[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----ALA.
Aug. 22 ALABAMA: 'Unhinged' Woman Gets Death For Boy's Murder Heather Leavell-Keaton cooked anti-freeze into the food of 3-year-old Chase DeBlase and his sister Natalie. A woman has been sentenced to death by lethal injection for the 2010 murder of her common-law husband's 3-year-old son. Heather Leavell-Keaton intentionally killed Chase DeBlase, and recklessly caused the death of his 4-year-old sister Natalie, a jury in Alabama found. The prosecution alleged that Leavell-Keaton cooked anti-freeze into the children's food, and told the court that they were tortured, gagged and choked to death. Chase and Natalie's bodies were found dumped in woods near Citronelle, Alabama, and Vancleave, Mississippi. John DeBlase, their father, was sentenced to death in 2014. Judge Roderick Stout upheld a jurors' recommendation at Mobile County Circuit Court on Thursday. He ruled that Leavell-Keaton had failed to protect the children from needless suffering and death an unexplainable malice, AL.com reported. The website also reported that she is the 1st woman in Mobile County to be put on death row. Mobile District Attorney Ashley Reich told the website: We believe that Heather Keaton ... is a domineering, manipulative, deceitful and morally unhinged woman. Her actions are worthy of the death penalty. Greg Hughes, defending, told the court Leavell-Keaton had suffered from bipolar disorder from a young age and had lived with partial blindness throughout her life. (source: Sky News) ** One Lawyer's Fight For Young Blacks And 'Just Mercy' This is FRESH AIR. I'm David Bianculli, editor of the website TV Worth Watching, sitting in for Terry Gross. Last April, Anthony Ray Hinton, who had spent 30 years on death row after being wrongly convicted in two Alabama shootings, was exonerated and freed thanks to persistent efforts by the Equal Justice Initiative. After the court's reversal of his death sentence, Hinton addressed the media and expressed his gratitude, starting by saying, the sun do shine. ANTHONY RAY HINTON: The sun do shine. Thirty years ago, the prosecution seemed deemed to take my life from me. They just didn't take me from my family and friends. They had every intention of executing me for something I didn't do. But for all y'all that's snapping the cameras, I want you to know there is a God. UNIDENTIFED CROWD: Amen. HINTON: He sit high, but he looks low. UNIDENTIFED WOMAN: Thank the Lord. HINTON: He will destroy, but yet he will defend, and he defend me. And I just want to thank him. I'm not ashamed to let you know that he sent me not just a lawyer but the best lawyers - the best lawyers. And I couldn't have made it without them. And I want to say to the victims' family, I will continue to pray for you just as I have for 30 years - a miscarriage of justice not only to me but to the victims' families. BIANCULLI: The lawyer Anthony Ray Hinton was thanking is today's guest, Bryan Stevenson, the man who for decades argued for Hinton's freedom. Stevenson is the founder and executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative, which is based in Alabama. His clients are people on death row, abused and neglected children who were prosecuted as adults and placed in adult prisons, where they were beaten and sexually abused, and mentally disabled people whose illnesses helped land them in prison where their special needs were unmet. He's argued 5 cases before the U.S. Supreme Court and won a ruling holding that it's unconstitutional to sentence children to life without parole if they are 17 or younger and have not committed murder. Stevenson is a professor at NYU Law School and his awards include the MacArthur Foundation Genius Grant. A graduate of Harvard Law School, he grew up in what he describes as a poor and racially segregated settlement in Delaware. His best-selling memoir, Just Mercy, has just come out in paperback. Terry interviewed him last year when the book was first published. TERRY GROSS, HOST: Bryan Stevenson, welcome back to FRESH AIR. So there's a story I want to start with. It's a story of something that happened to you, which leads me to believe you have great understanding of what happened to Michael Brown and other unarmed black men who were shot by the police. And this is a story about when you'd been practicing at the Southern Prisoners Defense Committee for about 4 years. You're a young man in your 20s. You'd just moved into a new apartment in Atlanta, Ga. You had a roommate. And you got home after a long day at work. You sat in the car listening to Sly and the Family Stone 'cause that was, like, your pleasure of the day (laughter) listening to them on the radio. And then you see a police car that stops, and you didn't know what they were doing there. You didn't realize they were coming for you. So what happened? BRYAN STEVENSON: Right. Yeah, it was late at night. I'd been working actually on
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, CONN., N.C., FLA.
Aug. 22 TEXAS: Capital murder charge filed for woman's death on west side of town A man already charged with killing his girlfriend could now face the death penalty. Ronald Jackson appeared in court Friday as prosecutors upgraded his charges to capital murder in the beating death of 38-year-old Jennifer Herrera. Prosecutors say Jackson kidnapped Herrera with the intent of killing her and that is the reason for the upgrade. She was found dead last September inside a westside home. Jackson was arrested later that night during a traffic stop. His trial date is scheduled for November 16th but that is likely to be delayed. (source: KRIS tv news) CONNECTICUT: Death penalty, murder case rulings expose rift in high court 2 major rulings this year on the death penalty and a murder case yielded highly unusual criticism from Connecticut Supreme Court justices against their colleagues, reaching levels of acrimony that some legal experts say hasn't been seen since the 1990s. The recent conflicting opinions shine a rare light on the people whose decisions have had wide-ranging effects on residents of the state, whether it was approving gay marriage, abolishing the death penalty or ruling Hartford schools needed to be desegregated. I think it does show a depth of passion, said Todd Fernow, a professor at the University of Connecticut School of Law. You really know where these people are coming from. I think we all benefit by that. The last thing you want is a decision that is robotic and psychically distant from the issues of the day. The court ruled 4-3 on Aug. 13 to abolish the death penalty for the 11 men on the state's death row, overturning a 2012 state law that eliminated the death penalty for future crimes only. Chief Justice Chase Rogers wrote a dissenting opinion saying there was no legitimate legal basis for the majority's decision. She also joined Justices Peter Zarella and Carmen Espinosa in accusing the majority justices of tailoring their ruling based on personal beliefs. I can only conclude that the majority has improperly decided that the death penalty must be struck down because it offends the majority's subjective sense of morality, Rogers wrote. The majority opinion, written by Justice Richard Palmer, took issue with Rogers' comments, accusing her of refusing either to consider or to recognize the import of the words of our elected officials, the actions of our jurors and prosecutors, the story of our history, the path trodden by our sister states, and the overwhelming evidence that our society no longer considers the death penalty to be necessary or appropriate. Justices Dennis Eveleigh and Andrew McDonald and now-retired Justice Flemming Norcott Jr. joined Palmer in the majority. Espinosa used especially strong language in her dissents in the death penalty ruling and in a 4-2 decision in March that granted a new trial for Richard Lapointe, a brain-damaged man sentenced to life in prison for the 1987 killing of his wife's 88-year-old grandmother. Espinosa wrote that the Lapointe decision was unfettered judicial activism and a gross parody of judicial economy, and she accused the majority of being partial toward Lapointe. Justice is most certainly not attained by doffing one's judicial robe and donning an advocate's suit, Espinosa wrote. The majority opinion, again written by Palmer, took Espinosa, who arrived on the court in 2013, to task. Rather than support her opinion with legal analysis and authority ... she chooses, for reasons we cannot fathom, to dress her argument in language so derisive that it is unbefitting an opinion of this state???s highest court, Palmer wrote. Justice Espinosa dishonors this court. Fernow said he thought Espinoza???s language has been particularly forceful. I think that Justice Espinosa has brought a more intense language in advancing her positions here and perhaps has been directly name-calling the people she disagrees with in ways that have led Justice Palmer and others to take umbrage at it, he said. Palmer, Espinosa and Zarella declined to comment for this story. Rogers said in a statement that despite the strong disagreements, the court is functioning well, as shown by its 134 decisions issued since last September. There is no question that some of the issues that we are called upon to decide are extremely challenging and it should not come as a surprise to anyone that on occasion we do not agree about the result in a case and strongly express our views in our opinions, she said. Acrimonious and lively language is nothing new in the world of state and federal appeals courts. U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia is known for his colorful dissents. Espinosa's dissents may be the most strongly worded on the Connecticut court since those of former Justice Robert Berdon, who retired in 1999 after 8 years on the high court. Berdon accused fellow
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----OHIO, IND., ARK., KAN., NEB.
Aug. 22 OHIO: Judge won't dismiss capital charges against man accused of murder A Medina County judge on Tuesday denied a motion to have capital charges dismissed against a Brunswick man accused of murder. Defense attorneys Kerry O'Brien and Rhonda Kotnik alleged in December that the death penalty is unconstitutional and violates international law. Their client, James Jimmy D. Tench, is accused of killing his mother, Mary Tench, in 2013. O'Brien and Kotnik alleged the death penalty is cruel and unusual punishment, which has been deemed unconstitutional. In addition, they argued the death penalty violates United Nations agreements to respect human rights and fundamental freedoms. Society's interests do not justify the death penalty, the attorneys wrote. In response, county Prosecutor Dean Holman in May wrote that their arguments have been repeatedly rejected by the state???s highest court. Tench's motion is opposite controlling decisions of the Supreme Court of Ohio, Holman wrote. Accordingly, it must be denied. County Common Pleas Judge Joyce V. Kimbler agreed. These claims can be summarily rejected, the judge wrote. Defendant's motion is overruled. Kimbler on Tuesday also ruled on 54 other motions filed by Tench's attorneys. Among them was a motion to bar prosecutors from telling the jury not to show Tench mercy when deciding whether to put him to death. The defendant is not entitled to an instruction that mercy is a mitigating factor, Kimbler wrote, citing case law. Defense counsel may argue the issue of mercy and the prosecutor may respond accordingly, but a separate instruction is not necessary. Tench, 29, of Brunswick, faces charges of aggravated murder, murder, aggravated robbery, kidnapping and tampering with evidence. According to police and autopsies, Tench's mother died of skull fractures and blunt trauma to her head and neck. The trial is tentatively scheduled for February. Many of the 55 motions ruled upon Tuesday dealt with privacy, criminal procedure and jury issues. Of note were denials of motions to suppress evidence, to change the venue to another county, to grant Tench the right to appear at hearings without restraints and to seal the online court record from public viewing. At trial, Tench may appear without visible restraints, the judge wrote. Many details about Tench's case were not revealed to the public at the time of his mother's death. In court documents, prosecutors outlined the events leading to Tench's arrest. Mary Tench, 55, was found dead Nov. 12 in the back of her SUV, which was parked in a lot off Carquest Drive in Brunswick - less than a mile south of the Camden Lane home she and her son shared. According to court documents, her son had filed a missing person's report because he hadn't seen her since the night before. Police, who would learn later that day that Mary Tench was dead, arrived at the home to investigate her disappearance and reported they witnessed suspicious activity. When police said they wanted to use his mother's credit cards to track her possible movements, he produced one of her cards and said he'd bought toiletries and gas with it earlier that day. Tench said he had called off from work because he was so distraught about his mother's disappearance, prosecutors wrote, and detectives noted that it seemed odd for him to be out buying everyday items if he was so distraught. Tench said he was trying to keep busy so he wouldn't dwell on his mother's disappearance. He told detectives he had been crying all day and that he did not have any tears left, but police reported he did not appear to have been crying. During their conversation, Tench said the last time his mother contacted him was a missed call she allegedly placed at 11:51 p.m. the previous night. Detectives informed Tench the call was made from their Camden Lane home, according to GPS records. Mary Tench's body was found shortly afterward. Tench was arrested Nov. 13 on charges that he robbed a restaurant in Strongsville, where he had worked. Prosecutors argue the robbery and his mother's slaying are linked. They allege Tench had been stealing from his mother and robbed the restaurant to replace the money he'd stolen. Prosecutors argue Tench killed his mother because she found out he was stealing from her. Over the course of their investigation, detectives reported they found blood matching Mary Tench's DNA on Jimmy Tench's boots and photos of him purchasing the same kind of duct tape that was found binding his mother's body. When confronted with the evidence, detectives reported Tench responded: Good job. Tench awaits trial in Richland Correctional Institution, where he's serving a 5-year prison sentence for the restaurant robbery. (source: The Median Gazette) ** Plea hearing scheduled for murder suspect 'Bobby' ClarkClark accused of killing elderly couple, Doyle and
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----ARIZ., USA
Aug. 22 ARIZONA: Alleged child killer seeks change of venue Defense attorneys for a Bullhead City man facing the death penalty for allegedly murdering an 8-year-old girl last September has asked Judge Lee Jantzen for a change of venue. Attorneys Gerald Gavin and Ron Gilleo in court documents said media attention to the crimes Justin James Rector has been charged with has, and will continue to saturate this relatively tiny locale regarding his case, making the task of obtaining a jury not tainted by coverage of the alleged details of the crime, and detailed accounts of the pretrial legal activities, nearly impossible. The attorneys said Rector, 27, understands reporters are attempting to do their job, but since his life is at stake, he is concerned that the limited number of news outlets in Mohave County and the gravity of the alleged crime might prejudice the jury against him. The attorneys in court documents specifically mentioned a recorded telephone conversation between Rector and his father that was released to the media. A remorseful Rector essentially confessed to killing Bella Grogan-Cannella and told his father he intended to plead guilty. Gavin and Gilleo cited several legal precedents that support a change of venue due to pretrial publicity, particularly in death penalty cases. Their argument is that Rector's right to a fair trial can't be met in Mohave County, but the case gained national attention last fall. It sparked outrage here and elsewhere, in large part because of the lifestyle of the girl's parents, who were arrested for selling methamphetamine a couple of weeks after Grogan-Cannella's partially-clad body was found buried in a shallow grave in a wash about a mile from her home. There was no evidence indicating the child had been sexually assaulted. In a separate matter, Gavin and Gilleo accused the Mohave County jail of interfering with Rector's defense. The issue involves a defense request to provide Rector with a laptop he could keep in his cell and access at anytime to review CDs and DVDs containing the evidence against him. Rector apparently said detention officers entered his cell and reviewed his legal materials. Defense counsel would ask the court make clear Mr. Rector's legal materials are not for review and analysis by detention staff, the attorneys wrote. Prosecutors opposed giving Rector the laptop for a number of reasons, including the fact he had not yet been provided any CDs or DVDs to review. Defense attorneys countered they would not provide them because doing so could compromise Rector's case - and safety - if he had to use a room at the jail to review the material that apparently doesn't afford privacy. Rector's next court date is set for Sept. 30. Calls made after hours to Gavin at his Mesa office were not immediately returned. (source: Kingman Daiy Miner) USA: F is for Forgiveness Forgiveness is the intentional and voluntary process by which a victim undergoes a change in feelings and attitude regarding an offense, lets go of negative emotions such as vengefulness, with an increased ability to wish the offender well. Forgiveness is not always easy. About a dozen years ago in Albany, NY, I witnessed an extraordinary event: 4 men touched by violence, coming out to speak against the death penalty. Bill Babbitt, seeing his mentally ill brother Manny, who he had turned in to the authorities, executed for murder; David Kaczynski, who turned in HIS brother Ted, the Unabomber; Gary Wright, who himself was almost killed by Ted Kaczynski; and Bud Welch. They all had compelling stories, but Bud's moved me the most. In April 1995, his 23-year-old daughter, Julie Marie, was killed in the bombing of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City along with 167 others ... In 2001 Timothy McVeigh was executed for his part in the bombing. Bud Welch's story shows up in that Jesus for President book I've been reading: He said he went through a period of rage when he wanted Timothy McVeigh to die. But he remembered the words of his daughter, who had been an advocate for reconciliation against the death penalty. She used to say, Execution teaches hatred. It wasn't long before Bud had decided to interrupt the circle of hatred and violence and arranged a visit with McVeigh's family. Bud said he grew to love them dearly, and to this day says he has never felt closer to God than in that union. He decided to travel around the country, speaking about reconciliation and against the death penalty, which teaches that some people are beyond redemption. And he pleaded for the life of Timothy McVeigh. As he worked through his anger and confusion, he began to see that the spiral of redemptive violence must stop with him. And he began to look into the eyes of Timothy McVeigh, the murderer, and see the image of God. He longed for him to experience love, grace, and forgiveness. Bud believes in the
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide
Aug. 22 IRANexecutions 7 hanged, including 2 in public, in Iran 7 more prisoners were hanged this week by the fundamentalist regime in Iran, including at least 2 cases in public. 5 prisoners were hanged at dawn on Wednesday in the notorious Gohardasht Prison (Rajaishahr Prison) in Karaj, north-west of Tehran, the state-run newspaper Javan wrote. Another 2 men were hanged in public on Tuesday in the city of Zanjan, north-west Iran. A statement by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein on August 5 said: Iran has reportedly executed more than 600 individuals so far this year. Last year, at least 753 people were executed in the country. ** Fallen For Freedom: 20,000 PMOI Martyrs The mullahs' regime in Iran has to date executed more than 120,000 political prisoners, the vast majority members and supporters of the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran, PMOI (Mujahedin-e Khalq, MEK). Through tremendous effort the Iranian Resistance has managed to collate and publish a partial list of the 120,000 victims of political executions in Iran under the mullahs' regime. The 1st volume of the 'book of martyrs' contains the list of names and particulars of 20,000 members and supporters of the PMOI who have made the ultimate sacrifice in the struggle for freedom from the clutches of religious tyranny in Iran. The leaders of the clerical regime, including Ruhollah Khomeini, Ali Khamenei, Ali-Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, Mohammad Khatami, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Hassan Rouhani and other senior ministers and officials have played a direct role in this massacre. The compilation of the list of 20,000 martyrs in 1,000 pages was carried out in 2 stages and took nearly 100,000 hours. The photographs of 4,358 martyrs appear in this book. Of the martyrs listed, 681 died under torture, 608 were assassinated or were victims of other terrorist plots by the clerical regime. Another 1,736 persons were martyred during operations and clashes. A number of martyrs were beheaded, burned, mutilated, buried alive or thrown from heights. Over 16,000 were executed. The level of education and occupation of 12,975 of the martyrs have been registered in this list. The list includes 230 persons with a PhD or Master of Science degree, 734 with a Bachelors of Science degree, 4,010 high school and college graduates, 3,510 university students and 2,310 high school students. Of 13,344 martyrs in the list whose ages were verified, 789 were under the age of 18 at the time of their execution, including adolescents between 11- 13 years old. There are also 16 other children in this list. The 1st volume of the 'book of martyrs' also contains the names of 200 physicians and medical professionals, 784 elementary and high school teachers, 381 civil servants, 410 army officers, NCOs and conscript soldiers, 497 businessmen, 145 technicians and 860 laborers and farmers. There are 93 artists and 145 athletes, including the former captain of Iran's national soccer team, included in the list. 70 of the martyrs were PMOI candidates in the first Majlis (Parliament) elections after the 1979 revolution, and 176 were political prisoners under the Shah's regime. There are 62 women listed who were pregnant at the time of their execution. Also included are 410 families who have lost at least three of their relatives in the wave of executions. At the end of this list, there is information on 83 men and women who died or suffered a stroke after hearing news of the execution of their children or loved ones. (source for both: NCR-Iran) INDIA: CBSE invites students to debate death penalty The Central Board of Secondary Education has invited the 16,000 schools affiliated to it to join a debate on abolishing capital punishment weeks after Yakub Memon's hanging re-ignited the issue. The country's largest school board, which is collaborating with the ministry of social justice and empowerment to commemorate the 125th birth anniversary of B.R. Ambedkar, in a circular issued to the schools on Thursday asked them to conduct mock parliamentary debates. One of the subjects chosen for debate is whether capital punishment is unjust and degrading. Uniform civil code, free speech and the impact of consumerism are among the 10 topics identified by the board for discussion. The schools can hold the debates at any time during the year. The former principal of Delhi's Sanskriti School, Gowri Ishwaran, welcomed the move. Capital punishment is an international issue. Uniform civil code is a touchy issue. But the children of higher secondary classes need to discuss to understand the issues in detail, she said. Students of Classes XI and XII will participate. (source: abplive.in) *** Is deathpenalty a deterrent? The criticism that, on merits, justice has not been done to Yakub Memon is absurd. But the
