[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide
January 4 BANGLADESH: Kaberi murder convict given capital punishment The lone convict in the college teacher Krishna Kaberi murder was sentenced to death in absentia. Dhaka's Speedy Trial Tribunal-1 Judge Shahed Nur Uddin announced the verdict on Thursday. Convict Zahirul Islam Palash was a business associate of Krishna's husband and BRTA official Sitangshu Shekhar Biswas, says case record. The judge also fined Zahirul Tk 100,000 under Section-302 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. In addition to death penalty, he was given life imprisonment for assaulting Sitangshu and his children. The inability to pay the fine will add another year to his imprisonment term. On Mar 30, 2015, Palash went to the couple's home at Mohammadpur's Iqbal Road to greet Krishna's husband Sitangshu on his birthday with cake, sweets and flowers. Biswas lost consciousness after drinking fruit juice which Palash had spiked. He then assaulted him with a hammer. When Krishna tried to save her husband, she was also battered mercilessly along with Sitangshu. Her saree caught fire from the candle's on the cake and she was burnt badly. When their daughters 'Shruti', 14, and 'Atri', 8, shouted for help, they were also attacked by Zahirul. Krishna, who taught at the Mission International College in Dhaka's Adabar, succumbed to the burn injuries at hospital the next day. Kaberi's husband Sitangshu Shekhar Biswas is a director at BRTA. His brother Shudhangshu Shekhar Biswas had filed the murder case with Mohammadpur Police Station making Zahirul the lone accused. Sub-Inspector Delowar Hossain, the case's investigating officer, submitted the charges to court on May 30, 2016 after a year of investigation. Sitangshu Shekhar Biswas had opened a Beneficiary Owner Account or BO account through Haji Ahmed Brothers Securities with Tk 800,000, said the charge sheet of the case. Zahirul attempted to kill Sitangshu over the money. After being indicted on April 2017, Zahirul gave a confessional statement in a court. At least 22 witnesses testified in the case. (source: thedaiynewnation.com) IRAQ: Report: Jihadist born in Switzerland risks death penalty in Iraq An alleged jihadist born and raised in Switzerland is facing trial in the capital of Iraq, according to an investigation conducted by the 10vor10 programme and the Tages-Anzeiger newspaper. Iraqi troops captured the 24-year-old man, a Turkish national who grew up in Switzerland, as they regained territory from the Islamic State group. The man has been brought before a specialised tribunal in Baghdad where he faces the death penalty, according to an Arabic article published in a magazine of the Iraqi judicial authorities. The article describes the man as a native from the northeastern Swiss town of Arbon who used the battle name "Obeida" and had a Turkish 1st name. The Swiss attorney general told public broadcaster SRF that criminal proceedings were brought against this man in Switzerland in 2015 over his suspected membership in a terrorist group. The proceedings were suspended in December 2016 but as a precaution he has been banned from entering Switzerland. Federal police spokeswoman Catherine Maret told SRF: "We can do that if we have the feeling that there is a threat to internal security - which is the case here". The Iraqi authorities apparently quote from interrogation records in the article and refer to him as an IS member. The man from Switzerland had been trained in the use of weapons in a training camp in Syria. Afterwards, according to his testimony, he was sent to Iraq where he was asked what type of training he had. "I said that I worked in the field of electricity and electricity," the Iraqi judiciary quoted him as saying. Then follows his explosive confession: "For nine months I built the circuits for explosive charges". He is accused of working as a bomb maker for ISIS. An investigation into his childhood in Switzerland found that “Obeida” only completed elementary school and that the electronics training related to an internship of several months in this field. In Arbon, “Obeida” was apparently part of a group of jihadis. Rights group stress that criminal trials in Iraq do not meet Europe's constitutional standards. Judgments are usually handed down without sound evidence, trials are often very brief, the accused might not be heard, and confessions are extracted under the force of torture. “Obeida” reportedly has a lawyer but he has never been allowed to speak to his client. The lawyer is working to avert the execution of a death sentence. The man from Arbon had a C residence permit in Switzerland but no citizenship. As such, the Swiss foreign ministry has not offered him consular assistance. (source: swissinfo.ch) IRANexecutions 12 Prisoners Executed For Drug Charges Last month IHR and several other rights groups and news websites received re
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----GA., IND., KY., UTAH, NEV., CALIF.
January 4 GEORGIA: Carter homicide case to be reviewed in death penalty decision The July death of a Thomasville woman and hostage situations involving a Thomasville woman and an Ochlocknee family paralyzed the community with fear until the suspect in the crimes was found hiding under a log in Little Ochlockonee River on a humid, sweltering Sunday afternoon. Robert Carter, 47 at the time of his arrest on July 8, 2018, is charged with murder, among other offenses, in the death of 70-year-old Deanna Shirey, whose body was found in a shallow grave at Carter’s 428 Colton Ave. residence. The remains were wrapped in a comforter believed to be taken from Shirey’s bed at her Glenwood Drive home. Local, state and federal law enforcement officers converged on the community and conducted an around-the-clock manhunt that led to Carter’s capture. Thomas County residents lined highways and applauded law enforcement as they transported the captured fugitive to jail. Brad Shealy, Southern Judicial Circuit district attorney, said his office will not decide whether the death penalty will be sought on Carter until the case file is complete and reviewed by him and assistant district attorneys. “That’s something we’ll have to decide when he we get all the facts,” Shealy said. Items in the case file will include lab reports, physical evidence and witness statements. Certain statutory requirements must be met if the death penalty is sought. Aggravated circumstances, a law enforcement officer killed in the line of duty, a murder victim tortured before death and killing for money are among requirements in a death penalty case, the district attorney said. Shealy said he prosecuted several Lowndes County death penalty cases that required years of preparation. Defendants eventually entered guilty pleas. A death penalty defendant who enters a guilty plea is eligible for a sentence of life in prison or life without parole. Shealy hopes the Carter case can be heard by a February Thomas County grand jury. “When it goes to grand jury, we probably would know if we will ask for the death penalty,” the district attorney said, “Hopefully, we can get it to the February grand jury.” Shealy said the Shirey case will be considered separately from other cases with which Carter is charged. (source: Thomasville Times-Enterprise) INDIANA: Debra Denise Brown was Indiana's last woman on death row. She will no longer be executed. A 56-year-old woman who was Indiana's sole female death row inmate will not be executed for her role in the murder of a 7-year-old girl in Gary in 1984. Last month, the Lake County prosecutor and the Indiana Attorney General’s Office signed an agreement withdrawing a demand for the execution Debra Denise Brown because of mental disability. It is an appeal Brown's attorneys have made multiple times since she was sentenced to death in June 1986 alongside co-defendant Alton Coleman. Together, the couple was convicted of carrying out a 53-day crime spree across multiple Midwestern states that resulted in 8 killings, 7 rapes, 3 kidnappings and 14 armed robberies. It is still unlikely that Brown will ever be freed from prison. She faces 2 consecutive life sentences in Ohio, plus an additional 140 years in Indiana. The crimes According to IndyStar archives, 7-year-old TamikaTurks was walking home from a candy store on June 18, 1984 with her 9-year-old aunt, Annie, when Brown and Coleman persuaded them to walk into the woods to play a game. Once there, Coleman and Brown removed Tamika's shirt and tore it into small strips which were used to bind and gag the children. Tamika was suffocated and stomped when she began to cry, and Annie was raped. Annie survived, but Tamika was killed. The attack happened in the midst of the couple's crime spree that took them through Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, Michigan and Kentucky. They were finally captured in Illinois on July 20, 1984. Sentenced to death In the wake of her arrest, attorneys for Brown argued that the 21-year-old woman was borderline mentally disabled and acting under Coleman's domination at the time of the killings. But Brown and Coleman were both sentenced to death, and each made multiple unsuccessful appeals to have the sentences overturned. Coleman was executed April 26, 2002 in Ohio, and Brown was awaiting an execution date. She was slated to be the 1st woman executed in Indiana since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976. A statement provided to IndyStar by Indiana Attorney General Spokeswoman Melissa Gustafson said the recent sentence modification was required by constitutional law and based on evidence developed throughout the case that Brown is likely intellectually disabled. "Under the Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and the 2003 decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in Atkins v. Virginia, a death sentence cannot be given to persons
