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Texas Should Not Have Executed Robert Pruett

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Update: Robert Pruett was executed by lethal injection on Thursday.
Robert Pruett is scheduled to be executed by the State of Texas Thursday. He has never had a chance to live outside a prison as an adult. Taking his life is a senseless wrong that shows how badly the justice system fails juveniles.
Mr. Pruett was 15 years old when he last saw the outside world, after being arrested as an accomplice to a murder committed by his own father. Now 38, having been convicted of a murder while incarcerated, he will be put to death. At a time when the Supreme Court has begun to recognize excessive punishments for juveniles as unjust, Mr. Pruett’s case shows how young lives can be destroyed by a justice system that refuses to give second chances.
Mr. Pruett’s father, Sam Pruett, spent much of Mr. Pruett’s early childhood in prison. Mr. Pruett and his three siblings were raised in various trailer parks by his mother, who he has said used drugs heavily and often struggled to feed the children. Wh…
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Indonesia: Cleric calls on govt not to carry out executions... during Ramadhan

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A local leader of Indonesia's biggest Islamic organization has called on the Attorney General's Office (AGO) not to carry out the anticipated execution of several drug convicts during the fasting month of Ramadhan, which begins on July 6.

KH. Maslahuddin, the chairman of Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) in Cilacap, Central Java, said it was hoped the government would respect the holiness of Ramadhan and give the death row inmates a chance to repent before God in the special month for Muslim people.

"After that, please carry out the execution as quickly as possible. Do not postpone it further," Maslahuddin told journalists last week. 

He said if necessary the executions could even be conducted before Ramadhan. "So that prosecutors, firing squad personnel, the Muslim death row inmates and other parties involved in the execution can be devoted to carrying out their Ramadhan religious services," Maslahuddin said. [Hypocrisy and bigotry rule the world - DPN]

He said it was important that the AGO not repeatedly postpone the execution of the convicts, especially in the case of those whose court ruling was already final and could not be legally challenged, so the punishment would create a deterrent effect on other drug crime perpetrators.

"It should be conducted as soon as possible -- the sooner the better. The execution and threat of the death penalty must be continuously communicated to the public so that potential perpetrators think twice before committing such crimes," said Maslahuddin.

Repeatedly postponing the execution of the sentences would only open room for perpetrators to file appeals or use other legal measures in an effort to escape the death penalty.

Citing an example, Maslahuddin said the second appeal and a repent and forswear request letter filed by drug convict Freddy Budiman at the Cilacap District Court were merely aimed at postponing the execution of his death sentence.

As reported earlier, the AGO confirmed it would soon carry out a 3rd round of executions conducted under President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo. However, the AGO has not yet provided details on the date of the execution and the number of inmates to be executed.

The government reportedly delayed the execution due to ongoing legal measures by lawyers of several convicts. The AGO executed 14 people convicted for drug crimes in 2 rounds last year.

Source: Jakarta Post, May 30, 2016

- Report an error, an omission: deathpenaltynews@gmail.com - Follow us on Facebook and Twitter
Location: Cilacap, Cilacap Regency, Central Java, Indonesia

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Texas Should Not Have Executed Robert Pruett

Published
Image
Update: Robert Pruett was executed by lethal injection on Thursday.
Robert Pruett is scheduled to be executed by the State of Texas Thursday. He has never had a chance to live outside a prison as an adult. Taking his life is a senseless wrong that shows how badly the justice system fails juveniles.
Mr. Pruett was 15 years old when he last saw the outside world, after being arrested as an accomplice to a murder committed by his own father. Now 38, having been convicted of a murder while incarcerated, he will be put to death. At a time when the Supreme Court has begun to recognize excessive punishments for juveniles as unjust, Mr. Pruett’s case shows how young lives can be destroyed by a justice system that refuses to give second chances.
Mr. Pruett’s father, Sam Pruett, spent much of Mr. Pruett’s early childhood in prison. Mr. Pruett and his three siblings were raised in various trailer parks by his mother, who he has said used drugs heavily and often struggled to feed the children. Wh…
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Texas executes Robert Pruett

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Texas executed a man on Thursday convicted of murdering a prison guard in 1999, after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a last-minute appeal to spare his life despite arguments by his lawyers that he was innocent.
Robert Pruett, 38, was put to death by lethal injection at the state’s death chamber in Huntsville and pronounced dead at 6:46 p.m. (2346 GMT), the Texas Department of Criminal Justice said. 
He was the 544th person executed in Texas since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976, the most of any state. It was Texas' 6th execution this year.
"I've hurt a lot of people and a lot of people have hurt me. I love ya'll so much. Life don't end here it goes on forever. I've had to learn lessons in life the hard way. One day there won't be a need to hurt people," Pruett was quoted as saying in his last statement by the criminal justice department.
About an hour before the scheduled execution, the Supreme Court said it rejected Pruet…
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Texas: Houston Man Condemned in Family Murder Plot Loses High Court Appeal

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The U.S. Supreme Court has refused to consider an appeal by a suburban Houston man on Texas death row for arranging the killings of his mother and brother in 2003.
HOUSTON (AP) — The U.S. Supreme Court refused Tuesday to consider an appeal from a suburban Houston man on Texas death row who arranged the killings of his mother and brother in 2003 so he could collect a $1 million inheritance.
Attorneys for 37-year-old Thomas "Bart" Whitaker went to the high court after losing a federal court appeal earlier this year. He claims his trial lawyers were deficient and that Fort Bend County prosecutors engaged in misconduct by improperly referring to discussion of a plea deal that never was reached.
According to court records, Whitaker offered to take responsibility for the killings and accept life sentences but his attorneys said prosecutors rejected it because it contained no expression of remorse for the shooting deaths of his mother, Patricia Whitaker, 51, and his brother, Kevin,…
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Iran: Young man has hand judicially amputated over jewelry theft

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NCRI - Iranian attorney general in the Khorasan Razavi province , Gholam Ali Sadeghi, announced the hand-amputation of a person charged with theft, Sadeghi stated: this man had stolen jewelry six years ago, when he was 25 years old in Mashad.
The state run Khorasan press agency reported on October 12 that, according to Sadeghi, the court ruling was hand amputation for the 25 years old youth, and 10 years imprisonment and 74 lashes for his younger brother who was 22 years old.
He added: right after fulfilling the primary procedures of executing the ruling for M. N (initials of the name of convicted youth), in presence of the officials and physicians his hand was amputated.

Sadeghi claimed that to provide security the judiciary has a firm position vis-a-vis the thieves who steal people's belongings.
It is notable that on September 22 the Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran in a statement called on all international human rights authorities and organizations, i…
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8 years since last Thai execution, future of death penalty uncertain

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BANGKOK — Those campaigning for the abolition of the death penalty may take solace in the fact that no one has been executed for eight years. 
There have been no actual executions, but a senior government official said it’s simply impossible to predict when capital punishment will be abolished in Thailand.
Pitikan Sitthidej, Director General of the Department of Rights and Liberties said it’s impossible to pin down when Thailand will do away with death penalty despite having observed a de facto moratorium since 2009.
“I can’t say when it will end but in practice it will soon be 10 years since no execution has taken place,” Pitikan said. “We don’t know when death penalty will be abolished.”
Pitikan was vague on whether it would be.
At present there are 63 crimes that merit death sentence under Thai law, ranging from people found guilty of the rape and murder of girls under 15 or their parents to big time drug dealers and extremists. Pitikan pointed out that under the Thai penal code, …
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Pakistan's angel of death

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Kala Shah Kaku, Pakistan - Malak al-Maut (the angel of death) was once, it is said by Islamic theologists, one of God's favoured angels; a loyal servant who was entrusted with separating people's souls from their bodies, when their time came.
To the righteous, it is said, the angel of death appears in a friendly form, a companion come to ease one's passage to the other side.
For those who have sinned, however, the angel appears as a terrifying beast, a demon come to wreak divine judgment and wrench their souls away to eternal damnation.
For most prisoners on Pakistan's death row, he appears as Sabir Masih.
A family legacy
Since 2006, Masih has been one of three executioners in Pakistan's eastern city of Lahore, the capital of Punjab, the country's most populous province. Although he says that he does not keep track, he claims to have hanged more than 250 people since he started work.
Masih comes from a family of executioners. His father, Sadiq, hanged prisoner…
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Why Indonesia Delays Execution of Death Row Convicts

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Executing death row inmates is currently not a top priority as Indonesia faces the urgency of solving economic, political and social gap issues.
Jakarta, GIVnews.com – A total of 153 convicted death row inmates are yet to be executed in Indonesia, facing undetermined execution timeline. Even Attorney General M Prasetyo could not tell when these convicts people will go to the gallows.
Is an execution delay good or bad? Regardless, some in the public had repetitively questioned such long execution delay faced by these prisoners. On the other hand, human rights groups had ceaselessly sought support from the international community for the abolishment of capital punishment in Indonesia while the government had adamantly defended its use of the death penalty.
Prasetyo said on Wednesday, “On the delay of their execution, I also cannot explain about it now. I can only say that there are still so many problems currently faced by this nation, which should be given a priority. So many things,” …
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Malaysia: Over 80 Iranians await execution over drug charges in dire conditions

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Iran Human Rights (Oct 10, 2017): Currently more than 80 Iranians are facing horrific conditions in the solitary confinement of Malaysian prisons, while awaiting their death sentences for charges of “involvement in drug trafficking”. 
Most of the prisoners were not given fair legal due process. They were not provided a Persian translator during their interrogation, in addition to the trial and the procedure of their case was also flawed.
A debate on changing the Malaysian anti-drug law and death penalty abolition for drug related offences is ongoing in the Malaysian Parliament.  In 2010, death penalty was introduced for possession and trafficking of up to 50 grams of certain illegal drugs.
In 2009-2010, a number of Iranian citizens were arrested for unknowingly carrying industrial drugs to that country. They were duped into carrying the illegal substances by smugglers, who promised them financial reward or a free trip to Malaysia. Unfortunately, they were only aware of the true subst…
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Man convicted in Texas prison guard’s death to be executed

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HUNTSVILLE, Texas — A Texas death row inmate who sued unsuccessfully to try to halt his execution, arguing that more DNA testing needed to be done, is now trying to convince the U.S. Supreme Court to stop the punishment scheduled for Thursday.
Robert Pruett was already serving 99 years for a neighbor’s killing when he was convicted in the death of a prison guard who was stabbed in an attack that prosecutors say stemmed from a dispute over a peanut butter sandwich. Pruett wanted to take the sandwich into a recreation yard against prison rules, they said. An autopsy showed corrections officer Daniel Nagle died of a heart attack brought on by the December 1999 stabbing.
Pruett, 38, has insisted he’s innocent of Nagle’s death at the McConnell Unit near Beeville, about 85 miles (136 kilometers) southeast of San Antonio. He would become the sixth prisoner executed this year in Texas, which carries out the death penalty more than any other states. Texas executed a total of seven inmates las…
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Execution stayed for Alabama man convicted of killing cop

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A federal court granted a stay of execution for Alabama death row inmate Torrey Twane McNabb, who was scheduled to die by lethal injection on Thursday.
The order was issued on Monday by Chief U.S. District Judge W. Keith Watkins of the Middle District of Alabama Northern Division.
The state has appealed the stay.
The execution was scheduled for 6 p.m. Thursday at the Hollman Correctional Facility in Atmore.
McNabb has spent the last 18 years on death row, after being convicted of fatally shooting Montgomery police officer Anderson Gordon in September 1997. 
McNabb was convicted on two capital murder counts-- one for killing Gordon while he was on duty, and one for killing him as Gordon sat in his patrol car. 
McNabb also was found guilty of two additional counts of attempted murder.
McNabb's attorney John Anthony Palombi, an assistant federal defender, filed an emergency motion for stay of execution on Oct. 11. 
The defense claims the "challenged method of execution presents…
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