[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide
November 8 BARBADOS: New court dates for death row convicts Almost a dozen inmates who are currently on death row at Dodds prison will have to be resentenced once the Offences Against the Person Bill 2018 is amended. That is the word from Leader of Government Business in the Senate, Senator Dr Jerome Walcott, as he spoke today during debate on the amendment which seeks to repeal the mandatory death sentence for persons convicted of murder in Barbados. He said the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ), the island’s highest appellate court, had already ruled that it was unconstitutional. “They are currently 11 persons who are on death row in Barbados and based on this ruling, they will now have to be resentenced because their sentences are now considered by the CCJ to be unconstitutional,” Dr Walcott said. “There are 62 persons awaiting trial for murder and six for manslaughter. If we were not to pass this bill today, it would put our judicial system in a quandary. You would have 68 persons who are there to have trials done and at the back of that, at the end of it all, judges will know that they are confined by the mandatory death sentence, but if they convict someone and sentence them at the end of the day they know that the CCJ has already ruled that that is unconstitutional.” Dr Walcott explained that the amendment was not about removing the death penalty from the statute books. However, he contended that Barbados had signed on to several conventions which clearly state that a mandatory death sentence was not lawful. “I believe that we are in a bind. We have survived over the years. We have discussed and we have utilized our mandatory death penalty and we have debated it. We have made promises to amend it. We’ve made promises to the UN and we’ve made promises to the Inter-American Court of Justice, but I think our reckoning time has now come. (source: Barbados Today) PAKISTAN: Pakistani Christian woman Aasia Bibi 'freed' from jail Aasia Bibi, who spent 8 years on death row for blasphemy, has been freed, her lawyer has said. Pakistani Christian woman Aasia Bibi, who spent eight years on death row for blasphemy, has been freed from jail, her lawyer said. "She has been freed. I've been told that she is on a plane but nobody knows where she will land," her lawyer Saif-ul-Malook said in a message to AFP news agency on Wednesday. Bibi, 53, was flown on Wednesday night to a facility in the capital, Islamabad, from an undisclosed location for security reasons, two senior government officials told the Associated Press. Last week, Pakistan's Supreme Court overturned Bibi's conviction and ordered her release, but she remained imprisoned as the government agreed to allow a review following right-wing protests over the bitterly divisive case. A release order arrived on Wednesday at the prison in the central city of Multan, where Bibi was held, a prison official told AFP. Her husband, Ashiq Masih, had appealed for Britain or the United States to grant the family asylum, while Malook fled to the Netherlands. Pakistan's Foreign Office spokesman, meanwhile, confirmed that Bibi has not left Pakistan. "Let me tell you that Asiya Bibi is in Pakistan and is safe," Muhammad Faisal said in a statement on Thursday. "I cannot comment on the question pertaining to her lawyer. Regarding the question on review petition, I this is a technical and legal matter." Bibi's acquittal triggered massive protests by right-wing parties, mainly the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP), in the Muslim-majority nation. Thousands of people poured onto the streets after the court overturned Bibi's conviction last week, causing Prime Minister Imran Khan's government to sign a controversial deal with the TLP. The blasphemy charge against Bibi stemmed from an incident in 2009, when she was asked to fetch water while out working in the fields. Female Muslim labourers objected, saying that as a non-Muslim, she should not touch the water bowl, and reportedly a fight erupted. A local imam then claimed Bibi insulted the Prophet Mohammed, a charge she has consistently denied. Blasphemy is an incendiary charge in Muslim-majority Pakistan, where even unsubstantiated allegations of insulting Islam can result in death at the hands of mobs. At least 74 people have been killed in such violence since 1990, according to an Al Jazeera tally. (source: Al Jazeera) ** Asia Bibi moved from jail to another part of Pakistan, sources say Asia Bibi, a Christian woman whose death sentence was overturned last week by Pakistan's Supreme Court, has been moved from her jail cell to an undisclosed location in another part of the country, intelligence sources in Pakistan told CNN on Thursday. Bibi spent 8 years on death row after being convicted of blasphemy. Even after her sentence was commuted, she was forced to remain in the same jail due to concerns over
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, PENN., N.C., FLA., OHIO, IND.
November 8 TEXAS: Texas prosecutors, death row inmate agree in high court case | The Tribune Harris County prosecutors have filed a motion with the U.S. Supreme Court asking it to determine that a Texas appeals court was wrong to rule that a death row inmate is not intellectually disabled. The filing Tuesday by the Harris County district attorney's office comes after the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals in June ruled that Bobby James Moore is mentally capable enough to execute. The office has previously argued that Moore's intellectual disability should result in a life sentence. The appeals court finding prompted Moore's attorneys to file their 2nd appeal to the Supreme Court. It's unusual in a death penalty case for prosecutors to agree with the defense that a defendant should be spared from execution. Moore was convicted of fatally shooting a Houston grocery store clerk in 1980 during a robbery. (source: Associated Press) PENNSYLVANIA: Forensic scientist testifies in Greensburg murder/torture death penalty trial Investigators found no physical evidence that a mentally disabled woman was raped days before she was stabbed to death in 2010, a witness testified Wednesday at the death penalty trial for 1 of 6 Greensburg roommates convicted in the murder. Forensic scientist Sarah Kinneer told jurors an examination of evidence collected during the autopsy of 30-year-old Jennifer Daugherty revealed no genetic material or DNA to suggest she was raped during the course of her captivity. “A lack of evidence is not unusual in sexual assault cases,” Kinneer said. Her testimony came during the third day of the resentencing trial for Melvin Knight, 29, formerly of Swissvale, Allegheny County, who pleaded guilty six years ago to the 2010 torture slaying of Daugherty. Prosecutors said Knight fatally stabbed Daugherty, who had been held captive for more than two days, beaten and tortured before she was killed. For the second time, the prosecution is seeking a death sentence for Knight. In 2012, he was given the death penalty, but in 2016 a state appeals court vacated that penalty and ordered a new sentencing trial. Prosecutors contend Knight raped Daugherty during her captivity. While he was never charged with a sexual assault, District Attorney John Peck said jurors should consider it as a reason to impose the death penalty. Kinneer was questioned at length by Assistant District Attorney Leo Ciaramitaro about why no physical evidence of rape was found. She testified physical evidence of a sexual assault could have been washed away or eliminated if a rape occurred several days before Daugherty’s death. She also suggested not all sexual assaults result in bodily fluids being left behind. Knight previously denied raping Daugherty but has not contested his role in the killing. Knight claims he is ineligible for the death penalty because of a low intellect and a history of mental illness. Investigators contend Daugherty was killed in the bathroom of the Pennsylvania Avenue apartment where she was held by Knight and his roommates. Evidence that attempts were made to clean blood from throughout the apartment were found during the investigation, according to testimony Wednesday from retired Westmoreland County Detective Hugh Shearer. Knight’s sentencing trial is expected to continue Thursday before Judge Rita Hathaway. (source: triblive.com) NORTH CAROLINA: State seeking death penalty against Trooper Kevin Conner’s accused killer 1 of the 2 suspects charged in the shooting death of NC State Trooper Kevin Conner will face the death penalty. Columbus County District Attorney Jon David said earlier today a Columbus County grand jury issued an Indictment for 1st degree murder against Chauncy Askew in the shooting death of Trooper Conner. David said his office intends to seek the death penalty against Askew. “Earlier this week, I convened a panel of senior prosecutors to meet with me to scrupulously review the evidence and carefully consider the relative culpability of both defendants who are charged in the shooting death of Trooper Kevin Conner,” David wrote in a news release. “At this time, the State elects to seek the death penalty against Chauncy Askew. The case against Raheem Davis remains in District Court and my office will make a charging determination about him at a later date.” Raheem Davis was arrested on October 17, just hours after Conner was shot during a trafic stop on Highway 701 in Columbus County. Investigators say Davis and Askew were together in the truck Trooper Conner pulled over. Surveillance video from a convenience store shows Askew getting in the driver’s seat of the truck. Just 15 minutes later Conner pulled the truck over for speeding and was shot to death. After a manhunt, officers found Davis in Fair Bluff and arrested him. Several days later, law enforcement arrested Askew in South
