[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide
Dec. 12 UNITED ARAB EMIRATES: Killer of pregnant wife - who almost walked free - to be executed in RAK A criminal court in Ras Al Khaimah sentenced a man to death after he was convicted of murdering his pregnant wife at home in the northern emirate. The 33-year-man had nearly walked free after reaching an initial agreement with his Iranian wife's relatives to pardon him in return for diya (blood money). But they later changed their mind and told court they insist on his death. Newspapers said the court sentence on Wednesday was final and the defendant would be executed by a firing squad. The husband, identified only as WA, killed his 25-year-old pregnant wife and her infant by stabbing her many times after a heated argument nearly 3 years ago. (source: emirates 247) EGYPT: Trial of Egypt Brotherhood leaders halted amid uproar The trial of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood chief and his deputies on charges related to protest deaths came to an abrupt end yesterday when the judges quit in protest at chaos in the dock. The previous session on October 29 of the trial of Mohamed Badie and 34 co-defendants had also been halted when the 3 presiding judges withdrew, citing "reasons of conscience". Yesterday, a new panel of 3 judges appointed to hear the case recused themselves after the accused Brotherhood members yelled slogans from the dock against the military-installed authorities. Despite being ordered to keep quiet by the chief judge, the Brotherhood members continued to rail loudly against the government, which has relentlessly repressed their movement since the ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Mursi in July. Badie and his 2 deputies, Khairat al-Shater and Rashad al-Bayoumi, face charges of inciting the murders of 9 protesters who stormed the Brotherhood's Cairo headquarters on June 30. If found guilty, they could face the death penalty. 3 other accused Islamists also face murder charges while 29 are charged with participating in acts of violence. Millions of protesters on June 30 called for the ouster of Mursi, accusing him of working for the sole benefit of the Brotherhood, ruining an already dilapidated economy and monopolising power following the 2011 overthrow of long-time ruler Hosni Mubarak. Mursi, Egypt's 1st democratically elected president, was deposed by the army on July 3 after just 1 year in office. During yesterday's session, presiding judge Mostafa Salama initially suspended proceedings as Badie and his co-defendants hurled verbal abuse at the government installed by the military in the wake of Mursi's ouster. But at the resumption, mayhem again erupted in the dock, with the accused jeering and yelling insults at the judges as well as against the government and military chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the new strongman of Egyptian politics. "Sisi traitor, Sisi traitor," they screamed as the judge tried in vain to restore order. Sisi had been appointed defence minister by Mursi when he became president. Barely audible above the din, the judge then adjourned the trial. "I asked the accused to remain calm but they did not do so. Therefore we are recusing ourselves," Salama said before he and his two fellow judges walked out. In a brief but fiery address from the dock, Badie, dressed in white prison uniform like his fellow-accused, railed against the new authorities, accusing them of carrying out a "coup d'etat" by deposing Mursi. "The Egyptian people tasted freedom after the revolution (which toppled long-time leader Hosni Mubarak in 2011) and since the election of Mohamed Mursi," he yelled, in his 1st public comments since his arrest. "They will not give up this freedom." "Sisi killed people when they were praying, he killed people when they were fasting, he dumped their bodies using bulldozers as if they were garbage. Such a crime has never happened in Egypt's history." He was referring to a crackdown by police on August 14 when they stormed 2 protest camps set up by Mursi's supporters in Cairo, leaving hundreds dead. During yesterday's court session, Brotherhood supporters continuously flashed the 4-finger sign that has become associated with the crackdown, while chanting, "Down with the military regime!" and "Mubarak's regime of secret police is back!" (source: Gulf Times) LIBYA: Daughter of Libya's former spy chief calls for him to be tried in The Hague Muammar Gaddafi's former spy chief should be brought to The Hague to face trial, his daughter said on Wednesday, warning that he faced a show trial and death in Libya unless extradited. Anoud al-Senussi, daughter of the man who for decades was a feared right-hand man to the former ruler, said her father was being denied access to lawyers in his prison in Libya, where has been held since he was extradited from Mauritania 16 months ago. One of Gaddafi's closest allies, Abdullah al-Senussi faces charges at the International Crimi
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide
Dec. 12 MOROCCO: Morocco opposition file bill to abolish death penalty A parliamentary opposition group has filed a bill to abolish the death penalty in Morocco, where a moratorium has been in place for 20 years, a member said Thursday. The bill was filed last week in the lower house by the group of 39 lawmakers from the USFP leftwing opposition party, one of them told AFP, confirming local press reports. "We are relying on the support of other groups and MPs," to pass the bill, he said, adding that the group would be open to proposed amendments. The MP said he was "optimistic" about the bill passing "in view of the current reform movement in Morocco". A parliamentary seminar was held earlier this week initiated by "the network of MPs against the death penalty," a group founded in February and which numbers 210 lawmakers, according to the official MAP news agency. Morocco's lower house has 325 seats. If a parliamentary committee approves the proposed bill, it could be voted on in a plenary session next spring. According to the newspaper L'Economiste, the bill contains four articles, among them a proposal to replace capital punishment with life imprisonment. No executions have been carried out in the North African country since a moratorium was declared in 1993, but the death penalty has yet to be abolished. Last year Moroccan courts sentenced 10 people to death for various crimes, according to media reports, and more than 100 people are on death row in the kingdom. (source: Ahram Online) ALGERIA: Algeria child kidnappers may face death Cases of child abductions and murder rocked Algeria this year, prompting lawmakers to consider death sentences for the perpetrators. The debate was re-opened after the government presented a draft bill to amend the penal code, introducing new punishments and sentences to deal with child abductions. National Consultative Committee for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights (CNCPPDH) chief Farouk Ksentini on Tuesday (December 10th) called for a public discussion about the death penalty. Days earlier, Justice Minister Tayeb Louh introduced a measure that both political classes and civil society groups had long demanded. The December 5th bill proposes life sentences for child kidnappers. If the abducted child is killed, the perpetrator would receive the death penalty. This amendment is part of "the introduction of effective legal mechanisms to clamp down on criminal activities and punish those responsible, given the dangerous proportions the problem has reached, threatening the safety of individuals and society", the minister said. But the government's bill has failed to bring universal support in parliament. The Front of Socialist Forces (FFS), an opposition party, has called for a national debate about the death penalty. The debate, says party MP Chafaa Bouaich, "must take place in a calm orderly atmosphere". The Labour Party (PT) says the death penalty must be abolished entirely from the penal code. For Lakhdar Benkhelaf, an MP for the Islamist El Adala party, the draft penal code remained "vague concerning the use of the death penalty for people implicated in the kidnapping and rape of children". CNCPPDH head Ksentini welcomed the discussion from all sides. "MPs are free to make proposals. They certainly have their own arguments and reasons, but for us the main thing is that we should have this debate, so that we can find the appropriate solution," he told Magharebia. The criminal court in Tizi Ouzou on November 19th pronounced the death sentence for three men convicted of the 2012 kidnapping and killing of teenager Ghil???s Hadjou. Such cases of child abduction and murder have provoked a wave of anger across society. NGOs and the victims' families have demanded the death penalty for kidnappers. "It's a deterrent sentence, and the aim would be to put an end to this problem which has grown to large proportions," university student Amina Saoul explains. Hichem Ouali, a student, says that child kidnappers and rapists should not be shown any mercy. "These are criminals who have wrecked families. These people are a real danger to Algerian society. I think the maximum sentence should be used against them," he adds. (source: magharebia.com) INDIA: It's death again for killer bus driver Santosh ManePronouncing the verdict, the judge said 'there should not be a punishment lesser than death' for him The court of additional sessions judge V K Shewale delivered the judgment on resentencing of dismissed state transport bus driver Santosh Mane, upholding its earlier verdict on death penalty, on Wednesday. While pronouncing the judgment, Shewale said, "During 2 months of rehearing, he showed no remorse for the crime he committed. He killed and injured innocent people. Some of the injured persons are finding it difficult to bear the cost of treatment. He
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----NEV., CALIF., ORE., USA
Dec. 12 NEVADA: Shocking Video: Las Vegas Shooting Death At Bally's Casino A shocking video released on Wednesday shows a Las Vegas man shooting 3 people, resulting in 1 death. On October 21, 2013 around 5:30am, Benjamin Frazier, 41, walked into Bally's Casino to check out Drai's After Hours nightclub. Allegedly under the influence of prescription medications and alcohol, Frazier, 42, was informed by the doorman that there was a $30 cover charge. For reasons that are not clear, Frazier pulls out a.38-caliber revolver and throws the doorman to the ground. At that moment, security guard Anthony Guerrero entered the room, and Frazier shot both men. The doorman took a bullet to the arm, and Guerrero took a shot to the chest. Both men would later be taken to the hospital and are recovering. Frazier then headed back into the casino with the gun waving wildly around. That's when comedian Kenneth (KD) Brown acted. In an attempt to protect the other casino patrons, Brown, 40, jumped Frazier from behind. A struggle ensued, and the gun went off. Brown was shot in the neck and the chest. Police arrived moments later and attempted to revive Brown. His death is tragic, and Brown is being called a hero by the Las Vegas Metro Police. Norma Sattiewhite, mother of Kenneth Brown, told reporters: "I wouldn't wish this on any mother, father, sister, brother, anyone. But I have no hate for the man. I have to love no matter what and pray for him - and I do." Frazier is currently being held as the Death Penalty review board looks over his case. They will try to determine if the case warrants the death penalty as a potential sentence. Frazier is being represented by Bob Becket, his cousin, and Vicki Greco. They argue that Frazier did not intend to kill anyone that morning and that it is unclear whether the gun went off in the struggle or Frazier intended to shoot Brown. District Attorney Steve Wolfson has his own take on the incident. "It's an incredibly clear video," Wolfson said told the Review Journal. "It really does describe to the eye exactly what happened. Unlike eye witness testimony that sometimes can be questioned. It's hard to question the depiction of what happened in the video. It provides a very clear story of what happened that day." (source: inquisitr.com) CALIFORNIA: Killer of Monterey County girls in 1981 gets death penalty2 Monterey County girls among victims The drifter and serial killer who 32 years ago took the lives of 2 Monterey County girls will be sentenced to death, jurors decided Wednesday. Joseph Michael Nissensohn, 62, was convicted a month earlier of the murders of Tammy Jarschke, 13, and Tanya Jones, 14, along with the 1989 murder of a South Lake Tahoe girl, 15-year-old Kathy Graves. After a 5-week trial and more than a week of testimony during the penalty phase, jurors in a South Lake Tahoe courtroom deliberated 90 minutes before announcing the death verdict. Detectives worked for 3 decades investigating the 1981 murders in a case that saw a number of close calls, including the deaths of two key witnesses before trial. "I'm glad that it's coming to an end," said Tammy's mother, Penny Jarschke. Given Nissensohn's poor health, Jarschke said, it wouldn't have mattered much whether he got the death penalty or just life in prison. "He'll never hurt another little girl either way you go," she said. "That won't happen any more with him." Jarschke, 64, said her father turned 84 on Oct. 31, the day Nissensohn was convicted, and never thought he'd live to see the outcome. She said she's glad to be ending this long chapter of her life, but very much dislikes the word closure - "the stupidest word in the English language." "The loss is always going to be there," she said. "I'm looking at my daughter's picture as I'm talking. Maybe I'd be a grandmother by now." As she spoke by phone with The Herald from her Massachusetts home, she said snow was expected soon. She stays close to Monterey County through relatives who are still in the area. "Holidays are hard," she said. "Now I need to find out how I'm going to put my life back together. I don't fit in too good." Violent deaths 32 years ago, Jarschke was joined by friends and family who frantically posted fliers around the Monterey Peninsula, hoping to find the missing girls alive. "But he'd already killed them and we were looking and looking," she said. On Sept. 9, 1981, a team of woodcutters found Tanya's decomposed body tied with electrical wire to a tree about a mile off Tassajara Road on Chews Ridge. Sheriff's deputies combing the area for evidence found Tammy's remains nearby. Both died violently. "They didn't do anything wrong - they ran away from home," Jarschke said. "I can imagine how afraid they were. It's horrible." She remembers a detective telling her there was little chance of catching the killer if more than 10 or 12 days passed with
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TENN., KAN., MO., ARIZ.
Dec. 12 TENNESSEEimpending execution re-scheduled Execution of Billy Ray Irick postponedTN Supreme Court reschedules execution in light of lethal injection questions The Tennessee Supreme Court has rescheduled the execution of murderer Billy Ray Irick. Irick, who raped and killed a 7-year-old Knoxville girl he had been baby-sitting in 1985, had been scheduled to die by lethal injection Jan. 15 in a wave of executions Tennessee is seeking to carry out. But the Supreme Court rescheduled the execution for Oct. 7, 2014, because of new legal challenges to the way Tennessee plans to put the condemned to death. Tennessee's executions have been been on hold for at least 2 years because a key lethal injection drug, sodium thiopental, became unavailable. It wasn't until September of this year that the state settled on a replacement, the anasthetic pentobarbital, often used in animal euthanasia. State officials, thinking the drug switch cleared the way to begin executions, have asked the Supreme Court for dates to execute at least 11 inmates. So far, it has only scheduled Irick and Nickolus Johnson, who is scheduled to be put to death April 22 for killing a Bristol police officer in 2004. But the court on Tuesday said that new legal challenges questioning the use of pentobarbital must be answered before it can be used in an execution. "Mr. Irick is correct that currently, there is no controlling law in Tennessee on the constitutionality of the use of the single drug, Pentobarbital, to execute a death row inmate," the court said in its order postponing Irick's execution. The legal challenge is being fought by attorneys for at least 10 of the condemned the state is looking to execute. "We are grateful for the Tennessee Supreme Court's order. All of the parties have agreed to an expedited schedule to litigate the serious questions which surround the new lethal injection protocol," said Kelley Henry, who supervises capital punishment defense cases with the Federal Public Defender's Office in Nashville and represents several of those the state is looking to execute. "Our Supreme Court recognized that these are important constitutional issues which have never been litigated in this State. We look forward to the opportunity to have our day in Court." (source: The Tennessean) *** Don't fast-track executions The state of Tennessee is infusing its commitment to the death penalty with a new level of zeal that should worry anyone who understands that our system of justice is carried out by humans and thus is fallible. The Correction Department and the state attorney general have suddenly pushed for the state Supreme Court to set execution dates for 10 people on death row, four more than Tennessee has put to death in the past 53 years. When such a complex and deliberative process undergoes this kind of dramatic change, we have to ask what is really driving it. Some say that the recent death by natural causes of the most notorious killer on the row, Paul Dennis Reid, is the reason. By this argument, the state does not want to "disappoint" anyone else who wants to see killers meet the same end as their victims. Is this the best that we can do? Even if you discount the wish by some murderers on death row that they be executed rather than spend the rest of their lives in prison, the state is setting itself up for mistakes of multiple kinds. The state getting its hands on a new lethal drug seems to have some correctional officials very eager, whether out of curiosity or because they fear someone will mount a legal challenge to the drug because they have the chance to use it. After all, it's only been used a handful of times in other states. Will state officials treat the 10 condemned as guinea pigs? (source: The Tennessean) KANSAS: Kansas Supreme Court to hear Carr brothers' appealBrothers sentenced to death for multiple murder convictions The Kansas Supreme Court will hear arguments Tuesday in the appeals of 2 brothers who were sentenced to death for the murder of 4 people in Wichita in December 2000. According to a news release from the Office of Judicial Administration, the court is scheduled to hear the appeal of Reginald Dexter Carr Jr. at 9 a.m. and Jonathan Carr at 1:30 p.m. The Carr brothers were convicted on charges from a Wichita crime spree in December 2000 that left 5 people dead and 1 survivor severely wounded. Both brothers were charged with multiple felonies stemming from the events of Dec. 14 and 15, 2000. They were found guilty of entering a Wichita home armed with guns; forcing the 2 men and 3 women in the home to engage in sex acts with each other and with the perpetrators; taking them to ATMs to withdraw cash; then taking them to a soccer field where they shot them, execution style. The surviving woman ran through the snow for a mile, naked, seeking help. She testified at the brother
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, CONN., FLA., MISS., OHIO, KY.
Dec. 12 TEXASnew death sentence Jury sends confessed killer to death row Alton and Darla Wilcox finally received justice after a Brazoria County jury condemned the man who stabbed them with a death penalty verdict Wednesday, District Attorney Jeri Yenne said. The 7-woman, 5-man jury needed only a few minutes Wednesday morning before returning their verdict in District Judge W. Edwin Denman's Angleton courtroom: Death for James Harris Jr. (source: thefacts.com) ** Death Penalty Upheld In Fort Worth Slaying The state's highest criminal court has upheld the murder conviction and death sentence given to a Fort Worth man for a 2010 convenience store holdup that left 2 men dead. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals on Wednesday rejected what attorneys for 38-year-old Kwame Rockwell said were 21 errors at his Tarrant County trial last year. The appeal included claims that evidence was both improperly admitted and insufficient to convict him and send him to death row, that some jurors improperly were excused and some arguments made by prosecutors in closing statements were improper. A 22-year-old store clerk, Daniel Rojas, and a 70-year-old bread deliveryman, Jerry Burnett, were fatally shot. Rockwell was arrested 4 days later in San Antonio after trying to flee from police. (source: Associated Press) * New penalty trial for man on death row since 1986 An El Paso man convicted and sent to death row for the slayings of 2 women almost 30 years ago has won a new punishment trial. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals on Wednesday agreed with a trial judge's findings that Angel Galvan Rivera had poor legal help at his 1986 trial in El Paso. Rivera's appeals lawyers argued his trial attorneys didn't properly investigate Rivera's background or present evidence that could have convinced jurors to decide on a sentence other than death. The former cook was 27 when 62-year-old Iona Dikes and 82-year-old Julia Fleenor were found strangled at their El Paso home in October 1984. The house had been set on fire. Evidence also showed they both had been raped. (source: Associated Press) ** impending execution and Vienna Convention issues Texas Plan to Execute Mexican May Harm U.S. Ties Abroad, Kerry Says The scheduled execution next month of a Mexican national by the State of Texas threatens to damage relations between the United States and Mexico and complicate the ability of the United States to help Americans detained overseas, Secretary of State John F. Kerry has warned Texas officials. The Mexican, Edgar Arias Tamayo, 46, was convicted of shooting and killing a Houston police officer who was taking him to jail after a robbery in 1994. Mr. Tamayo, who was in the nation illegally, was not notified of his right to contact the Mexican Consulate, in violation of an international treaty known as the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations. That violation, an international tribunal???s order for his case to be reviewed and a judge's recent decision to set Mr. Tamayo's execution for Jan. 22, are now at the center of a controversy that has attracted the attention of the State Department and the Mexican government. Despite Mr. Kerry's involvement, there has been no sign that Texas officials plan to delay the execution. On Wednesday, Mr. Tamayo's lawyers asked Gov. Rick Perry to grant him a 30-day reprieve and petitioned the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles to commute his death sentence to life in prison. They are using Mr. Kerry's letter, sent to Texas officials in September, to highlight the international issues at stake. In 2004, the top judicial body of the United Nations, the International Court of Justice, ordered the United States to review the convictions of Mr. Tamayo and 50 other Mexican nationals whose Vienna Convention rights, it said, were violated and who were sentenced to death in the United States. The international court, also known as the World Court, found that United States courts had to determine in each case whether the violation of consular rights harmed the defendant. In the 9 years since the World Court's decision, no United States court has reviewed the Vienna Convention issues in Mr. Tamayo's case, said Maurie Levin, one of his lawyers. In a letter sent to Mr. Perry and the Texas attorney general, Mr. Kerry took the unusual step of weighing in on a state death-penalty case, arguing that Mr. Tamayo's execution would affect the ability of the United States to comply with the international court's order in what is known as the Avena case. The World Court???s judgment is binding on the United States, Mr. Kerry wrote, and complying with it ensures that the federal government can rely on Vienna Convention protections when aiding Americans detained abroad. "I have no reason to doubt the facts of Mr. Tamayo's conviction, and as a former prosecutor, I have no sympa
