Under Trump, a Republican running for re-election in November, the Justice Department has already executed twice as many men this year as all of Trump’s predecessors combined going back to 1963. (Reuters) - The U.S. Department of Justice plans to execute Orlando Hall, a convicted murderer, on Nov. 19, according to a notice filed with a federal judge overseeing challenges to the department’s lethal injection protocol. The United States has already carried out seven executions this year after President Donald Trump’s administration revived the punishment in the summer, ending a 17-year hiatus. Hall, 49, was a marijuana trafficker in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, who in 1994, alongside accomplices, kidnapped, raped and murdered the 16-year-old sister of two Texas drug dealers he suspected had stolen money from him, according to court records. He and three other men kidnapped Lisa Rene from the apartment she shared with her brothers in Arlington, Texas, in an act of revenge after they paid her brothe…
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➤ Clemency
2019. USA. Director: Chinonye Chukwu. Writer: Chinonye Chukwu. Cast: Alfre Woodard, Richard Schiff, Aldis Hodge. Running time: 1h52
Synopsis: Bernadine Williams, a Death Row prison warden whose job has taken a psychological toll on her, must confront her demons when she has to execute another inmate. (Imdb)
"There’s little room to breathe in writer-director Chinonye Chukwu’s constricting, devastating drama Clemency, an intentionally airless film processing a tough subject through an unusual viewpoint. It was the deserved big winner at Sundance this year, making Chukwu the first black woman to win the Grand Jury prize. Our protagonist is prison warden Bernadine (Alfre Woodard), first seen as she prepares for an execution, methodically going through her mental checklist with calm professionalism while keeping emotions at bay. It might be her 12th but experience only seems to make the process that much harder, a growing awareness that the system she’s a part of might not be something she truly believes in. Any back-burner doubt she might have had soon turns into something far less avoidable after she bears witness to a horrifyingly botched lethal injection. Bernadine is sent into an inner tailspin as she confronts her guilt while also prepping for the next execution, this time for an inmate who insists he’s innocent." (The Guardian, Benjamin Lee)
➤ The Current War
2017. USA. Director: Alfonso Gomez-Rejon. Writer: Michael Mitnick. Cast: Benedict Cumberbatch, Oliver Powell, Katherine Waterston. Running time: 1h42
Synopsis: The dramatic story of the cutthroat race between electricity titans Thomas Edison and George Westinghouse to determine whose electrical system would power the modern world.
This race incidentally led to the invention and the use of the electric chair as a "humane" way to execute death-row inmates. The first execution took about eight minutes. George Westinghouse later commented that, "They would have done better using an axe."
As Edison expanded his direct current (DC) power delivery system, he received stiff competition from companies installing alternating current (AC) systems. From the early 1880s, AC arc lighting systems for streets and large spaces had been an expanding business in the US. With the development of transformers in Europe and by Westinghouse Electric in the US in 1885–1886, it became possible to transmit AC long distances over thinner and cheaper wires, and "step down" the voltage at the destination for distribution to users. This allowed AC to be used in street lighting and in lighting for small business and domestic customers, the market Edison's patented low voltage DC incandescent lamp system was designed to supply. Edison's DC empire suffered from one of its chief drawbacks. Edison's DC plants could not deliver electricity to customers more than one mile from the plant, and left a patchwork of unsupplied customers between plants. Small cities and rural areas could not afford an Edison style system at all, leaving a large part of the market without electrical service.
AC companies expanded into this gap. Edison expressed views that AC was unworkable and the high voltages used were dangerous. As George Westinghouse installed his first AC systems in 1886, Thomas Edison struck out personally against his chief rival stating, "Just as certain as death, Westinghouse will kill a customer within six months after he puts in a system of any size."
Edison took advantage of the public perception of AC as dangerous, and joined with self-styled New York anti-AC crusader Harold P. Brown in a propaganda campaign, aiding Brown in the public electrocution of animals with AC, and supported legislation to control and severely limit AC installations and voltages (to the point of making it an ineffective power delivery system) in what was now being referred to as a "battle of currents".
The development of the electric chair was used in an attempt to portray AC as having a greater lethal potential than DC and smear Westinghouse at the same time via Edison colluding with Brown and Westinghouse's chief AC rival, the Thomson-Houston Electric Company, to make sure the first electric chair was powered by a Westinghouse AC generator.
The first person in line to die under New York's new electrocution law was William Kemmler, convicted of murdering his wife with a hatchet. Kemmler was executed in New York's Auburn Prison on August 6, 1890; the "state electrician" was Edwin F. Davis. The first 17-second passage of 1,000 volts AC of current through Kemmler caused unconsciousness, but failed to stop his heart and breathing. The attending physicians, Edward Charles Spitzka and Carlos F. MacDonald, came forward to examine Kemmler. After confirming Kemmler was still alive, Spitzka reportedly called out, "Have the current turned on again, quick, no delay." The generator needed time to re-charge, however. In the second attempt, Kemmler received a 2,000 volt AC shock. Blood vessels under the skin ruptured and bled, and the areas around the electrodes singed. The entire execution took about eight minutes. George Westinghouse later commented that, "They would have done better using an axe", and a witnessing reporter claimed that it was "an awful spectacle, far worse than hanging". (Wikipedia)
➤ Just Mercy
2019. USA. Director: Destin Daniel Cretton. Writer: Destin Daniel Cretton, Andrew Lanham. Cast: Jamie Foxx, Charlie Pye Jr., Michael Harding. Running time: 2h17
Synopsis: "Just Mercy" tells the true story of Walter McMillian, who, with the help of young defense attorney Bryan Stevenson, appealed his murder conviction. The film is based on the memoir of the same name, written by Stevenson.
In 1989, idealistic young Harvard law graduate Bryan Stevenson travels to Alabama hoping to help fight for poor people who cannot afford proper legal representation. He meets with Eva Ansley and founds the Equal Justice Initiative, then travels to a prison to meet its death row inmates. He meets Walter "Johnny D." McMillian, an African-American man who was convicted of the 1986 murder of Ronda Morrison, a white woman.
Stevenson looks over the evidence in the case and discovers it hinges entirely on the testimony of convicted felon Ralph Myers, who provided highly self-contradictory testimony in exchange for a lighter sentence in his own pending trial.
Stevenson approaches Myers, who eventually admits that his testimony was coerced after police played to his fear of being burned and threatened to have him executed by electric chair. Stevenson appeals to the local court to grant McMillan a retrial and successfully convinces Myers to recant his testimony on the stand, but the judge nevertheless refuses to grant a retrial. Distraught, Stevenson vents his frustrations about the case to Ansley. He appears on 60 Minutes to rally public support in favor of McMillan, then appeals to the Supreme Court of Alabama. The Supreme Court overturns the circuit court's decision, and grants McMillan his retrial. (Wikipedia)
Bombshell claims made by Perez Hilton in light of the country's new laws punishing homosexuality with death suggest that Prince Abdul Azim is gay.
Azim is known for his lavish parties with celebrity-studded guest lists where the booze flows freely despite also being banned under the law. His brother, Prince Jefri, is also reportedly “hedonistic” and adultery would be his fatal sin.
Both men would be put to death under their father’s law.
The new Islamic criminal laws that came into effect in Brunei on Wednesday, April 3, meant those found guilty of male and female homosexuality or adultery could now be stoned to death.
Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah had initially announced the imposition of the penal code from Sharia Law on the country's Muslims in 2013, with the recent move being phase 3 of its implementation.
The new laws also apply to children and foreigners, even if they are not Muslim, and mean those found guilty of having gay sex can be stoned to death or whipped. While the ann…
This story has been Google translated into English. Click here to read the original German version.
The new Gay Travel Index compares over 200 countries. Result: Some vacation destinations are not as heavenly as they seem. Laws against homosexuals are being tightened in many places. Stoning to death threatens in one country.
In 15 of 202 countries and regions worldwide gays are currently facing the death penalty.
In at least 45 countries, people were murdered last year for homosexuality or transsexuality. This emerges from the recently published Spartacus Gay Travel Index 2020, which has now appeared for the eighth time since 2012.
The Russian sub-republic of Chechnya is worst performing with 20 minus points (place 202). Somalia (rank 201, 19 minus points) is penultimate.
With 18 minus points each, Iran and Saudi Arabia, which opened for the first time to western tourists in 2019, jointly ranked 199th. The United Arab Emirates (195th place, 15 minus points) and Qatar (190th place, 14 …
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
✔ RELATED VIDEO: Execution by the sword of a Burmese womanWarning: This Video Contains Extremely Dist…
(CBS/AP) HUNTSVILLE, Texas - Rickey Lynn Lewis, an East Texas man convicted of killing a man and raping his fiancee in 1990, was executed Tuesday evening in Huntsville, Texas.
Six months after Lewis, 50, was paroled in early 1990 from a 25-year term for a third burglary conviction, he was arrested for shooting and killing 45-year-old George Newman, raping Newman's fiancée and stealing her truck after breaking into the couple's home about 90 miles east of Dallas in Smith County.
On Tuesday, Lewis, of Tyler, became the second man executed in Texas this year. Three more are to follow this month in the nation's most active death penalty state.
The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles on Friday rejected a clemency petition for Lewis and the U.S. Supreme Court a week ago refused to review Lewis' case. "I think at this point we're out of options," Lewis' attorney, Seth Kretzer, said.
Newman's fiancé, Connie Hilton, said her barking dog woke her the night …
In the ongoing discussion on the death penalty, which President Duterte wants to return so as to strengthen the rule of law, it is useful to note that the world - and the Philippines with it - has long debated this issue in the United Nations.
In 1966, the UN General Assembly, of which the Philippines is a founding member, adopted the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) which, together with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights, make up what is known as the International Bill of Human Rights. The Philippines signed the ICCPR on December 19, 1966, and ratified it on October 23, 1986.
In 1989, the General Assembly adopted the Second Protocol on Civil and Political Rights, calling on all states to abolish the death penalty. The Protocol was a treaty signed by 83 states, including the Philippines. The Philippines signed the Protocol on September 20, 2006, and ratified it on September 20, …
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 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 written on the night of the e…
Under Trump, a Republican running for re-election in November, the Justice Department has already executed twice as many men this year as all of Trump’s predecessors combined going back to 1963. (Reuters) - The U.S. Department of Justice plans to execute Orlando Hall, a convicted murderer, on Nov. 19, according to a notice filed with a federal judge overseeing challenges to the department’s lethal injection protocol. The United States has already carried out seven executions this year after President Donald Trump’s administration revived the punishment in the summer, ending a 17-year hiatus. Hall, 49, was a marijuana trafficker in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, who in 1994, alongside accomplices, kidnapped, raped and murdered the 16-year-old sister of two Texas drug dealers he suspected had stolen money from him, according to court records. He and three other men kidnapped Lisa Rene from the apartment she shared with her brothers in Arlington, Texas, in an act of revenge after they paid her brothe…
The Justice Ministry on Wednesday introduced a system in which the executions of death row inmates are reported to victims of criminal cases via document or phone if they wish. To make such notifications possible, the existing mechanism to inform people of the results of criminal trials, the scheduled dates of inmates’ releases from prison, the dates when they were released and other information was expanded. Victims and their relatives, as well as people effectively regarded as relatives, such as those who were engaged or in common-law marriage with the victims, and attorneys will be informed of the executions and the dates and places where the capital punishment was carried out. They will also be informed if inmates die due to reasons other than execution, such as illness. A notification via phone will be made before the justice minister announces the execution at a news conference. Such notification will be mailed on the day of the execution. The Public Prosecutor’s Office will give the…
(Beirut) –Egyptian authorities executed 15 men convicted for alleged involvement in three cases of political violence as well as 2 women and 32 men convicted in criminal cases between October 3 and 13, 2020, Human Rights Watch said today. The authorities should immediately halt executions, and re-try those sentenced to death in grossly unfair trials. Thirteen of the 15 men charged with political violence had been held in Cairo’s Scorpion Prison. Their executions follow a suspicious incident inside Scorpion’s death row ward on September 23 in which Interior Ministry forces killed four prisoners after those prisoners killed four security personnel. Authorities alleged the prisoners were trying to escape. “Egypt’s mass executions of scores of people in a matter of days is outrageous,” said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “The systematic absence of fair trials in Egypt, especially in political cases, makes every death sentence a violation of th…
MOBILE, Ala. (WPMI) — A flurry of filings in the capital murder resentencing of Heather Keaton have occurred in the last week. On Friday, attorneys for Keaton filed no less than four motions to bar the death penalty when she is resentenced for the 2011 murders of her step children, 4-year-old Natalie and 2-year-old Chase DeBlase. The motions argue multiple theories on why Keaton should not be sentenced to death. RELATED | Stepmother accused in the death of two children faces charges in Alabama First, defenses argue that the state used inconsistent theories of the murders to secure her conviction. They argue that at John DeBlases’ trial, the children’s father, the State alleged that DeBlase strangled his two children. DeBlase was convicted and sentenced to death. At Keaton’s trial, the defense argues that the State gained the conviction against Keaton by arguing she poisoned the children. “These incompatible theories went to the core of the State’s case for conviction and death, and thus vio…
