Dec. 18



My postings to this list will resume on Dec. 29





JAPAN:

Train station stabbing spree murderer seeks and receives death sentence


Masahiro Kanagawa, the man who went on a stabbing spree in a Japanese
train station near Tokyo, has been sentenced to death by court judges.
Kanagawa had previously admitted that he committed the atrocious crime in
order to receive such a sentence.

On March 23, 2008, Masahiro Kanagawa entered a train station in Tsuchiura
City, Ibaraki Prefecture, just north of Tokyo, and began stabbing people
randomly with a knife. 1 man died and 7 others were left injured before he
was apprehended. It is believed that Kanagawa had also killed 1 elderly
man about four days prior to the train station attack. It came to light
after his arrest that Kanagawa had decided that he wanted to receive the
death penalty, and that killing anyone to accomplish that would do.

On Dec. 18th, a judge in Kanagawa's case sentenced the murder to death as
he had sought for. The judge stated, "It is rare in criminal history that
someone decides to randomly kill people in order to receive the death
penalty, and he has shown no signs of regret," the Chunichi Shimbun
reported.

Kanagawa's defense, seeking a life sentence, argued in their closing
statement that Kanagawa was mentally unfit. They also argued that giving
the death sentence to someone who wanted it so badly would be a reward,
not a punishment.

However, the judge went unmoved; he indicated that while the situation was
complex, he could not reduce the sentence, and rehabilitation would be
impossible. The judge said directly to Kanagawa after the sentencing, "I
want you to think about why, even though understanding other peoples
feelings is a basic thing, you could not take the time to think about
others," the Yomiuri reported. However, even after that moral lecture,
Kanagawas expression remained unchanged.

Several of the surviving victims expressed mixed feelings about the
decision, according to the Mainichi. One man who had suffered a neck wound
in the attack stated, "The death penalty is what that guy wanted. Although
I hate it, theres nothing I can do." He added, "What I really want for him
is not a death sentence, but life imprisonment. If he doesnt apologize,
the crime will not be over for me." Another victim who received a slash to
the shoulder said, "If he, himself, would admit 'I was bad' even once,
then it would be fine to grant him his death wish."

Kanagawa's defense made an immediate appeal of the ruling. Earlier in the
week Kanagawa had said that if he was given a death sentence and his
lawyer appealed, he would take the appeal down himself.

The Yomiuri reported that as Kanagawa left the court room in silence, he
turned to his lawyer and grinned.

(source: The Examiner)






CHINA:

China businesswoman gets death sentence for fraud


A Chinese businesswoman was sentenced to death Friday for cheating
investors out of $56 million  the latest case in the country's struggle
against widespread corruption.

The 28-year-old Wu Ying started out a decade ago with a single beauty
salon but eventually built up a holding group, Bense Holdings, that was
known around the country, the state-run Xinhua News Agency reported.

The report said Wu collected the $56 million from investors over 2 years
and was arrested in 2007.

Video posted online of her sentencing had the petite, ponytailed Wu
showing little emotion as she was led into the courtroom.

In China, the death penalty is used even for nonviolent crimes such as
corruption or tax evasion. The country's highest court, which reviews all
death sentences, this year called for it to be used less often and for
only the most serious criminal cases.

The Intermediate People's Court in Jinhua city, eastern Zhejiang province,
said Wu used the money for personal use and operating costs and to pay off
loans.

The Xinhua report said Wu confessed but then retracted her confession in
April.

Rights group Amnesty International has said China put at least 1,718
people to death in 2008.

(source: Associated Press)






AUSTRALIA:

New rules for AFP in death penalty cases


The Federal Government has released new guidelines to govern the release
of Australian Federal Police (AFP) information to countries which may
apply for the death penalty.

The AFP will now have to consider a range of factors before deciding if it
will release information to overseas agencies in potential death penalty
cases.

They include the reliability of the information, the seriousness of the
alleged offences, the nationality and age of the people involved and the
potential risks to those people if the information is not provided.

The release will have to be personally approved by the Attorney-General or
Home Affairs Minister if someone has already been detained.

In the past, the AFP has been attacked for providing information to
Indonesian authorities about the Bali 9 drug smugglers, 3 of whom are now
facing the death penalty.

(source: ABC News)

Dec. 18



CALIFORNIA:

Closing arguments heard in death penalty trial for convicted cop killer


Nearly a month after a Redwood City jury convicted 26-year-old Alberto
Alvarez of murder for fatally shooting East Palo Alto police Officer
Richard May, the same 6 men and 6 women must now decide whether Alvarez
will be sentenced to death.

Alvarez hung his head throughout the closing arguments presented in the
penalty phase of his trial in San Mateo County Superior Court Thursday,
but never uttered a word.

He has not spoken in court since testifying in his own defense before he
was convicted Nov. 25 of 1st-degree murder with the special circumstance
of killing a peace officer for the Jan. 7, 2006, slaying of May.

The jury began deliberating Thursday afternoon whether to recommend the
death penalty, or opt for the lesser sentence of life in prison without
the possibility of parole.

Prosecutor Steve Wagstaffe told the jurors that Alvarez, who testified
that May fired at him first and he shot May in self-defense, doesn't feel
any remorse.

"This is a person who doesn't care," Wagstaffe said. "We are dealing with
a sociopathic killer. Alberto Alvarez called himself a victim. (But) he's
a gun-packing, drug-dealing parolee. The only remorse he's got is that
he's in this mess."

Wagstaffe continued by describing the seconds before May's death, which
included his "execution-style" shooting.

"Once (Alvarez) made the decision that he's going to fire, he could have
turned and kept walking," Wagstaffe said.

The execution, he said, came with the 2 extra shots that Alvarez fired
into May, including a fatal shot to the head.

Alvarez suffered a bullet wound to the leg during the exchange of gunfire,
and his defense attorneys argued during the 1st part of the trial that May
had shot him first.

May had responded to a report of a fight at a taqueria in East Palo Alto
the afternoon of Jan. 7, 2006. He followed Alvarez from the scene of the
fight and the gunfire erupted several blocks from the taqueria, on Weeks
Street.

Wagstaffe told jurors today that Alvarez "was not the victim" of the
shooting; he was "the cause of it."

He said Alvarez has blamed everyone but himself for what happened,
including his parents, his schools and even May.

He called death the "appropriate" punishment and said to choose life in
prison without parole is to give Alvarez a gift.

"When you execute an officer, do you get the lesser punishment, or do you
get the greater punishment?" Wagstaffe asked the jurors.

Defense attorneys Charles Robinson and Eric Liberman, who both delivered
closing arguments, asked the jury to spare Alvarez's life, saying the
guilty verdict with the special circumstance is enough to ensure Alvarez
will never be released from prison.

"Alberto Alvarez will die in prison, cut off from the rest of the world,"
Robinson said. "The only question is, will he be executed, or will he die
of natural causes?"

He said there are no happy endings in this case, that Alvarez will never
be released and nothing will bring May back.

"There is no need for another execution," he told the jury. "We as a
society don't kill unless it's necessary, (such as) war or in defense of
your family."

He added that unlike Alvarez, "we don't fire those last 2 shots, shots
that show no mercy."

The closing arguments followed nearly 2 weeks of emotional testimony from
both May's family and Alvarez's family.

Alvarez has been in custody without bail since his arrest the day after he
killed May.

(source: San Francisco Chronicle)

********************

Death penalty rejected in Santa Paula slaying


Ventura County District Attorney Greg Totten said on Thursday his office
will not seek the death penalty for a Santa Paula man charged with fatally
shooting another man at a party in 2003.

Joe Fidel Flores, 29, is charged with killing Samuel Reeves Jr. near Santa
Paula on Oct. 11, 2003.

Reeves, 15, was among more than 300 people who attended a birthday party
when several fights broke out shortly before midnight. Reeves was fatally
shot in the chest.

Flores was arrested in July at county jail where he was in custody on two
unrelated firearm charges.

(source: Ventura County Star)






ILLINOIS:

Jury deliberating on life in prison or death sentence for Andre Crawford


A montage of 11 women's faces  many bloodied and disfigured beyond
recognition  stared back at a jury today from a giant courtroom projector.

And then Cook County assistant state's attorney Jim McKay asked the jury
if someone who could kill 11 women with such savagery deserved an ounce of
mercy.

Jurors are deliberating whether to sentence Andre Crawford to death or
life in prison for the murders of 11 women and the attempted murder of a
12th woman.

"You take a look at Rhonda King," McKay said, pointing at one of the
victim's faces. "Does that look like mercy? When [he] choked the last
breath out of Sheryl Johnson, does that look like mercy?" On the final day
of accused serial killer Andre Crawford's trial for the murders of 11
women and the attempted murder of a 12th woman, prosecutors said anything
less than the death penalty would be "like sending him to his room."

"We're here to make Andre Crawford understand every scream of pain, every
piece of ripped flesh, every tear, every wake, every funeral," McKay said
in a husky whisper as he leaned in close to the jury.

The jury began deliberating about 5:30 p.m. this evening. They have
already decided Crawford is legally eligible for the death penalty, and
now they must decide whether he deserves to die or spend the rest of his
life in prison.

Crawford murdered the 11 prostitutes and drug addicts in abandoned
buildings in the New City neighborhood during a 6-year spree between 1993
and 1999. He was arrested in 2000.

Crawford, who agreed to exchange drugs for sex with his victims, mostly
killed the women out of anger when they expressed they wanted to get high
before getting intimate, prosecutors said.

But the defense pleaded with the jury today to show mercy, explaining that
Crawfords childhood abuse at the hands of his mother and the state turning
a blind eye to it made Crawford the killer he is.

"He's been making a cry for help ever since he was 11 months old," said
Crawford's attorney, Debra Seaton. "The question is, do we ignore those
cries for help  and kill him?"

But McKay said such arguments are an insult to the "millions and millions"
of adults who survived bad childhoods.

Between gritted teeth, McKay said, "Maybe it's abuse. Maybe he's rotten to
the core."

The murdered victims were Rhonda King, Patricia Dunn, Angela Shateen,
Shaguanta Langley, Tommie Davis, Sheryl Johnson Constance Bailey, Sonji
Brandon, Nicole Townsend, Evandre Harris and Cheryl Cross.

(source: Chicago Sun-Times)

*********************

Prosecutor: No retrial for Bowman in 1978 killings


A man on Missouri's death row won't be tried again in 2 1978 killings in
southwestern Illinois because the prosecutor believes it would be
pointless.

St. Clair County State's Attorney Bob Haida termed as "real" the death
sentence handed last week in St. Louis County, Mo. to Gregory Bowman for
the killing of 16-year-old Velda Rumfelt more than 3 decades ago.

Bowman was previously imprisoned in Illinois for killing 14-year-old
Elizabeth West and 21-year-old Ruth Ann Jany in separate cases in
Belleville in 1978.

Those convictions were thrown out after a sheriff's deputy admitted Bowman
was tricked into confessing.

Haida says retrying Bowman in Illinois would be redundant and serve no
useful purpose. He also cited Illinois' moratorium on executions.

(source: Associated Press)






USA:

Number of death sentences falls to a historic low


The number of executions in the United States increased this year, but the
number of new death sentences handed down fell to the lowest total since
capital punishment was reinstated in 1976, according to a new report from
the Death Penalty Information Center.

The trend of decreased death sentences was especially noticeable in
Virginia, which is 2nd only to Texas in the number of inmates executed.
Even as the commonwealth put to death its most infamous death row inmate,
Beltway sniper John Allen Muhammad, its courts were sentencing fewer
murderers to death.

Virginia averaged 6 death sentences a year during the 1990s, according to
the report by the center, which favors the abolition of capital
punishment. But only 1 person has been sentenced to death in the
commonwealth this year, according to the report, and only 6 others have
been sent to death row in the 5 preceding years.

Legal experts and prosecutors in Virginia cite several factors for the
decline, including Supreme Court rulings that barred the execution of
juvenile offenders and the mentally retarded. They also point to a drop in
violent crime, growing jury concerns about executing an innocent man, and
prosecutors' concerns about the expense of pursuing a death penalty at a
time of budget cuts.

"General public support for severe punishment increases when people feel
less secure, and it declines when people feel more secure," said Richard
J. Bonnie, a University of Virginia professor of law and psychiatry. "I
have felt that people's worries about their security have been focused on
terrorism rather than domestic crime."

Prince William County Commonwealth's Attorney Paul B. Ebert, who is known
for his support of capital punishment, said he is seeing fewer heinous
crimes. His office prosecuted 4 men who are currently on death row as well
as 2 executed this year.

"The overall crime rate is dropping, and to some degree I think that's due
to availability of the death penalty," Ebert said. He said most of the
murders he has prosecuted recently are drug crimes or domestic killings,
cases he said are less likely to result in a death sentence.

Ebert said there is also a practical reason for the decline. During a
recent meeting with other prosecutors from across the state, he said
several mentioned that tight budgets have discouraged them from pursuing
protracted capital cases.

"They feel like they just don't have the manpower in their office to go
through the long, long hearings," Ebert said.

The process ends at the Supreme Court, where the justices continue to
spend a large portion of their time on death penalty appeals.

"All of these cases are going to be litigated to the hilt, and they have
such a long life span that they create so many opportunities" for courts
to make an error, said Douglas A. Berman, a law professor and sentencing
expert at Ohio State University. "And not just error, but the kind of
error that the Supreme Court has to pay attention to."

Of the 9 opinions the court has handed down in the term that began in
October, five concerned death penalty appeals.

In 4 of the cases, the court dispensed with its usual call for detailed
briefings and oral arguments and summarily reversed the decisions of the
lower courts. In most cases, the justices favored the prosecution.

But in one significant case, the court opened the door for military
veterans to blame their crimes on post-traumatic stress disorder. Without
dissent, the justices in Porter v. McCollum said a lawyer was negligent
for not presenting to the jury evidence of his client's bravery during the
war, even though it was 30 years after returning from Korea that he killed
his former girlfriend and her new boyfriend.

This year, the court issued a rare order that a federal judge must
consider the innocence claims of condemned Georgia prisoner Troy Anthony
Davis, who has mounted a global campaign to declare that he was wrongfully
convicted of murder and barred by federal law from presenting the evidence
that would prove it.

To Berman and Elisabeth Semel, director of the death penalty clinic at the
University of California at Berkeley's law school, it makes sense that the
court, divided on many aspects of capital punishment, takes the chance to
present a united front when it sees examples of mistakes in death penalty
cases that all justices agree on.

With Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas strongly supportive of
capital punishment and Justice John Paul Stevens now taking the opinion
that the system doesn't work, "both sides are very vigilant about watching
for cases on the extremes," Berman said.

That is particularly true when the cases come from the U.S. Court of
Appeals for the 9th Circuit, which covers the West and is often criticized
as overly deferential to defendants, or the 5th and 11th circuits, which
cover most of the South and receive the opposite criticism.

It is in the South that the death penalty is most often prescribed and
carried out. Nearly 90 % of the 52 executions this year took place in the
region, with nearly half of those in Texas. There were only 38 executions
last year, but that was because there was a de facto moratorium on the
procedure until the Supreme Court ruled against a challenge to lethal
injection procedures.

According to the Death Penalty Information Center's research, 106 people
were sentenced to death in the United States this year, continuing a
declining trend. The number of death sentences peaked at 328 in 1994.

(source: Washington Post)

*******************

Death Sentences Dropped, but Executions Rose in '09


More death row convicts were executed in the United States this year than
last, but juries continue to grow more wary of capital punishment,
according to a new report.

Capital PunishmentDeath sentences handed down by judges and juries in 2009
continued a trend of decline for seven years in a row, with 106 projected
for the year. That level is down two-thirds from a peak of 328 in 1994,
according to the report being released Friday by the Death Penalty
Information Center, a research organization that opposes capital
punishment.

"This entire decade has been marked by a declining use of the death
penalty," said Richard Dieter, the executive director of the group.

The sentencing drop was most striking in Texas, which averaged 34 death
sentences a year in the 1990s and had 9 this year. Vic Wisner, a former
assistant district attorney in Houston, said a "constant media drumbeat"
about suspect convictions and exonerations "has really changed the
attitude of jurors."

Mr. Wisner said that while polls showed continued general support for
capital punishment, "there is a real worry by jurors of, 'I believe in it,
but what if we later find out it was someone else and it's too late to do
anything about it?'"

In 2005, Texas juries were given the option of sentencing defendants to
life without parole.

While death sentences are in decline, executions rose in the past year,
according to the new report. 52 prisoners have been put to death in 2009,
compared with 42 in 2007 and 37 in 2008.

The report also noted that in 2009 New Mexico became the 15th state to
repeal the death penalty, in part because of budget considerations and the
high cost of death penalty appeals, which Gov. Bill Richardson called "a
valid reason" for eliminating the ultimate sanction "in this era of
austerity and tight budgets."

But Kent Scheidegger, the legal director of the Criminal Justice Legal
Foundation, which supports capital punishment, argued that the decline in
death sentences also corresponded to a decline in the murder rate, and
criticized efforts to use cost arguments against the death penalty. The
government could "knock a large chunk off of the cost" of execution by
streamlining the review process, he said.

Douglas A. Berman, an expert on sentencing law at Ohio State University,
suggested that the rise in executions was due to last year's relatively
low number, as states grappled with the implications of a major 2008
Supreme Court decision on lethal injection.

In that case, Baze v. Rees, the court ended what amounted to a moratorium
of several months, beginning in 2007, on lethal injection executions by
proclaiming that the procedure used in Kentucky and other states with
similar methods did not violate the constitutional prohibition against
cruel and unusual punishment.

This "post-Baze echo in the figures, Mr. Berman said, can be seen in the
execution in Ohio this month of Kenneth Biros. It came after a legal
challenge to Ohio's protocol, a botched execution under the state's 3-drug
method for another prisoner, and a shift to a 1-drug execution method.
While other court challenges to lethal injection are proceeding around the
country, he said, Ohio's action suggests that "states are moving forward."

(source: New York Times)

*****************

Death penalty use declining nationwide

Death sentences have dropped 63 % since 2000, according to the Death
Penalty Information

Report: Fewer death sentences were handed down in 2009 than any year since
1976

11 states are now considering abolishing executions

9 men who had been sentenced to death were exonerated, freed this year


Use of capital punishment by states continues its steady decline, with
fewer death sentences handed down in 2009 than any year since the death
penalty was reinstated by the Supreme Court in 1976.

Year-end figures released Friday by the Death Penalty Information Center
(DPIC) show 11 states are now considering abolishing executions, with many
legislators citing high costs associated with incarcerating and handling
often decades-long appeals by death row inmates.

"The annual number of death sentences in the U.S. has dropped for seven
straight years," said Richard Dieter, the report's author and DPIC's
executive director. "In the last 2 years, three states have abolished
capital punishment and a growing number of states are asking whether it's
worth keeping. This entire decade has been marked by a declining use of
the death penalty."

DPIC is a nonpolitical group that provides facts and analysis, while
opposing capital punishment as impractical and ineffective.

There were 106 death sentences issued in 2009, compared with a high of 328
in 1994. Death sentences have dropped 63 % since 2000, when there were 235
issued.

52 inmates were executed this year in 11 states. The last was Matthew
Wrinkles on December 11 in Indiana. He was convicted of murdering his wife
and two family members 15 years ago.

Late Wednesday, Georgia issued a stay of execution for Carlton Gary. Known
as the "Columbus Strangler," he was convicted of murdering 3 women with
their own stockings and was suspected of 4 other similar killings. He has
been given more time to file further appeals.

As in previous years, Texas in 2009 led the states in executions, with 24
-- 4 times as many as the next-highest, Alabama. Among high-profile cases:

-- John Allen Muhammad, convicted as the so-called "Beltway Sniper,"
responsible for at least 10 killings in the sniper-style killings around
the Washington, D.C. area and three other states in 2002. He was executed
in Virginia in November.

-- Kenneth Biros, who became the 1st person executed in the U.S. using a
single-drug lethal injection. A 3-drug cocktail has been used nationwide
for years by corrections officials, but no complications were reported
with the new method. He was executed in Ohio on December 8.

Executions had been delayed in Ohio this fall, after the botched execution
attempt of Romell Broom, which raised serious questions about the state's
lethal injection procedures. Those procedures were changed but Broom
remains on death row. He is appealing his sentence.

Executions are on hold in California, Maryland, Kentucky and the federal
system, pending challenges to lethal injection procedures. Earlier in the
year, Nebraska became the last death penalty state to formally switch over
to lethal injection as the main form of capital punishment.

The legislature had abandoned electrocution, which had been the sole
method, but final protocols have yet to be approved for future executions.

9 men who had been sentenced to death were exonerated and freed in 2009,
most after new DNA or other forensic testing cleared them, or raised
doubts their culpability. That is the 2nd highest total since the death
penalty was reinstated 33 years ago.

In Georgia, supporters of Troy Davis have urged retesting of forensic
evidence to prove his innocence in the 1989 murder of a Savannah police
officer. The Supreme Court in August granted a stay and ordered a federal
court to re-examine his claims. The high court said the risk of putting a
potentially innocent man to death "provides adequate justification" for
another evidentiary hearing.

New Mexico in March became the 15th state to abolish capital punishment,
although 2 inmates still remain on death row there.

New Hampshire's House of Representatives voted to abolish lethal
injection, which would currently affect only 1 inmate on the state's death
row. The measure is pending in the state Senate, but the governor has
vowed to veto any bill. An execution has not been conducted there in 70
years, when hanging was the preferred method.

35 states still have the death penalty.

(source: CNN)






WASHINGTON:

Lawyer argues against death penalty in slaying of Carnation family


Defense lawyers for a man and woman charged with killing 6 members of the
woman's family on Christmas Eve 2007 said the death penalty shouldn't
apply in their cases during a hearing Thursday in King County Superior
Court.

Defense lawyers for a man and woman charged with killing 6 members of the
woman's family on Christmas Eve 2007 said the death penalty shouldn't
apply in their cases during a hearing Thursday in King County Superior
Court.

Michele Anderson and Joseph McEnroe, both 31, are each charged with 6
counts of aggravated murder, which could result in the death penalty if
they are convicted. They will likely be tried next year.

Their attorneys are hoping to persuade a judge to rule the death penalty
is unconstitutional in the case. The only other penalty possible for
aggravated murder is life in prison without parole.

Kathryn Ross, McEnroe's attorney, told Superior Court Judge Jeffrey
Ramsdell that the state's aggravated-murder statute is unconstitutional
because the list of aggravating factors is far too broad and that "too
many people are eligible for the death penalty."

Under state law, a county prosecutor can file an aggravated-murder charge
only if a defendant commits premeditated 1st-degree murder and "one or
more aggravating circumstances exist." Aggravating factors can include the
assassination of public officials or news reporters, or if multiple
victims were killed in a "common scheme," a person was killed in a
murder-for-hire plot or a murder was committed "in the course" of another
serious crime, such as robbery, arson or kidnapping.

Ross told Ramsdell she isn't opposed to prosecutors seeking a life
sentence against each of the 2 defendants.

King County Senior Deputy Prosecutor Andrea Vitalich said that even if the
judge were to agree with Ross that the list is too long, the defendants
could still face the death penalty because the aggravating factor cited in
their case  multiple victims killed in a "common scheme"  has been on the
state's list of aggravating factors since the death penalty was reinstated
in 1975.

Ramsdell said he will rule on Ross' argument sometime next year.

Anderson and McEnroe are accused of fatally shooting Anderson's parents,
Wayne and Judy Anderson, during a holiday gathering at their home. When
her brother Scott Anderson and his wife, Erica, and their children, ages 5
and 3, arrived later that evening, they, too, were shot, prosecutors said.

In June 2008, Anderson told The Seattle Times during a jailhouse interview
that she and McEnroe, her former boyfriend, killed her family in a fit of
rage, claiming she had suffered years of physical and emotional abuse.

During a court hearing in October, Anderson said she alone was responsible
for the slayings. She has sought to have prosecutors drop charges against
McEnroe and also charge her with kidnapping for forcing him to participate
in the killings.

(source: Seattle Times)

***********************

Carnation murder suspects' lawyers argue against death penalty


The pair has been charged in a Christmas 2007 massacre in which Anderson's
parents, her brother and his wife, and their 2 young children were shot to
death. Both have pleaded not guilty to six counts of aggravated murder in
the 1st degree.

Last year King County Prosecutor Dan Satterberg said he is seeking the
death penalty for Anderson and McEnroe.

But defense lawyers argued against capital punishment in court on Thursday
"on the basis that the statute interpreted by a court no longer serves ...
a constitutional function."

In other words, the attorneys claim the death penalty statute is too
vague, and could end up being applied unfairly in ways unintended by the
state constitution.

In the eyes of the prosecutors, however, there is nothing unconstitutional
about seeking the death penalty in this case.

"As applied to these defendants, the death penalty remains and it's not
unconstitutional," said prosecutor Andrea Vitalich.

Prosecutors say the punishment is appropriate since multiple murders
resulted from a common plan.

Nearly 2 years have passed since the tragedy robbed Pam Mantal of her
daughter, son-in-law and 2 grandchildren.

For Mantal, justice has not been forthcoming, and Thursday's hearing was
just the latest delay.

"It's just been so devastating and hurtful," she said. "I'm getting tired
of waiting to see when we will have a trial."

The holiday season is especially difficult for Mantal and her family, as
it reminds them of their grave loss.

"It breaks our hearts because we loved them, and we miss them for every
second of every day," she said.

Another hearing for the death penalty argument will be held on Jan. 8. A
trial date has not been set.

(source: Seattle Post-Intelligencer)

Dec. 18



NEW HAMPSHIRE:

Panel blocks death penalty bill ---- Lawmaker sought special deadline


House leaders voted yesterday to block capital murder legislation named
after a Mont Vernon woman killed with a machete in her bed during a
burglary.

> The bill would make home invasion killings a death penalty offense. The
same bill already has been filed in the Senate.

The House Rules Committee voted 6-4 yesterday along party lines to deny
Mont Vernon Republican William O'Brien's request to introduce the bill
after House deadlines.

Democrats shot down the request. Some noted the bill would duplicate the
Senate measure. Others questioned if the request was urgent and noted that
no similar law change was sought since the 2001 slayings of Dartmouth
professors Half and Susanne Zantop in their home by 2 young men.

Deputy House Speaker Linda Foster, a Rules Committee member and Democrat
from Mont Vernon, voted against the bill for those reasons. She also said
the issue belongs before a special commission studying the death penalty.

O'Brien said he was disappointed that Democratic committee members found
Kimberly Cates's death "so insignificant that the New Hampshire House
would not have time to even discuss this particular brand of thrill
killing."

Foster bristled at O'Brien's suggestion her vote was anything but a
personal decision.

"I find it demeaning that someone would insinuate life and death is a
partisan issue," Foster said.

Foster said her constituents have not asked her to sign onto O'Brien's
bill and don't believe capital murder changes should be turned "around on
a dime because of a particular incident."

House rules allow members to ask for bills to be introduced late based on
an urgent or compelling need or due to unforeseen events.

5 young men have been charged in the attack. Indictments in the case are
pending.

Cates, 42, was killed Oct. 4. Her 11-year-old daughter was attacked but
survived.

O'Brien argues people have a right to go to their homes and be safe. He
said his bill was needed to send a message that society will protect the
sanctity of the home and that home invaders will be punished harshly.

Even if the measure passed, the stiffer penalty could not be applied in
the Cates case.

(source: Concord Monitor)






DELAWARE:

Appeals Court Hears Del. Death Penalty Case


A 3-judge panel of the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals has heard arguments in
a class-action lawsuit that has held up executions in Delaware for more
than 3 years.

Judges heard Wednesday from the Federal Community Defender's Office in
Philadelphia, which filed the suit on behalf of Delaware's 20 death-row
inmates, and an attorney for the state. They did not make a ruling.

Delaware District Judge Sue Robinson ruled in favor of the state in April
saying that a new set of standards for executions met constitutional
standards.

Robinson maintained a freeze on executions until appeals are completed,
but if the ruling is upheld and not appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court,
executions could resume.

(source: Associated Press)

***************************

Delaware courts: State's execution protocols dissected----No ruling yet on
class-action lawsuit


A 3-judge panel heard arguments Wednesday in a class-action lawsuit that
has held up executions in Delaware for more than 3 years.

U.S. 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals Judges D. Michael Fisher, Thomas M.
Hardiman and Franklin S. Van Antwerpen spent about an hour questioning an
attorney from both sides: One from the Federal Community Defender's Office
in Philadelphia, which filed the suit on behalf of Delaware's 20 death-row
inmates; and an attorney from the state.

The judges did not make a ruling Wednesday, nor did they offer any
indication when they would.

"We will take the matter under advisement," Fisher said at the end of the
session.

Delaware District Judge Sue L. Robinson ruled in favor of the state by
granting a summary judgment in April, which meant the case never went to a
formal trial. Robinson also maintained the freeze on all executions in
Delaware until the appeals process is completed.

If the appeals court panel upholds Robinson's ruling and the case is not
appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, executions could resume in Delaware.
The possibility also exists that Delaware's death penalty could remain in
limbo if the appeals panel sends the matter back to district court.

The bulk of the session focused on the state's old and new methods for
executions.

The state's old and new "protocols" involve the same 3-drug mix -- an
anesthetic, a paralytic agent and a drug to stop the heart. Among the
changes are a longer period of time between the administration of the 1st
and 2nd drugs to evaluate the patient. Other enhancements include a
consciousness check on the inmate during the process, plans for better
record-keeping and the addition of a camera in the execution room.

Either way, it was clear that at least 1 of the appeals judges didn't like
Delaware's history of handling past executions.

"It causes me some concern, the problems you've encountered," Van
Antwerpen told Delaware Deputy Attorney General Mark Niedzielski. "If we
do let you proceed, it's time to get your act together, OK?"

(source: The News Journal)






WYOMING:

Judge Stays Death Penalty For Wyo. Inmate Eaton


A federal judge on Thursday granted a request from lawyers representing
Wyoming's lone death row inmate to delay his execution.

U.S. District Judge Alan Johnson of Cheyenne agreed to stay Dale Wayne
Eaton's Feb. 12 execution pending a review of his case in federal court.

Eaton received a death sentence in the 1988 rape and murder of 18-year-old
Lisa Marie Kimmell of Billings, Mont., who disappeared while driving from
Colorado to Cody.

Natrona County District Judge David Park set Eaton's Feb. 12 execution
date Monday.

Eaton's attorneys Terry Harris of Cheyenne and Sean O'Brien of Missouri
filed papers Thursday with Johnson arguing that Eaton was mentally
incompetent to stand trial and that his conviction violated his
constitutional rights. Harris and O'Brien also represented Wyoming inmate
James Martin Harlow, whose death sentence was overturned last year.

"It is clear from the face of the record that Mr. Eaton has meritorious
claims that he was convicted and sentenced to death in violation of the
Constitution, and further that the scope of his claims and the supporting
evidence cannot possibly be investigated, developed and adjudicated prior
to Mr. Eaton's scheduled execution on Feb. 12, 2010," the attorneys wrote.

The Wyoming attorney general's office will represent the state in Eaton's
case in federal court and will argue that he deserves to die. Attorney
General Bruce Salzburg declined comment on Eaton's case Thursday.

O'Brien, an associate professor of law at the University of
Missouri-Kansas City, said Thursday he is still reviewing Eaton's case
record. He said he couldn't comment on specific issues the defense team
will raise.

"It's too soon to tell, because every human being is unique and different,
so you don't know what you're looking for until you find it," O'Brien
said.

O'Brien said he didn't know how long Eaton's federal appeal would take or
whether the defense team would try to hold new evidentiary hearings.

Kimmell disappeared in 1988 while driving from Colorado to Cody, and a
fisherman later found her body in the North Platte River. Investigators
made little progress until 2002, when DNA evidence linked Eaton to the
case while he was serving prison time on unrelated charges.

Investigators later unearthed Kimmell's car on Eaton's property near
Moneta. Eaton is being held at the Wyoming state penitentiary in Rawlins.

He and Harlow were the only two men on Wyoming's death row until Harlow's
sentence was overturned early last year. Harlow had been sentenced to
death in the fatal stabbing of Cpl. Wayne Martinez at the state
penitentiary. But U.S. District Judge Clarence Brimmer of Cheyenne
overturned Harlow's sentence after O'Brien and Harris successfully argued
that the state failed to afford him a fair trial.

Mike Blonigen, Natrona County district attorney, prosecuted Eaton in state
court. Blonigen said this week he has high regard for Harris and O'Brien
but expects the outcome of Eaton's case to be different from Harlow's.

He added that arguments in Eaton's case probably will center more on
matters of law than questions of evidence.

"This isn't an evidence-intensive thing," Blonigen said. "But there are
some interesting legal things that come about because the homicide
happened in 1998, and the trial doesn't happen until 2004."

In Eaton's request for a stay of execution, O'Brien and Harris argue it
was improper to charge and convict him under a state law enacted in 2001
for a crime committed in 1998. They also say he was denied effective legal
assistance.

(source: Associated Press)

Dec. 18



TEXAS:

Death sentences in Texas declining along with nationwide trend,
anti-capital punishment group says


Death sentences issued in Texas remained at historically low levels this
year, part of a nationwide trend, an anti-capital punishment group reports
today.

Texas juries issued nine death sentences in 2009, the same as in 2008, the
Death Penalty Information Center said in a new report, maintaining a
decline seen over several years.

One of the chief reasons is thought to be the 2005 state law that created
a sentence of life without parole.

During the 1990s, Texas averaged 34 death sentences a year, and the
decline  now evident over several years  is particularly noteworthy
because of the state's stiff support of the death penalty and past
proficiency in handing out death sentences.

"The death penalty has been a hallmark of Texas criminal law," said
Richard Deiter, the center's executive director. "But like the rest of the
country, Texas is changing."

The center also said concerns about flaws in the death penalty, as well as
its cost, are contributing to the decline in sentences nationwide.

More executions were conducted in Texas this year than last, in part
because of a backlog after a four-month moratorium while the Supreme Court
considered the constitutionality of lethal injection. But executions were
low compared to historic levels.

Defense attorneys and prosecutors agree that the life without parole
option has drastically altered Texas' capital punishment system. But there
are differing opinions on where and why that impact is being seen.

The Texas Defender Service and the Texas District and County Attorneys
Association said there is anecdotal evidence that some prosecutors are
seeking the death penalty less frequently, particularly because of the
high cost of pursuing a death sentence.

Harris County, long the leader in death sentences, has seen numbers fall
substantially under new District Attorney Patricia Lykos, said Shannon
Edmonds, legislative director of the attorney's association. And
elsewhere, the high cost of pursuing a death sentence has deterred
prosecutors.

"Life without parole is a palatable alternative, especially in rural
counties with smaller budgets," Edmonds said.

Others believe the decline shows a growing concern among jurors about
executing an innocent person. Questions and controversy over the arson
case of Cameron Todd Willingham caused political turmoil and made
headlines across the country. Several recent exonerations in Texas by DNA
evidence also reinforced people's reservations, experts said.

"A lot of people are saying, 'Unless I'm 100 percent sure, I'm not going
to vote to kill,' " said Rob Owen, co-director of the Capital Punishment
Clinic at the University of Texas. "That little bit of doubt can be
significant."

In response to those concerns, Dallas County District Attorney Craig
Watkins has taken several steps to re-establish credibility for the
system, including the creation of a death penalty review team. But Watkins
acknowledged that some jurors still might be leery about voting for a
death sentence.

"Any individual who has paid attention to the news is going to
second-guess the process," he said.

Gov. Rick Perry declined to comment specifically on the decline in death
sentences, but he said through a spokeswoman that he "along with the
majority of Texans, believes the death penalty is an appropriate
punishment for the most heinous crimes."

(source: Dallas Morning News)

*******************

Sam Bassett, Texan of the Year finalist


Gov. Rick Perry gave Texas a black eye with his handling of an
investigation into a controversial death penalty case. When serious
questions began to emerge about whether junk arson science sent Cameron
Todd Willingham to his death, the governor didn't seem eager for the
answers.

"A Texan (or Texans) who has had uncommon impact; who exemplifies Texas
traits of trailblazing, independence and staring down adversity; and who
has affected or influenced lives."

Perry derailed  at least temporarily  the Texas Forensic Science
Commission's inquiry by replacing his appointees. The move was transparent
and ham-handed.

Critics nationwide pounced, asking: Did Texas execute an innocent man? And
perhaps more important: Why doesn't Rick Perry want to know?

As our state was roundly drubbed, tempers flared. Critics called it
Perry's Saturday Night Massacre. The governor called Willingham a monster.

But as this melodrama unfolded, one straight-shooting, even-keeled player
emerged.

Sam Bassett, the Austin attorney who was unceremoniously removed from the
Forensic Science Commission, could have leapt into the political fray when
the governor took his position away. Instead, the commission's former
chairman stuck to the facts.

Bassett didn't lash out at Perry. But he didn't shy from answering
questions about the derailed investigation. Bassett revealed that Perry's
lawyers had been hard at work, trying to thwart the inquiry months before
any of this spilled into public view.

They had summoned Bassett to meetings and suggested that perhaps this was
not the kind of case the new commission should investigate. The lawyers
asserted that bringing in a nationally known fire expert to assess the
Willingham arson conviction was a waste of state money.

Although Bassett was a Perry appointee, he didn't flinch. Bassett provided
the governor's lawyers with copies of the law creating the commission and
explained that all regulations for soliciting bids had been followed when
the arson expert was hired.

Then Bassett went back to work. He sought a fair-minded look at whether
science supported Willingham's conviction in the fire that killed his 3
children in Corsicana.

From the start, Bassett's job was a steep challenge. The forensic science
commission was newly created. Bassett and his colleagues did not have the
benefit of precedent to guide them. And after being appointed to the post
by Texas' pro-death-penalty governor, Bassett was asked to investigate a
case that ended with a controversial execution on Perry's watch.

This quickly became a political mire. But Bassett remained relatively
impervious to the pressure and focused on identifying potential flaws in
the process.

The governor gracelessly removed Bassett just days before a pivotal
hearing in the investigation.

Afterward, the former chairman chose his words carefully, matter-of-factly
recounting the events that preceded his forced exit. Bassett also urged
his successor to get on with the investigation  solid advice that should
be taken seriously.

Bassett's efforts to maintain the integrity of this important inquiry make
him a finalist for Dallas Morning News Texan of the Year for 2009.

His good work got us a little closer to the truth in the Willingham case.
Pity Bassett wasn't permitted to finish the job.

(source: Editorial, Dallas Morning News)






GEORGIA:

Judge halts execution for DNA test


The Georgia Supreme Court stopped the execution of the so-called stocking
strangler, ordering a judge to consider the convict's request for a DNA
test.

Carlton Gary, 59, heard the news 4 hours before his scheduled execution,
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.

"We are gratified the Supreme Court saw what we always saw -- how could
you execute someone if there is DNA that can tell us whether he is in fact
guilty?" Jack Martin, Gary's attorney, said. "It would have been a sin to
execute him without conducting a test."

Gary was sentenced to death in 1986 for the rape and murder of three women
in Columbus, strangling them with their own stockings, the newspaper
reported Wednesday.

At the time of Gary's trial, DNA testing did not exist. His fingerprints
were found at the victim's homes, but Gary said a collaborator committed
the crimes, the Journal-Constitution said.

(source: United Press International)






LOUISIANA:

Killer's attorney says execution rules vague


An attorney for a condemned killer alleged Thursday that Louisianas rules
governing execution by lethal injection are "vague" and "superficial," and
he wants a Baton Rouge judge to block all executions in the state until
changes are made.

Gary Clements, director of the New Orleans-based Capital Post Conviction
Project of Louisiana, said the rules promulgated for lethal-injection
executions in the state lack specifics on the chemicals used and the
qualifications of those administering the drugs.

Clements represents Nathaniel Code, of Shreveport, who was condemned to
die for the 1985 murders of 4 people.

Code claims in a lawsuit filed last week in Baton Rouge state court that
even though the Legislature made lethal injection the method of execution
in Louisiana in 1991, the state did not comply with Louisiana law in
adopting its execution procedures.

Since 1991, the suit alleges, the state Department of Public Safety and
Corrections has never formally published a rule "that even approximates
the procedure contained in the lethal injection protocol."

The suit, filed by Clements on Code's behalf, contends the state has
violated the Louisiana Administrative Procedures Act.

State District Judge Mike Caldwell is scheduled to hold a hearing Tuesday
on Code's request for an injunction prohibiting the state Department of
Public Safety and Corrections "from carrying out any executions until they
have complied with Louisiana state law in adopting their execution
procedures."

Jennifer Roche, a spokeswoman for the state Attorney General's Office,
said the office is aware of the suit and is working with the Caddo Parish
District Attorney's Office and the state Department of Public Safety and
Corrections. She said the Attorney General's Office could not comment
further.

Code, who has argued for years that lethal injection violates his
constitutional right against cruel and unusual punishment, does not have a
scheduled execution date.

Clements said Code's application for post-conviction review is pending at
the Louisiana Supreme Court.

There has not been an execution in Louisiana since 2002.

Gerald Bordelon, who was convicted in 2006 of killing his 12-year-old
stepdaughter, is scheduled to be put to death Jan. 7.

(source: The Advocate)






NORTH CAROLINA:

Young won't find out if he faces death until March


Jason Young wont find out until March if Wake prosecutors plan on seeking
the death penalty against him.

Young, 35, has been locked up in the Wake County jail since Monday, when a
grand jury indicted him on a charge of murdering his wife Michelle Young.

She had been found dead in November 2006 by her sister, killed after she
was bludgeoned to death. Cassidy, the couples daughter, was found in the
home unharmed but had tracked tiny, bloody footprints around the couples
home in an affluent subdivison south of Raleigh. Michelle Young was
several months pregnant.

Jason Young had retained Raleigh lawyer Roger Smith Jr. but was appointed
2 attorneys Thursday, Wake Public Defender Bryan Collins and Mike
Klinkosum. Young would be unable to afford his own attorney after he had a
large civil judgment filed against him after his wifes parents
successfully sued him for causing the death of their daughter.

A hearing will be heard March 18 in which Wake prosecutors will announce
whether they plan on seeking the death penalty against him.

(source: News & Observer)






FLORIDA:

Court upholds death sentence for Joseph Smith----Justices reject arguments
that trial for Carlie Brucia's killer was not fair


The Florida Supreme Court on Thursday upheld Joseph Smith's conviction and
death sentence for the 2004 abduction, rape and murder of 11-year-old
Carlie Brucia.

In the first review of the case since Smith's trial, the justices rejected
a wide trial.

The case gripped the community and grabbed international attention after a
car wash surveillance video recorded a man grabbing Carlie by the hand and
leading her away.

The search for her abductor led police to Smith, an auto mechanic who
eventually admitted after the trial that he was high on cocaine when he
grabbed Carlie from behind Evie's Car Wash on Bee Ridge Road.

The state Supreme Court said there was a "plethora of evidence" regarding
the sexual assault and murder, including DNA found on the girl's shirt
that matched Smith's and Smith's admission to his brother he had "rough
sex" with her.

None of the issues Smith raised in the appeal requires a new trial, the
Supreme Court said.

Smith's attorneys argued that 2 of the jurors should have been removed
from the jury pool but ended up serving. One of the jurors said Smith
"probably did it" and another juror's daughter was a murder victim.

The attorneys also said prosecutors did not follow rules that require the
actual technicians who made the DNA match to testify. Instead, the
technicians' supervisor testified at the trial.

Smith's attorneys also contended that statements from Smith as reported by
his brother, John Smith, should not have been allowed because John Smith
was acting as an agent of the Sheriff's Office.

(source: Sarasota Herald-Tribune)

Dec. 17



UGANDA:

Ugandan Bishop Pleads With American Christians on Anti-Homosexuality
Bill----David Zac Niringiye, the Church of Uganda's assistant bishop of
Kampala, says that American Christians should cultivate relationships
before condemning the proposed legislation.

Interview by Sarah Pulliam Bailey


Several American pastors and leaders have condemned proposed legislation
in Uganda that, if it passed in its proposed version, would punish
homosexual sex with the death penalty or life imprisonment.

Rt. Rev. Dr. David Zac Niringiye, assistant bishop of Kampala in the
Church of Uganda, says that public pronouncements on the legislation from
Christians outside of Uganda fuel the debate. "Ambassadors or religious
leaders serve us best by not going public, by simply relating to their
individual relationships," Niringiye says. "If they have none, they have
no legitimacy to speak. They should just be silent." The Church of Uganda
has yet to make a statement on the bill and expects to give its official
position by January 20. Christianity Today spoke on the phone with
Niringiye about the cultural context of the bill and how he thinks
American Christians should respond.

How are Ugandan Christians generally responding to this legislation?

This is not just a Christian response. I can certainly say the objectives
of the bill have the total support of most of Uganda, not just Christians,
but also Muslims and Roman Catholics. It would not be right to talk about
how Christians feel. They're all agreed on the objectives. There will be a
difference of opinion on the details of the bill.

The second thing I need to say is that it is important to understand that
the section on the death penalty seeks consistency in the law. The law on
rape in this country (and I am not stating a position, I'm stating a fact)
has a maximum sentence of death, particularly if it is rape of a minor.
Therefore, there is the idea that the law that is proposed needs to be
[consistent] with other laws on the books.

The 2nd thing to say about the contents of the bill is the argument that
in the current law, the definition of sex is a male-and-female
relationship. The reason why they are including homosexual rape as sexual
assault is because in the current law, sexual assault is defined as male
and female, either male assaulting female or female assaulting male. That
background of the law is very important to understand.

This law needs to be in put in context of the wider constitutional and
legal framework that already exists in the laws of Uganda. The background
of the law is that there is increasing reporting of homosexual practice.
There is definitely a sense that the international homosexual lobby is
pushing for homosexual practice to be accepted as normal. Therefore, use
the idea of human rights for the protection of minorities. They say that
these minorities have a right to this moral choice. It's important to
realize that within the culture, homosexuality is not acceptable.

Do you know how Christians are responding to the penalties in this bill?

The point I'm making is that Christians in the country, including other
people in the culture, really support the objectives of the bill. When it
comes to the issue of the death penalty, there is as much debate over the
death penalty as there are different Christian persuasions. The discussion
on the death penalty [in this bill] needs to be separated from, Is the
death penalty [ever] an acceptable sentence? I am sure there are American
Christians or others in the world who will say the death penalty is an
acceptable sentence. There will be Christians in Uganda who will say the
death penalty is an acceptable sentence. There will be Christians in
Uganda who will say no, the death penalty is not an acceptable sentence
for any offense.

The Church in Uganda has never given an official position on the death
penalty. My considered reading of Scripture and my considered
understanding of today's culture is that the application of the Scripture,
the application of the spirit of the Scripture in today's time would seem
to disallow death as a legitimate penalty for any offense. We will not
deny that the Scriptures seem to allow the death penalty. In the culture
in which the Scriptures were written it seems that there was an allowance.
I would say that in applying the same Scripture today, it seems that the
culture is so different from then that we would say [we need] the
application of the principle of grace. My view is that the death penalty
is not a legitimate sentence for any offense, including murder and so on.
But there is no Christian consensus on the legitimacy of the death
penalty.

Is criminalizing homosexuality acceptable?

Adultery is a crime in our law books. If you talk about the consistency of
the laws, in our laws in Uganda, it's very much an issue of culture.
Western society and culture has lost some of its moral foundations. In
Western society, homosexuality is accepted as one of the ways of
expressing human sexuality. It is very important that you understand the
context. I would debate Western societies which are putting judgments on
our laws to first and foremost critique your own cultures. In my own view,
Western society has lost its moral fiber.

Would you make a statement on whether you personally support the bill?

I can't say that. There are aspects of the bill that I don't support and
there are aspects of the bill I do support. I can definitely say this
about many Christians in the country. For me, the greater issue for
Western societies, Ugandan societies, and African societies is to ask the
question about cultures. To what extent do cultures decay and cease to
reflect the will of God? You must go beyond laws. Laws simply reflect
where societies are at. For me, this is the debate. It is not right that
Western societies should impose cultural norms and values upon us. The
issue of acceptance of homosexuality has a lot to do with the loss of
moral and ethical values.

Are you familiar with American Christians' response to the bill, such as
Rick Warren's statement?

Yes, and to be honest, to allwhether they are American Christians, whether
they are liberals, whoever they areI think you've got to trust the
leadership in this country, both the Christians and our legislating
processes. The international community is behaving like they can't trust
Ugandans to come up with a law that is fair. No! No! That is not fair!
When the Western governments or Western churches or Christians speak
loudly about the legitimacy or illegitimacy of this bill, you actually
begin to fuel the idea that homosexuality is the product of Western
culture.

Western homosexual groups are seeking to make homosexuality an acceptable
practice here. In these attempts by churches or Christian leaders to speak
in favor or against, they seem to indicate we don't know what we want for
our own society. I would plead with governments and the Rick Warrens of
this world, Don't make any public pronouncements about this bill. Allow
Ugandan society to be able to pronounce itself on what Ugandans feel would
be good. None of the American evangelicals have ever spoken first about
the fact that rape is punishable by death in this country. Suddenly,
because of homosexuality, the issue has arisen. Why? The homosexual lobby
is very very active in making the homosexual issue a human rights issue.
How long shall we keep speaking about human rights? When shall we speak
about human wrongs?

When Western Christians talk about Ugandan legislation, does that create
tension?

I would say to Western Christian leaders, Don't make public pronouncements
about legislation in Uganda. If you have relationships, speak to those
relationships. Talk to them privately. Ask them, what do you understand
this to mean? Do not make any public pronouncements. Any time a Westerner
makes a pronouncement in Africa, it seems to imply we don't know what we
want. Trust us, engage with us. Don't begin to preach at us. I engage with
you, I talk with you, and I leave it to you.

Do you think American evangelicals understand Ugandan politics?

I don't fully understand American politics. If I want to engage in an
American context, I must talk to my brother and seek to enrich each other
and in that way, he can take my conversation to him to the public square.
I simply say to Rick Warren or anybody, let's be biblical. God has called
Christians in Uganda to be witnesses for Christ in Uganda. We need the
support of brothers and sisters all over the world. This is what the
Incarnation is about. It is witness that is embodied in culture. It is
important to build meaningful relationships with Christians. If I don't
have a relationship with Christian leaders in America, I have absolutely
no credibility to speak about anything American. I believe there is a Body
of Christ in America, and my primary responsibility is to be in fellowship
with those believers. With them, we can engage in what is being faithful
to God in a missions context.

When American Christians speak out on this, do they have an impact on the
bill?

They fuel the debate in either direction. On the one hand, if an American
Christian speaks publicly in support of the bill, then the liberals say,
"Do you see? This is being sponsored by American Christians in Uganda." If
a liberal American speaks against the bill, the Christians in Uganda will
say, "Do you see? This is an agenda of gays and lesbians in Europe,
America and so on." It does not help either way.

There's some talk that American Christians have encouraged this bill's
introduction. Do you know if that's true?

On the one hand, I have no respect for such innuendos because they are
suggesting that Christians in Uganda are puppets and so forth. Are there
American influences in Uganda? Yes. There is no question that there is a
strong homosexual lobby supported by Western groups. That is one of the
reasons for the bill. We have influences from the Muslim world. Let's not
give too much credit to the West. This is a global environment. The
influences are on either side.

There is a genuine Ugandan call of distaste that seeks to say, "Our
culture is under assault." There are Ugandans who say we need to stand
against a moral tide that seeks to change our ethical, moral values. The
decay in Western culture is reflected in its sexual ethics. For me, I
would like to act here in our culture. We must deal with corruption in our
culture as you do in Western culture. They are not the same magnitude, but
they still reflect the decay in culture. For us in Uganda, we have to ask,
"How do we act in a way that protects our culture from the decay in sexual
ethics that has happened in the West?" That is the challenge for Christian
mission in our context. We have a serious responsibility to nurture
younger generations. We have a lot of work in our churches to fight the
media wars. Media is one huge influence in the cultural decay.

Did you hear about the statement from Rowan Williams?

Ambassadors or religious leaders serve us best by not going public, by
simply relating to their individual relationships. If they have none, they
have no legitimacy to speak. They should just be silent. People have
freedom to talk. Someone has a right to speak to me because he's my
friend. That principle of fellowship is critical. If I have no fellowship
with a brother, the Scriptures are clear. You do not have a right to speak
because you do not know that they are your brothers.

I don't want us to confuse the church for the kingdom of God. The church
is not always a manifestation of the kingdom of God. Sometimes the church
is a sign of the kingdom of God. Other times, the church is a cultural
sign, pointing away from the kingdom of God. It does not mean every time
someone is speaking in the name of Christ, they may even invoke the name
of Christ; it's not always the case. For Christians, find ways you can
encourage us, engage with us, in being witnesses to the kingdom of God in
our culture. Is your culture in decay? Yes. Are there aspects of our
culture that are in decay? Yes.

(source: Christianity Today)






EGYPT:

Calls for an end to the death penalty


Dr. Mona Zou El Fokar, Under-Secretary of the Egyptian National Council
for Human Rights demanded the abolition of the death penalty in the
country and also demanded increasing the rates of conditional release for
prisoners because of prisons overcrowding, which she described as "like
streets and have become quite crowded."

She also demanded the need for a judge to oversee each prison "like the
houses of care for juveniles and minors," and criticized the increasing
number of cases against writers and intellectuals in what she said was a
clear violation of the Constitution, which emphasizes freedom of opinion.

This came during a meeting of the Commission on Human Rights of the
People's Assembly to discuss the report of the National Council for Human
Rights on the situation of human rights in Egypt, the report which would
be sent to the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva.

Dr. Mufid Shehab, Minister of Legal Affairs and Parliamentary Councils,
rejected her calls for the abolition of the death penalty, pointing out
that the death penalty is "a deterrent, especially in crimes of murder,
and is being implemented under adequate safeguards to ensure a fair trial
of the accused in more than one stage." He noted that the execution of the
convicted does not take place before asking for the opinion of the Grand
Mufti.

In response to the criticisms from the Muslim Brotherhood Member of
Parliament, Hussein Ibrahim to the National Council for Human Rights,
describing it as "without teeth," Shehab said.

"That the council can not be given executive powers because the Council is
an advisory board with a dedicated mission to issue reports and
recommendations and submitted to the Government for implementation," he
added.

(source: BikyaMasr)






INDIA:

SC moved for restoration of death sentence to Pandher in Nithari killings


A Special Leave Petition challenging the acquittal of Moninder Singh
Pandher, a key accused in Nithari serial rape-cum-killings, and
restoration of death penalty for him was filed on Thursday in the Supreme
Court.

The petition filed by Anil Haldar, father of Rimpa Haldar (15), who was
also raped and killed, has sought restoration of death penalty for Pandher
who was given the capital punishment by the sessions court along with main
accused Surinder Singh Koli.

Though both Pandher and Koli were sentenced to death by the trial court,
the Allahabad high court had on September 11, 2009, acquitted Pandher of
the crime while confirming the death sentence on Koli.

Aggrieved by the acquittal, Haldar, though counsel B P Singh Dhakray,
submitted the high court has erroneously acquitted Pandher of the charges
though on the same set of circumstantial evidence, the death sentence of
the other accused had been upheld.

The SLP submitted that the recovery of bones, skulls, and weapons used in
crime knives and hacksaw were made collectively at the instance of both
the accused persons, which has been declared in trial court as a joint
recovery at the instance of both the accused.

The 2005 killings in Noida, in the national capital region, had sparked a
national outrage and the case was transferred to CBI in January 2007 and
CBI submitted 15 charge-sheets out of 19 FIRs in which Moninder Singh
Pandher has been given "clean chit".

(source: The Times of India)






IRAN----execution of juvenile

Iran executes alleged juvenile offender----Mosleh Zamani is about the 46th
alleged juvenile offender to be executed since 1990


Amnesty International has condemned the execution of an alleged juvenile
offender in Iran on Thursday, at least the 5th such execution in 2009.

Mosleh Zamani was hanged at Dizel Abad Prison at 4am, along with 4 other
unidentified prisoners.

He was sentenced to death in 2006 for allegedly raping his girlfriend when
he was 17.

"Once again, despite domestic and international calls for the Iranian
authorities to uphold their international obligations, they have executed
someone who was under 18 at the time of his alleged crime," said Philip
Luther, Deputy Director of Amnesty International's Middle East and North
Africa Programme. "How many more will die before Iran stops this dreadful
practice?"

Mosleh Zamanis death brings the number of alleged juvenile offenders
executed in Iran since 1990 to at least 46.

Amnesty International was told that 200 people demonstrated outside the
prison on Wednesday in protest at the executions.

The organization has called since 2007 for Mosleh Zamani's death sentence
to be overturned.

Iran is a state party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights (ICCPR) and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). Both
of these prohibit the use of the death penalty against juvenile offenders,
people under 18 at the time of the offence of which they have been
convicted.

Iran is one of very few countries in the world that still execute juvenile
offenders.

According to Amnesty International's information, Mosleh Zamani was
convicted of abducting a woman several years older than him, with whom he
was allegedly having a relationship, and raping her. His death sentence
was confirmed by the Supreme Court in July 2007. He may not have had
adequate legal representation.

Previously held in Sanandaj Prison in Kordestan province, Mosleh Zamani
was recently transferred to Dizel Abad Prison in Kermanshah province,
where he is believed to have been placed in solitary confinement on 11
December 2009, frequently a signal that execution is imminent. However,
his execution was not carried out at that time, apparently for medical
reasons.

Amnesty International had also learnt that Mosleh Zamani's alleged victim
had asked that his life be spared, stating that they had had consensual
sex. The Appeal Court judge refused to take that into consideration,
stating instead that Mosleh Zamani should be executed in order to "set an
example" to other young Iranians.

"It is all the more important in death penalty cases, where the accused
faces an irreversible punishment, that international standards for fair
trial are observed," said Philip Luther. "Time and again we hear of cases
where proceedings do not appear to meet those standards."

In many cases, juvenile offenders under sentence of death in Iran are kept
in prison until they pass their 18th birthday, after which their
executions are scheduled. In this period, some win appeals against their
conviction. Others have their sentence overturned on appeal and are freed
after a retrial. Some are reprieved by the family of the victim in cases
of murder and are asked to pay diyeh (compensation) instead.Some, however,
do not benefit from such measures and are consequently executed.

(source: Amnesty International)

******************

Rights group condemns execution of juvenile offender in Iran


Amnesty International on Thursday condemned the execution of a juvenile
offender in Iran, which constituted at least the fifth such execution in
2009.

Mosleh Zamani was hanged this morning at Dizel Abad Prison in the western
city of Kermanshah, along with 4 other unidentified prisoners, said the
London-based human rights organization.

In 2006, he was sentenced to death for allegedly raping his girlfriend
when he was 17.

"Once again, despite domestic and international calls for the Iranian
authorities to uphold their international obligations, they have executed
someone who was under 18 at the time of his alleged crime," said Philip
Luther, deputy director of the group's Middle East and North Africa
program.

Today's execution brings the number of alleged juvenile offenders executed
in Iran since 1990 to at least 46, according to Amnesty International.

Iran is a signatory to 2 different international treaties which prohibit
the use of the death penalty against juvenile offenders.

The Islamic Republic is one of very few countries in the world that still
execute juvenile offenders, according to Amnesty International.

"How many more will die before Iran stops this dreadful practice," said
Luther.

According to the rights group, Zamani was convicted of abducting a woman
several years older than him, with whom he was allegedly having a
relationship, and raping her.

His alleged victim is said to have asked that Zamani's life be spared,
stating that they had consensual sex.

However, the appeals court judge refused to take that into consideration,
stating that Zamani should be executed to "set an example" to other young
Iranians.

Some 140 juvenile offenders are known to be on death row in Iran.

[source: Amnesty International website]

(source: WashingtonTV)

Dec. 17


NEW HAMPSHIRE:

N.H. House committee blocks death penalty bill


New Hampshire House leaders have blocked capital murder legislation named
after a Mont Vernon woman killed in her home with a machete in her bed
during a burglary.

The bill would make home invasion killings a capital offense. The same
bill already has been filed in the Senate.

The House Rules Committee voted 6-4 Thursday along party lines to deny
Mont Vernon Republican William O'Brien's request to introduce the bill
after House deadlines. O'Brien said he was disappointed that the House
wouldn't discuss "this brand of thrill killing."

Democrats shot down the request. Some noted the bill would duplicate the
Senate measure.

5 young men have been charged in the attack.

(source: Associated Press)






NEW YORK:

Hear & meet Andrea Lyon & have her sign her book, ANGEL OF DEATH ROW:


My Life as a Death Penalty Defense Lawyer, on Wed. January 6, 7:30 pm, at
Barnes & Noble, 336 Avenue of the Americas @ 8th Street, Manhattan. This
is free & open to the public. Please feel free to send this on to others.

Andrea, a nationally recognized expert in death penalty defense, has been
called Lyon the "Angel of Death Row" with good reason: 19 times she has
represented a client found guilty of capital murder, & none has been
executed. In her riveting new memoir, she tells her compelling story &
those of her clients. The book covers her 30 years in the courtroom, from
her early work as a Legal Aid attorney to her founding the Center for
Justice in Capital Cases.

Full of courtroom drama, tragedy & redemption, ANGEL OF DEATH ROW is a
remarkable inside look at what drives Lyon to defend so effectively those
who seem indefensible: These include Annette Gaines suspected of murdering
her own daughter; Lonnie Fields, whose mental illness made him nearly
impossible to save until his spoke of his better self; Deirdre Jennings,
who was wrongfully convicted; & Madison Hobley, wrongfully charged with
murdering 7 people & sentenced to death.

When Ms. Lyon spoke in October at the City Bar Association, everyone was
incredibly impressed, & some hardened lawyers were moved to tears. You
won't want to miss hearing her speak, & you won't be able to put down her
book once you start reading it.

Note: Ms. Lyon is scheduled to appear on The Today Show the following
morning, Jan. 7.





USA:

U.S. Attorney Considers Death For Drug King Pin and Co-Defendants----Craig
Petties and 4 others may face death for alleged drug related murders


FAST FACTS:

Defense attorneys hold meeting with U.S. Attorney about death penalty for
Memphis drug kingpin

Case involves one of largest drug cases in Mid-South history

Relatives react to possible death penalty


Attorneys for a group of men indicted in one of the city's largest drug
cases began their quest to keep their clients off death row. News Channel
3 went back to the South Memphis neighborhood where Petties' alleged drug
business started for reaction to him and his co-defendants getting the
death penalty if convicted.

Alvin Smith is getting his sister's rental home on Kansas Street ready for
new renters. While cleaning up, he can't help but think about what
happened here March 8, 2005. 3 people shot to death inside. 24 year old
Natasha Rossell, Jack Sled and Smith's cousin, Markel Foster.

"The family we've always been real close and tight. I really don't think
he deserve what happened to him. I think he was just in the wrong place at
the wrong time," said Smith.

Police believe Craig Petties is connected to at least 6 murders. 3 of them
were inside the house on Kansas. Indicted along with him are more than a
dozen others. 4 of those co-defendants also face multiple murder charges.
Investigators say they used intimidation even murder to distribute
thousands of kilos of cocaine. They reportedly used 18-wheelers to
transport it across the Mexican border. In fact, Petties fled to Mexico in
2002 to avoid prosecution, but authorities say that didn't stop him from
ordering hits here in the Mid South. He was brought back to the U.S. in
January 2008. The U.S. Attorney is now considering the death penalty
against those accused in the killings.

Many in the South Memphis neighborhood where Petties allegedly started his
drug trade are afraid to talk for fear of retribution. Even relatives of
the victims shy away when asked about the death penalty.

Smith said, "I just want to say they should get whatever coming to him
because right is right and wrong is wrong. It ain't no price on nobody's
life."

In hearings with the U.S. Attorney, defense lawyers for Petties and the
others will get a chance to offer reasons why the government should not
seek the death penalty against their clients. We don't know what those
reasons are but we do know mental evaluations have been ordered for some
of the defendants.

*************************

Better alternatives to death penalty


The death penalty should be abolished because it is barbaric. There are
many issues that show and prove the death penalty is wrong and reasons why
it should be ceased. By no means is it justifiable to take the life of
another individual to compensate the life that the individual in question
took.

There is vengeance and there is justice. The death penalty is not justice.
It is poorly conceived revenge that robs us of any true justice. There is
no closure to be had from a perpetrator's death by lethal injection, gas
chambers, hanging or the electric chair. Closure comes with the knowledge
that the person who took something priceless from you must suffer for the
rest of his or her natural life, forever regretting their evil deeds,
accompanied only by solitude and the companionship of other undesirables
that serve only to make their lives even more miserable.

Besides the fact that an individual's life is being taken, there have been
terrible repercussions of the death penalty. There have been individuals
that were wrongly accused of murder and put on death row  some have been
lucky; some have not.

There are alternative ways to punish serious law offenders. The most
popular alternative is life imprisonment without the possibility of
parole, plus restitution. This not only costs much less than capital
punishment, but [it] also keeps the criminal in jail for the rest of his
life. Restitution means that while the prisoner is in jail, he will be put
to work  with all the money made going to the family of the victim.
Another alternative is rehabilitation, also known as reformatories.
Reformatories are used to reform criminals by working with the physical,
mental and moral issues of the inmates, instead of just punishing them as
done in jails. They put their offenders to work for society and try to
turn their lives around.

Some people may still maintain that [capital] punishment is a necessity.
However, I must ask you: Do you think it is just to allow a person that
took away the life of an individual [to] be murdered just to serve as
justice? Wouldn't you rather see that person spend the rest of [his or
her] life paying off the one [he or she] took away?

Let's face it. Once the offender is dead and gone, the feeling of
emptiness will still lurk in the hearts and minds of the victim's family.
Most important of all is the morality of taking one's life away. It is
against the laws of the land, religions and society in general, so why put
it into action?

Jessica Nwoka, Hyattsville

(source: Letter to the Editor, The (Md.) Gazette)






CALIFORNIA:

Flirting with death----Prosecutors to again seek the execution of gunman
in nearly decade-old murder of businesswoman and mother of 6


The memorial candles are gone, the store is no more and murky
recollections are all that remain of the murder of Olivia de la Torre 9
years ago at La Guadalupana market on North Fair Oaks Avenue in Pasadena.

"All I remember is seeing a bunch of police," recalled Mike, who declined
to give his last name, as he waited for a bus Monday 20 feet from the
scene of a robbery gone fatally wrong.

Neighborhood conjecture was that the shooter had ties to organized crime,
he said, which belied the reputation that de la Torre, a mother of 6, and
her husband developed as owners of the now-defunct neighborhood market.
"They seemed like nice people, you know what Im saying."

As it turned out, the investigation into de la Torre's murder helped
unravel a bloody streak of robberies that led detectives to the jail cell
of 51-year-old Ignacio Cervantes Chavez 5 years ago last month. At the
time, Chavez was in custody and awaiting trial for murdering a bystander
during a 2001 shootout at a Van Nuys Costco, to which he later pleaded
guilty, and police said the de la Torre case helped them link Chavez and
his brother to yet a third murder.

Now prosecutors are gearing up for another shot at sending Chavez to death
row for de la Torre's murder, and that of an armored car messenger, during
a 2nd penalty phase trial slated for February, after jurors convicted him
in May but deadlocked 11-to-1 for execution in the penalty phase. Chavez
is currently serving a life sentence for the Costco murder, and
prosecutors will again seek the death penalty.

"At this point we are still pursuing it and it is still pending," said
Deputy District Attorney Ana Lopez, who prosecuted the de la Torre slaying
and the 2 other robbery-murders involving Chavez and his brother,
42-year-old Ramon Cervantes Chavez.

Ignacio Chavez's attorney plans to ask a judge for a new trial on Dec. 22,
but the penalty phase trial is scheduled to precede a new trial if one is
granted, Lopez said.

A jury on Dec. 11 recommended a sentence of life without parole for Ramon
Chavez, who was not charged in the de la Torre murder but was convicted
Dec. 7 of murdering an armed car courier during a 1999 heist in Vernon.
Sentencing will be pronounced Friday.

Ignacio Chavez, the getaway driver during the Vernon robbery, was also
convicted of murder in that case.

(source: Pasadena Weekly)

*************************

Jurors to deliberate penalty for man convicted of Cathedral City murder


Twitter Jurors are scheduled to begin their 1st full day of deliberations
today in the penalty phase of trial for a gang member convicted of robbing
and killing man in a Cathedral City driveway.

Miguel Najera, 28, could be sentenced to death or life in prison without
the possibility of parole for the death of 40-year-old Adrian Cedeno at a
home on C Street on May 28, 2006.

The 10-woman, 2-man jury deliberated for about 2 hours Tuesday after
hearing nearly 2 weeks of testimony in the penalty phase of the trial and
was scheduled to resume deliberations today. State courts were closed
across California Wednesday.

The jury convicted Najera of first-degree murder and robbery on Dec. 2,
along with a special circumstance allegation that he was an active gang
member.

The panel deadlocked on a special circumstance allegation that the murder
was committed during a robbery, prompting Riverside County Superior Court
Judge James Hawkins to declare a mistrial on that allegation.

Deputy District Attorney Victoria Weiss asked jurors Tuesday in her
closing argument to consider the death penalty for Najera.

"He could have let Adrian go. He chose not to. He could have chosen to let
Adrian live. He chose not to. He showed no compassion and no mercy,''
Weiss said.

She said Najera held Cedeno at gunpoint in a driveway and slapped him
across the face, but the victim did not react and emptied his pockets of
his wallet, as ordered. Once Cedeno was done handing over his property,
Najera shot him, according to the prosecutor.

She urged jurors to consider Najera's criminal history as evidence that he
refused to change his ways while in prison.

"This is a man who has no regard for human life,'' the prosecutor said.

Najera was convicted in 2000 of burglary and in 2002 and 2004 of
possession of a controlled substance.

Najera's attorney, John Aquilina, asked jurors to spare Najera's life.

He said his client fled from an abusive home as a teen and took refuge in
the streets, where he became involved in drugs.

He pointed to testimony from the defendant's family members that Najera
had a tough upbringing, but had some good in him.

(source: Desert Sun)

**************************

Artist paints last meals of executed death row inmates


A new exhibit at the Luckman Art Gallery at Cal State Los Angeles delves
into the social, political and historical aspects of food.

The largest piece in the group show is called "The Last Supper." Its a
collection of hundreds of dinner plates of various sizes. On each, the
artist has painted the last meal of a different executed death-row inmate.

Oregon-based artist Julie Green came up with the idea a decade ago as she
read the morning newspaper over tea and toast. A description of a prison
execution the day before shook her morning ritual. "His right foot, clad
in a blue slipper, shook nervously after officials began administering the
drugs at 12:09 a.m. Johnson blinked 3 times and let out a breath through
puffed cheeks. His foot stopped shaking, his eyes slowly dimmed, became
glassy, and closed to a crescent."

She recalled how unsettling it felt to read about the death row inmates
last private moments alive. "He asked for a final meal of three fried
chicken thighs, 10 or 15 shrimp, tater tots with ketchup, 2 slices of
pecan pie, strawberry ice cream, honey and biscuits and a Coke."

For more than a decade, Green had painted dream-like urban and rural
scenes in the pre-Renaissance medium of egg tempera on wood panels. A
friend suggested that she shift to china painting  long considered a
genteel pastime  to depict the last meals of death row inmates. So she
took a class.

"With a lot of ladies making Christmas ornaments and very decorative,
beautiful china painting, I felt like the heavy in the class. I didnt tell
them right away what I was doing."

When Green was a teenager, she and her family had supported capital
punishment. In her college years she did an about-face on the issue.

During her china painting apprenticeship, she wrestled with questions
about executions as ritual and the purpose of serving an inmate the final
meal of his or her choice.

"My gut feeling on why we do the meal perhaps, is the biggest motivation
is it perhaps alleviates the guilt of prison workers involved in
execution. It must be a difficult job to do for people. And I think it
gives them something more positive to focus on."

Green's painted 357 plates so far. The only details, aside from the
depiction of the food, are the date of the execution and the state in
which it happened. She said the content of the meals offers glimpses into
inmates' lives. "Indiana, 5 May, 2007, birthday cake and pizza shared with
15 family members and friends. A prison official said, 'he told us he
never had a birthday cake, so we ordered a birthday cake for him.'"

Shed expected an exhibit of the plates in England to generate questions
about capital punishment in the United States. Instead, she said, people
asked "What's chicken-fried steak?"

Green said the last meals can be elaborate. "Maybe the most extravagant
meal from California menu that Ive seen, 13 July 1998: Alaska King crab
with butter, spinach salad, pork fried rice, mandarin style spareribs, hot
fudge sundae, a 6 pack of Coca-Cola." Or they can be downright austere.
"Theres one for a bag of Jolly Ranchers, and thats an Oklahoma menu, and
theres one for a honey bun, a single honey bun, sometimes snacks from the
vending machine."

She said the dessert and drink of 1 last meal she painted underlined the
differences between the last meals of male and female death row inmates.
"Its Arkansas, 2 May 2000, a supreme pizza, garden salad with ranch
dressing, pickled okra, strawberry shortcake, cherry limeade."

Green said she hopes her opposition to the death penalty isn't obvious to
people who view her art. Shed like the painted plates to spark debate
about capital punishment.

She admitted that sometimes her thoughts focus on the victims of these
executed prisoners. "Its a very dark project to work on and I know that
terrible crimes were committed and its pretty heavy, it gets in the way of
making the work for me to focus too much on the brutality of the crime."

Julie Green plans to paint 50 more plates that depict the last meals of
death row inmates. The number of executed inmates in the United States
this year will surpass that number.

The artist said she plans to continue her project until this country
abolishes capital punishment. Even as it nourishes her art and her college
teaching, she said shed like to end this series of china paintings soon.

(source: Southern California Public Radio)






OREGON:

Girl's parents await murder trials


As other relatives and friends of Jeanette Marie Maples gathered for her
Springfield memorial service Wednesday, the dead teen's mother and
stepfather stood with death penalty attorneys to answer murder indictments
in her Dec. 9 death.

The attorneys entered "not guilty" pleas for both Angela Darlene McAnulty,
41, and Richard Anthony McAnulty Sr., 42. Both were charged with
aggravated murder of the 15-year-old River Road area girl. The Lane County
District Attorney's Office has not yet decided if it will seek the death
penalty against one or both of the McAnultys.

In separate indictments returned late Tuesday by a Lane County grand jury,
both McAnultys were accused of recklessly causing Jeanette's death by
neglect and maltreatment and "as a result of intentional maiming and
torture."

Angela McAnulty also was charged with tampering with physical evidence in
the case. According to the indictment, she "did unlawfully destroy,
mutilate, alter, conceal and remove physical evidence" with the intent to
make it unavailable to investigators and the court.

Prosecutor Erik Hasselman declined to elaborate on that charge.

The couple did not look at one another during the arraignment, though
Angela McAnulty briefly stood within 3 feet of her husband as she appeared
before Lane County Circuit Judge Debra Vogt. He turned his head to the
left, toward a wall, as his wife stepped between his chair and the judge's
bench.

Angela McAnulty was represented by Baker City attorney Ken Hadley and
Salem attorney Steven Krasik. Richard McAnulty was represented by Tualatin
attorney Mark Rader and Silverton attorney Gordon Mallon. All 4 handle
death penalty cases under their contracts with the state Office of Public
Defense Services.

Vogt did not set trial dates, but said Angela McAnultys case has been
assigned to Lane County Circuit Judge Kip Leonard and Richard McAnultys
case to Lane County Circuit Judge Jack Billings.

An investigation into Jeanette's death began after medics responded to a
911 call at the McAnultys' River Road area home and found the teen injured
and unconscious in a bathtub. She died later that night at a local
hospital. Details of her injuries have not been released. Hasselman said
Wednesday that he did not expect that information to become public until
pretrial hearings in the cases.

"We're concerned about (the McAnultys') ability to get a fair trial in
Lane County," he said.

The girl's biological father, California resident Anthony Maples, said
last week that a state child protective services worker told him that
Jeanette died "a really horrific death." In an interview with The
Register-Guard, Maples also said he had served time in prison on drug
charges and that California child protection workers permanently removed
Jeanette's older brothers from his and Angela McAnulty's custody.

2 half-siblings of the dead girl  a 5-year-old boy and a 12-year-old girl
were placed in Oregon protective custody last week.

(source: The Register-Guard)

Dec. 17



TEXAS:

Death row inmate's appeals are rejected


A Texas death row inmate whose threatening calls to a state senator a year
ago prompted a lockdown of state prisons and crackdown on contraband
throughout the nation's 2nd-largest corrections system lost an appeal of
his conviction and death sentence for the slayings of 2 men in 2004.

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals on Wednesday rejected 6 claims from
Richard Lee Tabler that he was improperly convicted and sentenced to die
for gunning down Mohammed-Amine Rahmouni, 28, and Haitham Zayed, 25, at a
remote area in Killeen on Thanksgiving weekend 5 years ago.

Evidence showed Rahmouni was a manager of a strip club and had banned
Tabler from his place. Zayed was a friend of Rahmouni.

Tabler, 40, also has acknowledged killing 2 dancers from the club.

In his mandatory appeal to the state's highest criminal appeals court,
Tabler raised 6 claims from his April 2007 trial in Killeen. The
challenges, all rejected by the court, included claims that his death
sentence was unconstitutional because he is mentally ill, that the
prosecutor's closing arguments at the trial's punishment phase were
improper, that his lawyer was deficient in not objecting to those
arguments and that the trial judge mistakenly refused to allow the jury to
consider whether the shootings were in self-defense.

In October 2008, Tabler was caught in his cell using a smuggled phone.
Records showed he and 9 other inmates used the phone to make 2,800 calls
over 30 days. Among the calls from Tabler were some to state Sen. John
Whitmire, telling him he knew the names and ages of Whitmire's daughters
and where they lived. Whitmire leads the Senate criminal justice panel.

The subsequent lockdown of the state's 111 prisons and search of the cells
of 155,000 prisoners turned up dozens of contraband phones, tobacco
products, weapons and money.

(source: Associated Press)






SOUTH CAROLINA----new execution date set

Quincy Allen execution date set


Convicted murderer Quincy Allen, 30, is set to be executed January 8 after
the S.C. Supreme Court issued an order Thursday directing the state to
carry out his death sentence.

The order comes just weeks after Allen and another death-row inmate
repeatedly stabbed a guard outside the state's death-row compound at Broad
River Correctional Institution in Columbia on December 2.

That stabbing took place 2 weeks after the state high court rejected
Allen's final appeal November 16, which cleared the way for his execution.

Allen plead guilty in 2005 to murdering Jedediah Harr, 22, at a Texas
Roadhouse restaurant in Northeastern Richland County in 2002 as well as
killing and burning the body of Dale Hall, 45, on Two Notch Road. Allen
also shot James White, 51, in downtown Columbia's Finlay Park. White
survived the shooting.

Allen then led police on a multi-state manhunt, including the killing of 2
more people at a N.C. convenience store, before being captured in Texas.

Corrections department spokesman Josh Gelinas said Thursday that Allen has
selected electrocution as the method of execution.

(source: Midlands Connect)






ARKANSAS:

Panel reinstates death sentence for Arkansas man


Testimony about a convicted murderer's rough childhood - which included
watching his father slit the throats of 2 beloved pets - likely would not
have stopped a jury from sentencing him to die, a federal appeals court
said Wednesday as it reinstated the death penalty.

A 3-judge panel of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a
federal judge's decision, reinstating the death sentence for Jason
McGehee, 33. Jeff Rosenzweig, an attorney for McGehee, said he was
disappointed and that he will request a hearing from the full 8th Circuit.

McGehee was convicted along with 2 others in the 1996 death of 15-year-old
John Melbourne Jr. Prosecutors argued that the trio kidnapped, tortured
and killed the teen because he told police about their involvement in a
theft.

A federal judge last year threw out McGehee's death sentence, saying the
trial judge should have allowed evidence during sentencing that McGehee
had a violent childhood.

According to court documents, jurors weren't allowed to hear evidence that
McGehee's mother made him sleep outside for days without access to food or
a bathroom, that his father slit the throats of 2 pet dogs, and that his
stepfather kicked McGehee's dog, Dusty, and made McGehee watch the animal
suffer and die.

McGehee's attorney had tried to present that testimony as mitigating
evidence as jurors considered whether McGehee should be executed or spend
life in prison.

"The death of a pet can be a traumatic experience for a child, and the
story of parental cruelty may have contributed to the picture of family
dysfunction," the 8th Circuit's opinion said. "But to the extent that the
testimony was offered to show a pattern of physical violence, it was
contradicted by other evidence. McGehee's grandmother testified that
McGehee was not physically abused or neglected as a child."

According to prosecutors, McGehee was the leader of a group of friends who
lived together in a house in Harrison and survived by cashing stolen and
forged checks. On Aug. 19, 1996, he sent Melbourne, the youngest of the
group, into Harrison to cash a stolen check, but the boy attracted
suspicion and was taken into questioning by police. Authorities say
Melbourne told officers about stolen property at the house and police
released him into his father's custody.

The 3 men later lured the boy to the house and beat him, then bound his
hands and took him to an abandoned house in Omaha, Ark., where they beat
him again, cut him and burned him, according to prosecutors. McGehee and 2
others took turns strangling him until he died, prosecutors said.

The other 2 men were sentenced to life in prison without parole - and
jurors weren't allowed to hear that as they considered McGehee's sentence,
an issue that the 8th Circuit upheld Wednesday.

"The evidence at trial showed that McGehee was the ringleader of a torture
murder and that his younger, weaker victim was brutalized because he told
the truth when confronted by police," the 8th Circuit's opinion said.
"McGehee inflicted most of the blows during the several hours in which
Melbourne was tortured, and he exhibited no hesitation or remorse,
apparently laughing just after he had left Melbourne's naked body lying in
the woods."

(source: Pine Bluff Commercial)






TENNESSEE:

Autopsy on executed inmate Cecil Johnson denied----State wanted to study
lethal injection effects


The body of executed prisoner Cecil Johnson will be returned to his family
without the autopsy the state was seeking, a Nashville judge ruled this
week.

The state of Tennessee executed Johnson 2 weeks ago for killing 3 people
in 1980, including a 12-year-old boy.

His death set off a fresh round of legal wrangling between the state,
which wanted an autopsy to prove the lethal injection had been
administered properly, and Johnson's family, who wanted him to rest in
peace.

Johnson, who spent half his life on death row, left a letter for the
court, citing his strong religious convictions and his wish that "in no
way is my body to be cut upon."

Attorneys for the state, however, insisted that an autopsy is the only way
to prove that the death sentence was administered humanely.

On Wednesday, Davidson County Chancellor Russell T. Perkins ruled that the
state had not presented a compelling reason to put its interests ahead of
Johnson's religious belief.

An autopsy, Perkins said, "would impinge on the exercise of religious
beliefs, genuinely held." He ordered the medical examiner's office to turn
Johnson's body over to the family no later than 4 p.m. Friday.

Tennessee has executed 5 men in the past decade and Davidson County
Medical Examiner Bruce Levy has performed autopsies on most of them,
including inmates with religious objections to autopsies.

No matter how many precautions the state takes, Levy said, an autopsy is
the only way to tell what really happened to Johnson in the moments
leading up to death  and in the weeks before.

"I've experienced too many cases where the obvious cause of death turned
out to be wrong," he said.

In February, the post-execution autopsy of convicted murderer Steve Henley
found marijuana in his system  in spite of the fact that he had been under
intense supervision on death row. Henley's final autopsy results are still
pending the return of bloodwork from an out-of-state lab.

Johnson's attorneys presented sworn statements from the deceased and his
wife, promising to waive their right to sue the state over the method of
execution if the state would forgo the autopsy.

"I witnessed the execution of my husband. It was not a botched execution,"
Sarah Johnson wrote. "We only want this matter to come to a swift and
peaceful end."

The Johnsons never challenged the lethal injection protocol, which
involves administering three shots to the condemned  first a lethal dose
of sedatives, then a muscle paralytic and a final fatal drug to stop the
heart. Death-penalty opponents have argued that if the doses are
administered improperly, the result could leave the victim paralyzed but
aware and able to feel the final dose shutting down their heart.

The state will have the option of appealing Perkins' ruling before Friday
afternoon.

(source: The Tennessean)






FLORIDA:

Killer Justin Heyne gets death penalty


Convicted murderer Justin Heyne has received 2 life sentences for the
killings Benjamin Hamilton; his girlfriend, Sarah Buckoski, and the death
penalty for killing their 5-year-old daughter, Ivory Hamilton.

Heyne showed no reaction when the sentence was handed down by Judge O.H.
Eaton.

Heyne, 28, was convicted this summer in the 2006 shooting deaths of his
roommates: Benjamin Hamilton; his girlfriend, Sarah Buckoski, and their
5-year-old daughter, Ivory Hamilton.

The jury recommended life in prison for Hamilton's murder, then voted 8-4
for the death penalty in Buckoski's death and 10-2 in favor of execution
for the child's killing.

(source: Florida Today)

********************

Denielo Bradshaw Guilty Of 1st Degree Murder ----A jury has found Deneilo
Bradshaw guilty of 1st degree murder and robbery of Tallahassee Police
informant Rachel Hoffman.


Deneilo Bradshaw sat expressisonless as the verdict was read. His parents
were not in the courtroom when the verdict was read, but they are now.
Bradshaw's stepfather is holding his mother close and their frequent
smiles and easy laughter have subsided. The jury deliberated 21 hours over
3 days before reaching a verdict.

The jury will have to recommend a life sentence or the death penalty.

Hoffman's mother was in court to hear the verdict and clutvched her
husband's arm. Hoffman's father went home last night so he could spend
today at her grave. Today would have been Hoffman's 25th birthday.
(source: Tampa Tribune)






VIRGINIA:

Va. Death Row Inmate Loses Bid For New Trial


A federal appeals court has denied a Virginia death row inmate's bid for a
new trial.

Darrick Walker of Richmond was convicted of killing Stanley Beale in 1996
and Clarence Elwood Threat in 1997. Virginia law allows the death penalty
for anyone who commits 2 premeditated murders within 3 years.

In a 2-1 decision Wednesday, a panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of
Appeals rejected Walker's claim that the prosecution failed to disclose
evidence that would have negated the eyewitness testimony of Beale's
13-year-old daughter. The court said the undisclosed material was not
enough to undermine confidence in the guilty verdict.

Walker also is claiming in a separate appeal that he cannot be executed
because he is mentally disabled. The 4th Circuit has not yet decided that
issue.

(source: Associated Press)

Dec. 16


UGANDA:

Death penalty for gays? Uganda may join the list


According to press reports, Uganda is poised to join the list of nations
imposing the death penalty for being gay.

The Ugandan parliament is expected to pass the Anti-Homosexuality Bill
2009, which creates a new crime of "aggravated homosexuality" and makes
such a crime punishable by the death penalty. Even the mere participation
of a single homosexual act mandates life imprisonment.

Family members and friends who refuse to "out" those engaging in
homosexual activities could face 7 years in prison.

The law is so strict that even landlords and priests could be punished. A
landlord that knowingly rents to homosexuals could face 7 years in prison
and religious leaders who fail to report could face 3 years behind bars.

The bill is so broad in its scope that aid workers trying to fight the
African HIV/AIDS epidemic are expected to leave Uganda.

And what does the bill's sponsor say about this? MP David Bahati was
quoted saying that the bill was designed to protect "traditional" Ugandan
families. He directly targeted human rights groups and even the United
Nations as promoting homosexuality and recruiting school children to
become gay.

Unfortunately, Uganda is not alone in its homophobia. A number of African
countries have passed or are also considering stringent anti-gay
legislation. Nigeria, where homosexuality is already a capital offense,
has proposed new legislation aimed at those who "promote" gay lifestyles.
Burundi recently outlawed same sex relationships, although stopping short
of executions and Rwanda is considering its own anti-gay legislation.

Although Africa is currently suffering from this waive of homophobic
paranoia, the rest of the world is united against Uganda. Even very
conservative Christian churches in the United States have criticized the
Ugandan efforts.

At a time when AIDS is responsible for the deaths of millions of African
men, women and children, those currently in power have seized the banner
of "family values" to drive aid workers from their countries. AIDS is a
problem but simply executing gay men and women will only make the AIDS
epidemic worse.

What can we do? Unfortunately, much like the recent genocide in Rwanda,
the main stream media has done little to report this story. The first step
is to expose the truth and let the world know what is happening. And make
sure that our elected officials do not sit idly while thousands of men and
women are executed in the name of family values.

(source: Commentary; Brian Mahany is an attorney in Milwaukee, Wis., with
a national practice concentrating in defending victims of
discrimination----Windy City Media Group)






INDIA:

Prosecution ends argument in Mumbai attacks case


The prosecution has completed its arguments at the trial of a Pakistani
and two Indians accused in last year's Mumbai terror attacks that left 166
dead.

Indian investigators say Pakistani defendant Mohammed Ajmal Kasab is the
sole surviving gunman in the November 2008 attacks on India's financial
hub. The 2 Indians are accused of helping plot the attacks.

All 3 are charged with 12 criminal counts, including murder and waging war
against India. If convicted they could face the death penalty.

The prosecution has examined some 610 witnesses since the trial began in
April.

After completing its arguments Wednesday, the prosecution is due to make a
statement on the penalties it is seeking for the defendants before the
defense opens its arguments.

(source: Associated Press)

Dec. 16



ILLINOIS:

Judge formally imposes death penalty on Dugan


A judge imposed the death sentence on Brian Dugan today for kidnapping,
raping and killing 10-year-old Jeanine Nicarico of Naperville, and set the
execution date for Feb. 25.

"The wheels of justice were often derailed for Jeanine," said Judge George
Bakalis this morning in accepting a jury's sentence of death, then setting
the execution date. The death penalty is subject to automatic appeal in
Illinois.

In fact, the hearing was nearly derailed this morning as defense lawyers
argued that Bakalis should instead accept the jury's first signed verdict
for a life sentence in prison. They then filed an immediate appeal with
the appellate court, arguing they should be able to have their motion
heard before Bakalis officially sentenced Dugan.

Dugan pleaded guilty in July to the 1983 kidnap, rape and murder. The jury
considering his sentence agreed shortly before 10 p.m. Nov. 10 to a life
sentence because 2 jurors were unconvinced he deserved death, which
requires a unanimous verdict.

But before the signed verdict form could be delivered to Bakalis, those
jurors - a single mother from Darien and a married father from Naperville
-- had second thoughts and asked for an opportunity to continue
deliberations.

The next afternoon, the jury returned with a unanimous vote for death.
Bakalis formally imposed that sentence today.

Defense attorney Steven Greenberg argued that because jurors actually
signing off on a life verdict first, lawyers should be allowed an
immediate appeal before Bakalis confirmed the death sentence.

Bakalis disagreed, telling Greenberg he was proceeding with the hearing
even after Greenberg showed him proof that the appeal had been filed.

During earlier arguments, Greenberg said, "we should have been told about
the life verdict," but Bakalis said when the jury said it was not ready to
release its decision, "I had no choice but to let them continue to
deliberate."

State's Attorney Joseph Birkett said the defense was "grasping at straws,"
and alleged that the defense originally thought the 1st verdict was for
death and didn't want to hear about it.

Defense attorney Allan Sincox said, "Brian Dugan is simply entitled to a
life sentence," and that the idea that "a man's life depends on how fast a
jury gets called out," is "simply not acceptable in a death penalty case."

Dugan was in the courtroom in shackles, although his handcuffs were
removed. He has grown a beard since last month's sentencing hearing.

(source: Chicago Tribune)

Dec. 16



GEORGIA----stay of impending execution

Gary execution stopped by Georgia Supreme Court


In a 5-2 vote, the Supreme Court of Georgia today granted Carlton Gary's
motion for a stay of execution and ordered the Muscogee County Superior
Court to conduct a hearing on his request for DNA testing.

Gary, who was convicted and sentenced to death in 1986 for the rapes and
strangulation murders of 3 elderly women in Columbus, was due to be
executed tonight at 7 p.m.by lethal injection. Gary's attorneys have
claimed that DNA testing of hair, semen and fingernail scrapings found on
his alleged victims was not available at the time of his conviction.

All justices concurred in today's decision except Chief Justice Carol
Hunstein and Presiding Justice George Carley, who dissented.

(source: Columbus Ledger-Enquirer)






ARKANSAS:

Appeals panel upholds death penalty for 1996 murder in Boone County


In St. Louis, a federal appeals court reinstated the death sentence for a
man convicted of beating and strangling a teenager from Boone County,
Ark., in 1996.

In January 2008, a federal judge threw out the death sentence for Jason
McGehee, 33. He's convicted of capital murder and kidnapping for the death
of John Melbourne Jr., 15. In throwing out the sentence, U.S. District
Judge James Moody found jurors should have heard testimony about McGehee's
violent childhood while deliberating his sentence.

The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed that decision on Wednesday.
It says the testimony likely wouldn't have changed the jury's decision.
The panel cited the brutality of Melbourne's death and that there was no
evidence that McGehee was physically abused or neglected as a child.

(source: Associated Press)






TENNESSEE:

Supreme Court grants death row inmate more time


The Tennessee Supreme Court has given death row inmate Gaile Owens more
time to argue against setting a date for her execution.

Owens has exhausted her appeals in the murder of her husband Ronald Owens.
She was convicted in 1986 of hiring Sidney Porterfield to beat him to
death. Porterfield also received the death penalty and is currently on
death row.

The court has given Owens an extension until Feb. 5 to file a response to
the states request to set her execution. Her attorneys argued in recent
court filings that a court never fairly examined evidence she was abused
by her husband, and that similar cases in recent years have led to women
being lightly sentenced for similar killings.

Owens is 1 of 2 women on Tennessees death row, and would be the 1st woman
executed here in more than 150 years.

(source: The Tennessean)






PENNSYLVANIA:

Rights groups call for Justice Department probe into Mumia Abu-Jamal case


December 9 marked the anniversary of the 1981 murder of Philadelphia
Police Officer Daniel Faulkner. Journalist and former Black Panther Mumia
Abu-Jamal continues to sit in prison for the crime, which he maintains
that he did not commit.

Earlier this year, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to consider an appeal
by Abu-Jamal, thereby letting his murder conviction stand. The appeal
argued that some blacks had been unfairly excluded from the jury.
Prosecutors are currently seeking to reinstate Abu-Jamals death sentence
in follow-up to a 2008 order by the U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals
for a new capital sentencing hearing over concerns that the original jury
was improperly instructed.

At this point, it appears that Abu-Jamal is running out of options. And so
his supporters are taking the matter to the U.S. Justice Department. And
this is not just the work of a few radical black revolutionaries.

In July, the 95th annual convention of the National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) passed an emergency resolution
calling on Attorney General Eric Holder to investigate the cases of Abu
Jamal and some other prisoners.

A coalition of organizations and activists followed the NAACP's lead and
delivered more than 25,000 letters to the Justice Department on November
12, calling for a civil rights investigation into the Abu-Jamal case. This
was accompanied by a press conference that included representatives of the
NAACP, the National Lawyers Guild, Amnesty International, the Campaign to
End the Death Penalty, the Riverside Church Prison Ministry, and other
groups.

Amnesty International is no newcomer to the case. In 2000, after an
extensive investigation, the Nobel-Prize-winning human rights organization
concluded that "numerous aspects of this case clearly failed to meet
minimum international standards safeguarding the fairness of legal
proceedings." Amnesty expressed concerns about judicial bias and
hostility, police misconduct, and the apparent withholding of evidence
from the jury. Amnesty called for a new trial "in a neutral venue, where
the case has not polarized the public as it has in Philadelphia."

Abu-Jamal's supporters insist that he is innocent, that he was set up, and
that racial bias and witness coercion had played a big part in an unfair
trial. They also point out that Faulkner was killed with a .44 caliber
gun, while the gun that Abu-Jamal was licensed to carry as a nighttime
taxi driver was a .38 caliber.

At the same time, there are many people here in the Philadelphia area, and
probably elsewhere, who want to believe that Abu-Jamal is guilty beyond a
shadow of a doubt, and who can't wait for his execution. They say that his
execution will finally bring "closure" to Faulkner's family and his
colleagues in the Philadelphia Police Department.

But I ask them this: How can true closure be achieved unless we are
absolutely certain that justice was served in a fair and unbiased manner?

Without that, we're not looking at justice, but rather at a case of
knee-jerk revenge against a conveniently controversial character.

And that, I contend, is just not good enough.

(source: Commentary; Mary Shaw is a Philadelphia-based writer and
activist, with a focus on politics, human rights, and social justice. She
is a former Philadelphia Area Coordinator for the Nobel-Prize-winning
human rights group Amnesty International, and her views appear regularly
in a variety of newspapers, magazines, and websites. Note that the ideas
expressed here are the authors own, and do not necessarily reflect the
opinions of Amnesty International or any other organization with which she
may be associated----Online Journal)

*************

Prosecutors to pursue death penalty in baby's death


Luzerne County prosecutors said Tuesday they would seek the death penalty
for Lamont Cherry, the Wilkes-Barre man accused of beating his
girlfriend's 1-year-old daughter to death in May.

Cherry, 36, appeared at a formal arraignment Tuesday. He pleaded not
guilty to an open count of homicide and requested a jury trial.

Prosecutors said Cherry assaulted Zalayia McCloe while her mother, Christa
Smith, and aunt went out to submit job applications.

The alleged beating fractured McCloe's skull and caused serious brain
damage, prosecutors said. She died 2 days later.

The murder of a child less than 12 years old is one of 18 aggravating
circumstances prosecutors can use to seek the death penalty, prosecutors
said.

(source: Citizens Voice)

Dec. 16



UNITED ARAB EMIRATES:

Dubai seeks death penalty for man accused of raping, murdering boy


Prosecutors in Dubai said Wednesday they would seek the death penalty for
a man accused of raping and murdering a four- year-old boy in a mosque on
the morning of a Muslim holiday. It was a "deplorable crime that shook the
community. It is contrary to all the values and traditions of our
society," said Attorney-General Essam al-Humaidan, noting the event took
place on the Eid al-Adha holiday last month.

He said the prosecution would seek a speedy trial in the case, which has
shocked the emirate.

Police say the accused, a 30-year-old UAE national from Bahrain, confessed
to luring the Pakistani child to the bathroom of a mosque with promises of
gifts, sexually assaulting him, then smothering him to death when the boy
cried.

Police reportedly said the man had told them he had gone to the mosque
after a night of heavy drinking.

Police have said the man had 2 previous convictions, but did not specify
the nature of the crimes.

The father of the boy has called the accused a "monster" and demanded the
death penalty.

(source: Earth Times)






THAILAND:

Crew of plane carrying North Korean arms may face death sentence


The Kazakh and Belarusian crew of a plane caught transporting arms from
North Korea may face the death penalty, a Thai paper said on Wednesday,
citing police.

The Il-76 cargo plane, carrying about 40 tons of weaponry, was seized
after landing for refueling at Bangkok's Don Muang airport on December 12.
Officials said the weapons included missiles and rocket-propelled
grenades.

The paper quoted a senior police official as saying that the crew would be
charged with the illegal possession of explosives, punishable by "from 2
years to death."

The plane's 5 crew members, 1 Belarus national and 4 Kazakhs, were taken
to Bangkok's Klong Prem Central Prison after their arrest.

The Bangkok Post quoted investigators as saying the crew were planning to
offload part of their cargo in Sri Lanka and the Middle East. However, the
suspects reportedly refused to name the buyers or locations.

The plane's Belarusian commander earlier said that the plane had flown
from Ukraine, and claimed that neither he nor the other crewmembers knew
of the military nature of the cargo.

Mikhail Petukhov was earlier quoted by the Thai news agency TNA as saying
the aircraft refueled in Azerbaijan, then in the United Arab Emirates, and
then in Thailand while en route to Pyongyang. The plane's commander said
the aircraft was scheduled to refuel in Thailand and Sri Lanka on its way
back, after which the cargo was expected to be delivered to Ukraine.

(source: RIA Novosti)

Dec. 16



DELAWARE:

Delaware courts: Appeals Court to hear suit on execution procedures----If
ruling upheld, death penalty would resume


The class-action lawsuit that has been holding up executions in Delaware
for more than 3 years will be headed to the U.S. 3rd Circuit Court of
Appeals today.

If the court upholds the April ruling by Delaware District Judge Sue L.
Robinson and there is no appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, executions
could soon resume in the state.

However, attorneys from the Federal Community Defender's office in
Philadelphia who are representing Delaware's 20 death row inmates and
legal observers believe recent developments in Ohio could prompt the court
to send the matter back to district court, keeping Delaware's death
penalty in limbo.

At issue in the appeal are Delaware's method of execution -- a 3-drug mix
that has been associated with problems in the past -- the state's history
of mistakes in past executions and a lack of a back-up plan if
executioners can't find a vein in the condemned to deliver the lethal
drugs.

Because Ohio this month successfully executed an inmate using a 1-drug
method, courts may decide this presents a "feasible and workable"
alternative, said Richard Dieter, executive director of the Death Penalty
Information Center.

But, he said, just because there is an alternative which supporters claim
is more humane and causes fewer problems, does not mean the appeals court
will order it to be used. There also has to be evidence that the existing
execution system in Delaware has significant flaws.

"Given the precedent of the district court, it is going to be an uphill
battle [for the plaintiffs]," Dieter said.

In April, Robinson granted summary judgment in favor of Delaware -- ruling
that a new set of rules adopted by the state on how to carry out
executions met constitutional standards. But Robinson also maintained the
freeze on all executions in Delaware until the appeals process was
completed.

In the Delaware case, attorneys for the death row inmates detailed a long
list of problems in past Delaware executions including improperly mixed
drugs and sloppy record keeping.

(source: News Journal)






ILLINOIS:

Death Sentence Expected for Brian Dugan


Today, convicted murderer Brian Dugan is expected to be sentenced to
death. Dugan was found guilty for murdering 10-year-old Jeanine Nicarico
in 1983. The Chicago Tribune reports Dugan's lawyers might challenge a
possible death sentence because a jury originally called for a life in
prison. But a juror changed her mind, and the jury ultimately decided in
favor of the death penalty.

(source: WBEZ News)






INDIANA:

Hoosiers should examine what executions accomplish


Before dawn on Dec. 11, Matthew Eric Wrinkles was executed in Michigan
City for the murders of Debra Wrinkles, Mark "Tony" Fulkerson and Natalie
Fulkerson.

I doubt that many, if any, Hoosiers across the state of Indiana are waking
up feeling safer as a result of Wrinkles' death. They have reason not to:
in a recent study, 88 % of top criminologists stated that the death
penalty did not serve as a deterrent. Another poll shows that a majority
of police chiefs around the country agree.

Lest we forget, Wrinkles had been safely locked away from society for
nearly 15 years prior to his execution.

He presented no ongoing threat to the people of Indiana. And yet a
tremendous amount of county and state resources were used to take him from
his cell and into the death chamber.

A state study pegs the death penalty as being 38 % more costly than
imprisoning a perpetrator for his or her entire natural life.

Beyond being just an excessive burden on the taxpayer and judicial system,
a recent poll showed that police chiefs rank reducing drug abuse and
increasing resources for law enforcement as top crime-fighting priorities
while ranking use of the death penalty last.

Abuse of the drug methamphetamine played a major role in the murders
Wrinkles committed. Shouldnt we be examining ways to more prudently
deliver justice and fight crime that don't involve throwing millions of
dollars away to execute those who are already incarcerated?

We also have a system that does not live up to our expectations of
fairness or accuracy. An American Bar Association study panel found
Indiana's death penalty to be in full compliance with only 10 of 91
protocols for a fair, effective death penalty. Shouldn't an irreversible
punishment that costs so much money be delivered fairly and
proportionately?

The most disturbing statistic is that 139 innocent people have been found
on death rows around the country since 1973, 9 this year alone.

These are the people who were fortunate to be found before their execution
day arrived. Shouldnt we choose life imprisonment without parole over the
death penalty to avoid the risk of tragic and irreversible error?

All these facts and figures aside, the children of the victims in this
tragic crime, who are also nieces and nephews of Eric Wrinkles, as well as
the mother of one of the victims had gone so far as to forgive Wrinkles on
an episode of Oprah and have expressed that they did not want him to be
executed.

Wrinkles is gone, but the problems that plague our capital-punishment
system are not.

We need to set in place a moratorium on executions until we can answer
definitively what the death penalty really accomplishes on our behalf
above and beyond the proven punishment of life without parole and whether
it is worth the cost to taxpayers, the risk to innocent lives and the
doubt that inevitably lingers in a system prone to error.

Until these big questions are answered, let us have the courage to admit
our concerns publicly and ensure that they are addressed.

Will McAuliffe is executive director of the Indiana Coalition Acting to
Suspend Executions. He wrote this for Indiana newspapers.

(source: Journal Gazette)

**********************

Death penalty questions worth exploring


On Dec. 11, Indiana executed its 1st prisoner in 2 years. The Star's
coverage was pretty good. Still, even good newspaper coverage of capital
punishment leaves much to be desired.

The death penalty is a serious aspect of our criminal justice system. What
are the moral ramifications of state-sanctioned killings? Is the practice
serving our interests as citizens? Is the system itself truly just? Does
it dole out punishment fairly?

Regardless of your stance on the death penalty, these are questions worth
exploring. After all, as citizens of Indiana, this killing was done in our
name. We should at least make the system as beneficial as possible for
everyone involved, from the corrections officers asked to administer the
drugs to the families of the death row inmates, and especially the
families of the victims of such horrendous crimes.

Emily TeKolste----Carmel

(source: Letter to the Editor, Indianapolis Star)






KANSAS:

Furloughs may delay Mireles trial


Capital murder docket

Pending capital murder cases being prosecuted by the office of Kansas
Attorney General Steve Six.

Jan. 14: Preliminary hearing in Grant County for Marcos Lomas, charged
with the August 2008 killing of Marcos and Hilda Garcia.

Feb. 8: Jury trial in Butler County for Israel Mireles, charged in the
November 2007 stabbing death of Emily Sander.

March 1-2: Motions hearing and preliminary hearing in Riley County for
Louis Aguirre, charged in the September killing of Tanya Carmen Lydia
Maldonado and her 15-month-old son, Juan Maldonado.

March 18: Preliminary hearing in Osage County for James Kahler, charged
with the November killings of his estranged wife Karen Kahler; daughters
Emily Kahler, 18, and Lauren Kahler, 16; and Dorothy Wight, 89, Karen
Kahler's grandmother.

April 18: Jury trial in Leavenworth County for Sedale Fox, charged in the
January 2008 shooting death of his pregnant girlfriend, Olivia Jackson.

June 14: Jury trial in Saline County for Terrence Watson, charged in the
September 2008 shooting deaths of Ernest Jones Jr. and Taryn Dechant.


The judge presiding over the capital murder case of Israel Mireles
wondered whether the state's money issues could force postponement of the
trial.

Butler County District Judge David Ricke said during a hearing Tuesday
that Mireles' trial in the killing of Emily Sander is scheduled to start
Feb. 8  a week before state-mandated furloughs of courthouse employees.

Furloughs are currently scheduled for nonjudicial employees around the
state unless legislators restore $3 million in money cut from the judicial
branch.

That would mean no bailiffs to aid jurors and no court reporter to make a
record of testimony and evidence.

Sander's family has already waited more than 2 years for the trial. It
took 20 months to extradite Mireles from Mexico, where he was arrested 3
weeks after Sander was stabbed to death in November 2007.

Kansas Attorney General Steve Six told the judge that trial preparations
with state law enforcement officers as witnesses would have to be repeated
if the trial was continued to another date.

"It could end up costing the state more," said Six, who is helping
prosecute the case.

Ricke's best estimate about moving the trial would be before the second
round of furloughs in March.

"We could try to do it between furloughs," the judge said.

But trying to move the trial by weeks could turn into months, depending on
the already busy schedules of the attorneys.

Melanie Freeman-Johnson, Mireles' attorney, and Six's office have other
death penalty cases waiting around the state.

Six's office has at least 6 other death penalty cases on its docket, with
proceedings already scheduled from January through June.

Tuesday, Six suggested that his office and the Kansas Death Penalty
Defense Unit, which employs Freeman-Johnson, try to find funds to pay a
freelance court reporter and hire a bailiff so the trial can proceed.

That would still come from state funds. But Six said that would be cheaper
than continuing the trial.

Ron Keefover, spokesman for the Office of Judicial Administration, said
the courts won't know the true budget picture until the 2nd week of
January.

"But we still have to do all our trial preparations," Six said. "Then, if
the trial is continued, it has to be done again. That costs even more."

Salaries are 98 % of the courts' budget. The $112 million budget of the
judicial branch represents 2 % of the state's projected expenditures of
$5.5 billion.

(source: Wichita Eagle)

Dec. 16




WYOMING----execution date

Execution date set in February for Wyoming's only death-row inmate


A judge says Dale Wayne Eaton, Wyoming's only death-row inmate, is
scheduled to be put to death on Feb. 12.

Natrona County District Judge David Park set the date during a death
warrant hearing on Monday.

Diane Courselle, director of the University of Wyoming's Defender Aid
Program, says they'll go to federal court to ask for a stay of execution.

Eaton has been on death row since 2004 for the kidnapping, rape and murder
of 18-year-old Lisa Marie Kimmell, who disappeared in 1988 while driving
from Denver to Billings, Mont.

The Wyoming Supreme Court has twice rejected appeals filed by Eaton's
attorneys.

(source: Associated Press)






OREGON:

Longo, killer on death row, wants to donate organs----State corrections
officials are examining his request


A notorious killer who received the death penalty for murdering his wife
and 3 children on the Oregon Coast is waging a campaign to become an organ
donor.

Christian Longo, a death-row inmate at the Oregon State Penitentiary in
Salem, has launched a Web site to promote his two ambitions.

Longo, 35, not only is seeking permission from state corrections officials
to become an organ donor. He also is advocating for 2 million prisoners
across the country to be granted the same choice.

A Corrections Department spokeswoman confirmed this week that Longo has
sought official approval to become an organ donor  either while he's alive
or after he's executed.

His request is drawing scrutiny from corrections officials.

"The department looks at organ donation on a case-by-case basis," said
Jennifer Black, a Corrections Department spokeswoman.

If Longo's bid to become an organ donor were to be granted, it could be a
first for Oregon's 14,000-inmate prison system.

Black said she wasn't aware of any previous case in which a state prisoner
had received permission to donate an organ. She remembered one case in
which a prisoner was allowed to donate bone marrow for transplanting into
a relative.

Generally, prison officials are willing to consider organ-donation
proposals, especially if an inmate has a sincere desire to help a sick
relative, Black said.

"If someone needs a bone marrow transplant or their mother needs a kidney
and there's a match, then there's no reason that can't go forward," she
said. "But it's not just a blanket 'yes.' All offenders can give part of
their body away to somebody else. It has to be for the right reasons and
the right person and all that."

Prison officials don't want inmates to think that they might be able to
sell their body parts for cash, Black said.

"That's a big concern," she said. "We obviously don't want offenders
selling their organs."

Longo's bid to become an organ donor could spark public outrage and
debate, partly because of the heinous nature of his crimes.

Longo was sent to death row for the December 2001 murders of his wife,
MaryJane Longo, and their 3 small children in Lincoln County.

Police and prosecutors said Longo suffocated MaryJane, 34, and the
children, stuffing their bodies in suitcases and sleeping bags and
throwing them into shallow ocean inlets before going to work the following
day and attending an office pizza party.

Longo fled to Mexico after the slayings and was added to the FBI's Ten
Most Wanted list.

In January 2002, the fugitive was captured in Cancun, where he had
befriended a German woman and posed as a former New York Times reporter.

After Longo waived extradition, the FBI brought him back to Oregon to
stand trial. It took a jury less than a day to find Longo guilty. On April
16, 2003, he was sentenced to death.

In a strange twist, Michael Finkel, the journalist Longo impersonated in
Mexico, became obsessed with Longo's case, attended his trial and
conducted numerous interviews with him, leading to a book called "True
Story."

The book melded Longo's sensational murder case with the author's personal
story of disgrace  Finkel was fired by the New York Times in 2002 because
he concocted a character for a feature story.

In a new development, Finkel has written a story about Longo's life on
death row, as well as his quest to become an organ donor.

According to Finkel's account, published in the latest edition of Esquire,
Longo became depressed after 5 years on death row and was ready to abandon
his appeals, thus setting the stage for his execution by lethal injection.

However, Longo reportedly had a change of heart after Finkel wrote to him
and suggested that he look into becoming an organ donor.

"Longo was astounded," Finkel writes in the magazine story. "When he read
my letter, he told me, something inside of him clicked. A switch was
thrown. He felt an enthusiasm he hadn't experienced in years. He felt
inspired."

Longo subsequently came up with a name for his project: GAVE, short for
Gifts of Anatomical Value from Everyone.

According to Finkel's article, Longo received help from his brother to set
up a Web site, GaveLife.org.

In an 18-page memo Longo wrote about organ donation, he describes the
nationwide shortage of donors and delves into the tangled legal and
medical hurdles that stand in the way of prison inmates becoming donors.

"Anatomical gifts can be made at 2 stages: a living donation and a
donation at death," he wrote. "Both types of donations are vital to
provide for survival where there are no other options for those in need of
an organ due to the unfortunate shortage in the United States. I believe
that it's a realistic goal to be able to give at both stages as a willing
inmate on death row and for altruistic inmates in general."

Longo apparently has plenty of time to work on his project. He won't be
executed soon  possibly not for many years  unless he opts to waive his
appeals.

Harry Latto, a Portland attorney representing Longo in his pending
post-conviction relief case, said Tuesday that his client is "not very far
along" in a drawn-out appeals process that exists for condemned killers.

Meanwhile, Latto said, Longo "likes the idea of getting some publicity for
his project."

Tom Bostwick, a Salem attorney also representing Longo in the
post-conviction case, described Longo's death-row organ-donation activism
this way: "He's pretty invested in this. He's trying to see what other
states are doing and have done. He's reasonably intelligent, compared to
some of them. It gives him something to do."

(source: Statesman Journal)






CALIFORNIA:

Closing arguments soon in death penalty trial for Fontana shooting


Lawyers' closing arguments are set for Thursday in the trial for Earl
Eugene Rose Jr., who is suspected of shooting 3 people - 1 of them fatally
- during a 1998 robbery at a Fontana business.

Prosecutors and Rose's defense team rested their cases last week in a
trial before Judge Michael A. Smith in San Bernardino Superior Court. If
Rose is convicted, prosecutors will seek the death penalty.

Rose, now 34, is suspected of shooting and wounding a woman and her
husband during the August 1998 robbery at Future Water International on
Ceres Avenue, in Fontana.

The couple's 15-year-old niece, Nora Rodriguez, died as a result of
gunshot wounds.

Rose's lawyers said their client was mistakenly identified as the shooter.
Rose has pleaded not guilty to charges of murder, 2 counts of attempted
murder, robbery, attempted robbery and being a felon of possession of a
firearm, according to court records.

Once lawyers' closing arguments are completed, the court will instruct the
jury on the law that applies to the case and then jurors can begin their
deliberation.

If Rose is convicted, the court will conduct a penalty phase of the trial
with more witness testimony to determine whether the defendant should
receive the death penalty or life in state prison without the possibility
of parole.

(source: San Bernardino Sun)

*************************

State Supreme Court upholds death penalty for deputy sheriff Larry
Griffith's murderer


In an 86 page opinion, the California Supreme Court unanimously affirmed,
in a 7-0 vote, the death penalty for Dennis Newton Ervine who was found
guilty of the 1st degree murder of Lassen County Sheriff deputy Larry
Griffith during an incident in the Ravendale area in March 1995.

Lassen County District Attorney Bob Burns said he expects Ervine to engage
in further appeals including the United States Court of Appeals for the
9th circuit.

After a motion for a change of venue was granted, a Sacramento County jury
found Ervine guilty of the 1st degree murder of Griffith and the attempted
willful, deliberate and premeditated murder of Commander William Freitas,
deputy Wayne Aldridge and deputy Henry Mahan.

The jury also found special circumstances to be true that Ervine committed
the murder to avoid arrest and he committed the murder by means of lying
wait.

On March 16, 1996, the jury returned with a verdict of death. The court
denied Ervine's request for a retrial and to modify the penalty verdict.
He was also sentenced to 3 consecutive life sentences in prison without
the possibility of parole and an additional term of 16 years.

In the opinion, which outlines evidence presented in the trial and the
court's responses to Ervines appeal, the state rejected numerous claims
made by the defendant including his state and federal constitutional
rights to counsel were violated and that his conviction must be reversed
because of asserted violations of state statutes protecting the rights to
communicate confidentially with his attorney.

The court also rejected numerous claims of prosecution misconduct.

In some cases, the court agreed with Ervine's appeals, but found those
arguments had no merit to the case.

Ervine also claimed errors during the trial should result in the
overturning of the death penalty, but the court disagreed saying, "The few
non-prejudicial individual errors we have found are no more compelling
when considered in combination and defendant does not explain how these
errors would reinforce a compelling theory of prejudice or undermine the
prosecution's case against him. Their cumulative effect does not warrant
reversal of the judgment."

The defendant also said the jury should not have been permitted to rely on
the existence of the special circumstances of murder to avoid arrest as an
aggravating factor in addition to the special circumstances of murder of a
peace officer in the line of duty because it "overlapped with and
duplicated the latter," which is an argument the court said also failed.

In the morning of March 2, 1995, Griffith, Mahan, Freitas and Aldridge
responded to Ervine's Ravendale residence following a report of a domestic
violence incident.

According to the opinion, Ervine barricaded the downstairs windows and
watched the officers arrive from an upstairs bedroom window. As the
officers exited their vehicle, he fired his .30-.30 Winchester rifle and
continued to do so until a bullet from one of the officers grazed his
head.

The opinion said the deputies took cover when the defendant began
shooting, but Freitas, Griffith and Mahan were able to return fire.
Griffith was shot in the head during the incident which the document said
lasted about 10 to 15 seconds.

After a several hour standoff, the surviving deputies were evacuated under
the cover of a dump truck and Ervine surrendered several hours later.

The full document can be read at courtinfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/opinions.cgi.

(source: Lassen News)

Dec. 16



GEORGIA----impending execution

Gary's execution set for 7 p.m.----Murderer scheduled to be executed by
lethal injection, barring last-minute intervention


Almost 24 hours after it finished hearing testimony in the case of
condemned Stocking Strangler Carlton Gary, the Georgia Board of Pardons
and Paroles on Tuesday denied his defense attorneys push for a stay of
execution to test DNA evidence in the 1970s rapes and stranglings of
elderly Columbus women.

That left Gary with 2 final appeals to the Georgia Supreme Court before
his scheduled execution by lethal injection at 7 p.m. today at the state
Diagnostic and Classification Prison in Jackson.

Russ Willard, a spokesman for the Georgia attorney general, said the state
will go through with Gary's execution unless a judge orders a stay.
Appeals alone won't cause a delay.

The parole board's decision was announced shortly after 3 p.m. Tuesday.
The board heard almost 7 hours of testimony Monday before it began
deliberating about 4 p.m. One kink in the deliberations was that board
member Garland Hunt had been hospitalized Monday morning and had to catch
up on the proceedings by reviewing the recorded testimony.

These are the appeals Gary still had pending Tuesday before the state
Supreme Court: One from Muscogee Superior Court, which last week twice
denied defense attorneys' motions for a stay of execution to test DNA
evidence, and another from a similar motion that was denied in Butts
County Superior Court, which has jurisdiction over the death row prison.

Prosecutors have filed responses in opposition to those appeals, in detail
arguing that judges repeatedly have considered and rejected Gary's motions
for the courts to review evidence that was not available when he was tried
and convicted in 1986.

Both of Gary's appeals seek a stay of execution. His appeal from Muscogee
County is filed in criminal court, arguing that he should get a stay
because evidence used to convict him was flawed and evidence casting doubt
on his guilt was withheld by the prosecution.

His appeal from Butts County is a writ of habeas corpus, which makes the
same argument as the Muscogee appeal, but is filed in civil court. Habeas
corpus is an avenue prisoners use to challenge their incarceration,
essentially asking the court to justify their imprisonment in light of the
evidence and the trial record.

If the Georgia Supreme Court rejects those appeals, Gary's attorneys may
appeal those denials to the U.S. Supreme Court, which on Nov. 30 declined
for a 3rd time to consider Gary's case.

Stocking Stranglings

Arrested in 1984, Gary was convicted in 3 of the 7 stranglings that
terrorized Columbus in 1977 and 1978  those of Florence Scheible, 89, on
Oct. 21, 1977; Martha Thurmond, 69, on Oct. 25, 1977; and Kathleen
Woodruff, 74, on Dec. 28, 1977.

He was implicated in other slayings to show a pattern of behavior, as the
same killer is believed to have committed all 7 stranglings, and to have
attacked 2 Columbus women who survived. Investigators also have linked
Gary to similar crimes in New York.

(source: Columbus Ledger-Enquirer)

***************************

'Stocking Strangler' Set to be Executed


A Georgia man convicted of strangling 3 elderly women with their own
stockings is scheduled to be put to death Wednesday evening.

Carlton Gary, 59, was convicted in 1986 of 3 of 7 slayings between 1977
and 1978 that terrified the west Georgia city of Columbus. He was dubbed
by the local media as the "Stocking Strangler" because the victims were
brutally beaten and raped before they were strangled with their own
underwear.

Gary's attorneys hope to stop his execution so DNA evidence from the 4
other slayings can be tested, as no evidence in the strangling deaths had
been subjected to testing since it wasn't available when he was convicted.

A series of state and federal courts have so far dismissed the challenges.

(source: Associated Press

****************************

Mayor Wetherington talks about Carlton Gary


Convicted murderer Carlton Gary will be put to death Wednesday, for the
deaths of 3 Columbus women murdered in the late 70's.

The Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles began deliberating Monday,
following Gary's clemency hearing and their decision is Gary is not
granted a stay of execution.

Several city officials have been asked to witness the Wednesday execution
and even though Mayor Jim Wetherington turned down the invitation, he
agreed to sit down with News Leader Nine addressing how the killings have
impacted our community.

Columbus Mayor Jim Wetherington remembers clearly the investigation
leading up to the arrest of Carlton Gary, "I was the police chief when we
finally arrested him. After that I left the department in 1995 and he kept
appealing, appealing, appealing, all the way up the ladder and finally he
exhausted all his appeals and they set an execution date."

Wetherington says efforts from the Sheriff's Department, the GBI and the
Columbus Police Department lead to "the stocking strangler's" arrest and
conviction, "For those of us who were involved in this case, we are
relieved that its finally coming to an end."

He says the execution is putting officials' minds to rest and bringing a
bit of closure to the victim's families, "It has been a long 20-something
years since this happened, maybe close to thirty years and I think they
will be relieved just like the rest of us that this case is coming to a
close."

Wetherington understand that the serial killings in Columbus will have an
impression on those who lived through it, but he hopes residents remember
an important lesson.

"Hopefully it won't be a lasting impact but I think all of us that are
still living will remember when. We didn't think anything like this could
happen in Columbus Georgia but it did. I think you need to take all the
precautions you can to make sure you're safe in your home," Mayor
Wetherington told News Leader Nine.

Carlton Gary is scheduled to be put to death by lethal injection Wednesday
night at 7pm.

(source: WTVM News)






KENTUCKY:

State releases plan for execution procedure


Kentucky released its execution protocols for the 1st time Wednesday, and
the public and legislators will get a chance to comment on the rules next
year.

It's ultimately up to Gov. Steve Beshear to readopt the procedure or any
changes.

The protocol covers a variety of areas, ranging from how quickly an inmate
must become unconscious to when a coroner and physician are called in to
certify death.

After fighting for several years to keep the protocol secret, the state
released it just weeks after the Kentucky Supreme Court ruled 4-3 that it
hadn't been properly adopted. The court barred any executions until the
method was redone.

The ruling didn't challenge the technique, which is used by dozens of
other states and has passed U.S. Supreme Court scrutiny in a case brought
by Kentucky death row inmate Ralph Baze.

The protocol will be opened to public comment in January. Various
legislative committees then review it before it goes to the governor for
approval. It couldn't take effect before next May.

The release of the protocol comes less than a week after Ohio used an
overdose of 1 drug on convicted killer Kenneth Biros  the 1st 1-drug
execution in the United States.

Parts of Kentuckys 74-page protocol have previously been made public,
including the 3 drugs used to execute an inmate  sodium thiopental, a
fast-acting sedative; pancuronium bromide, which causes paralysis; and
potassium chloride, which causes cardiac arrest.

Details made public for the 1st time include:

*A coroner and physician are nearby to certify death. The coroner checks
the inmate's pupils and pulse and the physician certifies the cause of
death. Neither is in the execution chamber.

*If an inmate is conscious after 60 seconds during a lethal injection, the
warden must stop the procedure and order that a backup IV be used in
another site on the inmate's body.

*If an inmate has not died after 10 minutes during a lethal injection or 2
minutes during an electrocution, a second dose of drugs or jolt of
electricity is administered.

*Members of the execution team must be a phlebotomist  a person trained to
draw blood  emergency medical technician, paramedic or military corpsman
or combat medic and have at least 1 year of professional experience.

*Each execution costs the Department of Corrections $17,000.

Courts around the country have split over whether states should have to
follow administrative regulation procedures in adopting a lethal injection
protocol. Maryland, Nebraska and California have found that the
requirement applies to lethal injection, while courts in Missouri and
Tennessee ruled that it doesn't.

California is undergoing a process similar to Kentuckys and recently
received public comment. Its execution method must still be approved by a
federal judge, who stopped all executions there until officials eliminated
deficiencies found in the original process.

Kentucky's three-drug protocol also is under attack in federal court by 5
inmates. They are challenging the protocol, the practice of giving Valium
to inmates before an execution and how the state acquires the drugs used.

Kentucky has 35 death row inmates. The state has executed 3 men since the
death penalty was reinstated in 1976, most recently in November 2008.

(source: Associated Press)






NORTH CAROLINA:

Book puts death penalty on trial----Kleinschmidt is a protagonist


Non-fiction author John Temple took a gamble.

The former Greensboro News & Record reporter and current West Virginia
University professor wanted access to case files and confidential meetings
at the Center for Death Penalty Litigation, so he promised not to publish
his book about Durham's death-row appeals lawyers until inmate Bo Jones
was either executed or taken off death row.

"There were times in there when I really wondered: Am I going to be
following this case for 20 years?" Temple said.

But five years later, Temple is able to tell the story of the center's
efforts to save Jones from lethal injection in his new book, "The Last
Lawyer."

The book takes a reader into the tangled web of death-penalty
jurisprudence, where judges and prosecutors look all too human and life or
death decisions sometimes hang on hapless defense attorneys. Temple
doesn't spare his protagonists either: former CDPL director Ken Rose, the
hero of the story, uses his condescending "West Point look" on colleagues
who have disappointed him; Chapel Hill Mayor Mark Kleinschmidt, another
center lawyer, reveals a smoking habit.

"It does a good job of capturing the stress and the anxiety," said
Kleinschmidt. "It may reveal more ... than we may have felt comfortable
with."

But Rose gave Temple the access because he believes the public would not
tolerate the current death-penalty system if people understood how it
works. Jones, with a low IQ and mental illness, went to death row based on
no evidence of his guilt other than the testimony of his impoverished
ex-girlfriend whom prosecutors had paid to testify.

"He was poor. He had no money. He was borderline mentally retarded. He had
serious issues with mental illness. He had difficulty assisting his trial
counsel and assisting with his defense," Rose said. "Those were the
reasons why he was convicted and sentenced to death, and that shouldn't
be."

"The Last Lawyer" leaves open the question of Jones' innocence; an
ineffective justice system bears the only clear burden of guilt in the
story. His co-defendant Larry Lamb remains in prison, for life, based
solely on testimony from the same witness.

"It's a burning question in this case," Rose said of who actually killed
bootlegger Leamon Grady in Duplin County. "It is open-ended in the book.
It is incredibly disturbing. We didn't get that [answer, in the book], and
we didn't get that in real life."

Temple said he had to come to terms with that early in the process, so he
could focus on painting a real-life portrait of Rose and his colleagues.

"I understood that I was never going to know and no one was ever going to
know," he said. "That's never going to be found out. The investigation was
so cold by the time they even identified Bo Jones as a suspect. There was
not some kind of big-time investigation where you could go back and kind
of dig something up."

Rather than a typical "murder mystery," "The Last Lawyer" is more like a
"conviction mystery," asking, how did Bo Jones end up on death row? The
book follows the case from a failed attempt at "appropriate relief" on
grounds of mental illness and inadequate defense in Duplin County, to
Jones' day in federal court.

The eventual outcome shocked Jones' lawyers, and this article will not
spoil the ending for readers unfamiliar with the case. "The Last Lawyer,"
despite its weighty content, reads like a story, a piece of narrative
nonfiction with the characterization and scene-setting of a novel.

Durham attorney Jay Ferguson enjoyed it for its realism. "That's what a
lot of lawyers deal with on a daily basis," he said.

Temple, whose previous book described the lives of coroners, set out to
write a book on lawyers and ended up latching onto one particular case.

"[The books are] about unusual jobs - jobs that a lot of people wouldn't
want but are really interesting and sort of dramatic," he said. "[For my
next book] I want to do something a little lighter than the last two
subjects. Something without death in the title."

Rose said Temple took a complicated topic and translated it for a lay
reader. He hopes the book will result in more cases getting a federal
hearing and perhaps influence legislators to shield mentally ill convicts
from capital punishment, as a current bill in the General Assembly
proposes.

"I would like [readers] to see how often justice in capital cases can be a
crapshoot," Rose said. "Most lawyers don't get this stuff .. and, for the
public, it's just very difficult. John ... really spent a lot of time
trying figure this stuff out."

(source: Chapel Hill News)

***********************

Young could face life, death


Wake County District Court Judge Jane Gray told Jason Young that he could
be put to death or spend the rest of his life in prison if he is convicted
of the 2006 slaying of his wife.

In 10 days, Wake County prosecutors will go before a judge and announce
whether they're considering seeking the death penalty in the case.

Meanwhile, Young is temporarily without an attorney.

Roger Smith Jr. of Raleigh, who has represented Jason Young since his
wife's death, said today that he may represent Jason Young during the
trial.

"I am making a limited appearance just for the purposes of today," Smith
said.

Smith said after the hearing that he had met with Jason Young this
morning.

"We met for a very brief time," Smith said. "He's doing about as well as
he can."

Smith went on to say that he's not sure if he will continue to represent
him during the pending murder trial.

"We just don't know at this point. We may and we may not. We're just not
sure at this point," Smith said. "We think it's good that he keeps all of
his options."

Young told Gray that he was indigent and wanted a public defender. Gray
told him he needed to fill out paper work showing that he didn't have
money to provide for a lawyer.

"If it's warranted the court will continue to let the public defender
represent you," Gray said.

Wake prosecutor Howard Cummings said he would not comment on whether the
state would seek the death penalty against Jason Young.

However, he did say that the Wake County District Attorney's Office is
required to file request for a Rule 24 hearing, that allows a judge to
determine whether there are aggravating factors that would warrant the
death penalty.

Young, wrists shackled and outfitted in a drab, orange and white-striped
jail uniform was led into a 1st-floor courtroom at the county's public
safety center just after 2 p.m. yesterday for his 1st court appearance in
the murder case.

On Monday, a Wake County grand jury issued an indictment charging Jason
Young with 1st-degree murder of his wife. The indictment came 37 months
after Michelle Young, 29 and several months pregnant, was found dead, face
down by her sister in a pool of blood in the master bedroom of the
couple's home in the Enchanted Oaks subdivision, south of Raleigh.

Wake sheriff's deputies and SBI agents arrested Young on Monday afternoon
at a traffic stop in Brevard, where he has lived with his parents for the
past several years.

Young arrived in Raleigh about 7:15, riding in the back set of a Ford
Expedition that pulled into the rear of the Wake County jail.

(source: News & Observer)






TENNESSEE:

Fight Over Death Row Inmate's Autopsy Continues


The fight over the autopsy of an executed inmate headed back to court
Wednesday.

Attorneys for triple convicted murderer Cecil Johnson, Jr., will take
their arguments before a Davidson County Chancery Court.

A federal court judge issued a temporary block on the autopsy just an hour
before Johnson's execution 2 weeks ago. The judge later decided to
dissolve the order, saying the state had a legitimate reason to perform an
autopsy.

Johnson objected to the procedure because it was against his religious
beliefs; however, medical officials said an autopsy is the only way to
know whether the execution was carried out properly.

(source: NewsChannel5)

Dec. 15



OREGON:

Motions filed to challenge death penalty; not guilty plea entered


The Coos County District Attorney isnt sure whether he'll seek the death
penalty for a Fairview man accused of murdering his sister-in-law. Still,
a Eugene defense attorney has filed motions to challenge the death penalty
in Coos County Circuit Court, in hope of sparing Patrick Lee Horath if the
45-year-old is convicted.

Daniel Koenig filed several motions to test the constitutionality of the
death penalty during Horath's plea-change hearing Monday, before Judge
Michael Gillespie. The Coos County judge set a special hearing for the
matter at 10 a.m. on Feb. 12. Horath also gave a not-guilty plea on 5
counts of murder and 1 count 1st-degree sexual abuse. The charges stem
from the Nov. 9 death of 31-year-old Jayme Austin.

Coos County District Attorney R. Paul Frasier said death penalty-challenge
motions aren't anything unusual.

"It's always done in a case where the death penalty is a possible
sentence," he said.

Frasier said he won't know until closer to a trial  if one is set  whether
he will pursue the death sentence for Horath. Investigators believe he
sexually abused and strangled Austin in her mother's bathroom.

Horath remains in the Coos County jail on $3 million bail.

(source: The World)






NEVADA:

Prosecutors to seek death penalty for accused child killer


Prosecutors have decided to seek the death penalty for a 21-year-old
Henderson man accused of killing his girlfriend's baby.

Rayshaun Coleman is charged with 1st-degree murder, child abuse and
neglect. He pleaded not guilty to all charges Dec. 1 during his
arraignment.

Tuesday morning he appeared in front of District Court Judge Michael
Villani for a status check. Prosecutor Vicki Monroe told the court that
the district attorney's office is seeking the death penalty for Coleman
and is ready to go to trial.

Public defender David Schieck and Monroe agreed on an October 2010 trial
date. Villani set the trial for 10 a.m. on Oct. 11.

Coleman asked Villani if the trial could be scheduled earlier. After the
status check, Coleman spoke to Schieck, saying "this is my life."

Coleman's case has been combined with that of the mother of the infant,
21-year-old Christal Hilburn-Gaynor, who has been charged with child abuse
and neglect after leaving the infant in Coleman's care while she was
serving weekends at the Henderson Detention Center on domestic violence
and battery charges.

Hilburn-Gaynor pleaded not guilty at her Dec. 1 arraignment to child abuse
and neglect charges. The district attorney's office is not seeking the
death penalty for Hilburn-Gaynor, Monroe said.

Her attorney, Robert Glennen, said he hopes to file a motion next week
that would separate the 2 cases. If the cases are separated, Glennen said
Hilburn-Gaynor would have a trial before October 2010, possibly in late
March. He said no motions have been filed.

Coleman was arrested March 8 after officers received a 911 call that a
baby wasn't breathing. Police arrived at the house in the 1900 block of
Dunnam Street, near Pabco and Sunset roads, and found the baby beaten and
burned, authorities have said.

During the preliminary hearing for Coleman, officers testified Coleman
told them someone else must have entered the home and injured the baby
while the boy was sleeping.

A Clark County medical examiner testified the baby died from traumatic
brain injuries, including 2 fractures on the right side of the skull. The
baby was 5 weeks, 4 days old. The infantss death was ruled as a homicide.

Both Coleman and Hilburn-Gaynor are being held in the Henderson Detention
Center. Coleman is being held without bail and Hilburn-Gaynors bail is set
at $10,000.

(source: Las Vegas Sun)






NORTH CAROLINA:

Toward justice


There's little middle ground to be found in North Carolina's Racial
Justice Act, which allows defense attorneys to use racial bias as an
argument against the pursuit and imposition of the death penalty. Jim
O'Neill, Forsyth County's new district attorney, supports the death
penalty and says that its use has been "racially neutral" in the 13 years
he has worked in the office. But, setting a new spirit of cooperation for
his office, he agreed last week to delay a death-penalty case to await the
results of a major study about capital punishment and race in North
Carolina.

"It would be disingenuous to the public to schedule another capital case
before the study is completed," O'Neill told the Journal.

He agreed to delay the case of Gerald Spease, whose murder trial was
scheduled to start next month. Spease, charged with setting a fire June
17, 2006, that killed Tammy Dianne Wilson, faces the death penalty if
convicted. Mark Rabil, an assistant capital defender, had moved to delay
the trial, citing the Racial Justice Act that the state legislature passed
in August. The Spease case involves a black defendant and victim. Rabil
said he may have argued for a delay by saying that in similar, more
heinous cases involving white defendants, the death penalty has not been
in play.

Rabil also sought delays in three other murder cases. Those cases had not
been put on the court calendar. O'Neill has no plans to do so until the
study is done. He has scheduled the Spease case for September.

The $500,000 study being done by 2 law professors from Michigan State
University is scheduled to be finished in August.

Rabil said that O'Neill is one of the toughest prosecutors in the state,
but is willing "to take a good hard look at the issues."

O'Neill obviously realized that Rabil may well have prevailed in court
with his motion to delay the cases. But other prosecutors, responding to
the demands of their pro-death-penalty constituents, may have still waged
the fight. O'Neill's predecessor, Tom Keith, was an outspoken critic of
the Racial Justice Act, which Gov. Bev Perdue signed into law in August.

O'Neill, whom Perdue appointed to serve out the rest of Keith's term after
he retired last month, is being criticized for his decision to delay the
Spease case. But we believe that his action was pragmatic and fair given
the racial tension over some criminal cases in Forsyth County.

The 1984 Deborah Sykes murder case, particularly the arrest and
convinction of Darryl Hunt, created a long-running racial division in
Winston-Salem. Sykes was white and Hunt, wrongly convicted of her murder,
is black. Rabil finally won Hunt's release in 2003, after DNA testing led
to the real killer. In response to that case and others, Forsyth County
Reps. Larry Womble and Earline Parmon introduced the Racial Justice Act.

The act, and the study, could lead the way toward resolving longstanding
questions about racial bias in the criminal justice system. The process
will require a cooperative spirit from prosecutors -- like that shown by
O'Neill last week.

(source: Editorial, Winston-Salem Journal)






USA:

Headley 'assisting' FBI to escape death penalty


David Coleman Headley's ongoing 'cooperation' with the FBI in the
investigations relating to the Mumbai carnage is being seen as a clear bid
on his part to escape a possible death penalty.

Although he pleaded not guilty to a 12-count indictment last week, setting
the stage for a trial, both Headley's court-appointed attorney and the
prosecutors have said that the man charged with the 26/11 conspiracy was
'cooperating with the FBI.'

While neither side would go into details on this score, Headley's attorney
John Theis is on record, saying: "We don't have any disagreement with
anything contained in the governments release." That has given rise to
speculation that an earnest bid for a plea bargain may be in the works.

As a drug smuggler who became a federal informant in the 1990s in return
for a deal with a reduced jail term.

There has been speculation in the American media that Headley may be out
to strike a deal with the prosecution by assisting FBI.

(source: Express Buzz)

Dec. 15



GEORGIA----impending execution

Pardons board denies inmate's appeal


Georgia's pardons board has denied clemency to a man convicted of killing
3 women in the 1970s.

The board made its decision to deny Carlton Gary clemency Tuesday, a day
after his attorneys asked the panel to give the case another look.

Gary is scheduled to be executed Wednesday at 7 p.m. He was convicted in
1986 of 3 of the city's seven "stocking strangler" slayings. The victims
were strangled with their own stockings.

The board could change the sentence to life without parole or life with
the possibility of parole. It could also deny clemency or grant a stay of
execution of up to 90 days.

(source: Associated Press)

*****************************

Several local attorneys support DNA testing in Carlton Gary case


Several Columbus attorneys say if evidence that could be subjected to DNA
testing in the "Stocking Stranger" cases exists, the test should be
conducted before convicted killer Carlton Gary is executed.

Gary's execution is set for 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Georgia Diagnostic and
Classification Prison in Jackson.

No evidence in the stranglings has been subjected to DNA testing, which
was not available when Gary was convicted in 1986. Garys attorney sought a
stay based on physical evidence that was discovered Dec. 4 during a search
of the Columbus Police Department. The Georgia Innocence Project used an
open-records request to demand that any such material be disclosed.

Columbus criminal defense attorney Richard Hagler, who was a young
prosecutor in 1977 and 78 when the murders took place, said, "If it can be
done, I am inclined to believe it should be done. If the evidence is there
and it is legitimate and has not been tainted  and that's 2 big ifs  they
should test it."

Columbus attorney Ken Henson agrees.

"I can understand that the families of these victims who were brutally
murdered are ready for this to come to an end," Henson said. "But if it
only takes 90 days or less to do the DNA testing, it should be done. It
could establish conclusively and eliminate any doubt."

If the evidence is tested and later not found to be Gary's DNA, it would
create tremendous problems for the local justice system, Henson said.

"Some would argue why should we hurry up and kill somebody when the
testing is available," Henson said. "If you eliminate all doubt, nobody is
going to write another book about it."

Henson was referring to "The Big Eddy Club," written by British author
David Rose. In the book, Rose contends Gary's conviction was a miscarriage
of justice.

Muscogee Superior Court Judge Robert Johnston again has rejected Gary's
request that his execution be stayed until such tests are conducted.

District Attorney Julia Slater opposed the delay.

Henson said he does not understand why the state would not want the tests
run.

"Justice is about seeking the truth and this is another way of getting at
the truth," he said.

Columbus Public Defender Bob Wadkins said the testing would be a balancing
act.

"It is a matter of how you calculate the balance between procedure,
finality and the possibility of a mistake," he said. "The very nature of
criminal law is a human endeavor. And it is never going to be about
certainty. It is a quest for balance."

Wadkins said he would prefer the evidence be subjected to a DNA test.

"Personally, I think it would be a good idea to put it off and test it,"
he said. "And if it matches, the execution will be legitimate in a vast
majority of people's eyes. There will be a satisfaction that justice has
been done."

Hagler, who has represented a number of clients facing the death penalty,
said Gary's attorney is just doing his job.

"If I were representing him, I would fight for the testing of the evidence
screaming to the high heavens," Hagler said.

(source: Columbus Ledger-Enquirer)

******************************

NAACP pushes to stop execution


The Georgia NAACP has endorsed efforts to win a stay of Wednesday's
scheduled execution for Carlton Gary.

Gary's attorneys are seeking a stay for Gary asking that the courts allow
time for DNA testing of evidence in the "stocking strangling" cases in
Columbus in the late 1970s.

The Georgia Conference of the National Association for the Advancement of
Colored People has asked Muscogee County District Attorney Julia Slater to
drop her opposition to Gary's execution stay.

Gary was convicted in 3 of the 7 stranglings, His execution is set for 7
p.m. Wednesday at the state Diagnostic and Classification Prison in
Jackson.

If a stay is denied, the NAACP plans a prayer vigil at 6 p.m. Wednesday at
the Columbus Government Center downtown.

(source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution)






TENNESSEE:

Delay sought in death penalty case involving woman


Attorneys for death row inmate Gaile K. Owens have asked the Tennessee
Supreme Court for more time to respond to the state's request to set an
execution date for her.

Her attorneys on Monday requested a deadline of Feb. 5.

Last week, the state attorney general asked the court to set an execution
date.

Owens was convicted in 1986 in Shelby County for the murder-for-hire of
her husband. She was accused of hiring Sidney Porterfield to kill her
husband with a tire iron. Porterfield was also sentenced to death and is
still on death row.

According to court records, the U.S. Supreme Court last month denied her
petition for a rehearing.

Owens is the 1st woman sentenced to death in Tennessee.

(source: Chattanooga Times Free Press)






OKLAHOMA:

Man convicted in Arkansas ballerina's death loses appeal


A man who was sentenced to death for the 1996 rape and killing of a
University of Oklahoma dance student lost a bid on Monday for a new trial.

Attorneys for Anthony Castillo Sanchez appealed his 2006 conviction in the
slaying of Jewell "Juli" Busken on several grounds, the main one being
that the trial court erred in allowing him to be tried before a jury while
wearing shackles.

The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals rejected that and other arguments
in a 23-page opinion.

Sanchez's attorneys at the Oklahoma Indigent Defense System didn't
immediately return a phone call seeking comment.

Busken, of Benton, was found along the shore of Lake Stanley Draper in
southeast Oklahoma City on Dec. 20, 1996. Investigators said she was
raped, shot and bound after being abducted from the parking lot of the
Norman apartment complex where she lived.

Sanchez was identified as a suspect in 2004 when state investigators said
they matched a DNA sample taken from him with DNA evidence collected from
the crime scene. A Cleveland County jury convicted Sanchez in 2006 of
1st-degree murder and rape, and sentenced him to death.

The Oklahoma Attorney General's Office said this is the first appeal in
the process for Sanchez, who can next request post-conviction relief from
the Court of Criminal Appeals before moving into the federal phase.

"We are pleased with the court's denial of his direct appeal and we will
continue to oppose his appeals as they move through the system," said
Charlie Price, a spokesman for the Attorney General's Office.

Monday's decision comes months after jurors in the case testified at an
evidentiary hearing that they never saw Sanchez wearing leg shackles.
Sanchez's attorneys were concerned that seeing him in restraints could
have affected the jurors' verdict.

Retired sheriff's deputy Paul Bugher testified that Sanchez always was
seated before the jury entered the courtroom, and any restraints wouldn't
have been visible.

In its opinion, the appeals court wrote that the district court erred in
shackling Sanchez without recording whether a required factual
determination that Sanchez posed a security risk had been made. Even so,
the court decided that overturning the lower court decision wasn't
warranted.

Sanchez's attorneys also appealed on the grounds that the court denied a
full examination of prospective jurors' opinions about the death penalty,
and that the collection of DNA from Sanchez violated his constitutional
rights against unreasonable search and seizure.

Mary Busken, the victim's mother, said she was glad the court had rejected
Sanchez's appeal.

"I was beginning to worry," she said by telephone. "We had that little
hearing in May and all the jurors had to be called back to testify. It was
kind of like going through a mini-trial again."

****************************

Oklahoma City senator looks to abolish death penalty


A state senator from Oklahoma City says she's renewing her efforts to
abolish the death penalty in Oklahoma.

At a news conference Monday at the state Capitol, Democratic state Sen.
Connie Johnson said she's hoping the state's current economic slump could
provide momentum for public interest in abolishing capital punishment.

She says the high cost of prosecuting death penalty cases presents an
unnecessary financial burden on the state.

Johnson says she doesn't intend to introduce a bill this year, but will
work with the Oklahoma Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty to launch a
statewide educational campaign.

Any plan faces an uphill battle in the Legislature, where previous
measures to abolish the death penalty have not even received a committee
hearing.

(source for both: Associated Press)






INDIANA:

Death penalty opponents protest Indiana's first execution in two years


About 20 death penalty opponents gathered in the bitter cold in Michigan
City for a peaceful protest and to pray as the state of Indiana prepared
for the first execution in Indiana since 2007.

Father Tom McNally prays with death-row inmate Eric Wrinkles at Indiana
State Prison in Michigan City in this Dec. 18, 2008, file photo. - CNS
photo/Tim Hunt, Northwest Indiana Catholic At approximately 12:39 a.m.
Dec. 11, convicted murderer Matthew Eric Wrinkles, 49, was executed at the
Indiana State Prison with a lethal injection of sodium pentathol,
procurium bromide and potassium chloride.

"This is entirely wrong and it makes me a murderer, too," said John Souder
Roser from nearby Furnessville. "When the state murders somebody, when
they perform an execution, it's me. I am the state and I am not a
murderer."

Roser was part of the protest organized by the Duneland Coalition to
Abolish the Death Penalty in the parking lot in front of the prison gates.

Marti Pizzini, the coalition's education coordinator, stated she stood
steadfast in the cold because "the state shouldn't be allowed to kill
someone in the dark of the night without someone noticing."

Wrinkles was convicted of the 1994 murders of his estranged wife, Debra,
her brother, Mark (Tony) Fulkerson, and Fulkerson's wife, Natalie, in
Evansville.

In what was described as a methamphetamine-induced psychosis, Wrinkles,
dressed in camouflage, painted his face, cut the phone lines to the house
where his wife and 2 children were staying, and shot all three victims in
the presence of his young son, daughter, niece and nephew. In 1995, he was
convicted of murder and sentenced to die by execution.

In his last statement before his death, Wrinkles wrote: "Although tonight
I pay for my actions with my life, it has been the last 15 years that have
been the true punishment. Living with the knowledge of the pain I caused
was the severest punishment possible."

While in prison Wrinkles was baptized a Catholic.

His parents were nonpracticing Catholics and, as a boy, the extent of his
experience of faith was limited to an occasional Mass at Christmas or
Easter. Through the guidance of clergy and other prison ministers,
Wrinkles found himself increasingly drawn to the faith.

"Eric found meaning in the Catholic Church and asked to learn more," said
Bishop Dale J. Melczek of Gary, who had made several visits to the prison
to offer Communion, prayer and guidance in recent months. "He became a
full-fledged member of the church when he was baptized on death row in
2000 and has done his best to live as a faithful disciple of Jesus from
that time."

Deacon Malcolm Lunsford, also of the Gary Diocese, ministered to Wrinkles
for 9 of the last 15 years and came to call him a friend.

"At first I worried about him because I never heard him express remorse,
but then, about 2 years ago, he began to say it didn't have to be this
way," Deacon Lunsford said.

Wrinkles' conversion is proof that everyone is capable of change, by the
grace of God, according to Bishop Melczek. "Eric is a perfect example of
how God works in his own time, leading one to repentance and leading one
to turn oneself over fully to the Lord."

In an interview with the Northwest Indiana Catholic, Gary diocesan
newspaper, Wrinkles said that with help from others, God made "a huge
change" in his life and made him "see how badly drugs had distorted my
perceptions of life, love, etc."

The interview was conducted by correspondence because of limited in-person
access by the media in the weeks leading up to his execution.

"Even though I didn't go out to deliberately kill 3 people, people who I
loved and were family, the fact stands that I did and that has been an
insurmountable burden of grief, pain and shame that I can't seem to
ameliorate in my heart," he said.

"I have made peace with God, but I am not God, and do not think it
appropriate that I forgive myself in any way, shape or form," he said.

Wrinkles was, however, able to make peace with many of his family members,
most notably daughter Lindsay and son Seth, now both adults.

Mary Winnecke, the mother of Natalie Fulkerson, has become an anti-death
penalty proponent and led a letter-writing campaign to Indiana Gov. Mitch
Daniels, asking for clemency. After appeals for his life were exhausted
all the way through the Indiana Supreme Court, Eric Wrinkles refused to
seek that clemency.

In Evansville, talking to reporters on the eve of the execution, Winnecke
asked: "What is the point of continuing anger in your heart forever? You
let go and let God, and God gives you peace."

Debra Wrinkles' mother, Mae McIntire, has been unable to find peace or
closure, according to her own statements.

(source: Catholic News Service)






CALIFORNIA:

Candidate hopeful death penalty will dominate AG race


The future of the death penalty in California could dominate the race for
attorney general, or so hopes Republican candidate Tom Harman.

"The race could become a referendum on the death penalty," Harman said
Monday.

Harman's prediction is based on San Francisco District Attorney Kamala
Harris becoming the Democratic nominee in the race, a result he wants.

Harris opposes the death penalty, while Harman supports it.

Harris calls it a "flawed system" but says as attorney general she would
uphold state law.

Harman, a state senator representing much of Orange County's coastline, is
the only Republican in the race so far. He faces a field of 6 Democrats,
including Harris; former Los Angeles City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo; three
Democratic assemblymen - Ted Lieu, Alberto Torrico and Pedro Nava; and
Chris Kelly, chief privacy officer for Facebook.com.

As district attorney, Harris has never sought the death penalty, including
a high-profile case against a man convicted of killing a police officer.

"That is unusual for a district attorney ... she brings that baggage to
this race," Harman said.

Harris' campaign manager Brian Brokaw said four of the last nine attorney
generals, including Jerry Brown, share her stance on the death penalty.
They are personally opposed, but uphold the law.

Brokaw doubts the death penalty will be an issue in the race.

"If you ask voters what their top concerns are, they are much more
interested in how you are going to reduce violent crime, how you are going
to solve the prison crisis, how you are going to tackle financial crimes -
issues that affect Californians in their everyday lives," he said.

But Harman is hopeful the issue will resonate with voters, because the
majority of Californians support the death penalty. He is also hopeful
that law enforcement agencies will give him their support over the issue,
though he acknowledges that Harris' position as a district attorney has
already won her key public safety endorsements.

*********************************

O.C. grand jury indicts ex-Marine in 5 slayings----Andrew Urdiales, 45, is
on death row in Illinois, where he was convicted of killing 3 women. The
Southern California slayings of 5 women occurred between 1986 and 1995.


It's been nearly 24 years since Robbin Brandley, 23, was stabbed to death
in a parking lot after leaving a piano concert at Saddleback College in
Mission Viejo. Her killing sparked successful efforts to make college
campuses safer by requiring better lighting in parking lots and the
disclosure by schools of information about crimes on campus.

Still, no one has ever been prosecuted for her death.

On Monday, a former Marine who confessed more than a decade ago to
stabbing Brandley to death and killing 4 other women in Southern
California was indicted by an Orange County grand jury, setting the stage
for an eventual trial.

Andrew Urdiales, 45, is on death row in Illinois, where he was convicted
of killing 3 women. He was arrested in 1997 after ballistic tests linked
him to slayings there. Soon after his arrest he confessed in detail to
killing 8 women in a 9-year spree.

In the case being handled by the Orange County district attorney's office,
Urdiales is accused of committing five murders in Orange, San Diego and
Riverside counties between 1986 and 1995. For 6 of those years, Urdiales
was a Marine stationed at Camp Pendleton and Twentynine Palms.

Prosecutors believe that Brandley was Urdiales' first victim. She was
volunteering on Jan. 18, 1986, as an usher at the college concert and was
stabbed 41 times in the back, neck, chest and hand with a hunting knife as
she left the event.

Urdiales later preyed on prostitutes, prosecutors said. In almost every
case, Senior Deputy Dist. Atty. Howard Gundy said, Urdiales drove his
victims to a remote place and had sex with them or sexually assaulted them
before stabbing or shooting them.

The other California victims were Julie McGhee, 29, who was shot in the
head in Cathedral City on July 17, 1988; Maryann Wells, 31, shot to death
in a deserted industrial complex in San Diego County on Sept. 25, 1988;
Tammie Erwin, 20, shot 3 times in a remote area in Palm Springs on April
16, 1989; and Denise Maney, 32, stabbed to death in the Palm Springs
desert on March 11, 1995, while Urdiales was vacationing from Illinois.

Prosecutors expect Urdiales to be extradited to California to face the
charges after the evidentiary portion of his death penalty appeal in
Illinois. The process could take several months.

"It's important to people in the victims' families that he be prosecuted
in the state of California," Gundy said. "Members of the community want to
see him stand trial for crimes he committed here."

(source: Los Angeles Times)

Dec. 15


JAPAN:

Death row inmates' artwork displayed at Diet members' building


Some 60 artworks by death-row inmates were displayed at a Diet members'
building in Tokyo on Tuesday with the aim of stimulating debate on the
capital punishment system among parliamentarians and their aides.

The one-day exhibition, sponsored by anti-death penalty groups, marked the
20th anniversary of the U.N. adoption of an international pact aiming at
the abolition of capital punishment, they said.

The annual exhibition was started in 2005 with funding of 10 million yen
bequeathed by the mother of a death-row inmate. She wanted to encourage
inmates to create artworks in their prison cells and provide those whose
sentences have been finalized with prize money from the exhibition to fund
retrial petitions.

(source: Japan Today)






GLOBAL:

UN human rights chief calls for universal abolition of the death penalty


The top United Nations human rights official today called for the
universal abolition of the death penalty, citing a host of reasons ranging
from the fundamental right to life to the possibility of judicial errors.

"I am opposed to the death penalty in all cases," UN High Commissioner for
Human Rights Navi Pillay said in a message marking the on 20th anniversary
of the Death Penalty Optional Protocol which was added to the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) in 1989 with
the aim of abolishing the punishment.

"I hold this position for a number of reasons: these include the
fundamental nature of the right to life; the unacceptable risk of
executing innocent people by mistake; the absence of proof that the death
penalty serves as a deterrent; and what is, to my mind, the
inappropriately vengeful character of the sentence."

Ms. Pillay noted that 140 States no longer carry out the penalty. The 72
States which have ratified the Protocol are duty-bound not to execute
anybody, to take all necessary steps to definitively abolish the death
penalty, and not to extradite individuals to a country where they would
face the death penalty.

"Ratification of the optional protocol, as well as similar regional
instruments in Europe and in the Americas, thus draws a firm line under
the use of the death penalty," she said, noting that the instrument is a
key step for states moving towards abolition.

"Abolishing the death penalty is a difficult process for many societies,
and ratification of the Optional Protocol can often only come about after
a period of national debate. Until they reach that point, I urge those
States still employing the death penalty to place a formal moratorium on
its use, with the aim of ultimately ratifying the Optional Protocol and
abolishing the punishment altogether everywhere."

(source: UN News Centre)

*********************

Death penalty almost abolished


The majority of UN members no longer practise capital punishment, the
organisation said on Monday.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said around 140 of the
body's 192 member states had abolished capital punishment either formally
or in practice.

Pillay's remarks came on the 20th anniversary of a UN treaty, ratified by
72 countries, that aims to bring an end to the death penalty.

"In the 20 years since it (the treaty) was adopted, the number of formally
abolitionist states has almost tripled, and where there was once a
majority of states that wanted to keep the death penalty, they are now in
the minority," Pillay said.

"In all, around 140 states are believed to have now abolished the death
penalty either formally, or in practice."

Pillay said the abolition of capital punishment was a difficult process
for many societies and often could only come about after a national
debate.

"Until they reach that point, I urge those states still employing the
death penalty to place a formal moratorium on its use," she said.

Russia's constitutional court banned the use of capital punishment in
November, 10 years after imposing a moratorium on executions.

According to human rights campaign group Amnesty International, 2 390
people were executed in 25 states in 2008, with 93% of executions coming
in just 5 countries: China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and the US.

(source: SAPA)






IRAN----execution

One man was hanged in public in south-western Iran early this morning


1 man was hanged in public in the Serahe Khoramshahr square of Ahvaz, in
the southwest Iranian province of Khuzestan early this morning December
15.

According to the official site of the Iranian judiciary in Ahvaz, the man
was identified as "Ali S." and was convicted of armed robbery.

Since Wednesday December 9., 3 people have been hanged in public convicted
of armed robbery in Ahvaz, while 2 other people were hanged in northern
Iran and in another town in the province of Khuzestan convicted of murder.

Iran Human Rights believe the public hangings are a way to counteract the
increasing public protests against the Iranian authorities.

(source: Iran Human Rights)






IRAQ:

Resumption of death penalty in Iraq concerns UN


The resumption of the death penalty in Iraq earlier this year is a source
of great concern to the United Nations, according to the world body's
latest report covering the human rights situation in the country.

Iraqi officials have cited security conditions as a reason for the
resumption of the executions, which had not been carried out since August
2007, this May, the new publication said.

'The secretary surrounding the executions remained an additional issue of
concern,' it noted.

Finding flaws in the administration of justice and violations of due
process in criminal trials, the UN Assistance Mission in Iraq (UNAMI) and
the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) had called
on the Government earlier this year to declare a moratorium on all
executions.

'It is of particular concern that many persons are convicted on the basis
of confessions often gathered under duress or torture, while their right
not to be compelled to testify against oneself or to confess guilt is
often violated,' the report said.

'Until these violations are addressed, the imposition of the death penalty
by Iraqi courts will remain arbitrary and contrary to the international
human rights standards.'

The number of people receiving capital sentences has risen, with 324 death
sentences having been handed down by the High Judicial Council in the
first half of 2009.

The first 6 months of this year was also characterized by further
improvements in the security situation, but in spite of a drop in the
number of attacks carried out, both indiscriminate and targeted killings
continued, the publication said.

Reports indicate that the number of attacks against people based on their
perceived sexual orientation is on the rise, while many cases of violence
against women and 'honour'-related homicides go unpunished.

'Significant progress remains to be achieved to fully restore the rule of
law and to systematically address the issue of impunity,' the study
underscored. 'UNAMI has continuously stated that security in Iraq may not
be sustainable unless significant steps are taken to uphold the rule of
law and human rights and has continued to offer assistance to this end.'

The number of civilian casualties has fallen, with the death toll in May
being the lowest recorded since 2003. But number of civilians killed
doubled the following month.

'The UN reiterates that deliberate attacks against civilians are
tantamount to crimes against humanity and violate the laws and customs
applicable in armed conflict,' the report said. 'The perpetrators should
be brought to justice.'

(source: New Kerala)



CHINA:

China injects 'humanity' into death sentence


Beijing municipality's No 1 Detention Center is one of the top
penitentiaries in China, but there are no signs to guide visitors there.
Abandoned yards and demolished factories surround a complex that seems
like an island in the middle of an ocean. If the cells had windows -
that's not the case - prisoners would be able to see only construction
sites in the distance.

Unlike the adjacent heavily fortified Beijing Second Prison, No 1 has no
special security measures for its perimeter - only high walls and
closed-circuit TV cameras. The guards are the same unarmed young migrant
workers in oversized uniforms that one sees patrolling local residential
areas. They even have time to play with two stray dogs that regularly
wander across the main check point.

The scene is quiet, but the facility is often the focus of media
attention, due to the notorious political and white-collar prisoners
detained for sentencing in it. Public interest in the center is likely to
grow even more next year as all death sentences for Beijing will be
carried out in it.

The executions will all be by lethal injection, part of nationwide plans
announced by the People's Supreme Court in February to discontinue
execution by a bullet in the back of the head by 2010. To date, at least
15 provinces and municipalities have adopted the policy.

The China Daily reported on Friday that Liaoning province in the northeast
had become the nation's first to adopt the policy. "Lethal injection can
reduce the fear and suffering experienced by criminals," the Higher
People's Court of Liaoning said in a statement on its website.

Despite a raging national debate over capital punishment, local rights
groups estimate that at least 5,000 people are executed each year in China
- more than four times the rest of the world combined. Since 1949,
executions were carried out mainly by firing squads, but the revised
Criminal Procedure Law in 1996 stipulated that "the death penalty could be
executed by shooting or injection". In 1997, China became only the second
country after the United States to use lethal injections.

The China Daily reported in November that "Beijing's first permanent
lethal injection facility has been completed, ahead of plans to abolish
execution by firing squad for criminals next year". The state-owned
newspaper confirmed that "most criminal executions this year were carried
out by a firing squad at various sites in suburban Beijing''.

Zhao Bingzhi, a leading member of the China Law Science Society, told the
China Daily that the decision to replace the firing squad with lethal
injection was fair because firing squads "horrify the public and torture
the criminals, who also deserve decent deaths".

The best-selling author and dissident, Ma Jian, recounted in his book Red
Dust the experience of attending a public execution:

Public executions take place throughout China in the run-up to [October 1]
National Day. I have grown up reading these death notices and have
attended several executions. I once watched an army truck stop, a young
man called Lu Zhongjian come out, handcuffed, and two soldiers escorted
him away. When he started to scream, they slung a metal wire over his
mouth and tugged it back, slicing through his face. Then they kicked him
to the ground and shot 3 bullets into his head. Despite no official edict
stopping the practice, observers have not been aware of public executions
in China in recent years. However, The Washington Post reported in July
2008 that three young men were shot in a public square in the city of
Yengishahar in Xinjiang - the mainly Muslim region of northwestern China -
after the local government bused in several thousand students and office
workers for the spectacle.

At the end of the 1990s, in provinces with high crime rates, police were
given special buses to carry out lethal injection executions. Mobile
executions vans, converted 24-seater buses, were distributed to many
courts across the country. The windowless execution chamber at the back
contained a metal bed on which the prisoner was strapped down. Once the
needle was attached by the doctor, a police officer would press a button
and an automatic syringe inserted the lethal drug into the prisoner's
vein.

Liu Renwen, a prominent expert on the law relating to the death penalty at
the Chinese Academy of Social Science, said in a 2008 interview for the
newspaper The Beijing News that the use of buses had decreased because
they were too expensive to maintain.

Jiang Xinchang, vice president of the Supreme People's Court, told the
China Daily in February that a lethal injection "is considered more humane
and will eventually be used in all intermediate people's courts".

The cost of an execution by firing squad is 700 yuan (US$102), while a
single drug dose for a lethal injection execution costs 300 yuan, said
Liu.

The drug used is a mixture of barbiturates, a muscle relaxant and
potassium chloride, according to the Xinmin Evening News. The barbiturates
are used to make the prisoners lose consciousness, the muscle relaxant
paralyze the heart and paralyze pulmonary activities, while the third
ingredient, potassium chloride, can lead to cardiac arrest, according to
medical experts.

The lethal injection formula has faced controversy in the United States,
where the Berkeley School of Law has claimed that if the anesthetic fails,
the use of potassium chloride causes extreme pain: "There is no medical
dispute that, if an individual is not unconscious, the intravenous
injection of this drug causes excruciating pain, likened to setting one's
veins on fire."

Liu admits there is a risk because "some unqualified prison staff members
have been known to take too long injecting the drug".

He said that prison authorities tried to relieve the pressure on
executioners. "We have a superstition here that administering a death
penalty is not auspicious," said Liu. He explained that executions were
carried out with "4 needles with the same dosage and color ... One
contains a fatal drug; one is supporting medicine and then there are two
injections of saline water. 4 bailiffs will choose their injections
randomly. No one knows who gave the fatal drug, which is helpful for
relieving psychological stress among the operational staff."

The Chinese Criminal Defense Network, a national criminal law bar, sets
lawyers' fees for death sentence trials at an average of 50,000 yuan, or
US$7,313. This is expensive in a country where the per capita annual
income is US$6,000. At least under the new method the family of the
condemned prisoner is not expected to pay for the drugs. In the past,
families of condemned prisoners were sent a bill for the bullet used in
the execution.

Zhao Li, a lawyer specializing in the death penalty, told Asia Times
Online by telephone, "Generally, persons who commit economic crimes or
crimes by taking advantage of their duty are executed by lethal injection.
And for general crimes, criminals are less likely to be killed by lethal
injection."

Fewer death sentences have been carried out in China since the Supreme
People's Court in 2007 assumed the final say in approving the sentence.
The Dui Hua Foundation, an institution devoted to defending the rights of
Chinese prisoners, states that a sharp decline in capital punishment began
at least 10 years ago. Then, about 10,000 people were executed each year;
Dui Hua expects that in 2009 the number will drop to 5,000.

Wang Jun, director of the Forensic Division of the Kunming Intermediate
People's Court, said in 2008 that one of the reasons for using lethal
injections was the risk of HIV infection presented by clearing up after
firing squads. About 20% of those condemned to capital punishment in
Yunnan had the HIV virus, said Wang, as most were heroin addicts who used
shared needles. Yunnan borders the Golden Triangle, the notorious
drug-smuggling area that includes Myanmar and Thailand.

Dui Hua points out that another reason for the Chinese authorities'
support of the lethal injection may be that this method better preserves
the body for organ donations. In August, the China Daily reported that 65%
of transplants that originated in China came from executed prisoners, who
reportedly were voluntarily donors.

But Zhou Zhenjie, an expert on criminal law at the Waseda Institute for
Advanced Study, ruled out the relation between lethal injections and organ
donations. He said the main reason behind the change in policy was that it
caused less pain to prisoners.

Zhou believes that China is taking "steps in order to limit the
application of the death penalty and ensure its accuracy and
transparency", but adds that the great majority of criminal law scholars
want the complete abolition of the death penalty.

(source: Asia Times)

Dec. 15



SAUDI ARABIA:

No beheading of Filipino couple in SaudiDFA


A Middle East-based Filipino workers group Monday expressed relief that a
rumored beheading on Dec. 11 of a Filipino couple accused of killing their
Filipino maid in Saudi Arabia did not take place.

The overseas labor alliance Migrante told the Inquirer the rumor that the
couple, Carlo and Marlyn Reno, were to be publicly executed that day in
the eastern city of Al-Khobar surprised the Filipino community and let
loose accusations that the Philippine embassy was again sleeping on the
job.

Migrante spokesperson John Leonard Monterona said the inability of
Philippine embassy officials in Riyadh to immediately confirm or deny that
a beheading was about to take place fueled recriminations.

Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) spokesperson Ed Malay in Manila said
there had been no such beheading and that Migrante had been given a "bum
steer" (nakuryente).

"There never was a scheduled beheading," Malay said.

The DFA, he said, was looking into the case of the couple detained by
Saudi authorities on Dec. 8 for allegedly killing and dismembering their
Filipino housemaid 2 years ago.

Demand for transparency

Migrante urged the DFA to keep the Filipino community updated on the cases
of all OFWs on death row. "We demand transparency," said Monterona, adding
that the embassy should also tell their relatives "what they plan to do to
save the lives of OFWs on death row."

By Migrantes count, there are 23 OFWs on death row, 20 of them in Saudi
Arabia. For 1/2 of the cases, Monterona said the group only knows their
names and has no idea about the nature of the cases. The embassy provides
no updates of any kind.

He said the Filipino community as well as the families of the jailed OFWs
would be comforted if they could feel that the government was on top of
the cases.

"We were informed by some of the relatives of OFWs on death row that they
were not receiving updates on the cases. Some said the DFA had promised to
call them back but never did.

Migrante said that since 2001, six OFWs were beheaded in Saudi Arabia,
namely, Antonio Alvesa, Sergio Aldana, Miguel Fernandez, Wilfredo
Bautista, Reynaldo Cortez and Jenifer Bedoya. On the other hand, there are
14 cases of OFWs on death row that were commuted.

(source: Philippine Daily Inquirer)






IRAN:

Iran Says 3 Americans to Face Trial


As tensions build between Washington and Tehran, the Iranian foreign
minister said Monday that 3 Americans arrested in July after crossing the
border from northern Iraq would be tried but did not specify the charges,
according to news reports.

The minister, Manouchehr Mottaki, told a news conference in Tehran that
the 3 had "entered Iran with suspicious aims. The judiciary will try
them."

Reuters quoted him as saying "relevant sentences" would be handed down.

His remarks offered the clearest official indication that the 3 Americans
would face trial after an Iranian state news agency reported last month
that they had been accused of espionage  a charge that can carry the death
sentence in Iran.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton called the charges "unfounded,"
The Associated Press reported.

"The 3 young people who were detained by the Iranians have absolutely no
connection with any kind of action against the Iranian state or
government," she said in Washington, according to The A.P. "We appeal to
the Iranian leadership to release these 3 young people and free them as
soon as possible."

A trial would add one more layer of complexity and mistrust to the
relationship between the United States and Iran, already deeply strained
over Iran's nuclear program.

In late November, the Tehran prosecutor told Iran's official IRNA news
agency that authorities were pursuing espionage charges against the
Americans  Shane M. Bauer, 27, of Emeryville, Calif.; Joshua F. Fattal,
27, of Cottage Grove, Ore.; and Sarah E. Shourd, 31, of Oakland, Calif.

Washington has repeatedly urged Iran to release them, saying they are
innocent hikers who trekked off course and strayed into Iran from Iraqs
northern Kurdish-speaking region.

In November, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said: "We believe
strongly that there is no evidence to support any charge whatsoever. And
we would renew our request on behalf of these 3 young people and their
families that the Iranian government exercise compassion and release them
so they can return home."

The White House press secretary, Robert Gibbs, also said at the time that
the 3 were innocent.

Statements from family members and Kurdish authorities have said that the
hikers, all graduates of the University of California, Berkeley, had
crossed from Turkey into Kurdistan, where they stayed at a hostel and
camped as they headed toward Ahmed Awa, a resort area.

Family members have said that, after their arrest, the 3 were taken to
Iran's infamous Evin prison, where they have been visited by Swiss
diplomats and were reported to be in good physical shape.

Their case contrasts sharply with that of 5 British sailors who were
detained by Iran's Revolutionary Guards when their yacht strayed off
course in the Persian Gulf and were released last month after only a few
days.

(source: Associated Press)

Dec. 14



OKLAHOMA:

State Senator Seeks to Repeal Death Penalty----Senator Connie Johnson says
steps to repeal the death penalty in Oklahoma come at the right time both
economically and ethically.


A state senator is taking steps to repeal the death penalty in Oklahoma.
Senator Connie Johnson says this is the right time both economically and
ethically.

The move has at least one crime victim very upset. The daughter of a
couple that was killed in a violent attack 6 years ago is angry over the
prospect of the death penalty being repealed in Oklahoma.

Debra Cantrell Wyatt hasn't always been a death penalty supporter.

"There was something in my head that said 'I just don't know if I could
agree with this', and overnight the way I felt about it changed because of
what happened," Wyatt said.

What happened was a brutal attack back in 2003 that robbed Debra of her
parents. A.J. Cantrell and his wife Pasty were killed by 46-year-old Scott
Eizember. After a 37-day manhunt, Eizember was put on trial and sentenced
to death. Now there a push to abolish the death penalty in Oklahoma as
part of a prison reform effort.

"When she talks about wanting to make some reform in the justice system
there is some reform that needs to be made, mostly for the victims," Wyatt
said.

State Senator Constance Johnson is hosting a symposium on that issue this
week.

"Through a critical examination of the issue we want to see if these
dollars would be better spent making our system of justice more effective
and efficient," State Sen. Constance Johnson (D) said.

Senator Johnson says there's not an immediate effort to phase out the
death penalty in Oklahoma. She's hoping that will happen within 4 years.
For now she wants to raise awareness of the issue among the public and
legislators.

"Many new legislators do not have the insight, background or awareness of
the history of the death penalty in Oklahoma," Sen. Johnson said.

Wyatt is launching a coalition of her own to make sure that doesn't happen
and that Eizember's sentence is not commuted.

"It's just, it's what he was given and it's just a punishment for what he
did," Wyatt said.

Wyatt has already received quite a bit of support for her efforts to keep
the death penalty in place.

Republican Senate Majority leader Todd Lamb says the death penalty is a
real deterrent to Capitol crimes in Oklahoma and that as long as
Republicans control the legislature, "Wild ideas like repealing the death
penalty will not become law."

(source: NewsOn6)






OREGON:

Horath's attorney challenges basis of death penalty


The man accused of murdering his sister-in-law in Coquille in last month,
appeared in a Coos County Courtroom this Monday morning, for his 1st
hearing with an attorney.

Patrick Lee Horath appeared before Judge Michael Gillespie with his
attorney by his side. Horath is accused of murdering his sister-in-law,
Jayme Sue Austin in November.

Members of Austin's family, including her mother, were in the courtroom
Monday, watching the court proceedings.

Last month, Horath was indicted by a Grand Jury on 2 counts of Aggravated
Murder, three counts of Murder and one count of Sexual Abuse in the 1st
degree.

Horath's attorney filed 5 motions, including 2 that challenge the basis of
the death penalty in this case. His attorney also entered a not guilty
plea on behalf of Horath.

The Coos County District Attorney's Office has until January 29 to file a
response to the motions filed. Horath's next court appearance will be on
February 12.

(source: KCBY News)






COLORADO:

Death-penalty prosecutors want to kill David Lane's rhetoric in regard to
trying to kill Edward Montour


In the battle over resentencing Edward Montour Jr., an inmate who faces
possible execution for the 2002 murder of a corrections officer at the
Limon prison, defense attorney David Lane has accused the death-penalty
team of prosecutors in the office of Eighteenth Judicial District Attorney
Carol Chambers of wanting to kill his client.

Given the circumstances -- Montour's original death sentence was thrown
out because it wasn't imposed by a jury, and Chambers is again seeking the
ultimate penalty through the resentencing process -- this assertion
doesn't sound farfetched. But the DA's people have taken strong exception
to the word "kill," arguing that the term "is designed solely to inflame"
and is "unprofessional."

Think maybe the execution squad is being a little, uh, thin-skinned about
their mission? Lane does -- and trying to censor an attorney with such a
long history of anti-death-penalty activism is a bit like waving a salami
in front of a pit bull.

"Counsel is puzzled as to why the People object," Lane wrote in a recent
response to the court, "to the plain and simple fact that they are indeed
using their legal educations, their talents... and their life's energies
and are trying their very best to kill Edward Montour."

Lane and Chambers have clashed frequently over death-penalty issues,
including Chambers' efforts to finance capital prosecutions of state
inmates by billing the prison system. The DA has also been blasted over
alleged discovery and conflict of interest issues in several cases,
including the Montour case. Chambers, for her part, has accused Lane and
other defense attorneys of making death-penalty cases so expensive to
prosecute that few DAs, other than herself, even bother.

The latest flap in the Montour battle was triggered by a letter Montour
wrote to John Topolnicki, the chief deputy DA, on his resentencing.
Smelling a possible legal minefield in communicating directly with a
defendant in a capital case, Topolnicki hasn't opened the letter, asking
the judge to review it first; the defense wants the letter turned over to
them.

The prosecutors "have no specific legal right to open that letter," Lane
insisted in one court filing, "yet they hope to do in the hopes that Mr.
Montour has written something they can use against him in order to kill
him."

That line brought howls of protest from Chambers' office, which requested
an order from the judge "prohibiting the defense from future use of
derogative terms that suggest lack of constitutional, legislative,
professional, honorable, ethical, and/or secular moral authority as sworn
representatives of the People of the State of Colorado to seek the
imposition of death as the appropriate penalty in this case."

In other words, if it's the state doing it, it's not killing. It's the
"imposition of death" by lethal injection and fully sanctioned by all that
high-faluting moral authority. Got that?

Lane has responded to such euphemistic whining with relish. He cites the
morally neutral dictionary definition of kill: "To deprive of life in any
manner; cause the death of; slay," and adds: "Here the People are seeking
the death of Edward Montour at their hands. They are thus indeed trying to
kill Edward Montour."

Has Chambers' office handed Lane one more club in the death-penalty
debate? It's one thing to argue that the state has the right to seek to
kill a killer, particularly the killer of a law enforcement officer. But
it's a bit lame to pretend that the killing is not a killing, or to argue
that the prosecution is merely trying to "preserve the option" of
execution so that it may be placed before the true decision-maker, the
jury.

The People, in the form of Chambers' team, want to kill the guy. It's
nothing personal. Why not admit it?

(Point of disclosure: This newspaper and this writer have been unwittingly
dragged into the Montour case in the past. An anonymous letter to Westword
from prisoners at Limon regarding Montour was intercepted and copied by
prison officials and turned over to the prosecution, but not the defense,
leading to more wrangling about whether discovery procedures had been
violated.

(source: Westword)






CALIFORNIA:

Former Marine indicted in slayings of five women in Southern CaliforniaP>

A convicted murderer in Illinois has been indicted by an Orange County
grand jury in connection with the slayings of 5 Southern California women
in the 1980s and '90s, prosecutors said today.

Andrew Urdiales, 45, is on death row in Illinois, where he was convicted
of killing 2 women in 2002 and a 3rd in 2004. He is accused of several
murders in Orange, San Diego and Riverside counties between 1986 and 1995.

Urdiales, a former Marine, was stationed at Camp Pendleton and Twentynine
Palms between 1984 and 1991. He is accused, prosecutors said, of killing 1
woman in Orange County, 2 in Riverside County and 1 in San Diego County
during those years. After he was discharged, he returned to his home state
of Illinois. He is accused of killing a 5th woman while on vacation in
Palm Springs in 1995.

The 1st of the cases in the most recent indictment occurred on Jan. 18,
1986. Robbin Brandley, 23, was volunteering as an usher at a jazz concert
at Saddleback College in Mission Viejo when she was attacked as she left
the event. She was stabbed 41 times in the back, neck, chest and hands
with a hunting knife.

The other victims were Julie McGhee, 29, who was shot in the head in
Cathedral City on July 17, 1988; Maryann Wells, 31, who was shot to death
in a deserted industrial complex in San Diego County on Sept. 25, 1988;
Tammie Erwin, 20, who was shot 3 times in a remote area in Palm Springs on
April 16, 1989; and Denise Maney, 32, who was stabbed to death in the Palm
Springs desert on March 11, 1995.

Prosecutors expect Urdiales to be transported to California to face the
charges after the evidentiary portion of his death penalty appeal in
Illinois.

The Orange County district attorney's office is prosecuting the case.

(source: Los Angeles Times)






TENNESSEE:

Attorneys for Bartlett woman on death row seek more filing time


A Federal public defenders said today a Bartlett woman should not be
executed for the contract killing of her husband in 1985 because she was a
battered woman and her previous lawyers were ineffective.

The defenders of Gaile K. Owens asked the Tennessee Supreme Court for more
time to respond to the states recent request that an execution date be
set. Owens has completed the three-tiered appeals process through state
and federal courts.

Owens, 48, was convicted of hiring Sidney Porterfield to kill her husband,
Ronald Owens, who was beaten to death with a tire iron in his Bartlett
home. Porterfield also is on death row.

Federal public defenders Gretchen Swift and Kelley Henry, both in
Nashville, say they need more time to file a response because Swift is
pregnant, Henry has surgery scheduled and both have work and family
obligations this month. They have been on Owens' case for 7 years.

Under the law, Friday is the deadline for the defense to file its motion
giving legal and factual reasons why an execution date should not be set
and why a certificate of commutation would be appropriate.

They said Tennessee has not executed a woman since 1820. There are only 2
women among the 89 inmates on death row in the state.

The defense attorneys called Owens a battered woman whose death sentence
is disproportionate to punishment given in other spouse-killing cases,
such as Mary Winkler and William Groseclose.

Winkler served less than a year for the 2006 shotgun slaying of her
husband, Rev. Matthew Winkler of Selmer. Groseclose was sentenced to death
for the 1977 contract killing of his wife, Deborah Groseclose. His
sentence was reduced to life in a 1999 retrial.

(source: Commercial Appeal)






FLORIDA:

Judge to issue decision on Heyne sentence Thursday


Twitter Convicted murderer Justin Heyne finds out this week whether a
judge will follow a jury's recommendation to sentence him to the death
penalty.

Circuit Judge O.H. Eaton will hand down the sentence at 9 a.m. Thursday in
courtroom 4G of the Moore Justice Center in Viera.

Heyne, 28, was convicted this summer in the 2006 shooting deaths of his
roommates: Benjamin Hamilton; his girlfriend, Sarah Buckoski, and their
5-year-old daughter, Ivory Hamilton.

The jury recommended life in prison for Hamilton's murder, then voted 8-4
for the death penalty in Buckoski's death and 10-2 in favor of execution
for the child's killing.

(source: Florida Today)

Dec. 14



TENNESSEE:

Delay sought in death penalty case involving woman


Attorneys for death row inmate Gaile K. Owens have asked the Tennessee
Supreme Court for more time to respond to the state's request to set an
execution date for her.

Her attorneys on Monday requested a deadline of Feb. 5.

Last week, the state attorney general asked the court to set an execution
date.

Owens was convicted in 1986 in Shelby County for the murder-for-hire of
her husband. She was accused of hiring Sidney Porterfield to kill her
husband with a tire iron. Porterfield was also sentenced to death and is
still on death row.

According to court records, the U.S. Supreme Court last month denied her
petition for a rehearing.

Owens is the 1st woman sentenced to death in Tennessee.

(source: Associated Press)

Dec. 14


IRAN:

4 people were hanged in public in Iran in the recent days- One person
scheduled to be hanged in public tomorrow December 15.



According to the reports from Iran four people have been hanged in public
in Iran during the past 6 days and one man is scheduled to be hanged in
public tomorrow morning December 15.

According to the Iranian state run news agency Fars, one man was hanged in
public in the northern Iranian town of Shahr-e-Nour early this morning.
The man was identified as "Mohammad Sadegh A." (27) and was sentenced to
10 years in prison, 72 lashes and death in public, convicted of murdering
another person. The sentence was carried out in public in the town of
Shahr-e-Nour in the Mazanderan province north of Iran.

Fars news agency also reported that 2 men convicted of armed robbery and 1
man convicted of murder have been hanged in public in the south-western
Iranian province of Khuzestan during the past few days. According to this
report "Hamd Kh." convicted of armed robbery was hanged in public, in the
Javadolaemeh square of Ahvaz, capital of Khuzestan province, yesterday
December 13, while on Wednesday December 9 2 man convicted of armed
robbery and murder were hanged in public in the towns of Ahvaz and
Masjed-Soleiman respectively. None of these men were identified by name.

Another man, who is not identified by name, is scheduled to be hanged
tomorrow morning December 15. in public in the "Serah" square of
Khoramshahr (another town in Khuzestan province). He is also convicted of
armed robbery according to the report.

Iran Human Rights underlines that the charges mentioned in this report
have not been confirmed by independent sources.

Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, spokesperson of Iran Human Rights, said:" Public
hanging of four people in the same province seems to be a coordinated
action by the Iranian authorities. We are facing a wave of public hangings
which are without any doubt meant to counteract the recent uprisings in
Iran". He added:"We can not rule out that some of those hanged in public
belong to groups fighting against the Iranian authorities."

(source: Iran Human Rights)

Dec. 14



NIGERIA:

Death Sentence--Nationals Differ On Call for Abolition


The Legal Defence and Assistance Project (LEDAP) recently held a
knowledge, altitude and good practice workshop for Non Governmental
Organisations (NGOs), on the campaign against the use of death penalty in
Nigeria at the Airport Hotel Ikeja, Lagos State. The workshop was well
attended by NGOs, human rights advocates, civil liberties society,
security agents, journalists and many lawyers.

In her brief welcome address, the Executive Project Director of LEDAP,
Mrs. Adaobi Egboka thanked all participants and their sponsor for
attending the workshop. She disclosed that LEDAP decided to organize the
workshop to throw more light and generate intellectual discus on the vexed
issue of death penalty in Nigeria so that robust arguments by all could be
tendered and debated upon, in order to further convince doubting Thomases
that there is the need to abolish death sentence from our laws.

She further argued that the fact that no state governor whose duty it is
to sign death warrant of condemned criminals has done so in the past nine
years shows that death sentence is no longer fashionable among civilized
societies and therefore should be abolished. She charged participants to
be free to make contributions without hindrance as their input shall go a
long way towards taking decision as to whether death penalty should be
abolished or not.

With the opening remarks done, the first paper out of the several
presented was that of Mr. Ja afaru Adamu of HURILAWS titled: Developments
on the road to abolition; A balanced perspective.Mr. Adamu traced the
history of criminal laws in the country and recounted that customary and
traditional laws were in operation in Nigeria prior to the arrival of the
British in Nigeria and continued with the colonialists.

In 1861, the colony of Lagos was annexed to the United Kingdom but no
formal criminal code was introduced until 1915. In 1863, the English
common law of crime was introduced into the colony of Lagos while other
parts of the country continued to operate their customary criminal laws.
With a centralized system of government, it became imperative to have a
unified, codified criminal law and system.

Subsequently, in 1904, the Lord Lugard administration in Northern Nigeria
introduced a Criminal Code in Northern Nigeria by proclamation, which
According to Mr. Ja afaru was condemned by Justice Karibi-Whyte, who said
that the choice of the criminal code was based on the Queensland Code of
Australia and was accepted because of its simplicity.

In Southern Nigeria, an attempt to introduce a Criminal Code failed in
1899. However, in 1914, Southern and Northern Nigeria became amalgamated,
and in 1916, despite arguments that the criminal code already introduced
in Northern Nigeria was unsuitable, it was introduced into the whole
country. Since then, there has been series of amendments to suit
particular interests, with the military churning out decrees some of which
were retroactive in execution.

Mr. Adamu stated that death sentence is however not applicable to all
criminal offences known to the Nigeria laws as they are applied strictly
in cases of murder, treason, armed robbery and zina or adultery which is
applicable only to the Sharia law among others. On abolition of death
sentence, Mr. Adamu did not waste time to condemn the retention of death
penalty and campaigned fully for its abolition from our laws.

According to him, "If the reason for retention of death penalty is to
deter intending criminals from committing crimes, then the whole issue of
death sentence has been defeated as people still commit crimes even when
they know that they will face death if caught, therefore death penalty
should be abolished from our laws." He blamed civil societies and human
rights groups for not having a uniformed front in the struggle to abolish
death sentence. "There must be synergy and co-ordination on what they
really want.

Do they want outright abolition of death penalty, amendment of the
criminal code that deals with death penalty, moratorium to further look at
the implication of death sentence or the reformation of our prisons?" He
advised civil societies that while they seek the abolition of death
sentence, they should also look for alternative punishment for capital
offences which shall still be deterrent to those who might want to commit
crime in the future.

Presenting the second paper titled: Death penalty and the continuing role
of the judiciary, Mr. N.A Okoye said, "I do not agree with the flimsy
excuse of the Supreme Court that the abolition of death sentence in
Nigeria is the function of the legislature. In very simple form, I intend
to x-ray the reasons for the roles being played by the various cadres of
courts in supporting death sentence in Nigeria." He stated that our
criminal justice procedure which is not the best at the moment should be
overhauled before we retain death sentence.

According to him, "A situation where our investigation process is flawed,
can we confidently assert that a judge faced with this loose system can
beat his chest and claim that his conscience was clear in awarding death
sentence."? He called for the upgrading of our investigation gadgets by
the police to include the latest technology in crime detection, which
includes forensics, DNA investigation, and finger and foot prints analysis
to ensure that the results of criminal investigations are scientifically
based.

He advocated thorough training and retraining of our police officers who
are mainly involved in the process of investigation and prosecution to
update their knowledge and make them fall in line with modern techniques
in the detection of crime as he argued that if the process of
investigation is flawed, then justice may be denied as the wrong sentence
may be passed. At the end he pitched tent with those who called for the
abolition of death penalty charging the judiciary to rise up to the
occasion and ensure that this law is abolished.

In the next paper, Pardon and the commutation of the death penalty:
Judicial review of the executive clemency, Mr. Norrison Quakers of Olisa
Agbakoba& Associates, asked: Does capital punishment really deter people
from committing crime? He stated further that the emerging global trends
on human rights jurisprudence pose a big challenge to the Supreme Court to
revisit its position on capital punishment as he suggested that Nigeria ,
the acclaimed giant of Africa cannot afford to remain sequestered, as it
were, in the stagnant waters of stone age criminal jurisprudence when
other African countries like South Africa., Liberia, Ivory Coast,etc have
made bold to reject as being legally, sociologically, and morally
unacceptable and ineffective, the jungle justice of capital punishment. He
also disclosed that the power granted in the constitution to the president
and governors to pardon condemned people should be explored by lawyers and
human rights groups to free those on death role in prisons.

Mr. Quakers also argued that since no governor has signed death warrant
for the execution of any criminal for the past nine years, it tend to
suggest that death sentence is no longer in vogue and should be abolished
and replaced with life imprisonment as the case may be. He argued that
even God himself is against death penalty because he promised Cain who
murdered his brother Abel that he would not be killed by anybody but
remains a wonderer all his life to bear the stigma of killing his brother.

Therefore he concluded that if God in His wisdom could not allow Cain to
be killed and even went ahead in the 10 commandment He gave to Moses to
say "Thou shall not kill", then death penalty has no place in our books
and should be expunged without further delay. He informed the gathering
that the legislators cannot enact laws to abolish death penalty, as it has
to be abolished in the courts by lawyers and judges.

Another paper titled: International Legal Trends and the Mandatory Death
Penalty in Nigeria, presented by Mr. John Oziegbe of the Partnership for
Justice chided lawyers, judges and the civil societies for not doing
enough in the fight to abolish death penalty in Nigeria and therefore
charged them to triple their efforts towards achieving the noble cause. He
admitted that abolition of death sentence may not be possible and
suggested other measures to be taken in the fight to address the issue
which include moratorium, where we have to consider if death sentence has
been a deterrent factor against crime and if not what do we do?

He also said that perhaps death sentence should not be made mandatory for
certain offences considered to be minor, as he said that mandatory death
sentence allows the court to pass sentence regardless of the circumstance
of that case on individual basis and advised judges to look at the
circumstance of each accused person before passing sentence on capital
offence. As he puts it, " Although the constitution of Nigeria supports
death penalty, it doesn't support mandatory death sentences for offences
like murder, armed robbery, treason among others. Therefore, the courts
should be given the opportunity to address this stormy issue and possibly
abolish death sentence. We need judicial activism and radicalism to
abolish death sentence."

The Social Secretary of the Nigeria Bar Association(NBA), Lagos Branch,
Mrs. Joyce Oduah in her own paper: The role of lawyers in the campaign for
abolition of the death penalty in Nigeria agreed with earlier presenters
that death sentence should be abolished in Nigeria as it is no longer
fashionable among civilized nations who truly respect the dignity of man.
According to her, the Nigeria Death Penalty Group(NDPG), which has many
lawyers as members has strenuously argued against the imposition of death
penalty on offenders, and have written extensively on the vain attempt at
achieving any purpose by such extreme punitive measures. She further
stated that deterrence being the major reason advanced in imposing capital
punishment on certain offences has not been achieved and therefore called
on well meaning Nigerians to back lawyers whom she said are in the front
line canvassing the abolition of capital punishment.

Yet in another presentation titled: Legal and social perspectives on the
death penalty, Mr. Leonard Opara from Lagos State University, declared
that death penalty has never deterred criminals and therefore called for
its abolition and replacement with reformation or life sentence. He said
that the fact that no governor has signed death warrant of condemned
criminals for the past nine years shows that it is no longer socially
relevant and therefore should be abolished without further delay.

He hailed the National Agency for Foods, Drugs and Administration Control
(NAFDAC), for asking for life sentence in place of death penalty for those
convicted of drug offences. He said that if countries like Senegal has
abolished death sentence, with the Supreme Courts of Malawi and Uganda
declaring death penalty unconstitutional, then Nigeria, the self acclaimed
giant of Africa should hurry to send death sentence itself to the gallows.

Miss Yemi Babalola of Thisday Newspaper in her presentation: The role of
the media in the death penalty campaign, informed the gathering that the
primary role of the media which is to inform, educate and enlighten are
what the media shall utilize to contribute its own quota in this struggle.
She encouraged lawyers, civil societies and NGOs to always see the media
as partner in progress by making available to journalists all information
they needed to generate debate on this issue so that people can contribute
to debates on the abolition of death penalty. She solicited that press
releases on death penalty abolition campaigns and other materials should
be made available on regular basis to newsmen so that they can write
stories which will educate the public and make them see reason why they
should support the abolition of death sentence.

After the presentation of papers, it was now time for reactions and
contributions to the various issues that were raised during the workshop.
Mrs. Mandy Asagba, a lawyer, wondered how many rich men are on death role
as she accused the law of favouring the rich and inflicting pains on the
poor. "It is the poor that are suffering in the society and are crowded in
prisons. We should be thinking of how to curb crime by providing jobs. Why
should armed robber who stole just N5, 000 be executed why politicians who
embezzled billions receive light sentence and still enjoy executive
treatment in prisons. Iam therefore calling for the abolition of death
sentence." Dr. (Mrs.) Regina Clement Akpan, Deputy Controller of Prisons,
Alagbon Close, Lagos said that death sentence is not deterrence and
therefore should be abolished. She stated that reformation is the key to
rehabilitate prisoners and not death sentence.

Mr. Chuks Okobi, a lawyer, said bluntly, "Iam against death penalty. It
should be abolished either by judicial intervention or legislative
advocacy. All of us have not done much to see death sentence abolished,
including we servants of the law. Human rights advocacy should start in
secondary schools to include the knowledge of the dignity of man.

The law was made for man and not man for the law." However, Inspector
Nicholas Aneke of the Legal Department, Criminal Investigation Department
(CID), quoting Section 36, and Sub Section 12 of the 1999 Constitution
stated that, "No person shall be punished for any offence outside the laws
of our land or statutes." He disclosed that the intention rather than the
act is what is punished for, as he quoted Justice Chukwudifu Oputa that,
"A man desires the consequences of his actions." Inspector Aneke in
condemning the call for the abolition of death sentence stated that, "If a
man is found guilty on the offence for which he is standing trial, he
should be punished for the offence he has committed."

Another contributor Mr. Clement Ogwu stated that it sounds partial for
people to call for the abolition of death sentence when criminals are on
daily basis killing innocent people. To him, "Death sentence should still
be retained in Nigeria because those calling for its abolition have not
experienced cruelty in the hands of criminals nor have their valuable
items stolen at gun point by wicked criminals."

From the information available from this one day important workshop which
aimed to stop death penalty, it could be seen that the call for abolition
is not without opposition, even though they are in the minority. The
conclusion is that there is no uniformity in the call for the abolition of
death sentence for which we recommend that the organizers of this workshop
and their allies should think of holding mass rallies across the nation to
educate the masses on this issue and expand the number of signatures they
are presently collecting as a way of getting more support which they might
use in future, assuming they want to let the country's National Assembly,
including the various state legislatures know that beyond the elites in
the society, the grassroots are also kicking for the abolition of death
sentence.

But beyond arguments for or against abolition, one wonders that if
eventually we kick out death sentence from our soil, will it not encourage
criminals who now see that no matter the capital offence they now commit,
the highest punishment from the new law books is likely to be life
sentence. As we campaign for the total abolition of death penalty, we
should also bear in mind that, "Power corrupts, but absolute power
corrupts absolutely." In a similar angle, the sweetest thing on earth is
probably freedom, but absolute freedom might come with its side effects.

(source: All Africa News)






SOMALIA----execution

Male adulterer stoned to death


Somalia's hardline rebel group Hezb al-Islam executed 2 men on Sunday in
front of hundreds of residents in the district of Afgoye, officials and
witnesses said.

Mohamed Abukar Ibrahim, 48, accused of adultery, was stoned to death by
dozens of militants from the rebel group and Ahmed Mohamoud Awale, 61, was
executed by firing squad for murder.

It was the first time Hezb al-Islam rebels had carried out such executions
- usually their al-Qaeda-inspired allies the Shebab order amputations,
executions and stonings in the name of Sharia law.

"He was screaming, blood was coming from his head and his body", Adan
Nurkey who witnessed the stoning told AFP, "he died very quickly after
being hit by a big stone", another witness, Mohamud Ashur said.

The 15-year-old girl with whom the man was accused of having a sexual
relations received a hundred lashes - she escaped the death penalty
because she was not married at the time.

Ahmed Mohamoud Awale was shot by a close relative of the man he was
accused of stabbing to death, according to another witness, Abdulkarim
Yusuf Bile.

Hezb al-Islam and their Shebab allies have waged a relentless guerrilla
war against Somalia's transitional government since May.

(source: SAPA)






GLOBAL:

Most countries no longer practise death penalty: UN


The majority of UN members no longer practise capital punishment, the
organisation said on Monday.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said around 140 of the
body's 192 member states had abolished capital punishment either formally
or in practice.

Pillay's remarks came on the 20th anniversary of a UN treaty, ratified by
72 countries, that aims to bring an end to the death penalty.

"In the 20 years since it (the treaty) was adopted, the number of formally
abolitionist states has almost tripled, and where there was once a
majority of states that wanted to keep the death penalty, they are now in
the minority," Pillay said.

"In all, around 140 states are believed to have now abolished the death
penalty either formally, or in practice."

Pillay said the abolition of capital punishment was a difficult process
for many societies and often could only come about after a national
debate.

"Until they reach that point, I urge those states still employing the
death penalty to place a formal moratorium on its use," she said.

Russia's constitutional court last month banned the use of capital
punishment, 10 years after imposing a moratorium on executions.

According to human rights campaign group Amnesty International, 2,390
people were executed in 25 states in 2008, with 93 percent of executions
coming in just five countries: China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and the
United States.

(source: Khaleej Times)

*********************

By The Numbers: Does Capital Punishment Deter Murderers? How do states and
countries with the death penalty compare to murder rates in jurisdictions
without capital punishment?


More than half the countries in the world have the death penalty. Since
most countries have tracked homicide rates and solve rates for decades
(right from the time of the roaring 30s in most cases), correlating the
"death penalty" deterrent to success in curbing capital crimes should be
straight forward. Putting aside "wrongfully executed" arguments (in the
U.S. 23 people between 1900 and 1995 according to Amnesty International),
this investigation looks only at the deterrent value.

Best and Worst Nations For Murder

The U.S. was not among the top ten for "safest countries for murder"
according to statistics compiled from Interpol. The best jurisdictions for
safety were Slovenia, Austria, Sweden, Canada, Switzerland, Hong Kong,
Norway, Ireland, Finland and Singaporesome with capital punishment, most
without. The worst jurisdictions mostly did have the death penalty,
including: Columbia, El Salvador, Puerto Rico, Brazil, Albania, Venezuela,
Russia, Ecuador, Mexico and Panama.

By contrast, Canada had a rate of homicide of 2 per 100,000, and the
United States (as of 2005, according to Census data), was 5.5 per 100,000.

Canada Versus the U.S. on Capital Punishment

Canada might be the classic example of a western nation without a death
penalty, and some states of the U.S. can serve as the contrast statistic
for a quick analysis.

The U.S. Supreme Court struck down capital punishment laws in the U.S. in
1972. Interestingly, murder rates soared between 1967 and 1977, a time
during which there were no executions. In the 1990s, murder rates declined
after some states began to reinstate executions.

On the other hand, no province in Canada has the death penalty. Since
capital punishment was abolished, the murder rate in the "goody goody"
northerner has dropped from 3 to 2 per 100,000, far below the U.S. 2005
rate of 5.5.

In Canada, no executions tends to mean lower homicides. However, in the
U.S., the Bureau of Criminal Justice does show a decline in murders with
increases in executions. The trend began to reverse in the year 2000, with
executions and homicides both down.

Going Abroad With Numbers of Executions

3 countriesChina, Iran and Nigerialead with the highest executions in the
world, accounting for 87% of all reported executions as of 1994. While
China has the highest execution rate, it also has the highest conviction
ratealmost certainly too high to be reliableat 99.97%

Conviction Rates on the Decline

China and Russia have almost incredible conviction rates, with 99% of
cases heard in Russia court resulting in conviction, and 99.97% in China.
In the U.S. and Canada, however, the conviction and arrest rates are
dropping.

In the United States, overall arrest rates against crimes reported scores
approximately 50% average, according to data compiled between 1991 and
2001 by the Bureau of Statistics. The conviction rate for murder is 60% as
of 1998 in the U.S.. With murder slightly on the rise, but arrests
hovering around 50% and convictions around 60%, numbers of 5.5 murders per
100,000 are don't seem likely to improve soon. More than 7000 murders go
without arrests each year, adding to the stack of cold cases (rounded
statistics from Bureau of Statistics review).

(source: Derek Armstrong is a journalist contributor to several magazines,
newspapers, webzines and ezines. He has appeared as a reporter on HNN's
Nancy Grace, the Larry King Show, MSNBC News and the Dr. Phil Show. He is
chief crime correspondent for Crime Report USA and contributes to Films &
Books Magazine, Advance Magazine, Canadian Money Magazine, Secure Net
News, LINK Magazine and EDI Weekly----OfficialWire)






VIETNAM:

Blogger and activist faces possible death penalty


In the same country:

19 November 2009 - Information about imprisoned journalists stroke
unavailable in press or Facebook

22 October 2009 - French city presses for release of Vietnamese blogger
and pro-democracy activist

12 October 2009 - Eight bloggers get sentences ranging from 2 to 6 years
in jail

On the same subject12 December 2009 - Irans six-month-old crackdown on
media and Internet

10 December 2009 - In a dangerous move, police finally ask prosecutors to
charge famous dissident Liu Xiaobo

7 December 2009 - Offensive against new-generation media stepped up ahead
of todays demonstrations

Reporters Without Borders is deeply concerned about French-educated
blogger and pro-democracy activist Nguyen Tien Trung, now facing a
possible death penalty under article 89 of the criminal code after the
charges against him were changed to "trying to overthrow the peoples
government."

Arrested more than 5 months ago, he is due to be tried at the end of the
month.

"We call for Nguyen Tien Trungs immediate and unconditional release as the
charges against him are entirely fabricated," Reporters Without Borders
said. "Trung is a pacifist who has never endangered the Vietnamese state.
He just exercised his right to free expression, a right he learned to use
in France."

The press freedom organisation added: "Trung is a scapegoat. The
authorities want to make an example of him in order to intimidate other
Vietnamese students who want to press for more freedom when they return
home after studying abroad."

Trung's family told Reporters Without Borders that his father was allowed
to visit him on 10 December for the 2nd time since his arrest. The
authorities are reportedly now going to allow his family to visit him once
a month. Trung seemed to be in good physical and psychological condition
and did his best to reassure his father. He asked his father to bring him
books, especially economics and French books. The authorities are
considering the request.

A former student at the National Institute for Applied Sciences (INSA) in
the northern French city of Rennes, where he got a masters in information
technology, Trung was arrested at his parents home in Ho Chi Minh City on
7 July on a charge of propaganda against the state under article 88 of the
criminal code. A government TV station broadcast taped footage in which he
made a confession.

He seems to have been arrested because of the pro-democracy views he
posted online and, in particular, an open letter to the government about
education policies.

The Trung support committee website posted an opinion piece by Philippe
Echart, who was one of Trung's teachers at the INSA.

"It is strange for a teacher to realise that one his students, which whom
he had a few talks and to whom he paid special attention because he was a
foreigner, is now being in prison at the other end of the world, in his
own country, on serious charges," Echard writes. "And why is he in prison?
For expressing his views freely. For criticising university education in
Vietnam. For calling for more freedoms and more democracy, as many other
intellectuals in his country have."

The support committee is calling for a determined campaign on his behalf.
"The worst that could happen to Trung is that people gradually forget
him," the committee's appeal says. Trung's friends and family have
relaunched the campaign for his release. Sign a petition at the
freetrung.tk website.

(source: Reporters Without Borders)

Dec. 14



INDONESIA:

7 Iranians nabbed in Indonesia on drugs charges


Indonesian authorities have arrested 7 Iranians accused of smuggling
methamphetamine in their stomachs only 2 days after 7 other Iranians were
detained in similar circumstances.

Jakarta international airport customs chief Bahaduri Wijayanta said the
latest 7 flew into the Indonesian capital on 2 flights on Friday from
Turkey and the United Arab Emirates. They were allegedly carrying almost 7
pounds (3 kilograms) of the illicit drug internally.

On Wednesday, police said they arrested 7 Iranians flying to the
Indonesian tourist island of Bali carrying at least 5 pounds of
methamphetamine in their stomachs.

11 Iranians were arrested in October and November carrying methamphetamine
into Bali worth a total $13 million.

Drug trafficking carriers the death penalty in Indonesia.

(source: Associated Press)






PHILIPPINES:

Arroyo Regime Has No Respect for Human Rights and Democracy


When it comes to human rights and democracy, the Arroyo government never
fails to provide ironies.

On the 20th anniversary of the 1986 People Power uprising that ousted the
Marcos dictatorship, the Arroyo government placed the country under a
state of national emergency, through Presidential Proclamation 1017. The
office of the Daily Tribune, a Manila newspaper, was raided and the two
major TV networks were guarded by soldiers. The Philippine National Police
(PNP) tried to impose guidelines on news reporting, which, however, was
blocked by journalists, human-rights advocates and people's organizations.
The "no permit, no rally" policy was strictly enforced resulting in
violent dispersals of peaceful demonstrations. And the representatives of
progressive partylist groups were hunted down resulting in the arrest of a
representative of Anakpawis party, the late Crispin Beltran, and the House
arrest of Bayan Muna Reps. Satur Ocampo, Teddy Casio and Joel Virador,
Anakpawis Rep. Rafael Mariano, and Gabriela Women's Party Rep. Liza Maza.

Also in the same year, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo practically
abolished the death penalty by commuting the sentence of those in death
row. But 2006 was also the peak of extrajudicial killings of political
activists, which by now has reached 1,118, according to the records of
Karapatan.

Add to this the number of victims of enforced disappearances, which has
now reached 204 and torture, 1026.

The country is supposed to have the freest press in Southeast Asia and yet
it is the most dangerous place in the world for journalists, with 63
journalists killed since 2001 and 99 killings since the ouster of the
Marcos dictatorship. As can be gleaned from these figures, the most number
of journalists killed was during the Arroyo administration, and this does
not yet include the 30 journalists killed in the Ampatuan massacre.

Now, on the occasion of the 61st anniversary of the Universal Declaration
of Human Rights, the country is still reeling from a gruesome display of
impunity committed only last November 23, the Ampatuan massacre. Worse, a
part of the country had been placed under martial law.

The Arroyo administration and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP)
had tried to justify Proclamation 1959 placing Maguindanao province under
martial law by pointing to the urgent need to bring justice to the victims
and a supposed imminent danger of rebellion from the Ampatuan clan and its
private army. The Army and police have been showing to media several
caches of high-powered weapons and ammunition  with markings of the AFP
dug from locations near the residences of the Ampatuan clan.

Although martial law was lifted over the weekend, the Arroyo government
seemed to think that it could get away with it as administration allies in
Congress were confident that they could muster enough votes to affirm
Proclamation 1959. (And I thought the Liberal and Nacionalista parties now
constitute the majority in congress with the supposed defections from the
ranks of the administration. This is a portent of things to come after May
2010, if and when Arroyo becomes a representative of the 2nd district of
Pampanga.)

The Ampatuan massacre did not warrant a declaration of martial law. In the
first place, the Ampatuan clan was able to accumulate so much wealth and
power because of the patronage of the Arroyo administration. Second, it is
highly improbable that the Ampatuan clan was able to acquire stockpiles of
weapons and ammunition from the AFP through a few corrupt officials. The
delivery of such enormous stockpiles of weapons and ammunition
necessitates the collusion of almost all AFP officials in the region or a
direct order from the Department of National Defense and the
commander-in-chief, the president.

Thus, the Arroyo government and the AFP did not need martial law to clip
the powers of the Ampatuan clan and give justice to the victims, it just
needed to uphold the rule of law and did what it was supposed to do.

The Ampatuan massacre merely provided the justification for the Arroyo
administration to declare martial law in Maguindanao and eventually, if
left unchecked, the whole country. Notice how the National Bureau of
Investigation (NBI) and the Department of Justice had been telling the
media about the dangers of the supposed rebellion in Maguindanao spreading
to the National Capital Region because members of the Ampatuans' private
army have purportedly escaped to Manila and with the transfer of the
hearings in Quezon City?

The Ampatuan massacre has been serving the interests of the Arroyo
administration well, as the September 11 twin towers attack did to the
administration of US President George W. Bush then. The only difference is
that the Bush administration did not use the September 11 attacks to keep
itself in power but it used the attack to constrict civil liberties
through the Patriot Act, and to invade Afghanistan and Iraq in the service
of corporate America.

The declaration of martial law in Maguindanao has got nothing to do with
justice or preserving democracy  it was all about laying the groundwork
for keeping Arroyo in power beyond 2010. All her options have been laid
out: a subservient Commission on Elections, the much-delayed and
disorderly preparations for automated elections, Arroyos candidacy and her
declared intention to push for amendments to the 1987 Constitution (House
Speaker Prospero Nograles has been declaring the benefits of a unicameral
legislature now that Congress is in joint session.), and the declaration
of martial law with Maguindanao as the test case.

All these show the Arroyo administrations total disregard for human rights
and democracy. For the Arroyo administration, human rights is merely a
public-relations problem. It is wont to undertake token measures only when
pressured by the international community, but with every opening, it keeps
on attacking the Filipino peoples rights. It is thus up to the Filipino
people, with the support of the international community, to fight for
justice, human rights and democracy.

(source: Bulatlat)






IRAQ:

Resumption of death penalty in Iraq sparks UN concern


The resumption of the death penalty in Iraq earlier this year is a source
of great concern to the United Nations, according to the world bodys
latest report covering the human rights situation in the country.

Iraqi officials have cited security conditions as a reason for the
resumption of the executions, which had not been carried out since August
2007, this May, the new publication said.

"The secrecy surrounding the executions remained an additional issue of
concern," it noted. Finding flaws in the administration of justice and
violations of due process in criminal trials, the UN Assistance Mission in
Iraq (UNAMI) and the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights
(OHCHR) had called on the Government earlier this year to declare a
moratorium on all executions.

"It is of particular concern that many persons are convicted on the basis
of confessions often gathered under duress or torture, while their right
not to be compelled to testify against oneself or to confess guilt is
often violated," the report said.

"Until these violations are addressed, the imposition of the death penalty
by Iraqi courts will remain arbitrary and contrary to the international
human rights standards."

The number of people receiving capital sentences has risen, with 324 death
sentences having been handed down by the High Judicial Council in the 1st
half of 2009.

The first six months of this year was also characterized by further
improvements in the security situation, but in spite of a drop in the
number of attacks carried out, both indiscriminate and targeted killings
continued, the publication said.

Reports indicate that the number of attacks against people based on their
perceived sexual orientation is on the rise, while many cases of violence
against women and honour-related homicides go unpunished.

"Significant progress remains to be achieved to fully restore the rule of
law and to systematically address the issue of impunity," the study
underscored. "UNAMI has continuously stated that security in Iraq may not
be sustainable unless significant steps are taken to uphold the rule of
law and human rights and has continued to offer assistance to this end."

The number of civilian casualties has fallen, with the death toll in May
being the lowest recorded since 2003. But number of civilians killed
doubled the following month.

"The UN reiterates that deliberate attacks against civilians are
tantamount to crimes against humanity and violate the laws and customs
applicable in armed conflict, the report said. The perpetrators should be
brought to justice."

(source: UN News Centre)






AFRICA:

African anti-homosexuality bill carries death penalty


"Learned behaviour can be unlearned," said David Bahati. "You can't tell
me that people are born gays. It is foreign influence that is at work."

Bahati has just presented his anti-homosexuality bill 2009 to Uganda's
Parliament.

The bill, which will be debated within a fortnight and is expected to
become law by February, will allow homosexuality to be punishable by
death.

"Most people have misunderstood the bill. The section of the death penalty
relates to defilement by an adult who is homosexual and this is consistent
with the law on defilement which was passed in 2007. The whole intention
is to prevent the recruitment of under-age children, which is going on in
single-sex schools. We must stop the recruitment and secure the future of
our children."

There is wide support for Bahati's law which, while being an extreme piece
of anti-gay legislation, is not unique.

Nigeria has a similar bill waiting to reach its statute books and already
allows the death penalty for homosexuality in northern states, as does
Sudan.

Burundi criminalised homosexuality in April this year, joining 37 other
African nations where gay sex is already illegal. Egypt and Mali are
creeping towards criminalisation, using morality laws against same-sex
couples.

However, South Africa held its 1st gay pride in 1995 and it has now
legalised civil same-sex marriage.

The Ugandan bill extends existing laws to make it illegal to promote
homosexuality by talking or writing about it, and forcing people to tell
the authorities about anyone they know who is gay.

The bill, said Bahati, 35, an MP from the ruling party, aims to "protect
the cherished culture of the people of Uganda against the attempts of
sexual rights activists seeking to impose their values of sex promiscuity
on the people of Uganda".

In March, Bahati met several prominent anti-gay United States Christian
activists who attended a conference in Uganda where they pledged to "wipe
out" homosexuality.

The conference featured Scott Lively, president of California's anti-gay
Abiding Truth Ministries and co-author of The Pink Swastika, which claimed
leading Nazis were gay.

Also there was Don Schmierer, on the board of Exodus International, which
promotes the "ex-gay" movement, believing people can change their
sexuality and be redeemed. The third extremist evangelical to attend was
Caleb Lee Brundidge, who is linked to Richard Cohen who believes that
psychotherapy can "cure" homosexuality.

(source: New Zealand Herald)

Dec. 14



NEVADA:

Death sought for crimes against kids ---- GOP candidate urges execution of
child abusers


Rob Lauer so far appears to be a long shot to win a seat in Congress.

But that isn't stopping him from coming up with ideas for new legislation.

Lauer, a Republican, says Congress should pass a law to expand the use of
the death penalty to cover people convicted of abducting and raping or
torturing a child.

He has the support of Rosie Rodriguez, older sister of Karla Rodriguez, a
7-year-old girl who disappeared from Las Vegas in 1999. Karla Rodriguez
remains missing, and the case remains unsolved.

Lauer argues broadening the death penalty law would give prosecutors more
leverage to settle abduction cases without a trial and still get
defendants sentenced to life in prison.

"The real issue is this: It gives prosecutors the tools to seek stiff
sentences," Lauer said. "It is horrible for the kid to go through a
trial."

But one of the nation's leading judicial experts says such a law wouldn't
hold up in court.

The U.S. Supreme Court in 2008 struck down a Louisiana law that broadened
the death penalty to allow execution of people accused of child rape. In
the 5-4 decision the majority clearly stated the victim must die for the
death penalty to apply, said Jeffrey Fisher, an associate professor of law
at Stanford University who has litigated cases before the Supreme Court.

The court repeats several times in its opinion the requirement that the
victim must die, Fisher said.

Lauer is running in the Republican primary against former state Sen. Joe
Heck. The winner probably would face incumbent Rep. Dina Titus, D-Nev.

(source: Associated Press)






MISSOURI----new death sentence

Bowman gets death penalty for 1977 Missouri killing


A man who had already spent 28 years behind bars in Illinois for 2
slayings was sentenced Friday to death for killing a Missouri teenager
more than 3 decades ago.

Gregory Bowman, 58, of Belmont, Ill., was convicted of capital murder in
October of killing of 16-year-old Velda Rumfelt.

Bowman passed on the opportunity to make a statement during the Friday
court hearing and stood quietly as Circuit Judge David Lee Vincent III
agreed with the jury's recommendation of the death sentence. But as
Vincent admonished him for his crime, Bowman interrupted.

"These were cowardly acts on your part," Vincent said. "I don't know what
made you do these acts. ..."

"I never," Bowman interrupted. "I never, I'm not guilty."

Bowman's attorney, Steve Evans, said he will appeal. Evans said it was
unconstitutional for Missouri officials to obtain DNA evidence from
Illinois because new trials had been ordered for the Illinois murder
convictions.

Casey Rumfelt, 27, never knew his aunt, but spoke at the hearing on behalf
of the Rumfelt family. He recalled how his father would often break down
as he thought about his sister, who was killed in 1977.

"Gregory Bowman didn't just take some little girl off the street," he
said. "He took my dad's best friend, his rock."

Bowman was previously imprisoned in Illinois for killing 14-year-old
Elizabeth West and 21-year-old Ruth Ann Jany in separate cases in
Belleville, Ill., in 1978. The convictions were thrown out after a
sheriff's deputy admitted to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that Bowman had
been tricked into confessing.

Bowman was briefly released on bond in 2007, before charges were filed in
the Rumfelt case. He has been jailed since then.

A spokeswoman for St. Clair County, Ill., State's Attorney Robert Haida
said no new trial date has been set in the Belleville killings.

DNA evidence connected Bowman to the rape and murder of Rumfelt. She had
lived in the St. Louis County town of Brentwood before moving to Kansas
City to live with her mother. She hitched a ride back to the St. Louis
area with a 20-year-old acquaintance, Bobby Keiner. The two spent the day
of June 5, 1977, at the Six Flags St. Louis amusement park.

The 2 later split up and planned to meet again that night. An acquaintance
saw Rumfelt walking along a street with an older man.

Her body was found in a field the next day. She had been sexually
assaulted and strangled with a shoestring, court documents said.

West and Jany disappeared separately in Belleville in 1978. In both cases,
their bodies were found in remote areas. Bowman became a suspect following
his arrest for trying to kidnap another woman. He was sentenced to life in
prison for both killings.

During the penalty phase of Bowman's trial in October, he claimed he was
innocent of all 3 killings.

"I never killed anyone," he said.

At that same hearing, Bowman said he had confessed to the Belleville
killings because he believed doing so would keep him in the St. Clair
County jail long enough to escape.

In retrospect, he said, "I think it was rather stupid."

2 women from the Illinois towns of Danville and Flora testified at the
penalty phase of the trial that Bowman had grabbed them off the street. He
allegedly raped one and tried to rape the other. Bowman said both women
had false memories.

At Friday's hearing, Vincent read a letter from Ralph Goerke, one of
Rumfelt's teachers at Brentwood High School. He recalled her as an
"outgoing, talented, bright and trusting young lady," and lamented that
the world never got to know her as an adult.

(source: Associated Press)






INDIANA:

No more executions until we're sure


Last week, Matthew Eric Wrinkles was executed in Michigan City for the
murders of Debra Wrinkles, Mark "Tony" Fulkerson and Natalie Fulkerson.

I doubt that many, if any, Hoosiers across the state of Indiana feel safer
as a result of Wrinkles' death. They have reason not to: In a recent
study, 88 % of top criminologists stated that the death penalty did not
serve as a deterrent. Another poll shows that a majority of police chiefs
around the country agree.

Lest we forget, Wrinkles had been safely locked away from society for
nearly 15 years before his execution. He presented no ongoing threat to
the people of Indiana. Yet a tremendous amount of county and state
resources were used to take him from his cell and into the death chamber.
A state study pegs the death penalty as being 38 % more costly than the
cost of imprisoning a perpetrator for his entire natural life.

Beyond being just an excessive burden on the taxpayer and judicial system,
a recent poll showed that police chiefs rank reducing drug abuse and
increasing resources for law enforcement as top crime-fighting priorities
while ranking the use of the death penalty last. Methamphetamine use
played a major role in the murders committed by Wrinkles. Shouldn't we
examine ways to more prudently deliver justice and fight crime that don't
involve throwing millions of dollars away to execute those who are already
incarcerated?

We also have a system that does not live up to our expectations of
fairness or accuracy. An American Bar Association study panel found
Indiana's death penalty to be in full compliance with only 10 of 91
protocols for a fair, effective death penalty. Shouldn't an irreversible
punishment that costs so much money be delivered fairly and
proportionately?

The most disturbing statistic is that 139 innocent individuals have been
found on death rows around the country since 1973, 9 this year alone.
These are the individuals who were fortunate to be found before their
execution day arrived. Shouldn't we choose life imprisonment without
parole over the death penalty to avoid the risk of tragic and irreversible
error?

All these facts and figures aside, the children of the victims in this
tragic crime, who are also nieces and nephews of Eric Wrinkles, as well as
the mother of one of the victims, had gone so far as to forgive Wrinkles
on an episode of "Oprah" and have expressed that they did not want him to
be executed.

Matthew Eric Wrinkles is gone, but the problems that plague our capital
punishment system are not. We need to set in place a moratorium on
executions until we can answer definitively what the death penalty really
accomplishes on our behalf above and beyond the proven punishment of life
without parole and whether it is worth the cost to taxpayers, the risk to
innocent lives, and the doubt that inevitably lingers in a system prone to
error. Until these big questions are answered, let us have the courage to
admit our concerns publicly and ensure that they are addressed.

(source: Opinion, Will McAuliffe, Indianapolis Star)

Dec. 14



UGANDA:

Anti-gay bill will include death penalty, says Ugandan MP


The author of Uganda's vile anti-gay bill denies reports that parts of it
may be toned down because of international pressure.

David Bahati  an MP with the country's ruling party  says that the
proposed death penalty for "aggravated homosexuality" is needed in order
to "stop the recruitment and secure the future of our children:"

"We are not going to yield to any international pressure  we cannot allow
people to play with the future of our children and put aid into the game.
We are not in the trade of values. We need mutual respect."

Read the Guardian's full piece, which examines the influence of US
evangelicals on the anti-gay bill. Bahati's bill is expected to pass in
February, reports the Guardian.

(source: Xtra.ca)






CHINA:

Woman executed in China over child prostitution


A woman in southwest China has been executed after being convicted of
forcing 22 schoolchildren into prostitution, state press said Monday.

Zhao Qingmei was put to death in Guizhou province "in recent days" after
her final appeal was rejected, the Guizhou Daily reported.

Zhao was convicted with 6 others of forcing the 22 pupils, some of whom
may have been as young as six, and an older girl into prostitution in the
impoverished mountainous province from March to June 2006, the paper said.

Zhao was also convicted of aiding her husband in the rape of a child, it
added.

The report said the other defendants, including Zhao's husband, were given
sentences ranging from jail time, including life sentences, to death with
a 2-year reprieve, a punishment normally commuted to life in prison.

China annually executes more people than the rest of the world combined,
last year putting to death more than 1,700 people out of a global total of
almost 2,400, according to Amnesty International.

As China does not publish full data on death sentences, rights groups say
the numbers of people executed could be far higher.

(source: Agence France-Presse)

***********************

Chinese court rejects appeal against death sentence, jail term


A court in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality on Monday dismissed
appeals by 6 people convicted in connection with organized crime gangs,
upholding a death sentence for the gang leader and a key member.

In the 2nd trial, or the final trial on Monday morning, the Chongqing
Municipal Higher People's Court upheld the original verdict on Oct. 21.

The Chongqing Municipal No. 1 Intermediate People's Court handed down
death sentences to Yang Tianqing and Liu Chenghu in the 1st trial.

Yang Tianqing was convicted of organizing a 9-member criminal gang,
intentional injury, blackmail, forging resident identity cards, forcing
deal and illegal possession of guns and ammunition, a court statement
said.

Yang, the 35-year-old gang leader, was also fined 500,000 yuan, it said.

Liu Chenghu, was sentenced to death for the crime of participating in the
gang, murder and intentional injury.

2 other members of the gang, Jian Shaokun and Zeng Chuan, were sentenced
to death with a 2-year reprieve, the document said.

The other 5 members received jail terms from 11 years to life.

The court statement said the gang's crimes spanned the past 8 years and
involved killings of 4 people and intentionally injuring at least 6.

The suspects appealed to the court after the first trial and the court
began to hear the appeal trial since Nov. 12.

(source: XinhuaNet News)






MIDDLE EAST:

Al-Qaida warns 'traitors' with execution tape


Al-Qaida is currently circulating a gruesome videotape showing the
interrogation and execution of a senior Yemeni intelligence officer, Col.
Suleiman Tarbush, kidnapped in June, as a warning to Muslims who
collaborate with the United States and Israel.

In Iraq, an al-Qaida suicide bomber last week assassinated Lt. Col. Ahmed
Subhi al-Fahal, one of the country's top counter-terrorism chiefs, in
Tikrit, Saddam Hussein's hometown north of Baghdad. Al-Fahal claimed he
had personally killed 250 jihadists.

On Sunday, another Iraqi security chief, police Col. Saad al-Shimari,
narrowly escaped death in a car bomb ambush in Fallujah, once an insurgent
stronghold west of Baghdad, that killed two of his bodyguards.

Al-Qaida operatives from Algeria to Pakistan are targeting the officers
who lead the counter-terrorism campaigns that hunt them down.

On Aug. 27 a Yemeni member of al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula came
within an ace of assassinating the Saudi prince who was responsible for
crushing the movement's 2003-07 campaign in the kingdom.

Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, the deputy interior minister for security
affairs, escaped with only minor wounds when explosives hidden inside the
body of his would-be assassin, Abdullah Hassan Tali Assiri, exploded
prematurely in the prince's palace in the Red Sea port of Jeddah.

Assiri was killed instantly. He was No. 40 on a list of 85 terrorists the
Saudi government deemed most dangerous. He was allowed to get so close to
the prince because he had pretended to be surrendering himself.

That attack sent shockwaves through the intelligence organizations of
Saudi Arabia and other pro-Western Arab states that are grappling with
jihadist forces.

It was the first serious assassination attempt in decades against a member
of the Saudi royal family, whose overthrow is one of the jihadists' main
objectives, and underlined the extremists' determination to take out those
who head the war against them.

In November, the religious leader of al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula,
Ibrahim al-Rubaish, called for an assassination campaign, starting with
the Saudi leadership, "to instill terror and dread in the ranks of the
enemy."

This deadly new twist in the jihadists' global war suggests that the
counter-terrorism campaign is hurting them.

The growing number of jihadist plots that are being thwarted indicates
that intelligence and security services, particularly in the Muslim world,
are now able to penetrate terrorist cells to an unprecedented degree.

To be sure, there have been other attacks on the Saudi intelligence
apparatus, such as the April 21, 2004, attack on security headquarters in
Riyadh, the Saudi capital, in which 10 people were killed.

The attack was generally seen as a response to the effectiveness of Prince
Mohammed's crackdown.

In neighboring Jordan, which has been battling jihadists since the
mid-1990s, security authorities claimed on April 6, 2004, that they had
thwarted plans for a massive attack on the headquarters of the General
Intelligence Department in Amman.

The GID had earlier rolled up several al-Qaida cells that had planned
attacks against U.S., Israeli and Jordanian targets. Security officials
aid 6 trucks packed with 20 tons of chemical-laced explosives were to have
been used in the attack on GID's hilltop headquarters.

The jihadists are also striking back in Pakistan, the new storm center of
the war against terrorism. Facilities run by the Inter-Services
Intelligence directorate, Pakistan's principal intelligence service, have
been attacked several times.

In the worst attack on Nov. 12, a suicide bomber almost destroyed the
ISI's provincial headquarters in the North-West Frontier province and
killed senior officers.

Those attacks were intended to demonstrate the vulnerability of the
country's most powerful security agency, which is supposed to be the first
line of defense against terrorism.

Saudi Arabia's General Intelligence Directorate, headed by Prince Moqrin
bin Abdul Aziz, has long had close links with its Pakistani equivalent.

King Abdallah is reported to be personally involved behind the scenes in
trying to persuade the Taliban leaders to break with al-Qaida and bring
about a possible peace deal with Islamabad. To do that, the Saudis need to
help Pakistan combat its Taliban problem.

Many of the 85 jihadists most wanted by Riyadh are believed to be in
Pakistan now, and the Saudis are working with Pakistan's counter-terrorism
chief, Rehman Malik, to round them up and send them back to Saudi Arabia.

That alone makes the Saudi monarchy and its intelligence services a prime
target for al-Qaida. And with al-Qaida resurgent in the kingdom's
trouble-plagued neighbor, Yemen, Riyadh can expect more such attacks.

(source: United Press International)

Dec. 14



TEXAS:

Fewer Texas inmates sentenced to death----The relatively new option of
life in prison without parole may be the biggest factor influencing
juries, but some observers think jurors are simply less willing to send
prisoners to death row.


While the debate over capital punishment rages in Texas, the number of
inmates sentenced to death row in 2009 is at a 35-year low.

Prosecutors have been pushing for fewer death sentences and, many
observers believe, juries have become less willing to give them.

The biggest game-changer, several prosecutors and defense lawyers said,
appears to be the introduction in 2005 of life without parole as an
option. Jurors in capital cases previously were responsible for choosing
either the death penalty or a life sentence in which a convicted killer
could be eligible for parole in 40 years.

"With life without parole being a viable option now, [juries] feel a lot
more comfortable that that person is not going to be let out back into
society," Tarrant County Dist. Atty. Joe Shannon said. "We are probably
waiving the death penalty more times than we used to because we're trying
to forecast the outcome of the case."

But because of the state's growing list of exonerations via DNA evidence
and other questionable convictions, some argue that juries are simply less
willing to send someone to death row.

Democratic state Sen. Eddie Lucio Jr., author of the life-without-parole
law, said prosecutors were trying to blame it for their troubles getting
Texans to trust a scandal-ridden system.

"It isn't life without parole that has weakened the death penalty," Lucio
said. "It is a growing lack of belief that our system is fair."

A poll from Rasmussen Reports released this month found that 73% of
Americans are at least somewhat concerned that some people may be executed
for crimes they did not commit. Numerous reports of death row inmates
being exonerated have surfaced in the U.S. in recent years.

In the 4 years since the introduction of life without parole, Texas death
sentences have dropped 40% compared with the 4 years earlier, state
records show. The number of slayings each year in Texas stayed largely
unchanged during that period, according to the Texas Department of Public
Safety.

Texas juries sentenced 13 people to death in 2008. Nine have received
death sentences this year. That's a far cry from 15 years earlier, when
juries sent 49 people to death row.

With the new punishment option, prosecutors feel comfortable waiving the
death penalty in more cases, and defense lawyers are often more willing to
plea-bargain, according to lawyers on each side of the courtroom.

"You need a D.A. that's willing to offer life and a client willing to take
life," said Phil Wischkaemper, a capital assistance attorney for the Texas
Criminal Defense Lawyers Assn. "We're encouraging people to get these
cases worked out and pled."

Some, however, still believe that a capital murderer who avoids death row
gets off too easy.

"I think anyone that's convicted of capital murder should be executed,
period," said William "Rusty" Hubbarth, an Austin attorney and vice
president of Justice for All, a victims' advocacy group.

"I feel it's a deterrent. I feel it's justice. And I feel that it's
necessary. It's the ultimate sanction reserved for the ultimate
violation."

But in Texas murder trials in which prosecutors sought the death penalty,
the chances of the jury delivering that sentence dropped below 50% this
year, according to the Texas Defender Service, a nonprofit group that aids
defense teams in death penalty cases. Lawyers say the chance of a death
penalty conviction was much higher several years ago.

Scott Phillips, an associate professor of sociology and criminology at the
University of Denver, said death sentences have declined nationwide --
suggesting that the option of life without parole is just part of the
reason in Texas.

"People are obviously concerned about innocence," Phillips said. "People
are concerned about cost. . . . People are concerned about racial
disparity."

In the recession, the higher costs of pursuing the death penalty have
become harder to ignore, and life without parole is a far cheaper
alternative.

Death penalty trials are longer, with a punishment phase that takes more
time and appeals that typically go on for years.

Pursuing life without parole from the outset can save millions of dollars
in legal costs and settle cases quickly.

"You save a lot of money, a lot of time," said Bill Harris, a Fort Worth
defense lawyer who is president-elect of the Texas Criminal Defense
Lawyers Assn. "And you have a guarantee that this person will be
incarcerated for the rest of their life."

(source: Los Angeles Times)

***************** new execution date

Joshua Maxwell has been given a March 11 execution date; it should be
regarded as serious.

(sources: TDCJ & Rick Halperin)






GEORGIA----impending execution

Ga. death row inmate seeks delay


Georgia's pardons board is considering whether to halt the execution of a
man convicted of killing three women in the 1970s.

Attorneys for Carlton Gary, known as the "Columbus Stocking Strangler,"
asked the board Monday to give the case another look.

The board could change the sentence to life without parole or life with
the possibility of parole. It could also deny clemency or grant a stay of
execution of up to 90 days.

Gary was convicted in 1986 of 3 of the city's 7 "stocking strangler"
slayings. The victims were strangled with their own stockings.

He is scheduled to be executed Wednesday at 7 p.m.

(source: Associated Press)

*****************************

NAACP pushes to stop execution


The Georgia NAACP has endorsed efforts to win a stay of Wednesday's
scheduled execution for Carlton Gary.

Garys attorneys are seeking a stay for Gary asking that the courts allow
time for DNA testing of evidence in the "stocking strangling" cases in
Columbus in the late 1970s.

The Georgia Conference of the National Association for the Advancement of
Colored People has asked Muscogee County District Attorney Julia Slater to
drop her opposition to Gary's execution stay.

Gary was convicted in three of the seven stranglings, His execution is set
for 7 p.m. Wednesday at the state Diagnostic and Classification Prison in
Jackson.

If a stay is denied, the NAACP plans a prayer vigil at 6 p.m. Wednesday at
the Columbus Government Center downtown.

(source: Associated Press)






UTAH:

Salt Lake prosecutors will seek death penalty against Donald
Younge----Charged with aggravated murder in 1999 slaying of University of
Utah student


The Salt Lake District Attorney's Office will seek the death penalty if
Donald Eugene Younge is convicted of the stabbing death of Amy Quinton
that occurred a decade ago.

Younge, 43, is charged with aggravated murder and nine other felonies in
connection with events that occurred at Quinton's Salt Lake City apartment
on Aug. 3, 1999.

He pleaded not guilty Friday to all charges.

Quinton, 22, was a well-liked theater student who died after being stabbed
in the chest in a bedroom of the apartment at 127 S. 800 East.

Her roommate, Lynn Drebes, testified at a Nov. 25 preliminary hearing that
Quinton was studying for a German final in her own bedroom, while Drebes
and a friend, Erin Warn, were eating pizza and watching a movie in Drebes'
bedroom.

Drebes testified that when she went back into the kitchen, Younge, who had
managed to get into the apartment, grabbed her and held a knife to her
throat.

Both Drebes and Warn testified that in the events that followed, Younge
demanded money, and one young woman tried calling 911, but Younge hung the
phone up. Then he spoke with the 911 dispatcher who called back, and
Younge calmly said the call had been a mistake.

Both women testified that Younge hurt them  he repeatedly hit Drebes and
knocked her into a wall, and he stabbed Warn with a knife. As he was
walking out of the apartment, he suddenly returned, went into Quinton's
bedroom and, according to the testimony of the 2 other women, fatally
stabbed her in the chest.

Younge for some time had been held in an Illinois jail facing 3 murder
charges in the deaths of 3 women there, as well as a sexual assault charge
involving a 4th woman. However, the cases fell through for various
reasons, including the death of the alleged sexual assault victim in an
unrelated crime.

Younge also has been charged in Utah with raping a U. student in 1996. His
identity was unknown at the time, but his DNA was saved. Utah law
enforcement officials could put a name to the DNA after Younge was
arrested in Illinois, and he subsequently has been charged in that case.

He is being held in the Salt Lake County Jail on $2 million cash-only
bail.

His next court hearing is Jan. 15.

(source: Deseret News)






USA:

Graph of the Day: Seeking the Death Penalty Under Obama's Term


NPR had some great reporting this week on the Justice Department approval
rate for prosecutors to seek the death penalty under the Obama
administration. In March, Attorney General Eric Holder said of the death
penalty: "I think that's the toughest decision that an attorney general
has to make: When do you authorize the seeking of the death penalty?"

However, it appears that the answer to his own question is essentially at
the same rate as under the Bush administration. These numbers from the
Federal Death Penalty Resource Center do not include recent cases and the
Guantanamo cases, which could make them even higher.

Although support for the death penalty remains high, many hoped a
progressive president would take a viewpoint similar to that of the
Clinton administration. The Clinton administration left the decision up to
state governments a majority of the time. With large states such as
California looking to put an end to a practice the European Union and a
total of 95 countries have abolished, this policy could lower rates
significantly.

John Ashcroft----139 of 641 cases----22%

Alberto Gonzales----81 out of 423 cases----19%

Michael Mukasey----21 out of 159 cases----13 %

Eric Holder----7 out of 61 cases----11 %

[source: Federal Death Penalty Resource Center]

(source: DC Progressive)

********************

There Is No 'Humane' Execution


This is what passes for progress in the application of the death penalty:
Kenneth Biros, a convicted murderer, was put to death in Ohio last week
with one drug, instead of the more common three-drug cocktail. It took
executioners 30 minutes to find a vein for the needle, compared with the
two hours spent hunting for a vein on the last prisoner Ohio tried to
kill, Romell Broom. Technicians tried about 18 times to get the needle
into Mr. Broom's arms and legs before they gave up trying to kill him. Mr.
Biros was jabbed only a few times in each arm.

Ohio adopted the single-drug formula after the botched execution. It may
well be an improvement over the 3-drug cocktail, or may not. (Death
penalty advocates who hailed it as less painful have no way, obviously, of
knowing that.) But the execution only reinforced that any form of capital
punishment is legally suspect and morally wrong.

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg noted, in a dissenting opinion in a death
penalty case last year, that critics have charged that the 3-drug cocktail
poses a serious risk that the inmate will suffer severely. The one-drug
method was not used before last week on human beings, and Ohio should not
have used it without a more public airing of its strengths and weaknesses,
with input from medical and legal authorities.

The larger problem, however, is that changing a lethal-injection method is
simply an attempt, as Justice Harry Blackmun put it, to "tinker with the
machinery of death." No matter how it is done, for the state to put
someone to death is inherently barbaric.

It has also become clear  particularly since DNA evidence has become more
common  how unreliable the system is. Since 1973, 139 people have been
released from death row because of evidence that they were innocent,
according to the Death Penalty Information Center.

An untold number of innocent people have also, quite likely, been put to
death. Earlier this year, a fire expert hired by the state of Texas issued
a report that cast tremendous doubt on whether a fatal fire  for which
Cameron Todd Willingham was executed in 2004  was arson at all. Until his
execution, Mr. Willingham protested his innocence.

Most states still have capital punishment, and the Obama administration
has so far shown a troubling commitment to it, pursuing federal capital
cases even in states that do not themselves have the death penalty.

Earlier this year, New Mexico repealed its death penalty, joining 14 other
states  and the District of Columbia  that do not allow it. That is the
way to eliminate the inevitable problems with executions.

(source: Editorial, New York Times)

*******************

'Headley cooperating with FBI to avoid death penalty'


Pakistani-origin US national David Coleman Headley, a LeT operative
charged with criminal conspiracy in the 26/11 terror attacks, now appears
to have turned into informant to FBI to avoid death penalty.

Headley, 49, was arrested on October 3 by the Federal Bureau of
Investigation and has been charged for being involved in the Mumbai terror
attacks, in which 166 people, including six US nationals, were killed.

Given the strong case against him, Headley is unlikely to come out of the
jail and faces death penalty.

"But by talking this time, Headley might escape the death penalty,"
Philadelphia Inquirer said.

However, Headley, with the experience of having been informant to federal
prosecutors at least twice as a result of which his sentence was reduced,
has again turned out an informant this time so as to avoid death penalty.

(source: Press Trust of India)

Dec. 13


PHILIPPINES:

Regular updates on OFWs on death row sought


The Department of Foreign Affairs should provide regular updates on the
cases of overseas Filipino workers charged with crimes punishable by
death, an OFW alliance based in the Middle East said on Sunday.

Reports about convictions and executions have been affecting not only the
families of the detained OFWs back home, but also the Filipino community
in the host country, Migrante-Middle East said in a statement.

John Leonard Monterona, Migrante-Mideast regional coordinator who is based
in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, said Filipinos in the kingdom became restive and
unsettled Friday last week after hearing news about an OFW couple said to
be publicly beheaded in the eastern city of Al-Khobar for dismembering
their Filipino maid.

It turned out that the couple was only arrested recently. The DFA later
said it received a report of their detention on Dec. 8 and that no charges
have yet been filed in connection with the crime, which took place about 2
years ago.

Monterona said news about the impending execution quickly spread among
Filipinos in Al-Khobar but Filipino community leaders were unable to get a
confirmation or denial immediately from the Philippine consulate there.

He said he himself contacted Vice Consul Roussel Reyes who, although
unable to clarify the issue, could only say that the embassy had not heard
of any final conviction from the court yet.

"The news about the execution is a concern of the entire Filipino
community; the unconfirmed reports are fast circulating, creating fear and
restiveness among OFWs," Monterona said.

He said that while Migrante sympathized with the family of the victim and
wanted the guilty parties put behind bars for life, the group said it
could not allow the execution of an OFW, without due warning being given
by local authorities and without any help from the Philippine government.

"We are urging the Arroyo administration and the DFA to regularly inform
the Filipino community on the development of the cases of all OFWs on
death row. We demand transparency and we ask that they immediately inform
the OFWs' kin of what actions they plan to do in saving the lives of our
OFWs on death row," Monterona said.

As of Migrantes latest count, 23 OFWs are on death row, and 20 of them are
in Saudi Arabia. Monterona said the group only knew the names of OFWs in
half of the cases, but they had no idea about the nature of the cases or
had no updates of any kind.

He said regular updates from the Philippine government would comfort the
Filipino community and the families of the jailed OFWs.

"We were informed by some of the families and relatives of OFWs on death
row that they are not receiving updates of their case, while some said
they were told to wait until the DFA staff will call; but that never
happened, even after a long wait," Monterona added.

Monterona said that in some of the cases, the OFWs claimed they were
either framed or that they committed the crime in defense of their life
and dignity.

Migrante said that since 2001, 6 OFWs were beheaded in Saudi Arabia,
namely Antonio Alvesa, Sergio Aldana, Miguel Fernandez, Wilfredo Bautista,
Reynaldo Cortez and Jenifer Bedoya. On the other hand, 14 cases of OFWs on
death row were commuted.

"Notably, these 14 cases of commutation were made possible because of the
vigilance and active campaigns staged by different OFWs organizations
pressing hard the government to act decisively to saving their lives from
execution," said.

(source: Philippine Inquirer)

************************

Update families of OFWs on death row, government urged


An overseas Filipino workers' welfare advocacy group today urged the
Department of Foreign Affairs to regularly update all OFWs on death row so
that their nearest of kin and the public would be informed on their cases.

John Leonard Monterona, Migrante-Middle East regional coordinator, said
the public and the relatives of the OFWs now in death row need to know
their status and what the Philippine government is doing on these cases.

"[From] Migrante's latest count, there are 23 OFWs on death row - 20 of
these are in Saudi Arabia while we have no information on the nature of 10
others, [even updates]," Monterona said in a statement.

He noted that the number of OFWs sitting on death row continues to
increase, so the government should act on them immediately to save them
from execution.

Some families of OFWs on death row claimed they have not been updated by
the government, Monterona added.

Monterona cited the latest case of the beheading of Jenifer Bedoya, for
example, who told her family that assailants had tried to gang-rape her
leaving her with no other choice but to protect and defend herself.

"Since 2001, 6 Filipinos were beheaded in Saudi Arabia, namely Antonio
Alvesa, Sergio Aldana, Miguel Fernandez, Wilfredo Bautista, Reynaldo
Cortez and [Jenifer] Beduya," he said.

On the other hand, there are 14 OFWs on death row whose sentences have
been commuted.

"Notably, these 14 cases of commutation were made possible because of the
vigilance and active campaigns staged by different OFW organizations
pressing hard the government to act decisively to save [them from
execution]," Monterona said.

(source: Philippine Star)






SOMALIA:

Somalia Islamist militants execute 2 men


Witnesses say Islamist militants have executed 2 men accused by the
fighters of murder and adultery.

Witnesses in the town of Afgoye southwest of the capital say the Hizbul
Islam militants on Sunday stoned to death the man accused of adultery and
shot the man accused of murder. They say the militants summoned the town's
residents to watch the executions.

Islamic courts run by radical clerics have ordered executions, floggings
and amputations in recent months. In some areas militants have also banned
movies, musical telephone ringtones, dancing at weddings and playing or
watching soccer.

Somalia has been ravaged by violence since warlords overthrew dictator
Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991, then turned on each other.

(source: Associated Press)

Dec. 13



CALIFORNIA:

It simply costs too much----Death penalty is not worth the money we spend


Complex criminal cases involving the death penalty take time. They should.
For the state to take away a person's freedom is necessarily difficult;
for the state to take away a person's life by execution should be nearly
impossible.

Since 1978, California has executed 13 inmates (a 14th condemned by
California and Missouri was executed in Missouri). Of that number, none
were women. In fact, only four women were among the 513 people executed by
the state since 1893.

So if it's hard for the state to get a man into the death chamber, it's
been even harder to get a woman there. Women, of course, do not commit
nearly as many capital crimes as men. Of the state's 685 condemned inmates
today, only 16 are women.

THE LONG WAIT

These are the 13 men from San Joaquin County awaiting execution and the
number of years they've been on death row at San Quentin Prison:

  Jerry Thomas Bunyard: 28

  Fernando Betmontes Jr.: 27

  Michael Angelo Morales: 26

  Patrick Gordon: 24

  Antonio Espinoza: 23

  Danny Ray Horning: 14

  Paul Lloyd Hensley: 14

  Louis James Peoples: 9

  Louis Rangel Zaragoza: 8

  Wesley Howard Shermantine: 8

  Angelo Michael Melendez: 6

  Mao Hin: 3

  William Jennings Choyce: 1

[source: The Record]

San Joaquin County prosecutors want to make Melissa Huckaby the 17th.

On March 27, 8-year-old Sandra Cantu of Tracy disappeared. Days later, her
body was found stuffed in a suitcase. Huckaby was arrested and stands
accused of kidnapping, raping and murdering the child.

She is to go on trial in San Joaquin County Superior Court on Oct. 18,
2010 - 1 year, 6 months and 22 days after Cantu disappeared. No one can
possibly suggest there will be a rush to judgment in this case any more
than anyone can actually believe Huckaby will go on trial as scheduled 310
days from now.

Even once a person is sent to death row, they remain there an average of
17.5 years. They are more likely to die in their death row cell than in
the death chamber. The 13 death row inmates from San Joaquin County have
been there an average of 14.6 years, but a combined total of 191 years.

What this means in the Cantu case is that even if Huckaby is convicted -
and she enjoys the presumption of innocence any of us would expect - and
sentenced to death, her case will go on for years after her trial,
conviction and sentencing. It takes years for the courts to certify the
trial records, necessary before the required automatic appeal to the state
Supreme Court can even begin. And even after a defendant exhausts all
appeals to state courts, many cases then go to the federal courts for
further review.

All of this gives new reality to the axiom, justice delayed is justice
denied.

Clearly, California is not Texas, the state with the nation's busiest
death chamber. Since 1978, the Lone Star State has put 447 people to
death, including 24 this year. 3 women were among those executed.

There are those who believe the death penalty system in California is
broken. We are among them. Leaving aside the moral questions about state
execution, this state's system without question is too slow and far too
expensive.

Last year, the California Commission on the Fair Administration of Justice
- a 25-member group made up of prosecutors, defense attorneys, law
enforcement officials, academics and others - estimated that California
could save $100 million a year by abolishing the death penalty in favor of
a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole. The state
each year, the commission said, spends $138 million a year maintaining its
death penalty system.

Can we really afford this? Can we really afford to spend tens of millions
of dollars each year on a system that is only occasionally used? Can we
really afford to spend this kind of money when we're firing teachers and
police officers and furloughing thousands and thousands of state workers?
When our state's infrastructure is falling apart? When our colleges and
universities are being forced to limit enrollment? When health clinics are
being closed?

Should we really be spending this much money on the worst of the worst?

The answer is no. We simply must let go of our need for retribution and
face the reality that the system we have is too costly and too slow. We
must let go of requiring our prosecutors to go through the charade of a
capital case knowing all the while even if the defendant is found guilty
and sentenced to die, in all likelihood that person will never see the
inside of the death chamber?

We are not defending those convicted of society's most heinous crimes. We
do not have a particular moral problem with the death penalty in such
cases. We do think our system is broken beyond repair and that we should
choose the path of 15 other states and the District of Columbia and
abandon execution as a penalty.

Such people should simply be locked away and forgotten, including Melissa
Huckaby should she be found guilty of kidnapping, raping and murdering
8-year-old Sandra Cantu.

(source: Opinion, Stockton Record)

*************************

Huffman's dogged battle to derail a flawed death row


Our governor is determined to build an expensive new death row complex at
San Quentin State Prison - even though California is facing years of
historic budget deficits.

Our assemblyman is determined to keep that project from happening.

We are mystified by Arnold Schwarzenegger's steadfast support for a
project that could cost $1 billion and should be built elsewhere.

We are squarely in Jared Huffman's corner in this fight. The San Rafael
Democrat deserves credit and support for refusing to give up.

And this isn't just about Marin.

State taxpayers should thank him for using every possible strategy to
derail this boondoggle.

This is a project that the state simply can't afford.

Huffman's latest incremental victory came when state Treasurer Bill
Lockyer postponed plans to issue bonds to pay for the death row expansion.

Huffman and state Sen. Mark Leno, who also represents Marin, last month
sent Lockyer a letter making the case that sale of the bonds would be
illegal pending resolution of litigation contesting the governor's veto of
conditions for financing the project.

Lockyer's decision is not a final victory, but every delay in starting the
death row project gives Schwarzenegger and other state officials more time
to come to their senses on this issue.

The amount of the bond sale alone is reason to rethink this project.

The state's latest estimate of the cost of a new death row is $356
million. The state hoped to raise $590 million in the bond sale, just in
case the $356 million estimate is too low.

Too low?

The estimate for a new death row complex was $220 million in 2003, and
that called for adding 1,024 cells. The estimated cost has increased more
than 60 percent, even as the project has been scaled back to 768 beds.

That is more than $460,000 per bed.

If Schwarzenegger insists on building a new death row at San Quentin, the
cost could approach $1 billion. Huffman estimates it will cost $1.6
billion to build and operate the new cells through 2020.

The state likely could save hundreds of millions by building a new complex
somewhere else, where construction and staff costs would be lower. The
state's chronic budget crisis is reason enough to question the wisdom of
this project.

Huffman also has raised environmental issues in battling against the
expansion, arguing that the new death row should not be built on San
Francisco Bay.

Huffman and other opponents of a new death row at San Quentin are making
progress, gathering support in their effort to derail a pet project of
Schwarzenegger's.

We applaud Huffman's efforts and urge more elected leaders, both in Marin
and beyond, to join his fight.

(source: Editorial, Marin Independent Journal)






FLORIDA:

Matthew Caylor sentenced to death ---- Convicted killer Matthew Caylor was
sentenced to death Friday for the murder of 13-year-old Melinda Hinson at
the Value-Lodge Motel.


It's been a long year and a half for 13-year-old Melinda Hinson's family.

"Our lives have been turned upside down," Brandi Hinson, Melinda's step
mother said.

With tears in their eyes, they sat patiently waiting to hear Matthew
Caylor's sentence.

Friday, Judge Dedee Costello imposed the ultimate penalty.

"You are hereby sentenced to death for the murder of Melinda Hinson,"
Costello said.

Caylor killed Hinson at the Valu-Lodge motel in St. Andrews on July 8th,
2008. Caylor raped the teen, strangled her with a 15-foot-long telephone
cord, then shoved her body under the bed in his motel room.

Caylor was found guilty of Hinson's murder in October. The jury
recommended death.

The Hinson family told us they expected Caylor would receive the death
penalty. They said he deserved it.

"At least we know that he's not going to be able to hurt another little
girl. I mean he's there for the rest of his life," Hinson said.

Caylor's public defender Walter Smith says his client deserves life in
prison.

"So I think they will take a close look at the underlining sexual battery,
then you've got child abuse Child abuse is the homicidal act," Smith said.

He says that act is felony murder and doesn't warrant the death penalty.
He's already in the process of filing an appeal with the Florida Supreme
Court.

"Hopefully the appeals don't take as long as some do," Hinson added.

In addition to death, Caylor was sentenced to life in prison for sexual
battery. And sentenced to 30 years for aggravated child abuse.

Upon sentencing, Caylor was immediately turned over to the Department of
Corrections.

(source: WJHG News)

**********************

Eliminate jailhouse snitches from proceedings


In their column, former Florida Supreme Court Justice Raoul Cantero III
and Mark Schlakman from the Innocence Project point out many problems with
the death penalty as it now exists. But the column barely scratches the
surface.

Florida has exonerated 23 death row inmates since the reinstatement of the
death penalty in 1973, more than any other state. It is conceivable that
some of those were actually guilty, but could not be retried because of
lost evidence or dead witnesses. But it's also likely that the majority
truly were innocent and spent their prime of life inside a stifling cage
24 hours a day for a crime they didnt commit. The average time spent, from
conviction to exoneration, is 9.8 years.

James Richardson was one of those. But he spent 21 years on death row for
allegedly poisoning one of his kids to collect on a life insurance policy
that didn't exist. The primary evidence against Richardson were 2
jailhouse snitches who claimed Richardson admitted his crime. They lied.
After 21 years, it was learned that a neighbor, with a prior murder
conviction, had confessed to the crime.

Thus far, 139 inmates have been exonerated from death rows all over the
United States. That's 139 human beings that a state was prepared to
lawfully execute, based on flawed evidence. Of those, only 17 were
exonerated by DNA testing. Most others were convicted by the testimony of
mistaken eyewitnesses or other criminals who were happy to trade integrity
for special favors by police and prosecutors.

Brevard County resident William Dillon spent 27 years of his life in
prison for a murder in which a jailhouse snitch played a major role in his
conviction. At a recent hearing in Tallahassee, that same snitch admitted
that he had been coached into lying by a sheriffs investigator in 1981, in
exchange for leniency in a rape case.

For Dillon, those 27 years are gone. While he spent his time in state
prison, not on death row, it should shine a powerful spotlight on future
cases where criminal investigation relies heavily on witnesses who are
given special treatment in exchange for their testimony. For certain, all
such witnesses should routinely be required to pass a polygraph test,
administered by a neutral examiner not associated with the investigative
agency.

Further, Florida sentencing laws should be amended to preclude capital
punishment for anyone convicted primarily on the testimony of a single
eyewitness (who doesn't know the defendant), or the word of a jailhouse
snitch who bargains out his testimony.

While 139 have been exonerated from death row nationally, we wonder how
many have been executed who were actually innocent. One, would be too
many. Of 3,297 death row inmates in the United States, 387 are in Florida,
which ranks 2nd only to California.

In truth, the only sure way to ensure that innocent people are never
sentenced to death row is to abolish the death penalty altogether, like
every other nation has in the civilized world. I'm not holding my breath.

(source: Guest Column; Marshall Frank is an author and retired Miami
police detective who lives in Melbourne----TC Palm)






USA:

Death not proper punishment for 9-11 planners


Since it was decided that the 9-11 planners would be brought to New York
to stand trial, much has been said about how they should be treated.
Almost all of the articles I've read have stated that they should be
killed. Some included a description of how they should be killed. One,
which I read in The Post-Crescent, was very gruesome.

There appears to be no doubt that these men were instrumental in killing
several thousand of our citizens, and they should be punished. But killing
them? Is that the answer?

A number of years ago, I was called for jury duty in a murder trial in
which the prosecutor was asking for the death penalty. Over the years, I
hadn't given much thought to the death penalty. It was the law in certain
states and under certain conditions, so I just figured it was OK.

I was called into the courtroom where the only other people present were
the judge, the defense attorney and the prosecutor. The judge asked but
one question, "If the defendant is found guilty, could you vote to put him
to death?"

Suddenly, the death penalty took on a whole new meaning. I would be one of
12 people to vote to put another human being to death.

My answer: "No, sir, I could not."

I was released from jury duty.

Some people think, and I agree, that putting the terrorists to death would
make them martyrs, which seems to be what they and their followers would
like to happen.

Putting them in solitary confinement with no hope of any contact with the
outside world except for the person bringing them their food would take
away the martyr issue and not allow them to die in a way that their
extremist beliefs say will bring them everlasting life.

Bill Comerford, Menasha

(source: Letter to the Editor, Appleton Post-Crescent)

****************************

Bible sanctions executions, war


While I am not a Roman Catholic, I have to take issue with a
letter-writer's rebuttal to Rick Santorum.

As distasteful as it may be to modern ears, the Old Testament sanctions
both capital punishment and just war. How could the same Hebrew people
believe in "Do not kill," the death penalty, and war? One likely answer:
Most translations render the commandment "Do not murder," as there are
several Hebrew words referring to killing, and this word refers to killing
an innocent without God's authorization. We can be certain that the issues
are nowhere near as simplistic as equating abortion, warfare, and the
death penalty.

Meanwhile, there is certainly a glaring inconsistency among those who
support abortion rights (killing the truly innocent and defenseless) while
opposing capital punishment and all war. I think Santorum is right to
point out that U.S. Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D., R.I.) is free to believe
what he wants, but he cannot call himself Catholic.

Andy Horvath----Elverson

(source: Letter to the Editor, Philadelphia Inquirer)






INDIANA:

Subdued protest preceded execution of Wrinkles


The day before an execution, the Indiana State Prison is an uncomfortable
place to be.

The passion of those who support and those who oppose the death penalty
must be ignored, for this is not where a public policy fight should be
fought. The wishes of the families of victims and of the condemned can be
carried out only if they fall within the deliberative procedure to which
the somber but businesslike prison officials adhere.

The hulking brown building goes into lockdown mode. No one can be seen but
guards braving the frigid cold to man towers outside the walls.

In his final days on death row here, Matthew Eric Wrinkles was afforded
courtesies and the civility he did not extend to his estranged wife and
two of her relatives before he murdered them in 1994.

On Tuesday, he was given a "special meal"  it's not a last meal because
those set to die typically shut down and lose interest in eating in their
final day  from a Michigan City restaurant.

On Thursday, he spent several hours with his two children and his
spiritual advisers. He made phone calls and said his goodbyes to family
and friends. He helped select the two guards who were stationed outside
his holding room, likely the last people with whom he talked.

He was asked if he'd like to make a final statement, even though he
expressed that he was ready to die.

"Let's get it done. Let's lock and load," he said. "It's plagiarized, but
what the hell."

Moments later, the state of Indiana delivered the fate for which Wrinkles
had no one but himself to blame.

The below-freezing temperatures and the sharp wind off nearby Lake
Michigan kept protesters to a half-dozen or so. That was a departure from
what can become an atmosphere akin to a college football Saturday, said
prison officials who have been through previous executions.

In the past, some have brought grills to cook hamburgers. Protesters have
chanted, and counterprotestors have chanted back.

In some ways, those events have trivialized the very sobering event that
was occurring. In other ways, they have brought home the passionate
feelings some have about the broad policy implications of what was
happening.

There was no joy on the eve of Wrinkles' execution. There was no
rowdiness.

Though no supporters of the death penalty were there as Thursday night
slipped into Friday morning, a handful of protesters standing outside
carried signs.

John Sauder Roser of Furnessville, Ind., a member of the Duneland
Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, banged a drum as he walked along
the prison's gates.

"The state is killing this man in my name and in yours," he said. "I'm not
here to vigil. I'm here because I am not a killer."

Marti Pizzini, a woman who was protesting the execution, said the way
Indiana applies the death penalty is not even-handed. A prosecutor is more
likely to seek capital punishment, she said, if the victim or victims are
white and attractive. A prosecutor is also more likely to seek death in
more populated counties with budgets that can handle the expense.

The comparison that comes to mind is Nicholas Harbison, who in 2006 killed
3 people. A known methamphetamine user, the same as Wrinkles, Harbison is
in prison for life without parole.

Wrinkles committed his murders in Vanderburgh County. Harbison committed
his in rural Pike County.

In spite of their points, their passion and the passion of Wrinkles'
victims' family members who oppose capital punishment, not much is likely
to change in Indiana before the next death row inmate is executed.

The next time a special meal is served will bring out the same protesters
once again. They'll be there next time the prison goes on lockdown and the
condemned is read the Indiana Supreme Court's death warrant and injected
with a lethal mix of chemicals.

The execution's merits will continue to be debated. It will bring pain for
some, relief for others.

And as the lake effect winds whip around the massive Indiana State Prison,
business will return to usual.

(source: Courier & Press)

Dec. 13



TEXAS:

Death penalty cases more expensive than lifetime imprisonment, but local
CDA says cost never a consideration


Legal experts and trial attorneys agree that most people outside the legal
community don't realize the high cost of the death penalty.

This fall, Gray County spent nearly $1 million seeking the death penalty
against Levi King, who pleaded guilty to slaying a pregnant woman, her
husband and her son.

Lubbock County spent more than $200,000 on its last death penalty case
trying Rosendo Rodriguez III in 2008.

These costs do not include the cost of appeals, which can more than double
the cost in capital cases, according to capital case experts.

A non-death penalty murder case typically costs Lubbock County about
$3,000, court officials estimate.

"I'd say generally if you went down to the corner and asked 10 people at
random, my guess is 9 out of 10 of them would say 'No, life in prison is
more expensive,'" said Steve Hall, director of the StandDown Texas
Project, a criminal justice watchdog organization.

Polls show the majority of Americans support the death penalty for
convicted murderers. And Lubbock County's top prosecutor said he never
considers cost when deciding whether to pursue the death penalty.

Hall said people who have not paid much attention to indigent criminal
justice are often surprised to hear that capital litigation is typically
more expensive than 40 years of lifetime incarceration.

The average cost to house an inmate in Texas prisons is $47.50 per day,
said Michelle Lyons, spokeswoman for the Texas Department of Criminal
Justice.

That means it costs more than $17,000 to house an inmate for a year and
$693,500 for 40 years.

From indictment to execution, the trial costs alone for a death penalty
case are estimated at about $1.2 million, said Jack Stoffregen, who runs
the West Texas Regional Public Defenders Office for Capital Cases.

It is impossible to say death penalty cases across the board are more
expensive than non-death penalty cases, but the capital punishment system
as a whole is far more costly than its non-lethal counterpart, said Rob
Owen, co-director of the University of Texas Law Schools Capital
Punishment Center.

The cost of state-sanctioned killing includes the cost of the trial, the
appeals, establishing, staffing and operating a separate housing facility
in conjunction with the states maximum security level and, finally, the
execution, Owen said.

"The system is the problem  that costs a bunch of money," Owen said. "That
as a whole is way more expensive than just deciding that life imprisonment
will be your maximum punishment and sending everybody convicted of capital
murder off to life in prison."

Lubbock County prosecutors were scheduled to seek the death penalty
against Alonzo Lewis this fall, but Lewis pleaded guilty in exchange for
life in prison without possibility of parole.

Lubbock County has not sent a killer to death row since 2008, but has
sentenced 18 people to death since capital punishment was reinstituted in
1976.

Texas has already executed 24 people this year, and a Gallup poll released
in October shows 65 % of Americans support the death penalty for convicted
murderers.

31 % oppose it, according to the poll.

People often blame the lengthy appeals process for the expense, but
experts agree that the cost of the initial trial itself is also much
higher in capital cases.

"The moment a district attorney says he or she is going to seek the death
penalty, there's an increased burden on the system," Hall said.

The judge is legally bound to appoint a 2nd attorney to assist in the
defense.

The defense attorneys must seek and hire expert witnesses and other
experts such as investigators and specialists to look into the social
background of the defendant to see if there is anything in his or her past
that reduces the defendant's apparent.

If the defense attorneys do not spend the money to hire adequate experts
in the initial trial, Hall said it is far more likely the case will be
sent back to the trial court on appeal.

"In that case you end up having to re-litigate that case," Hall said.
"You're paying for it once and then 5, 8, 10 years later, you're paying
for it again."

In death penalty cases, the appeals process is automatic.

A judge must appoint attorneys for both a direct appeal and state writ of
habeas corpus.

The direct appeal is limited to what occurred during the trial itself.
Arguments are limited to the transcript of the court record, which must be
produced by the court reporter and printed at a cost of several thousand
dollars.

The state writ allows the attorney the freedom to argue outside the record
and re-investigate the case from scratch in an effort to prove the
government doesn't have the authority to hold the defendant because his
constitutional rights were violated.

Once all state remedies have been exhausted, the attorney will ask a U.S.
district judge to appoint another attorney to handle a federal writ. This
attorney will basically try to prove the defendants confinement is
unconstitutional under federal law.

This process can take several years, but a convicted murderer sits on
Texas Death Row an average of about 10 years, according to statistics from
the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.

And retrials can cost even more than the initial trial, Stoffregen said.

But if the state is going to utilize a punishment that is irreparable, it
must make every effort to make sure the person condemned to die is in fact
guilty, Stoffregen said.

"If you're gonna do it, you gotta do it right," he said.

Stoffregen's office recently handled a case of a man convicted of capital
murder in 1991 in Randall County.

An appeals court returned the case to Randall County for a new punishment
trial.

Stoffregen, whose office provides death penalty defense for counties that
pay into the cost-savings program, presented Randall County Commissioners
with how much the retrial would have cost if they were not members of the
program.

The cost for the trial team alone  which comprises 2 attorneys, an
investigator and a mitigator  was $250,000.

That does not include the cost of experts, security and court personnel
during the 5-week trial, Stoffregen said.

Seeking death in this instance was certain to cost more money than a life
sentence.

"Actually this case wouldn't have been retried at all, because if the
state was going to waive death, he would have been sentenced to life
automatically," Stoffregen said.

If not sentenced to death a 2nd time, parole laws at the time of the 1990
crime  which applied in the retrial  could have made the defendant
eligible for release as soon as the judgment was entered, because he had
already served the minimum 15 years needed for eligibility.

Defendants convicted of capital murder under current law receive life
without the possibility of parole if they are not sentenced to death.

But some people are beyond rehabilitation and will put prison staff,
counselors and doctors at risk if not executed, Lubbock County Criminal
District Attorney Matt Powell said.

That is why Powell said he never takes cost into account when deciding
whether to seek the death penalty.

"I don't dispute that it's more expensive," he said. He went on to say the
high cost is not a valid argument against the death penalty.

"The people who say that's a viable argument, please look at a mother in
the eye who has lost a son and say 'you know what, I could have stopped
him and I didn't because it costs too much,'" Powell said.

(source: Lubbock Avalanche-Journal)






TENNESSEE:

State must open records in death row cases


On Dec. 2, the state of Tennessee executed Cecil Johnson for the 1980
murders of Bobby Bell Jr., James Moore and Charles House in Nashville. The
blatant disregard for human life demonstrated by these murders is
disturbing and tragic.

And yet, there was a fundamental breakdown of the judicial system in this
case from the beginning. Johnson was convicted and sentenced to death with
no physical evidence, no murder weapon and no proceeds from the robbery
recovered. Instead, his conviction was primarily based on eyewitness
testimony and testimony from a friend of Johnson's who originally provided
Johnson with an alibi, only to change his testimony less than one week
before trial, incriminating Johnson in exchange for immunity.

And though before trial, Johnson's attorneys made numerous, specific
requests for evidence that might cast doubt on the reliability of the
eyewitness identifications, the state claimed that none existed. However,
in 1992, the state finally turned over the case file because of a change
in the Tennessee Open Records Act. In these files, a statement from an
eyewitness to a detective asserted that the gunman had no facial hair.
Johnson had a mustache and a goatee at the time. The file also contained
contemporaneous statements to police officers from another eyewitness that
he did not see the gunman's face.

Eyewitnesses can be wrong

Since Johnson's conviction, eyewitness testimony has come under increased
scrutiny. In fact, faulty eyewitness identification is the single greatest
cause of wrongful conviction nationwide, playing a role in more than 75 %
of convictions overturned by DNA. Trevecca Nazarene University recently
featured Ronald Cotton and Jennifer Thompson-Cannino speaking about their
ordeal when Thompson, a rape survivor, picked the wrong man  Cotton  out
of a lineup. Cotton spent years in prison for the rape, only to be
exonerated later by DNA evidence.

In February, the Tennessee Committee to Study the Administration of the
Death Penalty concluded its work, finding that the death penalty system in
Tennessee is costly, unfairly applied and risks the execution of an
innocent person. One of the problems highlighted by the committee was a
lack of a state-wide open file discovery process requiring that all
documents pertinent to the defense be turned over before trial. In Cecil
Johnson's case, the district attorneys admitted that the undisclosed
reports could have aided Johnson's defense. "Could have" doesn't help
Cecil Johnson now.

Not only could these undisclosed files have been the difference between
life and death for Johnson, but the lack of such critical information
forced a jury to make its decision without all the facts. And the state
spent untold millions in appeals because this evidence was withheld, money
that could have been spent to support the victims' family members.

For these reasons, the study committee passed a resolution requesting that
the Tennessee Supreme Court rules committee consider adopting a rule for
open file discovery in capital cases. For the sake of justice, this seems
like the least we can do.

(source: Opinion, The Rev. Stacy Rector is executive director of the
Tennesseans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty----The Tennessean)






PENNSYLVANIA:

Judge gives prosecutors go-ahead for death penalty


Berks County prosecutors are free to pursue the death penalty against a
Reading man accused of killing a co-worker from Lebanon County in May
2008, according to a report in the Reading Eagle. The newspaper reported
on Saturday that Judge Paul M. Yatron ruled that prosecutors could provide
enough evidence to prove Glenn Lyons tortured and killed Kathy A. Leibig,
45, of South Mountain Road, Millcreek Township. An autopsy showed that
Leibig had been stabbed 30 times, including a fatal puncture wound to the
neck.

"There is evidence that the victim's face was forcefully smashed and
rubbed against the console of her vehicle," Yatron wrote in his opinion,
according to the Eagle.

At the time of Leibig's murder, she and Lyons were co-workers at Linnette
Quality Chocolates in Heidelberg Township, Berks County, and were having
an affair, according to a police affidavit. Investigators said Lyons, 43
at the time of the murder, stabbed Leibig with serrated knives and left
her body in her vehicle on the grounds of Wernersville State Hospital in
early May 2008. She had been missing for three days when her husband found
her body on May 4.

Public defender Glenn D. Welsh in October asked Yatron to bar prosecutors
from seeking the death penalty and urged the judge to dismiss the charges
entirely, claiming there was no direct evidence linking him to the murder,
the newspaper reported. But Yatron's opinion stated there was enough
circumstantial evidence alone to lead a jury to conclude Lyons stabbed
Leibig.

Shortly after he was taken into custody, Lyons told police he and Leibig
were in her truck having a sexual encounter when a man wearing a yellow
hoodie opened the rear door, pulled him out by the legs and beat him
unconscious, the newspaper reported.

When he awoke, he was in the back seat of his own vehicle, the paper
stated. He went to Leibig's truck and found her stabbed to death. He told
police he hugged her, kissed her and left in his car.

Lyons is being held without bail in Berks County Prison on 1st- and
3rd-degree murder charges. No trial date has been set yet.

(source: Lebanon Daily News)






OHIO:

'94 North Side killer awaits same fate as Biros'


Mahoning and Trumbull counties each have eight inmates on death row.

It took 14 years from the time of the crime until Jason Getsy, 33, was
executed in August for the 1995 murder of Ann Serafino of Hubbard.

It took 18 years for the state to execute Kenneth Biros, 51, Tuesday for
killing Tami Engstrom of Hubbard in 1991.

The next man from the Mahoning Valley likely to face the executioner is
Mark Aaron Brown, 37, who killed Isam Salman and Hayder Al-Turk at the
Midway Market in Youngstown in 1994.

Brown has an execution date of Feb. 4, 2010, and a clemency hearing Jan.
5, 2010, said Ralph Rivera, an assistant Mahoning County prosecutor.

Paul Gains, Mahoning County prosecutor, said he'll "have no problem" going
to Columbus to argue against clemency for Brown or any of the 7 other
Mahoning County death row inmates, even though he was a defense attorney
for hundreds of defendants, including murderers, for 15 years.

"Ohio has a lot of safeguards in place that some states do not have, and
as long as it's the law, I will enforce it," Gains said of the death
penalty.

The only reason he likely would change his mind about seeking the death
penalty would be if new evidence comes to light, Gains said.

On Jan. 28, 1994, Brown was 22, drinking, smoking marijuana and playing
cards with friends, many of them juvenile males, while playing with a
handgun and talking about the movie "Menace II Society," an Ohio Supreme
Court document says.

Brown said he "wanted to copy the scene in the movie where assailants
robbed and killed 2 Oriental store clerks," the summary says. Brown and a
friend drank wine mixed with a number of Valiums.

Later that night, one of the friends drove Brown to the Midway Market on
Elm Street on the North Side, where Brown and another man entered the
store, then returned to the car with a cigar purchase.

Witnesses then saw Brown "re-enter the store alone, wearing a mask or
bandanna around his neck" and then heard gunshots.

One of the men in the car said Brown told him before re-entering the
store: "I forgot to do something." When he returned to the car, he said
the gunshots were just "firecrackers," but he had blood on his hand and
clothes.

Police found the store owner, Salman, and an employee, Al-Turk, both
Arabs, dead of gunshot wounds to the head. Both men were on the floor, but
Salmon was kneeling under the counter. Brown later admitted killing
Al-Turk but said he didnt recall killing Salman.

Brown was sentenced to death for killing Salman and life in prison with
parole eligibility after 30 years for killing Al-Turk.

The 7 other Mahoning County inmates on Death Row are Bennie Adams, 52;
Sidney Cornwell, 32; John Drummond, 32; John Eley, 60; Scott Group, 45;
Willie Herring, 32; and Warren Spivey, 40.

Other than Brown, there are no scheduled execution dates for any of the 16
Mahoning and Trumbull County murderers on death row, though Trumbull
County Prosecutor Dennis Watkins asked the Ohio Supreme Court last month
for an execution date for Roderick Davie, 38.

Davie is likely to be the next Trumbull County killer to face the death
penalty, said LuWayne Annos, an assistant county prosecutor.

Davie killed John Coleman and Tracey Jeffries and nearly killed John
Everett at the Veterinary Companies of America in Warren in 1991  18 years
ago at age 19.

Davie had been fired from his job at the VCA on Main Avenue Southwest
about three months before walking into the warehouse at 7:30 a.m. and
ordering employees Coleman, Jeffries and Everett to lie face down on the
floor.

Everett said Davie told them, "So you all work for VCA, huh?" Everett then
heard gunshots and felt shots in the back of his head, shoulder and left
arm. He remained conscious but acted like he was dead.

Jeffries attempted to escape, but Davie brought her back at gunpoint.
After firing his last bullet into Coleman, Davie beat Jeffries to death
with several instruments, including a metal chair on which police later
found Davie's fingerprints in Jeffries' blood. The beating caused 36
lacerations on Jeffries.

Meanwhile, Danny Lee Hill, 42, who mutilated and killed 12-year-old Boy
Scout Raymond Fife more than 24 years ago in Warren, has appeal hearings
scheduled out as far as September 2010 in the federal court system. No
execution date can be set until after that, said Miriam Fife, Raymond
Fife's mother and Trumbull County's victim-witness advocate.

People routinely tell her that they hope Danny Lee Hill will be executed
next  and right away. Then she tries to explain that his appeals probably
will last a year or 2 more.

"I don't like it, but what else can you do?" she said.

The reason it takes so long for executions to take place is because
defense attorneys view it as their obligation to keep their client alive
as long as possible, and judges believe they "would be in trouble, on a
constitutional basis" if they didn't grant killers all possible
consideration, she said.

With Biros dead, Trumbull County has 8 inmates on death row, including the
only female out of 166 people  Donna Roberts, 65, of Howland.

The 6 others from Trumbull County on death row are Stanley Adams, 42; Sean
Carter, 30; Nathaniel Jackson, 37; Charles Lorraine, 43; and Andre
Williams, 42.

(source: Youngstown Vindicator)

******************************************

What's it like to watch somebody die?


I haven't told my kids about Kenneth Biros yet.

I probably will someday, but I keep putting it off, shielding my 4-, 7-
and 9-year-olds from the ugly realities of life for as long as I can.

I don't even know how to begin that conversation.

I'm not going to explain, in detail, the heinous, brutal crimes that put
Biros or others on death row.

And I'm not going to describe the gruesome photos of bloody body parts or
descriptions of sexual mutilation that are offered during clemency
hearings before the state parole board.

But someday, when my kids are older, the death penalty and executions and
lethal injections are going to come up, so I've been trying to prepare for
that moment.

I'll probably tell them that in Ohio and many other states, people who
kill other people sometimes are put to death. And that, in the past,
condemned criminals were hanged from ropes, shot by firing squads, forced
to breathe poisonous gases or electrocuted while strapped to chairs.

I'll have to explain that now prisoners sentenced to die in Ohio are
injected with drugs that put them to sleep and stop them from breathing.

And I'll likely tell them something about the 3 men whose executions I
have witnessed. About how Christopher Newton laughed as the lethal
injection was started. About the peaceful expression on the face of Jason
Getsy as he went to sleep for the last time. About Biros refusing to look
the family members of his victim in the eye while apologizing and how his
chest heaved as he took his last breaths.

I should tell them the scenes were a lot less dramatic and traumatic than
they should have been.

Peaceful deaths

And I'll most likely tell them that all 3 died relatively peacefully  in
stark contrast to their victims, particularly the young woman who must
have suffered excruciating pain at the hands of Biros before he cut her up
and spread her body parts (the ones that investigators found) in 2
Pennsylvania counties.

I should emphasize the tragedy of it all. The often-broken family
backgrounds of the criminals. The ruined lives from the crimes, both for
the victims' families and friends and the perpetrators'. The emotional
strain that sometimes puts those affected into early graves. The
continuing nightmares for those still alive.

My kids will probably ask me why I have to be involved in all this stuff,
and I'll try to explain to them that it's part of the job.

Somebody has to describe, as objectively as possible, the process and the
scenes for those who cannot be there.

Somebody has to watch as the government puts people to death, to make sure
it's done appropriately, or at least within the confines of law and
written procedures.

I might quote U.S. District Judge Gregory L. Frost, who denied Biros'
request to delay his execution. He wrote, "Too often a layperson will hear
of litigation such as this case and be offended, applying a rationale
derived from a biblical understanding of justice. But the Constitution
neither endorses nor tolerates an eye-for-an-eye, suffering-for-suffering
approach to executions. Rather, the Constitution upon which this country
is founded protects all citizens, even the worst among the citizenry who
have engaged in the most reprehensible of acts."

My kids haven't asked about any of this yet. Thankfully, they didn't press
me on my whereabouts one night last week when I was covering Biros'
execution.

They will someday.

I don't even know how to begin that conversation.

(source: X Marc Kovac is The Vindicators Statehouse correspondent)

Dec. 12



ILLINOIS:

IL governor hopefuls weigh in on crime, punishment


When it comes to punishing people for their crimes, there's little
agreement among the candidates for Illinois governor.

Some want to resume executions, while others support the state's
decade-old moratorium on the death penalty. Some think it's smart to save
money by releasing nonviolent inmates from the state's overcrowded
prisons; others see that as a threat to public safety.

The 2 major Democrats, Gov. Pat Quinn and Comptroller Dan Hynes say they
support the death penalty but would maintain the moratorium that
Republican Gov. George Ryan began in 2000 over concerns about innocent
people being put to death, according to their answers on an Associated
Press candidate questionnaire.

"It is not conscionable that an innocent person could be put to death in
Illinois," Quinn said.

Neither offered details about what additional safeguards are needed.

Most of the 7 Republican candidates favor lifting the moratorium, though
some would want more safeguards in place first. One wants the death
penalty abolished.

"Our justice system is presided over by fallible human beings, no matter
how well-intentioned. If we wrongly imprison someone, we can rectify that
mistake on some level, however incomplete. There is no remedying the
wrongful taking of a life," said Dan Proft, a Chicago public relations
consultant.

Ryan stopped executions for similar reasons after 13 people who had been
condemned to die were found to have been wrongfully convicted. He later
used pardons and commutations to empty Illinois' death row. Prosecutors
have continued to seek the death penalty even though the moratorium has
been in place.

GOP gubernatorial candidates Sen. Bill Brady of Bloomington, businessman
Adam Andrzejewski of Hinsdale and DuPage County Board chairman Bob
Schillerstrom said they would end the moratorium and resume executions.

"The death penalty should be a punishment available to prosecutors for the
extreme and heinous crimes in society today," Brady said.

But others were more cautious. Andy McKenna, a Chicago businessman and
former Illinois Republican Party chairman, said he would consider lifting
the moratorium only after a "thorough review" of the capital punishment
system. Sen. Kirk Dillard of Hinsdale said he would lift the moratorium if
all the death penalty reforms he sponsored in the Legislature were in
place.

Some reforms have been enacted since the moratorium, including requiring
videotaped interrogations in potential death penalty cases and
establishing a fund to help the accused in such cases pay for a defense
with expert testimony and other evidence tests.

Former Illinois Attorney General Jim Ryan said he wouldn't lift the
moratorium until Illinois had a more restrictive system of capital
punishment, including reducing the number of factors that can trigger the
death penalty.

"I will work with prosecutors, law enforcement officials, judges and those
opposed to the death penalty to draft a more narrow and accurate system of
capital punishment," he said.

Democrat William "Dock" Walls and Green Party candidate Rich Whitney said
they want to abolish the death penalty.

Candidates for governor also differ on letting nonviolent offenders out of
prison early to ease the state's growing budget problems.

Quinn defended his administration's plan to release about 1,000 inmates up
to a year early to save about $5 million, saying they would be
electronically monitored and weren't in prison for crimes against people.

Whitney backs Quinn's plan and said legalizing marijuana and
decriminalizing possession of some other narcotics could help reduce jail
overcrowding.

But nearly all the Republicans assailed early release, as did the
Democratic Hynes, who called it "another example of a piecemeal budgeting"
that doesn't consider the "safety and best interests of Illinois
communities."

Brady said it's too risky, Ryan called it "inappropriate," and McKenna
doesn't like it either.

"I am especially troubled that this decision is driven by budget concerns,
not public safety priorities," McKenna said.

Andrzejewski said the state wouldn't be in this position if it managed its
budget properly.

Dillard and Schillerstrom said there likely are other ways to save money,
like cutting Department of Corrections administrative expenses or other
programs started by ousted former Gov. Rod Blagojevich that they say are
contributing to the state's financial troubles.

"Public safety is one of the top priorities of government and not the
place to cut spending," Schillerstrom said.

But Proft said he is open to early release programs as long as there are
support services available for those the former inmates. He also said the
state needs to look at ways to deal with nonviolent drug offenders.

Walls said the state should reassign 15,000 nonviolent inmates to
community-based programs where they can get counseling and skills
training.

(source: Associated Press)