[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide
Sept. 24 PAKISTAN: Hospital employee gets death sentence for murdering colleague A model court on Monday sentenced a man to death for killing a fellow employee at a private hospital in Gulshan-e-Hadeed 2 years ago. The Malir district’s additional sessions judge awarded capital punishment to Rajesh alias Raju after he was found guilty of the murder charge. According to the prosecution, 25-year-old Nawab Din Channa, who worked as a receptionist at Saima Hospital in Gulshan-e-Hadeed, was stabbed to death by Rajesh, who had hidden his identity to avert arrest, on September 26, 2017. Police said that Nawab was sleeping on a bench when Rajesh attacked him with a dagger, stabbing him multiple times. The receptionist died due to excessive loss of blood. His body was later moved to Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre. His post mortem report stated that the victim was attacked with a sharp object and wounds were seen on his neck and chest. 7 hospital staffers were detained for interrogation and a CCTV footage of the murder also appeared on social media, showing a man attacking the receptionist while he was asleep. The accused was arrested after he withdrew cash from an ATM using the deceased’s bank account. According to the police, he took out Rs21,000. The suspect during interrogation confessed to the murder, saying that he was had personal enmity with the victim. (source: thenews.com.pk) ** Supreme Court Acquits 2 Life Sentence Convicts On Benefit Of Doubt The Supreme Court on Monday acquitted 2 life sentence convicts Faqir Ullah and Muhammad Ashraf, on benefit of doubt. The trial court had awarded capital punishment to Faqir Ullah and Muhammad Ashraf over murder of Sohail Aamir in Multan's area of Makhdoom Rashhed in 2002. The high court converted the death penalty into life imprisonment. A 3-member bench of the apex court, headed by Chief Justice Asif Saeed Khan Khosa and comprising Justice Mazhar Alam Khan Miankhel and Justice Faisal Arab heard the murder case in dispute of 2 parties through video link from the SC Lahore Registry. During the course of proceedings, the state prosecutor said that accused Faqir Ullah and Muhammad Ashraf had killed Sohail Aamir and threw his dead body into canal after packing it in a bag. Chief Justice Asif Saeed Khosa remarked that investigation officers informed court about joint recovery but they did not know that there was zero status of joint recovery before the courts. He observed that the investigation officers had less understanding about the law. He also observed that the witnesses recorded contradictory statements. He remarked that the case would have been stronger if police took finger prints of the deceased and motorcyclist. No record of the case has been disclosed and the prosecution failed to prove the case, he added. The court after hearing arguments suspended the decision of theLahore High Court and acquitted Faqir Ullah and Muhammad Ashrafon benefit of doubt. (source: urdupoint.com) IRAN: 3 Prisoners Transferred to Solitary Confinement for Execution At least 3 prisoners have been transferred to the solitary confinement of Rajai-Shahr prison in the Iranian city of Karaj for execution. According to IHR sources, At least three prisoners have been transferred to the solitary confinement of Rajai-Shahr in the Iranian city of Karaj for execution. IHR identified the prisoners as Ali Dravari, Mostafa Bakhti and Mojtaba Soleimani. All of them have been sentenced to death for murder. If they fail to win the consent of the plaintiffs, they would be executed. According to the Iranian Islamic Penal Code (IPC) murder is punishable by qisas which means “retribution in kind” or retaliation. In qisas cases, the plaintiff has the possibility to forgive or demand diya (blood money). In this way, the State effectively puts the responsibility of the death sentence for murder on the shoulders of the victim’s family. In many cases, the victim's family are encouraged to put the rope is around the prisoner's neck and even carry out the actual execution by pulling off the chair the prisoner is standing on. Executions are usually carried out on Wednesdays at Rajai-Shahr prison. (source: Iran Human Rights) IRAQ: Iraq to hang 9 convicted terrorists for deadly 2013 bombing of justice ministry An Iraqi court on Monday sentenced to death 9 people convicted of involvement in the bombing of the Justice Ministry 6 years ago. The so-called Islamic State had previously claimed responsibility for the March 2013 bombing that killed at least 25 people and wounded dozens. The Iraqi Supreme Judicial Council said in a statement that the “terrorists admitted during the trial that the attack was organized to target the largest number of victims and sabotage state institutions.” “The court sentenced those convicted to death by hanging in accordance with the provisions of Article
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----OHIO, ARIZ., USA
Sept. 24 OHIO: Ohio Governor's Lethal Injection Comments Allowed in Lawsuit A federal magistrate judge is allowing comments about the death penalty made by Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine to become part of a long-running lawsuit challenging Ohio's lethal injection process. Lawyers for death row inmates asked for the inclusion of "numerous statements" by the Republican governor that he would not authorize executions using the state's current 3-drug method. The lawyers argued the statements weren't barred by rules preventing the use of hearsay and that they were relevant since DeWine has said executions won't go forward for now. U.S. Magistrate Judge Michael Merz in Dayton on Monday ruled in favor of allowing DeWine's comments into the court case. Executions have been on hold in Ohio while the prisons system looks for new supplies of lethal drugs. (source: Associated Press) ** The Parole Board's Clemency Process Is Changing The changes the Parole Board is making when considering clemency for death row inmates will begin in January. The Ohio Parole Board will get more information on the background of inmates. The inmate’s application for mercy, reports of child abuse, mental health and substance abuse history will all be given to parole board members early. Senior Federal Public Defender David Stebbins says they were getting just the inmate’s case record, disciplinary history and rehabilitation efforts on the day of the clemency hearing. “This permits the board to have all of the positive reasons for clemency before them before they interview the client," Stebbins says. Gov. Mike DeWine said he wanted changes after criticism that the board wasn’t transparent. Former State Sen Shirley Smith, who used to sit on the board, said the board lacked integrity and decency in the way it handled death penalty cases. (source: statenews.org) ARIZONA: Death Row Inmates Challenge Post-Conviction Rules Death row inmates are ill-served by the way states approve attorneys for post-conviction defense teams, 11 Arizona prisoners and the state’s Office of the Federal Public Defender claimed Monday in suing the Department of Justice. At issue are federal rules governing how states provide death row inmates with adequate representation. The rules allow a quick process with little oversight, which gives inmates curtailed timelines for filings, no voice in rulemaking, and leaves them at the mercy of states, which can simply write a letter saying the process is fine, according to the 37-page complaint. Once the Justice Department approves the states’ processes, the timeline for habeas corpus proceedings is shortened and judicial review of state judgments is curtailed, according to the complaint, which challenges the rules as substantively and procedurally deficient. Considering the states’ process certifications as “orders,” not rules, shortens the length of time allowed to file some petitions; states do not have to adequately explain their process for certifying attorneys; the rulemaking process does not require meaningful public input; and the rules allow improper communication between state and federal officials, lead plaintiff Steve Boggs says. Not requiring states to fully explain how they decide attorneys are qualified unfairly puts the burden on defendants to show that the process is inadequate, rather than requiring the states to show it was not — a clear violation of the intent of Congress, the complaint states. “A state applying for certification must bear the burden of demonstrating that it meets the statute’s requirements, as Congress clearly intended, but the regulations improperly leave it to the public to demonstrate that the state does not,” the plaintiffs say. For example, the Arizona attorney general submitted only a 3-page letter stating the process there is adequate, despite numerous public comments decrying the process, including from the plaintiffs, going unaddressed, the lawsuit says. It takes specific aim at the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996, Clinton-era legislation: “At bottom, the Attorney General is free under the regulations to arbitrarily disregard relevant comments without explanation, thus depriving the public of its right to understand the basis for agency action affecting important legal rights and further frustrating a reviewing court’s ability to evaluate the Attorney General’s decisions,” the complaint states. In short, the rules allow the U.S. attorney general far too much discretion, the plaintiffs say. “The regulations create a procedurally and substantively inadequate procedure by which the Attorney General may certify the adequacy of a state’s mechanism for appointing counsel with little public input and few constraints on his discretion,” they say. The Arizona federal defender’s office represents 77 indigent death-row prisoners in federal habeas
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, PENN., VA., S.C., GA., FLA., LA.
Sept. 24 TEXASimpending execution North Texas man set to be executed for killing family A 45-year-old North Texas man who was convicted of murdering his wife and 2 stepsons before raping his stepdaughter is set to be put to death. Robert Sparks, 45, is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection Wednesday at the Huntsville “Walls” Unit. That is if the U.S. Supreme Court doesn’t step in. Sparks, who has been on Texas death row since his conviction in 2008, is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to halt his execution, arguing that the jury specifically relied upon “the false testimony of prosecution expert A.P. Merillat when sentencing him to death. The appeal also claims that the courtroom bailiff wore a syringe tie on the date of jury deliberations, “creating an unacceptable risk of impermissible factors coming into play at trial.” Court records show that just after midnight on Sept. 15, 2007, Sparks put his hand over the mouth of his wife, Chare Agnew, and stabbed her 18 times in her bed. Then, one at a time, he woke up his stepsons — 9-year-old Harold and 10-year-old Raekwon — and stabbed them 45 times each, dragging their bodies into the living and stashing them under a comforter. Next, he went after the girls, raping his 14-year-old stepdaughter on the couch while her younger sister watched. Afterward, he apologized to them for the rapes and murders — but said their mother had been trying to poison him. Sparks was arrested a few days later and tried the following year. If carried out, Sparks will be the 16th person executed in the United States this year and the 7th in the state of Texas. (source: Huntsville Item) *stay of impending execution Texas court halts the execution of Stephen Barbee to consider U.S. Supreme Court precedentThe Texas Court of Criminal Appeals issued a stay in Barbee's case. He was set for execution on Oct. 2. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals on Monday temporarily stopped the execution of Stephen Barbee. He had been set to die Oct. 2. Barbee, 52, was sentenced to death in Tarrant County in the 2005 murder of his pregnant ex-girlfriend, Lisa Underwood, and her 7-year-old son, Jayden. According to court records, Barbee initially confessed during police interrogation to killing them because he feared Lisa would tell his wife that he was likely the father of her unborn child and that he would have to pay child support. He later recanted the confession, which his lawyer argues was “the product of fear and coercion,” and has since maintained his innocence. The Texas court stopped next week’s execution because Barbee’s attorneys at his short, two-and-a-half day trial, admitted to his guilt, likely in an attempt to secure the more favorable sentence of life in prison without the opportunity for parole. Barbee has said this concession of guilt was against his wishes, that he repeatedly told his lawyers he wanted to maintain his innocence and that his lawyers’ statement was “a complete surprise.” The concession, Barbee argues, is a violation of his Sixth Amendment right to counsel. The argument was rejected earlier, but after a 2018 U.S. Supreme Court decision out of Louisiana, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals ordered further review of the case. In McCoy v. Louisiana, the high court ruled that “a defendant has the right to insist that counsel refrain from admitting guilt, even when counsel’s experienced-based view is that confessing guilt offers the defendant the best chance to avoid the death penalty.” Though the ruling has been raised unsuccessfully in other Texas death penalty appeals, the state appellate court decided Barbee’s case requires an opinion the case's reach. The judges gave the state and Barbee 30 days to file briefs on issues involving the Supreme Court decision. (source: The Texas Tribune) Executions under Greg Abbott, Jan. 21, 2015-present46 Executions in Texas: Dec. 7, 1982present-564 Abbott#scheduled execution date-nameTx. # 47-Sept. 25---Robert Sparks---565 48-Oct. 10Randy Halprin---566 49-Oct. 16Randall Mays567 50-Oct. 30Ruben Gutierrez-568 51-Nov. 6-Justen Hall-569 52-Nov. 13Patrick Murphy--570 53-Nov. 20Rodney Reed-571 54-Dec. 11Travis Runnels--572 (sources: TDCJ & Rick Halperin) *impending execution Texas plans to execute a man who says DNA evidence could exonerate himRodney Reed’s lawyers have filed a lawsuit claiming Texas is violating his constitutional rights TEXAS'S DEATH-PENALTY machinery is humming. Last year, the state carried out more than half of America's executions.
