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Japan | Hakamada found religion, but then felt under attack by ‘the devil’

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Editor's note: This is the last in a four-part series on letters that Iwao Hakamada wrote while on death row. About a decade after cursing God, Iwao Hakamada was baptized Catholic at the Tokyo Detention House on Dec. 24, 1984. “Since I have been given the Christian name Paul, I am keenly feeling that I should be aware of the greatness of Paul.” (June 1985)

Clemency recommended for Oklahoma death row inmate Brian Darrell Davis

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The Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board has voted 4-1 to grant clemency to a death row inmate who's to be executed this month for the rape and murder of his girlfriend's mother.

The board voted Thursday to recommend that the death sentence of 39-year-old Brian Darrell Davis be commuted to life in prison without parole.

The recommendation now goes to Gov. Mary Fallin for approval or rejection.

Davis is scheduled to be executed June 25 for the November 2001 rape and murder of 52-year-old Jody Sanford. Prosecutors say Sanford had 6 stab wounds, a broken jaw and marks around her neck. DNA evidence showed she was raped.

Fellow death row inmate James DeRosa is scheduled to be executed June 18. The board rejected DeRosa's plea for clemency on May 17.

Source: Associated Press, June 7, 2013
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The following document is a written record of convicted killer Hamida Djandoubi's last moments before he was guillotined in a Marseilles prison on September 10, 1977. This written record -- dated September 9 -- was written by a judge appointed to witness the execution. Djandoubi's execution was the last execution carried out in France before capital punishment was abolished in 1981. Then-President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, who had voiced his "loathing for the death penalty" before he was elected to office, flatly turned down Djandoubi's appeal for clemency and chose to let "Justice run its course", as he did on two previous instances ( Christian Ranucci , executed on July 28, 1976 and Jérôme Carrein , executed on June 23, 1977). Hamida Djandoubi , a Tunisian national, was sentenced to death for killing his former lover, Elisabeth Bousquet. He was executed in Marseilles' Baumettes prison in September 1977. The following text was writ
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Saudi authorities agree to postpone execution of Kenyan national

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Missouri | Man Facing Execution Next Month Is Hospitalized With Heart Problem

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