[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----FLA., ALA.
May 6 FLORIDA: Florida's Supreme Court May Overturn the Death Sentences of 400 Prisoners Months after the United States Supreme Court ruled Florida's death-sentencing process unconstitutional, the state's judges are evaluating what the decision means for the hundreds of inmates who remain on death row. According to the Washington Post, Florida's highest court has been hearing arguments for the case of convicted felon Timothy Lee Hurst, who received the death penalty for the 1998 murder of his coworker Cynthia Harrison. Hurt's criminal case was central to SCOTUS' January ruling, when Justice Sonia Sotomayor said the judge's power to veto the jury's sentencing made it a violation of the Sixth Amendment. On these grounds, Hurst's lawyers argued on Thursday for their client's death sentence to be reduced to life in prison. Should Florida's Supreme Court justices rule in favor of Hurst, nearly 400 other prisoners could have their sentences overturned as well. "We're looking at potentially the largest number of death sentences being vacated at a single time," the Death Penalty Information Center's executive director Robert Dunham told the Post. Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi clarified that though the protocol for issuing a death sentence has been deemed unconstitutional, it is not to say the state's entire death penalty is unconstitutional. The state doesn't intend to reduce an inmate's sentence, Bondi said, "any time any aspect of the statute is held to be unconstitutional." And it's still up for debate whether the ruling would retroactively clear all current death row inmates. Former Florida judge O.H. Eaton Jr. said it's difficult to foresee how the pending ruling on Hurst's case would impact other death row inmates, telling the Post, "It could be anything from a minor effect all the way to clearing out death row." (source: mic.com) ALABAMAimpending execution Lawyers for an Alabama death row inmate are asking a federal court to stop his execution next week, saying he is incompetent because of mental illness, strokes and dementia Attorneys for 65-year-old Vernon Madison filed the emergency stay request Wednesday in federal court in Mobile. Madison is scheduled to get a lethal injection May 12. He was convicted in the 1985 slaying of Mobile police Officer Julius Schulte. Madison's attorneys said he does not remember specific facts of the fatal shooting and "does not have a rational understanding of why the state is seeking to execute him." The emergency filing came after a Mobile County judge last month found that Madison was competent and knew why he was being executed. The state has until Monday to file a response. (source: Associated Press) ___ 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 6 UGANDA: Murder Cases Dominate Supreme Court Session Murder cases have dominated the list of cases listed for criminal session before the Supreme Court starting May 9. According to the cause list dated April 28, the court deputy registrar has listed 12 murder cases involving 17 people whose sentences were upheld by the Court of Appeal. Other cases listed include manslaughter, rape and defilement. The cases The murder cases include that of a UPDF soldier, Lt William Obote, who is challenging a conviction and life imprisonment sentence for murdering his wife Grace Katherine Acan, in 2005. Lt Obote was sentenced by the High Court in Lira. A one James Mulindwa is also challenging a life imprisonment sentence for the murder of a friend in 2009. He was sentenced by the court in Mbarara. In another appeal, 3 murder convicts Lawrence Okello, Dennis Mujuni and Alyenyo Marks are challenging a death penalty while Henry Kazarwa is challenging a life sentence for the murder of a bar owner in Mbarara District in 2009. Also on the list is Lt Jonas Ainomugisha who is fighting a death sentence over a 2001 murder of Tibarabihire John at Nyakahita village in Bushenyi District, Gad Magezi who is challenging a life imprisonment sentence as well as Julius Mumbere who was convicted in regard to the Kasese attacks in which many civilians, police officers and Uganda People's Defence Forces soldiers were killed. Meanwhile, the court has directed prison authorities to produce the appellants in court for hearing of their cases. The Supreme Court is the highest judicial organ in the country and it is mainly an appellate court. (source: The Monitor) JAMAICA: Human rights groups come out against reviving hanging 2 human rights groups have come out against a proposal by Minister of National Security, Robert Montague, to revive hanging in Jamaica. In a joint statement, Stand Up for Jamaica and Jamaicans for Justice (JFJ) said re-instituting the death penalty is not the answer for curbing the country's crime problem. Stand Up for Jamaica's Executive Director, Maria Carla Gullotta, has taken issue with the national security minister's comments arguing that they could have serious implications. Gullotta contends that the state should protect and preserve life at all cost. JFJ Chairman, Horace Levy, argues that there should be a moratorium on carrying out the death penalty given the state of the justice system. Levy stresses that the lobby group is strongly committed to the abolition of the death penalty. Both groups argue that capital punishment is not an effective deterrent to crime and does not address the root causes of crime. They say instead of reviving what they say is an inhumane and ineffective practice, the Government should focus on fast tracking the critical reforms needed in the justice and law enforcement systems. (source: Jamaica Gleaner) IRAN: The Case of 100 Death Row Prisoners to be "Clarified" within 3 Months; Authorities It was announced to at least 100 death row prisoners, in prison of Urmia that in the next 3 months their "case" will become clear. This rare action has created a wave of concern among prisoners and their families. According to the report of Human Rights Activists News Agency in Iran (HRANA), recently, the authorities of Urmia Prison called at least a hundred prisoners who have been sentenced to death on charges of "murder" and have served more than 5 years, to the prison's Pray Hall (Hosseinieh) and took the address and details of the plaintiffs. An informed source in a conversation with HRANA, by announcing this news, also said: "The authorities of Urmia prison called these prisoners in Husseinieh and asked the address and details of their accusers. At least about 100 prisoners were called." The source said: "They were told that during the next three months their case would become clear. The authorities said: 'We will say to plaintiffs to ask for execution or we will release you on the bail. Because, the prison does not have enough space.'" It should be mentioned that, the unusual procedure of calling a large number of death row prisoners caused a wave of concern among prisoners in Urmia prison and their families. (source: HRA News Agency) PAKISTAN: Abbottabad jirga members are deserving of death: Mufti Naeem Prominent religious scholar Mufti Mohammad Naeem has called for death penalty for all members of a jirga that is allegedly involved in ordering murder of a woman in Abbottabad area, Samaa reported. "It's highly deplorable that a lady is burnt alive on behest of a jirga only because she helped in someone's love marriage ... This (the act of ordering murder) is totally un-Islamic since our religion allows adult couple to marry. Therefore, all members part of the jirga are 'wajib-ul-qatl' (deserving of death), they should be murdered in Qisas (retribution)," he said
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----LA., OHIO, ARK., ARIZ., CALIF., ORE, USA, US MIL.
May 6 LOUISIANA: Public defenders' claims sound like Chicken Little The Louisiana Public Defender Board and its supporters have done an excellent job of using Louisiana's budget woes to make a case for more money. They say the right of indigent criminal defendants to receive free legal counsel will disappear unless they are provided massive increases in their budget. These "Chicken Little" claims have been accepted as truth by most media. As an example of just how pervasive the idea of a funding crisis is, Louisiana Public Broadcasting recently staged a forum titled "Justice on Hold: Louisiana's Public Defender Shortage." The program began with the premise that insufficient funding was leading many local public defender offices to stop taking cases. From that starting point, participants debated what should be done. I suggest those concerned about public defender funding step back to a different starting point and ask whether a funding crisis actually does exists, and, if it does, how it occurred. Let me be clear that all district attorneys want efficient, competent, properly funded public defender offices. We work in an adversarial system in which every criminal defendant is constitutionally guaranteed the right to have qualified legal counsel. We would not have it any other way. The issue for us is how a public defender system that is better funded today than at any previous time in history can claim to be so underfunded that it has virtually shut down the criminal courts in some judicial districts. After all, state funding for indigent defense has increased 300 % in the past decade. We believe the problem lies not with local public defender offices, many of which do an outstanding job of representing their clients, but in the Louisiana Public Defender Board, which has become a kind of middleman receiving and parceling out the state's $33 million annual allocation. Before the board came into existence in 2007, public defender offices may have been underfunded, but they were not in crisis. Rather than properly fund the local offices, the board spends millions of dollars on its staff, who do not try cases, and doles out about $10 million a year to nonprofit legal organizations that represent death penalty defendants, which make up less than 1 % of criminal defendants. Only about half the board???s state allocation filters down to the local offices, where all but the few capital indigent defendants are actually represented by local public defenders. The chief public defender recently admitted that if the board would direct 60 % of the state money to the locals, all of the local cases could proceed. Why haven't they done so? The bottom line for the Louisiana District Attorneys Association is that the Public Defender Board appears to be the source of the problem it seeks to solve. The board is not accountable to anyone - unlike district attorneys, who are directly accountable to the voters - and in the past decade, it has used its authority to weaken the autonomy and financial condition of local public defender offices. Before considering giving the board more money, the Legislature should conduct a thorough review of its spending priorities and impose accountability on the board. The board exists to serve public defenders across Louisiana, so those local offices should have a voice in its governance to ensure that allocated money is spent for its intended purpose, not in pursuit of a narrow political agenda. If an objective review of the Public Defender Board finds that more money should be appropriated for public defense, district attorneys will support it. Until then, the board should put local defenders back to work representing real indigent defendants and allowing justice to be done. (source: Guest Column; E. Pete Adams is executive director of the Louisiana District Attorneys AssociationThe Advocate) ** Angola inmates become Loyola grads William Kirkpatrick smiles, blue eyes glimmering over his faded cheekbone tattoo. It's a sunny, breezy day at the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola, Louisiana, and this former death row inmate has just graduated from the Loyola Institute for Ministry. Kirkpatrick was 1 of 6 inmates to graduate from the LIM extension program on April 29 with a certification in pastoral studies. The graduates, along with their facilitator, Rick Bebin, also won the Kairos Award, given to 1 exceptional LIM class each year. About a dozen men began studying in the Loyola program, but only 6 - John Balfa, Milburn Bates, William Kirkpatrick, Felton Ledet, Herman Tureaud and Lester Williams - completed the 10-week class. "I would never have even imagined myself in ministry," Kirkpatrick said after the graduation ceremony. Kirkpatrick dropped out of school in junior high, but since coming to Angola and having his death penalty sentence reduced, he has focused on
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, CONN., DEL., VA., FLA., ALA., MISS.
May 6 TEXAS: Execution date set for Bridget Townsend killer An execution date has been set for a man convicted for a Medina County shooting death of an 18-year-old woman. 33-year-old Ramiro Gonzales was given the death penalty in 2006 for the murder of Bridget Townsend. She was reported missing from her Bandera County home in January of 2001 and her body was found 2 years later. Gonzales' lethal injection has been set for August 19th, 2016. (source: news4sanantonio.com) *** Executions under Greg Abbott, Jan. 21, 2015-present19 Executions in Texas: Dec. 7, 1982present-537 ? Abbott#scheduled execution date-nameTx. # 20-June 2---Charles Flores538 21-June 21--Robert Roberson---539 22-July 14--Perry Williams540 23-August 19Ramiro Gonzales---541 24-August 23Robert Pruett-542 25-August 31Rolando Ruiz--543 26-September 14-Robert Jennings---544 27-October 19---Terry Edwards-545 (sources: TDCJ & Rick Halperin) *** new death sentence Webb County Sees Rare Death Sentence A Webb County jury on Thursday sentenced someone to death row for the 1st time in almost 25 years. It was the 2nd death sentence of the year in Texas. Demond Bluntson, 40, received the death penalty in the 2012 shooting death of his 21-month-old son and his girlfriend's 6-year-old boy. The jury deliberated for about 12 hours over 2 days before handing down the sentence. "We feel very relieved and very grateful to the work done by the jury to bring justice to the families of these children," said Webb County District Attorney Isidro Alaniz. "This is a historic case for our community." On June 19, 2012, police arrived at a Holiday Inn in Laredo for a welfare check on the boys and their mother, 28-year-old Brandy Cerny, according to the criminal complaint. El Campo police had called the department in an effort to locate Cerny, who was reported missing and had registered as a guest at a hotel. Bluntson didn't open the door for a hotel employee and police officers, only telling them "there's kids in here," according to the complaint. As employees and police began to force their way into the room, Bluntson fired a single shot through the door. 3 or 4 more shots rang out from inside the room before police were able to enter, the complaint said. Inside, they found the 2 children with gunshot wounds to their heads and Bluntson, who was detained. Demond Bluntson, charged with capital murder in the shooting death of 2 young boys in a Laredo, Texas. Bluntson's son, 21-month-old Devian, was pronounced dead at the scene. Devian's half-brother, Jayden Thompson, 6, was rushed to the hospital and died the next day. Before bringing the boys to Laredo, Bluntson allegedly shot and killed Cerny in El Campo, about 250 miles away, according to a Wharton County indictment. Bluntson's trial began on April 18, and he was convicted of capital murder within 4 days, according to court records. During his trial, Bluntson was removed from the courtroom several times for interrupting court proceedings, the records said. He watched much of the trial on a television screen from a holding cell. During Alaniz's opening statements of the punishment trial, Bluntson called him a liar, according to the Laredo Morning Times. "Death row is nothing to me, man," Bluntson said. "I don't care about living. But I promise, you all won't get away with what you have done." Alaniz said Laredo's predominantly Hispanic and Catholic population is a factor when pursuing the death penalty. "When you're dealing in a community that's predominantly Catholic, you never know how that is going to affect the decision of the jury," he said. "It was a serious case, but they had all the evidence to make the decision, and we believe they made the right decision." Only 2 other people have been sent to death row from Webb County since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976, according to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Neither of the inmates were executed. (source: Texas Tribune) CONNECTICUT: Lawmakers approve reform of wrongful imprisonment settlements The state of Connecticut paid out $28 million in wrongful imprisonment awards in 2015 and 2016, significantly more than in previous years. Lawmakers passed a bill this week creating legislative oversight for those awards and a formula to determine the amount of compensation for a wrongfully convicted individual. A significant portion of the settlements included a controversial award of $16.8 million made to four men released from prison due to a prosecutorial error. The settlement sparked outrage because the men were largely believed to be
