[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide
The next news to this listserve will be posted on Sunday, July 2 ** June 29 INDIA: HC commutes death sentence of man, guilty of killing 5 persons The Delhi High Court today commuted to life term, the capital punishment awarded to a 31- year-old man in a case relating to the murder of 5 persons including 2 children in 2004 in Chhattisgarh. "We commute the sentence imposed upon the petitioner and substitute it to a sentence of imprisonment for life in place of death sentence awarded to petitioner," a bench of Justices G S Sistani and Vinod Goel said. The high court made it clear that "life imprisonment means (till the) end of ones life". The court pointed out that there were "numerous discrepancies and falsities" in the affidavits filed by the Chhattisgarh government. "Despite the same, we have proceeded to decide the matter in the interests of justice. At the same time, such practice is deprecated and should be taken note of by the higher authorities," it added. The High Court had on March 2, 2015 stayed the execution of Sonu Sardar after which the Chhattisgarh government had approached the Supreme Court challenging Delhi High Courts jurisdiction to hear the matter. The apex court had asked the high court to decide the states application in this regard. The High Court had dismissed the state governments plea and said it could hear and grant stay on the execution, as the decision rejecting his mercy plea was taken here by the President of India. Sardar, along with his brother and accomplices, had killed five persons of a family, including a woman and two children, during a dacoity bid in Chhattisgarhs Cher village on November 26, 2004. The trial court had slapped death penalty on him and the Chhattisgarh High Court had upheld it. The Supreme Court in February 2012 had concurred with the findings of two courts below and affirmed the punishment. His mercy petition was also dismissed by both the state Governor and the President of India. In February 2015, the apex court had also rejected his review plea. The convict then moved the high court seeking quashing of the orders of the President and the Governor rejecting the mercy petition. He had also sought to commute the death sentence into life imprisonment on account of delay, improper exercise of power and illegal solitary confinement. Allowing his appeal, the high court observed that the "supervening circumstance of solitary confinement coupled with the non-placement of relevant considerations and considering of extraneous considerations has vitiated the decision of the Governor and the President. "Further, the incarceration of the petitioner in solitary confinement without any judicial order has run awry of the Fundamental Rights and this court, being the sentinel of the Constitution, is bound to intervene and give relief to the petitioner," it added. The Delhi High Court in its 95-page judgement noted that the mercy petition was processed in "an extremely cavalier and casual fashion" by the state government at all stages, right up to placing the note for the Governor. "It was all along treated as a petition seeking premature release under an inapplicable rule of the Jail Manual. The Governor was informed that the petition is for premature release and not commutation of sentence," it said. (source: indiatoday.com) NORTH KOREA: N Korea sentences Park Geun-hye to death, demands her extraditionDPRK accuses former President and ex-NIS chief of plotting to kill Kim Jong Un North Korea on Wednesday announced that it has sentenced former South Korean President Park Geun-hye and former director of the National Intelligence Service (NIS) Lee Byung-ho to be executed for allegedly ordering the assassination of Kim Jong Un. In a statement carried by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), the joint statement by the Ministry of People's Security and the Central Public Prosecutors Office called on the government of South Korea to hand over the 2 former officials so their sentence may be carried out. A failure to do so, it said, would negatively impact inter-Korean relations. The statement is a response to what North Korea claims was a failed U.S.-ROK assassination plot against current leader Kim Jong Un in April. "We declare at home and abroad that we will impose death penalty on traitor Park Geun Hye and ex-Director of the puppet Intelligence Service Ri Pyong Ho (Lee Byung-ho) and their groups, criminals of hideous state-sponsored terrorism who hatched and pressed for the heinous plot to hurt the supreme leadership of the DPRK," the statement read. South Korea will "have to hand over" Park and Lee "under international convention" for committing what it called state-sponsored terrorism, the statement said, threatening a military response on both the U.S. and South Korea should they repeat their attempt on Kim Jong Un's life. "We
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, FLA., OHIO, MICH., MO., ARIZ., USA, USA/EU
June 29 TEXAS: Surviving bad lawyers just got tougher for death row inmates For inmates on death row, having a bad lawyer just got deadlier. In a ruling Monday against a Texas death row inmate who claimed his lawyer failed to argue his case adequately, the Supreme Court ruled that federal courts could not review prisoners' claims that their state appeals lawyers were ineffective, resolving an issue that had split courts across the country. The decision makes it harder for death row inmates who had poor legal representation to make that part of their appeals, a particular issue for poor inmates who likely have court-appointed lawyers in the early stages of their cases. "It does perpetuate a system of inequality," said Sean O'Brien, a law professor at the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law who has argued several capital punishment cases and served as the director of many of the school's criminal defense law clinics. "It gives the state a reward for giving prisoners incompetent lawyers in state post-conviction That's the net effect of this." In 2008, Erick Davila was convicted of fatally shooting a 5-year-old girl and her grandmother. Davila argued that he had meant to shoot a rival gang member - the girl's father. The fact that he had not meant to kill more than 1 person should have made him ineligible for a capital murder verdict and the death penalty. But the judge gave the trial jury incorrect instructions about Davila's eligibility, and they sentenced him to death by lethal injection. During Davila's appeal, his lawyer failed to argue that those bad instructions affected Davis' sentencing. Then, crucially, during Davila's post-conviction proceedings in state court, a new lawyer didn't bring up the appeal lawyer's failure to mention the instructions. With his case now up for a federal appeal, Davila's latest lawyer argued that because his appeals lawyer was incompetent, the federal court should review the impact of the inaccurate instructions to the jury. Federal courts, however, typically won't rule on issues that could have been reviewed at the state level. "The question is [not] really whether or not Davila had a fair trial," O'Brien said. "He did not. The question is whether the federal court can remedy that he had an unfair trial." The answer to that question, the justices ruled in a 5-4 decision in Davila v. Davis, is no. "Claims of ineffective assistance of appellate counsel, however, do not pose the same risk that a trial error - of any kind - will escape review altogether," Justice Clarence Thomas wrote in the majority opinion. (Thanks to a 2011 Supreme Court case, federal courts can already review lawyers' mistakes at the trial level.) Thomas added that, if the court ruled in Davila's favor, "Not only would these burdens on the federal courts and our federal system be severe, but the benefit would - as a systemic matter - be small." It's unclear just how many cases will be affected by Monday's ruling. During oral arguments, lawyers for Texas argued that a ruling in Davila's favor could unleash a "flood" of cases into federal courts. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton echoed that assessment in a statement celebrating the ruling, saying, "Had the high court ruled otherwise, states and the federal court system would have been burdened with an avalanche of claims facing an infinitesimal chance of success." "It's going to exacerbate the difference between prisoners who have access to good lawyers and those who don't." Stephen Vladeck, a professor at the University of Texas School of Law who wrote about the case for the Supreme Court outlet SCOTUSBlog, says this case wasn't just about the fates of what both he and O'Brien believe will actually be only a small number of prisoners who find themselves in situations like Davila's. Instead, Vladeck says, the case demonstrates a "lack of doctrine that responds to and accounts for these inequalities" in the criminal justice system - particularly for people facing capital punishment. "It's going to further exacerbate the difference between state prisoners who have access to good lawyers for their post-conviction proceedings, and those who don't," Vladeck said. "Because the good lawyers will be able to salvage the ineffectiveness of the appellate counsel." That difference may be steep. A Harvard Law School study of the 16 counties that imposed the death penalty 5 or more times between 2010 and 2015 (3 were in Texas) found "appalling inadequacies" in the quality of legal defense. "You've got to win the lottery and get 3 good lawyers in a row," O'Brien said of the trial, appellate, and post-conviction process. "Even if you do get 1 good lawyer, the other 2 lawyers are going to undo the work of that lawyer They have a hard time consistently providing competent lawyers at the trial level, especially Texas." As of late last year, Texas had
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide
June 28 CHINA: 13 Chinese sentenced to death for drugs offences as thousands look on in public trial8 executed immediately after open hearing in a stadium in notorious drug producing area of Guangdong province 3 courts in southern China's Guangdong province sentenced 13 people to death for producing and selling drugs at a public trial in a stadium in the city of Shanwei watched by some 10,000 people, the official Xinhua news agency reported. The Shanwei Intermediate People's Court and the Lufeng People's Court handed out sentences on Saturday for 18 people, the report said, without giving the names of the accused or details of the charges. 5 were given suspended sentences. Of the 13 sentenced to death, 8 were executed immediately after the trial. China's synthetic drug problem growing, government says The city of Lufeng, which is administered by Shanwei, is notorious for making and trafficking drugs. In 2014 more than 3,000 paramilitary personnel, police and border guards from Guangdong raided a village near Lufeng and seized 3 tonnes of crystal meth. Nearly 200 people from the village, which has a population of 14,000, were detained at the time. The Lufeng court heard 234 cases involving drugs last year and sentenced 107 people to prison terms of at least 5 years. China fast becoming Europe's drug wholesaler, report warns A similar public trial was held in 2015 in Lufeng, with 5 people sentenced to death and executed immediately and another 8 given suspended death penalties. A further 25 people were sentenced to at least 10 years in jail each. (source: South China Morning Post) CZECH REPUBLIC: "Last Address" project commemorates victims who were executed or whose deaths were hastened by Communist regime The country's Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes on Tuesday launched a new project to commemorate victims of former Czechoslovakia's communist regime. Called "Last Address", the idea was inspired by similar initiatives in Russia. Within the project, plaques will be installed at victims' final addresses - recalling their lives and what they stood for, for which they died. Tuesday is the 67th anniversary of the execution of Milada Horakova a member of parliament and democrat found guilty in a notorious show trial in 1950 staged by Czechoslovakia's Communist regime. The death penalty was carried out in spite of last minute pleas for clemency from the likes of Albert Einstein and the Pope. The day has seen a number of commemorative events honouring her memory but also that of others who suffered and perished as enemies of the regime. "Last Address" focusses on those who never came back. Michaela Stoilova, the main organizer of the project at the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes, told Czech Radio more: "The project marks the last address of people who were arrested for political reasons and never returned. That means either people who were sentenced to death or whose deaths were hastened by the regime ... It was inspired by an organization called gulag.cz ... After a pilot program, we decided to focus primarily on victims of the Czechoslovak regime, as opposed to victims of Soviet repression in general." 1 of 4 plaques to go up on Tuesday is at the Swedish Embassy in Prague, honouring the memory of Veleslav Wahl, a zoologist executed in 1950. A total of 4 plaques around Prague have already been approved while a 5th is pending. Michaela Stoilova again: "We were interested in the fate of Veleslav Wahl; as it happens Josef Ruzicka, the father of his wife who was also a political prisoner, also lived at the address. But that is a coincidence. We highlighted the fact in the materials but the primary focus here is on the on lives destroyed for political reasons. How the information is used, or used comparatively, is up to others to assess." If you'd like to see the exact addresses of the plaques which went up on Tuesday, please visit http://www.posledniadresa.cz (source: radio.cz) IRAN: Juvenile Offender Faces Execution in Iran According to the Iranian state-run news agency, Rokna, a juvenile offender identified as Farshid, 22, is facing execution after he was sentenced to death at the age of 16 for the charge of murder. There is no information available at this time regarding where Farshid is detained. Farshid reportedly told the judge that he was a child when he committed the crime and that he has since changed for the better and realized the huge mistake he made. According to reports, the names of Farshid's parents are not listed in his case file, only his lawyer is representing him. In a court sesson, his lawyer reportedly requested for Article 91 of the Islamic Penal Code to be implemented in client's case, however, the Judge did not agree and sentenced Farshid to death. According to Article 91 of Iran's revised Islamic Penal Code, it is up to the presiding judge's
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----OHIO, ARIZ., USA
June 28 OHIO: Cuyahoga County prosecutors to seek death penalty against man charged in f5 killings Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Michael O'Malley's office will seek the death penalty in the case of a North Canton man charged with killing 5 people earlier this month in Cuyahoga and Stark counties. A grand jury on Tuesday indicted George Brinkman on charges of aggravated murder, aggravated burglary, kidnapping and offenses against a human corpse in the killing a woman and her adult daughters in North Royalton. The charges include death specifications in the June 10 slayings of Suzanne Taylor, 45, and her daughters Taylor Pifer, 21, and Kylie Pifer, 18. Investigators believe Brinkman used a knife to slit Taylor's throat before he strangled Kylie Pifer with a telephone cord and smothered Taylor Pifer with a pillow in their North Royalton home. Brinkman is also charged in Stark County with murder in the deaths of a Stark County couple. Rogell Eugene John, 71, and his wife Roberta Ray John, 64, were found shot to death Monday afternoon at their home in Lake Township, the Stark County Sheriff's Office said. Brinkman was arrested after a 9-hour standoff in Brunswick. A SWAT team surrounded a home on Valley Forge Drive late Monday after learning he was there. He is being held on a $75 million bond. (source: clelveland.com) ARIZONA: Arizona seeks to shut down effort to give defense attorneys direct victim access A lawyer for 2 top state officials wants a federal judge to quash a bid by defense attorneys seeking access to crime victims and their families. In new court filings, Assistant Attorney General O.H. Skinner tells U.S. District Court Judge Steven Logan there is no legal basis for the claim by the Arizona Attorneys for Criminal Justice that they have a First Amendment free-speech right to approach crime victims, despite a law to the contrary. If nothing else, Skinner said attorneys don't have the same First Amendment rights as everyone else, at least not when it comes to their role as lawyers for criminal defendants. He also said that if the problem is with the Arizona law and how it is enforced, the challengers need to sue the people responsible for that - including state trial judges. And Skinner said any such challenge needs to be brought in Arizona courts when there is an actual dispute, not in a broad-based federal court attack. Hanging in the balance is a statute that says defendants, their lawyers and their investigators can only initiate contact with crime victims through the prosecutor's office. That includes the direct victims but also family members. Prosecutors are required to pass the request on. But they can also advise those the lawyer wants to interview that they have the legal right to simply say "no." The basis is the Victims??? Bill of Rights, a 1990 voter-approved constitutional amendment designed to spell out the rights of crime victims and their families. It includes things like the right to be present during all stages of the trial, to be notified of all events and to refuse to be interviewed. In filing suit against Gov. Doug Ducey and Attorney General Mark Brnovich, defense attorneys and the American Civil Liberties Union called the requirement to funnel requests for contact "an unconstitutional licensing requirement and prior restraint on speech." More telling, they argued to Logan that the additional hurdle interferes with their ability to save the life of a client convicted of murder. That's based on their contention that they're required to try to persuade family members not to push for the death penalty - wishes prosecutors may follow. Skinner, in his new legal filings, told Logan he needs to understand the importance of the law before he's tempted to void it. "The impetus behind this constitutional amendment was that for too long victims of crime have been 2nd-class citizens," he wrote. Skinner said arguments in favor of the measure would ensure that "victims would no longer be treated as just another piece of evidence." Assuming there's a legal basis to challenge the law - a point Skinner is not conceding - he said it cannot be done by asking Logan to void it. Instead, he said, if a defense attorney is denied access to a crime victim or family, that should be raised on a case-by-case basis with the presiding judge. "In any case where a plaintiff (attorney) represents a criminal defendant, that attorney can immediately raise the First Amendment challenge through a simple motion seeking leave to initiate contact with a victim directly," Skinner wrote. Anyway, he argued, the request to block enforcement of the law is flawed. Skinner said federal judges can grant injunctions only if those who file suit can show a "realistic danger" to themselves. But he told Logan there is no evidence that any criminal defense attorney is going to be prosecuted for breaking the law by
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, PENN., VA., N.C., FLA.
June 28 TEXAS: Former death row inmate now eligible for parole, victim's family strikes back Noe Santana, whose 20-year-old cousin was kidnapped, raped and murdered in 1991, did not mince words when he had the chance Tuesday to talk to the killer. "When you're looking at yourself in the mirror, I hope you take that razor you shave your face with, shave your head with, and cut across your throat," Santana shouted at him in the courtroom. "There's nothing left for you in this life." Santana was in court to see 44-year-old Robert James Campbell's death sentence reduced to life in prison after he was declared intellectually disabled. Before he was sentenced, Campbell apologized to the family and wished them peace. "I would just like to offer my deepest and sincerest apologies for all I've hurt," he said softly. Campbell was convicted in 1992 of capital murder in the death of Alejandra Rendon, a bank teller he abducted while she was pumping gas. He spent 25 years on death row, survived an execution day, and is now eligible for parole after mental health professionals determined he is too disabled to be executed, prosecutors said Tuesday. The U.S. Supreme Court recently outlawed the execution of mentally disabled people, sending Campbell's case back to Harris County for evaluation. A prosecution expert declared him mentally disabled. Wearing the yellow jail uniform typically reserved for high-profile inmates, he appeared before Visiting Judge Michael Wilkerson, who sentenced him to life in prison. Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg said the law in 1991 did not allow for the option of life without parole, so he will be eligible for parole. "Times have changed when it comes to people with mental disabilities," Ogg said. "It was with a heavy heart that our expert came back and agreed with the defense that Campbell is intellectually disabled so we were forced to withdraw our plan to seek the death penalty." Defense attorney Rob Owen, of Northwestern University School of Law, has in the past extended his condolences to the victim's family on behalf of the defense team, which included Burke Butler and Callie Heller of the Powell Project and Raoul Schonemann of the Capital Punishment Clinic at the University of Texas School of Law. "Robert expressed his remorse for his actions, apologized to everyone he had hurt, and said he would continue to pray that his victims find peace," Owen said Tuesday in an emailed statement. "We likewise extend our sympathy to the victims for the terrible loss they have suffered, and our appreciation to the District Attorney's office for their decision to forego further efforts to seek Robert's execution." Ogg said her office will protest all of Campbell's future parole hearings to remind officials of the brutality of his crime. "We can successfully fight his parole and keep Mr. Campbell behind bars," she said. "He was a person who was a predator in our society." Victim's advocate Andy Kahan said Campbell will likely go before the parole board within 6 months. He said Rendon's family will ask the board to deny parole and put Campbell on a special list in which he will not go before the board again for at least 10 years. If he is classified that way, he would only get parole hearings every decade, a comforting thought for Rendon's family. "Your last meal should be behind bars," Santana told the killer. (source: Houston Chronicle) PENNSYLVANIA: What it's like to spend 22 years on death row for a crime you didn't commit Nick Yarris served 22 years in solitary confinement on death row for a crime he didn't commit. He was stabbed, strangled, savagely beaten and came face-to-face with some of the most notorious serial killers America has ever produced, all the while knowing he was innocent. But, despite all this, despite being dismissed as a rapist and murderer, and feeling so low he asked a judge if he could be put to death, he considers himself 'extremely lucky'. 'Look at the physical features,' he told metro.co.uk from his home near Yeovil in Somerset, as he prepared to travel to Los Angeles to work on a biopic of his life. '[I] faced the death penalty but got out, acclimatised to society, overcame Hepatitis C, and went on to stand next to some of the most brilliant actors in the world performing in the Colosseum in Rome.' 'Guess what? There are 160 other men who have been proven innocent off death row. Not all of them are getting the same play. 'A lot of them go and die in abstract, terrible ways and they don't get anything.' It's true that the 56-year-old's case has been the subject of widespread coverage since his release from prison in Pennsylvania in 2004 after DNA proved his innocence. But anyone who has watched Netflix documentary The Fear of 13 or read Yarris' book by the same title will be able to testify that there is something particularly compelling about his
