[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide
Nov. 8 GLOBAL: U.N. Investigator Talks About the Future of Solitary and the Death Penalty Last week, renowned Argentinian human rights lawyer and torture survivor Juan Mendez ended his 6 extraordinary years as the U.N. special rapporteur on torture. Mendez has been a fierce advocate against torture worldwide and a close ACLU partner in many areas, including fighting solitary confinement, the death penalty, and detention of children. ACLU Human Rights Program Director Jamil Dakwar had a chance to ask him some questions about his incredible work (the answers have been edited for length and clarity). This Q&A is part 2 of 2, focusing on solitary confinement, death penalty, and prison conditions issues. Read part 1 of the interview here. Early into your tenure, you conducted a worldwide study that concluded that solitary confinement can amount to torture. You've now just released a new report that builds upon that 2011 report and provides a comprehensive comparative analysis of the use of solitary confinement in 35 jurisdictions, including several states here in the U.S. What is your assessment of the state of the campaign to end solitary confinement both worldwide and here in the U.S.? In 2011, we had the sense that solitary confinement had crept up on the international community and the public more generally without us paying much attention. In fact, it was a practice that was banned in the 19th century because it was cruel, and yet it made a comeback in the last few decades. We had the impression - but it was only that, an impression - that it was used more extensively and now in many parts of the world for different purposes. It was used not only as a disciplinary measure, it was used without due process guarantees, and it was used for longer and longer periods. Now we have made some inroads - with the help of the Cyrus R. Vance Center for International Justice and the law firm Weil, Gotshal & Manges - into at least providing a little more factual information about practices around the world. But of course much more can be done. Many people, including the ACLU, who have been campaigning against this practice - and specifically in the United States - I think are having an impact. First, the president himself has been calling attention to solitary confinement. 2nd, 2 justices on the Supreme Court have said that this needed to be looked at. Third, Senate hearings have called attention to it, and most recently a bill was introduced to curtail the use of solitary. And 4th, litigation has settled in California and New York in which the correctional authorities recognized that at least some aspects of the program must be reformed. But in the U.S., we are a long ways away from establishing the regulations that we proposed and that have been included in the Nelson Mandela Rules, which are the new Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners approved by the General Assembly in 2015. We still need to ban prolonged solitary confinement and indefinite solitary confinement. And regardless of duration, we need very clear and specific rules of due process, including judicial review of decisions. Finally, of course we need a complete ban on solitary confinement for children, persons with mental disabilities, and breastfeeding or pregnant women. You've asked repeatedly to visit Guantanamo Bay and prisons here in the U.S. to examine conditions of confinement, and especially the use of prolonged solitary confinement, but were never allowed a visit. Are you confident that the next administration will continue a dialogue and engage your successor, Professor Nils Melzer, more than they have engaged you? I think the dialogue with the U.S. government has been fluid. There were sometimes long periods of silence, but there has always been the willingness to at least listen to me. But that falls short of the level of cooperation that any member of the U.N. Human Rights Council has pledged to do. I first asked to visit Guantanamo early on, in 2011. In 2012, the Defense Department invited me under conditions unsatisfactory under international law: basically a briefing by the authorities of the detention center, a visit to some but not all parts of the detention center, and no ability to interview any inmate or person detained there, even under supervised or monitored conversation. You can imagine that if I were to accept those conditions from the U.S., every country in the world would put similar restrictions on visits and would make prison visits a mockery of what serious monitoring by international bodies should be. Of course, I declined, but didn't give up on it - I just asked for new and better terms. Unfortunately, from 2012 on, that has not happened. With respect to prisons on the mainland, yes, I asked to visit both state and federal prisons, eventually with a narrowed-down focus on solitary confinement. I was asked to indicate w
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, PENN., ALA.
Nov. 8 TEXAS: Dallas man on death row loses appeal for a 2nd time A Dallas man on death row lost an appeal Monday to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the 2nd time. Ivan Cantu was sentenced to death in Collin County in the killing of his cousin in 2001. The federal appeals court rejected Cantu's argument that his legal help was deficient for failing to investigate and present evidence that he was innocent. Cantu was convicted of capital murder in the death of 27-year-old James Mosqueda and indicted in the death of his cousin's girlfriend, 22-year-old Amy Kitchen, according to the Dallas Morning News archives. A former girlfriend testified that Cantu told her he planned to kill Mosqueda and that he showed her the bodies, which were found at the couple's home in Far North Dallas. (source: Dallas Morning News) PENNSYLVANIA: Attorneys for alleged Pa. CO killer file multiple motions Attorneys for Jessie Con-ui filed motions seeking to bar a judge from allowing evidence in the murder trial With less than 6 months until reputed gang member and convicted killer Jessie Con-ui is scheduled to face trial on charges he murdered a local corrections officer, attorneys on Monday filed multiple motions seeking to bar a judge from allowing evidence. Con-ui, 39, could face the death penalty if convicted next year for the murder of 34-year-old Corrections Officer Eric Williams. Prosecutors allege Con-ui brutally murdered the Nanticoke native inside U.S. Penitentiary Canaan in Wayne County in 2013. Con-ui, allegedly angered over a cell search, blindsided the unarmed Williams and kicked him down a prison stairwell before stabbing him to death, prosecutors say. President Barack Obama in March signed into law a bill named after Williams that armed federal corrections officers with pepper spray. Prosecutors first announced their intent to seek the death penalty against Con-ui on Oct. 2, 2014. The motion claimed Con-ui, an alleged member of the New Mexican Mafia and convicted first-degree murderer, presents a future danger "because of low potential for rehabilitation and lack of remorse." Additionally, Con-ui should be sentenced to death because of his participation in additional acts of violence that went uncharged, prosecutors said. Four motions, filed by Assistant U.S. Attorney Francis P. Sempa, seek to prohibit certain evidence should a jury convict Con-ui and be required to consider the death penalty, while Con-ui???s attorneys seek to quash evidence as well. Federal prosecutors' motions ask to: Preclude execution impact evidence Prosecutors are seeking to limit what evidence Con-ui can enter regarding the effect his death would have on his loved ones. They say testimony that he is beloved by family and friends, the negative impact the death penalty would have on them and any pleas for mercy "are not relevant to (Con-ui's) character or his personal culpability for the charged murders." "Just as victim impact witnesses are not permitted to cry out for death, execution impact witnesses must not be allowed to cry out for life," prosecutors wrote. Preclude comparative proportionality evidence and arguments Prosecutors are seeking to prevent Con-ui from comparing the facts of his case to other similar cases, including capital punishment cases. Preclude prison culture evidence and Bureau of Prisons (BOP) contributory negligence claim Presenting evidence Con-ui was treated unfairly in prison or the BOP failed to respond to the murder scene in a timely manner is not relevant to a mitigating factor and would confuse and prejudice a jury, prosecutors say. They ask a judge to ban such evidence. Preclude unsworn allocution Prosecutors ask a judge to prohibit an unsworn statement to the jury in which the defendant can ask for mercy, explain his or her conduct, apologize for the crime, or say anything else in an effort to lessen the impending sentence, according to the motion. Prosecutors argue Con-ui does not have the constitutional or statutory right to make such statements. Defense motions Con-ui's attorneys, meanwhile, seek to prevent prosecutors from showing video of Williams" murder "as well as emotionally-fraught and unfairly prejudicial post-mortem photographs of (Williams') body" during the guilt and penalty phases of his trial. Additionally, attorneys David A. Ruhnke, James A. Swetz and Mark F. Fleming request a judge prohibit evidence regarding Con-ui's other alleged acts of violence, including an assault on a fellow inmate inside another prison and an alleged 2003 plan to participate in multiple murders. Con-ui's trial is slated to begin April 24. (source: correctonsone.com) ALABAMA: What's next for Tommy Arthur after escaping execution 7th time? As the clock ticked towards 6 p.m. last Thursday, death row inmate Tommy Arthur began to think he wouldn't survive the seventh time Alabama was set to ex
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide
Nov. 8 SINGAPORE: Pakistani duo on trial for murdering compatriot, dismembering his body Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for 2 Pakistani men accused of murdering their compatriot and dismembering his body in a gruesome case in 2014. Muhammad Noor's torso was found in a suitcase dripping with blood along Syed Alwi Road on Jun 11, 2014. His legs, which had been sawn off at the thigh, were found in another suitcase at Jalan Kubor Muslim cemetery the next day. Muhammad's roommate Rasheed Muhammad, 45, and his friend Ramzan Rizwan, 27, were arrested on Jun 12 at a lodging house at 6 Rowell Road, where the men lived - and where Muhammad, 59, died. At the opening of Rasheed and Ramzan's trial on Tuesday (Nov 8), Deputy Public Prosecutor Ong Luan Tze said the men decided to murder Muhammad to recover monies they had lost to him while gambling. At midnight on Jun 11, Rasheed and Ramzan crept into Room 44 where Muhammad slept. Ramzan covered Muhammad's face with a shirt, smothering him, while Rasheed wrapped a string made with cloth around his neck and pulled, DPP Ong said. When Muhammad was dead, the men pocketed S$6,000 in cash they found in the room. In the morning, Rasheed and Ramzan made 2 trips to Mustafa Centre at about 9am and again at 11.45am, where they bought 2 suitcases, an electric saw, a bow saw and trash bags, DPP Ong said. It is the prosecution's case that back in Room 44, the pair sawed off Muhammad's legs and wrapped them in trash bags. They then packed the torso in 1 suitcase and the legs in the other, before cleaning the room with soap powder. At about 12.25pm, Ramzan left the black suitcase containing Muhammad's legs at Jalan Kubor Muslim cemetery. He went back to help Rasheed, who was struggling with a grey suitcase containing Muhammad's torso. They decided to abandon the bag along Syed Alwi Road en route to the cemetery, after 1 of its wheels broke and blood began to seep out of the bag, DPP Ong said. An 81-year-old man found the suitcase hours later. Assisted by several passers-by, he tried to push the suitcase to the police station, but when they made the gruesome discovery of a dead body in the bag, they immediately called the police. The trial continues. If found guilty of murder, both men will face the death penalty. (source: channelnewsasia.com) SIERRA LEONE: Sierra Leone to bring back death penalty For almost 20 years, Sierra Leone has avoided using the death penalty. But spurred by public outrage over ritual murders and gang violence, the government is moving once again to hang offenders. The legal community believes one sensational case in particular has driven the government to consider resorting again to capital punishment, a case they say was marred by police incompetence and a poorly handled trial. On the last night of his life in May 2015, a slight young musician known as DJ Clef played a raucous set at the home of a faith healer known for his high-society connections and the tattooed faces of demons covering his body. Clef - born Sydney David Buckle - was later found, with his organs and genitals missing, by the road leading to a military cemetery on the outskirts of the capital, Freetown. His death sickened a country where a civil war and more recently Ebola have ravaged society and the economy, firing up a huge Freetown fan base who adored his laid-back demeanour and Afrobeat mixes. A drive for swift justice was led by Milton Coker, the president of the All Stars music collective to which Clef belonged. "People who kill should be killed," Coker said flatly in a recent interview with AFP. "It will deter others." Baimba Moi Foray, an influential "ju-ju man", or witch doctor, and an accomplice were duly convicted of his murder and sentenced to hang for their crimes in September. If an appeal is unsuccessful, they could become the 1st since 1998 to face the gallows. Bungled case? Death row lawyer Simitie Lavaly told AFP that because of the media buzz around the celebrities involved, police felt pressure to find a perpetrator fast, and bungled the case. "The police did not do a thorough job and the only reason why they are convicted is the media around the case," she told AFP. Lurid local stories speculated over Foray's methods and the fate of Buckle's body parts, heightened by the witch doctor's alleged connections to influential figures in Sierra Leone and even an African president. "It was a prejudiced judge and jury," Lavaly said, who were presented with "hardly any" substantial evidence. Despite such claims, senior officials say a new bill is already being drafted to harden up the current legislation on violent crime, spurred by a wave of popular support. Interior Minister Palo Conteh did not pull his punches in a recent interview with AFP. "I've instructed the Director General of the Male Correctional Facility to ensure that the gallows are oile
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----OKLA., NEB., CALIF., ORE., USA
Nov. 8 OKLAHOMA: Time running out for Oklahoma's execution drugs In just 2 months it will have been 2 years since the state of Oklahoma executed a condemned prisoner. FOX 25 has learned it may be nearly impossible for the state to resume lethal injections as it has done in the past. Lethal injection drugs are in high demand, but short supply and some of Oklahoma's supply of death penalty drugs is about to expire. "Midazolam may have a shelf life of 2 years or 3 years depending on the batch that is manufactured," said Dale Baich, a federal public defender who represents Oklahoma inmates challenging their executions. "We're not aware of any state that has carried out executions that have used expired drugs," Baich said in reaction to a FOX 25 analysis that shows the clock ticking on the state's execution cocktail. The Oklahoma Department of Corrections will not tell us the expiration dates of the drugs they have purchased. However, according to the multi-county grand jury investigation into the state???s failure to correctly carry out executions, the state ordered midazolam in November of 2014, and re-ordered in January of 2015. Attorney General Scott Pruitt has promised not to seek new execution dates until 5 months after the DOC creates and adopts new execution protocols. This means if the state had purchased fresh off the line midazolam in January 2015, the max t3 year shelf life would be up in January 2018. Applying that same condition to the November 2014 purchase would mean the drugs would expire in November 2017. However, corrections officials in Arkansas (a state with similar drug secrecy laws) told FOX 25 it last purchased midazolam shortly before Oklahoma's 1st purchase and its supply expires in April 2017. According to the grand jury documents the state's last purchase of rocuronium bromide, the 2nd of the 3-drug cocktail, was last purchased in November 2014. This drug also has a 3 year shelf life, which means its shelf life is, at most, November of 2017. Added to those soon-to-expire drugs is the issue surrounding the drug that led to the grand jury investigation, potassium acetate. This drug was used in the Charles Warner execution and nearly used in Richard Glossip's execution. The governor's general counsel told the Attorney General's office to "Google it" in an effort to continue with Glossip's execution even though potassium acetate was not an approved drug. Testimony before the grand jury revealed acetate was received because potassium chloride, the approved fatal drug, was unavailable. Injectable potassium chloride, which the state's current lethal injection protocol calls for, is part of a nation-wide shortage, even for those seeking it for medical purposes. "I think that when it comes to using this drug for executions, the drug should be used to help people rather than to kill people especially if there is a shortage," Baich argues. The Corrections Department told FOX 25 it has not made any effort to secure potassium chloride since Glossip's last attempted execution. To help alleviate some of the problems faced by drug purchases and mix-ups the legislature passed a new law to allow the DOC to store prescription drugs, including execution drugs on site at prisons. The DOC said the law was also changed in order to allow prisons easier access to medications needed to provide life-saving medications to inmates. The Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics told FOX 25 as of November 1, the DOC has had the option to file paperwork in order to get this permission. As of the publishing of this story that paperwork has not been filed. The DOC told FOX 25 it has not started the preparing protocols for the state's legally prescribed backup execution method, nitrogen hypoxia. However, the agency confirmed they received an advertisement from a company promising pain free and mistake free executions using nitrogen gas. The company, Pima Air Tech registered in Tucson, Arizona, told FOX 25 it sent a letter to the Oklahoma DOC advertising its "patent pending" death penalty alternative, the "Euthypoxia Chamber." The letter says the company does not advocate for the death penalty, but does offer options for states that carry out capital punishment. The chamber promises to be "totally fool-proof and totally fail-safe." It also "Guaranties the demise of any mammalian life within 4 minutes." (source: okcfox.com) NEBRASKA: Uncertainty looms over death penalty vote Voters will have an opportunity Tuesday to reverse an action taken by the Legislature and reinstate Nebraska's death penalty, but moving forward with executions could take years. Nebraska's last execution was in 1997, using the electric chair, and the state has never carried one out using its current three-drug lethal injection protocol. Even though several executions have been scheduled, legal and logistical problems have kept the state from using lethal inj
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, ALA., IND., KY., ARK.
Nov. 8 TEXASnew execution date James Bigby has been given an execution date for March 14; is should be considered serious. *** Executions under Greg Abbott, Jan. 21, 2015-present20 Executions in Texas: Dec. 7, 1982present-538 Abbott#scheduled execution date-nameTx. # 21-December 7---John Battaglia539 22-January 11---Christoper Wilkins540 23-January 25---Kosoul Chanthakoummane541 24-January 26---Terry Edwards-542 25-February 2---John Ramirez--543 26-February 7---Tilon Carter--544 27-March 14James Bigby---545 28-April 12-Paul Storey---546 29-June 28--Steven Long---547 (sources: TDCJ & Rick Halperin) ALABAMA: Bill would bring firing squad executions to Alabama An Alabama state senator Friday prefiled a bill that would give condemned inmates the option to request a firing squad. The legislation from Sen. Trip Pittman, R-Montrose, the chairman of the Senate's General Fund committee, comes on the heels of arguments from death row inmate Thomas Arthur - who escaped execution Thursday night - that Alabama's current lethal injection process is inhumane and that he has a right to argue for alternative methods of execution, like shooting. Pittman said Monday the Arthur case was part of the reason he filed the bill. But he also cited legal challenges to the state's execution method and growing reluctance from pharmaceutical companies to allow the use of drugs in the death penalty. "People seem to support Second Amendment, (and) a lot of people have guns and ammunition," he said. "You never have to worry about supply." Under Pittman's bill, an inmate could request a firing squad as an alternative to the state's 3-drug lethal injection method. If requested, a group of 5 law enforcement officers would carry out the sentence. The legislation leaves the protocols for a firing squad execution up to the Alabama Department of Corrections and the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency. Bob Horton, a spokesman for DOC, said in an email Monday there was no record of the state conducting an execution by firing squad. "The ADOC is obligated to follow current, or future legislation without preference to the method of execution as chosen by the condemned, and as deemed to be constitutional by state statute," the email said. An email seeking comment from ALEA was sent Monday morning. The U.S. Supreme Court stayed Arthur's execution Thursday evening. The inmate, convicted in 1982 in a murder-for-hire scheme -- Pittman Monday called him "basically an assassin" -- has argued the state's current execution method could leave him suffering unnecessary pain, a violation of the prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment in the Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The nation's high court ruled in 2015 that inmates challenging a method of execution must present a safer and more readily-available alternative. Arthur argued in lower federal courts that the courts should allow him to make a case for a single injection of pentobarbital or a firing squad. A 3-judge panel of U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals judges rejected Arthur's argument Thursday, saying he was contemplating methods of death not considered in the state law. U.S. Circuit Judge Charles Wilson dissented, arguing that would unfairly deny Arthur methods used in other states. The U.S. Supreme Court is considering the case. Pittman said he would be open to adding other methods of execution to the bill. "To the extent there are prisoners who are contrite or feel guilty about their crimes and wish to accept the sentence delivered, I want to leave them as many options as possible," he said. From 1812 to 1927, Alabama used hanging as its chief method of execution, usually at the county level. In 1927, the state took over executions, consigning the condemned to electrocution in a chair known as "Yellow Mama." The state switched to lethal injection as its primary method of execution in 2002, though inmates may request the electric chair. No inmate executed since 2002 has done so. Utah and Oklahoma use the firing squad as a secondary method of execution. Utah executed Ronnie Lee Gardner by firing squad in 2010. 5 law enforcement officers shot Gardner with .30-caliber Winchester rifles. 1 received a wax bullet in place of a live one. A Pew Research Center poll released in September found 49 % of Americans supported the death penalty, while 42 % opposed it. The finding represented the lowest among of support for capital punishment in over 4 decades. According to the Death Penalty Information Center, an anti-death-penalty group, the number of death sentences in Alabama fell from a peak of 25 in
