[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide
June 10 INDONESIA: Gulberg massacre case: Court defers quantum of punishment till MondayEarlier on Monday, prosecution had sought death penalty for all the 24 people convicted for the gruesome killings. The special SIT court hearing the 2002 Gulberg Society massacre is expected to fix the date on Monday, for pronouncing the quantum of punishment for 24 convicted in connection with the killing of 69, people including former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri. After arguments over the sentencing of the 24 convicted in case came to an end, after the final submission submitted by prosecution on Friday, the special SIT court Judge P B Desai adjourned the hearing to June 13 - when he is expected to fix the date for handing out the quantum of punishment. During arguments, special public prosecutor and SIT counsel R C Kodekar submitted documents as evidence showing various Government Resolutions regarding the compensation to be given to the survivors and relatives of victims of Gulberg. However, the court was not fully convinced with the submissions and said that there exists no straight jacket formula to decide about the compensation in such cases. "Compensation to whom? on what basis? to what extent ? It's not as simple as you are demanding. How long we will drag this case?" asked the judge. Demanding harsher punishment, Kodekar told the court that the case falls in the category of "rarest of rare" and the quantum of punishment should serve as a message to the society that such acts will not be tolerated. Earlier on Monday, prosecution had sought death penalty for all the 24 people convicted for the gruesome killings. The defence lawyers had however sought lenient punishment for the guilty. On Friday, the prosecution was given a chance to counter arguments put up by the defence counsel. To emphasise his view about giving stricter punishment, Kodekar told the court that those involved in the ghastly act of killing the residents of Gulberg were either known to them or their neighbours, not terrorists. "There is difference between a terrorist act and an act of murder by the neighbours. Yakub Memon, Afzal Guru and Kasab were either terrorists or supporters of an alien country's notions. In this case, I can say that 'Bhai ne bhai ko mara' (brother killed his brother). They were friends and neighbours of the victims," said Kodekar. Though the court had already ruled out the conspiracy angle in its earlier judgement, Kodekar maintained that the convicts had decided to kill the minority community residents of Gulberg "from the very first moment". "Witnesses said that the mob were chanting 2 slogans"Jai Shri Ram and "Kill Muslims". They surrounded the society from all sides. It shows that they have already made up their minds to kill Muslims" submitted Kodekar, who urged the court to award punishment of life until death, if not the capital punishment, to the convicts. (source: Indian Express) PHILIPPINES: Death penalty may be here by Oct - Koko There is big chance for the Senate to pass a measure that would pave way for the revival of the death penalty in the country, and presumptive Senate President Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel 3rd expects to have it passed by October this year. According to Pimentel, the proposal seeking to reimpose capital punishment is set to be filed on July 25, the opening of the first legislative session of the 17th Congress, and have it referred to the Committee on Public Order and Dangerous Drugs. The committee will then conduct a series of consultations and public hearings by August, introduced it to the plenary by September and pass it on 3rd and final reading by October. "Theoretically, Yes," Pimentel said, when asked if it is possible for the Senate to pass the death penalty proposal in 3 months. The reimposition of the death penalty is one of the priority measures of incoming President Rodrigo Duterte. Duterte, in a recent news conference, said he would ask lawmakers to approve the capital punishment for heinous crimes, such as drug-related offenses and rape. But aside from reviving the death penalty, he wants the punishment carried out through hanging. Incoming Sen. Panfilo Lacson in a separate text message said it is possible for the Senate to pass the proposal reimposing the capital punishment but not within the suggested timeline of Pimentel. Also, Lacson added that he is for the revival of the death penalty but not in the manner Duterte wants it to be carried out. He said aside from the capital punishment being inhumane, he does not want the people to witness medieval age-like executions even of the most notorious criminals. Lacson, based on an initial list of Senate committee chairmanships released by Sen. Vicente Sotto 3rd on Thursday, will be heading the Committee on Public Order and Dangerous Drugs. "What I can assure them is that once the bill is referred to the Committee on Pu
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----MASS., PENN., OHIO, ARK.
June 10 MASSACHUSETTS: Extend death penalty to other homicides I believe your article mentioning Gov. Baker's desire to reinstate the death penalty related to only those who kill police officers. I agree with that; however I believe the death penalty should go beyond that -- to the perpetrators of all senseless homicides. Yes, there has been no death penalty in the state of Massachusetts for decades. Perhaps that can be related to the increase in horrific crimes. Deinstitutionalization also ended decades ago. Should we look at that as well, and get the psychological help necessary to help human beings function? Let's look at the whole picture to help prevent harm. ROSE B. McGARRY Tyngsboro (source: Letter to the Editor, Lowell Sun) PENNSYLVANIA: Here's How Far Some Justices Go to Defend the Death Penalty A judge shouldn't be allowed to vote in a case involving a capital sentence when he was formerly the prosecutor who sought the death penalty in the same case. That sounds obvious, and the Supreme Court said so on Thursday. But 3 justices dissented, suggesting that the answer might not have been obvious after all. The dissents show how deeply divided the court really is over the death penalty - and how far the conservative justices are prepared to go in its defense. The facts of the case go back to 1984, when Terence Williams, who had just turned 18, participated in the beating and murder of 56-year-old Amos Norwood in Philadelphia. The prosecutor in Williams's case wanted to seek the death penalty, and asked approval from the Philadelphia district attorney, Ronald Castille. Castille approved in 1986, writing on the letter of request, "Approved to proceed on the death penalty." At the sentencing phase of the trial, the prosecutor argued that Williams had murdered Norwood for no better reason than that the stranger had offered him a ride. The randomness of the crime was used as evidence that Williams would be dangerous if he was ever allowed to go free, and the jury chose the death sentence. In 2012, Williams filed a petition in Pennsylvania court offering new evidence. His co-defendant now was willing to testify that he had told prosecutors that Williams was in a sexual relationship with Norwood, his victim. If that was true, then the killing might not have been random, as prosecutors had claimed. A Pennsylvania trial court stayed the execution. Prosecutors asked the state supreme court to lift the stay for a procedural reason, saying defense lawyers hadn't filed petitions on time as defined by Pennsylvania law. At the time, the chief justice of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court was none other than Ronald Castille, who had approved the death penalty request as district attorney almost 30 years before. Williams's lawyers asked him to recuse himself from the appeal. Castille refused. Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote Thursday's Supreme Court opinion, holding that Castille's participation deprived Williams of due process of law. The logic was simple: for Castille to act as prosecutor and judge in the same case violated a basic principle of fairness, namely that "no man can be a judge in his own case." Having made a "critical" decision on the case, Kennedy wrote, Castille might be "psychologically wedded" to the death penalty and therefore might not be open-minded about the appeal. The 2 dissents are noteworthy. The 1st, by Chief Justice John Roberts, was joined by Justice Samuel Alito. In it, Roberts disparaged Kennedy's opinion as resting "on proverb rather than precedent." Roberts then argued that under existing precedent, recusal is only required when a judge has previously decided precisely the same question. He claimed that the issue in Williams's appeal was different than the ones raised in seeking the death penalty in the first place; the only question was whether Williams's petition should be rejected because it wasn't filed on time. Roberts emphasized that judges' recusal decisions should be presumed legitimate. He cares about the institution of the courts, and so it's perhaps understandable that he was eager to defend the Pennsylvania judge. But the opinion is otherwise unconvincing. In death penalty appeals, technical issues like timeliness are often proxies for the underlying issue of whether the death penalty should have been applied. If prosecutors were told that Williams and his victim were lovers, and yet told the jury that the attack was random, that would impugn the honesty of the district attorney's office when Castille was district attorney. What's really going on is that Roberts and Alito don't want capital sentences blocked on what they consider technicalities. Justice Clarence Thomas was willing to say so more explicitly. His separate dissent argued that state post-conviction proceedings, common in death penalty cases, actually should be held to a lower due-process standard than trials for
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide
June 10 PHILIPPINES: Duterte eyeing 50 executions every month - lawmaker Incoming president Rodrigo Duterte wants 50 convicts executed every month by hanging once Congress re-imposes the death penalty, representative-elect Danilo Suarez of Quezon said yesterday. "He feels that if at least 50 drug lords and other convicts are hanged every month, their execution will deter crime," he told the Usaping Balita forum at the Serye Cafe in Quezon City. He said Duterte revealed his plans during a meeting with 19 members of the House of Representatives led by Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. on Tuesday. He said the nation's next leader told them that he would like Congress to restore the death penalty within 6 months or before yearend. He said Duterte intends to certify a capital punishment re-imposition bill as urgent. Suarez recalled that in the course of Tuesday's meeting, reelected Camarines Sur Rep. Rolando Andaya Jr., who is being groomed to chair the House appropriations committee, suggested that funds could be set aside for the rehabilitation of the death chamber at the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) in Muntinlupa, where execution through lethal injection could be carried out. "But the president-elect declared there was no need for it as he preferred hanging as mode of execution," he said. He said if Congress enacts a bill lowering the age of criminal responsibility to 15, youth convicted of heinous crimes such as drug trafficking would be covered by the planned re-imposition of the death penalty. Kabataan Rep. Terry Ridon, another guest at the forum, said Duterte would not see the execution of convicted drug lords and other offenders in the early part of his administration. "They have to go through the legal process. The offenders have to be convicted. Then there is the mandatory review of their conviction. Knowing our justice system, it will take time, maybe years," he said. He said the death penalty, if Congress restores it, would be applied on future offenders, not on convicts serving time at Bilibid. Suarez agreed with Ridon, but said if suspected drug lords choose to fight law enforcers, they would suffer death just the same. "In our province, if there is a drug lord in a community and he is arrested, he is freed and is back to his illegal activities in a few days because he has bribed the judge and the prosecutor. This does not happen in Davao City (where Duterte is mayor)," Suarez said. He said the incoming leader asked him, Belmonte and Ilocos Norte Rep. Rodolfo Fari???as, who is being eyed as the next majority leader, to help incoming speaker Pantaleon Alvarez push for the return of capital punishment and other legislative priorities. They said they promised to support Duterte's priority legislative measures. Ridon, who belongs to the Makabayan bloc, said their group would oppose the re-imposition of the death penalty. "I predict a showdown on this issue inside and outside Congress, what with the Catholic Church against the death penalty," he said. He said there are also party-list representatives, including Lito Atienza of Buhay, who are opposed to capital punishment. "I think it will face rough sailing," he added. Pro-death penalty Returning senator Panfilo Lacson yesterday said he supports the reimposition of the death penalty for heinous crimes but not by hanging as proposed by Duterte. Lacson said he finds the penalty "too medieval." Senate President Franklin Drilon, for his part, said he is open to a discussion on the proposal to restore the death penalty in the country. However, he said that this is not a decision that should be rushed because it carries with it very serious implications. 'Uphold rule of law' Acting Justice Secretary Emmanuel Caparas is hopeful that the administration of Duterte will respect and uphold the rule of law. In a press conference yesterday, he urged critics to give Duterte a chance to perform his duties amid criticisms on his manner of speaking and perceived inhuman anti-criminality policies. "Let's give the incoming president a chance. If after several months or years we see something wrong, then that's the time we speak. For now, let's allow him to do his job," Caparas stressed. The outgoing Department of Justice (DOJ) chief revealed that he already met with his successor, Vitaliano Aguirre II, for the transition of administration. "We had 2 productive sessions. He strikes me as a man who wants to get to the bottom of things immediately. As what he said in the media, he would like to prioritize cases on drugs and graft and corruption," he bared. Caparas also dispelled fears of the DOJ dropping from its witnesses protection program (WPP) the witness on alleged anomalies in the administration of detained former president and re-elected Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, a known ally of Duterte. (source: PhilippineStar) Recto not closin
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, CONN., N.C., ARK., USA
June 10 TEXAS: Coryell County district attorney to seek death penalty in child's death A Gatesville man with a disturbing history of arrests for sexually abusing children was indicted June 1 by a Coryell County grand jury on a charge of capital murder in the death of a 2-year old boy in January. Chet Shelton, 17, was arrested and booked into the Coryell County Jail. Coryell County District Attorney Dusty Boyd confirmed his office would seek the death penalty in any upcoming trial. On the date of the incident, Shelton was tasked with baby-sitting Gatesville toddler Makai Brooks Lamar for most of the day while the child's mother worked a double shift at a local restaurant, according to an arrest affidavit. The affidavit also said the child's mother came home during a break from work and the child was fine at that time. After the mother returned to work, Shelton said he found the boy not breathing and took the child to a neighbor's home where a Coryell County sheriff's deputy lived. According to the affidavit, the child died a few hours later at Coryell Memorial Hospital in Gatesville. Police immediately began treating the 34th Street home in Gatesville as a crime scene, beginning in the child's bedroom, where they found bloody bedding and pillows. In the arrest affidavit, police highlight several inconsistencies with Shelton's story regarding the events in the hours before the child's death, one of which was that Lamar always slept clothed and in a diaper. According to the affidavit, "when Shelton took the infant child to the neighbor's house for medical assistance, the infant was wearing no clothing, not even a diaper." Serious injuries were confirmed during an autopsy conducted in Dallas. The preliminary cause of death was labeled as blunt force trauma, as the child has numerous injuries to his head and internal organs. The affidavit also said the child had been sodomized, causing "severe, distinct trauma" to the child. Shelton's criminal history includes 3 counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child in May 2007, 3 counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child in December 2007, 2 counts of assault causing serious bodily injury in October 2010 and 4 counts of indecency with a child by sexual contact in May 2007. According to Boyd, in exchange for his guilty plea in the earlier cases, many of the most serious charges against Shelton were downgraded to injury to a child, which does not carry a sex offender registration requirement. It was not clear in which jurisdiction Shelton's previous convictions were filed. Online jail records show Shelton remains in the Coryell County Jail on several bonds totaling more than $500,000. Boyd said Shelton's case is Coryell County's only death penalty case. It appears to me that a failure of the judicial system allowed Shelton to skirt the sex offender registration requirement, and avoid lengthy prison terms for the most serious of his previous crimes. That failure also allowed Shelton to be free to reoffend at the level of this charge. Shelton gets his day in court. He will have the opportunity to mount a defense to the charges. Shelton also will be faced by his accusers. If found guilty, Shelton deserves the punishment he receives, be it the death penalty or life in prison without the possibility of parole. His tiny victim has no life at all. (source: John Werff, Cove Herald) *** Double shooting charge upgraded to capital murder Charges for a suspect in a double shooting were upgraded to capital murder Thursday after prosecutors said his 2nd victim died in the hospital. Darrell P. Mitchell, 28, is accused of gunning down his ex-girlfriend and her boyfriend earlier this week at the woman's apartment in northeast Houston. Lakiesha Lewis, 23, died at the scene and 24-year-old Johnel Francis died late Tuesday after being taken to the hospital. In an orange jail uniform, Mitchell made his initial court appearance Thursday in front of state District Judge Ryan Patrick who ruled that the suspect would be held without bail, a common condition in capital cases. He had been charged with murder. Court records show that Mitchell said he knocked on the door at his ex-gilrfriend's home at 6603 Hirsch about 3 a.m. When her boyfriend answered, Mitchell said "his mind went blank and he shot and killed them," according to the documents. Mitchell surrendered to police Tuesday night after investigators released information about the shooting. In court, prosecutor Keri Fuller said a woman who was Lewis' best friend and knows Mitchell as Lewis' ex-boyfriend told police that Mitchell told her she would have to raise his children because he had killed Lewis and her new boyfriend. Police have said Mitchell and Lewis had an on-again-off-again relationship and had recently broken up. Lewis was the mother of his 3 children, ages 5, 3, and 1. The children were not at the apart
