[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----FLA., KY., ARK., ARIZ., NEV., USA
August 17 FLORIDA: How do South Shore residents feel about capital punishment? State supreme court delays executionDue to questions on lethal injection, evidence-rigging by police The anonymous wielder of the hypodermic needle and the syringe full of deadly drugs will have to wait to collect his $150 executioner fee from the Florida State Prison system. Jose Antonio Jiminez, a 2-time killer of Miami ladies in the early 1990s, was granted an "indefinite" stay by the Florida Supreme Court late Friday afternoon, August 10, 4 days before his appointment with death at the Florida State Prison in Bradford County. Jiminez, 30 at the time of his conviction, has been cooped up on death row for 25 years since a Miami jury found him guilty in the brutal multiple stabbing of 63-year-old Phyllis Minas in her apartment after she walked in on Jiminez, allegedly a cocaine addict and high school dropout, burglarizing her home. While he was awaiting trial in that case, Jiminez was convicted, but not given the death sentence, in a similar homicide in 1990 of another Miami woman, Marie Debas. Randomly asked about the capital punishment administered by the state of Florida, South Shore residents offered a mixed response recently: Some in favor of capital punishment and some against the state taking a life even if for punishment or retribution. Rabbi Carla Freedman of the Beth Israel Congregation in Sun City Center said, "In my opinion, capital punishment is one of the things in the Hebrew Bible that we should reject, given the evolution of human thinking, values and capabilities over the last 3,000 years." Freedman went on to say, "Jewish tradition has done so for about 2,000 years, holding that the state has no more business taking a life than an individual has. The fundamental respect for human life should override vengeful and/or punitive state or personal reasons." Many residents of Apollo Beach, Ruskin, Sun City Center and Gibsonton, when approached briefly in public, wished to remain anonymous but felt like that in the view of Jiminez's conviction in 2 killings, he has forfeited his right to live and should be executed if he was found gullty of murder. "The execution should take place within 30 days of a murder conviction in a case like this one," said one man. Another woman responded by asking, "What if it were your mother or wife or daughter Jiminez killed? I think you, as I would, could accept the death penalty." According to Malcolm S. Clements, pastor of First Baptist Church in Gibsonton, "They that take the life of another has taken that person's right to live. They have also deprived their family and loved ones of their life together. "The question is, what right do they have to live when they have willingly deprived another of their gift of life? "Yes, they can find forgiveness with God before they die, and I pray that they do," said Clements. Pastor David R. Allman of the Redeemer Lutheran Church in Sun City Center, responded thusly to the difficult question about the pros and cons of capital punishment: "Here is how I have been able to boil it down. It was even tougher than I thought. There is so much more that could be said. I hope this helps," said Allman, adding: "Lutherans join those who cry out against violence, and grieve with the family and friends of victims. The ELCA does not support the death penalty, yet we acknowledge the diversity of opinion within our denomination. We believe God is merciful and holds all of society responsible to ensure justice for everyone." In Jiminez's case, the Florida Supreme Court's order Friday set a schedule for briefs to be filed by Jiminez's lawyer and the state, ending with an August 28 deadline for reply briefs to be filed. "Oral argument, if necessary, will be scheduled at a later date," the order said. Jiminez's attorney, in a last-minute appeal August 10, successfully argued that the drug etomidate, used in a February 2018 execution in Florida possibly caused the executed man to scream out in pain just seconds before dying. State prosecutors question that theory. The other reason the Florida Supreme Court granted the stay or delay (or perhaps no execution ever) was Jiminez's attorney's presentation of newly found evidence that 2 of the Miami police officers testifying in Jiminez's trial mishandled the evidence in an effort to obtain a conviction and a subsequent death sentence. The end result could be a call for a retrial or the death sentence being thrown out. The Jiminez execution would have been the 28th with a death warrant signed by Governor Rick Scott, the most of any governor since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976. Since 1976, the state has executed 96 convicted murderers; 346 offenders, including Jiminez, are on death row. In Florida, convicted killers can choose execution by "Old Sparky" the electric chair, or by lethal injection. (source: o
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide
August 17 SRI LANKA: Sri Lanka President to end moratorium on death penalty Sri Lanka's president says the government will still end its 42-year moratorium on capital punishment despite requests by the European Union and other diplomatic missions not to do so. President Maithripala Sirisena said the decision to implement the death penalty for drug smugglers "will not be changed under any circumstance and despite the objections raised by some factions against the move," according to the president's website. Last week, Sirisena said convicted drug traffickers will be hanged as a part of the government's crackdown on narcotics. Sri Lanka has maintained the moratorium since its last execution in 1976. No date has been set for the 1st new execution. (source: Vassar News) VATICAN CITY: 5 Catholic priests and scholars ask Francis to backtrack on death penaltyThe pope???s revision to the Catechism calls capital punishment "inadmissible." A group of 75 Catholic clergy members and scholars have urged Pope Francis to backtrack on his decision to declare the death penalty "inadmissible" in Catholic teaching. Earlier this month, Pope Francis authorized a change in the Catholic Catechism, the official teaching document of the church, to intensify the language pertaining to the defensibility of the death penalty. Since the catechism was first published in 1992, the church has said the death penalty should be used only in very rare situations. Francis's change, though, denied that the death penalty could ever be compatible with Catholic teaching, on the grounds that "the dignity of the person is not lost even after the commission of very serious crimes." While the move drew praise from anti-capital-punishment advocates, such as Sister Helen Prejean, who called it a "great day for human rights," some of Pope Francis's more conservative critics remained wary. An open letter was published Wednesday morning in First Things, a conservative-leaning Catholic journal, and was signed by several prominent Catholics, including Fr. George Rutler and Fr. Gerald Murray of the Archdiocese of New York. The letter argues that, by refining Church teaching on the death penalty, Pope Francis casts doubt on the authority of the church's teaching body, known as the magisterium. "To contradict Scripture and tradition on this point would cast doubt on the credibility of the magisterium in general," the letter reads, calling Pope Francis's decision a "gravely scandalous situation." The signatories call upon the College of Cardinals "to advise His Holiness that it is his duty to put an end to this scandal, to withdraw this paragraph from the Catechism, and to teach the word of God unadulterated." The Vatican has not replied nor is it likely to do so. Another critical open letter, known as the dubia, or "doubts," authored by senior Catholic figures, including 4 Cardinals, protested Francis's perceived openness to giving communion to divorced-and-remarried couples. It remains unanswered after almost 2 years. The presence of the open letter speaks to wider divisions within the church over Francis's papacy, and, in particular, conservative concern that Francis is overstepping the traditional boundaries and protocol of his office. However, the Vatican hierarchy may have more pressing concerns at the moment. This week, a Pennsylvania grand jury released a catastrophic report implicating at least 300 priests in the state of child sexual abuse against more than 1,000 minors. (source: vox.com) UGANDA: Ugandan Pastor Stoned to Death Police in Uganda's West Nile region said this week that they were holding 3 South Sudanese in connection with last week's brutal killing of a Ugandan preacher at the Pagirinya refugee settlement in Adjumani district. Superintendent Josephine Angucia, a spokeswoman for the West Nile regional police, said Pastor Bunia Margaret of the Victory Church, which operates in Uganda's Adjumani and Moyo districts, was killed in broad daylight by a mob at the Pagirinya II trading center after a group of Christian evangelical leaders had accused her of being a witch. "This deceased pastor, Margaret, went to preach the word of God at the refugee camps of Adjumani district. She got a big congregation. According to witnesses, this did not go well with other pastors at the refugee camps. Out of jealousness, they mobilized and came up with a memorandum labeling Bunia Margaret to be a witch," Angucia told VOA's South Sudan in Focus. South Sudanese refugee leaders at the settlement said Margaret arrived in May and established her church in Pagirinya II's Block E. John Wani, who lives in Pagirinya Block E, said Margaret attracted mostly women and children. He said the pastor claimed she had the power to heal any disease. This, he said, encouraged some to abandon their homes and camp at the church, often for several days. As a result, Wan
