[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide
April 29 IRANexecutions At Least 4 Prisoners Were Executed For Drug Offences 2 of the 4 prisoners who were transferred to solitary confinement on Wednesday 27. April were hanged yesterday morning in the Central Prison of Karaj (west of Tehran). According to close sources these prisoners were identified as "Mehdi Bagherzadeh" and "Esmaeil Tanabi". Iran Human Rights (IHR) had reported about the transfer of 4 prisoners (2 brothers) to solitary confinement in preparation for execution on April 27. All the 4 prisoners were sentenced to death for possession and trafficking of 8 kilograms of heroin in one case. Mehdi Bagherzadeh and his younger brother Abbas Bagherzadeh were the 2 brothers who were scheduled to be executed. Mehdi was executed while Abbas was together with another prisoner identified as "Farhad Esmaeili" were returned to their wards. Sources have reported that they remain under imminent danger of execution. Another member of the Bagherzadeh family (Isa Bagherzadeh, another brother) was hanged 5 months ago. (source: iranhumanrights.net) INDONESIA: Pacquiao's effort to save Mary Jane Veloso hampered by slow trial About year ago today, Manny Pacquiao visited Filipino death row convict Mary Jane Velasco in Indonesia and made an appeal to the country's president Joko Widodo to spare spare the life of the suspected drug mule from execution by firing squad. It its 2nd appeal to the Indonesian government, the Philippine authorities argue that Veloso is a victim of human trafficking and does not deserve the death penalty. Veloso, an overseas Filipino worker (OFW), was arrested in 2010 by Indonesian authorities after they found 2.6 kilos of heroin in her suitcase. Veloso denied owning the package containing the illegal drug saying she wasn't aware of its contents as she was just asked to carry it by her recruiter. Veloso, who only made it to her 1st year high school, did not fully understand the questions being asked during the proceedings as she was provided only with a student translator. In his appeal, Pacquiao said: "His Excellency, President Joko Widodo, I am Manny Pacquiao. On behalf of my countryman, Mary Jane Veloso, and the entire Filipino people, I am begging and knocking on your kind heart that Your Excellency will grant executive clemency to her by sparing her life and saving her life from execution." In July 2010, Pacquiao flew to Indonesia along with wife Jinkee to fulfill his promise to meet Veloso at the Wirogunan prison in Yogyakarta. Together, they prayed with Veloso breaking down in tears as she tightly embraced Manny and Jinkee. "We're hoping to help save Mary Jane's life. I think Mary Jane is a victim of human-trafficking," Pacquiao said after visiting the single mother of two young children. Veloso is surviving on a reprieve granted by the Indonesian president on appeal from the Philippine government. As far as Indonesia is concerned, Veloso is still a death convict and execution by firing squad can take place anytime soon. "Mary Jane is still facing the threat of execution," Migrante International vice-chair Rina Anastacio told the Guardian. "Unfortunately the trial is going very slowly," she said. Indonesia has some of the toughest laws in the world for drug offenders and if the ongoing trial in the Philippines drags on for years, there is no assurance Indonesia will hold on to the temporary reprieve accorded to Veloso. (source: digitaljournal.com) ___ 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
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, FLA., ARIZ.
April 29 TEXAS: Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for a 39-year-old North Texas man convicted of a 2013 shooting rampage that left 5 people dead, including his mother A Kaufman County jury Thursday deliberated about 20 minutes before finding Charles Brownlow Jr. guilty of capital murder for the slaying of convenience store clerk Luis Leal-Carrillo. He was 1 of the 5 killed over several hours in October 2013 in the area east of Dallas. Dallas TV station WFAA reports (http://bit.ly/1WuPr5x ) defense lawyers argued unsuccessfully that Brownlow was insane. The other victims included Brownlow's 55-year-old aunt at her Terrell home. Then his mother's body was found on fire at her home, followed by the shooting of a former classmate and his girlfriend, and then the clerk. Trial punishment testimony is set to resume Monday. (source: Associated Press) ** Texas Prisons Assert Right to Censor Inmates' Families on Social Media On the morning of April 15, Pat Hartwell drove up from her home in Houston, Texas, to the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Austin, where the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, which runs the state???s prisons, was holding a board meeting. The board only offers a public comment period during 2 of its meetings each year, and this would be the 1st time in 2016 that the public would have a chance to air grievances or concerns about agency operations, for example, or prison conditions. For Hartwell, a well-known anti-death penalty activist in Texas, the timing of the meeting was opportune; roughly a week earlier, word had spread among prisoners, family members, and activists that the director of the TDCJ had established a new rule forbidding any prisoner from maintaining a social media presence. Hartwell has for years maintained a Facebook page for a death row inmate she is certain is innocent, and she wanted some answers. In a section of the 146-page Offender Orientation Handbook reserved for "standards of behavior" - between a rule requiring prisoners to "show respect" in their interactions with others and another forbidding "fighting, scuffling, horseplay, or similar activities" - there had appeared a seemingly incongruous new rule stating that prisoners "are prohibited from maintaining active social media accounts for the purposes of soliciting, updating, or engaging others, through a 3rd party or otherwise." Hartwell and others only found out about it because the wife of a death row prisoner happened to be visiting her husband on the day inmates there discovered the new policy. The lack of explanation or guidance concerning its provenance was disconcerting (as far as anyone knew, the rule was never vetted by the department's board). And they were confused about why it hadn't been brought directly to anyone's attention (the responsibility for keeping abreast of new rules falls squarely on the offenders, activists say prisoners were told). But more importantly, prisoners and their advocates didn???t understand the scope of the new rule. In Texas (as in most places), prisoners have no direct access to the internet, so anything about them that appears online is posted by a third party - by definition, a person who is not under the supervision of the department of corrections. As such, the new rule would infringe on the free speech and expression rights of ordinary citizens - a proposition of dubious constitutionality, says David Fathi, director of the ACLU's National Prison Project. They also didn't understand why social media was being targeted - or whether the rule was intended to include other uses of the internet, including websites and blogs dedicated to prisoner artwork, exposing abuses inside facilities, or drawing attention to specific cases of apparent wrongful conviction. And since the same information published on a website could easily be - and often is - posted to Facebook and other social media platforms, there was concern the rule was made to be flexible enough that TDCJ could easily broaden its scope to attack other online content. Upon learning of the rule, Hartwell penned an email to agency spokesperson Jason Clark with a list of questions. When she didn't hear back, she emailed the head of TDCJ, its general counsel, and its ombudsman. The day before the April board meeting, she got a short reply from the ombudsman that didn't exactly assuage her concerns - or directly address the majority of her questions. It was, she would tell the board, an "inadequate answer." Restating the new rule, the ombudsman said that it applied to all social media, and not only would offenders be punished for violating it, but outside 3rd parties would be as well, by having their ability to visit or correspond with their loved ones suspended. By the time Hartwell arrived at the Crowne Plaza for the meeting, she was mad; she felt forced by the TDCJ to take offline the Facebook page she had long
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----MISSOURI----Action for Earl Forrest
Missourians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty MISSOURIimpending execution A motion has been filed to stay the execution of EarlForrest. The motion requests the Court issue a stay on grounds that the Missouri Department of Corrections (DOC) knowingly and deliberately violated the Sunshine Law. Additionally, there is evidence which suggests that Missouri officials violated state procedures, Missouri State Auditor’s recommendations, and federal tax laws in the manner in which they obtain lethal injection drugs from an unknown supplier. We are awaiting updates. What You Can Do * Contact Governor Nixon to urge that he stay Earl Forrest’s execution until the issues of cash payment, lack of documentation regarding the source of execution drugs, and violation of audit recommendations can sufficiently be addressed. Call 573-751-3222; write a letter, mailing it to Rm 216, State Capitol, Jefferson City MO 65101/faxing it to 573-751-1495; e-mail via www.governor.mo.gov. * Contact Attorney General Chris Koster to urge that he ensure justice by facilitating the stay. Call 573-751-3321; write: PO Box 899, Jefferson City MO 652101; e-mail www.ago.mo.gov. * Contact your Missouri Senator and Representative to urge them to ensure the establishment of transparency around the suppliers of execution drugs and the government’s use of our tax dollars. To find your legislator: http://www.senate.mo.gov/legislookup/default.aspx * Attend the execution watch May 11, 2016 Spread the word! Forward this email to a friend. Get involved in our campaign to end the death penalty! Follow us on Facebook! Support our efforts with a contribution. (source: Missourians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty___ 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
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, N.C., TENN., IND., MO., OKLA., COLO., CALIF., USA
April 29 TEXAS: Terrell man found guilty in 2013 killing spreeMan convicted of killing mom in murder spree A man was found guilty in a 2013 Terrell killing spree that claimed the lives of 5 people, including his mother, his aunt, and a convenience store clerk. It took a Kaufman County jury just 20 minutes to find Charles Brownlow Jr. guilty Thursday morning in the killing of the clerk. They rejected his defense team's contention that he had been insane at the time of the killings. A jury is now hearing testimony to determine his sentence. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for the Oct. 28, 2013 killing spree that claimed the lives of his mother, Mary Brownlow; his aunt, Belinda Walker; an acquaintance who was a fellow Terrell High alum, Jason Wooden, 33; Woodens' girlfriend, Kellye Lynnette Sluder; and convenience store clerk Luis Leal-Carrillo. The punishment phase of the trial is expected to last at least a week. Testimony resumes Monday afternoon. "He took somebody precious off the face of this earth that I love, that loved us, that I'm sure he loved to," said his brother, Terrence Walker. "I don't understand how you can take somebody off this earth that loves you and does everything for and provides for you... But not only her, but my aunt, and all the other 3 victims that were impacted by this situation." Dressed in a suit Thursday, Brownlow acted nonchalant and even waved at the media as he was escorted by the Kaufman County sheriff's deputies. He looked very different than the sweaty, half-naked man taken into custody by the authorities in 2013. As they seek the death penalty, prosecutors are portraying Brownlow as a predator with a history of violence dating back 2 decades. Among those testifying was a woman who said he got her drunk and then raped her when she was 13 in a Terrell motel room in 1996. "He got on top of me and he put himself inside me. [...] I told him it hurt really bad. I said, 'Stop. Stop,'" the woman said. She said she dropped the charges after her family began receiving threatening phone calls. "The way I looked at men for a very long time was not very good. I could not trust anyone," she said. "I blamed myself for a long time, thinking I had done something wrong when I didn't. I was a child." For decades, Brownlow was in out and out of trouble with the law. Then came that fateful day in October 2013. It was a killing spree that stretched over hours and multiple bloody, horrific scenes. His 55-year-old aunt's body was the first to be found in her home, east of downtown Terrell. She had been shot in the head. A short time later, firefighters saw flames coming out of the home that Brownlow shared with his mother. She was found in her bedroom and her body had been set on fire. Her car was missing and police launched a manhunt looking for him. After killing his mother and aunt, Brownlow also paid a visit to an acquaintance. He asked the friend where the party was, but was asked to leave when he insulted the acquaintance's girlfriend. Brownlow showed back up later, forcing way into the home as they barricaded themselves in the bedroom. Brownlow managed to get his hand in the door and began firing a gun while they hid under a king-size mattress. The acquaintance and his girlfriend were the only victims to survive the rampage. From there, about 5 hours after the initial killings, Brownlow's classmate Jason Wooden and his girlfriend were shot in their home in the presence of their then-3-year-old son. Afterwards, surveillance video showed Brownlow walking into a Mexican restaurant in Terrell. Witness said he was wearing a football jersey, mumbling to himself, and asked to see someone before he left without further incident. About 15 minutes later, Brownlow entered the Ali's Market on U.S. Highway 80. Police say he took a single can of Bud Light from the convenience store after shooting Leal-Carrillo, 22, in the forehead. The clerk did not know Brownlow. An off-duty sergeant who was working an security job heard radio traffic about the shootings, and spotted Brownlow's mother's car and the suspect inside the store. It appeared to the officer that Brownlow was buying something. He did not realize the clerk had been shot. The off-duty sergeant tailed Brownlow as he left, providing information to on-duty officers. That led to a high-speed chase through town. Brownlow wrecked his mother's car, fled on foot, and was captured hours later, hiding in a creek. A former girlfriend of Brownlow, who is the mother of his 17-year-old daughter, testified that Brownlow's mother doted on her daughter. She also said Brownlow's mother was very protective of him and sheltered him, although she had told her that he was "acting crazy." "She was always taking up for him," the former girlfriend said. Walker, Brownlow's brother, said their mother did everything for his younger brother. He
