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Biden Fails a Death Penalty Abolitionist’s Most Important Test

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The mystery of Joe Biden’s views about capital punishment has finally been solved. His decision to grant clemency to 37 of the 40 people on federal death row shows the depth of his opposition to the death penalty. And his decision to leave three of America’s most notorious killers to be executed by a future administration shows the limits of his abolitionist commitment. The three men excluded from Biden’s mass clemency—Dylann Roof, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, and Robert Bowers—would no doubt pose a severe test of anyone’s resolve to end the death penalty. Biden failed that test.
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Death Penalty Confirmed for Sarin Gas Attack Chemist

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Execution chamber at
Tokyo's Detention Center
The chemist of the Aum Shinrikyo religious cult who concocted the deadly nerve gas that killed a dozen people in the Tokyo subway in 1995 has received his final judgment. Japan’s Supreme Court Tuesday rejected the final appeal by Masami Tsuchiya, one of the top lieutenants who masterminded the fatal attacks, confirming the death sentence passed on him in 2004.

Mr. Tsuchiya was one of 13 cult members sentenced to hang for their part in the chemical attack during the morning rush hour commute in central Tokyo on March 20, 1995: The attack killed 12 people and left up to 6,000 others seeking medical treatment, according to the U.S. State Department. The chemist, now 46, was convicted for his role in developing the liquid sarin used in what was Japan’s most devastating terrorist attack in modern times.

Mr. Tsuchiya, who was not present in the courthouse during Tuesday’s proceedings, was also previously convicted for producing sarin in an earlier attack in Matsumoto, Nagano prefecture in 1994, which killed seven people. In handing down its decision on Tuesday, the Supreme Court said Mr. Tsuchiya continued to develop the poison even after he recognized the disastrous consequences that resulted from the Matsumoto attack, showing that he played a crucial role in the crimes even if not physically present on the day. “Even if we consider that he was not directly involved in the murders, in this case the death penalty cannot be avoided,” the Supreme Court said in its ruling according to Japanese state broadcaster NHK.

The leader of the cult, Shoko Asahara, already sits on death row. He was sentenced to death in February 2004, ending an eight-year trial that found him guilty of 13 crimes. Mr. Asahara, whose real name is Chizuo Matsumoto, lost his final appeal to overturn his death sentence in September 2006. In all, the death sentence has been finalized for 10 of the 13 found guilty, according to NHK.

Source: Japan RealTime, February 15, 2011
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