[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, GA., LA., TENN., CALIF., USA, US MIL.
January 7 TEXAS: Texas Police Charge Suspect With Capital Murder In The Death Of 7-Year-Old Jazmine Barnes Eric Black Jr. has been charged with capital murder in connection with the murder of 7-year-old Jazmine Barnes, according to a statement from the Harris County Sheriff’s Office in East Harris County, TX. Initial reports believed the shooter to be a white man in his 40s based on accounts from Jazmine’s family, which were shared in a news conference last week. The person charged for the crime is a 20-year-old Black man, a sheriff’s office spokesperson said on Sunday. Police believe her death was a possible case of mistaken identity rather than a targeted attack. Eric Black Jr. has allegedly confessed to acting as the getaway driver, reports the Houston Chronicle. He was arrested on Saturday after he was identified as a suspect while pulled over for not using his turn signal. According to the Houston Chronicle, when questioned by the police, Black admitted that Jazmine’s death was a mistake and that she and her family were not the intended targets. In a statement given earlier this morning, investigators are continuing to “pursue evidence that could possibly lead to other suspects being charged,” reports the BBC. The prosecutors have reportedly identified the man believed to be the shooter during Black’s court appearance. As of Sunday, he has not yet been arrested or charged. (source: refinery29.com) GEORGIA: Foster death penalty hearings to resume later this year As we enter 2019 Floyd County has one remaining man sitting on death row awaiting execution and another who is potentially heading for his second death penalty trial. Timothy Tyrone Foster, who is now 51, was sentenced to death in 1987 for the murder of retired school teacher Queen Madge White during a burglary at her home at Highland Circle — he was 18 at the time of the incident. The 79-year-old woman had been attacked and molested before being strangled to death. The U.S. Supreme Court overturned his conviction 2 years ago, on the grounds of black jurors being excluded from his original trial. Once his conviction was overturned, Foster was moved back to the Floyd County Jail from Georgia’s death row in Jackson. Earlier this year the state expressed its intent to seek the death penalty and the lengthy process began again. One round of hearings took place in October and another round of hearings are set for May in Judge Billy Sparks’ courtroom. James Randall Rogers James Randall Rogers, now 57, is the only man currently sentenced to death from Floyd County. Rogers raped and murdered his 75-year-old neighbor, Grace Perry in 1980. He was first convicted and sentenced to death in 1982 but later had to be retried, convicted and sentenced in 1985 after he appealed the original conviction because the grand jury pool didn’t include enough women. Later Rogers appealed his conviction again, citing a U.S. Supreme Court ban of the execution of mentally retarded criminals. He cited a definition of mental retardation as consistently scoring less than 70 on IQ tests. Rogers took 6 tests, with his score falling below 70 only once. In 2007, the Supreme Court of Georgia upheld a Floyd County jury’s 2005 finding that Rogers wasn’t mentally retarded. The Georgia Department of Corrections does not list any date for Rogers’ scheduled execution. Overturned cases It took years to resolve the cases of Mark Randall McPherson and Gary Chad Thomason. Both men were sentenced to death and both men’s sentences were overturned. Both McPherson and Thomason were re-sentenced to life without parole. It took 6 years to resolve McPherson’s case and 11 for Thomason. Mark Randall McPherson took a sentencing deal for life without parole for the 1998 murder of Linda Ratcliff after the Georgia Supreme Court overturned his sentence of death in 2008. In 1992 Gary Chad Thomason fatally shot Jerry Self, 33, outside his Bells Ferry Road home. Convicted and sentenced to death in 1996 on murder, burglary and weapons charges, Thomason had his sentence — but not conviction — overturned in 2003. Thomason also took a sentencing deal which offered life without parole, rather than the death penalty. In both cases the families of the victims approved of the sentencing deals of life without parole, Floyd County District Attorney Leigh Patterson said in an earlier interview. (source: Rome News-Tribune) LOUISIANA: Murder cases set for trial this year 14 murder cases are scheduled for trial this year in Terrebonne and Lafourche parishes All dates are subject to change. In Louisiana, 1st- and 2nd-degree murder convictions carry mandatory life sentences without the possibility of parole. For 1st-degree murder, prosecutors may also seek the death penalty. A principal, or accomplice, can face the same penalty even if he or she doesn’t commit the actual murder. This list
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide
January 7 ENGLAND: Leeds nostalgia: A hanging A hundred years ago today, the Yorkshire Evening Post carried a report of an execution at Armley Gaol. It was that of Een Hindle Benson, who was sentenced to death at Leeds Assizes for the murder of Annie Mayne, a woman with whom he lived in Hunslet prior to joining the Army. The report ran: “During the whole of the time he has been incarcerated, Benson has shown fortitude and the news that the petition for his reprieve had failed did not appear to surprise him greatly. Indeed, on learning that, in the event of a reprieve being granted, the alternaitve would be a long term of imprisonment, Benson replied he would far rather suffer the full penalty of the law.” It went on to describe how the condemned man had “interviews” with his family and close friends, to bid them farewell. As the hour of execution approached, Benson showed no sign of fear, said the report. It went on: “This morning, as usual, he ate a healthy breakfast and walked quite calmly from the condemned sell to the shed where the execution took placed, a distance of some 20 or 30 yards.” Benson was 41 and had been in the Army about 18 months when, in July the previous year, he heard that the woman, Mayne, had been “carrying on” with another man. He confronted her on August 26 after finding her drunk and with another man. She was said to have taunted him, he cut her throat with a razor. Two more executions, that of Percy George Barrett and George Walter Cardwell, were also reported upon, they being planned for January 8. The pair had earlier been found guilty of the murder of Pontefract jeweller, Mrs Rhoda Walker. Cardwell vociferously protested his innocence. (source: yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk) MALDIVES: Naifaru court sentences woman in absentia to death by stoning Naifaru magistrate court has sentenced a 25-year-old woman from Naifaru island to death by stoning, after she confessed to having extramarital sex. Magistrate Judge Mohamed Moosa passed the sentence in absentia solely based on her confession; that she had committed 'fornication' and had once before been married. The case was reported to the police in May of last year by the health center after they delivered the woman’s child, believed to have been conceived in the ‘unlawful sexual act’, the sentence says. The sentence makes no mention of the child's father, although RaajjeMV understands that he is native to an island in the same atoll and the family has 'no way to contact' him. Judge Moosa referred to Hudud Offenses, in 1205 of the Maldivian Penal Code, which allows him to pass sentences predetermined in the Quran, under Islamic Sharia. In his sentence, Judge Moosa refers to the woman as a ‘muhsana’, a person who is or had been in a valid and consummated marriage and is so subject to the punishment of death by stoning. While women and men who have never been married are sentenced to flogging, as opposed to death by stoning or ‘Rajm’ as it called in Islamic law, the woman herself had been divorced at the time of the act. The current government, which took office in November of last year, has expressed its commitment to upholding the moratorium on the death penalty, until adequate judicial reform. If the sentence is to be carried out, the case must have exhausted the entire appeal process. (source: raajje.mv) CHINAexecution China executes knifeman who attacked children because he wasn't happy with life China has executed a farmer who attacked a dozen children with a knife because he wasn't satisfied with the way his life had turned out. Qin Pengan, 43, used a vegetable knife to slash and stab the youngsters at a kindergarten in January 2017 until a teacher fought him off and called for help. Chinese state media claim Qin launched the frenzied attack in the southern city of Pingxiang to extract revenge for his life not going as he wanted and a dispute with a neighbour. A local court in Pingxiang sentenced Qin to death, and the sentence was carried out on Friday after it was approved by China's Supreme People's Court, state media announced on Monday. (source: mirror.co.uk) ** Chinese man executed for kindergarten knife attack A court in southern China has put a man to death after he injured 12 children in a knife attack at a kindergarten, the state broadcaster said on Monday. Violent crime is rare in China but there has been a series of knife and axe attacks in recent years, many targeting children. China Central Television said that in January 2017 Qin Pengan stabbed the children with a vegetable knife in order to extract revenge for his life not going as he wanted and a dispute with a neighbour. None of the children died from their injuries. A local court in Pingxiang city in south China's Guangxi province sentenced Qin to death, and the sentence was carried out on Friday after being approv
