[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide
Feb. 9 JAMAICA: Government senator wants hanging resumed Government Senator Matthew Samuda is calling for the resumption of hanging amid Jamaica's rising homicide rate. He made the call during his contribution to the State of the Nation debate in the Senate this afternoon. Jamaica ended 2017 with more than 1616 murders. The murder tally has continued to spiral in 2018, resulting in Prime Minister declaring a state of public emergency in St James last month. Citing crime statistics, Samuda said it was clear criminals have no regard for life and were wantonly committing murders. He said a strong message should be sent to murderers. Although Jamaica has retained the death penalty, it is not being carried out since February 1988. This is because of the 1993 ruling by the United Kingdom-based Privy Council in the Pratt and Morgan case. The Privy Council ruled then that it was inhumane and degrading to hang an inmate who had been on death row for more than 5 years. With legal proceedings in such cases typically exhausting that time frame, it's almost impossible to have death sentences carried out in Jamaica. (source: Jamaica Gleaner) IRAN: Urgent Action: 21-Year Old Man Arrested at 16 at Risk of Execution (Iran: UA 28.18) A 21-year old Iranian man Abolfazl Naderi is at risk of execution in Arak's prison, Markazi province. Abolfazl Naderi was 16 years old at the time of his arrest and was sentenced to death after a grossly unfair trial, based on "confessions" which he claims were made under torture. TAKE ACTIONWrite a letter, send an email, call, fax or tweet: Halt any plans to execute Abolfazl Naderi and ensure that his conviction and sentence are quashed and he is granted a fair retrial in accordance with the principles of juvenile justice, without resort to the death penalty and excluding statements obtained through torture or other ill-treatment or without the presence of a lawyer; Conduct an impartial and transparent investigation into his allegations of torture and other ill-treatment and bring those responsible to justice in trials that meet international fair trial standards; Amend Article 91 of the 2013 Islamic Penal Code to completely abolish, without any discretion by the courts or other exceptions, the use of the death penalty for crimes committed by people below the age of 18, in line with Iran's obligations under international law; Establish an official moratorium on executions with a view to abolishing the death penalty. Contact these 2 officials by 22 March, 2018: Deputy Secretary General of the High Council for Human Rights Kazem Gharib Abadi Esfandiar Boulevard Tehran, Iran H.E. Gholamali Khoshroo Permanent Representative of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the United Nations 622 Third Avenue, 34th Floor New York, NY 10017 Phone: (212) 687-2020 -- Fax: (212) 867-7086 Email: i...@un.int Salutation: Dear Excellency (source: Amnesty International USA) SAUDI ARABIAexecutions Pakistani Met Death Penalty in Saudi Arabia On Thursday Saudi Press Agency published the statement of interior minister who confirmed the death penalty of four Pakistanis for their crime. These Pakistani included Liaqat Hussein son of Ishaq Hussein, Sajid Ali son of Asqar Ali, Muhammd Thaqib son of Muhammad Al- Warith Ali and Faisal Muneer son of Muneer Hussein. These men broke into a woman's house, raped both the mother and the son, stole jewellery and cash and later murdered the woman, said the interior minister of Saudi Arabia. These men confessed their crime then these guilty men were executed on Thursday. In the beginning of the year yet 20 men have been beheaded in Saudi. Saudi Arabia is the country where world's most people are beheaded for their crimes like drugs and human trafficking, rape and murder. Last year in July, a Pakistani was found guilty in human trafficking crime and executed in Saudi Arabia. Another Pakistani beheaded for drug trafficking and 5 Saudi citizens were also executed for the conviction of murder. Last year 141 people were beheaded with sword in public. (source: christiansinpakistan.com) *** Trial begins of 4 Saudis linked to Hezbollah terror cell The Special Criminal Court in Riyadh on Thursday began the trial of a terrorist cell of 4 Saudis linked to Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah movement. The court's 1st session revealed that 3 of the cell members coordinated with a wanted fugitive in Iran. They were convicted of joining a Hezbollah training camp to manufacture and deploy C4 and TNT explosives for use in the Kingdom. Their aim was to cause chaos, target security men, smuggle guns into Saudi Arabia, finance terrorism via an organized gang, and smuggle fugitives from the Kingdom to Iran by sea. The prosecutor called for the death penalty. Failing that, he demanded the most severe punishment (imprisonment and
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----OHIO, ARK., S.DAK., CALIF., USA
Feb. 9 OHIOstay of impending execution Clemency appropriately applied by the governor Ross Geiger took the extraordinary step of writing to the governor last week. On Thursday, John Kasich responded in a considered and appropriate way. The governor issued a temporary reprieve for Raymond Tibbetts, who was scheduled for execution by lethal injection next Tuesday. Now the Ohio Parole Board will revisit the Tibbetts case. In his 4-page letter, Geiger offered a unique viewpoint. He served on the jury that convicted Tibbetts for 2 killings and sentenced him to death 2 decades ago. Geiger explained to the governor that the jurors had no doubt about Tibbetts' guilt. He and another juror did have concerns about a death sentence, yet they eventually joined their colleagues in the required unanimity. What spurred him to write was his look at the documentation accompanying the most recent clemency hearing. Geiger told the governor that he learned things for the 1st time, so much that he concluded: "Based on what I know today I would not have recommended the death penalty. ..." A trial involving the death penalty has 2 phases, the first deciding whether the defendant is guilty, and the 2nd, if needed, to weigh whether a death sentence fits according to the law. A defendant has the opportunity to present mitigating evidence. What Geiger discovered is how little of the available mitigating evidence reached the jury. Tibbetts didn't just have a tough childhood. It was filled with trauma almost from the start, including repeated abandonment, abuse that continued in foster homes, drug and alcohol addiction. Yet his trial attorneys brought just 1 witness, a psychiatrist, before jurors to discuss these circumstances. Geiger told the governor he was shocked to learn that Tibbetts' sister was available to testify, but she wasn't called to the witness stand. That left 2 impressions: No one cared enough about Tibbetts to prevent his execution and that prosecutors must be right, the Tibbetts siblings, in contrast, leading normal lives. Now Geiger knows differently, the siblings with their own troubled lives. The point Geiger makes about these and other failings in the trial process isn't to excuse somehow the awful crime committed by Tibbetts. Rather, his concern goes to whether Ohio should execute Tibbetts. He reasonably asks the governor: "... if we are going to have a legal process that can send criminals to death that includes a special phase for mitigation shouldn't we get it right?" One of the virtues of giving the governor the power of clemency is that it provides a backstop for justice, in particular, when information emerges after a conviction and avenues to the courthouse essentially are closed. The governor ends up as the one authority in position to assess all that is known. In this instance, John Kasich has exercised that power just as it should be done. Now the parole board must do its part, giving the Ross Geiger letter the weight it deserves, Ray Tibbetts spared execution for life without parole. (source: Beacon Journal/Ohio.com editorial boardohio.com) ** Ohio Delays Execution After Ex-Juror Seeks Reprieve for Death Row Inmate Ohio Governor John Kasich on Thursday postponed next week's scheduled execution of a convicted double murderer in light of a letter from a juror in the man's trial asking that he not be put to death because the jury was not given information pertinent to his sentencing about his troubled childhood. Kasich, a Republican, issued a temporary reprieve to Raymond Tibbetts, moving the execution date from Feb. 13 to Oct. 17 and asking the state's Parole Board to hold a hearing in the meantime to consider the letter's contents, the governor's office said in a statement. In the letter sent to the governor on Jan. 30, former juror Ross Geiger said there was no question Tibbetts committed the murders but that factors about the defendant's upbringing were omitted or distorted by prosecutors in the trial's sentencing phase. Tibbetts was convicted of fatally beating and stabbing his wife, Judith Crawford, and fatally stabbing Fred Hicks, a man for whom she provided care. Geiger said the defense presented only one witness in the sentencing phase, a psychiatrist who testified Tibbetts had a tough upbringing related to inattentive parents and poor foster care. Prosecutors then told jurors many people with tough childhoods turn out fine, including Tibbetts' four siblings, and that placing the convicted murderer in foster care as a child was the best thing for him, the letter said. Geiger said several years later he read a publicly available clemency report from 2017 that showed a history of abandonment for Tibbetts starting at age 2 and that of the 4 siblings, 1 committed suicide, another spent time in prison and another is essentially homeless. He faulted the defense team for not
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, N.C., S.C., FLA., ALA.
Feb. 9 TEXASdeath sentence thrown out College Station Man Resentenced For Murder After Appeals Court Throws Out Death Penalty In September 2012, a Brazos County district court jury gave a College Station man the death penalty, a decision that was thrown out 2 years ago by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. Another jury took an hour and a half Thursday to re-sentence 52 year old Stanley Griffin to life in prison for the strangulation murder of Jennifer Hailey in her home almost 7 1/2 years ago. Griffin will have to serve 30 years before he becomes eligible for parole. (source: WTAW news) ** Father And Victim Kent Whitaker Calls For Son Thomas Whitaker To Be Spared Death Penalty Texas death row inmate Thomas Whitaker's father, Kent Whitaker, is pleading for his son to not face the death penalty on Feb. 22 for arranging the murder of Kent Whitaker's wife and other son in 2003. Thomas Whitaker took his family out to dinner and let a friend into the house to murder them. Kent Whitaker himself almost didn't survive. Thomas was motivated by his dad's $1 million insurance policy. Thomas was a suspect for several months after the attack, during which he lived with Kent. Thomas was convicted of orchestrating the murders in 2007, and a jury sentenced him to death. Kent is now calling on the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles for clemency for his son after already trying and failing to have the prosecution advocate for a life sentence instead of the death penalty, citing his Christian faith. "We're not asking them to set him free," Kent told My Statesman. "We're not asking them to forgive him. I mean, that's not their business, but what we are asking them to do is to correct a legal overstep that never should've happened in the first place." In a petition for the board to resentence his son to life in prison, which was published in the Austin American-Statesman, Kent called on the board to make a moral decision in light of the suffering and grief he would suffer further if Thomas were to face the death penalty. "There is only 1 person on Earth who is intimate with the murderous attack, the lives and deaths of the other victims, and the life of Thomas Whitaker - Mr. Whitaker's father, Kent," the petition read. "Kent was there. He speaks to clemency with a moral force and detail of experience that no district attorney or judge or anyone else can possess. For the rest of us, the case against commutation to a life sentence seems clear. We can't forgive; we have no sympathy. But clemency is not about something so simple as sympathy or as formidable as forgiveness. Clemency is about lenity, and it is a moral question rendered far more complex by the unique circumstances of this case." The petition also said there is no advocate for Thomas's execution. "No one close to the people involved in this case want it to happen," the petition reads. "Some passionately oppose it. Other simply wish their lives could be restored to the time before the crime. It is only the State of Texas, through its employees and representatives, that mechanically marches forward onto the date of death." The petition also included multiple letters from Thomas's fellow inmates, some of whom said they were thankful to meet him, that he had worked the hardest out of other inmates on the farm to rehabilitate himself and that he inspired inmates to become better people. (source: uinterview.com) NORTH CAROLINA: The only death row inmate should be the death penalty itself One year ago, I spent five weeks in a Raleigh courtroom listening to Wake County residents talk about the death penalty. As a defense attorney for Nathan Holden, who was facing the death penalty for killing his mother- and father-in-law and shooting his wife, I had the fascinating opportunity to talk to potential jurors and hear dozens of them respond to probing questions about their views on capital punishment. Mr. Holden's jury voted unanimously for life. And when another Wake County jury recently rejected the death penalty for Donovan Richardson, the ninth life verdict in a row, I wasn't surprised. My conversations with jurors in the Holden case had already convinced me that the death penalty is effectively over in Wake County. I grew up in Raleigh, and have spent the past 14 years working as a capital defense lawyer in my home state. I've learned a lot about the past and the present of the N.C. death penalty. In addition to recent cases like Mr. Holden's, I represent defendants who were sentenced to death in the 1990s, when N.C. juries returned 25 or 35 death verdicts a year. Since then, new death sentences across the state, as in Wake, have dropped to near zero. There are many likely reasons for this decline: better legal representation, open file discovery, prosecutors being granted greater discretion over which cases to try capitally. But sitting
