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Indonesia | 14 years on death row: Timeline of Mary Jane Veloso’s ordeal and fight for justice

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MANILA, Philippines — The case of Mary Jane Veloso, a Filipina on death row in Indonesia for drug trafficking, has spanned over a decade and remains one of the most high-profile legal battles involving an overseas Filipino worker. Veloso was arrested on April 25, 2010, at Adisucipto International Airport in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, after she was found in possession of more than 2.6 kilograms of heroin. She was sentenced to death in October – just six months after her arrest. Indonesia’s Supreme Court upheld the penalty in May 2011.

Tennessee: no executions until next summer

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November 29, 2007: Tennessee isn’t likely to execute any prisoners on death row until next summer, Gov. Phil Bredesen said.

Bredesen, a Democrat, said the state will wait until the U.S. Supreme Court rules on the case of two Kentucky death row inmates who argue the method amounts to cruel and unusual punishment.

Bredesen said he doesn’t expect the high court to rule until May or June. “And that’s going to give a huge amount of guidance to governors, and to federal judges and district attorneys, and to an awful lot of people involved in this process,” he said.

U.S. District Judge Aleta Trauger ruled in September that Tennessee’s method of lethal injection is unconstitutional and ordered the state not to execute a death row inmate using that method.

Attorney General Bob Cooper has said he plans to appeal, but Bredesen noted that appellate judges are likely to wait until the Supreme Court rules before deciding how to proceed.

“From my perspective everything is essentially on hold until the Supreme Court rules,” Bredesen said.

Sources: AP
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