[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS
Jan. 11 TEXASimpending execution Supreme Court declines to block Texas execution The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to block the scheduled execution of a Texas death row inmate who killed two men after one of them mocked him for falling for a fake drug deal. The court's ruling on appeals for 48-year-old Christopher Wilkins came about three hours before his scheduled Wednesday evening lethal injection. It would be the first execution in the nation this year. Wilkins' attorneys had argued to the Supreme Court that he had poor legal help at his trial and during earlier appeals and that the courts improperly refused to authorize money for a more thorough investigation of those claims to support other appeals and a clemency petition. State attorneys argued courts had rejected similar appeals and that defense lawyers were simply employing delaying tactics. (source: Associated Press) ___ 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
Jan. 11 BAHRAIN: Urgent Action3 Men Face Imminent Execution January 11, 2017 On 9 January the Court of Cassation in Bahrain upheld death sentences against three Bahraini men. It also upheld life sentences against 7 others and the revocation of the nationality of 8 of them. All 10 men were convicted following an unfair trial in relation to the March 2014 killing of 3 policemen. On 9 January the Bahraini Court of Cassation upheld death sentences for Ali Abdulshaheed al-Sankis, Sami Mirza Mshaima' and Abbas Jamil Taher Mhammad al-Samea. The court also upheld the life sentences of 7 other men and the revocation of the nationality of 8 of them. The 10 men were convicted on 26 February 2015 by the Criminal Court of offences that included "organizing, running and financing a terrorist group (Al-Ashtar Brigade) with the aim of carrying out terrorist attacks"; "possession and planting of explosives with the intention to kill security forces and causing disorder"; and the "killing of 3 police officers and attempted killing of others". The Appeal Court upheld the convictions on 31 May 2016 and on 17 October 2016 the Court of Cassation overturned them and ordered a retrial by the same Appeal Court, which subsequently upheld the sentences again on 4 December 2016. The convictions will now go to the King for ratification. According to the statement made by some of the men, during 3 weeks of interrogation at the Criminal Investigation Directorate (CID), the 10 men had no access to their families or lawyers, and were tortured. Sami Mshaima' and Abbas al-Samea later told their families that they were given electric shocks, beaten, burnt with cigarettes, deprived of sleep, and sexually assaulted. All 10 men are currently held in Jaw prison, south of Manama. TAKE ACTION Write a letter, send an email, call, fax or tweet: -- Urging the Bahraini authorities not to execute the 3 men and to order a full retrial of all 10 men that fully complies with international fair trial standards, excludes evidence obtained under torture and without recourse to the death penalty; and to carry out an independent and impartial investigation into their allegations of torture; -- Acknowledging the authorities' duty to prevent crime and bring those responsible to justice, but insisting that this should always be done in accordance with international law and Bahrain's international human rights obligations; -- Urging them to commute all death sentences to terms of imprisonment and immediately establish an official moratorium on executions with a view to abolishing the death penalty. Contact these 2 officials by 21 February, 2017: King Shaikh Hamad bin 'Issa Al Khalifa Office of His Majesty the King P.O. Box 555 Rifa'a Palace, al-Manama Bahrain Fax: +973 1766 4587 Salutation: Your Majesty ** H.E. Ambassador Shaikh Abdullah Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Khalifa Embassy of the Kingdom of Bahrain 3502 International Dr. NW, Washington DC 20008 Phone: 1 202 342 // Fax: 1 202 362 2192 Email: ambsecret...@bahrainembassy.org (source: Amnesty International USA) IRAN: Child bride faces execution by hanging Zeinab Sekaanvand Lokran comes from a poor, conservative Iranian-Kurdish family, and ran away from home at 15 to marry Hossein Sarmadi in the hope for a better life. Soon after the wedding, Hossein started beating Zeinab - she asked for a divorce, but he refused. She told police, but they ignored her. She ran away, but her family disowned her. She was 17 when her husband died. Zeinab was arrested and "confessed" that she killed her husband after he'd abused her for months and refused her requests for divorce. She was then held at the police station for the next 20 days and repeatedly tortured by police officers. After a grossly unfair trial, in which she was denied access to a lawyer during her entire pre-trial detention, Zeinab was sentenced to death by hanging. Execution delayed during pregnancy In 2015, Zeinab married a fellow prisoner in Oroumieh Central Prison and became pregnant. Her execution was delayed while Zeinab was expecting. Last month she gave birth to a stillborn baby, and is now at risk of execution. Doctors said her baby died in her womb 2 days earlier due to shock, around the same time her cell mate and friend was executed on 28 September. She was returned from hospital to the prison the very next day - denied any postnatal support or care since. Raped by her brother-in-law Zainab only met her state-appointed lawyer for the first time at her final trial session. It was then that she retracted confessions made when she'd had no access to a lawyer. She told the court that her husband's brother, who she said had raped her several times, was responsible for the murder and had coerced her into confessing, promising he would pardon her (under Islamic law, murder victims' relatives have the power to pardon the offender and
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, USA
Jan. 11 TEXASimpending execution Texas Killer Christopher Wilkins Tries to Stop Year's 1st Execution A Texas man who claims his lawyers did a bad job of defending him against charges he callously murdered 2 men could become the 1st prisoner executed this year if the U.S. Supreme Court doesn't call off his Wednesday night lethal injection. Christopher Wilkins, 48, is set to die for fatally shooting Willie Freeman, 40, and Mike Silva, 33, because he was angry that he was tricked into paying $20 for a rock disguised as a chuck of crack cocaine. Wilkins admitted to the 2005 double slaying - and claimed he had committed another murder and other crimes - during the sentencing phase of his trial. "I tend to want to take the easy way out," the ex-con truck driver told the court. "I make bad decisions. I know they're bad decisions when I'm making them. I make them anyway. "I think subconsciously, I've been trying to kill myself or get myself killed since I was probably 12 or 13 years old," he added. In his appeals, Wilkins has argued that his attorney ignored his wish to plead guilty and did not put on a vigorous defense and that an appellate lawyer had a huge conflict of interest, having already accepted a job with the prosecutor's office. Executions hit a 30-year low in the United States last year, in part because some states were unable to obtain the needed drugs or put lethal injections on hold after executions that did not go as planned. Texas has a supply of drugs, but the number of lethal injections in the state fell by nearly 1/2 to to s7 last year. Georgia had the most executions - 9 - in 2016. (source: NBC news) USA: Charleston bishop opposes death sentence for man convicted of killing churchgoers Jurors unanimously agreed to sentence Dylann Roof to death for killing 9 black churchgoers. In closing statements before the deliberation Jan. 10, the unrepentant 22-year-old told jurors that "I still feel like I had to do it," the Associated Press reported. Bishop Robert E. Guglielmone said in a statement that the Catholic Church opposes capital punishment and reminded people that all life is sacred. "We are all sinners, but through the father's loving mercy and Jesus' redeeming sacrifice upon the cross, we have been offered the gift of eternal life. The Catholic opposition to the death penalty, therefore, is rooted in God's mercy. The church believes the right to life is paramount to every other right as it affords the opportunity for conversion, even of the hardened sinner," Bishop Guglielmone said. "Sentencing Dylann Roof to death conflicts with the church's teaching that all human life is sacred, even for those who have committed the most heinous of crimes. Instead of pursuing death, we should be extending compassion and forgiveness to Mr. Roof, just as some of the victims' families did at his bond hearing in June 2015," the bishop added. The jury had to reach a unanimous decision to sentence Roof to death. Had they disagreed, he would have been automatically sentenced to life in prison. He was convicted of 33 federal charges last month, including hate crimes. Roof acted as his own attorney and did not question any witnesses. In his FBI confession, he said he hoped the massacre would bring back segregation or start a race war, the Associated Press reported. Bishop Guglielmone offered prayers of support for those who were killed and their families. "Our Catholic faith sustains our solidarity with and support for the victims of the Emanuel AME Church massacre and their relatives. We commit ourselves to walk with these family members as well as the survivors as they continue to heal from the trial and this tragedy," he said. The bishop asked people to continue to pray for the victims, survivors and families connected with the shooting. He also encouraged people to pray for Roof and his family. "May he acknowledge his sins, convert to the Lord and experience his loving mercy," Bishop Guglielmone said. The Rev. Clementa Pinckney, pastor of Emanuel AME Church, Tywanza Sanders, the Rev. Sharonda Singleton, the Rev. DePayne Middleton-Doctor, the Rev. Daniel Simmons Sr., the Rev. Cynthia Hurd, Myra Thompson, Ethel Lance, and Susie Jackson were killed in the shooting. (source: catholicregister.org) *** U.S. Seeks Death Penalty for Fort Lauderdale Airport Gunman The Iraq war veteran accused of killing 5 travelers and wounding 6 others at a busy international airport in Florida was charged Saturday and could face the death penalty if convicted. Esteban Santiago, 26, told investigators that he planned the attack, buying a 1-way ticket to the Fort Lauderdale airport, a federal complaint said. Authorities don't know why he chose his target and have not ruled out terrorism. Santiago was charged with an act of violence at an international airport resulting in death - which carries a
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, PENN., VA., OHIO, USA
Jan. 11 TEXASimpending execution Texas man set to die for killing pranksters who told him gravel was crack cocaine A Fort Worth jury sent Christopher Wilkins to death row for killing 2 men he admitting shooting over a $20 phony drug deal after Wilkins said he didn't care whether he was sentenced to death. "Look, it is no big deal," Wilkins calmly said from the witness stand at his 2008 trial. On Wednesday, more than 11 years after the killings, the 48-year-old Wilkins is scheduled to die by lethal injection, pending the outcome of an appeal in the U.S. Supreme Court. If the execution goes ahead, it will be the nation's 1st this year. In 2005, after serving time in prison for gun possession, Wilkins drove a stolen truck to Fort Worth, where police tied him to several aggravated assaults and burglaries. There he befriended 2 men, 40-year-old Willie Freeman and 33-year-old Mike Silva, who duped him into paying $20 for a piece of gravel he thought was a rock of crack cocaine. According to court records, Wilkins said he shot Freeman on Oct. 28, 2005, for laughing about the scam, then he shot Silva because he was there. Their bodies were found in a ditch. Wilkins' fingerprints were found in Silva's wrecked SUV, and a pentagram matching one of Wilkins' numerous tattoos had been carved into the hood. "When I get wound up, I have a fuse that is short," Wilkins testified. "I don't think about what I am doing." He also admitted that a day earlier he had shot and killed another man, Gilbert Vallejo, 47, outside a Fort Worth bar in a dispute over a pay phone, and about a week later he used a stolen car to try to run down 2 people because he believed 1 of them had taken his sunglasses. "I know they are bad decisions," Wilkins said of his actions. "I make them anyway." Kevin Rousseau, a Tarrant County assistant district attorney, described Wilkins as "a professional criminal. Very violent. He used violence as a means of achieve his means on a routine basis." Wilkins' attorneys have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to halt the execution, saying he had poor legal help at trial and during other appeals, and that the courts should have authorized money to his current lawyer to support other appeals and a clemency petition. "He has never had a meaningful opportunity at any stage to develop that claim, to have any court address it on the merits, or even to have it considered as part of a petition for executive clemency," attorney Seth Waxman, told the justices in his appeal. Stephen Hoffman, an assistant Texas attorney general, said investigation of those arguments "would either be redundant or fruitless," and called the appeals a delaying tactic. 30 convicted killers were executed in the U.S. last year, the lowest number since the early 1980s. 7 were carried out last year in Texas, the fewest since 1996, but Wilkins is among 9 Texas inmates already scheduled to die in the early months of 2017. (source: Dallas Morning News) Executions under Greg Abbott, Jan. 21, 2015-present20 Executions in Texas: Dec. 7, 1982present-538 Abbott#scheduled execution date-nameTx. # 21-January 11---Christoper Wilkins539 22-January 25---Kosoul Chanthakoummane540 23-January 26---Terry Edwards-541 24-February 2---John Ramirez--542 25-February 7---Tilon Carter--543 26-March 14-James Bigby---544 27-April 12-Paul Storey---545 28-June 28--Steven Long---546 (sources: TDCJ & Rick Halperin) PENNSYLVANIA: Mother, boyfriend now charged in death, dismemberment of Montgomery County teen A Montgomery County couple acted out a hate-fueled rape and murder fantasy on 14-year-old Grace Packer, authorities said, charging the girl's mother Sara Packer and her boyfriend Jacob Sullivan in a conspiracy to kill her and dismember her body. The information Bucks County prosecutors used to charge Jacob Sullivan came in Sullivan's hospital bed confession Saturday as he recovered from a failed suicide pact with Packer a week earlier as authorities increased pressure on the couple following the discovery of Grace Packer's body near a Luzerne County reservoir last year, District Attorney Matthew Weintraub said Sunday. Weintraub said that although Sullivan's statement cannot be used against Packer, investigators have a strong case alleging that she was complicit in the plot to kill the girl, who she adopted as a toddler. Packer purchased sedatives allegedly used in an attempt to poison her daughter and the bow saw allegedly used to remove her limbs, court documents say. She also stored the body for three months packed in kitty litter in an attic closet one floor above her bedroom,
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide
Jan. 11 THAILAND: NRSA approves death penalty for corruption exceeding 1 billion baht worth of ill-gotten gains The National Reform Steering Assembly unanimously endorsed by 155 votes with 7 abstentions a report by its political reform panel which proposed stiffer penalties, including death, against corrupt politicians. Mr Seri Suwanpanont, chair of the NRSA's political reform committee, clarified after the assembly meeting that corruption has been a serious problem that has undermined the country for a long time. He claimed that his panel did not initiate the capital punishment but merely complied with the Criminal Code without any intention to hurt any particular group of people but merely intended to discourage people from getting involved in corruption. Besides, he noted that only a handful of people who amassed more than 1 billion baht in ill-gotten gains from corrupt practices. The report proposed varying degrees of punishments in accordance with the amount of money amassed from corruption: 5 years for amount less than 1 million baht; 10 years from amounts over 1 million baht up to 10 million baht; 20 years for amounts over 10 million baht up to 100 million baht; life imprisonment for amounts over 100 million baht up to 1 billion baht; and death penalty for amount exceeding 1 billion baht. Seri defended that the report was meant to make it clear to political office holders of the consequences they would face if they are corrupt. Mr Kasit Bhiromya, an assemblyman, rejected the death penalty, saying that as a Buddhist, he disagreed with the capital punishment. The report will be fine-tuned before it is sent to the cabinet, the National Legislative Assembly, the Constitution Drafting Committee, the National Anti-Corruption Commission, the Constitutional Court, the Election Commission and the National Human Rights Commission for consideration. (source: pattayamail.com) PAKISTAN: Pakistan sets execution date for mentally ill manThe United Nations has previously called on Pakistan to protect mentally ill inmates. A Pakistani judge has issued a death warrant for a schizophrenic man, his lawyers said, months after the country's top court halted the execution of another mentally ill prisoner. Khizar Hayat, a 55-year-old former police officer, was sentenced to death in 2003 for shooting a colleague. The United Nations has previously called on Pakistan to protect mentally ill inmates, singling out Hayat as having "psychosocial disabilities". The Justice Project Pakistan (JPP), which is managing his case, said Hayat's lawyer in September 2015 had challenged the execution in light of his mental illness. Hayat was diagnosed by government doctors in 2008, when a de facto moratorium on the death penalty was in place. But Lahore jail authorities pressed ahead with seeking the death warrant, which was granted by a sessions court, and the execution has been set for 17 January. Another mentally-ill man, Imdad Ali, was given a last-minute reprieve from execution by the Supreme Court in October, which said it was "inappropriate" to hang someone in his condition. A final decision on his fate remains pending. Sarah Belal, executive director of JPP, said: "Expert medical opinion and Pakistan's international obligations makes Khizar's execution not only unlawful but also inhumane." Knowingly hanging a mentally ill man would signal to the world that Pakistan does not uphold the fundamental rights of its citizens or abides by its international obligations. Since lifting its moratorium on executions in December 2014, Pakistan has hanged some 420 prisoners, overtaking Saudi Arabia to become the world's 3rd largest executioner nation after China and Iran. But according to a report by British charity Reprieve, 94% of Pakistan's executions have been for non-terrorism offences, despite the government's claim that capital punishment was reinstated to combat Islamist militancy. (source: Agence France-Presse) INDIA: The love of hanging: There's one thing that India and Pakistan agree on Last month, Pakistan joined India, Afghanistan, Bangladesh and the Maldives in rejecting a global moratorium on the death penalty at the UN. Pakistan chose to vote against the recent resolution in the United Nations General Assembly that had called for a global moratorium on the death penalty and was adopted by the majority of member states. The gist of this resolution has been adopted by the UN General Assembly every 2 years since 2007. The resolution adopted on December 19, 2016, was backed by 117 member states, while 40 voted against it and 31 abstained. As against the voting pattern in 2014, the new supporters of the moratorium call were Guinea, Malawi, Solomon Islands, Sri Lanka and Swaziland. South Asia maintained its fondness for the death penalty as Pakistan joined Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India and Maldives in rejecting a
