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After acquittal of ex-death row inmate, debate needed on Japan's death penalty

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Japan should be ensuring the safety of its citizens, but instead it is taking people's lives. Is it acceptable to maintain the ultimate penalty under such circumstances? This is a serious question for society. The acquittal of 88-year-old Iwao Hakamada, who had been handed the death penalty, has been finalized after prosecutors decided not to appeal the verdict issued by the Shizuoka District Court during his retrial.

Mississippi death row inmate Michelle Byrom to get new trial

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Michelle Byrom
(CNN) -- A new trial has been ordered for Mississippi death row inmate Michelle Byrom, according to a state Supreme Court opinion issued Monday.

Byrom's capital murder conviction was reversed, and the case has been remanded to the circuit court for a new trial, the opinion said.

"We are very grateful that the Mississippi Supreme Court has granted Michelle Byrom's request for relief from her death sentence," said Byrom's attorney, David Calder. "This was a team effort on the part of the attorneys currently representing Michelle, and we believe that the court reached a just and fair result under the facts presented in this case."

Byrom has been on death row since her 2000 conviction for capital murder. The 57-year-old woman was convicted of being the mastermind of a murder-for-hire plot to kill her allegedly abusive husband, a killing her son had admitted to committing in several jailhouse letters and, according to court documents, in an interview with a court-appointed psychologist.

He recanted when he was put on the stand, according to court records.

Attorney General Jim Hood, who had requested Byrom's execution, said Monday his office would seek the court's reasoning for the reversal.


Source: CNN, March 31, 2014
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After acquittal of ex-death row inmate, debate needed on Japan's death penalty

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