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California: With state executions on hold, death penalty foes rethink ballot strategy

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California advocates of abolishing the death penalty got a jolt of momentum in March, when Gov. Gavin Newsom announced that he would not allow any executions to take place while he was in office.
But after trying twice this decade to persuade voters to end capital punishment, they have no plans to go to the ballot again in 2020. Rather than seeking to build on Newsom’s temporary reprieve for Death Row inmates, activists are taking their own pause.
Grappling with the legacy of their two failed initiatives, advocates are reassessing their strategy and retooling their message. Natasha Minsker, a political consultant who has long been involved with abolition efforts, said the governor’s moratorium has given advocates the opportunity to do long-term planning.
“There’s this excitement and energy in our movement that we haven’t had in a long time,” Minsker said.
Newsom’s executive order caught many Californians by surprise. Although he supported the unsuccessful ballot measures to abolish t…

Mary Jane Veloso: what happened to the woman who escaped execution in Indonesia?

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Mary Jane Veloso
Mary Jane Veloso
Filipina who was temporarily spared at 11th hour, as the Bali Nine pair and six others were killed, remains on death row amid uncertain future

A woman who was temporarily spared death by firing squad last year remains on death row in Indonesia with her life precariously wagered on an slow-moving court case.

Mary Jane Veloso won sympathy in her home country of the Philippines, as well as within Indonesia, after she said she was duped into smuggling drugs. And in a shock turnaround, Indonesian president Joko Widodo – known as Jokowi – delayed her killing with a temporary reprieve just hours before she was due to be executed in April 2015.

Indonesia shot dead eight others that night, including two Australians, Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, who fought a years-long campaign for clemency and were part of the Bali Nine heroin-smuggling ring. Four Nigerians, a Brazilian and an Indonesian were also killed.

Sparing the domestic worker and mother-of-two was unexpected and several Filipino newspapers wrongly reported on their front pages the next day that she had been killed. The Philippine Daily Inquirer ran the headline: “Death came before Dawn.”

But in the year that has passed, the outburst of joy and relief has given way to a lengthy human trafficking trial in the Philippines and no guarantees that Veloso will be taken off death row even if she can prove she was tricked.

Migrante International, a group that promotes the rights of overseas Filipino workers, says Veloso’s life depends of the speedy trial and conviction of her accused traffickers, Maria Kristina Sergio and Julius Lacanilao.

But the group complains that the defence has employed delaying tactics by filing motion after motion to keep the case in the early stages of legal proceedings.

“Mary Jane is still facing the threat of execution,” Migrante International vice-chair Rina Anastacio told the Guardian. “Unfortunately the trial is going very slowly.”

Hours before Veloso was due to be killed last year, Sergio handed herself in to police in Manila, and the Philippines president, Benigno Aquino, made an appeal to his Indonesian counterpart on the basis that Veloso would be needed as a witness in the case against her alleged recruiter.

Key to the last-minute reprieve was that the Philippines invoked a regional treaty (the Association of Southeast Asian Nations mutual legal assistance treaty, or Asean MLAT) signed to fight transnational crimes in south-east Asia, which obliges Indonesia to help provide Veloso as a witness to the human trafficking court case.

Filipino officials have travelled to Indonesia to discuss the case that they hope can save her life.

Activists fear that Veloso, who has already been convicted in an Indonesian court, could yet be executed if the trial is overly delayed, as she is being kept alive only to give testimony. Her supporters want the Indonesian government to allow Veloso to fly home so she can testify in person in court.

They hope a swift conviction in the Philippines will show that Veloso was a pawn and might persuade Indonesia to spare her life.

The plan is far from certain. Indonesian officials suggest executions could restart again this year after a short hiatus, and the attorney general said in January the country was “ready” to execute Veloso.

Attorney general Prasetyo told Rappler: “We will look at the verdict, perhaps the verdict can be new evidence to appeal for clemency from the president. But surely Mary Jane will not be free from punishment. The fact is that she smuggled drugs to Indonesia.”

Yohanes Sulaiman, a lecturer and political analyst at Indonesia’s Universitas Jenderal Achmad Yan, said Veloso’s story resonated with Indonesians who, like Filipinos, have a large emigrant population, some of whom are exploited. “Lots of people here in Indonesia were against her execution because her story was so close to home … it’s not unlike Indonesians in the Middle East.”


Source: The Guardian, Oliver Holmes, April 28, 2016

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Georgia parole board spares Jimmy Meders' life just six hours before he was set to be executed

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A Georgia murderer scheduled for execution on Thursday was granted clemency just six hours before his death and will now serve life in jail without parole.
The State Board of Pardons and Paroles made the ruling early Thursday afternoon that Jimmy Meders, 58, would not undergo execution by lethal injection at 7pm. 
Meders was convicted in the 1987 slaying of Glynn County convenience store clerk Don Anderson during a robbery. 
He is said to have shot Anderson in the chest before shooting him in the head and walking out with $38.  
The State Board of Pardons and Paroles made the decision after holding a closed-door clemency hearing on Wednesday.    
The Board reportedly considered several factors including, Meders' lack of prior criminal record, the fact he only had one minor infraction during all 30 years on death row and the jury's wish during deliberations to impose a life without parole sentence. 
They also considered the support from clemency from the jurors still living. 
T…
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Iran: Eight Men Hanged on the First Day of the New Year

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Iran Human Rights (IHR); January 2, 2020: Eight men were hanged on the early Wednesday morning, January 1st,  at Rajai-Shahr prison, near Tehran. 
They were all sentenced to qisas (retribution) for murder charges. 
The execution of a juvenile offender was postponed for a month. 
According to IHR sources, on the early morning of Wednesday, January 1, eight men were executed at Karaj city’s Rajai-Shahr prison, near Tehran. 
All men were sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) for murder charges. 
Two of the men were identified as "Hossein Gholami", 28 years old, and "Saman Doosti", 30 years old, both convicted of murder after a street fight. 
IHR is investigating to reveal Identities of the other six prisoners hanged yesterday.
According to Iran’s Islamic Penal Code, murder is punishable by qisas. It means the state does not take responsibility for the murder crime’s punishment but puts it on the shoulders of the victim’s family.
In qisas cases, the plaintiff has t…
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Execution caught on video in Saudi

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A Saudi newspaper has carried a film showing the beheading of a man convicted of raping a teenaged boy before murdering him in the heart of the desert.
The rare and shocking 51-second film showed the executioner bringing down his sword on the defendant’s head, which was severed in just a split of second.
The executioner, a tall man wearing traditional Saudi dishdasha (gown) and ghutra (head cover), then wiped blood off his sword with a piece of cloth after the beheading before walking away from the rapist’s headless body.
Sharq newspaper, which published the film, did not say how it was shot as filming of executions in the conservative Gulf kingdom is banned.
Newspapers said the unnamed defendant had been convicted of abducting the Saudi boy to a desolate desert area and raping him. He then forced him to lie on the sand and crushed him with his four-wheel car.


Warning: Graphic Content


Source: Emirates24/7, June 3, 2012

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Texas executes John Gardner

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HUNTSVILLE, Texas — A Texas inmate with a history of violence against women was executed Wednesday evening for fatally shooting his wife, who had feared she would never get out of her marriage alive.
John Gardner, 64, received a lethal injection at 6:30 p.m. CST at the state penitentiary in Huntsville for the January 2005 slaying of Tammy Gardner. Prosecutors said the couple was getting divorced when Gardner broke into his wife’s North Texas home and shot her in the head as she was sitting in bed. She died two days later at a hospital.
Gardner became the first inmate put to death this year in Texas and the U.S. Seven other executions are scheduled in the next few months in Texas, the nation’s busiest capital punishment state. Last year, 22 inmates were executed in the U.S., with nine inmates being put to death in Texas, the most of any state.
His appellate attorneys had asked the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene, alleging his trial lawyers were ineffective, particularly for failing to…
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Singapore | Malaysian human rights group alleges “brutal, unlawful” state execution process in Changi Prison

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LFL advisor N Surendran says alleged hanging method is a "flagrant breach of Article 9 of the Singapore Constitution"
⚠️This article contains a graphic depiction of the alleged process of state execution by hanging in Singapore, which may be distressing to certain readers. Readers’ discretion is advised.
Allegations concerning the “brutal” and “unlawful” process of execution by hanging in Changi Prison have surfaced in a statement by Malaysian human rights organisation Lawyers For Liberty (LFL) on Thu (16 Jan).
L Citing an unnamed former Singapore Prison Services (SPS) officer’s account, LFL advisor N Surendran said that the former officer and other prison officers were “instructed to carry out the following brutal procedure whenever the rope breaks during a hanging, which happens from time to time”:
a) The prison officer is instructed to pull the rope around the neck of the prisoner towards him.
b) Meanwhile, another prison officer will apply pressure by pulling the body in…
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Florida: Mascotte killer cop’s death penalty appeal denied

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TALLAHASSEE — The Florida Supreme Court has rejected the resentencing plea of James Duckett, the rookie Mascotte cop who was sentenced to death in the 1987 rape and murder of 11-year-old Teresa Mae McAbee.
Duckett was seeking relief based on recent U.S. and Florida Supreme Court rulings that say that juries — not judges — should impose death sentences, and that they must be unanimous decisions.
The jury recommended death at his 1988 trial in an 8-4 vote. But Florida Supreme rulings say death case resentencing appeals only apply to cases where the conviction and appeals are completed after June 24, 2002.
That’s when the U.S. Supreme Court made its landmark decision about juries making death decisions in an Arizona case.
“After reviewing Duckett’s response to the order to show cause, as well as the state’s arguments in reply, we conclude that Duckett is not entitled to relief,” the justices wrote in their opinion Friday.
The state high court last year rejected Duckett’s appeal attackin…
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Texas to carry out nation's first execution of 2020 for domestic violence slaying in Collin County

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John Gardner, 64, is set to be put to death for the 2005 murder of his estranged wife. His lawyers have argued the crime wasn't eligible for the death penalty.
Texas, the state that has put to death more people than any other by far, is scheduled to carry out the nation’s first execution of the decade Wednesday.
John Gardner is set to be executed for the 2005 Collin County murder of his soon-to-be ex-wife. Tammy Gardner was shot and killed in her home weeks before the couple’s divorce was finalized, according to court records. She had called 911 before she died to say her husband had shot her.
John Gardner had a history of domestic violence, including the shooting of a previous wife who later died from her injuries, court records state.
The 64-year-old man has no pending appeals, according to his lawyer. He had argued for years that his crime should not have been prosecuted as a capital murder, which is the only crime in Texas that can result in the death penalty. A capital murde…
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Texas: John Steven Gardner scheduled to be executed on January 15

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John Steven Gardner is scheduled to be executed at 6 pm local time on Wednesday, January 15, 2020, inside the Walls Unit of the Huntsville State Penitentiary in Huntsville, Texas. 63-year-old John is convicted of the murder of his wife, 41-year-old Tammy Gardner on January 23, 2005. John has spent the last 13 years on death row in Texas.
John was born in Mississippi. He graduated from high school and worked as a painter prior to his arrest. John received an 8 year prison term in Mississippi for shooting his second wife, causing her to have a miscarriage and making her a paraplegic. Additionally, John threatened his 3rd wife and eventually kidnapped her when she attempted to leave him. Police arrested John and returned him to prison.
John Gardner married his second wife, Tammy, in 1999. According to those who knew her, after the marriage, Tammy lost weight, became introverted and lost her sparkle. Tammy had previously been known as very outgoing and happy. Gardner allegedly threatened…
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Nirbhaya convicts won’t be hanged on Jan 22 as mercy plea filed: Delhi govt to HC

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The government’s declaration came as Mukesh, one of the four convicts in the case, on Tuesday moved the Delhi High Court challenging the death warrant issued against him.
The Delhi government on Wednesday told the High Court that execution of the four convicts in the Nirbhaya gangrape and murder case cannot take place on January 22 as a mercy plea has been filed by one of them.
The four convicts — Vinay Sharma (26), Mukesh Kumar (32), Akshay Kumar Singh (31) and Pawan Gupta (25) — were to be hanged at 7 am on January 22.
However, the government’s declaration came as Mukesh, one of the four convicts in the case, on Tuesday moved the Delhi High Court challenging the death warrant issued against him.
The plea sought for directions for setting aside the trial court order and not to give effect to the order for execution of death sentence on January 22.
Justices Manmohan and Sangita Dhingra Sehgal were told by the Delhi government and the Centre that the petition filed by convict Mukesh, c…
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Execution set for Georgia man convicted of double murder

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A day after the state parole board spared the life of one condemned inmate, the state of Georgia announced the scheduled execution of another. 
Donnie Lance, 65, sentenced to death in 1999 for the murders of his his ex-wife and her boyfriend in Jackson County, is to be given a lethal injection of pentobarbital on Jan. 29. 
Jimmy Meders faced the same fate before his sentence was commuted to life without parole hours before his planned execution Thursday. 
The board said it changed Meders’ sentence to life without parole largely because the jury had expressed their desire for that sentence, but it wasn’t legally allowed at the time of the trial.
That sentence was a legal option when jurors sentenced Lance to die. His adult children recently called for new DNA testing on evidence in the case because they are close with their father and find it hard to believe he killed their mother. 
Joy Lance, 39, was beaten to death with the shotgun used to shoot her boyfriend Dwight “Butch” Wood, 33…
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