Bali Nine: Prosecutors dismiss Scott Rush's call for clemency

Bali Nine Scott Rush

An Indonesian prosecutor has insisted on the death penalty for Australian Bali Nine drug courier Scott Rush.

Prosecutor Argitha Chandra told a panel of judges hearing Rush's appeal against the death penalty that he should be severely punished for committing a serious crime.

He dismissed testimony from former Australian Federal Police commissioner Mick Keelty, who said 24-year-old Rush's role in the foiled 2005 plot to smuggle more than eight kilograms of heroin out of Bali was minor.

Mr Keelty said Rush was just a courier and knew little about the smuggling ring.

"We don't differentiate the roles," the prosecutor said, adding that "drug smuggling is a serious threat to the image of Bali" as a tourist destination.

"Narcotics are a big danger and a transnational crime and the accused should be severely punished," he said.

The case has been adjourned until October 4, when the judges will deliver their final recommendations to the Supreme Court in Jakarta.

It could be several months before the Supreme Court rules on the case.

Source: ABC/AFP, September 27, 2010

Death penalty 'appropriate' for Bali Nine smuggler

The Indonesian people want Australian Scott Rush to be executed for his role in the Bali Nine drug smuggling plot, a court has been told.

Indonesian prosecutors today told the Denpasar District Court that death by firing squad was the proper punishment for the 24-year-old Brisbane man's crimes.

"We believe that the Indonesian people would consider the death penalty appropriate in this case," prosecutor Purwanti Murtiasih said.

Murtiasih called on Indonesia's Supreme Court to reject Rush's final appeal, known as a judicial review, which seeks to have his sentence reduced to 15 years' jail.

Rush was one of nine Australians arrested over a foiled 2005 plot to smuggle more than eight kilograms of heroin out of Bali.

Arrested at Denpasar airport with more than a kilo of heroin strapped to his body, Rush was originally sentenced to life in prison.

The supreme court unexpectedly increased it to death in 2006 but will now be called on the reconsider that verdict.

Ringleaders Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran are also on death row but Rush is the only courier facing the firing squad.

Rush's lawyers argue his sentence is out of step with his fellow Bali Nine couriers, who are facing between 20 years and life in prison.

But Murtiasih said the Indonesian legal system did not distinguish between organisers and couriers.

"We don't differentiate these roles," he said.

"His participation supported the overall activity of this very secretive network."

Former Australian Federal Police (AFP) commissioner Mick Keelty and current Deputy Commissioner Michael Phelan this month testified for Rush, telling the court he played only a minor role in the plot.

Mr Keelty told the court that given mitigating factors, including his young age at the time of his arrest, Rush would have only faced about 10 years' jail if arrested in Australia.

But Murtiasih said the AFP testimony did not constitute new evidence, as argued by Rush's legal team, and required under Indonesian law for the appeal to be successful.

If Rush's appeal fails, his last hope of survival will be to seek clemency from Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

Chan and Sukumaran also have final appeals in train.

Five other members of the syndicate - Matthew Norman, Martin Stephens, Michael Czugaj, Si Yi Chen and Tan Duc Than Nguyen - are serving life in prison.

Courier Renae Lawrence is serving 20 years.

Source: stuff.co.nz, September 27, 2010

Comments

US | Army lays groundwork for death row executions if Trump gives approval

The Army is preparing to carry out the executions of the military's four death-row inmates if ordered to do so by the president, according to an internal planning document reviewed by ABC News. If carried out, it would mark the first time the military executed convicted American inmates in more than a half-century The plan, dubbed "Operation Resolute Justice" and issued internally in February, directs Army officials to coordinate with the Federal Bureau of Prisons to transfer condemned prisoners from the U.S. Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, to the federal execution facility in Terre Haute, Indiana, where the Justice Department carried out a series of non-military federal executions during President Donald Trump's first term.

Kansas AG urges governor to deny clemency to 8 sentenced to death

TOPEKA — Attorney General Kris Kobach on Tuesday urged the governor to deny clemency to Kansas inmates who have been sentenced to death. Eight of nine people sentenced to death in Kansas formally filed clemency requests in May, according to a press release from the Attorney General’s Office. Kobach urged Gov. Laura Kelly to reject them.

Texas | Tanner Horner now incarcerated at the Polunsky Unit

Convicted child killer Tanner Horner has now taken up residence in one of the most brutal death row prisons after being sentenced to die by a Texas jury last month. Horner is incarcerated at the Polunsky Unit, an infamously restrictive prison outside Houston where the state's death row inmates are housed in an all-solitary confinement wing and spend at least 22 hours a day in their 60-square-foot cells. The former FedEx deliveryman, 34, was booked at the notorious prison on May 5 within hours of being sentenced for the gruesome murder of Athena Strand, 7, whom he admitted strangling while delivering a Christmas gift to her home in November 2022.

Alabama | Judge bars nitrogen gas execution, says method is unconstitutionally cruel

MONTGOMERY, Ala. -- A federal judge on Tuesday permanently blocked Alabama from executing an inmate with nitrogen gas after declaring it violates the ban on cruel and unusual punishment. U.S. District Judge Emily Marks issued the ruling hours after an appeals court reversed her initial finding that the method was constitutional. Marks permanently enjoined the state from executing Jeffrey Lee, 49, by nitrogen gas. He was scheduled to be executed Thursday. The decision, for now, blocks the use of the controversial new execution method that the state has championed since 2024, but the issue will likely end up before the U.S. Supreme Court.

Texas | Death Row Inmate Gets Resentenced to Life

Harris County district judge recommends compassionate release for Clarence Jordan A 1977 convenience store robbery that resulted in a clerk’s death landed Clarence Jordan on Texas Death Row, where he remained for decades even though he was declared incompetent for execution. On Monday, a judge recommended that the disabled man be released. Harris County District Court Judge Katherine Thomas resentenced Jordan to life with the possibility of parole and suggested that he be considered for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice’s Medically Recommended Intensive Supervision program, also known as compassionate release.

20 Minutes to Death: Witness to the Last Execution in France

The following document is a firsthand account of the final moments of Hamida Djandoubi, a convicted murderer executed by guillotine at Marseille’s Baumettes Prison on September 10, 1977. The record—dated September 9—was written by Monique Mabelly, a judge appointed by the state to witness the proceedings. Djandoubi’s execution would ultimately be the last carried out in France before capital punishment was abolished in 1981. At the time, President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing—who had publicly voiced his "deep aversion to the death penalty" prior to his election—rejected Djandoubi’s appeal for clemency. Choosing to let "justice take its course," the President allowed the execution to proceed, just as he had in two previous cases during his term: Christian Ranucci , executed on July 28, 1976 and Jérôme Carrein , executed on June 23, 1977. Hamida Djandoubi , a Tunisian national, was sentenced to death for killing his former lover, Elisabeth Bousquet. He was execu...

New Mississippi billboard warns criminals: ‘Firing squad is legal’

DESOTO COUNTY, Miss. (WREG) — A billboard standing on Interstate 55 southbound as you cross the Tennessee state line and enter Mississippi from Memphis is sending a grim message to those coming into the state. DeSoto County District Attorney Matthew Barton recently announced the new billboard campaign, which features the sign reading, “WELCOME TO MISSISSIPPI. WHERE THE FIRING SQUAD IS LEGAL. THINK TWICE.” It references Mississippi’s law permitting execution by firing squad under certain circumstances for inmates sentenced to death. Barton says this campaign is aimed at deterring violent crime and sends a direct message to criminals entering Mississippi.

Alabama | Judicial Decision About Nitrogen Hypoxia Renders the Constitutional Prohibition of Cruel Punishment Meaningless

On June 11, the state of Alabama plans to execute Jeffrey Lee with nitrogen hypoxia . He will be the ninth person put to death by this method since its first use in 2024. Lee contends that nitrogen hypoxia will cause him great suffering. On May 28, Federal District Judge Emily Marks agreed with him but said his execution could proceed nonetheless. Hers is a remarkable and shockingly candid decision. It made history, coming after the first trial in the country on the constitutionality of nitrogen hypoxia. To her credit, Judge Marks offered an unusually detailed picture of the pain imposed by capital punishment.

Alabama Plans to Execute Jeffrey Lee Despite Jury Vote for Life

Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey has scheduled the execution of Jeffrey Lee by nitrogen suffocation for June 11, 2026, even though his capital jury voted 7-5 against the death penalty and chose a sentence of life imprisonment without parole. The trial judge overrode the jury’s verdict and sentenced Mr. Lee to death in 2000, relying on a unique Alabama practice that allowed judges to overrule jury verdicts in death penalty cases. Alabama is the only state where judges overrode jury verdicts of life to impose the death penalty routinely—in more than 100 cases since 1976. As a result, nearly 20% of the people currently on Alabama’s death row were sentenced to death by elected judges even after their juries chose life imprisonment without parole.

Idaho will soon turn to firing squad executions. Police will pull the triggers

Trained members of Idaho law enforcement with demonstrated firearms proficiency are expected to fill slots for carrying out the death penalty by firing squad as the state prison system transitions to the controversial execution method next month. Six volunteers certified for no less than three years apiece through Peace Officer Standards and Training, or POST, will be recruited to ensure the Idaho Department of Correction is ready to comply with a state law that prioritizes shooting prisoners to death over lethal injection starting July 1. No one on the team may have faced disciplinary action over firearms, use of force, or related conduct over the prior year, according to new execution protocols the prison system released this week.

Death Penalty News

Search This Blog