[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide
May 28 UNITED KINGDOM/KENYA: UK government challenged on role in Kenyan death sentence The government has been challenged to explain its support for a Kenyan investigation that resulted in a death sentence being handed down based on flawed evidence and a 'confession' extracted under torture. Legal charity Reprieve and law firm Leigh Day have launched legal action over the involvement of British authorities, including the Metropolitan Police and the Home Office, in the death sentence handed down to Ali Babitu Kololo, a father of 2 from a village in Lamu, Kenya. Mr Kololo was sentenced to death for robbery with violence by a Kenyan court in August 2013 after he was tortured by local police into 'confessing' to leading kidnappers to the camp where the 2011 kidnapping of British tourist Judith Tebbutt, and the murder of her husband David took place. Despite serious flaws with the Kenyan investigation, including the use of torture, and the near-certainty that a conviction would result in a death sentence for Mr Kololo, the Metropolitan Police offered substantial support to the prosecution. British police officers also gave evidence during a flawed trial, conducted in a language Mr Kololo does not speak fluently, and without the presence of his lawyer during crucial hearings. Other than his 'confession', the main evidence presented linking Mr Kololo to the crime scene was a shoe that does not fit his foot. Though they accused Mr Kololo of leading the kidnappers to the camp, Mr Kololo alleges that the police never interviewed him to ask about the other men they believed were involved, nor made any efforts to find and charge them with any crime. Instead, Mr Kololo, who is illiterate and from the marginalised Boni tribe in northern Kenya, was sentenced to death in July 2013. Following the sentencing, British officials from the Metropolitan Police and Foreign Office praised the great skill and tenacity of the British police team, calling the outcome welcome and a positive development. Reprieve and lawyers from Leigh Day have taken the first steps in launching a judicial review of the official UK support for the Kenyan investigation. A pre-action letter sent to Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe, head of the Metropolitan Police, states: The support provided by the British authorities to the prosecution in Mr Kololo's case was unlawful [...] The unfairness is particularly acute in a context where it entails a real risk to an individual's life, as it did in the present case. The UK government's Strategy for the Abolition of the Death Penalty lists Kenya as a 'priority country' with which the UK should work towards abolition and a reduction in executions. Maya Foa, head of Reprieve's death penalty team, said: It is appalling that the British government chose to ignore its own human rights policies and support a flagrantly unfair trial that resulted in a death sentence. The case against Mr Kololo is so deeply flawed, resting as it does on unsound evidence including a 'confession' extracted under torture, that it is highly possible that an innocent man has been convicted. She concluded: The government should admit responsibility and take measures to right this wrong as soon as possible. (source: ekklesia.co.uk) SAUDI ARABIA: Saudi court sentences Shi'ite to death for sedition A Saudi Arabian court has sentenced to death a Shi'ite Muslim convicted of sedition, rioting, protesting and robbery in the district of Qatif, home to many of the Sunni kingdom's minority sect who say they face entrenched discrimination. The sentence, issued on Tuesday and reported by state media early on Wednesday, is the 2nd time in a week the death penalty has been imposed on a Shi'ite involved in unrest in Qatif, located in the oil-producing Eastern Province. The judge's decision to apply the penalty can still be challenged in an appeal court, the supreme court and then by petitioning the king. More than 20 people have been killed in Qatif since February 2011 when large protests erupted calling for democracy and equal rights between Sunnis and Shi'ites. Demonstrations have continued sporadically. Some funerals for local people killed by security forces have also attracted thousands of mourners. The government has said most of those killed died in shootouts between gunmen and the security forces and that police have been regularly shot at and attacked with petrol bombs, but local activists say some were shot during peaceful protests. Ali al-Nimr, who is 18 according to activists, was convicted of sedition, breaking allegiance to the king, rioting, bearing arms, using petrol bombs against security patrols, robbing a pharmacy and stealing surveillance cameras. Nimr, who activists said was 17 at the time of his arrest, was also convicted of chanting anti-state slogans in illegal protests and inciting others to demonstrate, state media reported. The
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----OHIO, TENN., USA
May 28 OHIO: Judge orders temporary halt to Ohio executions A federal judge has ordered a 2 1/2-month moratorium on executions in Ohio to allow time for arguments over the state's new lethal injection procedures. The order delays executions scheduled for July and August while attorneys prepare filings about the state's decision to boost the dosages of its lethal injection drugs. The 1-page order by Columbus federal judge Gregory Frost on Tuesday affects the state's latest death penalty policy change, which was announced in late April. Ohio uses 2 drugs injected simultaneously in executions. The policy change considerably increases the amount of the sedative and raises the amount of the painkiller. The procedure update followed the Jan. 16 execution of Dennis McGuire, who repeatedly gasped during the record 26 minutes it took him to die (source: Associated Press) * Death penalty courses among Siegal summer offerings A course on Ohio's death penalty will be among the summer offerings at The Laura and Alvin Siegal Lifelong Learning Program's beginning June 2 at the Siegal facility in Beachwood. The course, which will take place on Wednesdays, June 11, 18 and 25, is entitled, Ohio's Death Penalty: Recommendations of the American Bar Association and the Ohio Supreme Court's Death Penalty Task Force. Margery Koosed will teach the class. The course is unique to the program because the Supreme Court of Ohio Commission on Continuing Legal Education has approved it for 2 CLE hours per session. Attorneys that need continuing legal education could receive up to 6 CLE hours of instruction for an extra fee of $10 per session. The third session on June 25 for 2 hours of death penalty training. All classes at Siegal facility, 26500 Shaker Blvd. in Beachwood. (source: Cleveland Jewish News) TENNESSEE: Judge: State may seek death penalty in 4 slayings on Renegade Mountain An accused killer has lost the 1st round in his bid to stay off death row if convicted. A Cumberland County judge Wednesday denied a motion filed by attorneys for Jacob Allen Bennett, accused of killing 4 young people, that his blurted admission of guilt during the start of an arraignment should stand. Defense attorneys in their motion had sought to nix the state's move to seek the death penalty, which was filed soon afterward. Judge David Patterson ruled that Bennett's proclamation of his guilt on Sept. 20, 2013, occurred before he was given the opportunity to represent himself, that Bennett wasn't properly arraigned then and, that as judge, he didn't accept the plea. The court is concerned that the defendant didn't understand what was going on, Patterson said. During a reconvened arraignment on Oct. 3, Bennett, 26, was given a court-appointed attorney, who entered not guilty pleas on the Crab Orchard man's behalf. Bennett is accused of shooting 3 teenagers and a young mother to death on a secluded gravel road on Renegade Mountain, a would-be resort community that has fallen on hard times. The shootings occurred either late Sept. 11 or early Sept. 12, 2013, officials said. The shooting occurred during a botched drug deal involving a quarter-pound of marijuana, according to records. Killed were Danielle Rikki Jacobsen, 22, her nephew Domonic Davis, 17, John Lajeunesse, 16, and Steven Presley, 17. I think he (Bennett) ought to be put before a firing squad and done just like they done our kids, Peggy Davis, grandmother of Steven Presley, said during a break in the hearing. Also accused in the case is Bennett's girlfriend, Brittany Lina Yvonn Moser, 25, of Dayton, Tenn. Bennett is charged with 4 counts of premeditated murder, 4 counts of felony murder, and 2 counts of attempted aggravated robbery. Moser, with Bennett at the time of the killings, is charged with four counts of felony murder and 2 counts of attempted aggravated robbery. Deputy District Attorney Gary McKenzie said the state will likely move to have separate trials for Bennett and Moser. The judge set an Aug. 13 hearing on other motions in the case and to schedule a trial date for Bennett, now in maximum security in the Morgan County Regional Correctional Facility. If we can, we'll try to do that (a trial) this year, Patterson said. (source: Knoxville News Sentinel) USA: The Shrinking Death Penalty 12 years after it banned the execution of intellecutally disabled people, the Supreme Court on Tuesday clarified and thus reaffirmed the essence of its ruling by striking down a Florida law requiring that defendant claiming that condition show an I.Q. score of 70 or below. In 2002, the court held that people with intellectual disabilities were less culpable because of their diminshed capacities to process information, control their impulses and understand the nature of their crimes. The condition also made them more likely to give false confessions and less
