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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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India: Kasab challenges death penalty in High Court

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In a fresh development in the 26/11 terror attack case, Pakistani terrorist Ajmal Kasab today filed an appeal in Bombay High Court challenging death penalty awarded to him for killing 166 persons on November 26, 2008.

"We have filed an appeal today," his lawyer Amin Solkar told PTI.

Kasab has challenged death penalty saying it was a harsh punishment imposed a on him and pleaded that there were lapses in evidence produced by police in the trial court.

The appeal has challenged identification of Kasab in the court saying the eye witnesses had easily identified him because his photograph had appeared prominently in newspapers and television on the day of attack.

The appeal also challenged trial court's ruling which upheld Kasab's confession as "true and voluntary", Kasab's lawyer said.

Source: Press Trust of India News, September 28, 2010
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