[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, CONN., GA., OKLA., NEV., WASH., USA
Sept. 16 TEXAS: Plastic surgeon accused of hiring hitman could face death penalty Thomas Michael Dixon, a successful Amarillo plastic surgeon and businessman, now waits alone for the justice system to hone in on his accused role in the death of a popular Lubbock physician 14 months ago. Dixon is accused of paying David Neal Shepard about $9,000 to kill Joseph Sonnier III in July 2012 out of jealousy that his former girlfriend was dating the Lubbock pathologist. Matt Powell, Lubbock County's criminal district attorney, has filed notice his office intends to seek the death penalty, should Dixon go to trial. No trial date has been set, however, and prosecutors have 3 murder trials - 1 a death penalty case - tentatively scheduled between now and year's end in Lubbock County District Courts. A pretrial conference in the case is tentatively set for Oct. 4. Shepard is scheduled to be sentenced today after pleading guilty Aug. 29 to fatally shooting and stabbing Sonnier in the doctor's Lubbock home on July 10, 2012. Dixon faces 2 counts of capital murder - participating in a murder for hire and a murder that occurred during the commission of another felony, burglary of a habitation. He has been in jail the last 14 months with bail set at $10 million. A Lubbock police affidavit used to obtain arrest warrants for Dixon and Shepard states the 2 Amarillo men were business associates, but offers no other details. Shepard's roommate, whose information apparently gave detectives the last pieces of the puzzle, said Shepard told him Dixon gave him the gun he used to shoot Shepard. In addition, the roommate said, Shepard tried to commit suicide a couple of days after the murder by slashing his wrists. Dixon sewed up Shepard's wound, however, and told him to get away from the area for a while. Earlier this year, Dixon's attorneys filed a request asking prosecutors to speed up the discovery process - the portion of the pre-trial period in which the defense is given access to the prosecution's evidence and witness statements - after police divers searched a lake in Amarillo and retrieved what was thought to be evidence in the case. (source: Avalanche-Journal) CONNECTICUT: Death penalty phase begins in Conn. triple murder Jury selection is beginning in the death penalty trial of a Connecticut man who fatally shot 2 adults and a 9-year-old girl in 2006. The penalty phase of 48-year-old Richard Roszkowski's trial is set to start Monday in state Superior Court in Bridgeport. Roszkowski was convicted and sentenced to death in 2009. A judge overturned the death sentence because of an error during jury instructions and ordered a new penalty phase. Roszkowski killed 39-year-old ex-girlfriend Holly Flannery, her 9-year-old daughter Kylie and 38-year-old Thomas Gaudet in Bridgeport. Authorities say Roszkowski wrongly believed Flannery was having an affair with Gaudet. Roszkowski's lawyers objected to a new penalty phase. The state Supreme Court is deciding whether the state's repeal of the death penalty last year for future murders only is constitutional. (source: Associated Press) GEORGIA: Georgia Death Penalty An Atlanta-based advocacy group, All About Developmental Disabilities, is launching a campaign aimed at changing part of Georgia's death penalty law. The group says Georgia requires a person to prove intellectual disability beyond a reasonable doubt to avoid a death sentence. The group says Georgia is the only state that requires proof at that level. Most states that impose the death penalty have a lower threshold for defendants to prove they are mentally disabled, and some states don't set standards at all. All About Developmental Disabilities says it plans to distribute thousands of buttons, hold informal gatherings with legislators, and use social media in a campaign that will run through Oct. 15. The organization provides support services, advocacy and training to families living with developmental disabilities. (source: Associated Press) * Jury qualification to begin in small town massacre case Prosecutors and defense attorneys for Guy Heinze Jr. are scheduled to start questioning prospective jurors Monday. Attorneys could take a full month to pick a jury to hear the death penalty trial of a coastal Georgia man charged with killing his father and 7 others in a mobile home 4 years ago. Prospective jurors will be questioned about their opinions on the death penalty and their exposure to pretrial media coverage of the slayings. Final jury selection and the murder trial itself won't take place until Oct. 15. Heinze has pleaded not guilty in the August 2009 slayings at the Brunswick mobile home he shared with the victims. (source: actionnewsjax.com) OKLAHOMA: Speeding up capital appeals The U.S. capital appeals process is a broken and costly system that keeps both the families
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide
Sept. 16 PAKISTAN: British baby marks 1 year of life in Pakistani prison The baby daughter of a British mother potentially facing the death penalty in Pakistan is marking her 1st birthday in prison Sunday. Malaika, the daughter of Khadija Shah (26, from Birmingham), was born one year ago, while her mother awaited trial in Islamabad on drugs charges. Although Khadija was briefly allowed out of prison to give birth, she was returned to Adiala Jail shortly after, where she and Malaika have remained ever since. Khadija is one of a large number of people potentially facing the death penalty in Pakistan on drugs charges - a situation which the UK supports, through the provision of aid to Pakistan's counter-narcotics programmes. The British Government has donated millions of pounds worth of aid to Pakistan's Anti Narcotics Force via the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), as well as bilaterally. However, ministers have failed to take the steps necessary to ensure that this aid does not effectively support the hanging of large numbers of people convicted of non-violent drugs offences. Khadija's trial is ongoing. There remain concerns for the health of Malaika, as conditions in Adiala - where large and increasing numbers of TB cases have been reported ??? are unsanitary and unsuitable for a baby. Maya Foa, Deputy Director of Reprieve's Death Penalty Team, said: It is scandalous that Britain is using taxpayers' money to help other countries send people to the hangman???s noose. The 'war on drugs' has failed - instead of stopping the flow of narcotics across international borders, the vast sums of money are facilitating the arrest and possible torture and execution of scores of people. Among those caught up in all this are British citizens, such as Khadija Shah - whose baby, Malaika, has spent her whole short life in prison. Britain's policy of ???aid for executions??? not only undermines the Government???s stance against the death penalty, but also its obligations to protect its own citizens. It must stop. (source: Crime Case Files) PAPUA NEW GUINEA: Black Cat Track massacre suspects on death row as Papua New Guinea celebrates This is death row. 4 suspects in the Black Cat Track massacre in Papua New Guinea are behind bars but, literally, are dead men walking. PNG's Prime Minister Peter O'Neill has invoked the death penalty for the deadly ambush on a group of Australian trekkers and porters last Tuesday. But police and tribal warriors warn the captured killers are unlikely to live long enough to face trial accused of hacking to death 3 men, crippling 10 and beating and robbing 9 Aussies. PNG survivor recalls prolonged attack They were lucky that others were around when we caught them, said a heavily armed tactical police squad officer who was at the scene deep in the jungles of the Kruper range, rich in alluvial goldfields. Otherwise they'd already be dead. In a crime that has devastated the nation's popular trekking tourism industry, PNG locals hailed the high-profile capture as part of colourful Independence Day celebrations across the country on Monday. We want the Aussie trekkers to come back, said Black Cat Track association chairman Ninga Yawa. They need to know they can feel safe again. The Courier-Mail visited the alleged killers in prison holding cells in Lae police station on Monday. Police granted access but then refused to allow the suspects to be filmed as it became obvious the men had been badly beaten under the PNG-style of retribution and jungle justice in jail. Another porter died in hospital on Monday, taking the death toll to 3 despite a public campaign to airlift survivors to first-rate medical care away from the decrepit Angau hospital. PNG Trekking company has come under fire for their botched handling of the ongoing fallout. We are furiously working on options for the porters as their treatment has been excessively frustrating, operator Mark Hitchcock said. He is yet to visit upset locals in remote Wau district. The 8 Aussie trekkers who witnessed the bloodbath, described as sheer butchery, are rallying behind a public donation campaign headed by 1st-time tour guide turned guardian angel Christy King. Those porters might never walk or work again,'' said trekker Nick Bennett, of Mackay, central Queensland. They need serious surgery to fix horrific leg wounds and deserve the best possible medical attention. Donations in Australia can be made to The Black Cat Porters Trust Fund at the Commonwealth Bank. Account no: 10692436 BSB: 063-124. (source: Courier Mail) CHINA: China toddler death: Suspect trial begins Han Lei said he did not realise that he had thrown a pram carrying an infant A Chinese man accused of throwing a toddler to the ground during a parking space row has been put on trial in Beijing, state media report. Han Lei reportedly pulled the 2-year-old girl out
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----CONN., OHIO, IND., ALA., COLO., CALIF., USA
Sept. 16 CONNECTICUT: Death penalty phase begins in Conn. triple murde Despite an uncertain fate for Connecticut's repeal of capital punishment, the state is moving ahead with the penalty phase of a trial involving a man convicted of killing 2 adults and a 9-year-old girl on a Bridgeport street in 2006. Jury selection in the penalty phase of Richard Roszkowski's trial began Monday in state Superior Court in Bridgeport. A 12-member panel will hear evidence and decide whether the 48-year-old former Trumbull resident should get lethal injection or life in prison without the possibility of release. Roszkowski's lawyers had objected to a new penalty phase, noting the state Supreme Court is still deciding whether the state's repeal of the death penalty last year is constitutional. The state got rid of the death penalty but only for murders committed after April 24, 2012. Defense lawyers say eliminating capital punishment for some people and keeping it for others is unconstitutional. The Supreme Court is mulling the issue in the case of death row inmate Eduardo Santiago. (source: Associated Press) OHIO: Report finds falsified log of prison checks on Ohio death row inmate who killed himself 1 and possibly 2 prison guards apparently falsified an electronic log documenting checks on a death row inmate who committed suicide just days before his execution was to go forward, according to an Ohio prison report released Monday. Video evidence shows prison rounds started later than indicated by the log and came in 1-hour increments instead of every half hour as ordered for that unit, the report says. The report also says all 6 officers on death row units that night were relief officers without training specific to death row, and one of the two officers was still on probationary status. The 9-page review does not say whether the guards, if they had followed the rules, could have prevented the Aug. 4 death row suicide of condemned killer Billy Slagle. Slagle was just minutes away from being placed on close observation that is mandatory in the 72 hours before an execution. His Aug. 7 execution appeared on track despite the plea for mercy from the prosecutor in Cuyahoga County, home to Cleveland, who argued that Slagle should never have received a death sentence. Prosecutor Tim McGinty cited Slagle's age - he was just 18 when he fatally stabbed his neighbor Mari Anne Pope - and a long history of drug and alcohol addiction. McGinty said under his office's current policy he would not have pursued a death penalty charge. The report comes at a time of heightened awareness of prison suicides in Ohio. An inmate at Lebanon Correctional Facility in southwest Ohio committed suicide last week, just days after convicted Cleveland kidnapper and rapist Ariel Castro hanged himself in his cell with a bedsheet on Sept. 3. Slagle, 44, also died not knowing that his attorneys planned a last-minute appeal, based on evidence provided by McGinty that Slagle had been offered a plea deal before his 1988 trial but his original attorneys never informed him. The two corrections officers named in the review have been placed on paid administrative leave as the prisons agency investigates. Someone did falsify the electronic log book for rounds, the report said. Messages were left with the union representing prison guards about the allegations. Slagle's attorneys said they weren't aware of the report until provided a copy by The Associated Press. They did not immediately comment on its contents. The report also singles out lighting in death row cells, saying the cells are too dark and inmates continue to block windows with paper and other material. Based on recommendations in the report, the prisons agency will begin relying on mental health experts to determine if the pre-execution 72-hour watch period should be lengthened for individual inmates. Mom charged in slayings of her 2 kids Southern California authorities have charged a woman with killing her 2 children, who were supposed to have been returned to their father in Georgia during the weekend. Orange County prosecutors say 42-year-old Marilyn Edge was charged Monday with two counts of murder with special circumstances. She is eligible for the death penalty if convicted. Edge is accused of murdering her 9-year-old daughter Faith and 13-year-old son Jaelen on Saturday. Their bodies were found in a Santa Ana hotel room. The cause of death has not been released. An attorney representing Edge's ex-husband says the suspect lost custody of her children last week and was expected to return them to Georgia on Sunday. (source for both: Associated Press) INDIANA: Isom death-penalty trial defense costs nearly $700K The Indiana Public Defender Commission has reported total defense costs in the Kevin Isom death penalty case at nearly $700,000 as of Monday with half
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide
Sept. 16 ZAMBIA: Zambia tries separatists in treason trial Dozens of people accused of treason go on trial in Zambia this week as the government seeks to quell a separatist movement in the west. Some 59 people were arrested after a breakaway group tried to replace the Zambian flag with their own banner in Western Province. The group, Linyunga-ndambo, says the province can alleviate poverty if it runs its own affairs. The group's leader, Afumba Mombotwa, escaped arrest and is in hiding. He is a former communications officer at the Zambian foreign ministry. The trial of his supporters begins Tuesday. If convicted, they could face the death penalty. The government pledges more development in the province, home to the Lozi ethnic group. The area, a former British protectorate, was united with the rest of Zambia at independence in 1964. (source: Associated Press) SYRIA: Death penalty for man and woman over charges of treason in Homs Rebels executed a man and woman, who were convicted of cooperating with Bashar al-Assad's regime through planting electronic chips which used to identify sites (GPS) by the Syrian warplanes in rebels-held areas of the city. The death penalty issued by the Shariah Authority in Alwaer neighborhood of Homs after deep investigations that approved the 'traitors' involvement in killing FSA members, activists reported. (source: zamanalwsl.net) CHINA: 3 Sentenced To Death Over June Violence; 3 ethnic Uyghurs have been sentenced to death by Chinese authorities over the violence in June in Xinjiang Chinese authorities have sentenced 3 ethnic Uyghurs to death after linking them to bloody June violence in the restive Xinjiang region in punishments condemned Friday by a global advocacy group. The Intermediate People's Court in Xinjiang's Turpan Prefecture sentenced Ahmatniyaz Sidiq, Urayim Eli and Abdulla Esrapil to death for acts of terrorism in the violence in Lukchun township of Pichan (in Chinese, Shanshan) county, the official Xinhua news agency reported. It also ordered that another Uyghur, Akram Usman, be jailed for 25 years for the June 26 violence. All 4 were accused of committing murder and being involved in a terrorist organization, Xinhua said. The Lukchun incident was sparked by an attack on police stations and other government establishments by a knife-wielding mob of Uyghurs, according to Xinhua, but Uyghur activists blamed the Chinese government's sustained repression and provocation of the Uyghur community in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) for the violence. Xinhua had said at that time that the death toll was 35 but local officials had told RFA's Uyghur Service that it was as high as 46. It was among the worst violence in Xinjiang, home to some 9 million ethnic minority Muslim Uyghurs who say they have long suffered ethnic discrimination and oppressive religious controls under Beijing???s policies, blaming the problems partly on the influx of Han Chinese into the region. The Munich-based World Uyghur Congress (WUC), a Uyghur exile group, in a statement Friday condemned the death sentences handed down to the 3 Uyghurs, saying the charges against them were not substantiated and the verdict was pre-planned. The WUC noted that the sentences came about a month after Beijing sentenced 2 Uyghurs to death for their alleged links to another bloody incident in Xinjiang's Kashgar prefecture in a hearing it said was also marred by a lack of due process and concrete evidence. The April 23 violence in Siriqbuya township in Maralbeshi (Bachu) county had left 21 dead. This confirms that the Chinese authorities have followed through with their vow that further death sentences would happen, thus illustrating that the verdict was reached before the trial had commenced, WUC President Rebiya Kadeer said in a statement, seeking global attention to what she called human rights abuses in Xinjiang. The WUC calls on the international community to take stock of this ongoing urgent and mounting human rights crisis that is plighting the Uyghurs in East Turkestan (Xinjiang), she said. Kadeer cited a recent report by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon at the United Nations Human Rights Council that, States must [...] ensure that the highest level of compliance with fair trial and other international human rights norms and standards are met in all death penalty cases. Whilst the WUC resolutely deplores and condemns all violence, all trials pursuing capital punishment must adhere to and maintain the strictest standards outlined by the Secretary-General, which has evidently not been the case with the handing down of these death sentences, the WUC statement said. What more has to happen in East Turkestan before the international community feels that it can stand up, make itself heard and condemn in unison the Chinese authorities' handling of these recent incidents? The current silence
