[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide
Sept. 15 BANGLADESH: Man to walk gallows for killing wife in Barisal A Barisal court yesterday sentenced a man to death for killing his wife 8 years ago. The death penalty awardee is Sohrab Akon, 40, son of late Lal Mia Akon of Toyka village under Muladi upazila of the district. Adib Ali, additional district and sessions judge, handed down the verdict after examining case record and 11 witnesses. The court also fined Sohrab Tk 50 thousand. According to the prosecution, Sohrab took his pregnant wife Mili Begum to Dhaka for consulting a doctor on October 20, 2007. While returning to Muladi, Sohrab pushed Mili into the Meghna River from a launch, leaving her dead. On May 10, 2008, Mini Begum, sister of Mili, lodged a case with Muladi Police Station, accusing Sohrab of killing her sister. Sub-Inspector Abdur Rahim, also the investigating officer of the case, pressed charges against Sohrab on November 1, 2008. Away in Faridpur, a court here on Monday sentenced a man to life imprisonment for killing his wife in 2011, reports UNB. The convict, Shahid Thakur, is a resident of Shyamsundarpur village in Sadar upazila. (source: The Daily Star) INDIA: Death sentence rate highest in J&K. Data prepared by National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) has revealed that a person convicted of murder in the state of Jammu & Kashmir has the highest probability of being handed the death penalty than anywhere else in India. In J&K, the likelihood is 6.8 times higher than the national average and in Delhi the convict is 6 times more likely to be put on death row. These stark differences in sentencing, based on NCRB data, are part of a study called 'Hanging in Balance: Arbitrariness in Death Penalty Adjudication in India', which was cited by the Law Commission as "another axis of disparity in death penalty jurisprudence. The study looked at the rate of imposition of death sentences for murder convictions in various states. The disparities in sentencing reveal how a person can receive different punishment for the same crime. For instance instance, a man convicted of murder in Jharkhand is 2.4 times more likely to get the death sentence than the national average while the possibility increases to 2.5 times in Gujarat, three times in West Bengal and 3.2 times in Karnataka. The differences among many neighbouring states were found to be high. A murder convict in Karnataka is 5.8 times as likely to get the death sentence compared to Tamil Nadu. A convict in Gujarat is again 5.8 times more likely to get death than one in Rajasthan. Similarly, Maharashtra sends murder convicts to death row 2.9 times more frequently than Madhya Pradesh. In absolute numbers, Uttar Pradesh sentences the most number of persons to death row. But in terms of the proportion of death sentences to murder convictions, it is almost at par with the national average. In Karnataka, which is the 2nd largest contributor to death row sentencing, the death sentence rate was 3.2 times the national average. Citing this disparity, the Law Commission headed by Justice (retired) A P Shah has recommended gradual abolition of death penalty with the exception of terror cases. To strengthen its argument on the "excessive use of death penalty", the commission cited data from Supreme Court analyzed by the Death Penalty Litigation Clinic. Of these, 1,512 cases were decided by the high court. In 62.8% of these 1,512 cases, the appellate courts commuted the sentence while upholding the conviction. In another 28.9 % cases, the convicts were acquitted, pointing to an even deeper systemic problem relating to the quality of adjudication in the lower courts. In all, the death sentence was confirmed in only 4.3% of the cases. The Supreme Court's data thus shows that trial courts had erroneously imposed the death penalty in 95.7% of cases. (source: The Kashmir Monitor) EGYPT: 2 years of terror: Death sentences in Egypt since 2013 Egypt has seen seven death sentences carried out and 246 overturned, with a further 433 still subject to appeal, out of a total of 1,695 death sentences referred to the Grand Mufti since the military coup that deposed the country's 1st democratically-elected president Mohamed Morsi in July 2013. Most of the cases are related to protests against Morsi's ouster; some are old cases that resurfaced following the coup, while the rest are "terrorism" cases with the majority of defendants being active members of the Muslim Brotherhood. Anadolu Agency has compiled a list of all death sentences issued in Egypt in the period from July 2013 to September 2015 according, to judicial and human rights sources. Death sentences carried out On 17 May, Egypt's Ministry of Interior executed six defendants accused of membership in a terrorist group in the case known as the "Arab Sharkas Cell"; the prisoners were all arrested during a raid on a house believed to be harbourin
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----PENN., VA., OKLA., COLO.
Sept. 15 PENNSYLVANIA: Citing pope, activists call for end to death penalty Death-penalty foes will gather at a Germantown church tomorrow for a prayer vigil, during which they will pray for an end to capital punishment. The vigil will be at noon at St. Vincent de Paul Roman Catholic Church, 400 E. Price St. It is free and open to the public. Harold Wilson, a Philadelphia man exonerated in 2005 in a 1988 triple murder, will speak at the vigil about holding onto hope while living on death row. Pennsylvanians for Alternatives to the Death Penality, Witness to Innocence, various clergy and other activists organized the event to coincide with tomorrow's scheduled execution in Oklahoma of Richard Glossip, who was convicted in the 1997 murder of an Oklahoma City motel owner. Sister Helen Prejean, a noted anti-death-penalty crusader, has championed his case as a wrongful conviction. With Pope Francis' upcoming Philadelphia visit, organizers are citing the pontiff's past calls for an end to the death penalty as a rallying cry. "It is impossible to imagine that states today cannot make use of another means than capital punishment to defend people's lives from an unjust aggressor," Pope Francis said in October 2014 to representatives of the International Association of Penal Law. (source: philly.com) VIRGINIA: Convicted murderer's attorneys: He was high on PCP during Harvey family slayings Court-appointed attorneys representing death row inmate Ricky Javon Gray argued today that a federal court should be forced to take a closer look at Gray's contention that his earlier lawyers were ineffective and did not perform up to acceptable standards. They've argued that the lawyers failed to investigate and present evidence at Gray's trial that he was intoxicated by PCP when he murdered a South Richmond couple and their 2 young daughters. Gray was convicted in the slayings of the Harvey family on New Year's Day 2006, along with accomplice Ray Dandridge. Gray, 38, was sentenced to life in prison for the murders of Bryan Harvey, 49, and his wife Kathryn, 39. He was sentenced to death for the murders of their daughters Stella, 9, and Ruby, 4. The family was found dead in their burning home. They had been forced into their basement and tied up. Their throats were slit and they were beaten with hammers. "This was a crime crying out for an explanation," said Elizabeth Hambourger of the Durham, N.C.-based Center for Death Penalty Litigation. The PCP could have been that explanation, she said. Gray and Dandridge also murdered another Richmond family: Ashley Baskerville, 21; her mother, Mary Tucker, 47; and stepfather, Percyell Tucker, 55. Ashley Baskerville knew Gray and Dandridge and was a lookout when Gray killed the Harveys, authorities said. Gray also confessed he killed his wife in 2005 in Pennsylvania. Gray was not tried in the Baskerville-Tucker killings, but would have been had he not been sentenced to death in the Harvey case. Dandridge pleaded guilty and was sentenced to life in prison. Gray's attorneys want the 3-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn a federal judge's decision throwing out Gray's request. The Virginia Attorney General's Office is opposing the attempt. State officials have said that if the 4th Circuit rules against Gray and there are no other obstacles, he could have an execution date set for late winter or early spring. (source: Richmond Times-Dispatch) OKLAHOMAimpending execution Oklahoma May Execute an Innocent Man on Wednesday What the case of Richard Glossip says about the state of capital punishment in the United States. In June, the US Supreme Court cleared the way for Oklahoma to execute Richard Glossip - who has been sitting on death row since 1998, when he was convicted of 1st-degree murder - using a controversial drug that's been implicated in several botched executions. Barring a last-minute stay by Gov. Mary Fallin, the state plans to put him to death on Wednesday. But if it does, it may execute an innocent man. Glossip's landmark Supreme Court petition challenging the method of his execution is a footnote to a larger story that highlights the death penalty's many flaws. Here's the backstory: In 1997, Glossip was working at the Best Budget Motel in Oklahoma City, when the body of his boss, motel owner Barry Van Treese, was discovered in Room 102. Within a week of finding the body, the police arrested Justin Sneed, a 19-year-old handyman and meth addict who worked at the motel. Sneed confessed to beating Van Treese to death with a baseball bat. His DNA was all over the crime scene, and his fingerprints were found on a soda cup in Van Treese's car. But egged on by police officers who promised him he could avoid a death sentence, Sneed claimed that Glossip had hired him to kill their boss. No physical evidence linked Glossip to the crime. (Prosec
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide
Sept. 15 CHINA: Prisoners on death row to get free legal aid Convicted criminals on death row will be entitled to free legal representation under a new rule drafted by the Ministry of Justice, a ministry source told China Daily. The ministry will assign lawyers to condemned prisoners who cannot afford one during the review of their sentences to ensure equal access to justice, according to the source. The source said officials from the ministry and the high court are "finalizing some detailed implementation measures and the rule will be released in the next few months". The source asked not to be identified because she was not authorized to discuss the draft plan with the media. Under Chinese law, all death sentences must be reviewed by the Supreme People's Court before defendants can be executed. Currently, defendants who cannot afford to hire lawyers are not guaranteed representation during a death penalty review. Che Xingyi, a lawyer at Beijing's Yingke Law Firm, which specializes in representing clients in death penalty cases, said the top court conducts reviews based on files from local courts and lawyers' previous defense statements. This method has limitations and is not sufficient to ensure justice, Che said. It is "more than necessary" to offer legal aid during a review of a death sentence, he said. "If the lawyers discover flaws in sentencing criteria or new evidence, they will fully defend the suspects and communicate with the judges quickly to stop imminent execution." China does not reveal the number of prisoners on death row. However, last year, Chinese lawyers provided free legal aid to nearly 40,000 suspects facing life imprisonment or the death penalty, a year-on-year increase of 7 %, according to the ministry. The new rule follows a recent meeting of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, which stressed the importance of legal aid and was attended by the country's top leaders. Paul Dalton, team leader for the China-EU Access to Justice Program, which was created to strengthen equality of justice in China especially among disadvantaged groups, recommended that Chinese judicial authorities be cautious when imposing the death penalty. The top court would better protect prisoners' rights by holding public hearings during a death penalty review, Dalton said. This would enable judges to listen to defense arguments by defendants and their lawyers instead of just reading the files. (source: ecns.cn) INDIA: Court gives convicts chance to defend the indefensibleCourt asks defence to present its case as arguments begin in 7/11 blasts case. As the arguments on sentencing of the July 11 train blasts started on Monday, the defence made an unusual request: that the probation officer and jail superintendent put on record the conduct of the convicts in the 9 years that they were in prison. This, they said, would help establish whether the convicts could be reformed and rehabilitated in society. There was more. The defence also wanted a few witnesses to testify in court to demonstrate that the accused can be reformed. However, as soon as the application was filed, special judge Yatin D Shinde responded: "How can I call for such a report?" Orders on the both the applications will be passed on Tuesday. The defence lawyers had done their homework well. As soon as the judge asked the defence to argue its case, Yug Chaudhry opened his arguments stating that if a convict had to be sentenced to death, the court has to arrive at a conclusion that there is no room for reform. "The court has to record a finding, based on hard evidence. I repeat, based on 'hard evidence'," he said. Chaudhry argued that the jail records of the past nine years would bring out the character of the convicts and their chances of being re-integrated into the mainstream. "What better evidence than the report of a qualified officer, a government employee, to ascertain if there is any chance of reformation." Special Public Prosecutor Raja Thakre opposed the application saying that such a report could only be called for by the state and not by the defence. The convicts moved another application: that their medical files be put on record. The judge responded by asking them to 'keep it short'. Chaudry said 2 of the accused -bomb planters Kamal Ansari and Naved Khan - were undergoing psychiatric treatment while another planter, Faizal Shaikh, was suffering from brain tumor. When Chaudhry continued to list the ailments the accused had suffered during nine years in jail, he was directed by the court to restrict his arguments to 'terminal illnesses.' To which he retorted: "I hope each person's life is unique in my lord's eyes." "Definitely," the judge said, adding: "However, restrict your arguments." The prosecution opposed this application saying that the lawyer himself had suffered a bypass in these 9
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide
Sept. 15 BANGLADESH: 2 men get death penalty for murdering woman and her child at Narayanganj A court has awarded death penalty to 2 men for murdering a woman and her child in Narayanganj 4 years ago. They had raped the woman and then killed her to cover it up. Narayanganj's additional district and sessions judge Miaji Shahidul Islam Choudhury handed down the death sentence to Dulal Hossain and Abul Hossain alias Kashem on Tuesday. Both were present in court at that time. Another accused, Babul Hossain, was given 7 years in prison, said additional public prosecutor Abdur Rahim. He said all the 3 convicts were fined TK 5 each, failing to pay which would mean an additional 6 months in prison for them. Case details indicate that 3 convicts enticed a 25-year old woman who had come to Darigaon in Araihazar Upazilla of Narayanganj seeking help on Mar 5, 2011. The woman, who had a 6-year-old son, was paid Tk 90 and taken to a graveyard, where she was raped. Dulal Hossain raised an alarm that the woman might inform others in the locality about the rape. At that point, Kashem strangulated her with a piece of cloth. When her son started crying, Dulal Hossain smashed his head with a digger. The murderers dumped the dead bodies in the graveyard and covered them up with some soil. But locals discovered them and brought in the police. A case was filed in Araihazar police station after the bodies were found. Babul Hossain confessed in court about the rape and murder after his arrest. Later, police filed a charge sheet against the 3 accused. But the woman and her child could not yet be identified. (source: benews24.com) KUWAIT: Death sentence for 7 Shiite mosque bombers 7 defendants were sentenced to death on Tuesday for the Islamist militant suicide bombing of a mosque in June in Kuwait that killed 27 people, the Kuwaiti news agency KUNA reported. 8 other suspects were given prison sentences ranging from 2 to 15 years by a Kuwaiti criminal court, KUNA reported. 14 other defendants were acquitted. Islamic State claimed responsibility for the June 26 bombing, when a Saudi suicide bomber blew himself inside the Imam al-Sadeq mosque in Kuwait City. Hundreds of Shi'ite Muslims were performing Friday noon prayers when the bomb went off. Kuwait cracked down on Islamist militants after the bombing, the country's worst militant attack. Officials say the bombing was aimed at stoking strife between Sunnis and Shi'ites in the majority Sunni state, where the 2 sects have usually coexisted in peace. [IDn:L5N0ZV35D] The 29 people indicted on terrorism charges in relation to the attack included Kuwaitis, Saudis, Pakistanis and stateless residents. The charges ranged from premeditated murder to possession of explosives. Death sentences are subject to appeal in Kuwait. The Arabic daily al-Qabas said in July that the state prosecutor was seeking the death penalty for 11 of the defendants. (source: ghanaweb.com) *** Overturn death sentences in mosque bombing case 7 death sentences handed down by a Kuwait City court today are a misguided response to the bombing of Imam Sadiq Mosque in June this year and must be overturned, Amnesty International said. The armed group calling itself the Islamic State claimed responsibility for the bombing of the Shi'a mosque, in which a Saudi Arabian man blew himself up during Friday prayers, killing 26 others and wounding 227. It was the worst act of violence in Kuwait since the 1991 Iraqi invasion. The Kuwaiti authorities announced that they arrested 29 people in early August in connection with the bombing. "These death sentences are a misguided response to what was an utterly heinous and callous criminal act," said James Lynch, Acting Middle East and North Africa Deputy Director at Amnesty International. "The death penalty is not the way to tackle terror, and these sentences do nothing to build a culture of rule of law and tolerance which Kuwait needs now more than ever. They must be overturned." Death sentences are subject to appeal in Kuwait. 5 of the 7 defendants sentenced to the death were convicted in absentia. According to the Kuwaiti state news agency, 8 other defendants were given prison sentences ranging from 2 to 15 years and 14 others were acquitted. Background In the wake of the mosque bombing on 26 June, Amnesty International urged Kuwait to respond to the atrocity within the law and in compliance with its international human rights obligations. The organization called for thorough, effective and transparent investigations in line with international standards, leading to fair trials without recourse to the death penalty. Amnesty International opposes the death penalty in all cases without exception, regardless of the nature or circumstances of the crime, the guilt, innocence or other characteristics of the offender or the method used by the state to carry ou
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----CONN., PENN., DEL., VA., FLA.
Sept. 15 CONNECTICUT: Steiker study influential in Connecticut's decision to abolish death penalty A study on capital punishment co-authored by Harvard Law School Professor Carol Steiker '86 and her brother Jordan Steiker '88 a professor at the University of Texas School of Law, was influential in Connecticut's recent decision to abolish the death penalty in that state. In August, the Connecticut Supreme Court ruled that executing inmates on the state's death row would violate the constitution of Connecticut, effectively striking down the death penalty. This decision came 3 years after Connecticut abolished capital punishment, but left death sentences intact for inmates already on death row. In its decision, the court relied heavily on a report commissioned by The American Law Institute, the nation's most influential non-partisan law reform organization. The 2009 study, "Report to the ALI Concerning Capital Punishment," completed by Carol Steiker and Jordan Steiker, examined the effectiveness of the Model Penal Code's death penalty provisions, which were enacted by the ALI in 1962 and were designed to make the administration of the death penalty less arbitrary. "It is gratifying to have our ALI report read by jurists and cited in this pathbreaking decision," said Carol Steiker. "This kind of impact is exactly why Jordan and I took on the project at the ALI's request." The Steikers' study found that there are too many insuperable obstacles, both structural and institutional, to administering the death penalty in a non-arbitrary way, and recommended against a new death penalty reform project on the grounds of its likely futility. The report led to The American Law Institute's vote to withdraw the capital punishment provisions in the Model Penal Code. In support of the decision to strike down the death penalty, the Connecticut Supreme Court opinion cited declining death penalty use across most jurisdictions, as found in the 2009 study. The total number of executions carried out nationally has fallen by more than 60 % from the post-Furman peak of 1999, dropping from 98 in 1999 to 39 in 2013, and then falling again to 35 - a 20 year low - in 2014. Of the 35 executions carried out in 2014, approximately 90 % occurred in just 4 states: Texas, Missouri, Florida, and Oklahoma. The court's opinion also cited the conclusions reached by the ALI study to the effect that "the preconditions for an adequately administered regime of capital punishment do not currently exist and cannot reasonably be expected to be achieved" (emphasis added by the Connecticut Supreme Court). Read the full opinion online. The Steikers have been frequent collaborators in scholarship, litigation, and law reform. They are currently co-writing a book about the past half-century's experiment with the constitutional regulation of capital punishment in America. Carol Steiker currently directs, with Professor of Practice Alex Whiting, the new Criminal Justice Program of Study, Research, and Advocacy, a new initiative at Harvard Law School that seeks to analyze problems within the U.S. criminal justice system and look for solutions. The program was made possible by a recent gift that allowed the school to expand the mission of its existing Criminal Justice Program of Study beyond advising students to include research and policy advising in partnership with criminal justice agencies and NGOs. In an interview with the Harvard Gazette in February, Steiker, who has done extensive research on capital cases, said her interest in criminal justice was sparked during law school. "It began to appear to me that criminal justice was a great engine of American inequality," she said. As a 2014-2015 Rita E. Hauser Fellow at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University, Steiker focused her research on providing a better understanding of the roles played by the Constitution and the Supreme Court in the past, present, and future of the death penalty in America. In May, Steiker gave a talk on Capital Punishment and American Law. (source: Harvard Law Today) PENNSYLVANIA: Pa. mom to pursue mental health defense in death of child A mother accused of killing her 20-month-old son by pushing him off a bridge into an eastern Pennsylvania river before jumping in herself will pursue an insanity or mental health defense at trial, according to court documents. Johnesha Perry, 20, is charged with criminal homicide and child endangerment in the May death of Zymeir Perry. Lehigh County prosecutors say they plan to seek the death penalty if she is convicted of first-degree murder. Defense attorneys said in a recent motion that their client has a long history of mental illness, The (Allentown) Morning Call reported. Public defender Kimberly Makoul said Perry has had "severe and substantial mental infirmities" - including paranoid schizophrenia and delusional disorder -
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----ILL., OKLA., NEB., ARIZ., CALIF.
Sept. 15 ILLINOIS: Should Illinois Reverse Its Death Penalty Ban? Illinois repealed capital punishment in 2011. 4 years and scores of horrific crimes later, a state legislator wants to bring it back. Sen. Bill Haine. D-Alton, was against Illinois' abolishing capital punishment a few years ago, in 2011; after all, he's a former Madison County prosecutor. Haine says since then, times have changed that have only buttressed his position. "There have been some dramatic, and terrible acts committed," he says. "Not only in Illinois, but in the United States, that have brought the attention of the citizens back to 'how do we establish order and justice for the innocent? And how do we punish grave evil-doers?'" Haine says next month he'll introduce legislation that would once again allow criminals to be sentenced to death -- but only in limited cases; he says the ultimate punishment should be reserved for serial killers, the premeditated murder of police, those who kill children, and mass murderers. "The law should be a force reckoned with. And part of that is to have available, to a prosecutor and to a jury, the option of asking for the death penalty -- if someone forfeits one's life if they cross that line," he says. Critics of the death penalty argue it's not an effective deterrent. They also say the system is prone to racial prejudice and flaws that could send innocent people to their deaths. (source: WUIS news) OKLAHOMAimpending execution Oklahoma district attorney dismisses efforts to exonerate Richard Glossip David Prater accused Glossip's attorneys who claim to have new evidence to prove innocence of trying to abolish death penalty in 'bullshit PR campaign' An Oklahoma district attorney has denounced claims that a death row inmate scheduled to die this week is innocent as "a bullshit PR campaign", saying that legal representatives for the condemned prisoner have failed to produce any new documentation supporting their argument. Attorneys for Richard Glossip, who are appealing to Governor Mary Fallin for a 60-day stay of execution, held a press conference at the Oklahoma state capitol on Monday to present new information they claim supports efforts to exonerate him. Glossip - whose high-profile supporters include former senators, the actor Susan Sarandon and anti-death penalty activist Sister Helen Prejean - is scheduled to die by lethal injection on Wednesday for the 1997 murder of his boss, Barry Van Treese. "All they are trying to do is abolish the death penalty in the state of Oklahoma and this country by spreading a bunch of garbage," Oklahoma County district attorney David Prater told the local Fox 25 TV station after attending Monday's press conference. Prater, who did not prosecute Glossip, told Fox 25 he believes Glossip is guilty and said the man's attorneys have refused to hand over to him any of the evidence they presented on Monday. The evidence produced on Monday by defense attorney Don Knight includes a sworn affidavit from a man who claimed to have heard a confession from the man on whose testimony Glossip was convicted, Justin Sneed. It also includes a statement from another man who claims the prosecution's argument that Glossip controlled Sneed was false. Sneed is currently serving a sentence of life without parole at Joseph Harp Correctional Center, a medium-security prison in Lexington, Oklahoma. Glossip was convicted twice of Van Treese???s death, once in 1998 and again in 2004 after his first verdict was thrown out for ineffective council. Richard Allan Barrett, a man who claims to have been a friend of Glossip's brother, Bobby, and a drug dealer at the Best Budget Inn the year Van Treese was killed, claimed Sneed had regularly used robbery to finance a methamphetamine addiction that was more severe than prosecutors had admitted. "Bobby Glossip told me to always keep my car locked when I was at the hotel," Barrett said. "Later I learned this was because the maintenance man (Sneed) broke into cars at the motel parking lot and stole items from the car." Barrett said that Sneed traded items - like car stereos and radar detectors in exchange for drugs - he believes were stolen. "I was present when Justin Sneed told Bobby Glossip that he had taken these items from occupied rooms at the motel and cars in the parking lot of the motel and other businesses near the hotel." Barrett also said he "saw nothing to make me believe Justin Sneed was controlled by Richard Glossip", or that Glossip was aware of Sneed's alleged heists. Barrett's statement appears to suggest that Sneed had robbed people before, and supports the claim that Van Treese's death was not a premeditated homicide orchestrated by Glossip, as prosecutors had argued, but the result of a robbery gone wrong. A separate affidavit signed by Dr Richard A Leo, a professor at the San Francisco University School of Law, said Sne
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS
Sept. 15 TEXAS: Years after being freed from death row, East Texas man fights to clear name Nearly 40 years after Linda Jo Edwards was murdered and mutilated in her Tyler apartment, the man convicted of the crime - and almost executed for it - wants to be exonerated, based on new DNA tests. Lawyers for Kerry Max Cook, who Smith County prosecutors contend killed Edwards in a perverse rage in June 1977, filed documents Monday urging the court to declare the former death row inmate innocent. They argue that 6 rounds of extensive DNA testing from 1999 through 2015 failed to identify any evidence that Cook was at the scene of the crime. Instead, the tests confirmed the presence of semen from Edwards' former lover, a longtime suspect in the case and a dean at the local university whose extramarital affair with the young woman had ended badly, the lawyers say. In a separate motion filed Monday, the lawyers also asked Smith County state district Judge Christi Kennedy to recuse herself from overseeing the case. They allege that Kennedy is too closely tied to prosecutors the courts have said engaged in misconduct to win Cook's conviction, including suppressing evidence and securing false testimony. The saga has been the most high-profile case in small Smith County's history. It's resulted in 3 lengthy trials, books and movies, and worldwide attention. Cook and his lawyers, including Barry Scheck from the New York-based Innocence Project, declined to comment, referring to the legal documents filed in court. Mike West, an assistant Smith County district attorney, said he hadn't had time Monday afternoon to review the latest filings in the decades-old case. "We're going to look at it and give it a serious look," West said. Cook was convicted in 1978 of stabbing and beating Edwards to death in a sexual frenzy, and he was sentenced to die. He maintained that he was innocent, and the guilty verdict was overturned. A 2nd trial produced a mistrial, and a 3rd trial sent Cook back to death row. An appeals court threw out that verdict, too, finding prosecutors had engaged in "pervasive" and "egregious" misconduct. In 1999, just days before what would have been Cook's 4th trial, Smith County prosecutors offered him a no-contest plea deal that allowed him to be released from prison. Cook didn't admit the crime but remained guilty in the eyes of the law. Cook has been out of prison since then. He's married and has a young son, and they've traveled the world to tell his story. But the conviction hangs over Cook, preventing him from voting and making it difficult to find work. He's hoping the new evidence will finally clear his name. Before Cook accepted the 1999 plea deal, prosecutors had sought DNA testing on semen found in Edwards' underwear. Cook took the deal before the results came back, but the report eventually showed that the semen belonged to James Mayfield, Edwards' boss and former lover. Mayfield has never been charged in relation to the crime, and prosecutors have said the DNA testing doesn't mean Cook is innocent. Efforts to reach Mayfield and his former lawyer for this report were unsuccessful. In the past, he has denied any role in the crime. In 2012, Cook asked for a new round of more advanced DNA testing on the underwear and other evidence at the crime scene, including the murder weapon and a hair found on Edwards' body. Lawyers discovered, though, that an investigator in the case had taken the knife used in the murder home for "field testing." They also learned that the state destroyed the hair just after lawmakers, in 2001, approved a statute that allowed inmates access to DNA evidence in their case files that might help prove their innocence. The knife, the underwear and dozens of other items collected from the crime scene were tested. None of the testing matched Cook???s DNA, according to lawyers. The only match, they said, was an even more conclusive finding that the skin and sperm cells in Edwards' panties belonged to Mayfield. "The DNA profile shared by Mayfield and the male donor on the samples tested by Cellmark, respectively, are shared by just 1 in 3.112 trillion and 1 in 10.07 billion unrelated Caucasians - i.e., fewer than 1 such individual out of the entire current population of the Earth," the lawyers wrote. In the filings, Cook's lawyers allege that Smith County prosecutors failed to fully investigate Mayfield despite knowing that he had a relationship with Edwards and that he matched a witness description of the perpetrator at the scene and despite reports from friends who said the man had a violent temper. Mayfield testified at trial that he was with his family the night of the murder, and he said he hadn't had sex with Edwards for weeks before she was killed. With the newly obtained evidence, Cook's lawyers argue, a jury would never convict him of Edwards' murder, and they want the court to declare hi
