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Post by CCADP on Apr 13, 2006 6:59:54 GMT -5
Indonesia to press ahead with execution of three Catholics in Poso
Indonesia plans to press ahead with the execution of 3 Catholics convicted for their roles in the religious violence that wracked Central Sulawesi in 2000, despite protests from both Muslim and Christian leaders, a local news report said Wednesday.
The country's Attorney General Abdul Rahman Saleh said the execution of the three men - Fabianus Tibo, Dominggus da Silva and Marinus Riwu - would be carried out soon after much consideration.
'I sympathize with the demonstrators (calling for a stay of execution), but I have done much thinking about this case and I must execute the sentences,' Abdul Rahman told the Jakarta Post. 'I will accept any consequences.'
Human rights, community and religious leaders have decried the planned executions as a show of biased justice in mostly Muslim Indonesia, as well as an attempt to protect the real masterminds behind the 2000-2001 communal violence in the region, which left more than 1,000 dead.
The government has refused to probe the alleged involvement of 16 people, including military, intelligence and government officials, who have been named by one of the convicts as the masterminds of the conflict.
Lawmakers met with Vice President Jusuf Kalla on Tuesday to stay the executions pending an investigation of the 16 individuals, but Kalla reportedly told them the case was closed and there would be no further investigations.
A spokesman for the attorney general's office in Jakarta said preparations for the three men's executions was moving forward.
Sporadic bombings and killings, mostly targeting the Christian community, have continued since Muslim and Christian leaders in the district of Poso, about 1,650 kilometres northeast of Jakarta, signed a peace accord in late 2001 easing the violence in Sulawesi.
Indonesian police found 40 homemade bombs last weekend in a graveyard in the district town of Poso - the heart of the Central Sulawesi violence.
A powerful bomb blast rocked a seasonal pork market last New Year's Eve in the provincial capital of Palu, killing at least seven people and wounding 50 others.
In October, a group of 6 masked assailants, wielding machetes and wearing black clothes, attacked a group of students as they were on their way to a Christian high school, beheading three teenage girls and seriously wounding another.
In late May 2005, a twin-powerful blasts ripped through an open-market in the Poso's Tentena sub-district, killing at least 22 people and injuring more than 70 others.
Indonesia is the world's most populous Muslim nation, but Central Sulawesi has roughly equal numbers of Muslims and Christians.
Members of Jemaah Islamiyah, a regional terrorist group blamed for a series of bloody bombings in Jakarta and on Bali island in recent years, and other militant Islamic groups are believed to be active in the region. But many local rights groups believe military and government leaders are behind the continuing violence.
(source: Deutsche Presse-Agentur)
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Post by CCADP on Apr 13, 2006 6:59:13 GMT -5
No Abolition in Sight
A new de facto moratorium on the death penalty in Cuba, since the last 3 executions took place in 2003, does not seem to indicate that capital punishment will disappear any time soon in this socialist Caribbean island nation.
Tuesday marked the 3rd anniversary of the application of the death penalty in the case of 3 Cubans who hijacked a ferry carrying dozens of passengers, including 4 foreign tourists, in an attempt to reach the United States in April 2003.
The hijackers, who had threatened to kill their hostages, were executed after a summary trial in which they were found guilty under a 2001 law on terrorism.
The executions drew widespread condemnation, even from international figures who have been staunch supporters of the government of Fidel Castro, as well as in Cuba, where capital punishment tends to be accepted in the case of serious crimes like murder or the rape of minors.
A few days after the executions, Castro himself acknowledged the political costs of the drastic measure that was aimed at curbing a wave of hijackings of boats and aircraft by people keen on making it to the United States.
Even before the executions, "It pained us to hurt many of our friends and a large number of people around the world, whose sensitivity towards the death penalty, arising from religious, humanistic and philosophical motives, we are familiar with, and in many aspects share," said Castro at the time.
Among the personalities who lashed out against the executions were Uruguayan writer Eduardo Galeano and Portuguese novelist and Nobel Literature Prize-winner Jos Saramago, who as a result qualified his support for the Cuban revolution.
The executions broke the de facto moratorium on capital punishment in effect in Cuba since 2000, in line with a call issued to that effect by the U.N. high commission on human rights on the suggestion of U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan.
In mid-November 2001, Castro publicly stated that a group of legal experts was studying alternatives to the death penalty.
"We have other ideas that will enable us one day, by our own decision, to abolish capital punishment," the president said on that occasion.
Years before, in 1992, the Cuban leader had remarked at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil that his government was willing to sign a multilateral treaty on the abolition of the death penalty, but would not eliminate the punishment on its own, because "it is a tool in the struggle against those intent on destroying our country."
In Cuba's criminal code, the death penalty is applicable to a number of crimes if aggravating factors are present, although it cannot be applied in the case of people under 20 or to women who were pregnant at the time the crime was committed or when the sentence is handed down.
Cuban law also stipulates that those convicted of a crime have the right to appeal to the Supreme Court. If the sentence is upheld, it must then be ratified by the Council of State (the highest government body), which has the last word.
In practice, the death sentence has never been applied against a woman since a law was passed in 1959 to reestablish the use of capital punishment, which was later incorporated into the 1976 Socialist Constitution.
The 1940 constitution in effect when Castro took power specifically banned the death sentence, although capital punishment was allowed in the case of "members of the armed forces for crimes of a military nature and persons guilty of treason or committing espionage for the enemy in times of war with a foreign nation."
At present, the Cuban government stresses that the death sentence is only handed down in "exceptional" circumstances, and is kept on the books as a judicial weapon that can be used by the country to defend itself from both external attack and potential internal activities aimed at destroying the state. It is also maintained to protect the population from the most heinous crimes.
"The possible abolition of capital punishment in Cuba would be linked to a cease in the policy of hostility, terrorism and economic, commercial and financial warfare to which its people have been subjected for over 40 years by the United States," the Cuban Foreign Ministry told the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights in 2004.
With regard to crimes against life and physical integrity, the Cuban Criminal Code establishes the death penalty for cases of homicide, rape, sexual abuse of minors involving violence, robbery involving violence and intimidation, and crimes in which corruption serves as an aggravating factor.
Article 2 of the Criminal Code establishes the application of the death penalty for crimes against the countrys external security, including acts aimed at undermining its independence or territorial integrity, the promotion of armed actions against Cuba, aiding the enemy, and espionage.
Chapter II, which addresses crimes against the countrys internal security, stipulates the use of this punishment for offences like rebellion, sedition, usurpation of political or military leadership, sabotage and terrorism.
In February 1999, a Criminal Code reform introduced life imprisonment as an alternative sentence to capital punishment.
"Right now there are around 50 people either sentenced to, or eligible for, the death sentence," opposition leader Elizardo Snchez told IPS. Snchez is the president of the Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation, an opposition group that has no legal status but is tolerated by the Cuban government.
His list includes Salvadorans Ral Ernesto Cruz Len and Otto Ren Rodrguez Llerena, who were sentenced to death for terrorism in 1998.
Cruz Len and Rodrguez Llerena - whose sentences are currently pending a Supreme Court appeal - took part in a number of bombings of tourist facilities in Cuba. One of these explosions resulted in the death of Fabio Di Celmo, an Italian residing in Havana.
The death sentence has also yet to be applied against Humberto Eladio Real Surez, who was arrested on Oct. 15, 1994 after illegally landing in Cuba and murdering a man in order to steal his car. He was sentenced for crimes against the security of the state, homicide and the illegal use of firearms.
There have been various periods over the past decades when Cubas use of capital punishment has sparked considerable tensions. Immediately after the overthrow of dictator Fulgencio Batista in 1959, former government officials and military leaders accused of crimes committed during his bloody regime were executed.
And in the 1960s, numerous opponents of the revolution were also sentenced to death.
In 1989, the trial of a group of armed forces officers and Interior Ministry officials charged with corruption and drug trafficking culminated in the execution of Arnaldo Ochoa, Jorge Martnez Valds, Antonio de la Guardia and Amado Padrn.
The Cuban government does not publish statistics on the countrys prison population, individuals sentenced to death, or executions. Nevertheless, Snchez asserts that between 5,000 and 6,000 people were executed in Cuba between 1959 and 2003, "most of them for so-called crimes against the state or offences with political connotations."
According to United Nations documents cited by the Cuban Foreign Ministry, as of Dec. 31, 2003 there were 66 countries and territories in the world where capital punishment was still applicable for various types of crimes and 77 that had completely abolished it.
Another 15 nations had only eliminated it for the punishment of common crimes, while 37 others were classified under the category of de facto abolition, since they no longer applied the death penalty although it remained in force in their national laws.
(source: IPS)
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Post by CCADP on Apr 13, 2006 6:58:37 GMT -5
Laos-Vietnam drug trafficker gets death sentence
A central Vietnamese court Tuesday sentenced 1 drug trafficker to death and handed out other sentences including life imprisonment and 2-20 year jail terms to 8 others for drug trafficking.
The Nghe An People's Court sentenced Tran Van Hoi, 34, to death and Le Van Truong to life in prison after Hois ring was found to have smuggled 970 heroin cakes, 16,000 pink (amphetamine) and 500 ecstasy pills from Laos to Vietnam's central provinces for a total VND8 billion (US$500,000).
So far, 33 out of 42 traffickers in the ring have been arrested.
Possessing, trading or trafficking 600 grams (1.32 pounds) of heroin or 20 kilograms (44 pounds) of opium are punishable by death in Vietnam.
(source: Thanh Nien Daily)
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Post by CCADP on Apr 13, 2006 6:58:11 GMT -5
Death sentence
The Shanghai No. 1 Intermediate People's Court yesterday sentenced Zheng Yanpeng to death for murder and robbery. Zheng, 28, hailed from Heilongjiang Province and his mother once worked for a local family surnamed Cheng as a domestic helper. Zheng owed about 10,000 yuan (US$1,235) to his company for using its hotline service. In order to get the money, Zheng decided to rob the Cheng family. He entered the house, killed the new domestic help with a hammer and tied up Cheng's son. After getting 10,000 yuan in cash, property certificate and several bank cards, Zheng switched the gas on in order to kill the son.
(source: Shanghai Daily)
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Post by CCADP on Apr 13, 2006 6:57:38 GMT -5
Inmate seeks clemency----Brown scheduled to die April 21
A condemned killer scheduled to die next week should be spared because he had poor lawyers, a trial with several errors and a history of mental illness, defense lawyers told Gov. Mike Easley on Tuesday.
"The problem is Mr. Brown has a number of clear-cut legal errors that no court has ever reviewed," defense lawyer Don Cowan said after a clemency meeting with the governor on behalf of Willie Brown Jr. "So I'm trying to be realistic by saying if somebody would review these issues, Mr. Brown would get a new trial."
Brown, 61, was sentenced to death for the 1983 Martin County slaying of Vallerie Ann Roberson Dixon during a convenience store robbery. He is scheduled to die April 21 at Central Prison in Raleigh. A federal judge has said he will stop the execution unless state officials tell him today how they will ensure the inmate is unconscious as he's being put to death.
Cowan said he and co-counsel Laura Loyek did not discuss those matters with Easley. Instead, they argued that trial lawyers did not introduce or even know about Brown's history of paranoia, anti-social behavior or schizophrenia. The problems had been documented in the years following a 1963 juvenile court conviction for Brown, his lawyers said.
In addition, Cowan said jurors received improper instructions telling them they had to unanimously agree on any factors that could have allowed Brown to avoid the death penalty. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled the instruction was unconstitutional, but Brown's case wasn't included in the appeal, Cowan said.
Cowan said the defense provided Easley with 40 cases in which a new trial or new sentencing was ordered because of the same error. Brown is the only death-row inmate in North Carolina facing execution whose jury instructions haven't been reviewed because of the ruling, according to a statement from Amnesty International USA.
Several members of Brown's family met with Reuben Young, Easley's legal counsel, to discuss the case.
Easley can change the death sentence to life in prison. Typically, the governor makes his clemency ruling after all legal matters have been resolved.
U.S. District Court Judge Malcolm Howard issued a ruling Friday threatening to stop the execution in response to a lawsuit contending that inmates may suffer pain if they're not properly sedated.
(source: The News & Observer)
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Post by CCADP on Apr 13, 2006 6:57:13 GMT -5
LaGrone jury convenes today to deliberate on death penalty
Now that it has convicted Maurice LaGrone Jr. of 1st-degree murder, the jury will convene behind closed doors today to determine if he is eligible for the death penalty.
In Illinois, a defendant is eligible to be put to death if he meets at least one of 20 criteria. A murder would qualify for the death penalty if: there were two or more victims; a victim younger than 12 was killed as a result of "exceptionally brutal or heinous behavior indicative of wanton cruelty"; and it was committed "in a cold, calculated and premeditated manner pursuant to a preconceived plan, scheme or design."
If he's deemed eligible, jurors then will decide whether to issue the death sentence after a possibly weeklong hearing in which witnesses present testimony for and against the death penalty for LaGrone.
-Edith Brady-Lunny
(source: Bloomington Herald & Review)
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Post by CCADP on Apr 13, 2006 6:54:00 GMT -5
Glass' death penalty overturned
Travis Glass, who in 2002 received a death sentence for the 2001 murder of 13-year-old Steffini Wilkins of Hannibal, has been given a new day in court regarding the death penalty.
On March 29, Circuit Judge Gary Oxenhandler overturned Glass' death penalty. The penalty phase of his trial will be reconducted, according to the judge. Glass could be given the same sentence at a later date.
Glass, 26, of Palmyra, was found guilty and received the death sentence in November 2002 at Boone County Courthouse in Columbia, where the trial was scheduled on a change of venue from Ralls County. Judge Frank Conley was presiding judge. Glass has remained in custody since his arrest in 2001.
Steffini Wilkins' body was found May 25, 2001, near Salt River in Ralls County, after she was taken from her home in Hannibal. She had been strangled with her bra strap. Hannibal police officers testified that Glass had confessed to killing Steffini and described how it happened.
Judge Oxenhandler's decision to reconduct the penalty phase of the trial was announced at the Callaway County Courthouse in Fulton.
Oxenhandler's statement says: "The court finds that the guilt phase of the movant's (Glass') trial was fair and the movant was not prejudiced by any of his allegations of attorney ineffectiveness that would have resulted in the guilt phase being different.
"However, with respect to the penalty phase of the trial, the court finds that the penalty phase was not fair, that movant (Glass) was prejudiced and that movant is entitled to a new penalty phase of his trial."
He concluded that Glass' "amended motion is sustained, in part, and movant is granted a new penalty phase of trial."
The question remains whether Oxenhandler's March 29 decision will be appealed by the prosecuting attorneys in the case, who are members of the Missouri attorney general's staff. John Fougere, press secretary for the attorney general, said Tuesday the staff is, "reviewing the judge's decision for this case. We have not made a decision as far as what we will do."
An appeal may be filed by the attorney general's office, Fougere said, and "we have a time period to do that."
Although the judge ruled that Glass will have a new penalty phase of his trial, he ruled differently regarding many allegations that Glass' attorney was ineffective in the guilt phase of the trial. In each of these instances, Judge Oxenhandler said, "the claim is denied."
Glass had earlier appealed the death penalty. The Missouri Supreme Court upheld Glass' conviction and death sentence in a unanimous decision announced June 9, 2004.
In that appeal Glass had claimed his statements to the police about the night's events when the victim died should have been suppressed from the trial and that prosecutors had failed to present an aggravating factor that would have made him eligible for the death penalty.
The Supreme Court's decision stated there was substantial evidence to support the jury's finding that Glass acted with deliberation, an element of 1st-degree murder.
Glass was prosecuted by Robert Ahsens III of Jefferson City, assistant attorney general of Missouri, with the assistance of Rodney Rodenbaugh and Joe Brannon of Ralls County Prosecuting Attorney John Briscoe's office.
Judge Oxenhandler's decision included lengthy explanations of why he ruled to overturn the death penalty. Among the allegations made by Glass were:
- "Counsel were ineffective in failing to investigate and call in penalty phase various friends, teachers and prior professionals who would have testified to movant's background, character and life history" and that their testimony would have indicated Glass' "impaired intellectual functioning." This testimony is "inherently mitigating and critical" to a jury's assessment of whether to impose the death penalty.
- Movant's aunt testified that he had meningitis as a child, but she did not know if it had any impact on him later. Council did not have his doctor testify.
- "That movant should be granted a new penalty phase trial is all the more evident when considered in the context of teachers who counsel failed to investigate or call - each of whom would have shown movant's impaired intellectual functioning." School records were obtained but were not admitted in the penalty phase.
- Counsel did not call teachers to testify, and "there is a reasonable probability the result of penalty phase would have been different if counsel had not failed to investigate and/or call the following teachers and school officials: Donna Brown, Eric Churchwell, Judy Caldwell, Elaine Longacre, Vince Matlick, Joe Brandenburg, and Debbie Higbee Roberts.
The judge said Glass was granted a new penalty phase of the trial because of his attorney's failure to investigate and to call these and other teachers.
- Glass' mother testified she had left him with her parents shortly after he was born and had "not lots" of contact with him.
- Counsel was "further ineffective in failure to investigate and/or call prior probation officers" who had supervised Glass while on probation for stealing. The same charge was made regarding calling several of Glass' classmates whose names had been provided to his attorneys, and several doctors who were learning disability experts. The judge stated that the penalty phase could have been different had the jury heard evidence of Glass' impaired intellectual functioning.
- Counsel was ineffective in failing to appeal the issue that the evidence was insufficient to support the aggravating circumstance found by the jury."
After listing these and additional allegations, Oxenhandler announced he had granted a new penalty phase of Glass' trial.
(source: Hannibal Courier-Post)
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Post by CCADP on Apr 9, 2006 9:34:23 GMT -5
Iranian Opposition Leader Feyz-Mahdav On Verge of Execution
by David Roknich Saturday, Apr. 08, 2006 at 12:30 PM
“I am concerned over reports noting that he was not granted access to a lawyer (South Carolina is not so clean on this issue either!) during his trial and as such his trial did not meet international standards for fair trial, as laid down by Article 14 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights to which Iran is a State Party”, according to former Norwegian P.M. Kjell Magne Bondevik.
certainly, a nuclear bunker buster attack will not solve this problem - not anymore than it would solve the lack of legal representation for those brought to trial in Strom Thurmond's old stronghold in South Carolina where defendants are routinely sentenced for felonies without access to legal council - but their fate is not nearly as ugly as their counterparts in Iran, who are routinely hanged or mutilated as punishment for their crimes. It is also important to note that Feyz-Mahdavi was taken prisoner under the regime of alledgedly "liberal" front man Khatami alonfg with many other student dissidents who were changed with insulting the US backed leader, who I contend was nothing more than a CIA infiltrator, as are many of today's "Ayatollahs". It is well know that Iran is heavily infiltrated on both sides of it's policital spectrum - the only people you can trust seem to end up with a noose around their necks. And now for the story fromIran Focus - editor
Former Norwegian PM Urges Iran not to Hang Dissident London, Apr. 07 – Former Norwegian Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik has appealed to the Iranian government not to go ahead as planned with the execution of a long-time political prisoner.
Valiollah Feyz-Mahdavi, a 28-year-old member of Iran’s main opposition group, the People’s Mojahedin Organisation of Iran (PMOI), has been officially informed that his execution sentence will be carried out on May 16, according to his relatives in Iran.
Bondevik, who currently heads the Oslo Center for Peace and Human Rights, said that Feyz-Mahdavi was believed to be at “imminent danger” of execution.
Bondevik said that he was “deeply concerned” by the high number of executions in Iran and urged Tehran to refrain from executing Feyz-Mahdavi.
Feyz-Mahdavi was arrested in 2001 for sympathising with the PMOI and tortured in Gohardasht Prison in Karaj, west of Tehran.
His execution would be the second such known political execution in the past two months. Another PMOI member, Hojjat Zamani, a political prisoner in Iran since 2001, was hanged in Gohardasht Prison on February 7. The regime applied severe psychological torture on Zamani, 31, to break his morale and compel him to express remorse and surrender.
Bondevik also expressed concern at the overall human rights situation in Iran.
He highlighted the case of Fatemeh Haghighat-Pajouh who is once again on death row after originally having her death sentence suspended.
Haghighat-Pajouh was sentenced to death for the murder of her husband. She alleged that her husband was a drug addict and had tried to rape her daughter, 15, from a previous marriage, according to Amnesty International.
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Post by CCADP on Apr 9, 2006 9:33:14 GMT -5
Call for Islamic law at Sean Luke rally
Driselle Ramjohn dramjohn@trinidadexpress.com
Sunday, April 9th 2006
Members of the Muslim community with their placards during the IBN Public Forum in memory of Sean Luke at Woodford Square, Port of Spain, yesterday.
CORPORAL and capital punishment should be reintroduced in today's society to combat crime.
This was the call from speakers at a public forum to combat the escalating crime situation held in memory of six-year-old Sean Luke at Woodford Square in Port of Spain yesterday.
Luke's lifeless body was found badly beaten and buggered in a cane field near his Orange Valley home recently.
A little more than three hundred people dressed in white showed up at the Square for the forum organised by the Islamic Broadcast Network (IBN) managing director Inshan Ishmael.
Ishmael speaking at the forum said it is time to take back the country from the criminals and suggested a move towards the most drastic type of capital punishment, Islamic law.
Under Islamic law if someone were caught stealing his hand would be cut off or stoned to death depending on the crime.
Marilyn Persad, Luke's aunt, said that she was disappointed at the turnout considering the outpouring of affection and attention that Luke's murder had received.
"The country needs to do something, anything to control the crime rate. Government must take a stance against the crime, there are so many murderers on death row, maybe if we start back hanging, that might be the solution," Persad said.
Persad's suggestion received resounding applause from the audience.
She added that every citizen of Trinidad and Tobago must make a positive change in his or her life and join together to make a positive change in the country to combat the escalating crime rate.
Persad said that parents should have the right to punish their children without fear of being reported for abuse.
Ishmael said that there should be a return to olden days where "licks" was common.
Many of the attendees were children holding signs saying "I want to enjoy my childhood", "I'm too little to be afraid" and "Wake up people the kids need help", among others.
The only political figure in attendance, Opposition senator Sadiq Baksh said, "It is really becoming a regular situation to attend functions like these. It is something that we really need to sensitise first the authorities that they need to take stock because crime and criminal activities in Trinidad and Tobago really need to be attended to and that we as citizens also have a role to play to be more sensitive to people within the community in which we live".
"Government cannot shirk its responsibilities at the macro level," he added.
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Post by CCADP on Apr 9, 2006 9:32:13 GMT -5
Ja will not interfere in US death row case A-G published: Sunday | April 9, 2006
NICHOLSON
ATTORNEY-GENERAL A.J. Nicholson has hit back at claims that the Government has neglected a Jamaican awaiting the death penalty in Florida. Senator Nicholson said it would be inappropriate for the Government to apply pressure, political or otherwise, on the Governor of Florida regarding the case. Jamaica, he noted, would not interfere in the judicial process of the United States.
Lance Armstrong was sentenced to death by lethal injection for murdering a Florida policeman in 1990, but hopes to avoid this fate with his clemency hearing on April 14, to be held in the Broward County Circuit Court in that state.
In an article published in last week's Sunday Gleaner, Mr. Armstrong's lawyer, David Rowe, said the Jamaican Government was his client's only hope for clemency, but accused the Jamaican consulate in Miami of ignoring his requests for support and failing to visit him during his 16 years of imprisonment.
NOT TRUE
"This is simply not true," responded Mr. Nicholson in a letter to the newspaper. He said that the consulate had visited Mr. Armstrong on February 15 in response to a request from his mother, and that previously, he had made no requests for support.
"The Jamaican Government sympathises with Mr. Armstrong and his family and will provide any assistance that it can in supporting Mr. Armstrong as he prepares for his upcoming clemency hearing," pledged the Attorney-General.
CAN ONLY PROVIDE 'GENERAL' SUPPORT
"It can only provide general support to Mr. Armstrong through its consulate in Miami to ensure that Mr. Armstrong's general rights are protected and that his reasonable requests are addressed," he added.
The clemency hearing will not accept any possible new evidence, but decide only whether there are mitigating circumstances which may justify removing Armstrong from death row.
The threshold for any such decision, however, will be very high, particularly because Armstrong was found guilty of killing a police officer. Armstrong has always maintained he did not shoot dead Broward Sheriff's Deputy John Greeney.
At 2 a.m., on February 17, 1990, Armstrong and another man, Ercely Wayne Coleman, with whom he worked, entered a Church's Fried Chicken restaurant. A robbery and shoot-out with the police ensued, during which officer Greeney was shot dead.
Armstrong has always maintained that he was never part of the robbery, but was framed. Nevertheless, he was convicted and sentenced to die for the murder in 1991. The death sentence was thrown out on a technicality in 1993, but was later reinstated.
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Post by CCADP on Apr 9, 2006 9:30:58 GMT -5
In November 1998, Marshall organized the first national conference of death row exonerees at Northwestern Law School. That event is believed to have set the stage for a death penalty moratorium in Illinois and major changes in the system there.
More broadly, it awakened Americans to the realization that innocent people had been sent to death rows across the country.
ADVERTISEMENT Although Saturday's conference included several death penalty-related panels, the gathering at UCLA had a broader focus, particularly since most of the California exonerees had been serving long sentences rather than facing execution. California has more individuals — at least 28,000 — serving life sentences than any other state.
Throughout the day, the exonerees shared experiences among themselves and with the wider audience. Most were upbeat, but their suffering was obvious.
Marsh, for instance, developed such severe separation anxiety during his years away from his wife, Brenda, that he cannot bear to be apart from her, even for a few moments to take a group photograph with the others wrongfully convicted.
She accompanied him in the photo and also onstage.
He introduced her by saying she had been in her own prison for the 21 years he was behind bars.
Despite losing many years of their lives, several of the exonerees said in interviews that they were not bitter. "Bitterness and anger will destroy you," said Killian, who was a law student when a man involved in a Sacramento murder made up a story that she had masterminded the killing. Now 59, Killian has formed a nonprofit organization, Action Committee for Women in Prison, based in Pasadena.
She lives with Joyce Ride, the mother of former astronaut Sally Ride, who spent thousands of dollars of her own money to hire an investigator and an appellate lawyer to look into Killian's case after visiting her in prison and becoming convinced of her innocence.
"My focus," Killian said, "is on the women I left behind and the changes I can effect to ensure that this does not happen to other people."
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Post by CCADP on Apr 9, 2006 9:30:42 GMT -5
Victims of the Justice System
A conference at UCLA brings together the state's wrongly convicted, to share their experiences and push for legal changes.
By Henry Weinstein, Times Staff Writer April 9, 2006
One by one they ascended the stage and introduced themselves, each an embodiment of the legal system's fallibility in California.
"My name is Herman Atkins," a tall ponytailed man said. "The state of California stole 12 years of my life for a rape and robbery I did not commit in Riverside."
ADVERTISEMENT "Good morning, my name is Gloria Killian," a well-spoken middle-aged woman said. "The state stole 22 years of my life for a robbery and murder I did not commit in Sacramento."
"Good morning. My name is Ken Marsh," a third speaker said. "The state took 21 years of my life for a murder I did not commit in San Diego in 1983."
Seventeen people in all reiterated the point to a packed ballroom at UCLA on Saturday: that although they now were free, countless other innocent people are imprisoned in the state. Atkins, Killian, Marsh and the others were wrongfully convicted and cleared years later.
They took part in the event, called "The Faces of Wrongful Conviction," to dramatize the flaws in the state's criminal justice system. The gathering was sponsored by the American Civil Liberties Union, Death Penalty Focus, Amnesty International and others.
It came as a state Senate-created commission is beginning to study and review the criminal justice system in California, with a particular focus on the causes of wrongful convictions and possible disparities in how death sentences are meted out. Former California Atty. Gen. John Van de Kamp, chairman of the commission; San Francisco attorney Jon Streeter, the vice chairman; and Santa Clara University law professor Gerald Uelmen, the commission's executive director, all were in attendance Saturday.
"We realize the system is imperfect," said Kent Scheidegger, legal director of the Criminal Justice Legal Foundation, a pro law-enforcement organization in Sacramento, in a telephone interview. If the commission comes up with needed reforms, that will be a public benefit, he said.
Scheidegger added, however, that he thought individuals sentenced to long terms, rather than the death penalty, were "more vulnerable" to errors in their cases, because death row inmates are entitled to more legal assistance after a conviction.
After identifying themselves and the duration of their time behind bars, each participant in Saturday's ceremony hung handcuffs on a wall on the stage and then 10 more pairs on behalf of so-called exonerees unable to attend the two-day conference.
As the half-hour event, the first of its kind in California, concluded, the crowd gave the group of former inmates a prolonged standing ovation.
The speakers were a varied group. A few, such as Atkins, were cleared as a result of DNA evidence discovered after their trials. But most — including Killian and Marsh — gained their freedom after even longer legal battles in which there was no magic bullet like DNA.
There were whites, African Americans, Latinos, an Asian American and a Native American. They had come from as far south as San Diego and as far north as Yreka. All but Killian were male.
They had served as little as one year — Bobby Herrera, for assault in Santa Clara County — and as much as 24 years — Thomas Goldstein, for murder in Long Beach. Two had been on death row.
Summaries of their cases indicate they were victims of such problems as inaccurate eyewitness identifications, unreliable jailhouse informants, the failure of police and prosecutors to disclose exculpatory evidence and faulty forensics.
More than 200 people have been wrongfully convicted in California since 1989, said Jeffrey Chin, assistant director of the Innocence Project at California Western School of Law in San Diego, one of the conference sponsors.
That's one a month, said state Sen. Gloria Romero, (D-Los Angeles), who opened the conference. Romero has been pushing for a death penalty moratorium, but it is an uphill battle. "According to the latest Field Poll, 63% of Californians support the death penalty," she said. "We have work to do."
Natasha Minsker of the ACLU said the purpose of the conference was twofold: to draw attention to "wrongful convictions and to strategize solutions for much-needed change."
Stanford University law professor Lawrence Marshall, who played a key role in getting several innocent men off death row in Illinois when he was teaching in that state in the 1990s, called Saturday's event "truly momentous."
"It's time for California to be humbled by its capacity for error" in its criminal justice system, he said.
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Post by CCADP on Apr 9, 2006 9:29:49 GMT -5
Chester trial a tale of death and fear
The murder of a federal witness led to a probe of the Boyle Street gang - and charges in three more killings.
By John Shiffman
Inquirer Staff Writer
On Oct. 7, 2001, the night before Tracey Saunders was scheduled to appear in court to admit that she had supplied a Chester cocaine dealer with a gun, a masked man put two bullets in her head.
The murder of the federal witness triggered a massive investigation of a feared neighborhood drug set called the Boyle Street Boys - one that ultimately led to the four-murder death-penalty trial now under way at the U.S. Courthouse.
That trial, which began the same week the FBI launched a campaign to implore crime witnesses to "Step up, Speak up," has showcased the risks such witnesses take and the hurdles authorities face. It follows recent similar state cases, including a trial in which six people, fearing for their safety, recanted their testimony against the accused killer of 10-year-old Faheem Thomas-Childs in North Philadelphia.
In some cases, including the Chester one, authorities have taken unusual measures to protect witnesses. After the Saunders murder, agents issued subpoenas to virtually everyone in the neighborhood to appear before the grand jury. That way, they figured, no one could be certain who was cooperating.
The investigation unearthed three more slayings, including the murder of a 16-year-old wrongly accused of being a snitch.
The Boyle Street Boys - admitted drug dealers Andre Cooper and brothers Vincent and Jamain Williams - stand charged with four murders in Chester. Their trial began in January, and the case is before a jury, which begins its sixth day of deliberations tomorrow.
If convicted, the three men face the death penalty, a rarity in federal court. There are 39 people on federal death row, and only one is from Pennsylvania.
At trial, prosecutors Nancy Beam Winter and Faith Moore Taylor portrayed the three dealers as ruthless thugs who intimidated neighbors and killed those who dared to cross them.
"The price of the lack of loyalty on Boyle Street was bullets to the head," Winter told jurors in her opening statement.
Defense lawyers asked jurors to keep the case in perspective, noting that much of the evidence had come in the form of testimony from codefendants who had struck plea deals. One of them was Brian Rogers, the triggerman in the Saunders murder, who had become a government witness to avoid the death penalty and probably faces 25 years in prison.
"They will tell the truth when the truth benefits them and for no other reason," said Tim Sullivan, who represents Vincent Williams. "It's all part of the script."
Cooper's lawyer, Anthony Ricco, told jurors that the government's description of the Boyle Street Boys as some sort of large-scale racketeering enterprise was overblown.
"This is about kids growing up on a miserable block into a miserable life, unguided by parents, who did what the generation did before them, which is sell drugs on the block that they live on," Ricco said.
Winter told the jury that authorities had always believed the Boyle Street Boys were dangerous - that they sold bags of cocaine on their corner at all hours and often wore bulletproof vests.
That view intensified when Saunders was murdered. Saunders, a 33-year-old mother of two, worked at a Rite Aid and also struggled with drug addiction. To earn money, she helped Vincent Williams and others buy guns. When she was arrested on gun charges, she agreed to testify against Vincent Williams.
Shortly before the murder, Rogers testified, Saunders told Vincent Williams, "I'm telling on you." He allegedly responded, "Do what you have to do."
On the night before Saunders was scheduled to plead guilty to supplying Vincent Williams with a gun, Rogers shot her, Rogers testified.
Authorities investigating the murder found that it was "just the tip of the iceberg," Winter said.
Prosecutors presented evidence they said showed that the Boyle Street Boys had participated in three other murders:
Karriem Washington, 19, was killed July 10, 1999, after disagreements with the group. Cooper was the alleged triggerman.
"He shot him 11, almost a dozen times, literally from head to toe," Winter told jurors. "Despite lots of folks being out there that night, lots of folks who saw what happened, nobody dared talk to the police."
Randolph Harris, 25, was killed April 22, 2000, allegedly shot in the head by Jamain Williams, shortly after winning $10,000 from him shooting dice.
"The Boyle Street reputation grew exponentially that day," Winter said.
Antonio Rykard, 16, was killed three days later, allegedly by Vincent Williams, who wrongly believed Rykard was a snitch. Rykard was one of the group's street dealers.
"With his last breath," Winter told jurors, "Antonio Rykard swore on his grandmother's life that he wasn't a snitch, and Vincent Williams shot him twice in the face, once in the hand as Antonio Rykard vainly tried to stop the bullet, and twice in the back of the head. The message spread: You don't tell on these men or you die."
As he waited for the verdict last week, Saunders' brother, Rodney Bradley, an elementary and junior high school music teacher, said he was confident his sister was murdered to silence her.
"But why?" he said. "Why did they betray her? She adored Vincent like a great big teddy bear."
More than anything, Bradley seeks an apology - he wants the three men to tell his mother they are sorry.
Contact staff writer John Shiffman at 215-854-2658 or jshiffman@phillynews.com.
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Post by CCADP on Apr 9, 2006 9:28:50 GMT -5
Commission will ensure justice
The American criminal justice system fails sometimes. One price of these failures is the loss of life and livelihood for those unfortunate enough to be wrongfully convicted.
More than 230 inmates in the United States have been exonerated of serious crimes through post-conviction review of cases.
Wrongful convictions are often the result of mistaken eyewitness identification, defective or fraudulent science, police or prosecutorial misconduct, poor legal defense, false confessions and racism.
Rep. Bill Deeken is proposing legislation to create a Death Penalty Commission that would work as a force to ensure that convicted Missourians recommended for the death sentence will have been placed on death row without any question of innocence and will have been done so fairly and justly.
As social work students at Missouri State University, we feel it is of great importance to ensure social justice to Missourians facing the death penalty.
Please contact your representatives to show your support of Rep. Deeken's House Bill 1496 for the Death Penalty Commission.
Rae Bozworth, Tina Kennedy, Christa Larkins and Katie Phares, Springfield
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Post by CCADP on Apr 9, 2006 8:21:52 GMT -5
Lawyers want Page evaluated
By Tim Velder, Lawrence County Journal
DEADWOOD - Mike Butler, a court-appointed attorney for convicted killer and death-row inmate Elijah Page, is seeking court approval for a psychiatric evaluation for his client.
Page has informed legal authorities that he wants to end his appeals and face execution. His execution date has been set for sometime during the week of Aug. 28. Page has also appealed to the court to have his attorneys dismissed.
However, his attorneys are questioning Page’s mental faculties to make such decisions.
Butler wrote in a recent court motion in Deadwood that Page’s motion to dismiss the attorneys was prepared in violation of prison policy. Fellow death-row inmate Charles Rhines purportedly assisted in preparing the motion.
Butler would like the mental evaluation before any other proceedings are taken.
“The reason for the requested evaluation is to determine whether Page is competent to waive his state and federal rights to collateral review of any constitutional claims that could result in his death sentence being set aside,” Butler wrote. “Page’s judgment at the present time may be substantially impaired due to severe depression.”
Butler suggested that Dr. David Bean of Sioux Falls conduct the evaluation at an approximate $2,000 cost to Lawrence County taxpayers. If Bean was called to testify, more costs would be incurred.
Lawrence County State’s Attorney John Fitzgerald opposes Butler’s motion. “The defendant has requested in writing that his appeals be ended and has requested that his court-appointed attorney’s representation be terminated,” Fitzgerald stated in a response to Butler.
Fourth Circuit Court Judge Warren Johnson, who originally sentenced Page to death in 2001, stated in a letter on file in Deadwood that he is prepared to order the evaluation before considering Page’s request to dismiss his attorneys.
“It doesn’t seem to make much sense to have him brought across the state for a hearing on this motion, only to then order a competency assessment,” Johnson wrote.
Page and Briley Piper are both on death row at the penitentiary. Both pleaded guilty to first-degree murder for torturing and beating Chester Allen Poage to death, after first planning to rob him. Johnson sentenced both men to death, a decision that the South Dakota Supreme Court later upheld.
A jury convicted a third defendant, Darryl Hoadley, of murder, and he was sentenced to life in prison.
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