[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide
Nov. 19 GHANA: The death penalty is not a creative response to murder Americans have a saying that runs as follows: "Be careful what you wish for; or you shall get it." Nana Obiri-Boahen's angry call on President John Dramani Mahama to expedite the implementation of the death penalty is scandalously simplistic and grossly misplaced. And if I were Nana Akufo-Addo, the 2016 presidential candidate of the main opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), under whose John Agyekum-Kufuor-led governance Nana Obiri-Boahen served as a junior cabinet appointee, I would think twice before deciding to appoint this evidently unsavorily impulsive man to any position of great or major responsibility. Definitely not to the very sensitive portfolios of Minister of the Interior, Justice or Defense. For a trained lawyer, Mr. Obiri-Boahen's reaction to the alleged jailbreak attempt by Mr. Johnson Kombian, the notorious criminal convict, leaves much to be desired. Mr. Kombian, who is currently being held at the Nsawam Medium-Security Prison, was sentenced to death by hanging in August last year for murdering two police officers in the northern regional town of Nakpanduri. Either I did not sedulously follow the preceding admittedly heinous event or the hectic duty of writing and publishing virtually on a daily basis, about momentous events in the country, has caused me to so soon forget about the Kombian Affair, as it were. I am, however, very familiar with the name of Mr. Kombian. The exact details of the catalog or chain events leading to Mr. Kombian's crime are also not clear to me; not that such knowledge would in any way extenuate the decidedly repulsive and hideous nature of the crime. What I strongly believe we ought to be looking at, however, are the exact set of circumstances under which such horrendous crimes are committed and also the relative frequency with which they are committed. And then, of course, we can begin to seriously deliberate over the most appropriate statutory response to such crimes. As well, the fact of whether, indeed, the punishment is congruent or commensurate with the crime may also need to be critically examined. I predicate the latter aspect of my argument on the fact that punitive measures, such as that which was reportedly imposed on Mr. Kombian, are intended to serve as a deterrent to both the subject of such punishment and society at large. Now, we don't know why all the 4 presidents the country has had under its Fourth-Republican dispensation, including the swashbuckling and bloodthirsty and pathologically vindictive Chairman Jerry John Rawlings, have each and every one of them flatly refused to implement the death penalty. But what I know for a fact, both through personal experience and studious observation, is that both the legal and judicial systems are not foolproof. And this observation is being made irrespective of the level of development of the country in which the emotionally loaded subject of crime and punishment is being discussed. Here in the United States, for example, presidents and governors who have been either slow or downright reluctant to apply the death penalty have almost invariably done so with significant regard, or attention, to the fact that crime and punishment tend to be highly racialized. In other words, the race and/or ethnicity of the criminal suspect often tends to play a major role in decisions pertaining to both the length and the severity of sentencing. For instance, African-American and Hispanic or Latino criminal suspects convicted of murder are several times more likely to be meted the death penalty than suspects officially classified as "Ethnic Whites" or European-Americans. And I reasonably suspect that while it may not be very obvious, especially to members of Ghana's ethnic majority populace, nevertheless, the frequency of who gets the death penalty imposed on them may very well be ethnically and culturally tinged. Equally significant is the need to factor into the equation the identity, ethnicity and class background of the alleged victims of such heinous crimes. What I clearly see in the Kombian jailbreak attempt is the glaring fact that rather than house this extremely dangerous criminal convict in a "Medium-Security Prison,' Mr. Kombian ought to have been incarcerated in a "Maximum-Security Prison." If Ghana does not yet have a maximum-security prison facility, then this is what professionally trained lawyers like Nana Obiri-Boahen ought to be advocating, and not the knee-jerk and infantile ideology of tit-for-tat. Indeed, were he studiously observant, Nana Obiri-Boahen would since long have come to the morally edifying and practically constructive conclusion that the bloody revolutions undertaken by Chairman Rawlings have not made National Democratic Congress' politicians and that party's machine operatives any remarkably less corrupt than their counterparts
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----UTAH, ORE. USA
Nov. 19 UTAH: Conservative Coalition Questions Utah's Death Penalty Policy A group of Utah conservatives concerned about the death penalty is hoping to encourage the public and policy makers to rethink death penalty policy in the state. The group is called Utah Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty and is a project of the Utah Justice Coalition. Kevin Green is an attorney with the coalition and one of the founding members of the group representing a growing number of Utah conservatives questioning whether capital punishment is consistent with conservative principles and values. He says there is inefficiency, inequity, and inaccuracy in the system. "Personally, for me is the possibility that an innocent person could be put to death," Green said. "That happens and will continue to happen as long as the system is the way it is." "For a lot of victim families the death penalty just draws out their torment and anguish for decades. There are a lot of victim families who don't support the death penalty simply because of what they have to go through," he said. At last count, 156 individuals nationwide have been freed from death rows due to wrongful convictions. This week the group invited one of those exonorees, Ray Krone, to come to Pleasant Grove, Utah to share his story to help educate the public about his 10 years in prison, 3 of those years were spent on death row for a murder he did not commit. "He said it is not about those 10 years but about what I do in the next 10 years. I think that resonated with a lot of people because he spent the last 15 years now advocating for much needed change and telling his story all across the country," Green said. Most of the group's education efforts are made through sponsored events they promote on their Facebook page. This a relatively new group working to encourage communities to take action. Green says this is not a lobbying organization but one that provides an education platform to discuss the death penalty. (source: upr.org) OREGON: 5 Oregon death sentences stem from murder of inmates Of the 35 people on Oregon's death row, 5 are there because they killed another inmate while incarcerated. Why are 1 in 7 people on Oregon's death row there for killing another inmate while in secured custody? Avoiding prison violence is balancing act of staffing, security, searches, rewarding good behavior and respecting inmates' rights, prison officials said. "DOC takes any assaults within our facilities very seriously, and each is thoroughly investigated," said Betty Bernt, spokeswoman for Oregon Department of Corrections. "The safety and security of our staff and those in our custody is our top priority." Assaults in Oregon prisons appear to be gradually declining. The Oregon Department of Corrections reported more than 2,000 assaults in 2014. The next year, the number dipped to below 1,800. Bernt said officials use various measures such as intake assessments, proper housing decisions and security presence to prevent misconduct. In 1990, the Office of the Inspector General was created to investigate suspected, alleged or actual misconduct within the Department of Corrections. People connected with verified assaults are punished with sanctions, fines and loss of privileges. Prisons also implement anger management classes, and use non-cash incentives to encourage good behavior, Bernt said. Five inmates have been indicted for homicide in the past 5 years, including the strangling death of 45-year-old Joseph Akins by his cell mate, Craig Bjork, in 2013. Bjork, already a convicted murderer, was also found guilty off beating another inmate to death in 1997 at a Minnesota prison. The 5 men on Oregon's death row who got there by killing a fellow inmate are: --David Bartol, 45, who was sentenced to death Nov. 10. He will become the 35th person on Oregon death row and the 5th person since the state reintroduced capital punishment to be given the death penalty for killing another inmate. Bartol was convicted of stabbing Gavin Siscel, 33, in the eye with a shank fashioned from a plastic tote bin in 2013 while they were being held at Marion County jail. --Gary Haugen, 54, and Jason Brumwell, 41, were convicted of stabbing and beating another inmate at the Oregon State Penitentiary and sentenced to death. Both were already serving life sentences for murder. --Isacc Agee, 39, wrapped a cement rock with cloth and beat a man with it in a prison cell at the penitentiary. --David Lee Cox, 51, was sentenced to death for stabbing an OSP inmate in a dispute over drugs. To be convicted for aggravated murder, the only crime that allows for a death sentence, a suspect needs to have committed murder under aggravating circumstances. Murders for hire, murders with more than 1 victim, murders of young victims and murders involving torture all can be tried for aggravated murder. According to
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, ALA., OHIO
Nov. 19 TEXASnew death sentence Death sentence for Fort Worth man who killed pregnant girlfriend, 2 others A Tarrant County jury sentenced a Fort Worth man to death Friday in a 2013 triple slaying. Amos Wells was convicted on Nov. 3 of capital murder in the deaths of his pregnant girlfriend Chanice Reed, 22; her mother, Annette Reed, 39; and Chanice Reed's 10-year-old brother, Eddie McCuin, on July 1, 2013. The jury deliberated for about 4 hours Friday afternoon before reaching the decision. "This has been a long trial," said Kevin Rousseau, Tarrant County prosecutor. "The family is happy that justice was served. Nothing will replace the lives that were lost. But this was a necessary first step in the healing process." Prosecutors argued that after Wells shot his girlfriend and her mother, he chased Eddie through the house and shot him while he cowered on the floor. A woman who identified herself as Chanise Reed's cousin said during her victim impact statement that she forgave Wells but still could not understand why he killed the woman and the unborn child he claimed he loved. "There have been 6 deaths in our family between 2010 and 2012," the woman said. "All we have left is memories that will never fade away." State District Judge Ruben Gonzalez allowed Wells' family to speak to him after his death sentence was announced to a packed courtroom. Wells, who barely showed any emotion as his sentence was read, broke down in tears as they said their goodbyes. One man said that he would do all that he could for Wells, including take care of his mother and daughter and supply him with whatever he needed while he was in prison waiting for the state to carry out his sentence. "I did this," Wells told his relatives. "I'm an adult. Don't bear this burden. This burden is mine. The more you see me, the more you do for me, the more I will feel like I am putting this burden on you." On July 1, 2013, while first responders surrounded the residence in the 2900 block of Pate Drive where the shooting happened, Wells had already turned himself in at the Forest Hill Police Department. Video surveillance showed Wells leaning on the counter top in front of a window that led to the police communication division. One officer leveled his service weapon at Wells, who begged for the police to take his life, according to testimony. The last man to be sent to death row by a Tarrant County jury was Cedric Allen Ricks, who received a death sentence on May 16, 2014. Ricks got into an argument with Roxann Sanchez, his 30-year-old common-law wife and grabbed a kitchen knife and began stabbing the victim and her 12- and 8-year old sons. Before Friday's verdict there had been 3 death sentences handed down in Texas this year, according to The Texas Tribune. Last year, Texas sent 2 convicted killers to death row, the fewest since the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the state's capital punishment statute nearly 4 decades ago, according to a Texas-based group that opposes the death penalty, the Tribune reported. The state has scheduled executions for 6 offenders next year, according to Texas Department of Criminal Justice records. 3 are from Tarrant County, 2 are from Dallas County and 1 is from Collin County (source: Fort Worth Star-Telegram) * Judge rules child-killer Battaglia competent to be executed After months of uncertainty, the fate of convicted child killer John Battaglia was sealed in a Dallas County courtroom on Friday. Judge Robert Burns ruled Battaglia's scheduled execution date of Dec. 7 will stand after the court found him competent to face the death penalty. The judge's ruling concluded 'Battaglia does understand that he is to be executed and that his execution is imminent, and he does understand the reason for his execution." Battaglia committed one of the most heinous and unthinkable crimes in Dallas history back in May 2001. He shot and killed his two little girls, Faith and Liberty, while on the phone with his ex-wife Mary Jean Pearl. Back in March, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals granted a stay of execution. Court documents at the time stated Battaglia claimed his lawyer abandoned him and failed to call into question his mental competency. In a jailhouse interview with News 8's Rebecca Lopez, Battaglia blamed a list of people he called "demons" for his conviction in the murders. Prosecutors believed Battaglia was attempting to game the system while the defense team argued 3 out of 4 experts concluded he was delusional and should not be executed. In court, it was revealed Battaglia read books and case law on how he could fool doctors into believing he was too incompetent to be executed. (source: WFAA news) *** Deadly Question Bill Meier says he can't remember exactly how he arrived at the deadly question, back in 1973. "I frankly don't have the kind of memory that would allow
