[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, CONN., PENN., FLA., LA., OHIO
Aug. 13 TEXAS: David Conley, alleged killer of 6 children, says they were becoming 'monsters' Inside a segregation cell in a Houston jail, David Conley waits, passing the time talking to reporters about the tumultuous relationship he had with his on-again, off-again girlfriend over more than a decade. Earlier this week, he was charged with numerous counts of capital murder after he allegedly slipped through an unlocked window at her home and fatally shot her, her common-law husband and her 6 children - 1 by 1 - in the back of the head. Authorities said Conley, 49, killed Valerie Jackson, 40, her husband, Dwayne Jackson, and the 6 children, including his son, 13-year-old Nathaniel. I love Nate. I love Nate to death, he told KPRC-TV earlier this week. Though, he said, he has questioned for years whether he is the child's biological father. Conley spoke Wednesday about the children who were growing into monsters and Jackson whom he blamed for letting them run wild like they were gangsters. I understand how it looks, but it's not like that, he told the Houston Chronicle. The Bible says, 'Thou shall respect your mother and father or your days shall be short. I'm not God, but you know, then, I'm the man of the house. Conley said his attorney advised him not to talk about the allegations against him but in an interview he told a KHOU-TV reporter: I'm only human. In jailhouse interviews, Conley has instead focused on his relationship with Jackson who, over the years, bounced back and forth between him and Dwayne Jackson. He claimed Valerie Jackson had cheated on him with Dwayne - a demon and a monster who was harassing him. He tried to pimp out over me and take everything, rule over my house. How would you feel? he told KPRC-TV. Dwayne was a monster and Valerie, she was no Good Samaritan either. They did evil things all the time. Conley also said Jackson wouldn't discipline the children so they were growing up to be monsters, talking back and refusing to clean up after themselves. They were disrespectful, rude in school, he told the TV news station. I'm not saying they're dead because of that. I'm not even saying I killed them. When Conley met Jackson in 1999, he said, he was trying to do the right thing in life. He had been in trouble for auto theft, cocaine possession and evading arrest, according to court records. The next year, the 2 had a daughter. Jackson's mother has reportedly had custody of the daughter for years. Around that time, Conley was arrested and charged in a domestic violence dispute. Jackson told police Conley had cut her neck, punched her in the face and wrapped an electrical cord around the baby's neck. The handling of that case became an issue this week after he was charged in the murders when local media reported that, given Conley's previous felony convictions, the prosecutor in that case could have sought the maximum sentence - 25 years to life - but opted in 2002 to accept a plea deal instead for 5 years behind bars. Conley said the domestic abuse allegations against him were all lies. Basically what happened to that case is what happens with so many domestic violence cases: The victim recanted her story, Jeff McShan with the Harris County District Attorney's Office told KHOU-TV. McShan said Jackson then blamed the alleged abuse on an ex-boyfriend. We went all the way up to the trial date hoping she would tell the truth about what happened, show up for court, but we couldn???t even locate her, he said. Conley and Jackson then reportedly had a son, Nathaniel, though Conley said paternity was never proven. For years, Jackson went back and forth between Conley and Dwayne Jackson. I never tried to hold her back, Conley told the Houston Chronicle, but then she would always try to run off and be with him. Conley had 5 children with Dwayne Jackson. Early on, Conley was reportedly married to another woman. His estranged wife, Vernessa Conley, told Fox News that Conley had abused her years ago. He grabbed me by my hair and dragged me out of the bed and he drug me over the floor and he took an extension cord, the orange ones that you use, she said, and he wrapped it around my neck and I blacked out. If I hadn't left he probably would have killed me, she added. Conley and Jackson's troubles came to a head last month when Conley allegedly attempted to discipline Jackson's 10-year-old with a belt. Police said she tried to grab the belt from him but he slammed her head into a refrigerator. Police issued a warrant for his arrest. Conley told the Houston Chronicle he left the house that he claims he shared with Jackson and went to a motel. Ultimately, he decided to move out but, when he realized he didn't have anywhere else to go, he went back, according to KPRC-TV. On Saturday morning, Conley discovered Jackson had changed the locks, police said, so he slipped through an unlocked window. At some point
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----ARK., COLO., ARIZ., USA
Aug. 13 ARKANSAS: Arkansas buys lethal injection drugs, aims to end execution hiatus Arkansas has bought drugs it plans to use for lethal injections, officials said on Wednesday, as it looks to end a decade-long hiatus on executions that is the longest of any Southern U.S. state. Arkansas law allows information on the drugs used in executions and the vendors supplying them to remain secret. Local reports said the drugs included midazolam, a sedative death penalty opponents had challenged as inappropriate for executions, arguing it cannot even achieve the level of unconsciousness required for surgery. On June 29, the Supreme Court found the drug did not violate the U.S. Constitution's ban on cruel and unusual punishment, a ruling that provoked a caustic debate among the justices about the death penalty. The Arkansas attorney general, Leslie Rutledge, acknowledged through a spokesman that the chemicals planned for use in Arkansas were on hand but declined further comment. The Arkansas Department of Correction did not return a call seeking comment. 8 of the 35 men on Arkansas's death row, 20 of whom are black, have exhausted all their appeals, according to Rutledge. It is the attorney general's responsibility to ask the governor to set execution dates, but Judd Deere, Rutledge's press secretary, said she had no timetable to offer on that at this time. Arkansas has not put to death a condemned inmate in 10 years. Appeals by death row prisoners and legal disputes over the constitutionality of drugs and procedures in capital cases have idled the Arkansas death chamber since 2005, when Eric Nance, 45, was put to death by lethal injection. Earlier this year, Republican Governor Asa Hutchinson signed into law a measure giving prison officials the option of using a single large dose of barbiturate or a combination of 3 drugs to cause death. Midazolam has been used in Florida and Oklahoma, where a troubled execution last year prompted the Supreme Court challenge. The drug is also used in Ohio and Arizona, which do not have any executions currently planned for the rest of the year, according to the Death Penalty Information Center, which monitors U.S. capital punishment. States with the death penalty have been scrambling to find chemicals for lethal injection mixes for the past several years after pharmaceutical companies, mostly in Europe, banned sales of drugs previously used in executions for ethical reasons. (source: Reuters) COLORADO: Prosecutor in case involving last man executed says he believes Nathan Dunlap will be put to deathBob Grant says death penalty is a deterrent The man who prosecuted Gary Davis -- the last man executed in Colorado -- says the death penalty is a deterrent. I know Gary Davis won't kill anybody else, said former Adams County District Attorney Bob Grant. I think if there is 1 person who is thinking about robbing a 7-Eleven, ono who doesn't take a gun because they might have to face a death penalty trial, then that's a deterrent. I know that happens. Grant said there are certain murder cases, about 5 %, that warrant the death penalty. He said Davis was one of them. The Byers man was convicted of kidnapping, raping and murdering Virginia May. He and his wife, Rebecca Fincham, kidnapped May from in front of her children and drove her to a deserted field, where Davis raped her and then shot her 14 times with a rifle. He was executed after spending just 10 years on death row. Gary Davis was executed because he wanted to be executed, Grant said. He went through his 1st round of appeals and then told his lawyers that he didn't want anymore. When asked if it was just a coincidence that 2 death penalty trials were underway at the same time this summer in Colorado, Grant replied, It's unusual in the same sense that it's unusual that there are mass murders within 6 months of each other, which is what happened in 2012. 12 people were killed and 70 injured during a mass shooting at a movie theater on July 20, 2012. 3 months later, 5 people were stabbed to death at Fero's Bar and Grill. When asked about the future of the death penalty in Colorado, Grant said, That's a good question. You can't look at the Holmes (theater shooting) case and draw any conclusions about the future of the death penalty because it is such an individual case. He said it was an appropriate case for a jury to decide. You had 12 people, 70 injured, he said, but the mental health issue is exactly where the jury landed and where I predicted they would land initially, so you can't predict from the Holmes case. Grant said he'd like to see what the Governor promised years ago: a public dialogue about the death penalty. Let's find out what the people think, he said. I don't think the Governor wants to know what people think because I believe they think 2 to 1 that the death penalty is still appropriate. When asked
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide
Aug. 13 PAKISTAN: Pakistan announces death penalty for 6 behind school attack Pakistan's army on Thursday announced the death penalty for 6 militants linked to an assault on a school in Peshawar that killed 151 people, mainly school children, in the country's deadliest terror attack. The convicts were given fair trial by following all the legal formalities and offering/ providing them legal aid and defence counsels. Today the sentences of death have been confirmed by the Chief of Army Staff, a statement issued on the military's website said. The men were convicted by military courts which were established in the wake of the attack in December last year. A seventh man was given a life sentence. (source: Yahoo News) INDONESIA: Indonesian Chief Justice Confirms Triple J Poll Influenced Bali Nine Duo Execution Just months after national youth broadcaster triple j was scrutinised for conducting a poll which asked whether Australians convicted of drug smuggling in countries that carry capital punishment should face their penalties, it has been revealed that the poll in question did influence the execution of Bali Nine duo, Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran. As Fairfax reports, former Indonesian constitutional court chief justice Jimly Asshiddiqie, who was heavily involved in the anti-death penalty lobby in the lead up to the 29 April executions, said that Indonesian President Joko Widodo made the decision personally, though there were influences, including the triple j poll featured on the Hack program, which the station later defended. Of 2123 respondents to the controversial poll, 52 % agreed that Australians convicted of drug trafficking in a country that carries capital punishment should be sentenced to death. Asshidiqie said that President Widodo concluded that: the majority of the people in Australia don't care about the executions - only the minority gets angry with Indonesia. So they think this is only about Abbott's politics, not Australia as a whole, Asshidique said. The [Indonesian] government thinks this is not hurting the people of Australia, it's only elites, who claim to be popular by misusing public anger. Asshidiqie said that the poll made the Indonesian government become more strong in their position, which was already influenced by a number of other factors, including former convicted drug smuggler, Schapelle Corby. Asshidiqie said that Corby and her family's reaction to her clemency in 2012 and eventual release in 2014 were among the reasons the Government formed negative views of the accused. She still spoke very badly about Indonesia. She never showed her thanks, or expressed any thanks to Indonesia, he said of her 2012 clemency. This created a very bad impression among the Indonesian public. Furthermore, Assidiqie referred to Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott's comments in which he reminded Indonesia of Australia's 1 billion dollars in tsunami aid as very bad and that Deputy Leader Julie Bishop was more diplomatic. (source: themusic.com) IRANexecutions 3 Prisoners Executed For Drug Offences 3 prisoners were hanged in the Rajaishahr prison of Karaj (West of tehran) Wednesday morning August 11, reported the government daily newspaper Iran. The prisoners who were not identified by name, were charged with manufacturing homemade synthetic narcotic drugs in southern part of Tehran. They were between 24 and 37 years old. They were executed as their prison terms were ended. (source: Iran Human Rights) ZIMBABWE: 'Limit court's discretion on death penalty' A legal think-tank has urged local MPs to exercise diligence when debating proposed amendments to the General Laws Amendment (GLA) Bill claiming it carried clauses which were likely to bring back the death penalty. In its latest Bill Watch report, Veritas said the clauses were enshrined in the Criminal Law Code. Veritas said legislators should demand separate amendments to the Criminal Code instead of allowing it to be included in the omnibus General Laws Amendment Bill. The GLA Bill is currently at its Second Reading Stage in the National Assembly and will collectively deal with amendments to about 126 pieces of legislation to be aligned with the Constitution, including the Criminal Law Code. In fact the amendments (to the Criminal Law Code) should have been made in a separate Bill rather than added to an omnibus Bill (General Laws Amendment Bill), the Veritas report said. The Bill will amend section 47 of the Code to reintroduce the death penalty for murder, and the Bill purports to lay down circumstances which a court must regard as aggravating and so justifying the imposition of the death penalty. The death penalty had been outlawed by the Constitution and the proposed amendments to the Code within the GLA Bill were said to allow the courts to decide for themselves what amounted to murder in aggravating
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----CONN.
Aug. 13 CONNECTICUT: Connecticut's top court overturns death penalty in state Connecticut's highest court on Thursday overturned the death penalty in the state, saying it's unconstitutional. The ruling by a divided court, 4-3, means the 11 men on the state's death row would no longer be subject to execution orders. Those inmates include Joshua Komisarjevsky and Steven Hayes, who were sentenced to die for killing a mother and her 2 daughters in a 2007 home invasion in Cheshire. The state had passed a law in April 2012 to repeal the death penalty only for future crimes. The ruling comes in an appeal from Eduardo Santiago, whose attorneys had argued that any execution carried out after repeal would constitute cruel and unusual punishment. Santiago faced the possibility of lethal injection for a 2000 murder-for-hire killing in West Hartford. The repeal eliminated the death penalty while setting life in prison without the possibility of release as the punishment for crimes formerly considered capital offenses. It was passed after Komisarjevsky and Hayes were sentenced to lethal injection for killing a mother and her 2 daughters in a 2007 home invasion in Cheshire that made national headlines. Santiago was sentenced to lethal injection in 2005 for the murder-for-hire killing of 45-year-old Joseph Niwinski. But the state Supreme Court overturned the death sentence and ordered a new penalty phase in 2012, saying the trial judge wrongly withheld key evidence from the jury regarding the severe abuse Santiago suffered while growing up. The ruling came just weeks after lawmakers passed the death-penalty repeal. Assistant Public Defender Mark Rademacher argued any new death sentence would violate Santiago's constitutional rights to equal protection and due process. He said it would be wrong for some people to face the death penalty while others face life in prison for similar murders. He told the court that Connecticut had declared its opposition to the death penalty and it wouldn't make sense to execute anybody now. Senior Assistant State's Attorney Harry Weller had argued there were no constitutional problems with the new law, and death-row inmates simply face a penalty under the statute that was in effect when they were convicted. He also argued that the court could not repeal just part of the new law. Connecticut has had just one execution since 1960. Serial killer Michael Ross was put to death 2005 after winning a legal fight to end his appeals. (source: Associated Press) ___ A service courtesy of Washburn University School of Law www.washburnlaw.edu DeathPenalty mailing list DeathPenalty@lists.washlaw.edu http://lists.washlaw.edu/mailman/listinfo/deathpenalty Unsubscribe: http://lists.washlaw.edu/mailman/options/deathpenalty
