[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide
Jan. 3 JAPAN: Death Penalty Movie Week to be held at Tokyo theater The annual Death Penalty Movie Week will be held at a Tokyo theater in February, with 8 films from home and abroad providing viewers with an opportunity to think about the "right to life." The event will take place as pro- and anti-death penalty groups have been facing off at symposiums and on other occasions since the Japan Federation of Bar Associations declared in October it would work for the abolition of capital punishment by 2020. The 8 films to be screened include 2005 German movie "Sophie Scholl -- The Final Days," which depicts the anti-Nazi struggle of a student who was executed, and "Freedom Moon," produced in Japan in 2016, that recounts the life of death row inmate Iwao Hakamada. Hakamada, convicted of a 1966 quadruple murder, was released in 2014 after a court decided to reopen the case, but he still remains on death row as prosecutors have appealed the ruling. The film shows how his mental state has deteriorated due to decades-long solitary confinement and the endless fear of execution. South Korean popular movie "Miracle in Cell No. 7," produced in 2013, will also be screened during the sixth event. "Murder victims are deprived of their lives unjustifiably, but offenders are also robbed of their 'right to live' under capital punishment," said Masakuni Ota, one of the event organizers. "People seem to accept such circumstances without question, at a time when exclusion and intolerance are prevalent around the world." During the event from Feb. 18 to 24 at the Eurospace movie theater in Tokyo's Shibuya district, 4 movies will be shown each day, accompanied by sessions with guest speakers. The scheduled speakers include actress Kirin Kiki, who played the mother of a death row inmate in a movie based on a true story, and pop singer Tsuyoshi Ujiki, whose father was convicted of war crimes after World War II. "We welcome both those seeking abolition of the death penalty and those who support or accept capital punishment" so the issue is discussed from various viewpoints, Ota said. The previous 5 Death Penalty Movie Week events attracted a total of around 6,000 viewers. In the 4 years since Prime Minister Shinzo Abe returned to power, 17 inmates have been hanged, with a government survey showing over 80 % of people in Japan support the death penalty. On the other hand, Tokyo was urged by the U.N. Human Rights Committee in 2014 to "give due consideration to the abolition of the death penalty." Currently, more than 2/3 of nations have abolished the death penalty by law or in practice. For further information on the screenings, call Eurospace at 03-3461-0211 or check its website at http://www.eurospace.co.jp/ (source: The Mainichi) NIGERIA: LEDAP condemns execution of prisoners in Edo, seeks repeal of death penalty Legal Defence and Assistance Project (LEDAP) has condemned the killing on December 23, 2016 of 3 death row prisoners in Benin City prison. As a result, LEDAP has called on the Nigerian government to stop all death penalty executions forthwith. It urged the National Assembly and State Houses of Assembly to amend the Criminal Code and Penal Code as well as the Robbery and Firearms (Special Provisions) Act to remove death sentence as punishment for crimes and replace it with life imprisonment or term of years sentence. The prisoners were reportedly executed on account of death warrants signed by Edo State Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki. Those executed were Ogbomoro Omoregie, Apostle Igene and Mark Omosowhota. They were all convicted and sentenced to death nearly 20 years ago by military tribunals under the Robbery and Firearms (Special Provisions) Decree as amended, LEDAP said. According to a statement by the National Coordinator of LEDAP, Chino Obiagwu, the executed prisoners had earlier petitioned the governor, protesting their proposed execution. "In an earlier petition submitted to the Governor by the executed prisoners on December 21, 2016 through LEDAP, protesting the plan for their execution, the prisoners had pleaded with the Governor to shelve the planned execution because there is a pending case at the Court of Appeal brought by all death row prisoners in Nigeria against their execution. This appeal has not been decided and it was therefore, illegal to carry out the executions," he said. LEDAP, he said, is appalled that the earliest social duty of Governor Obaseki upon assumption of office was the execution of his citizen on death row. "We reiterate that all prisoners, including those sentenced to death, retain all the fundamental rights endowed on all citizens by the 1999 Constitution. This was re-amphasized by the Court of Appeal in the case of Peter Nemi v Attorney General of Lagos State in 1994. "The Supreme Court of Nigeria also held in Nasir Bello v Attorney-General of Oyo State that a prisoner
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----OHIO, NEB., WASH., USA
Jan. 3 OHIO: Trial set in latest challenge to Ohio death penalty process Attorneys for death row inmates and lawyers for Ohio's prisons agency are back in court this week in the latest challenge to the way the state puts condemned killers to death. The 4-day trial beginning Tuesday in federal court in Columbus focuses on Ohio's updated execution process and a new 3-drug method similar to one used several years ago. Some of the testimony in the trial overseen by Magistrate Judge Michael Merz will come from members of the state execution team who will answer questions anonymously while sitting behind courtroom screens. The state defends the new process as constitutional. Defense attorneys say multiple problems remain with the way Ohio prepares and carries out executions. The state prisons agency plans to execute child killer Ronald Phillips Feb. 1. (source: Associated Press) NEBRASKA: Testifiers say proposed execution protocol violates laws 2 longtime death penalty supporters showed up at a hearing Friday morning to support a newly proposed execution protocol developed by the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services. 19 people, most of whom identified themselves as anti-death penalty, pointed out flaws and what they called potentially unconstitutional content and law violations. "I ask ... that this protocol be dumped. And start over," said Lincoln attorney Alan Peterson. "And don't try to hide this horrible procedure from the public. And from me. And from the people remaining on death row." Omaha Sen. Ernie Chambers, former state medical director Gregg Wright and Nebraska Pharmacist Association Director Joni Cover objected to the many ways the protocol errs by shrouding the process in mystery. "I see difficulties (with the protocol) of a constitutional proportion, so the governor will be out of office before anybody would be executed in this state," Chambers said. But Bob Evnen, co-founder of Nebraskans For the Death Penalty, said the protocol is sound and should be adopted. There is much hue and cry from death penalty opponents about the transparency of the protocol, he said. But there are good policy reasons for protecting the identity of the execution team appointed by the Corrections Department, Evnen said. "Your proposed regulations properly implement that protection, as they should. As they must by law," he told Corrections attorney Mark Boyer, who presided over the public hearing. Death penalty supporter Rick Eberhardt, sheriff of Pierce County, said the protocol should be workable and asked that the state model its process after other states that successfully use the death penalty. He also asked that Nebraska carry out death sentences as quickly and humanely as possible. The public hearing was necessary to comply with the state's administrative procedures act, but Corrections Director Scott Frakes can send it on as is for review of Attorney General Doug Peterson and approval by Gov. Pete Ricketts. In late November, the Corrections Department released proposed revisions to the state's execution protocol that would keep secret the drugs and method of administration until 60 days before request for a death warrant. Concerned citizen Eleanor Rogan of Omaha said that when the state compromises its principles for the sake of expediency, messy, corrupt government can creep in. Unknown drugs, unknown dosages and unknown providers are a recipe for medical disaster, she said. It's clear the protocol was politically motivated, said Chambers. It is not scholarly, and it is not based on medical or professional consultation or assistance. "It is what I would describe as a slap-dash, loosey-goosey affair," he said. About 494,000 Nebraskans voted to do away with the Legislature's 2015 repeal of the death penalty, and nearly 321,000 voted to retain the law that would have replaced it with life in prison. Chambers said the vote didn't surprise him. "When the people are allowed to vote, it's not always based on intelligence, knowledge, information, but usually emotion," he said. ACLU of Nebraska attorney Spike Eickholt called the protocol a step backward for the Corrections Department, which seemed to be progressing after scandals and problems in recent years. "Even people who support the death penalty don't agree with hiding the process and the means and the death penalty itself from the public," he said. Those attending Friday hearing were allowed five minutes each to testify. A number of them said the protocol conflicts with state law. Attorney Shawn Renner, representing Media of Nebraska, said authority claimed by the department to keep confidential the name of any person or company supplying the lethal injection drugs is directly contrary to the Nebraska public records law. "It's illegal and it will not be enforced by courts," he said. Alan Peterson said that to adopt a protocol that allows
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, N.C., FLA., ALA., TENN.
Jan. 3 TEXAS: Brakes applied on death penalty cases The death penalty is rare, even in Texas, where just 7 executions were carried out last year. In some places, it's almost non-existent. In Dallas and Harris Counties, not a single death sentence was handed down last year. This is good news. Executions are costly. Their value in deterring would-be murderers and others from committing their crimes is small. And they are disproportionately carried out against persons of color. Of the 9 men sentenced to death in Dallas or Tarrant Counties since 2012, all are African-American. In Harris County, 15 of the 18 more recent death sentences have been handed down against black defendants, the other three against Latinos. Worst of all, an execution is the outcome of an error-prone system, and one that simply can't be undone once carried out. That insight was at the heart of the ruling 45 years ago in which the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that the death penalty violated the Constitution. "The penalty of death differs from all other forms of criminal punishment, not in degree but in kind," Justice Potter Stewart wrote in 1 of 5 concurring opinions in Furman v Georgia. "It is unique in its total irrevocability. It is unique in its rejection of rehabilitation of the convict as a basic purpose of criminal justice." 4 years later, the court ruled that with proper attention to racial fairness and other factors, the executions could resume. But ever since, Texas has had a starring role in demonstrating just how naive that second decision was. It's distressing to note that support for the death penalty remains strong in many states, including Texas (though that support is at its lowest level in decades). There is hope in the fact that actual use of the death penalty is fading fast. In the past 5 years, 26 inmates on Texas' death row have been removed. 18 saw their sentences reduced. 7 died in custody. 1 was exonerated and released. Even Texas' famously tough-on-crime Court of Criminal Appeals has grown far more careful when it comes to executions. In the past 2 years, the court has issued 15 stays of execution. In the 3 years before that, it averaged just 1 per year. Nationwide, the use of the death penalty is also at a low. It's encouraging, too, to see Justice Stephen Breyer continue his sometimes-lonely crusade to convince the rest of the court to take up again, as they did in 1972 and 1976, the overall question of whether the Bill of Rights prohibits executions. The penalty is so rare, and so random in its application, it should no longer be tolerated: "Individuals who are executed are not the 'worst of the worst,'" Breyer wrote Dec. 12, "but, rather, are individuals chosen at random, on the basis, perhaps of geography, perhaps of the views of individual prosecutors, or still worse on the basis of race." (source: Editorial, Dallas Morning News) NORTH CAROLINA: Shaniya Davis killer revives death penalty issues. Mario Andrette McNeill won't be the poster boy for getting rid of the death penalty. We can???t think of anyone on death row we'd rather see with a lethal injection in his arm. McNeill is the monster who took 5-year-old Shaniya Davis from her mother in 2009, in return for a $200 drug debt. McNeill raped the little girl and killed her, tossing her body into a remote kudzu patch where deer hunters gut their kills. Shaniya's mother got off easier than she deserved, with a 17-year sentence for 2nd-degree murder. McNeill offered no defense at his trial, saying in 2013 that, "My goal was freedom. I lost my freedom. What does it matter after that?" 3 years later, it appears that staying alive does matter to him. And so does freedom. His lawyers are asking the state Supreme Court to overturn his conviction because his original lawyers were too cooperative with the police. McNeill will get his hearing. All death row prisoners automatically get one. And we'll only hope - along with most North Carolina residents - that he isn't set free. But even though McNeill is the worst imaginable reason for taking the death penalty off the books, his case offers another opportunity to talk about it. Like most other states, North Carolina doesn't have much of an appetite for executions these days. We've got 150 prisoners on death row - including 1 who's been there for 31 years - but haven't executed anyone in more than a decade, owing to a host of legal challenges. It doesn't appear likely there will be any executions in 2017, either. We don't want McNeill to have any chance of regaining his freedom. His horrific crime deserves no mercy. But it's also clear that our society is steadily moving away from the death penalty, as state after state takes capital punishment off its books. There are good reasons for that, starting with the potential for mistakes in identification, investigation and prosecution. And there is the fundamental
