[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, N.C., ALA., OHIO, TENN., CALIF.
October 15 TEXAS: It's wrong for an imperfect system to impose an irreversible punishment. In the remaining months of 2018, the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is likely to reach a grim milestone. Of the 4 remaining scheduled executions in Texas, 3 defendants were convicted in Fort Worth or Dallas. The next of those executions to proceed will be the 100th execution resulting from convictions in Tarrant and Dallas counties since our state resumed executions in 1982. 4 other individuals convicted in Tarrant or Dallas counties face execution in the remaining months of 2018. Historically, Tarrant and Dallas county juries have returned a combined 181 death sentences in the modern death penalty era, more than any major metropolitan area in Texas except for Houston. And while prosecutors across the nation are increasingly electing life without the possibility of parole over the huge expense of a death penalty trial, district attorney offices in Tarrant and Dallas continue to seek death sentences and advance executions, despite compelling evidence of waning public appetite for capital punishment. Since 2015, prosecutors in North Texas have sought the death penalty 4 times but secured just one death verdict from a jury. I was elected 4 times as district attorney for the 97th District of Texas. I can attest to the central role prosecutors play in the death penalty process. As district attorney, I faced the decision whether to seek life or death 17 times. Three times I chose to seek a death sentence. I was also responsible for seeking an execution date that resulted in the execution of Clifford Boggess, who was convicted of a murder in Montague County, Texas, and sentenced to death in 1987. As the death penalty decreases in popularity and use, district attorneys owe it to their constituents to consider the questions surrounding the death penalty before proceeding to seek a sentence that many believe has been administered unfairly in the past. Many of the arguments supporting the death penalty no longer hold up in 2018. Public support for the death penalty is now at a historical low in the modern era. I've heard all the arguments in favor of the death penalty. I have made those arguments myself. But after years of Texas' aggressive use of capital punishment, we know that executions seldom deter violent crime in our communities. And we are more aware than ever that our justice system is not perfect. Prosecutors, defense attorneys, juries and judges make mistakes. When it comes to the death penalty, there is no acceptable margin of error because a mistake means that an innocent person may be executed. Since 1996, over 150 men have been released from death rows around the country after being exonerated by the results of DNA tests or other evidence. How many innocent people were executed that we did not discover before these advances in forensic science? After years of confronting these decisions myself, I believe there is no longer an adequate justification for an irreversible punishment that does little to make our communities safer. Our district attorneys should stop and consider this before seeking the next death sentence or setting the next execution date. (source: Opinion; Tim Cole was elected to 4 terms as 97th district attorney (1993-2006) and has tried more than 150 jury trials. He also served as counsel to Gov. Clements in 1990 and general counsel for the Texas District and County Attorneys Association from 1988 to 1990Ft. Worth Star-Telegram) NORTH CAROLINA: District attorney in northeastern N.C. pursues death penalty for prison killings despite odds Despite the odds, a district attorney is pursuing the death penalty for the 4 prisoners charged with killing a manager, a mechanic and 2 corrections officers in the deadliest prison escape attempt in North Carolina's history. The case meets almost every standard for capital punishment, said Andrew Womble, the district attorney for northeastern North Carolina. But the reality is that it has been 12 years since an inmate was executed in North Carolina, according to the N.C. Department of Public Safety. The state has 141 inmates on death row. The oldest case goes back to 1985, and the most recent one is from 2016. "The death penalty is all but extinct in North Carolina," according to a report by the nonprofit Center for Death Penalty Litigation, based in Durham. "It is a relic of another era." For the district attorney, the effort is worth pursuing. The circumstances of the brutal killings, he said, are enough to justify the punishment he wants. "These 4 scream for the death penalty," Womble said in an interview last week. "I feel incredibly confident about this case." On Oct 12, 2017, 4 prisoners started a fire inside the Pasquotank Correctional Institution north of Elizabeth City and attempted to escape. During the chaos, 4 prison employees were kill
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide
October 15 BANGLADESH: Dhaka not to abolish death penalty: FMGovt defends Digital Security Act Bangladesh would not abolish death penalty, foreign minister AH Mahmood Ali said in Dhaka on Sunday. Law minister Anisul Huq defended Digital Security Act 2018 claiming that the law was finalised for ensure people's right to safe digital space after intensive consultation with the editors' council and other journalist groups. Ali also said the law 'is necessary to ensure public safety and order.' They said these at a diplomatic briefing in presence of about 37 ambassadors and diplomats of foreign missions in the capital. 'Bangladesh is not abolishing death penalty considering its public opinion and socio-political reality,' the foreign minister said as European Union ambassador Rensje Teerink wanted to know whether the Bangladesh government had any plan to abolish or put moratorium on death penalty, according to a foreign ministry press release. The diplomatic briefing was organised to inform the diplomatic community in Dhaka of the verdict in the case of August 21, 2004, grenade attack on an Awami League rally and the recently-passed Digital Security Act. Law minister Huq claimed the trial was done complying with due process of law having heard 225 witnesses and the defence was also allowed to exercise all rights guaranteed to them under the law. Journalist community in Dhaka and international quarters were protesting against the law describing it against the exercise of freedom of speech. State minister for foreign affairs M Shahriar Alam and foreign secretary M Shahidul Haque were also present. Earlier on the day, heads of mission of the EU member states and the European Union called on the Bangladesh authorities calling for a moratorium on executions as a 1st step towards abolition of capital punishment. The 10th of October is World Day against the Death Penalty and they said that on that same day 19 death sentences were issued in Bangladesh. European Union and its member states reiterated their absolute opposition to capital punishment in all circumstances and restated their commitment to the worldwide abolition of the death penalty. The death penalty violates the inalienable right to life enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and was a cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment, they said. (source: newagebd.net) PAKISTAN: Urgent prayer for Pakistani mother on death row'Pray for me' pleads Asia Bibi A Catholic Pakistani woman facing the death penalty for blasphemy against Islam is calling on the international community to pray for her release. After spending almost a decade in jail, Aasiya Noreen - commonly known as Asia Bibi - is now anxiously waiting to hear if she will be sentenced to death after her final appeal was heard in Pakistan's Supreme Court on Monday October 8. A decision is expected any day. Despite increased calls from radical groups for the death penalty to be carried out, sources report that Bibi's family remain hopeful that she will be acquitted. "God willing it will soon be over and [Asia Bibi] will be back home with the family." - Emmanuel Yousef While waiting for the court's ruling, Bibi's family have been visiting England with support from the Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN). Speaking on behalf of the family, Father Emmanuel Yousef from ACN, said: "Although the judges didn't give a judgement, this has happened in many cases of this kind in the past - and they still ended positively ... "We will have to wait a few days but we are confident that things will go well ... God willing it will soon be over and [Asia Bibi] will be back home with the family." Bibi's husband Ashiq Masih was equally optimistic when speaking to the Catholic Herald, saying that his wife "wanted to deliver a message to the international community that they must remember her in their prayers." He continued, "These prayers will open the door of the prison, and she will be released very soon." "She feels when she is praying, Jesus is encouraging and supporting her." - Ashiq Masih According to the Catholic Herald, Masih also said his wife was "spending her life praying with a very strong faith and is reading the Bible every day. She feels when she is praying, Jesus is encouraging and supporting her." As the mother of 5 made her final appeal in court last week, Pakistani Christians engaged in a day of fasting and prayer. Meanwhile, radical religious groups are making death threats towards the judges presiding over the case to warn them against showing leniency towards Bibi. According to AFP, hardline Islamic party, the Tehreek-e-Labaik Pakistan (TLP), warned judges they would meet a "horrible" end if they didn't go through with the death penalty via a press conference recorded on YouTube. The group was also calling for mass protests this week to support the stricter enf
