[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide
November 23 INDIA: Rajasthan: Man gets death penalty for raping a minor Father of an infant girl was awarded the death sentence by the Jhunjhunu (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) Court in on Friday for raping a minor on August 2. This is the 4th case in the state where the accused under POCSO were handed out death sentence. Nand Kishore, Special Public Prosecutor, POCSO Court, said this is the first case when the death sentence has been given to a rapist within 20 days of presenting the charge-sheet in a court. Accused Vinod Banjara, 23, is a resident of Dausa and used to sell utensils, Kishore said. On August 2, he raped the minor in a village when her maternal grandparents were away. The police formed a special team to investigate the case, Kishore said. "Through CCTVs, the accused was identified and arrested on August 3. He was remanded into custody where he confessed to the crime," he said. According to DGP Rajasthan, after death sentence was incorporated in the POCSO Act for the and killing of minors under 12 years, all police officers were directed to speedy investigation and filing of charge sheets in the court had expedited conviction. He said an accused in the rape of a 6-year-old in on February 14 this year was handed out death sentence. He said the investigation was completed within 16 days and the court convicted for death on August 24 this year. Similarly, in another case where a 6-month old baby was raped and killed at Laxmangarh in Alwar on May 10, the court awarded death sentence to the accused on July 21. In this case the charge sheet was filed within 26 days after the incident. An accused in a similar case reported at Barmer women's police station was given death sentence on August 7 for raping a 12-year-old girl, he said. (source: Clayton Caller) * PIL in SC for execution of death penalty awarded to 4 in Nirbhaya case A PIL was filed in the Supreme Court Thursday seeking directions to immediately execute the death penalty awarded to 4 convicts of the sensational Nirbhaya gangrape and murder case. The 23-year-old paramedic student was gangraped on the intervening night of December 16-17, 2012 inside a running bus in South Delhi by 6 persons and severely assaulted before being thrown out on the road. She succumbed to injuries on December 29, 2012 at Mount Elizabeth Hospital in Singapore. The apex court, on July 9, had dismissed the pleas of 3 convicts -- Mukesh (31), Pawan Gupta (24) and Vinay Sharma (25) -- seeking review of the apex court verdict which had upheld the judgements of the Delhi High Court and the lower court in the case. The 4th death convict Akshay Kumar Singh (33) so far has not filed the review plea in the apex court. The apex court in its 2017 verdict had upheld the capital punishment awarded to them by the Delhi High Court and the trial court in the case. The fresh PIL, filed by lawyer Alakh Alok Srivastava, said despite a lapse of more than 4 1/2 months from the date of dismissal of the review petitions of 3 convicts, the death penalty has not yet been executed. The plea said that in rape-cum-murder cases, the fate of the accused must be decided in a period of 8 months from the lower court to the apex court. Such delay in execution of death penalty is acting as a bad precedent and has resulted in increasing incidents of rapes being reported on daily basis, it said. The plea said the fact that the death row convicts have not yet been hanged despite elapse of more than 5 years of their initial conviction "apparently gives an impression in the minds of the rapists that they would also be harmless if they commit such heinous crimes". The plea also sought guidelines to prescribe strict timelines for speedy execution of death row convicts in rape-cum-murder cases, so that the remedies of appeal in high court, appeal, review, curative petition in the apex court and mercy petition before the president are exhausted by the convicts within maximum period of 8 months. (source: business-standard.com) IRAN: Iran Lobby Silent on Rising Executions Iran is the world leader in terms of execution per capita and execution of juveniles, but especially frequent are the public hangings of political, ethnic and religious prisoners from a construction crane. Recently, they have increased their execution rates in response to widespread domestic protests, international pressure and returning US sanctions, which all mean that the mullahs are losing control and facing an economic crisis, brought on by decades of mismanagement and corruption, which has seen the currency dropped 70% against the dollar and led to inflation. The latest example was the execution of Vahid Mazloumin, also known as the "Sultan of Coins", a gold dealer who was accused by Iranian authorities of contributing to dramatic price rises by hoarding gold, which was a warning
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----FLA., OKLA.
November 23 FLORIDA: Prosecutors to seek death penalty against handyman accused of killing elderly couple A handyman accused of murdering an elderly Osceola County couple in their home in July could face the death penalty, according to court records. This week, prosecutors filed paperwork that said they intend to seek the death penalty against Federico Gondola. Osceola deputies found the couple, Roosevelt and Janette Dixon, shot dead in their home in July. The couple's handyman, 35-year-old Gondola, was arrested in connection with the crime. Gondola was grilled by detectives but denied any involvement in the couple's death. "I didn't murder nobody, though. I would not murder nobody," Gondola said. According to court records, investigators believe Gondola tried to extort Mr. Dixon after claiming to have found child porn on his computer. They said the shooting happened during a confrontation. Deputies said there were no signs of forced entry and the hard drive for the home surveillance system was missing. Deputies said the suspect tried to recruit a friend to remove the bodies, which helped them crack the case. Neighbors of the couple are still in disbelief. "They were nice, quiet people, and then for something like this to happen to them, it's pretty sad," said neighbor Jose Rivera. Gondola remains in custody. Another court hearing is scheduled for next week. (source: WFTV news) OKLAHOMA: With all appeals exhausted, Julius Jones' fate lies in the hands of the Oklahoma Governor and the US Supreme Court Oklahoma is set to resume executions by the end of 2018 by means of Nitrogen gas, meaning time is well and truly running out for Julius now. With all appeals exhausted, Julius Jones' fate lies in the hands of the Oklahoma Governor and the US Supreme Court The case of Julius Jones remains a divisive one. Convicted and sentenced to death over the murder of insurance executive Paul Scott Howell on July 28, 1999, in Edmond, Oklahoma, the fact remains there are far too many inconsistencies and loopholes in the prosecution's case that should have seen him exonerated by now. Yet, he inexplicably continues to languish in jail, awaiting the state - which had suspended executions over a previous botched attempt - to set his execution date. While lawyers at the Innocence Project - which works to exonerate the wrongly convicted through DNA testing - have been working tirelessly in the years since his conviction to set him free, it is the Viola Davis-produced documentary, 'The Last Defense,' that has once again brought his plight back into the spotlight and to the attention of the American public. Meaww talked to Dale Baich, an Assistant Federal Public Defender in Arizona and Supervisor of the Capital Habeas Unit, whose lawyers represent death row prisoners in federal proceedings challenging their convictions and death sentences. We asked Dale his thoughts on how Davis' documentary could possibly impact Julius' case. "In February 2017, we learned that the producers of the docu-series were looking at a number of cases across the country where there was a potential wrongful conviction," he replied. "Over the next few months, we had a number of calls and meeting with the producers about the issues in Julius’ case." "We were quite happy when we were told that Julius’ case was 1 of the 2 cases that 'The Last Defense' would feature," he continued. "The last time there was any real attention to the case was when Julius was sentenced to death in 2002, and the story then was basically untold. The public did not know of the deals with the confidential informants or that the co-defendant bragged about setting Julius up and that he would only have to serve 15 years of his 30-year sentence. There was no defense put forward by Julius’ lawyers during the trial. There was no airing of the police misconduct or the systemic racism, as well as the racism in Julius’ case." Dale's office was appointed to represent Julius in August 2016 because the Federal Public Defender in Oklahoma City had a conflict and could not represent him. The case was already out of court at the time and the last avenue for acquittal was clemency from Governor Mary Fallin, and now, Republican Governor-elect Kevin Stitt, but Dale said the case has more to it than met the eye. "The case looked bad," he said. "But, as we peeled away the layers and began our investigation - something that was not thoroughly done during the life of the case - we uncovered misconduct by the police, bad lawyering at trial, secret deals, and racism." What Dale is referring to are the various facets of the case that had been conveniently ignored during Julius' conviction. Whether it's the failure of the detectives to properly investigate 'accomplice' Chris 'Westside' Jordan, the litany of accusations of bad conduct against prosecutor Bob Macy - prosecutorial misconduct was
