FEATURED POST

USA | The execution I witnessed haunts me. Biden, clear death row before Trump returns: Opinion

Published
Image
Under Trump, there were 13 executions in his last six months as president. Biden must clear death row now to stop that and what Albert Camus described as the most cold-blooded premeditated murder. On Jan. 14, 2021, I stood in a small chamber in the U.S. Penitentiary in Terre Haute, Indiana, while the federal government carried out an execution. Relegated to a spot 6 feet away from the gurney, I prayed with Corey Johnson, the “Gentle Giant” as he was known on death row.  He was one of the last of 13 people executed under then-President Donald Trump, who carried out an unprecedented killing spree during the final six months of his presidency.

16 death row inmates sue Mississippi

Published
Sixteen death row inmates in Mississippi filed suit Thursday, saying their executions should be halted because their state-appointed attorneys were untrained, inexperienced and overwhelmed.

One of those inmates, Gerald James Holland, is scheduled to be executed May 20. At 72, he is the oldest inmate on death row. Holland's execution is set to follow the May 19 execution of Paul Everette Woodward, 62.

James Craig, of Jackson, the attorney for the 16 inmates, said by the end of this year, the state could begin to resemble Texas and Florida for frequency of executions.

"This is not something we've seen in Mississippi before," he said.

Glenn Swartzfager, director of the state Office of Capital Post Conviction Counsel, agreed with the assessment of a "bumper crop of executions."

Under Mississippi law, the state must provide "competent and conscientious" counsel for death row inmates before their execution dates can be set.

The lawsuit filed Thursday in Hinds County Chancery Court alleges the state-appointed lawyers did not meet that criteria and were overwhelmed with cases. Read more>>>

Source: Clarion Ledger, May 7, 2010
Related content:

Comments

Post a Comment

Constructive and informative comments are welcome. Please note that offensive and pro-death penalty comments will not be published.

Most Viewed (Last 7 Days)

USA | The execution I witnessed haunts me. Biden, clear death row before Trump returns: Opinion

Published
Image
Under Trump, there were 13 executions in his last six months as president. Biden must clear death row now to stop that and what Albert Camus described as the most cold-blooded premeditated murder. On Jan. 14, 2021, I stood in a small chamber in the U.S. Penitentiary in Terre Haute, Indiana, while the federal government carried out an execution. Relegated to a spot 6 feet away from the gurney, I prayed with Corey Johnson, the “Gentle Giant” as he was known on death row.  He was one of the last of 13 people executed under then-President Donald Trump, who carried out an unprecedented killing spree during the final six months of his presidency.
Read more

Could Joe Biden Pardon Everyone on Federal Death Row?

Published
Image
President Joe Biden is facing growing calls to use his clemency power to commute the sentences of the 40 men on federal death row before he leaves office. The U.S. Constitution grants the president the power to issue pardons—forgiving federal criminal offenses—and commutations, which reduce penalties. The president recently exercised that power to extend a broad pardon to his son, Hunter, despite previously pledging not to do so. The move spares his son a possible prison sentence after he was convicted and pleaded guilty in tax and gun cases.
Read more

Indonesia | Filipino woman on Indonesia death row recalls a stunning last minute reprieve and ‘miracle’ transfer

Published
Image
YOGYAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Filipino death row inmate Mary Jane Fiesta Veloso knelt to pray when officers came to take her to an execution site in May 2015, just a few feet away from her isolation cell on an Indonesian prison island, where a 13-member firing squad was waiting. While she prayed, the Philippines government was wrapping up a lengthy legal battle over her fate. Veloso’s life was ultimately spared — temporarily — by Indonesia’s Attorney General’s Office, which issued a stay of execution shortly before Veloso was to be executed with eight other death row inmates.
Read more

Biden commutes roughly 1,500 sentences and pardons 39 people in biggest single-day act of clemency

Published
Image
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is commuting the sentences of roughly 1,500 people who were released from prison and placed on home confinement during the coronavirus pandemic and is pardoning 39 Americans convicted of nonviolent crimes. It’s the largest single-day act of clemency in modern history. The commutations announced Thursday are for people who have served out home confinement sentences for at least one year after they were released. Prisons were uniquely bad for spreading the virus and some inmates were released in part to stop the spread. At one point, 1 in 5 prisoners had COVID-19, according to a tally kept by The Associated Press.
Read more

Filipina on Indonesia death row says planned transfer 'miracle'

Published
Image
A Filipina drug convict on death row in Indonesia told AFP from prison Friday that her planned transfer was a "miracle", in her first interview since Manila and Jakarta signed an agreement last week to repatriate her. Mother of two Mary Jane Veloso, 39, was arrested and sentenced to death in 2010 after the suitcase she was carrying was found to be lined with 2.6 kilograms (5.7 pounds) of heroin, in a case that sparked uproar in the Philippines. Both she and her supporters claim she was duped by an international drug syndicate, and in 2015, she narrowly escaped execution after her suspected recruiter was arrested.
Read more

Indonesian President to grant amnesty to select prisoners while considering expediting execution of drug convicts

Published
Image
Jakarta, Dec 14 (IANS) Indonesian Minister of Law Supratman Andi Agtas has said that President Prabowo Subianto would grant amnesty to several categories of prisoners, including drug users and prisoners with long-term illnesses. According to Supratman, the move aims to reduce overcapacity in correctional facilities while addressing humanitarian concerns, Xinhua news agency reported. Prisoners suffering from chronic illnesses like HIV/AIDS and individuals with mental disorders are among those eligible.
Read more

Biden Has “Pardoned” Eight Turkeys. Will He Spare the Lives of 40 Human Beings?

Published
Image
With Trump returning to the White House, only mass commutations will stop another federal execution spree. Five days after Orlando Hall was executed in the federal death chamber, Donald Trump appeared in the White House Rose Garden for the 2020 Thanksgiving turkey pardon ceremony. The enormous white birds, Corn and Cob, stood ridiculously as Trump wished them a “very long, happy, and memorable life.” At the Special Confinement Unit inside the U.S. penitentiary in Terre Haute, Indiana, men on death row watched news coverage on TV.
Read more

Two men on Mississippi's death row dealt new setbacks. Here's what happened

Published
Image
Mississippi has 35 men and one woman awaiting execution on death row. The state Supreme Court handed down two decisions Thursday that dealt blows to two men on Mississippi's death row. Richard Jordan, who has been on death row in Mississippi since 1977 for the 1976 kidnapping and murder of Edwina Marter, the wife of a Gulfport bank executive, learned the court denied a motion for rehearing in his pursuit of post-conviction relief.
Read more