Appeals Court Affirms Michigan Death Sentence

DETROIT (AP) - An appeals court on Tuesday upheld the conviction and rare federal death sentence of a western Michigan man who was accused of killing a woman in a national forest in 1997 before she could testify against him in a rape case.

Michigan outlawed the death penalty in 1846. But the victim was killed on federal property, which put the case in federal court and allowed the government to seek the ultimate punishment for Marvin Gabrion.

Gabrion’s conviction and sentence were affirmed, 12-4, by the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

A key part of Gabrion’s appeal was that his attorneys were barred from making certain argument to jurors during the sentencing phase in 2002. They couldn’t try to sway the jury against death by saying he would only face a life sentence if the trial had been in state court.

But the appeals court said Michigan’s lack of a certain punishment is not a mitigating factor to argue in a death penalty case.

Gabrion, 59, is in federal prison in Terre Haute, Indiana.

Source: AP, May 28, 2013

Boston Marathon bomber’s appeal of death sentence marked by delays and secrecy

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Singapore executes man for 2017 murder of pregnant wife and daughter

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USA | They were on federal death row. Now they may go to a supermax prison.

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Afghanistan | Four men publicly executed by Taliban with relatives of victims shooting them 'six or seven times' at sport stadium

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