[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide
Nov. 1 KENYA: Tread carefully on issue of the death penalty law The President recently commuted the death penalty for close to 3,000 inmates to life sentences. Unless there is mistrust in the effectiveness of our judicial system, there is a need for caution and careful thought. Death row prisoners did not commit minor offences. Many of them committed brutal murders. Also, some people are at home in prison, where they enjoy free ugali at the expense of the taxpayer. Severe sentences do not only render deserved punishment to offenders but also serve to deter crime. GEORGE NYUTU KARARI, Thika (source: Letter to the Editor, The Nation) UNITED KINGDOM: Ukip Leadership Candidate John Rees-Evans Wants Death Penalty For Paedophiles Unless Victim 'Looks 18'Rival asks if 13-year-olds are 'fair game'. A would-be Ukip leader has said paedophiles should receive the death penalty - but not if the victim "looks 18". John Rees-Evans, who has previously suggested a gay donkey raped his horse, suggested only abusers of "pre-pubescent" children would face the penalty under his re-introduction of capital punishment, suggesting it would only apply when the victim was under the age of 13. In an extraordinary policy position that even shocked fellow Ukip leadership contenders, Rees-Evans was speaking during a debate held by LBC radio when he caveated his position on paedophiles facing the death penalty - arguing it depends "what you define as a paedophile". Questioned by presenter Iain Dale about bringing back the punishment, Rees-Evans said: "I would vote in favour of the death penalty in the case of, specifically, for paedophiles and child killers." Dale pressed him further, asking whether "all proven paedophiles" would face the same punishment. He replied, before hesitating: "Yes ... but sorry, with paedophiles I wouldn't say necessarily someone (the victim) who looked 18, and was 15 1/2." When others on the panel started to question his stance, he added: "If you wanted to make that a semantic debate, you would have to sit down ... I haven't had the chance to clarify my answer. "It obviously depends what you define as a paedophile. In some countries it's legal to get married much, much younger. "Someone who is pre-pubescent. I would have the death penalty for someone (the victim) who is evidently pre-pubescent." Dale asked if he meant a 12-year-old, and leadership frontrunner Suzanne Evans then asked: "So 13-year-olds are fair game?" Rees-Evans replied: "They are fair game for the current punishment we dish out right now, yes." (source: huffingtonpost.co.uk) PAKISTAN: On Death Row in Pakistan When former police officer Khizar Hayat was imprisoned in 2003 on charges of murder, his widowed mother Iqbal Bano was promised by state-appointed lawyers that her son would soon return home. Certain about Hayat's innocence, Bano sold her jewelry and family property to save her son, only to receive a call one evening in June 2015 that her son was to be executed the next day. While a human rights law firm was able to get a stay on Hayat's execution due to his deteriorating mental illness, he is one of the thousands of prisoners in Pakistani jails currently awaiting execution. With 8,200 prisoners, Pakistan has the highest number of inmates on death row in the world, including many who weren???t given a fair trial or were convicted of crimes they didn't commit. Hayat's case was fought by a public defender, since his family could not afford private legal service. According to Bano, Hayat???s lawyer lacked competency and failed to make a good case for him. "Not getting a proper trial is something very common in Pakistan," says Zainab Mahboob, lawyer at Justice Project Pakistan, a pro bono law firm that worked to stay Hayat's execution. "State-appointed lawyers often take the fee and do not appear on hearings." According to Mahboob, most of the prisoners in jails come from poor backgrounds and cannot afford the expense of a strong defense. "Even if a crime is committed by a rich man, he never gets stuck in jail. He gets out. Don't know why and how, but he does," Mahboob added. In December 2014, following the Peshawar school massacre, the government removed the 7-year old moratorium on the death penalty. However, the impact on curbing terrorism remains controversial. According to the findings of Justice Project Pakistan, more than 3/4 of the death-row prisoners tried under Pakistan's Anti-Terrorism Courts have no link to a "reasonable definition of terrorism." These courts were established in 1997 by the Anti-Terrorism Act, which carries a series of provisions that fall under "terrorism," including "doing of anything that causes death," "damaging property by ransacking or looting" and "burning of vehicles or any other serious form of arson." The broad definition of terrorism has resulted in an aggravated use of death
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----FLA., OHIO
Nov. 1 FLORIDA: Girl, 1, starves to death: State seeks death penalty vs. father The State Attorney's Office is seeking the death penalty for Alejandro Aleman, the man charged with first-degree murder in the death of his 13-month-old daughter. Aleman's defense attorney Michael Salnick, who was officially appointed as his counsel Tuesday morning, questioned the legality of the death penality, a hot topic in the Florida Supreme Court, as well. Currently, a jury must be unanimous in its decision to sentence someone to death. However, judges across the state are delaying death sentences while courts debate its legality. Salnick entered not guilty pleas for his client on the 1st-degree murder, aggravated child abuse and animal cruelty charges. He declined to talk to media about the case. Aleman's daughter, Tayla, starved to death April 1, according to the Palm Beach County Medical Examiner. An autopsy revealed Tayla had E. coli, multiple strains of influenza and the start of pneumonia when she died. Tayla's mother, Kristen Meyer-Aleman, also faces 1st-degree murder and aggravated child abuse charges in her death. She told sheriff's deputies Tayla was fine 1 minute and stopped breathing the next. Meyer-Aleman is represented by a public defender. The Office of Regional Counsel is representing Meyer-Aleman in an open civil case, so a representative from the office argued it would be a conflict of interest for the office to represent her husband on the murder charge. Judge Charles Burton reluctantly appointed a private defense attorney, at the tax payer's expense, to represent Aleman last month. Salnick has handled several high-profile trials in Palm Beach County in recent years. He represented ex-Boynton Beach police officer Stephen Maiorino, who was acquitted of armed sexual battery, armed kidnapping and another charge linked to allegations that he raped a Wellington woman while on duty in 2014. Salnick will be paid by the Judicial Administrative Commission at a rate determined by the court. (source: Palm Beach Post) OHIO: High court hears Donna Roberts death appeal on Feb. 7 The state's high court has set a date for the next round of oral arguments for the lone woman on Ohio's death row. Donna Marie Roberts, convicted in the 2001 murder-for-hire of her former husband in Trumbull County, will have her case heard by the Ohio Supreme Court on Feb. 7. It's the 1st case of 3 scheduled for that day, with each side allotted a half an hour for their arguments. Roberts is asking justices to "reverse the sentence of death and find a life sentence to be appropriate," according to documents. This will be the 3rd time the Supreme Court has heard the case, with justices remanding it on 2 other occasions. According to documents, Roberts and her then-boyfriend Nathaniel Jackson planned the murder of 57-year-old Robert Fingerhut for months, hoping to collect more than 1/2 a million dollars in insurance money. Roberts provided Jackson with access to the Howland home she and Fingerhut shared, and Jackson shot the victim multiple times. Both Roberts and Jackson received death sentences but were later ordered to be re-sentenced after it was determined that the prosecutor's office assisted in writing the original opinion in the case. Justices affirmed Jackson's death sentence earlier this year, with a majority justices ruling that the penalty was "both appropriate and proportionate when compared with capital cases involving aggravated murder during an aggravated murder." During her earlier case before the Supreme Court, Roberts argued that the trial judge should have considered head injuries, her history of depression and other mitigating factors before again issuing the ultimate penalty for her role the murder. A majority of justices agreed, noting that a new trial court entry "failed to mention any of the information provided by Roberts" as part of the 1st resentencing process. They remanded her case for further consideration in 2013. (source: Youngstown Vindicator) ___ 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
Nov. 1 PHILIPPINES: Minority solon vows to fight House Speaker on death penalty issue A senior minority lawmaker on Tuesday vowed to "put up a fight" against House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez on legislative proposals to reimpose the death penalty. "The Speaker has thrown down the gauntlet on the death penalty. We will put up a fight," House Senior Deputy Minority Leader Lito Atienza said in a statement. Alvarez, a close ally of President Rodrigo Duterte, earlier said the House of Representatives intends to approve on final reading proposals to revive the death penalty law before Congress goes on a Christmas break. Atienza said reviving death penalty was tantamount to repealing the "right to life of every human being, of every Filipino." "The death penalty is the absolute and irreparable deprivation of human rights. It flouts the natural and unassailable right to life," Atienza said. A representative of the Buhay party-list in Congress, Atienza argued that the death penalty did not work before because only a handful of executions were actually carried out. "There's no point in performing another experiment on the death penalty that is bound to fail at the horrible sacrifice of more human lives," the lawmaker said. "The certainty of capture and punishment of criminals, regardless of the severity of the penalty itself, is the best deterrence to other would-be offenders," he added. He also denounced the death penalty as "infected with economic prejudice and human error." "It is bad enough we already have a virtual death penalty in place, with the unabated summary executions of alleged suspects and the benefit of a full and fair trial," Atienza said. Although death penalty was abolished in the 1987 Constitution, it was reinstated through Republic Act (RA) 7659, which imposes capital punishment on certain heinous crimes, and RA 8177 provides for lethal injection as the means of carrying out the death penalty. In 2006, then-President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo signed Republic Act 9346 abolishing death penalty in the Philippines by repealing RA 7659. House Bill 01 filed by then incoming House Speaker Alvarez and Capiz Rep. Fredenil Castro, seeks the reimposition of capital punishment for those convicted of heinous crimes such as plunder, trafficking of illegal drugs, and car theft. (source: gmanetwork.com) UNITED KINGDOM MILITARY: Shot At Dawn: Pardoned Soldiers RememberedA century ago they were shot for mutiny - one of the most serious crimes in the British Army - but now their honour has been restored. The Shot at Dawn Memorial in Alrewas, Staffordshire, had contained the names of 306 men who were executed for 'cowardice' or 'desertion'. With many now recognised as having been suffering from mental illnesses like post-traumatic stress disorder, these men were subsequently pardoned. As a result, the Staffordshire memorial was created to honour their sacrifices, along with all those who died in combat fighting for the British Empire in World War One. But these 306 names are the tip of a much larger iceberg. 200,000 serving soldiers were officially court-martialled by the British High Command in the First World War. Of these, 20,000 were found guilty of offences that carried the death penalty, while 3,000 are said to have officially received it, though many of these sentences were subsequently commuted. In the end, of these 3,000, 346 executions were carried out by firing squad. Now, of the 40 names left off the Shot at Dawn Memorial, 3 have been added, thanks to the persistence of memorial creator Andy DeComyn. They are New Zealander Jack Braithwaite, of the New Zealand Otago Regiment, Gunner William Lewis from Scotland, and Jesse Robert Short, from Newcastle-Upon-Tyne. Braithwaite's 'mutiny', according to the Birmingham Mail, consisted of nothing more than a misdemeanour. The 'bohemian' former journalist, who'd confessed at his trial to not being a natural soldier, had tried to calm down a belligerent prisoner at Blargies prison in Rouen, northern France, by taking the man to his tent to feed him. The soldier, Private Little, had been a ringleader in a small uprising against the prison guards. But Little was an Australian and couldn't be executed because Australia's government wouldn't allow Britain to execute its soldiers. But 'Bohemian Jack' Braithwaite was a New Zealander, and could be executed. His attempt to defuse the potential riot (sparked by appalling conditions at the prison) involved him leading Little away from the custody of a staff sergeant, which officially amounted to mutiny. He was subsequently shot by firing squad on August 28, 1916. His execution occurred within 5 minutes of Gunner William Lewis, who'd also been involved in the uprising at the prison. Meanwhile, Corporal Jesse Short was condemned to death for uttering "put a rope around that bugger's neck, tie a stone to it and
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, ALA., OHIO, NEB., CALIF., USA
Nov. 1 TEXAS: Man accused of slaughtering '3 generations out of one family' This article contains graphic description. Amos Joseph Wells kept his head down as video of the carnage he is accused of causing flashed across a courtroom screen Monday morning. As the victims' family members cried - some so distraught that they left the courtroom - jurors watched as emergency crews worked desperately to save the lives of Wells' estranged 22-year-old pregnant girlfriend, Chanice Reed, her 10-year-old brother, Eddie McCuin Jr., inside the family's east Fort Worth house. The video was shot by a police sergeant's body camera. Outside the home, other paramedics tended to the wounded pair's mother, Annette Reed, who had been crying for help when officers first arrived - despite a gunshot wound to the face. Despite their efforts, all 3 would die, as well as Chanice Reed's unborn son. "This defendant slaughtered 3 generations out of 1 family," Lloyd Whelchel, who is prosecuting the case along with Kevin Rousseau, told jurors in opening statements Monday. "He took 4 innocent lives that day." Tarrant County prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against Wells. He has been jailed since shortly after the July 1, 2013 slayings, when he walked into the Forest Hill Police Department and announced, "I've done something bad." Though Wells is on trial for the deaths of Chanice Reed and her mother, Annette Reed, jurors also learned about the 2 other lives lost that day. Reed's unborn son would be 3 today had he lived, Whelchel told jurors, likely getting ready to go trick or treating with his cousins. McCuin would have been 13 and in the 7th grade, his life still wide open before him. Instead, the 10-year-old boy was chased down by Wells and executed inside the house after first witnessing his sister being shot, Whelchel told jurors. Wells' defense attorneys, Bill Ray and Steve Gordon, did not give an opening statement Monday. 'They're dying' In an emotional day of testimony, jurors heard from those who heard or witnessed Chanice Reed and Wells arguing moments before the triple shooting occurred. They also heard Annette Reed's own voice as she called 911, asking for assistance at the home in the 2900 block of Pate Drive, in a chaotic call drowned out by screams and the shouts of "No!" and "Stop!" in the background. Annette Reed later updates the call taker that "He's going to his truck" followed by more screams of "No!" before the call abruptly ends. Joylene Parsons, Annette Reed's aunt, testified she had also heard shouting in the background when her clearly troubled niece called, asking her to come over and explaining that Chanice Reed and her boyfriend were arguing. Esqual Martinez said he was working 2 houses down, patching up a driveway, when he saw and heard a man and woman arguing in the nearby front yard. He said it sounded as if the man wanted to the woman to come with him, but she kept yelling no and telling the man to go. Martinez said the man walked to the driver side of a Tahoe parked on the street in front of the home. "At first I thought he was leaving but he came back with a gun in his hand," Martinez testified. Martinez said he watched as the man shot the woman he had been arguing with multiple times. He said he then saw the man approach an older woman with the gun. He said the older woman was trying to bat the gun away but the man kept repositioning it toward her until shooting her too. Scared, Martinez said he grabbed a shovel and hid in a corner of the house he was working at for fear that the gunman might come after him next. "I heard some more shots," Martinez testified. "I didn't know what was going on." 'Just pray for her' Before emergency crews could arrive, another of Annette Reed's son arrived at the home after his own worrisome conversation with his mother. Kenneth Speed, 21, testified he had called his mother to seek permission to go swimming but heard his sister, Chanice Reed, arguing with Wells loudly in the background. He said he and other relatives and friends rushed to his home after hearing his mother curse at Wells and the call ending. He said they arrived to see the home's front door and screen door open and a neighbor standing in the yard. "I opened the door and said, 'What's going on?'" Williams recalled. "He said, 'Someone got shot.'" Williams testified he looked to the left and saw his mother on the ground. "I ran up. She was choking on her own blood," Williams testified. "I looked to the left and I saw my sister in the doorway with a hole in the head." After seeing bullet holes inside the home's walls, Williams said he headed down toward the hall to find his little brother. "I looked down the hallway. He was on the ground," Williams testified. "I rolled him over. He had 3 bullets in his chest." By the time Parsons arrived at her niece's home, police cars already packed the
