[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----NEV., CALIF., ORE., USA
May 13 NEVADA: Las Vegas man indicted on charges that could get him the death penalty A convicted panderer has been indicted on charges that could get him the death penalty in a car-to-car shooting that killed 2 women and critically wounded a man near the Las Vegas Strip. A judge on Thursday set a May 19 arraignment in state court for Omar Jamal Talley on murder, attempted murder and multiple felony weapon charges in the Feb. 19 shooting. The indictment avoided a Thursday preliminary hearing. Police and prosecutors say an argument in a parking structure at the Miracle Mile Shops at Planet Hollywood preceded the shooting that killed Melissa Mendoza and Jennifer Chicas and wounded Jerraud Jackson. They were from the San Francisco Bay Area. The Clark County district attorney will decide in coming weeks whether the 30-year-old Tally will face the death penalty. (source: Associated Press) CALIFORNIA: British veteran faces death penalty over double shooting in United States A British former soldier, who served in Iraq and says that he suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, has pleaded not guilty to murdering his mother and stepfather by shooting them at their home in the US. Derek Connell, 29, could face the death penalty after being accused of killing Kim Higginbotham, 48, and Christopher, 48, her US husband, who were found dead at their home in Bakersfield, California, on April 30. Mr Connell, originally of Glasgow, is also alleged to have taken a video of their dead bodies on his mobile phone and sent it to a relative. (source: thetimes.co.uk) Death times Yet another try to hurry up executions on California's death row has drawn $12,500 from the San Diego Police Officers Association's political action committee. In addition to hastening their demise, the measure would put death-row inmates to work while they waited. The initiative was submitted for signature-gathering last year by retired NFL star Kermit Alexander, who lost 4 family members in a bungled 1984 contract killing. A measure to repeal the death penalty is being backed by M.A.S.H. star Mike Farrell. A previous Farrell attempt to do away with execution in 2012 drew the backing of a host of La Jolla Democrats, including billionaire Qualcomm founder Irwin Jacobs and the San Diego chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, which kicked in $100,000. (source: sandiegoreader.com) * A Modest Proposal Concerning Means of Execution Sunday ends the public comment period for California's proposed regulations for a new safe and sane lethal injection procedure. The regs are in a 29-page document, to which are attached 18 forms that cover things like the condemned's written acknowledgment that "it was explained to me that I have an execution date of [insert date] and that I may choose either lethal gas or lethal injection as the method of execution." So I address this (very public) comment to the state's Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Dear CDCR, I admire the team tasked with the macabre and impossible job of developing what they call "a humane and dignified execution" process. I can't fathom what it is like to be tasked with clearly imagining, and designing procedures for: --choosing who is qualified to kill a person on our behalf, training them, and organizing them into sub-teams --giving the condemned a choice of how to be dispatched and appropriate forms for last meals, witnesses, property distribution, and burial arrangements --dealing with the chemical supply problems posed by manufacturers who won't have their medicines used as poisons (letting the warden choose any of 4 drugs for a particular execution is brilliant!) --sending the prisoner to health-care professionals for a "vein assessment" on where best to administer the overdose --making sure that the prisoner's list of people who are to be informed "in case of death, serious injury or serious illness" is up to date --assigning a liaison to the condemned prisoner's family (surely a coveted job) --assessing whether the person is mentally healthy enough to be killed --ensuring that suicide doesn't interfere with the state's planned homicide --deciding exactly how much money to spend on a human being's last meal on this planet --postulating what differences in handling are required in putting a woman to death --projecting when and to what degree the executioners need to rehearse their tasks --designing contingencies if someone on the team won't be able to go through with the job --briefing the condemned on what will be done to them --detailing medical procedures for the killing process to work effectively, including protocols for horrifying scenarios where the injections, injections at the backup site, and backups to the backup plan fail to turn the human into a corpse --offering post-trauma counseling to the people who do this
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide
May 13 SINGAPOREimpending execution Kho Jabing to be hanged next FridayFamily of Sarawakian convicted of murder in Singapore told to make arrangements for his body to be flown back to Miri after execution. Sarawakian Kho Jabing is set to be executed by Singapore's prison authorities next Friday. According to Malay Mail Online today, the convicted killer's sister, Jumai Kho said that they received a letter 2 days ago from Singapore, notifying them of the scheduled execution. She said the letter, which was addressed to her mother Lenduk Baling, asked the family to make preparations to take Jabing's body back to Miri after the execution. Lenduk is in shock and unable to accept the news. Jumai said the family was working with NGO "We Believe in 2nd Chances", to fly to Singapore, and are also assessing the options available. She told the portal that the family had been under the impression that Kho would be spared the noose, pending a fresh clemency petition they had intended to push through last month. Kho's 1st plea for clemency was rejected in October last year. Kho, 31, from Ulu Baram, Sarawak, was found guilty of killing a Chinese construction worker with a tree branch in 2008 during a robbery attempt. He was sentenced to death in 2010. In 2013, the Singapore government amended the mandatory death penalty that gave judges the discretion to choose between death and life imprisonment with caning for murder, as well as certain cases of drug trafficking. In August 2013, following revisions to the mandatory death penalty laws, the High Court sentenced him to life and 24 strokes of the cane instead. It was then again revised to the death penalty after the prosecution challenged the decision before the Court of Appeal. Kho was scheduled to be executed on Nov 6, but received a stay the day before after his lawyer filed a motion raising points of law about the case's handling. (source: freemalaysiatoday.com) *** Halt Kho Jabing's Execution http://www.amnestyusa.org/get-involved/take-action-now/singapore-halt-kho-jabing-s-execution-ua-10315 (source: Amnesty International USA) BANGLADESH: Turkey, Pakistan Protest Nizami Execution Diplomatic fallout from Bangladesh's execution of the chief of the country's largest faith-based party grew Thursday when Turkey summoned home its ambassador to Dhaka after condemning the hanging. The "Turkish Foreign Ministry has asked Turkey's ambassador to Bangladesh to report to Ankara for consultations in the aftermath of hanging of a senior Jamaat-e-Islami party leader in the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka," Turkey's state-run Anatolia News Agency reported Thursday, citing an unnamed diplomatic source. Meanwhile, a diplomatic row between Bangladesh and Pakistan escalated over Wednesday's hanging of Motiur Rahman Nizami for war crimes allegedly committed during the Bangladeshi war of independence in 1971, when the country was known as East Pakistan. On Thursday Turkish ambassador Devrim Ozturk boarded a homeward flight, a day after Turkey's foreign ministry issued a statement condemning the execution of Nizami, the chief of the opposition Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI) party, Bangladeshi officials said. "The Turkish ambassador left Dhaka at 6:20 a.m. Thursday on a Turkish airlines flight," Kazi Imtiaz Mashroor, the officer-in-charge of immigration at the Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka, told BenarNews. However, State Minister for Foreign Affairs Shahriar Alam told reporters that the Turkish government had not officially informed Dhaka about a recall of its ambassador. "He [Ozturk] has informed us that he would be out of the country from May 12. And he also informed us who would be serving as ambassador in his absence," Alam said, without naming who would assume that role. The statement from the Turkish foreign ministry pointed out that Turkey had abolished capital punishment. "We strongly condemn the execution, since we do not believe that Nizami deserved such a punishment and wish God's mercy upon the deceased," the statement said. "For the protection of social harmony and peace in Bangladesh, we have in the last three years repeatedly called upon the leaders of Bangladesh at the highest level to suspend the execution of death sentences and conveyed our concerns that the practice of capital punishment may cause new tension in the society due to its unjust nature," the ministry added. Elsewhere, Pakistan on Thursday summoned Bangladesh's acting high commissioner in Islamabad, Nazmul Huda, to deliver a "strong protest" letter. Hours later, Bangladesh summoned Pakistan's envoy to Dhaka, Shuja Alam, and delivered its own protest letter. "The attempts by the government of Bangladesh to malign Pakistan, despite our keen desire to develop brotherly relations with it, are regrettable," Pakistan's foreign ministry said a statement. On Wednesday,
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----S.C., FLA., ALA., TENN., IND., MO.
May 13 SOUTH CAROLINA: Dylann Roof's attorney OKs request for mental evaluation, pushes back on witness lists Defense attorneys for Dylann Roof, the 22-year-old white man accused of killing 9 black parishioners during a Bible study at Emanuel AME Church, say they will allow state prosecutors to conduct their own mental evaluation of Roof. In a hearing last month, the solicitor's office asked to conduct its own mental evaluation of Roof to rebut or confirm the findings from a pair of evaluations performed by the defense team's experts. The state trial, originally slated to begin in July, has been pushed back to January 2017 to allow the defense's experts to complete 6 months of further exams and reports on Roof's mental state. On Wednesday, Roof's attorney Ashley Pennington agreed to the request, with three caveats: the report on Roof's mental state remains sealed from prosecutors until the sentencing phase of the trial; Roof's attorneys will be in the room during the evaluation and can object to questions; and anything Roof says pointing to his guilt in the shooting cannot be included in the report. However, Pennington pushed back against requests for lists of expert and general witnesses. Pennington said he "has no objection to providing to the court to further the goal of selecting a fair and unbiased jury." But Pennington says with the trial some 7 months away and the investigation ongoing, he does not have a complete list of witnesses outside those the solicitor's office plans to call to testify. Further, Pennington says giving a list of experts and general witnesses he plans to call during Roof's defense would give prosecutors an advantage beyond normal trial discovery. Instead, he asked the court to follow the precedent set in the 1995 Susan Smith trial in which prosecutors and defense attorneys provided witness lists to the judge who then passed them out to potential jurors to make sure there were no conflicts of interest. "Following the same procedure here would help ensure the seating of a fair and impartial jury without requiring premature disclosure of the defendant's prospective witnesses to the state," Pennington wrote. Roof is accused of killing nine black parishioners at Emanuel AME Church in downtown Charleston. He faces a number of murder and attempted murder charges for the shooting and prosecutors have said they will seek the death penalty. Roof also faces nearly 3 dozen federal hate crimes charges, but the Attorney General's office has not yet announced whether it will seek the death penalty also. As a result, that decision has caused a delay in scheduling the federal trial. Roof's attorneys at the state and federal level have said multiple times that Roof is willing to plead guilty if prosecutors remove the possibility of death as a sentence. (source: WCIV news) FLORIDA: Local Non Profit Pays Tribute to Wrongly Convicted Individuals A non-profit pays tribute to individuals who've been exonerated for crimes they didn't commit. William Dillon said he'll never forget the day he gained by his freedom. "2008, November 18th, 5:55 in the evening," said Dillon. It came after serving 27 years for a crime he didn't commit. "1981 I was accused of beating a man to death on the beach," said Dillon. Thursday Dillon along with 13 other exonorees were honored by the innocence project. This non-profit group helped each of these people gain their freedom. Also in attendance, anti-death penalty advocate and author of the book turned movie "Dead Man Walking" sister Helen Prejean. She said right now Florida's justice system doesn't cater to those with low incomes. There's prosecutorial misconduct for the most part and often they're poor, they don't get good defense and they don't have a chance when they go to trial," said Sister Helen. Ii think the courts were kind of blind. I think they pushed it, I think more than anything I think they pushed the issue for a conviction and I just looked the part. I was tall, a bigger kid I guess and beating a man to death was easy. Even though it turned out 4 juveniles actually committed the crime," said Dillon. Dillon hopes no one else will have to go through his situation. That's why he encourages people to become sponsors for organizations like the innocence project. "This is element to all justice not just to people wrongfully convicted, but an element to stopping people being killed in the death penalty, people being misused in the justice system, just thrown away through time," said Dillon. In all the 14 exonorees honored Thursday spent a total of 275 years in prison for crimes they did not commit. (source: WCTC news) ** Florida bungled death penalty Florida leaders want to preserve capital punishment as an option in the most heinous murder cases. But they're running out of chances to get it right - if such a thing is even
