[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide
May 26 SUDAN: Sudan pastor faces death penalty A Christian human rights group is concerned that a Sudanese pastor could soon be facing the death penalty. In December of last year, the African country of Sudan began a crackdown of church leaders and pastors which included several arrests. While 1 pastor was recently released, another pastor, Hassan Abduraheem Taour, remains jailed. Troy Augustine, regional manager for Africa for International Christian Concern, says the pastor has been transferred to the attorney general's office. "Which means that charges should be coming soon," Augustine explains. "But the charges that are likely to come down on Mr. Taour, 3 of which carry the possibility of the death penalty." Augustine says they are working on the pastor's behalf. "We're working on different advocacy efforts to bring this issue to the fore and say that this pastor's incarceration is unjust, and for him to face charges that seem to be trumped up is unjust," he says. Augustine says they do have some hope though because in past similar situations, Sudan has responded positively to international pressure. (source: onenewsnow.com) INDONESIA: Drug lord Freddy tries to avoid death Amid the government's preparations for the next round of executions, convicted drug kingpin Freddy Budiman has filed a case review to overturn his death sentence. On Wednesday, he and his team of lawyers attended a hearing for the case review at the Cilacap District Court in Central Java, amid reports he is one of the death-row convicts soon to be executed on Nusakambangan Island. His lawyer Untung Sunaryo told the panel of judges, presided over by Catur Prasetyo, that his client should not have been sentenced to death because none of Freddy's accomplices, who were involved in the smuggling of 1.4 million ecstasy pills from China in 2011, was given the death penalty. "Why was Freddy Budiman then sentenced to death while the others were not? This is the substance of the objection we've raised in this case review hearing. We demand our client not be put to death," said Untung at Cilacap District Court. Freddy's case review hearing was tightly secured by around 150 police personnel from the Cilacap Regency Police. Police escorted Freddy from the ferry crossing from Nusakambangan Island to the Cilacap District Court, a distance of around 4 kilometers. Freddy wore a long white robe with black cap. "We hope the Supreme Court will hear our case for a review as far as possible because the judges stated our client's offense was the same as his accomplices during a previous appeal hearing," said Untung. The central government has remained silent on the upcoming executions despite apparent preparations on the island, in a move many see as trying to avoid animosity among the international community. Central Java Police revealed that 10 foreign nationals and five Indonesians were already on the list, but the Attorney General???s Office ( AGO ) has denied this, with Attorney General Muhammad Prasetyo saying that his office had yet to decide when and who would be included in the next batch of executions. Freddy has avoided execution at least twice as his lawyer team had kept postponing a plan to file for a case review. Prasetyo said he expected Freddy would be included in the next round of executions, but he was still waiting for the convict to decide on whether to exercise his legal right to challenge the death sentence. The hearing at Cilacap court was heard by 3 local judges--Catur and Vilia Sari and Cokia Ana Pontia, while the prosecutors were from the West Jakarta Prosecutor's Office. The case review appeal was read by Freddy's legal advisors. The hearing commenced at around 10:30 a.m. local time and ended at 12 p.m.. Freddy's case review should have been heard in early May at the West Jakarta District Court. However, as Freddy had been transferred to Nusakambangan, his legal team requested the case review hearing be held in Cilacap and this was granted. "As he's been transferred to the Pasir Putih prison, Freddy's legal team proposed the hearing be moved and it was finally approved to be held at the Cilacap District Court," West Jakarta prosecutor Reda Manthovani told journalists. He said that although the hearing was at the Cilacap District Court, prosecutors convened the session from the West Jakarta Prosecutor's Office. Freddy was arrested on April 28, 2011, by the Jakarta Police's narcotics division for smuggling 1.4 million ecstasy pills from China. Freddy was sentenced to death by the West Jakarta District Court five months after his arrest. From November 2012 until July 2013, he was confined at the Cipinang Narcotics Prison in East Jakarta. Although he was sentenced to death, Freddy did not give up drug dealing, as he carried on his activities from within his prison cell, he was therefore transferred to Batu Prison on Nusakamba
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----CONN., PENN., N.C., FLA., LA., CALIF.
May 26 CONNECTICUT: Connecticut Supreme Court upholds decision banning death penalty for remaining death-row inmates The Connecticut Supreme Court on Thursday again said that it would be unconstitutional to execute inmates on the state's death row, upholding a decision from the same court last year effectively banning the death penalty in the state. In a decision in August, the state's justices ruled that Connecticut could not execute death-row inmates for crimes committed before the state largely abolished capital punishment. Under a law signed in 2012, Connecticut agreed to abandon the death penalty going forward, while also retaining it as an option for crimes committed before that bill became law. After an inmate named Eduardo Santiago - convicted of murdering someone in 2000 - challenged his death sentence, a divided Connecticut Supreme Court said last year that he could not be executed because the 2012 law "creates an impermissible and arbitrary distinction" between crimes committed before and after that measure went into effect. (Santiago was re-sentenced to life in prison without parole in December.) The state's high court upheld its earlier ruling in a 5-to-2 decision handed down Thursday in a case focusing on Russell Peeler, a man sentenced to death for his role in the 1999 killings of a woman and her 8-year-old son. The justices ruled that Peeler must instead be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, because his earlier sentence "must be vacated as unconstitutional in light of" last year's decision. 3 justices wrote concurring opinions, while 2 authored dissents, 1 of which said the ruling last year "inflicted [damage] on the rule of law" that "must be repaired." Gov. Dannel P. Malloy (D), who signed the 2012 law abolishing the death penalty, reiterated his opposition to capital punishment on Thursday and focused on how the new ruling will keep the death-row inmates from ever seeking parole. "Today's decision reaffirms what the court has already said: those currently serving on death row will serve the rest of their life in prison with no possibility of ever obtaining freedom," he said in a statement. He added: "Our focus today should not be on those currently sitting on death row, but with their victims and those surviving family members. My thoughts and prayers are with them on this difficult day." According to the state Department of Corrections, Connecticut has 11 inmates on death row. The only state in New England that still has capital punishment on the books is New Hampshire, where legislators recently came within one vote of abolishing it. Since 2007, 7 states have formally abandoned the death penalty. However, they have not agreed on what to do with the people on death row once this takes effect. In some cases, such as New Jersey and Illinois, death sentences were commuted to life sentences without parole. This is what Nebraska's bill abolishing the death penalty also would do; while lawmakers there voted to get rid of capital punishment last year, that law remains on hold until voters decide in November. In other cases, though, inmates have remained on death row and the effect on their sentences has been uncertain after their states abandoned the death penalty. Like Connecticut, Maryland - the last of the states to formally outlaw the death penalty - abolished the practice while exempting those already on death row. Before he left office, former governor Martin O'Malley (D) commuted the sentences of the remaining inmates to life terms. Connecticut has executed only 1 inmate since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976. The state considered abolishing the death penalty in 2009, but Malloy's predecessor, M. Jodi Rell, vetoed a bill that year that would have eliminated the practice. Her decision came as the state was reeling after a horrifying home invasion there 2 years earlier. 2 men broke into a family's home before sexually assaulting a woman, Jennifer Hawke-Petit, and her 11-year-old daughter, Michaela. The 2 men also beat the girl's father, William, before killing Jennifer, Michaela and the couple's 17-year-old daughter, Hayley. Both men accused in the case - Joshua Komisarjevsky and Steven Hayes - were convicted, found guilty and sentenced to death. This crime was cited as the reason lawmakers compromised in 2012, getting rid of the death penalty while keeping it in place for people, like those 2 men, who had committed crimes beforehand. (source: Washington Post) *** Peeler escapes death penalty The Connecticut Supreme Court has upheld its landmark ruling declaring the state's death penalty unconstitutional and abolishing capital punishment. The court released its 5-2 decision Thursday in the appeal of Russell Peeler Jr., who had been on death row for ordering the 1999 killings of a woman and her 8-year-old son in Bridgeport. The boy,
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide
may 26 IRANexecutions 2 Prisoners Hanged in Southern Iran 2 prisoners were reportedly hanged in Shiraz (Fars province, southern Iran) on Tuesday May 24. According to the human rights news agency, HRANA, one of the prisoners, identified as "Hadi Shekasteh", was hanged at Adel Abad Prisoner on drug charges. According to the Baloch Activists Campaign, the other prisoner's name is "Moslem Mahmoud Zehi Khash". It is not known at this time what charge Mr. Zehi Khash was sentenced to death for and whether he was executed in a prison or in public. Iranian official sources, including Iranian state run media and the Judiciary, have been silent on these 2 executions. Iranian authorities have ramped up the number of executions in the lead up to Ramadan. (source: Iran Human Rights) PAKISTAN: Verdict: PHC stays execution of militant A division bench of the Peshawar High Court suspended the execution of a militant who was awarded death sentence by a military court and sought record of his trial. The bench, comprising PHC Chief Justice Mazhar Alam Khan Miankhel and Justice Ikramullah Khan, heard a writ petition on Wednesday. The petition was filed by Alam Khan through his counsel Barrister Amirullah Chamkani. Chamkani said the petitioner's brother Muhammad Umar, a resident of Battagram, was arrested by intelligence agencies on August 10, 2014 from Mansehra. The counsel said little was known about his whereabouts since then. However, his family came to know on May 3, 2016 that he was awarded the death penalty by a military court and his execution was approved by chief of army staff. He said the convict was sentenced to death on charges of having affiliation with militant organisations, carrying out attacks on security forces and keeping explosives. (source: The Express Tribune) VIETNAM: Australian woman caught with 3 kilos of heroin at Vietnam airport Police and customs officers at Tan Son Nhat Airport on Thursday arrested an Australian national for attempting to smuggle around three kilograms of heroin to Australia. The 76-year-old woman hid the drug in 5 jars of fermented fish paste among other items in her luggage. She said she owed gambling money to some people in Australia and they forced her to smuggle the drug over to clear the debt. The heroin is estimated to have a street value of around US$720,000. Vietnam has some of the world's toughest drug laws. The production or sale of 100 grams of heroin or 300 grams of other illegal narcotics is punishable by death. Those convicted of possessing or smuggling more than 600 grams of heroin or more than 2.5 kilograms of methamphetamine also face the death penalty. (source: Thanh Nien News) SINGAPORE: MHA: Sole purpose of the applications by Kho's counsels was to try and delay his execution Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) issued a media statement on 26 May 2016 stating that there had been several inaccurate points made in relation to the legal process in the case of Kho Jabing, a Malaysian national who has been executed on 20 May 2016. It went on to state that sole purpose of the applications by Kho's counsels was to try and delay his execution. MHA noted that Kho had been represented by counsel throughout the whole process and was given every opportunity to file appeals and apply for re-sentencing and petition the President for clemency. After amendments were made in 2012 on the laws on the death penalty in Singapore, Kho was re-sentenced to life imprisonment and 24 strokes of the cane after an appeal to the High Court. The prosecution, however, appealed the re-sentencing and the case was brought to the Court of Appeal. The Court of Appeal then proceeded to overturn the previous ruling and reversed the sentence back to death sentence in 2013. In 2015, the court rejected his application for clemency. On 23 November 2015, Kho was granted a temporary reprieve pending the outcome of a petition filed by his lawyers, which raised questions of fact and law. MHA said that the above process by Kho's counsels was a pattern which was to be repeated more than once subsequently. On 6 April this year, the Court of Appeal lifted the temporary reprieve after dismissing the appeal and upheld its decision to impose the death penalty on Kho Jabing, saying that it observed that there were in reality no new arguments. On 19 May, Lawyer, Gino Hardial Singh filed a criminal motion citing grounds of apparent bias on the part of Judge of Appeal Andrew Phang, who had sat on both Jabing's appeals. He argued Justice Andrew Phang's involvement in the 2013 appeal essentially involved the judge deliberating over an appeal against his own decision - the one made in 2010. However, this criminal motion was dismissed by the Court of Appeal. On that same day, an originating summons was filed by lawyer, Ms Jeannette Chong-Aruldoss. She challenged the constitutionality of certain aspects o
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, CONN., VA., GA., FLA., NEB., CALIF., USA
May 26 TEXAS: Stop the execution of Jeff Wood in TX! Please sign and share this petition for Jeff Wood. TX has set his execution for August 24th - despite the fact that he killed no one. Jeff's sister sits on the CEDP's board and is a fierce advocate against the death penalty. https://www.change.org/p/governor-abbott-and-the-texas-board-of-pardons-and-parole-demand-justice-for-jeff-wood-5807b015-014a-4a21-8c6ee34be865c27c Jeff was sentenced under the Law of Parties - which allows the death penalty for those who aid in felony murder. Even if a person did not harm anyone, they can still get the death penalty if they were involved in a crime where someone else killed a person, because they should have "anticipated that a human life would be taken." For more information:http://savejeffwood.com https://www.facebook.com/LawofParties/?fref=ts https://www.facebook.com/AustinCEDP/?fref=ts (source: CEDP) CONNECTICUT: State Supreme Court Ruling On Abolishment Of Death Penalty Expected Thursday The Connecticut Supreme Court is expected to release its ruling Thursday on whether to uphold or overturn its decision last year to abolish the state's death penalty, including for inmates on death row. The justices ruled 4-3 last August that the death penalty was unconstitutional for all - including 11 convicts on Connecticut's death row - following the legislature's abolition 3 years ago of capital punishment in Connecticut. Lawmakers made the law prospective, meaning it applied only to new cases and kept in place the death sentences already imposed on those facing execution before the bill was passed. Attorneys for those on death row challenged the law, saying it violated the condemned inmates' constitutional rights. The ruling last August came in the case of Eduardo Santiago, who had faced the death penalty for the December 2000 killing of Joseph Niwinski in West Hartford. Santiago has been resentenced to life in prison without the possibility of release. In the August ruling, the justices in the majority wrote that executing an inmate "would violate the state constitutional prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment" and that the death penalty "no longer comports with contemporary standards of decency." In October, the high court denied a request by the chief state's attorney to postpone the Santiago decision, a ruling that followed its denial of a request by prosecutors to re-argue Santiago. Prosecutors then filed briefs arguing for the Santiago decision to be overruled in the pending appeal of Russell Peeler, who was sentenced to death for ordering the 1999 killings in Bridgeport of 8-year-old Leroy "B.J." Brown Jr. and his mother, Karen Clarke. The justices heard arguments on those briefs in January. Prosecutors said in deciding the Santiago case, the court "did not confine its analysis" to the actual claim raised -- whether enacting the 2012 law invalidated the death sentences of those sentenced before the law went into effect. The court made its ruling, prosecutors said, "for reasons having little or nothing to do with" enactment of the 2012 law and "erred in its ruling on lines of analysis and authorities the parties had not discussed." Prosecutors also argued that the justices relied on "flawed historical analysis" to justify their "departure from well-established principles of law" and incorrectly determined that state residents prior to the 1818 constitution gave the high court the authority to act independently to invalidate a penalty. Prosecutors said the justices' "new insights" into Connecticut history came from Lawrence B. Goodheart's book "The Solemn Sentence of Death: Capital Punishment in Connecticut," which actually says, according to prosecutors, that the legislature, not the court, "has been the historical source for both limiting capital punishment and providing relief to those sentenced to death." Chief Justice Chase T. Rogers, who joined with Justice Carmen E. Espinosa and Justice Peter T. Zarella in the August dissents, wrote then that "every step" of the majority's opinion was "fundamentally flawed." During the arguments last January, both the majority and minority raised concerns about the idea of a reversal following the retirement of Justice Flemming Norcott Jr., who had joined with justices Richard N. Palmer, Dennis G. Eveleigh and Andrew J. McDonald to ban capital punishment. Norcott was replaced by Justice Richard A. Robinson. "Why shouldn't the court be concerned that every time there's a hotly contested 4-3 decision ... that this isn't just going to become a numbers game, that the parties will then wait until somebody retires or leaves the court and raise the issue again?" Rogers said. "It just seems like a very slippery slope." "At a minimum," Palmer said, "it looks awfully odd to have a case of this magnitude decided differently within months simply because the panel changes. That's r
