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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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Court postpones hearing of Spanish murder-accused on Thai island

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Koh Samui, Thailand, Oct 26 (EFE).- A court on the Thai island of Koh Samui on Thursday postponed the hearing of murder-accused Spaniard Daniel Sancho until next month.

Sancho, 29, has been charged in the case of the murder and dismemberment of Colombian surgeon Edwin Arrieta on the neighboring island of Koh Phangan in August.

Thursday’s hearing, which began at 9 am local time (GMT+7) with Sancho in attendance, was first postponed by the court for a few hours, and then until Nov. 13, due to the defendant’s request for a Spanish interpreter.

On Wednesday, the Prosecutor’s Office presented to the court its report in which it accused Sancho of premeditated murder and concealment of a body – which the Thai police had established in their investigation – as well as the destruction of other people’s documents. These were to be read to the Spaniard on Thursday at the hearing.

In addition to the postponement, the court assigned Sancho a lawyer, Krit Sudthanom, who said at the courthouse that he has not yet met with Sancho and that he will not do so until Nov. 13.

The Spaniard has not had a lawyer in Thailand – where he can only be defended by a Thai citizen – since Sep. 7, after his famous actor father Rodolfo Sancho dispensed with the services of Thai lawyer Anan Chuayprabat due to “discrepancies in the defense.”

According to the court-appointed lawyer, Sancho on Thursday refused to make any statement and conveyed his desire to have an in-person interpreter after the court offered him one online.

Rodolfo Sancho was in court Thursday and was able to speak with his son before he was transferred back to Samui prison, where he has been in pretrial detention since Aug. 7.

Two days earlier, the accused had confessed to police on Koh Phangan to the murder and dismemberment of Arrieta.

Thailand’s Penal Code provides for the death penalty for crimes such as premeditated murder, but if handed down, this is usually later commuted to life imprisonment.

On the other hand, the confession and cooperation of the accused could help to reduce a sentence. 

Source: laprensalatina.com, Staff, October 26, 2023


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"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted."

— Oscar Wilde
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