[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide
Dec. 4 IRAN: Iran’s Supreme Court confirms death sentence of billionaire businessman Iran’s Supreme Court has confirmed the death sentence against a well-known tycoon, the country’s state-run news agency reported Saturday. The Saturday report by IRNA said Babak Zanjani was sentenced to death over a number of charges including money laundering and disrupting the country’s economy. On March 2016, a primary court sentenced Babak Zanjani and his two associates to death. The two defendants are facing charges of complicity in money laundering, forgery and fraud. IRNA also said Gholam-Reza Ansari, a senior official at the Supreme Court of Iran, announced that the Supreme Court has upheld the death penalty for the two other defendants involved in the embezzlement case, retired businessman Hamid Fallah-Heravi and British-Iranian businessman Mehdi Shamszadeh. Zanjani was arrested in 2013 as part of a crackdown on alleged corruption during the rule of former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Iran’s Oil Ministry says Zanjani owes more than 2 billion euros ($2.25 billion) for oil sales he made on behalf of Ahmadinejad’s government. Zanjani, 41, is one of Iran’s wealthiest businessmen, with a fortune worth an estimated $14 billion. He was arrested shortly after the election of President Hassan Rouhani, who ordered a crackdown on alleged corruption during the eight-year rule of his hard-line predecessor. The trio was originally sentenced for being “corruptors on earth,” which is an Islamic term referring to crimes that are punishable by death because they have a major impact on society. The verdict came after a nearly five-month trial. According to Iranwatch.org, an Iran weapons watchdog, the E.U. has also linked Zanjani “to Iran’s proliferation-sensitive nuclear activities or Iran’s development of nuclear weapon delivery systems,” and has helped the government in Tehran filter money to sanctioned entities in the country. Iran’s prosecutors contend Zanjani withheld billions in oil revenues channeled through his companies. In a 2013 interview with the BBC, Zanjani claimed he was not a political person, saying: “I don’t do anything political, I just do business.” Iran has in the past executed other wealthy individuals found guilty of similar charges. In 2014, Iran executed billionaire businessman Mahafarid Amir Khosravi over corruption charges. (source: CBS news)___ 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
Dec. 4 INDIA: Lynchings show mindset comfortable with death penalty: Gandhi Acts like lynching of Mohammad Akhlaq show a mindset that is entirely comfortable with the death penalty, wholly exculpatory of torture as a means of extorting confessions, says Gopalkrishna Gandhi who is a known campaigner against capital punishment. Gandhi has come out with a new book "Abolishing The Death Penalty: Why India Should Say No To Capital Punishment", published by Aleph Book Company, in which through in-depth analysis and marshalling of considered opinion of jurists, human rights activists, scholars and criminologists among others, he argues why the death penalty should be abolished with immediate effect in India. According to Gandhi, death penalty asks to be questioned on grounds of the right to life, the right to self-defence against battery, assault, homicide and murder. "States that keep the death penalty alive and do not realise the absurdity of that oxymoron may not be accused of a sadistic pleasure in dealing death. But they cannot be exempted from the accusation of deriving a sense of pleasure in the death penalty as a power, a perquisite, a prerogative that no one else enjoys," he writes. The former West Bengal governor says the power to commute a death sentence to one of life imprisonment is part of the power of the death penalty. "And even in the exercise of that pardoning prerogative, the state is using its exceptional privilege, its unique power. It is the exclusivity of this power, in its extreme nature, and indeed in its exceptionality that it is tantamount to a reserved 'pleasure'. And it is in that privileged uniqueness that it is so outrageously capricious and so flagrantly promiscuous," he argues. Gandhi, currently distinguished professor of history and politics at Ashoka University, says public opinion in India has always been "death-penalty minded" and is now even more so. "It is in fact more retribution-minded, vengeance-minded and geared to dealing death," he says. He then cites the lynching of a prisoner detained on suspicion of rape in Dimapur in Nagaland last year which included him being dragged out of jail, stripped, paraded naked and then beaten to death, in mob adjudication. "The mob-lynching and murder of Mohammad Akhlaq in a village in Uttar Pradesh on September 28, 2015 on the rumour that he had killed a cow and eaten its meat, is another grim instance of mob fury that stops at nothing less than killing. These acts show a mindset that is entirely comfortable with the death penalty, wholly exculpatory of torture as a means of extorting confessions," Gandhi writes. Abolishing the death penalty, he says, is not about the final punishment from which there is no return but about the first principle of penology which is about return, a return to civility. "The debate about the death penalty lies beyond 'to hang or not to hang' to a discussion on the criminal investigation system, on the law's transparency, the state's impartiality, a civilised penology," he says. "We do not choose to be born. But once arrived, we do choose, through programmed genomes, instinct and will, to stay alive. In fact, we do more than choose. We resist anything that comes in the way of our staying alive. That resistance is built into the apparatus of staying alive," he says. In the book, Gandhi asks fundamental questions about the ultimate legal punishment awarded to those accused of major crimes. Is taking another life a just punishment or an act as inhuman as the crime that triggered it? Does having capital punishment in the law books deter crime? His conclusions are unequivocal: Cruel in its operation, ineffectual as deterrence, unequal in its application in an uneven society, liable like any punishment to be in error but incorrigibly so, these grievous flaws that are intrinsic to the death penalty are compounded by yet another - it leaves the need for retribution (cited as its primary 'good') unrequited and simply makes society more bloodthirsty. (source: Press Trust of India) THAILAND: Death penalty dust-up spotlights Thai corruption woesYears of dirty politics leaving a legacy of frustration Thailand was suddenly engulfed in debate over capital punishment last month not because of some bloodcurdling crime, but because the legal elite proposed making crooked politicians pay the ultimate price. The idea came from Meechai Ruchupan, chairman of the military-appointed committee that drafted the new constitution. Meechai justified it as a way of keeping corrupt individuals out of politics, according to local media reports. Politicians involved in buying or selling key government jobs would have faced a maximum sentence of death. The measure was seen as an attempt to curb corrupt acts by future ruling party officials, who would have the authority to make political appointments. Opponents included Peerasak
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----OKLA., NEB., COLO., NEV., CALIF., USA
Dec. 4 OKLAHOMA: DA to seek Death penalty for Stanford in double-slaying District Attorney Craig Ladd says he plans to file a "Bill of Particulars" against the 30-year-old man charged with the May 17 double gunshot slayings of 2 Ardmore men. Ladd confirmed he would seek the death penalty against Craig Stanford following Special District Judge Carson Brook's ruling binding the local man over for trial Friday. Brooks' order was based on evidence Ladd presented during Stanford's preliminary hearing on charges of the 1st-degree murder that link him to the gunshot killings of Aaron Lavers, 28, and Anthony Rogers, 28. The DA called 5 witnesses during the hearing including Matthew Wells, who discovered the bodies of the 2 slain men inside the residence they were occupying in the 100 block of A Street NW. In addition, Wells testified concerning items that had been stolen from the victims??? home and found in Stanford's possession just days after the murders. Darryl Newberry, a neighbor, also testified he was awakened during the early morning hours by multiple gunshots. (The charges accuse Stanford of shooting Lavers, "... in the head 3 times and the chest once ..." and Rogers, "... in the head 3 times and in the torso twice...") Ladd also called Dylan Lewis to the stand. Lewis told the court he was an acquaintance of Stanford. He said he had been awakened what was apparently was a short time before the killings by a knock on his door. He said he got up, looked out and saw Stanford outside his door, but did not answer the door and went back to bed. He said he later looked outside and saw Stanford's parked car, went outside but could not find the defendant, who had allegedly walked from Lewis' residence to the victims' house. Cpl. Dustin Ragland, Ardmore Police Department Patrol Division, and Det. Matt Dunn, APD Criminal Investigations Division, also provided testimony that led to Brooks' ruling he found probable cause to believe Stanford had committed the crimes. Court documents show the 5 who testified are among the more than 40 witnesses endorsed as state witnesses in the case. Formal arraignment, in front of District Judge Dennis Morris, is set for Wednesday. Ladd says it's possible the "Bill of Particulars" could be filed before Stanford makes his Wednesday court appearance. Currently Stanford is detained without bond in the Carter County Detention Center. (source: The Daily Ardmoreite) NEBRASKA: Popularity doesn't equal morality "Nebraskans were decisive in their choice to maintain the death penalty, and it is now our duty . . . to carry it out." So states our governor, who contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars of his own money to reinstate capital punishment "Lethal injection protocol would allow secrecy," Nov. 29 World-Herald). One of the first things I learned in philosophy class in college many years ago is that the majority is not necessarily right. If Adolf Hitler had asked the German people to vote on exterminating the Jews, and the vote had passed, would we say, "Well, OK, then. So long as the people voted it." I think not. The members of the Nebraska Legislature studied the issue of capital punishment. Many members changed their position on capital punishment through listening and learning the facts. Our senators abolished the death penalty for the good of Nebraska. Now our governor and other prison officials want to veil this heinous procedure in secrecy? This is abominable! The state should never be allowed to kill except in defense. Never as punishment. And never veiled in secrecy. Marylyn Felion, Omaha Make death penalty cheap, quick The people have spoken, and Nebraska will retain the death penalty. I oppose the death penalty from both a moral standpoint and an economic one, but, since the issue has been decided, let's get on with it. Lethal injection is a waste of time, energy and money. The state will not be able to get the required drugs. If the drug protocol is changed, then the state will undoubtedly face legal challenges. If Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts is so intent on carrying out an execution, then he should focus on the quickest and easiest way to accomplish it. The state should switch the method of execution to firing squad. A federal judge rejected arguments that it is cruel and unusual punishment. An Alabama state senator has introduced a bill to use a firing squad. If the firing squad isn't to the governor's liking, why not the gas chamber using nitrogen asphyxiation? It's a process that uses no toxic or poisonous chemicals. The University of Nebraska uses it to euthanize rats for biology labs. If it's good enough for animals with their zealous ASPCA representation, then why not for death row? I urge the governor to work with the Legislature to enforce the death penalty in the quickest and least expensive way. If we're going to waste money on the death
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, DEL., GA., FLA., OHIO
Dec. 4 TEXAS: 3 teens charged with capital murder in death of 4-year-old Texas girl 3 people have been charged with capital murder in the shooting death of 4-year-old Ava Castillo. 3 teenagers have been charged with capital murder in the death of a 4-year-old Texas girl, authorities announced Friday. The Harris County Sheriff's Office identified the suspects as Marco Miller, 17, Philip Battles, 18, and Ferrell Dardar, 17. Miller and Dardar did not appear in court as expected Friday night, but a prosecutor revealed that an anonymous tip first led investigators to Battles, also known as "Peewee." She said Battles implicated Miller and Dardar. "They're just cowards, cowards," Julie Gomez, the victim's aunt, told KTRK. Ava Castillo was gunned down Nov. 14 during a robbery in the parking lot of the apartment complex where she lived. Her mother was shot and wounded 7 times, and her 10-year-old sister was grazed by a bullet. "I'm sorry I wasn't there to protect you like I wish I could," Diana Gomez, Ava's mother, said in an exclusive interview Tuesday. Investigators said the suspects are part of a crew responsible for a number of other violent crimes that are still under investigation. Battles is also charged with capital murder in the death of 62-year-old Ignacio Ortega. Dardar was out on bond for 3 counts of aggravated robbery when Ava was killed. Miller has no prior record. The Harris County District Attorney's Office decide whether to pursue the death penalty in the case. "I'm for the death penalty, but that's too easy. That's too easy. You put a dog to sleep," said Julie Gomez. "They don't deserve that. I want them to live their miserable lives in jail for the rest of their lives." The 3 suspects were being held in jail without bond. (source: ABC news) DELAWARE: Death row legality case to be heard Wednesday The Delaware Supreme Court will hear a case Wednesday that could decide the fate of the 13 men currently on the state's death row. In August, the court threw out the death penalty, ruling a portion of it was unconstitutional. However, the justices did not issue a ruling on whether the decision was retroactive, meaning the individuals already sentenced to death still face execution. In October, lawyers for convicted murderer Derrick Powell submitted a brief arguing the ruling should apply to Powell and the other 12 men awaiting death, bringing the issue to the forefront. While the case is superficially focused on Powell, who killed Georgetown police officer Chad Spicer in 2009 and was sentenced to death 2 years later, it could reverberate well beyond him. A broad decision could change sentences for those already on death row to life in prison or it could affirm their convictions. The Supreme Court will hear arguments from Powell's lawyers and the Department of Justice Wednesday at 10. August's ruling came about, justices said, because the Delaware death penalty violated the Sixth Amendment, which guarantees right to a trial by jury. The law did not require the jury to rule unanimously on whether aggravating circumstances outweighed mitigating factors and gave the judge final discretion to sentence death. Because the unconstitutional provision was so intertwined with the rest of the law, justices were "unable to discern a method by which to parse the statute so as to preserve it," Chief Justice Leo Strine wrote in the landmark August ruling, with Justices Randy Holland and Collins Seitz concurring. In court filings, Powell's lawyers said the August ruling should apply to the inmate. Any other decision, wrote Patrick Collins and Natalie Woloshin, would be "a ratification of a 40-year misstep that is anathema to our understanding of the Sixth Amendment." "If Derrick Powell is executed, it will be because he had the misfortune to be sentenced during a period of constitutional jurisprudence that has now been recognized as misguided, and corrected," the lawyers wrote. The Department of Justice, contrast, argued the August ruling is a "procedural, not substantive, change" and noted the death penalty itself was not found unconstitutional. "'No one, not criminal defendants, not the judicial system, not society as a whole is benefited by a judgment providing that a man shall tentatively go to jail today, but tomorrow and every day thereafter his continued incarceration shall be subject to fresh litigation,'" wrote Chief of Appeals Elizabeth R. McFarlan and Deputy Attorney General John R. Williams, quoting U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice John Marshall Harlan II. 5 separate briefs have been submitted by organizations or individuals supporting Powell's claims. Among those filing the briefs are lawyers for former death row inmate Luis Cabrera, whose death sentence was overturned in June 2015. Appeals in the case have been stayed while Powell is deliberated. The American Civil Liberties Union of
