missouri Lawyers Weekly. (source: Missouri Lawyers Media) ___ DeathPenalty mailing list DeathPenalty@lists.washlaw.edu http://lists.washlaw.edu/mailman/listinfo/deathpenalty Search the Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/deathpenalty@lists.washlaw.edu/ ~~~ A free service of WashLaw http://washlaw.edu (785)670.1088 ~~~
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----MISS., ARK., CALIF., FLA., OHIO, KY., MO.
March 1 MISSISSIPPI2 new and impending execution dates Miss. high court sets execution dates for 2 The Mississippi Supreme Court has set execution dates for death row inmates Larry Matthew Puckett and William Gerald Mitchell. The court Thursday set an execution date of March 20 for Puckett and March 22 for Mitchell. Both men had appeals to the U.S. Supreme Court turned down in February. Attorney General Jim Hood said both men are now out of appeals. The executions will be at 6 p.m. at the state penitentiary at Parchman. Mississippi executions are by lethal injection. Puckett was convicted and sentenced to death in 1996 for the sexual assault and beating death of a woman in her Forrest County home. Puckett was convicted in the 1995 death of Rhonda Griffis, 28, of the Sunrise community. Authorities said Griffis died from blows to the head. Mitchell was sentenced to death in 1998 in Harrison County for the killing of Patty Milliken, a 38-year-old store clerk, on the night of Nov. 21, 1995. Authorities said Mitchell took Milliken from the store where she worked, brought her under the north end of the Popp's Ferry Road bridge and killed her by beating her and driving his car over the top half of her body. The Supreme Court on Thursday rejected Mitchell's post-conviction petition. Mitchell had sought a mental evaluation. The justices said the issue of Mitchell's mental retardation had been rejected by several courts. (source: Associated Press) ** Death row inmate wins right to pursue post-conviction claim in Lee County The Mississippi Supreme Court will allow a death row inmate to go back to Lee County Circuit Court to argue his lawyers failed to do a good job at his trial. William Wilson cited 6 issues in a post-conviction petition filed with the Supreme Court. On Thursday, the Supreme Court said Wilson could present evidence that his attorneys didn't do a good job and that he didn't understand what he was doing when he agreed to let the judge decide his punishment at trial rather than a jury. Wilson pleaded guilty in the death of 2-year-old Mallory Conlee and was sentenced to death in 2007 in Lee County. He also received 20 years for felonious child abuse. (source: Associated Press) ARKANSAS: Court upholds death sentence in Fort Smith case The Arkansas Supreme Court has upheld the conviction and death sentence of a man who crashed into his estranged wife's car at a busy Fort Smith intersection then fatally stabbed her. Thomas Springs had argued that he had ineffectual legal counsel in his 2005 trial when he was convicted of capital murder in the death of Christina Springs. Thomas Springs argued that his lawyer should have called his son to testify during the sentencing portion of the trial. But the Arkansas Supreme Court noted Thursday that Springs' lawyers called 14 other witnesses who provided positive testimony about Springs' character, work ethic and love for his children. The court says the son's testimony likely wouldn't have changed the jury's decision to sentence Springs to death. (source: Associated Press) CALIFORNIA: End death penalty measure likely to be on November ballot California voters will have their 1st opportunity in more than 3 decades to consider whether to keep the death penalty. During news conferences Thursday in San Francisco and 3 other cities across the state, backers of a proposed ballot initiative to abolish the death penalty announced they had more than enough signatures to put the explosive question on the November ballot. More than 800,000 signatures were gathered, 300,000 more than required. The SAFE California Act would scrap capital punishment and replace it with life in prison without the possibility of parole. If approved, the law would convert the death sentences of the state's 720 death row inmates to life in prison terms and eliminate the death penalty option in murder cases. Death penalty opponents are pushing the measure as a way to save the state as much as $180 million per year, arguing that capital punishment has become an expensive waste of money at a time when California is slashing spending on everything from schools to public safety. Jeanne Woodford, former chief of the state prison system and San Quentin warden, is leading the campaign, calling the death penalty no more than a "symbolic gesture." "(This) will put an end to its intolerable risk and exorbitant cost," she said at the news conference. Former Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge LaDoris Cordell announced achieving the signature goal Thursday and insisted the state's voters will be ready to abandon the death penalty. Other key figures have raised questions about the 1978 death penalty law in recent months, from state Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye to Don Heller, a former prosecutor who helped craft the 1978 law. Death penalty opponents are banking on argume
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide
March 1 GAZA: Death penalty stands for convicted killer in Gaza A court in the Gaza Strip has refused an appeal to a convicted killer's death penalty, handed down in 2010. "M.A.", the defendant, is was sentenced in 2010 in Khan Younis for murder, kidnapping, rape and possession of a deadly weapon. A court of appeals upheld the sentence in November 2011, officials said. Abdul Raouf al-Halabi, the head of the high court in Gaza, said the penalty is no longer subject to appeal. The number of death sentences issued by the Palestinian Authority has risen to 124 sentences since 1994, of which 25 have been issued in the West Bank and 99 in Gaza, the Palestinian Center for Human Rights says. Of those issued in the Gaza Strip, 38 sentences have been issued since 2007. The group has called for an immediate moratorium on the use of the death penalty as a form of punishment as it constitutes a violation of international human rights laws and standards. (source: Ma'an News Agency) ___ DeathPenalty mailing list DeathPenalty@lists.washlaw.edu http://lists.washlaw.edu/mailman/listinfo/deathpenalty Search the Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/deathpenalty@lists.washlaw.edu/ ~~~ A free service of WashLaw http://washlaw.edu (785)670.1088 ~~~
