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As clock ticks toward another Trump presidency, federal death row prisoners appeal for clemency

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President-elect Donald Trump’s return to office is putting a spotlight on the U.S. penitentiary in Terre Haute, which houses federal death row. In Bloomington, a small community of death row spiritual advisors is struggling to support the prisoners to whom they minister.  Ross Martinie Eiler is a Mennonite, Episcopal lay minister and member of the Catholic Worker movement, which assists the homeless. And for the past three years, he’s served as a spiritual advisor for a man on federal death row.
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Australia's extradition laws stopping death penalty

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Alabama's attorney-general has blamed Australia's extradition laws for his inability to seek the death penalty for a man jailed in Queensland over his wife's death.

Gabe Watson's wife Tina died during a scuba diving trip while the pair were on their honeymoon in 2003.

Under Australian law a person cannot be extradited if there is a chance they would face the death penalty.

In a letter to Queensland Attorney-General Cameron Dick, Alabama's attorney-general Troy King said United States authorities had cooperated fully with Australian investigators.

But Mr King described Queensland's position on the death penalty as "a refusal to honour your commitment to the citizens of the State of Alabama".

As a result he says he was forced to reduce the maximum penalty for any charges laid against Watson to life without parole.

Mr King says the extradition laws reflect Australia's long-standing, bipartisan opposition to the death penalty.

Watson pleaded guilty to manslaughter and is due to be released in November after serving an 18-month sentence.

Source: ABC News, June 29, 2010
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