[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----FLA.
May 5 FLORIDA: Florida Supreme Court hears argument in landmark death penalty case On Thursday, the Florida Supreme Court heard arguments in a Pensacola murder case that in January prompted the U.S. Supreme Court to declare Florida's death penalty statute unconstitutional. An attorney for murderer Timothy Hurst asked the state's high court to direct a trial judge to resentence the defendant to life in prison. Assistant State Attorney General Carine Mitz asked it to rule that despite the high court ruling, Hurst still should be put to death. During a 40-minute session Thursday, justices on the Florida Supreme Court peppered attorneys with questions about what to do with Timothy Lee Hurst, a death row inmate who murdered his boss at a Pensacola Popeye's fried chicken restaurant in 1998. It's their job to fix Florida's broken death penalty system. In January, after studying what happened at Hurst's trial, the U.S. Supreme Court declared the state's death penalty statute unconstitutional. It violated an inmate's right to a trial by jury, the high court wrote, because in Florida a judge - not a jury - imposed sentence. On Thursday, an attorney for Hurst asked the court to spare his client. David A. Davis cited a 1972 Florida law that says if the death penalty is found to be unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court, every Florida inmate with a death sentence must have it commuted to life." "This court - I hate to say it's an easy job, but it's a straightforward one," Davis said. Earlier in the week some of the state's most powerful attorneys, including three former Florida Supreme Court justices, filed paperwork with the Florida Supreme Court, asking it to commute the sentences of all 390 inmates on death row to life in prison. They cited that same 1972 law. But Assistant Florida Attorney General Carine Mitz argued that that law does not apply because only a portion of the state's sentencing statute was found to be invalid. She urged the court to leave Hurst's death sentence unchanged. He was not harmed, she said, by the error pointed out by the U.S. Supreme Court. It was not clear Thursday what the court would do. Florida has halted executions since the U.S. Supreme Court handed down its decision on Jan. 12. Hurst was convicted of murdering Popeye's assistant manager Cynthia Harrison. He had stabbed or slashed her 60 times with a box cutter during a robbery. Mitz argued that had a jury rather than a judge made the final decision at his trial, Hurst still would have been given the death penalty. A new law The Florida Legislature quickly rewrote the death penalty statute, and on March 7 Gov. Rick Scott signed it into law. Now, before the death penalty can be imposed, at least 10 jurors must vote for it. In addition all 12 must identify and agree on at least 1 "aggravating factor" that explains why the inmate deserves to be put to death, for example, that the killing was especially heinous, atrocious and cruel. Under the old law jurors voted on whether to recommend a sentence of life or death, and a majority ruled. A judge then made the final decision. Death penalty experts agree that the death penalty is supposed to be reserved for a narrow group of killers, the worst of the worst. On Thursday Florida Supreme Court Justices Barbara Pariente and Peggy Quince suggested that the new state law is flawed because it may fail to do that. It allows jurors to recommend death based on a single aggravating factor. "If only one aggravator is, in this state, all that is needed to put someone to death, we have a serious Eighth Amendment problem," Pariente said. The Eighth Amendment prohibits cruel and unusual punishment. Among the things that qualify as aggravating factors: if the victim is elderly, if the defendant is on felony probation, if the killing is committed during a burglary. Now anyone convicted of killing an elderly person could be put to death, Pariente said. "If we want a death penalty in Florida, we need it to be constitutional," Pariente said. It's not clear when the Florida Supreme Court will render its ruling. (source: Orlando Sentinel) ___ 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----worldwide
May 5 PAKISTAN: Convicted kidnapper: Man sentenced to death An anti-terrorism court (ATC) on Wednesday handed down death sentence to a man for kidnapping a jeweller, and taking ransom before releasing him. Special Judge ATC-II Asif Majeed Awan convicted Amir alias "Teddy" for kidnapping Saleem Iqbal and obtaining Rs100,000 as ransom for his safe release. The court also ordered confiscation of moveable and immovable assets of the convict. Iqbal said that Amir kidnapped him at gunpoint and asked his brother for Rs100,000 as ransom. He said his brother paid the ransom for his release. The court handed down the death penalty on counts of kidnapping for ransom and terrorism. (source: The Express Tribune) INDONESIA: Fate of foreign death row inmates unknown as Indonesia prepares for new round of executions Despite having drawn heavy condemnation from governments and human rights groups, Indonesia is gearing up for another round of executions, but the fate of the foreign death row inmates remains uncertain. A police official said Indonesian authorities were preparing the location of the sentencing and the firing squad at Nusakambangan Island. This was taking place a year after foreign nationals were executed for drug-related offences. "We have had a warning since last month to prepare the place," Central Java provincial police spokesman Aloysius Lilik Darmanto told Reuters on Wednesday. "We carried out some rehabilitation of the location like painting and repairs because there will probably be more people who will be executed." Darmanto also said members of the firing squad were currently receiving training and counselling. However, it was still uncertain how many would receive the death sentence in the impending round of executions and whether it involved any foreign nationals. On April 29 last year, Indonesia executed 7 foreigners and one Indonesian for drug crimes amid intense international pressure to stop the executions. Filipina mother-of-2 Mary Jane Voloso, who was part of the group, was given a late reprieve. Among the 8 were Australians Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran. The other foreigners were 3 Nigerian men, 1 Ghanian and 1 Brazilian. Last year, 14 executions were carried out, inciting protests from the international community. Veloso is also reported to be spared from the coming round of executions pending her testimony in a Filipino court against against Maria Kristina Sergio, who is accused of duping her into smuggling 2.6 kilogrammes of heroin into Indonesia, Coconuts Jakarta reported. A British grandmother convicted of smuggling $2.5 million worth of cocaine into the resort island of Bali in 2012 is also among those currently on death row. 57-year-old Lindsay Sandiford was sentenced by a district court to face a firing squad after she was found guilty of the charges. During the trial, she said she was forced to carry the drugs by a gang that threatened to hurt her children. She lost an appeal 3 months later after the Bali High Court upheld the lower court???s ruling. Last month, Indonesian president Joko Widodo said his administration was firm on use of the death penalty for drug-related offenses, calling drug trafficking a "national emergency". According to a report published by Amenesty International last month, at least 367 executions were carried out in 12 Asia-Pacific countries. The figure was a huge increase on the 32 executions in nine countries recorded in 2014, almost exclusively due to the rise in Pakistan. Meanwhile in Singapore, the family of a Malaysian man on death-row for killing a construction worker in a botched robbery attempt has launched a petition urging for clemency. The petition comes after the 31-year-old Kho Jabing exhausted all legal avenues following an appeal by prosecutors to overturn the 2013 sentence to life imprisonment and 24 strokes of the cane last year. Last month, the appeals court in Singapore threw out his 11th-hour bid to quash the death sentence. Kho and his friend reportedly killed Chinese national Cao Ruyin during a robbery attempt in Geylang Drive in 2010. (source: asiancorrespondent.com) Police: Indonesia set to resume executionsIndonesian President Joko Widodo has repeatedly insisted that drug traffickers must face the firing squad to stem rising narcotics use. Indonesia is preparing for a new round of executions, police said Wednesday, around a year after Jakarta sparked global outrage by putting seven foreign drug convicts to death by firing squad. Officials recently started getting ready after an order from the attorney-general's office, which oversees executions, said Central Java police spokesman Aloysius Lilik Darmanto. He said no date had been set for the executions, which will take place on the prison island of Nusakambangan in Central Java, and he did not know who would face the firing squad.
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, MISS., KY., OKLA., NEV.
May 5 TEXAS: Vigils object to executions Re: The Placido Rodriguez column "Bishop says God's gift of life is sacred, abandon culture of death," A-J, April 30. It was encouraging to read the column in the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal that explained powerful reasons to abolish the death penalty in the state of Texas as well as nationally. For those who have serious moral or religious reservations about the use of the death penalty, we invite you to join a public, ecumenical prayer vigil each time the state of Texas executes a death row inmate. We meet during the approximate time of the actual execution (between 5:45 and 6:15 p.m.) at the corner of University Avenue and 15th Street in front of St. John's United Methodist Church across from Texas Tech. The next execution is scheduled for June 2. Lubbock People of Faith Against the Death Penalty sponsor these vigils, and the public is welcome to join us. ANNE MCDONALD COCHRAN/Lubbock (source: Letter to the Editor, Avalanche-Journal) ** Bluntson's fate on the line Jurors are set to continue deliberating the fate of Demond Bluntson at 9 a.m. Thursday in the 49th District Court. Jurors deliberated for about 5 hours Wednesday evening before telling the court that they needed rest, according to the Webb County District Attorney's Office spokesperson. During closing arguments Wednesday in the punishment phase of his trial, prosecutors told jurors Bluntson deserves the death penalty while the defense attorneys said they should impose the real ultimate punishment, a life sentence in prison without the possibility of parole. First assistant district attorney Marisela Jacaman told jurors they have a serious decision to make, but that it will not be a difficult one because of the evidence the prosecution has presented. Jacaman went through a timeline of events that led up to the slaying of Brandy Cerny in El Campo, for which Bluntson has been indicted in Wharton County, and the shooting deaths of her 2 children, Jaydin Thompson, 6, and Devian, 1, in room 1408 of the Holiday Inn in Laredo. She also listed the lives that were destroyed as a result of Bluntson's actions, including the Cerny and Thompson families. Elizabeth Martinez, one of Bluntson's lawyers, told jurors they will have to live with their decision to kill Bluntson for the rest of their lives. "He is still another human being, no matter how much you may despise him on the inside," she said. (source: Laredo Morning Times) MISSISSIPPI: Appeal under way for 24-year-old murder case A Lowndes County man who has claimed his innocence for 24 years is getting a chance this week to take a step toward proving it. Experts and a half-dozen attorneys from the Innocence Project began presenting evidence today they say should at least get 62-year-old Eddie Lee Howard a new trial if not an out-right dismissal. He has twice been given the death penalty -- the last time in 2000 -- after being convicted of capital murder in the Feb. 2 1992 rape and murder of 84-year-old Georgia Kemp inside her home on Southside Columbus. She was stabbed and her home set on fire although it only smoldered and never fully caught fire. The smoke attracted passers-by who notified firefighters who discovered the body. Defense attorneys claim the expert bite-mark testimony of Dr. Michael West that was central to the case has since been disproved and recanted by the doctor. Since 2000, 24 cases tied to West's testimony have proven to be fraudulent, including the Noxubee County cases of Kennedy Brewer and Levon Brooks. Both were finally exonerated by DNA evidence after serving a total of more than 30 years. Someone else has since pleaded guilty to the crimes. West was in the courtroom today, but it is unclear whether prosecutors will call him. Howard's attorneys also say DNA testing ordered 3 years ago by the courts doesn't match fluids found at the scene or on the murder weapon. Most of today's hearing was spent with a British expert, Dr. Iain Pretty, who discredits much bite mark evidence. He said the "fundamental underlying science" in the Howard case was wrong and that "distortion" makes it difficult to make accurate bite mark comparisons, especially if the body has started to deteriorate. In the Howard case, Kemp's body was re-examined by West several days after burial at the request of former state pathologist Dr. Stephen Hayne whose work also has been discredited. Prosecutors tried to show Pretty was not familiar with all the evidence in this case or the steps used, especially photography. The hearing could last through Friday. Lowndes County Circuit Court Judge Lee Howard could dismiss the charges against Howard completely or order a new trial. If a new trial is ordered, District Attorney Scott Colom may decide not to try it again because of a lack of evidence and witnesses. (source: WTVA news) KENTUCKY:
