[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide
September 20 BARBADOS: Death penalty 'still on the book' Hang on, says Attorney General Dale Marshall, the death penalty will not be abolished in Barbados just yet. "I can say to you, Mr Speaker, and all of Barbados, that today Barbados has a death penalty and when this bill is passed in the House and passed in the Senate of Barbados and proclaimed to be the law of Barbados, the country of Barbados will still have a death penalty," he said. His comments came during wrap-up of debate of the Offences Against The Person (Amendment) Bill, 2018, which was passed in the House of Assembly on Tuesday evening. This was among a suite of bills amended to fall in line with the Caribbean Court of Justice's (CCJ) June ruling which stated that the mandatory death penalty for murder was in breach of the Constitution. Stressing that he supported capital punishment in "appropriate" cases, Marshall vowed that if the day came for the Mia Mottley-led Administration to consider abolishing the death penalty, they would first have a referendum to ascertain the public's views. "We've said that on every issue which Barbadians feel connected to, which is part of our legal, cultural, social and economic landscape, we will not even begin to think about changing any law unless we have consulted with the people. If we were going to say that the death penalty will be abolished, we would have gone to the people . . . . "We did it in 1995 in relation to gambling . . . so we have done it. It is part of how we do things on this side of Government. We've had a commission on law and order to engage the public and see what their views are, but this is a very different thing. This is a case where the Caribbean Court of Justice ruled that our mandatory death penalty is unconstitutional and it therefore falls on the shoulders of this administration to fix it," he added. The CCJ ruling is expected to affect 79 people. There are 11 people on death row, 62 awaiting trial for murder, and 6 awaiting trial for manslaughter. As a result, Marshall said the 11 would be re-sentenced and a hold had been placed on adjudication of the other matters. "It must be a frightening prospect for us that we have 62 people who are charged with murder but that on the law as it stands, we would likely not be able to inflict capital punishment on them. I don't want to get too deeply into whether capital punishment is right or wrong. I've always supported capital punishment, but my view on it is not every case that requires the ultimate of sanction that your life should be taken . . . . "The problem with when you choose not to obey the rule of law is that it is like a wild horse and no one knows where it will go. So if we choose to disobey the ruling of the CCJ on this point, what else will we choose to disobey the ruling of the CCJ on?" Marshall asked. (source: nationnews.com) BANGLADESH: 5 sentenced to death over double murder A court here on Wednesday sentenced 5 people to death for their involvement in killing a father and his son near Barishur Bazar area in Keraniganj, Dhaka in 1993, reports UNB. The convicted are Shafiqul Islam, Nazrul Islam alias Nazu, Mister alias Dela Mister, Arif and Masud. Judge Bazlur Rahman of the Dhaka district and Sessions' judge court handed down the verdict after hearing on the review petition. According to the prosecution, the convicts stabbed the grocery shop owner Sharif and his 2 sons on 13 June 1993, leaving them severely injured. Later, Sharif and one of his sons Khokon died while undergoing treatment at Mitford Hospital. Investigation officer of the case Mahmudul Hasan Kabir submitted a charge-sheet accusing the 5 in 1994. On 21 July 2004, a court sentenced the 5 accused to death over the killing. On Wednesday, after 25 years of trial proceedings, the court delivered the death- penalty and fined TK 40,000 each. (source: prothomalo.com) MALAYSIA: Cabinet discusses case of a man sentenced to death for having medicinal cannabis he Cabinet today discussed the case of a man who had been sentenced to death for having medicinal cannabis oil, said Health Minister Dzulkefly Ahmad. However, no decision has been made on the matter, he said. "Just wait for further announcement (if any)," he replied when asked by reporters on the matter after his ministry's post-cabinet meeting at the Health Ministry here today. Muhammad Lukman Mohamad, a 29-year-old father of 1, was arrested in Dec 2015 for possession of 3.1 litres of cannabis oil, 279 grams of compressed cannabis, 1.4kg of substance containing tetrahydrocan nabinol (THC). He was nabbed by the police along with his 5-month pregnant wife, who was freed later, during a raid at his home. He was handed a death sentence by the Shah Alam High Court on Aug 30. On September 9, his lawyer was reported as saying that Muhammad Lukman only wanted to assist patients who are suffer
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TENN., OKLA., NEV., CALIF., USA
September 20 TENNESSEE: Attorney: TDOC Didn't Follow Execution ProtocolAttorneys representing more than 30 death row inmates say the Tennessee Department of Corrections did follow correct execution protocol during the execution of Billy Ray Irick. Did the Tennessee Department of Correction have a backup plan ready in case things went wrong during the execution of a death row inmate last month? Attorneys for 32 other death row inmates say no, they did not. It's the latest move to stop the state from using lethal injection to carry out the death penalty, as another condemned inmate is set to be put to death in less than a month. The latest claim from attorneys representing 33 death row inmates is that Tennessee Department of Correction officials didn't follow their own rule book during the execution of Billy Ray Irick last month when it did not completely prepare a backup set of lethal chemicals. The attorneys made the argument based on a filled out "Chemical Preparation Timesheet" it received from the TDOC after filing a Freedom of Information Act request. On the sheet, while spaces next to the other lethal chemical names listed the times of day the corresponding syringes were filled, a space next to one of the chemicals in the backup lethal chemical set was filled with "not used." Attorneys for the death row inmates argue, had something gone wrong with the first chemical they used -- Midazolam -- prison officials wouldn't have had a backup set of Midazolam ready to go, to use instead. NewsChannel 5 asked the Tennessee Department of Correction for their response to the allegations in the lawsuit. They replied, "It would be improper for the department to comment on the new legal filing due to the ongoing litigation." (source: newschannel5.com) OKLAHOMA: Prosecutors will seek death penalty for Oklahoma City father charged with killing 7-month-old son Prosecutors will seek the death penalty as punishment for an Oklahoma City father accused of killing his 7-month-old son and leaving the body in a trash can. Victor Manuel Minjarez told police he "bagged up" his son after watching the baby take his last breath, an Oklahoma City police inspector testified Wednesday during a preliminary hearing. Minjarez, though, maintains his innocence, claiming the boy died after being laid too close to a heater. However, the baby, Jody Minjarez, suffered blunt force trauma to the head, a skull fracture and brain bleeding, the state medical examiner reported. Minjarez, 31, is charged with 1st-degree murder and desecrating a human corpse. At the conclusion of Wednesday's hearing, Oklahoma County Special Judge Kathryn Savage found enough evidence to send Minjarez's case to trial. At trial, prosecutors will seek the death penalty on grounds that the victim's death was heinous, atrocious or cruel and that Minjarez is a continuing threat to society. Minjarez was arrested March 7, just hours after authorities issued an Amber Alert. Later that day, Oklahoma City police found the victim in a trash can outside a vacant house where Minjarez had been hiding with his son. That night, police inspector Robbie Benavides questioned Minjarez, who said his son died about a week before. Minjarez told the inspector he got into a physical fight with the boy's mother on Feb. 19 at her home in Norman and then took the baby. Days later, Minjarez sent a text message indicating the boy's mother "ain't ever going to see my son again. I made sure of that," the inspector testified. Minjarez told police he stayed at various locations before hiding at the vacant house in Oklahoma City. The house was under construction, and no one was living there at the time. One cold night, Minjarez and his son were lying on a mattress inside the house. The father said his son was getting sick so he found a heater and put it close to the baby, the inspector told the judge. Minjarez later woke up and found the baby with blisters all over his face. The father said he rolled the baby over and fell back asleep. In the morning, he found the child making "bubble noises," the inspector testified. Minjarez said he heard his son say, "Dada," before the baby took his last breath. The father then "smacked" his son a few times to try to wake him up, the inspector told the judge. Minjarez said he didn't call 911 because he knew he was wanted by the police. The father admitted he then placed his son in the trash, the inspector testified. A police lieutenant who discovered the victim's body during a search of the vacant house also testified Wednesday. The lieutenant said the victim had been wrapped in a blanket and then was "double-bagged" in black trash bags. Police found another black trash bag containing baby clothes. Minjarez also was ordered to trial on a 2nd-degree burglary offense. (source: newsok.com) NEVADA: Nevada high court cancels oral arguments in exe
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, PENN., VA., N.C., FLA.
September 20 TEXASnew execution date and 2 impending executions Death Watch: Double Dose2 executions in Huntsville next week 2 inmates face executions next week. Troy Clark is scheduled for lethal injection on Wednesday, Sept. 26. Daniel Acker is due the following evening. Both men claim they had no hand in the murders for which they were convicted, but for Clark, that insistence seems to have fallen on deaf ears. The most recent filing in his case was last November when the U.S. Supreme Court denied his appeal. Clark, from Tyler, Texas, was found guilty of the 1998 murder of Christina Muse, who was beaten and drowned in a bathtub, before her body was shoved into a barrel of lime and cement mix. According to the Houston Chronicle, Clark and some friends dumped the barrel in a remote area of the property that he lived on. When law enforcement found Muse's remains, they located a 2nd body decomposing nearby. Clark's original appellate lawyer Craig Henry argued that Clark's trial lawyer was "deficient" in his counsel, but Clark's second appellate attorney Jeffrey Newberry argued the same thing about Henry. In a 2014 appeal, Newberry wrote, "Henry's failure to present the mitigating evidence [to the appeals court] prevented the Fifth Circuit from considering ... evidence that transformed Clark's ... claim to such a degree that it was no longer the claim presented." But it's not clear what Newberry has since done to continue legal efforts on Clark's behalf. Today, anti-death penalty groups are calling on Gov. Greg Abbott and the Board of Pardons and Paroles to halt Clark's execution, including Dead Man Walking author Sister Helen Prejean. Acker, however, is in the throes of last-minute appeals. On Tuesday, Sept. 18, the Court of Criminal Appeals denied his latest request for relief as well as his motion for a stay. Though his clemency application is still pending, his attorney Richard Ellis confirmed Tuesday that he'll continue to fight for Acker's life, and said an appeal to SCOTUS is likely his next step. Acker, from Hopkins County, was convicted of capital murder in 2001 for the strangulation and dumping of his girlfriend Marquetta George's body. Since his arrest, Acker has held that George jumped out of his moving vehicle during a heated argument and was likely hit by another car. His most recent appeal alleges his innocence and argues that his due process was denied by the trial court's exclusion of evidence, as well as "false," "misleading," and "error"-filled testimony. Specifically, Acker's counsel claims it would have been all but impossible for him to strangle George while driving. The prosecution's trial argument relied heavily on the strangulation theory, but the state and its medical examiner later disavowed the possibility during a 2011 federal evidentiary hearing. The doctor suggested George was never strangled, and the prosecution then "contended that Mr. Acker pushed Ms. George from the truck, a theory that was never presented to Acker's jury." But that wasn't enough to sway the CCA. If last-minute relief is not granted, Clark and Acker will be the ninth and 10th inmates executed in Texas in 2018. (source: Austin Chronicle) * Alvin Braziel has been given an execution date for December 11; it should be considered serious. Executions under Greg Abbott, Jan. 21, 2015-present35 Executions in Texas: Dec. 7, 1982present-553 Abbott#scheduled execution date-nameTx. # 36-Sept. 26---Troy Clark--554 37-Sept. 27---Daniel Acker555 38-Oct. 10Juan Segundo556 39-Oct. 24Kwame Rockwell--557 40-Nov. 7-Emanuel Kemp, Jr.558 41-Nov. 14---Robert Ramos--559 42-Dec. 4-Joseph Garcia---560 43-Dec. 11Alvin Braziel---561 44-Jan. 15Blaine Milam562 45-Jan. 30Robert Jennings-563 (sources: TDCJ & Rick Halperin) PENNSYLVANIA: Hearing for death row inmate set for Nov. 7 Convicted killer and death row inmate Brentt M. Sherwood is scheduled to appear in a Post Conviction Relief Act petition hearing Nov. 7 in Northumberland County Court. Following a status conference on Wednesday in front of Senior Judge Harold F. Woelfel Jr., defense attorney Edward J Rymsza, of Williamsport said the hearing at 1:15 p.m. in Jury Room 1 will involve Rule 801, which deals with the prior counsel's qualifications for defense in capital cases. Attorney William Ross Stoycos, of the state Attorney General's Office, declined comment. Sherwood, 39, who was convicted 11 years ago of beating his 4 1/2 -year-old stepdaughter to death, did not appear in court on Wednesday
