[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, PENN., DEL., VA., N.C., GA.
April 17 TEXAS: Willingham case begs for justice What Cameron Todd Willingham lost - his life, taken by the state - can never be restored. But, thankfully, there is some effort to make sure his case is accorded some measure of justice. Given the evidence brought to light by the Marshall Project, a nonprofit group that focuses on the U.S. criminal justice system, and efforts by the Innocence Project, the State Bar of Texas was correct in filing a formal accusation of misconduct against the prosecutor in that case, John H. Jackson, on March 5. This case begs for official examination by officials. This formal accusation, in fact, is likely not enough examination. Since Willingham's execution by Texas in 2004, for the arson murders of his 3 daughters, re-analysis of that evidence - using more reliable tools - points to no arson at all. And other developments cast serious doubt on the significant other piece of evidence against him - testimony by a jailhouse informant. The informant, Johnny E. Webb, has recanted testimony that Willingham told him he committed the crime. He told the Marshall Project that his testimony came in return for favors - reducing his sentence on an aggravated robbery charge. Later, a local wealthy rancher gave money to Webb, which the former informant said was also payment for his testimony. Jackson has denied misconduct, saying he acted to protect a witness threatened by other prisoners. The State Bar, filing with the court in Navarro County, accuses Jackson of obstruction of justice, making false statements and concealing evidence favorable to Willingham's defense. The disciplinary petition says that "Jackson failed to make timely disclosure to the defense details for favorable treatment for Webb, an inmate, in exchange for Webb's testimony at trial for the State." The petition alleges that Jackson told the court that he had no evidence favorable to Willingham. "That statement was false," it says. This is a civil proceeding that could result in disbarment. But if a court finds the allegations about Jackson to be true and disciplines him, perhaps that shouldn't be the end of the matter. We note that Ken Anderson, the prosecutor who won a conviction that sent Michael Morton to prison for 25 years in 1987 for a murder he didn't commit, was subject to criminal prosecution in Williamson County for withholding evidence. Morton was accused of bludgeoning his wife to death. Another man was later convicted after a bandanna that the DA long refused to test was finally tested, exonerating Morton. Unfortunately, that evidence implicated a man in another murder 2 years after Christine Morton's murder - while Michael Morton sat in jail. Another prosecutor, Charles Sebesta of Burleson County, accused of misconduct in the conviction that sent Anthony Graves to prison for 18 years for a crime he didn't commit, lost his appeal of his disbarment in February. Graves spent 12 of those years on death row. He was accused of killing 6 in 1992. In the Morton case, Anderson agreed to 10 days in jail, disbarment and a $500 fine in 2013 - for contempt of court. Yes, we know. That penalty doesn't quite stack up against 25 years in prison. And, in the Graves case, disbarment doesn't quite match those prison and death row years. But it's something. Simply, prosecutors who knowingly and willfully withhold evidence and otherwise commit misconduct to win convictions should be held as accountable as the people they prosecute. As in the Morton case, there was enough faulty, nonexistent or withheld evidence in the Willingham case to have at least won him a new trial. Instead, then Gov. Rick Perry refused to grant him a stay of execution, though he was presented an independent arson expert's conclusion that there was no evidence of a fire intentionally set. Since the execution of Willingham - who maintained his innocence to the end - the evidence that he was telling the truth has continued to mount. This was strong enough that we called on Perry, who once called Willingham a "monster," to consider a posthumous pardon. We now urge the same of Gov. Greg Abbott no matter how Jackson's discipline case turns out. The evidence that Willingham didn't get a fair trial is just too compelling - thanks largely to the Marshall and Innocence projects. (source: Editorial, San Antonio Express-News) PENNSYLVANIA: Reading Eagle reporter Nicole C. Brambila wins national writing award Reading Eagle reporter Nicole C. Brambila has won - for the 2nd consecutive year - a national writing award for her Dec. 15 story about a clergyman who ministered a soon-to-be-executed inmate. "Ministry of the condemned" was part of a 5-part series on the death penalty. The series explored the death penalty issue from a variety of perspectives. The Amy Writing Awards Program selected the story for "its thought-provoking, skillful presentation of bibli
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----LA., OHIO, MO., CALIF., USA
April 17 LOUISIANA: New details: Sensors installed at Angola's death row as part of approved cooling plan for inmates Sensors have been installed on the death-row tiers at the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola to monitor summertime heat indexes that several ailing condemned killers successfully claimed violate their constitutional rights and increase their risk of heatstroke or even death, newly filed federal court documents show. The heat and humidity sensors, which will calculate the heat index using a National Weather Service formula, will measure heat indexes from April 1 through Oct. 31 as ordered by Chief U.S. District Judge Brian Jackson, of Baton Rouge, in response to a lawsuit inmates filed against state corrections officials in 2013. Those officials have provided court-appointed special master Paul Hebert with a laptop computer that gives him direct daily access to the temperature and relative humidity data on each death-row tier, according to the state's revised 2nd heat remediation plan. Jackson accepted the 2nd plan last month. As part of that plan, the maximum-security prison at Angola also has installed 2 shower water valve controllers on the tiers that allow inmates to select between "hot" and "cold" water. "The 'hot' controller will supply the water at seasonally preset temperature as the 'regular' hygienic showers. The 'cold' controller will supply water from the cold water line only," the state's attorneys explained in documents filed April 8. Those documents also indicate the prison has purchased an additional ice machine to be installed next to the current machine on death row. There also is an ice house on the prison grounds that can serve as another ice source for the death-row inmates should the need arise, the state's lawyers noted. All death-row inmates also have received individual ice containers, the lawyers added, and additional fans have been installed on the death-row tiers. Hebert is being given the current tier location for each of the lawsuit's 3 inmate plaintiffs - Elzie Ball, Nathaniel Code and James Magee - and will be promptly notified if they are moved to a different tier. "In the event the prison encounters circumstances in which it cannot continue the operation of the second heat remediation plan, the prison staff can transfer the plaintiffs to a four cell tier at Camp F (where the death chamber is located). That ... tier has the ability to be air-conditioned," the revised plan states. Mercedes Montagnes, of The Promise of Justice Initiative in New Orleans, the lead attorney for Ball, Code and Magee, said Thursday she had no comment on the state's revised plan. 2 months ago, the inmates' lawyers characterized a daily cool shower, personal ice chests and more fans as "half-hearted measures" to remedy the high heat indexes that Jackson and the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said constituted cruel and unusual punishment. Jackson ordered in late 2013 that heat indexes on Angola's death row not be allowed to surpass 88 degrees, but the federal appellate court ruled last summer that the judge's directive effectively required the state to air-condition the death-row tiers. The appeals court said Ball, Code and Magee are not entitled to air conditioning but suggested possible remedies such as cool showers at least once a day, cold drinking water and ice, personal ice chests and fans, more ice machines, and diverting cool air from the death-row guard pod into the death-row tiers. The state rejected the latter suggestion for security and engineering reasons. \ Ball is on death row for shooting a beer delivery man to death during the 1996 armed robbery of a lounge in Gretna. Magee was convicted and condemned to die for the 2007 shotgun murders of his estranged wife and their 5-year-old son in a subdivision near Mandeville. Code received the death penalty for the 1985 murders of four people at a house in Shreveport. (source: The Advocate) OHIO: Judge says death penalty option stays in Seman caseSeman's lawyers had asked the judge to dismiss capital murder specifications against their client, calling the punishment "unconstitutional" Mahoning County Judge Maureen Sweeney said Robert Seman's request to remove the death penalty specification from his murder trial was :meritless." Sweeney said the death penalty will remain as a potential sentence for Seman, who is accused of setting the house fire that killed 10-year-old Corrine Gump and her grandparents, Bill and Judy Schmidt, in March of 2015. Earlier this week, Seman's lawyers asked Judge Sweeney to dismiss capital murder specifications against their client, calling the punishment "unconstitutional." She ruled that none of Seman's rights are being violated by the specifications. The case against Seman is set for trial in September. (source: WKBN news) MISSOURI: Inability to seat jur
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide
April 17 INDIA: Lawyer appointed for Yug killer Nagpur bench of Bombay High Court on Saturday appointed Rajnish Vyas as counsel for defending Rajesh Dhanalal Daware (19), prime accused in Yug Chandak murder case. The court has kept the final hearing of the sensational murder case from April 25. According to Chandak family's counsel Rajendra Daga, the accused had refused to have a lawyer and therefore, the court made arrangement for him through legal aid. Daware's accomplice, Arvind Abhilash Singh (23), had already challenged death sentence awarded to him while praying for leniency. The court had already directed its registry to complete formalities like preparing paperbook of case related to the cold-blooded murder of an innocent child, which had sparked off outrage and candle light protests in the city. On February 4, both convicts were awarded a rare double death penalty for diabolical murder of 8-year-old Yug on September 1, 2014. This was 2nd such verdict after a Yavatmal sessions court sentenced labourer Shatrughan Masram to gallows for brutally raping and murdering a 2-year-old girl on August 14 last year. It was 2nd such diabolic killing in the city within 3 years after another 8-year-old child Kush Katariya was killed by Ayush Naresh Pugalia on October 11, 2011, for extracting Rs2 crore ransom from his parents. He was awarded a rare double lifer by the court, which was enhanced to triple lifer by the Nagpur bench. (source: The Times of India) SAUDI ARABIA: 3 Alleged Child Offenders Await ExecutionTorture Allegations Ignored in Unfair Trials 3 Saudi men are awaiting execution for alleged, protest-related crimes committed while they were children. Saudi judges based the capital convictions primarily on confessions that the 3 defendants retracted in court and said had been coerced. The courts did not investigate the allegations that the confessions were obtained by torture. Saudi Arabia's announcement on March 11, 2016 that it will execute another 4 men for terrorism offenses raises fears that 1 or all 3 of the sentences could be carried out. Human Rights Watch has obtained and analyzed the trial judgments that the Specialized Criminal Court, Saudi Arabia's terrorism tribunal, handed down in 2014 against 1 of the men, Ali al-Nimr, and in a separate case, against Dawoud al-Marhoun and Abdullah al-Zaher. The judgments reveal flagrant due process violations, including denial of access to lawyers promptly after arrest or during lengthy pretrial detention, when investigators obtained the confessions. "Sentencing alleged child offenders to death is an appalling example of the Saudi court system's injustice," said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director. "Not only are these 3 young men sentenced to death for alleged crimes they committed as children, but the courts didn't even bother to investigate when they said they were coerced to confess." "Sentencing alleged child offenders to death is an appalling example of the Saudi court system's injustice."Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East Director The 3 were arrested for their alleged participation in demonstrations by members of the Shia minority in 2011 and 2012. Local activists told Human Rights Watch that more than 200 people from Shia-majority towns and villages in Saudi Arabia's Eastern Province have gone on trial for alleged protest-related crimes since 2011. Mostly Shia residents of Eastern Province towns such as Qatif, Awamiya, and Hufuf have repeatedly held protests over discrimination by the government since 2011. Saudi Arabia's Shia citizens face systematic discrimination in public education, government employment, and permission to build houses of worship in the majority-Sunni country. Al-Nimr was tried individually and sentenced in May 2014. The other 2 were tried as part of a group and sentenced in October 2014. Al-Nimr and al-Marhoun were 17 at the time of their arrests, while al-Zaher was 15. Local media reported that Saudi Arabia's Supreme Court upheld al-Nimr's death sentence in September 2015, and that the Supreme Court informed a relative of al-Marhoun that it had upheld death sentences for al-Marhoun and al-Zaher in October 2015. On January 2, 2016, Saudi Arabia carried out a mass execution of 47 men convicted on terrorism-related charges, four of whom were Shia, including a prominent cleric, Nimr al-Nimr, Ali al-Nimr's uncle. The trial judgement for Ali Sa'eed Al Ribh, 1 of the other Shia men executed on January 2, indicates that he was under 18 when he allegedly committed some of the protest-related crimes for which he was sentenced to death in 2014. In 2015, only Iran and Pakistan executed people for crimes committed when they were under 18, according to Amnesty International. Both countries, as well as Bangladesh and Maldives, also sentenced child offenders to death last year, while previously convicted child offenders remained on d
