[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide
April 16 SINGAPORE: Man charged with brother's murder Singaporeans were charged with murder in 2 separate cases at the State Courts on Wednesday (April 15). Ng Yao Wei, 21, was charged with murdering his brother Ng Yao Cheng, 26, at about 10.55pm on Monday at their Choa Chu Kang condominium home. The younger Ng, who reportedly graduated from a polytechnic recently, had apparently killed his brother after an argument. In a separate case, Pua Hak Chuan, 35, and Tan Hui Zhen, 31, also face the death penalty if they are convicted of murder. The pair are accused of killing Annie Ee Yu Lian in a flat in Woodlands Avenue 9 at about 9.38am on Monday. Ee, who was 26 and worked as a waitress at Causeway Point, was found dead in the 3rd-floor flat that the 3 of them are believed to have shared. (source: channelnewsasia) INDONESIA: Govt urged to end death penalty following Saudi execution The execution of Siti Zaenab, a domestic worker convicted of killing her employer in Saudi Arabia, should become the point at which the Indonesian government ends the death penalty, says an NGO advocating for the rights of Indonesian workers abroad. Migrant Care said preserving the death penalty had led the government to lose its moral legitimacy to push other countries to release Indonesian citizens on death row. This [an end to the death penalty] would be an initial step to urge other countries not to apply the death penalty for Indonesian migrant workers, it said. According to the NGO's data, 290 migrant workers working in 5 countries, namely China, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore and Qatar, are involved in legal problems and facing the threat of capital punishment. Of the total, 59 cases have reached a final verdict. We are urging the Indonesian government to condemn Saudi Arabia, Migrant Care said in a press release on Wednesday.As a protest, she said, the Indonesian government must declare the Saudi Arabian ambassador to Indonesia persona non grata for the country's failure to notify Indonesian authorities before the execution of Siti Zaenab. Siti Zaenab was beheaded by Saudi authorities at 10 a.m. local time on Tuesday in Madina, Saudi Arabia. Migrant Care said the execution was a serious human rights violation as the right to life of every human must be guaranteed. Moreover, Siti Zaenab killed her employer in self defense following the torture she had often received in the 2nd year of her contract. Siti Zaenab had told her family about the torture in her letters home. Migrant Care said Siti Zaenab's execution violated the Vienna Convention and diplomatic ethics as the Saudi Arabia government carried out the execution without first notifying Indonesian representatives in the country. The government must improve its diplomacy in defending Indonesians threatened with execution abroad, it said, adding that Indonesia must continue its moratorium on the dispatch of migrant workers to Saudi Arabia. (source: The Jakarta Post) Jakarta faces new death penalty outrage Indonesian officials are defending their position on the death penalty as they try to quell anger over the execution of an Indonesian woman in Saudi Arabia. It comes as Jakarta readies to execute 10 people, including Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan, whose Bali Nine smuggling plot was foiled 10 years ago on Friday. Siti Zaenab's beheading on Tuesday has Jakarta facing renewed accusations of double standards. Jakarta has protested Saudi Arabia's failure to give notice of its execution of the domestic worker, who it's believed was suffering from a mental illness when she killed her employer in self-defence in 1999. Indonesian Foreign Ministry spokesman Arrmanatha Nasir says it wasn't the punishment, but the lack of warning they protested. Mr Nasir last month said the matter of Chan and Sukumaran was not a matter of negotiation, after turning down a prisoner exchange deal. On Thursday however, he detailed at length the efforts Indonesia had taken to save Ms Siti's life, which included 100 measures since 1999. Routinely we went there, trying to communicate, to persuade the family, Mr Nasir said. We also offered diyat (blood money). But if we offer and they still refuse, still don't want to give a number, how can we force them? Human rights advocates fear that with its practice of executions - 6 people went to the firing squad in January - Jakarta has lost its moral standing to save 229 citizens on death row overseas. Haris Azhar, of rights group Kontras, paid his respects to Ms Siti's grieving family. But he added there was an element of karma for the Indonesian government. They've failed to protect the right to live and so, its citizen received this karma, he said. Not only the right to live, even the right to information has been ignored by the Indonesian government, and now, Saudi Arabia did not give procedural rights to the
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, FLA., OHIO, TENN., KY.
April 16 TEXAS: Lawmaker Says Death Penalty in Jeopardy If Texas has to tell the public who it's buying lethal execution drugs from, it might have to stop putting inmates to death, state Rep. John Smithee told a house committee on Wednesday. We're going to reach the point ... where we can't conduct any execution, where we can't carry out capital punishment in Texas, the Amarillo Republican told members of the House Government Transparency and Operation Committee as he explained his bill to keep the identities of lethal drug suppliers secret. The state of Texas' drug cache is already dangerously low, Smithee said, largely because the compounding pharmacies that make lethal injection drugs fear threats of violence if they are identified. Texas had to start buying its supply of made-to-order drugs from compounding pharmacies in 2013 when manufacturers began refusing to sell their products for executions. Many of these vendors who supply these doses to the state have refused to do it any further, Smithee said. It's just not worth the risk of violence. In 2013, after the Texas Department of Criminal Justice revealed that The Woodlands Compounding Pharmacy provided execution drugs, the company immediately stopped after the owner said he was threatened. The following year, Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott sided with TDCJ officials, concluding that the names of compounding pharmacies could be kept secret, even though such information had long been public. A Travis County judge last December ruled that the state's prison system must make the providers public, adding more fuel to the debate. If Texas wants drugs, the compounding pharmacy community is demanding anonymity, Adrienne McFarland, an attorney with the Texas attorney general's office, told the committee. Unless they have strict protection that they will not continue to provide the drugs, she said. It's becoming increasingly difficult to carry out execution which is to say carry out state law. Smithee's House Bill 3846 would keep the names of providers secret, as well as names of the individuals carrying out an execution. (As a policy, the state has never released the names of its execution team since the death penalty was reinstated in 1982.) But Kelley Shannon, executive director of the Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas, told committee members the drug provider names should be made public. The citizens in Texas really need the information to scrutinize how this is being carried out, she said. And Stacy Allen, an attorney with Jackson Walker representing the Texas Association of Broadcasters, told committee members that if threats to lethal drug providers are the problem, they should pass a bill making the threats a crime. This is the wrong answer, he said. For the past few years in Texas and nationwide, lawyers for death row inmates have fought in court to keep the names of drug providers public. Until 2011, the names of drug manufacturers who provided execution drugs were released to the public in Texas. But that changed once large European drug manufacturers stopped selling the drugs to U.S. prisons, and states were forced to switch execution formulas and turn to smaller providers of execution supplies: compounding pharmacies that can legally mix batches at their facilities. The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to re-examine lethal injection drugs when it takes up an Oklahoma case this spring. Smithee's bill was left pending in committee just a few hours before Texas executed Manuel Garza Jr. for the 2001 fatal shooting of a San Antonio police officer during a struggle. Garza is the 6th inmate this year to be executed and the 524th since capital punishment was reinstated by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1976. (source: Texas Tribune) *** Concerning Murder of Small Child, Court Denies Texas Death Row Appeal A Tyler man convicted of murdering a 2-year-old back in 2008 lost his death-row appeal Wednesday morning. According to a Texas Court of Criminal Appeals document, the court reviewed 5 allegations made in Demontrell Lamar Miller's application and recommended his appeal be denied without an evidentiary hearing. Miller, 28, was sentenced to death in November 2009 for the June 2008 murder of his then-girlfriend's son, Kelynn. According to police, Miller beat the toddler to death while he was babysitting. He was also caring for his own 5-month-old was son at an apartment complex in Tyler. Miller told police he found the toddler in a swimming pool. However, an autopsy revealed the child had bruises and internal bleeding from blunt force trauma to the abdomen. The convict was found guilty and sentenced to the death penalty. No execution date has been set at this time and he might still have other avenues of appeal. (source: Everythinglubbock.com) Arlington minister's killer loses appeal
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----OKLA., NEB., ARIZ., CALIF., WASH., USA
April 16 OKLAHOMA: Justice isn't served by secrecy about death penalty A trial judge has allowed Tulsa World's open records lawsuit against Oklahoma Gov. Marry Fallin and Commissioner of Public Safety Michael Tompson to continue. Tulsa World sued the state for refusing to disclose transcripts and emails about the investigation into the botched execution of Oklahoma inmate Clayton Lockett. Almost a year ago, on April 29, 2014, Lockett died of a heart attack caused by experimental lethal injection drugs, not by the lethal injection itself. As the Los Angeles Times reported, Lockett's pulse had hardly stopped before national condemnation of his execution arose. Lockett's horrific death was not isolated, as 2014 proved to be the year of gruesome executions. That May, the Supreme Court of Georgia refused to provide Warren Lee Hill with facts about the compound drugs that would be used in his execution, drugs known to cause seizures and blood clots before death. In July, Arizona inmate Joseph Wood gasped for nearly 2 hours before his lethal injection drugs took effect - 13 times longer than the average lethal injection. Wood's case also marks the 1st time a federal appellate court recognized an inmate's First Amendment right to obtain data about the drugs, processes and personnel involved in an execution. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit prevented Wood;s execution. But just 1 day later, the U.S. Supreme Court allowed Wood's death to proceed in grisly fashion. But the dreadful results of the last year are no surprise. Lethal injections are increasingly unsafe. That's partly because the American Board of Anesthesiology, in response to national public opposition to the death penalty, now prohibits its certified members from participating in lethal injections. As a result, the personnel in arguably the best position to ensure a safe execution are wholly absent from the process. During Lockett's execution, for example, underprepared prison officials administering the lethal injection failed to notice signs that the procedure had gone off course. American and European pharmaceutical firms have also reacted to public opposition by refusing to supply well-known and effective drugs. In a bind, states are turning to experimental combinations of substandard drugs manufactured by compounding pharmacies not regulated by the Food and Drug Administration. In fact, the U.S. Supreme Court recently decided to hear the case of Oklahoma inmate Richard Glossip. Glossip and other inmates oppose Oklahoma's use of midazolam as an anesthetic. It's the same drug used in the executions of Lockett, Hill and Wood. According to a court record, the FDA doesn't approve of midazolam as an anesthetic because it cannot maintain a deep, comalike unconsciousness. Oklahoma admits that use of the lethal drugs on a conscious person would cause intense and needless pain and suffering, but that it chose midazolam because of availability. The risks involved in lethal injections threaten inmates' Eighth Amendment rights to be free from cruel and unusual punishment. Unlike Lockett, Hill, and Wood, Glossip was able to obtain information about his lethal injection drugs and appeal to the highest court for relief from another potentially botched execution. A First Amendment right of access to this information enables inmates to learn about their impending executions and appeal their cases if they feel their constitutional rights will be violated. This right allows courts to maintain the balance of the scales of justice by ensuring that criminal punishments are carried out in a constitutional way. It also encourages the public to engage in free and full debate about the use of experimental drugs in lethal injections. But a lack of discussion about the risks involved in modern executions eliminates the possibility of finding a solution to the problems posed by the use of compound drugs. Members of the press have long had a First Amendment right to view executions. But the First Amendment also demands a right of access to information in the government's hands. This right extends to information the government holds about compounding pharmacies and the drugs they manufacture. No matter one???s view about the death penalty, without this right of access to information, justice is not being served. (source: Emma Morehart is a Senior Research Fellow at the Marion B. Brechner First Amendment Project at the University of Florida in Gainesville. The views expressed here are her own and do not represent the views of the University of FloridaTulsa World) NEBRASKA: Latest attempt to repeal death penalty in Nebraska may pit Republicans against one another 9 conservative lawmakers have signed on as co-sponsors of a repeal measure the Nebraska Legislature will begin debating Thursday. One of their key platforms: Repealing the death penalty makes good fiscal
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----NEB., USA
April 16 NEBRASKA: Ricketts, prosecutors say lawmakers 'mocked' input on prison reform A group of prosecutors and Republican leaders accused Nebraska lawmakers Thursday of ignoring their opinions on prison and criminal sentencing reform as the Legislature debates the issues this week. They mocked our input, said Attorney General Doug Peterson during a news conference at City Hall in Omaha. Peterson appeared alongside Gov. Pete Ricketts, Omaha Mayor Jean Stothert, the Lancaster and Douglas county attorneys and others. They voiced concerns about a pair of criminal justice bills that received 1st-round approval earlier this week, and repeated concerns about repealing the death penalty, which the full Legislature began debating Thursday. Ricketts vowed to veto any death penalty repeal that reaches his desk. But the news conference took particular aim at an effort by the Legislature's Judiciary Committee to restore indeterminate sentencing, known as the 1/3 rule, which requires a judge to set a convicted person's minimum sentence at a number of years not greater than 1/3 of the maximum sentence. The committee unanimously advanced a bill (LB483) on Wednesday that would restore the one-third rule to include all felony crimes, except those for which the maximum sentence is life. Similar language is amended onto one of the reform bills (LB605) approved by lawmakers this week. Supporters say restoring the 1/3 rule would help ease crowding in Nebraska prisons, which are at 159 % capacity. This 1/3 rule is not a proposal to reduce prison overcrowding, Peterson said Thursday, instead calling it something from the ACLU playbook. Peterson claimed prosecutors and other public safety officials aren't being given a seat at the table to talk about criminal sentencing, saying they are the most qualified people to address the issue. Having hearings and being out in the lobby is not enough, he said. He also took issue with recent comments made by Omaha Sen. Bob Krist. During debate on the reform bills this week, Krist gestured to the Capitol lobby, where prosecutors were watching, and referred to it as Disney World. These senators are not taking our gang problem seriously, Mayor Stothert said Thursday. Ricketts said people shouldn't jump in without thinking to address prison reform, and instead should wait for the new director of the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services, Scott Frakes, to complete his own examination of the system, which should be complete this fall. He blamed management problems for the prison system's issues and the state's inability to obtain the drugs required to carry out a lethal injection under current law. Ricketts wouldn't say whether building a new prison is on the table for Frakes. I don't believe building a new prison at this point is going to solve any problems, Ricketts said. (source: Lincoln Journal Star) Nebraska may repeal death penalty amid drug shortage Nebraska is considering repealing the death penalty amid a shortage of lethal injection drugs. A bill to repeal the death penalty won 1st-round approval from lawmakers Thursday. Lawmakers advanced the bill 30-13. If that support holds, death penalty opponents would have enough votes to override Republican Gov. Pete Ricketts' promised veto. 2 additional votes are required, and death penalty supporters are still working to block the legislation. This year, the measure has won support from a coalition of Republicans who say the death penalty costs too much and the state doesn't even have the drugs to kill those on death row. Nebraska last executed someone in 1997. The bill's sponsor, Sen. Ernie Chambers of Omaha, has fought for 4 decades years to abolish capital punishment. The bill is LB268. (source: Associated Press) USA: I am seeking copies of any (primarily, but not exclusively, US) city council resolution which was passed opposing the death penalty or calling for its suspension or abolition. Please feel free to email me. THANKS! Rick Halperin ___ 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----ALA., USA
April 16 ALABAMA: Death penalty trial date moved for man charged with strangling 91-year-old neighbor The death penalty trial for a Huntsville man charged with killing his 91-year-old neighbor has been pushed back from May to November. John Clayton Owens, 31, is charged with capital murder in the strangulation death of Doris Richardson at her home on Bide-A-Wee Drive, near Five Points in Huntsville. Owens lived part-time with his uncle, next door to Richardson, and sometimes mowed her grass. Richardson's body was found in her bedroom on Aug. 26, 2011. The trial date has been continued more than once. Last year, the defense had expressed concern about being prepared for trial. The defense attorneys said they needed more time to review DNA test results and the November trial date was pushed back to May 18, 2015. The case was being heard by Madison County Circuit Judge Billy Bell, but Bell retired this year. The case is now before Bell's successor Circuit Judge Alison Austin. Defense attorneys Brian Clark and Ron Smith and Madison County Assistant District Attorney Bill Starnes and Assistant DA Thomas Glover met with the judge this afternoon for a status conference. The new trial date was set during that meeting. Prosecutors said last year they would seek the death penalty for Owens. Huntsville Police Department investigator Charlie Gray testified in Owens' 2011 preliminary hearing that Richardson's house showed signs of disarray with drawers pulled out, contents dumped on the floor, an open safe and several open closet doors. Police had earlier reported about $1,200 worth of items had been stolen from the home. The day after Richardson's death was discovered Gray said he was contacted by Owens' uncle. Gray said several jewelry boxes and a coin box were found in the uncle's yard. A search of Owens' room yielded more jewelry boxes and a slip of paper with a combination that turned out to match the safe's. After that discovery Gray issued a police alert for Owens. He was soon picked up, Gray testified. Owens admitted burglarizing the house, Gray said, but he claimed to have done so several days before the murder and denied killing Richardson. ** Former Alabama death row inmate cuts deal, will be free within hours A former death row inmate Alabama who won a new trial 3 years ago will be free within hours, becoming the 2nd condemned Alabama prisoner ordered freed this month. William Ziegler, 39, had been awaiting execution since his conviction in 2001 for the slaying of Russell Allen Baker near the defendant's home at the time in Mobile County. His regular appeals exhausted, he won a rarely successful post-appeal challenge made directly to the trial judge. Prosecutors had been preparing to retry the case and as recently as November indicated they would again seek the death penalty. On Thursday, Ziegler accepted a plea bargain and that will allow him to walk free. He pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting murder, and Mobile County Circuit Judge Sarah Stewart sentenced him to the 15 years and 50 days he has been incarcerated. His attorneys said he will leave Mobile County Metro Jail as soon as authorities process him, which should take an hour or 2. I know that you recognize God's grace, the judge told Ziegler, urging him to resist the temptation to be bitter. I want you to appreciate that gift. You need to be very careful with your gift. ... The world is a very different place than it was 15 years ago when you went to jail. Stewart was not on the bench during Ziegler's 2001 trial, but she documented a litany of errors and abuses in an extraordinary 218-page ruling in 2012 and indicated that there was serious doubt about whether the defendant committed the murder. The judge cited three main deficiencies: --That Ziegler received substandard performance from his lawyers. --That the state withheld evidence about a witness who later recanted her testimony. --That a juror, when questioned about his views on the death penalty, lied during jury selection. Thursday marks the second time this month that Alabama has released a prisoner who had been facing execution. Anthony Ray Hinton got his freedom April 3 after nearly 30 years on Alabama's death row. Prosecutors in that case dismissed charges in the 1985 deaths of 2 fast-food workers after new testing on the defendant's gun could not prove that it fired the bullets use in the slayings. Ziegler was not yet 25 when Baker's body was found in a wooded patch off of Leroy Stevens Road in Mobile County. Authorities discovered that the victim and Ziegler had quarreled at a party and centered on him as the prime suspect. He was convicted along with 3 accomplices. On Thursday, Ziegler acknowledged that his conduct helped lead to the Baker's death. Relatives of both Ziegler and Baker came away from the hearing disappointed. O'Della Wilson, the defendant's
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide
April 16 PAKISTAN: Death Penalty? Not So Fast, Says Pakistan's Supreme Court In January, Pakistan established controversial military courts for terrorism cases in the wake of a deadly Taliban attack on a school that killed 150 people, most of them schoolchildren. The idea, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said, was to expedite the trial and punishment of terrorists. That may not happen so quickly, at least in cases of capital punishment. On Thursday, the country's Supreme Court stayed the execution of 6 men found guilty of terrorism by military courts earlier this month until legal challenges to the formation of these courts are settled. Pakistani lawyers and human rights groups say they are concerned that the military courts, 9 of which have been established so far, may violate citizens' fundamental rights and not meet the standards for fair trial. The country's top bar associations challenged the law establishing the courts in February, asking the Supreme Court to examine the legality of the military courts. Our argument is that if the Supreme Court is examining the legality and constitutionality [of military courts], and if, let's assume, it accepts our petitions [against them], and there is an execution before that, you can't reverse that, said lawyer Kamran Murtaza, one of the petitioners against the military courts. You only get your life once. If you take it away, there is no reversing that. Critics say the new courts unnecessarily bring the military into the judicial system, instead of strengthening the existing system. Pakistan's courts are plagued by inefficiency, officials say, and terrorism cases are particularly difficult to prosecute because of threats to judges, witnesses and prosecutors. The Supreme Court only stayed executions, however, and did not order military courts to stop trials and sentencing, lawyers and Supreme Court officials said. The 6 men whose executions have been stayed were among the 1st 7 people convicted and sentenced for terrorism by the military courts earlier this month. The 7th man received a life sentence. The Attorney General's office declined to comment. Military officials were not immediately available for comment. Pakistan's government and military have said that military courts are a necessary measure in the country's fight against terrorism, and are temporary. According to the constitutional amendment that led to their creation, the courts will cease to exist after 2 years unless renewed by parliament. Those convicted by military courts have the right to appeal in higher courts. The International Commission of Jurists has called Pakistan's military courts a serious blow to human rights and rule of law in the country, saying they don't meet international standards for free trial and lack transparency. (source: Wall Street Journal) Asma Jahangir files petition against death sentences by military courts Supreme Court (SC) has stayed the execution of condemned prisoners, including 6 militants convicted by military courts. The court has maintained the execution will remain stayed unless the court gives decision. Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Nasir ul Mulk remarked as we are hearing the matter of challenging some amendment, therefore, it is highly essential that these convictions be stayed. If we accept these petitions and someone is hanged in the meantime then how he will return. Justice Jawwad S Khawaja has remarked under article 9 of the constitution, protection is provided to the life of that person. Why there is any need to show haste. These sentences can be implemented later. Let us decide first. Justice Asif Saeed Khosa remarked when SC had declared military courts illegal, then 2 persons were hanged till that time. This is very sorrowful matter. We don't want such thins now. A full bench of SC comprising 17 judges and presided over by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Nasir ul Mulk, took up for hearing a petition filed by Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) seeking interim order, for staying execution of condemned prisoners Thursday. The court inquired from Attorney General (AG) that petition has come seeking staying of execution of prisoners, who have been awarded death penalties by military courts what he says about it. AG said military courts are authorized under 21st constitutional amendment to convict the accused in cases like this. This impression is wrong that some institutions, including army are sacred cow. Constitution has conferred this mandate upon military courts. Whosoever are court-martialed under clause 133-b of army act, has right to resort to appellate forum. CJP remarks you know it well that we are hearing the case related to 21st constitutional amendment, therefore it is necessary that execution of the persons be stayed under this petition. AG while objecting to it said you cannot do so. When the accused have every right to
