[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----N.C., OHIO, OKLA.
April 22 NORTH CAROLINA: NC State Bar panel considers innocence rule for prosecutors A North Carolina State Bar panel seemed to make progress Thursday on the issue of whether prosecutors should be required to turn over evidence of innocence after a person is convicted. At issue is a model rule recommended by the American Bar Association that requires prosecutors to turn over such evidence. In 2009, North Carolina's State Bar rejected the rule, which the ABA says has been adopted in some form in 13 states. The 5-member ethics subcommittee took no votes but appeared to reach a majority consensus that all attorneys, not just prosecutors, should be required to turn over evidence of innocence. "If we have evidence that someone is innocent, I think that's a pretty strong indictment of our system if we don't try to do something about that," said defense attorney Colon Willoughby, a former prosecutor who advises the subcommittee. Acting U.S. Attorney John Bruce took the strongest stance against the rule, saying he didn't think it was the job of the ethics commitment to micromanage the actions of prosecutors. "We all believe that innocent people should be free," said Bruce, who said he was not on the subcommittee in his official capacity. "I don't think we need to draft a rule to send a message." Defense attorney Brad Bannon asked the State Bar in January to reconsider the ABA rule, which requires prosecutors to come forward if they find "new, credible and material evidence" that an innocent person is serving time. "These rules are about protecting the public, including the most vulnerable members of the public, who are people in prison who shouldn't be there," Bannon said. He and several other attorneys proposed specific language for North Carolina that differs from the ABA rule, including a "safe harbor" provision that protects prosecutors who conclude "in good faith" that the evidence isn't new "even if this conclusion is later determined to have been erroneous." It also requires only that prosecutors disclose new evidence, not that they investigate it or remedy the situation. Advocates call a Buncombe County murder case a prime example of why North Carolina needs the rule. 5 innocent men served prison terms in connection with a murder they didn't commit. Another man confessed in 2003 and implicated an accomplice whose DNA was eventually found on masks and bandanas near the scene. The district attorney said in a deposition that he didn't believe the confession and he never saw the DNA evidence, although the report from the State Bureau of Investigation indicated it was copied to the DA. The 5 recently received a total $8 million for their wrongful convictions. Some of them had pleaded guilty to avoid the threat of the death penalty in a home invasion murder in 2000. "I honestly don't see any moral, ethical grounds to say 'I'm going to sit on information even though an innocent person may be in prison even though all I have to do is send it to IDS (Indigent Defense Services) or send it to the defense lawyer," David Rudolf, who represented 1 of the 5 Buncombe County men in a civil lawsuit, told the subcommittee. The subcommittee didn't set a date for its next meeting. The panel is just the 1st step in a lengthy process that - if the rule is approved at each step - involves the full ethics committee, public comment, the full State Bar Council and finally, the State Supreme Court. (source: Associated Press) OHIO: Girlfriend of accused East Cleveland serial killer described 'deep scratches' in his face The girlfriend of accused East Cleveland serial killer Michael Madison's told a jury Thursday that he showed up at her house with scratches on his face around the time police believe he killed 18-year-old Shirellda Terry. Madison is on trial for the murder of three women, Terry along with Shatisha Sheeley, 28, and Angela Deskins, 38, whose bodies were found near his apartment in July 2013. Thursday featured the 4th full day of testimony in what is expected to be a month-long trial. Madison faces the death penalty if convicted. Madison's former girlfriend, Shawnte Mahone, told the jury that she often slept with Madison in the months and days leading up to his arrest. She met Madison in October 2012. Mahone said she asked him what happened when he showed up at the door with deep, fresh scratches on his face that July. "He said he got into a fight and a girl jumped in and scratched his face," Mahone said. Madison told her that he got in a fight while taking his car to a repair shop. In the days that followed, Mahone said that Madison's apartment began to smell like sewage. Madison told her that he thought an animal died, and he lit incense throughout the apartment in an attempt to cover up the smell. Less than 2 weeks later, police found Terry's body inside Madison's garage, along with evidence that he had
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide----S. AF., INDON., TAI., MAURIT., IRE., S. ARAB., IRAN, PAKIS.
April 22 SOUTH AFRICA: Death penalty bunk Glen Henick makes a strange case for reintroducing the death penalty (SA needs deterrent to rein in shockingly high murder rate, April 19). While he does not actually appear to accept the effectiveness of the death penalty as a deterrent, despite your heading, he makes a spurious suggestion that it should be supported in part because it is popular - in other words because some other people may support it. Not a good reason to support anything! He makes an "economic" argument - that it could be cheaper than imprisonment if we do away with appeal processes. Apart from the fact that appeals could help in ensuring that innocent people are not hanged by mistake (which has often happened in the US), this smacks of some kind of summary justice. He also makes a "historical" argument - essentially because many people are poor and illiterate, we cannot afford the "luxury" of not having the death penalty. Henick suggests that if the death penalty is in place, we might have less "mob justice". My sense is this is more to do with a lack of confidence in the police in dealing with crime, rather than perceived inadequate sentences imposed by the courts and absence of the death penalty. Mark Turpin, via email) (source: Letter to the Editor, belive.co.za) INDONESIA: Suspect Could Face Death in Tangerang Mutilation Murder Case The suspected murderer of a 34-year-old pregnant woman whose body was found mutilated in Tangerang, Banten, could face the death penalty as he stands accused of premeditated murder, a police official said on Friday (22/04). Agus, 31-years-old, was arrested on Wednesday in Surabaya, East Java, after being on the run since the murder of Nur Atikah on Sunday. He has been brought to Jakarta. Police said the suspect, a married father of 1, claimed during interrogations that he had killed his girlfriend Atikah in the heat of the moment during an altercation. But witnesses dispute the claim. "The suspect once asked the witnesses if committing murder is a sin," Jakarta Police general crimes director, Sr. Comr. Krishna Murti, told reporters. "Thus, the plan to kill has come across his mind beforehand." Investigators said Atikah was a 7 months pregnant widow mother of 2 and had repeatedly asked the suspect to marry her. He is alleged to have strangled her and mutilated her body. "The mutilation was indeed planned as he needed a tool to do that," Krishna added. "The suspect took a machete from his rented house and also bought a saw from a nearby market." Atikah's body was discovered 3 days later at a rented house in Cikupa. Her arms were found the following day in a nearby river, but her legs are yet to be located. Investigations revealed that Agus and Atikah had been living together for the past 2 months, while his wife and children lived in Bogor, West Java. The 2 had once worked at the same restaurant in Cikupa, but at different times, police said. (source: Jakarta Globe) * Indonesia defends death penalty for drugs Indonesia has defended its use of the death penalty for drug traffickers.It comes just days after its representative was jeered at a UN narcotics conference, citing a steep rise in demand and consumption in Southeast Asia's most populous country. Indonesia has faced widespread international criticism for its use of capital punishment, most recently for the high-profile executions of foreign drug traffickers, despite repeated pleas for mercy from governments and international activists. 'Indonesia and like-minded countries ... face diverse challenges in handling drugs and the death penalty is one of the options based on sovereignty of the law in each country,' the foreign ministry said in a statement. Indonesia's representative at the UN conference drew criticism when he defended the use of capital punishment for drug offences, saying it was for individual countries to decide for themselves. Indonesian President Joko Widodo has declared a 'drug emergency' in the country of 250 million, calling the rising flow of narcotics as serious a security threat as militancy. Indonesia's attorney-general announced earlier this month executions would resume this year following a brief hiatus after last year's executions of 14 mainly foreign drug traffickers. (source: skynews.com.au) TAIWAN: Taiwan Supreme Court Upholds Subway Killer Death Sentence Taiwan's supreme court on Friday upheld the death sentence given to a university student over a random May 2014 knife attack in a subway car in the capital Taipei that left 4 people dead and 22 injured. The denial of Cheng Chieh's third and final appeal draws a line under one of the most shocking crimes to strike the island's prosperous and generally non-violent society in years. Before the attack, Cheng posted a message on his Facebook page saying he "wanted to do something big." During
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, VA., LA., USA, US MIL.
April 22 TEXAS: Man arrested in death of Houston transgender woman, friend A Galena Park man has been arrested in connection with the deaths of a transgender woman and a man in Midtown earlier this month. Tariq Lackings, 23, was arrested Wednesday, charged with capital murder in the fatal shooting of Shante Isaac, 34, and the stabbing death of Willie Sims, 33. Both were pronounced dead at the scene after being assaulted at 1100 Dennis Street about 11:15 p.m. on April 10, according to a release from the Houston Police Department. Witnesses told police a half-dozen people approached Isaac and Sims, who was a recent friend, that night. One of the people apparently pulled a gun and fired at Isaac, hitting Sims instead as he tried to pull the transgender woman from harm's way. Then, according to a witness, the attackers pulled out metal pipes and began to beat Sims and Isaac, who was born Robert Isaac. The deadly assault led to concerns about a possible hate crime from LGBT advocates. Friends and family of Isaac have said the incident stemmed from a dispute between Isaac and one of her attackers, another transgender woman, over a man. Lackings, who remains in the Harris County jail without bail, is scheduled to appear in court Friday. Intentionally killing 2 people is a capital crime. If convicted of capital murder, he could face the death penalty or life in prison without parole. The decision over whether to seek death is typically made months after an arrest. Investigators believe there are additional suspects involved. Anyone with information in this case is urged to contact the HPD Homicide Division at 713-308-3600 or Crime Stoppers at 713-222-TIPS. (source: Houston Chronicle) VIRGINIA: ecrecy on lethal drugs is perilous Even the ACLU of Virginia supports the Republican-majority House of Delegates in refusing to accept Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe's amendments to the so-called electric chair bill. There are many reasons to oppose the governor's actions. But those reasons vary widely. The General Assembly passed a bill that would make the electric chair the automatic default method of execution should lethal drugs become unavailable.Virginia already faces such an issue. Why can't the state just order more drugs? With many First World countries currently opposed to the death penalty in any form, a number of them have passed laws preventing manufacturers from supplying drugs for lethal purposes. Other companies that still may do so legally do not want to sell because their names may be associated with executions: bad for business. Gov. McAuliffe gutted the legislature's bill, eliminating its very purpose - default to the electric chair - and instead instituted amendments that would make lethal drugs and their components secret. Manufacturers then might risk selling them again. The House of Delegates refused to sustain those changes. This newspaper finds the proposed secrecy abhorrent because it undermines accountability. Accountability regarding execution drugs became acutely important last year when a botched procedure in Oklahoma put an inmate through agony before officials finally stopped the execution - although he died 43 minutes later. Turns out, officials had used the wrong drug. Other problems occurred in Arizona and Ohio, and the drug midazolam was implicated. But none of this might have been known if the contents of lethal injections were allowed to remain secret. And, as the ACLU notes, secrecy could allow the use of potentially dangerous unregulated or even experimental drugs. A level of openness is important in ensuring accountability in this, literally, life-and-death issue. But among the delegates who overturned the governor's veto, lofty ideals about transparency probably were not everyone's motivation. Many lawmakers just want to make sure executions can continue, with or without drugs. They weren't going to let the governor interfere. The ACLU's motive in supporting the veto override is different still. A move that makes the electric chair a more likely means of execution may disturb voters. Those who might be marginally accepting of the "clean" method of lethal injection now might migrate toward active opposition of the death penalty, due to electrocution's perceived barbarity. And increased opposition might eventually eliminate the death penalty altogether, as groups such as the ACLU hope. Regardless of the eventual outcome, we maintain that secrecy regarding executions is the wrong path to take. Officials shouldn't be given yet another opportunity to hide their actions or decisions. (source: Editorial, The Daily Progress) *** ACLU comments on Virginia lethal injections compromise ACLU of Virginia Executive Director Claire Guthrie Gasta???aga commented on the compromise from legislators to Gov. Terry McAuliffes amendments to the electric chair bill.
