Death Penalty News

Florida prosecutors seeking the death penalty for a plastic surgeon accused of killing a lawyer and dumping his body in the Everglades have laid out their case in new court filings. Authorities say Dr. Tomasz Kosowski killed attorney Steven Cozzi in the bathroom of Cozzi's law office moments after both participated in a March 21 conference call about a lengthy, acrimonious legal battle over medical billing. Prosecutors said in court documents that Kosowski took the call from a Toyota pickup truck outside the office and that he had supplies to commit the killing, including trash bags, a syringe containing a paralyzing drug and a wagon to haul the corpse out.

A Cairo criminal court handed a death sentence on Sunday to a judge for murdering his wife, TV presenter Shaimaa Gamal, and his co-defendant after the approval of Grand Mufti Shawki Allam. Both the husband Ayman Haggag and the second defendant Hussein El-Gharably were referred in July to the criminal court after the Egyptian Public Prosecution charged them with premeditated murder, which is punishable by the death penalty in Egypt. Sunday's ruling can be appealed within 60 days before the Court of Cassation. In mid-August, the court referred of the case to the grand mufti to inquire about the religious ruling. Referral to the grand mufti is a necessary procedure before issuing a death sentence, according to Egyptian law, though the religious opinion of the mufti is non-binding. Sheikh Shawky Allam is head of the Dar El-Ifta, which is Egypt’s official body responsible for issuing religious edicts for Sunni Muslims. RELATED |  Judge sentenced to death for slaying second wife The crim...

Lincoln County prosecutors say they intend to seek the death penalty of a Sioux Falls man accused of killing a woman after she was leaving work in January.  Lincoln County State's Attorney Tom Wollman said Thursday that his office intends to seek the death penalty against Amir Hasan Beaudion Jr., 20, should he be found guilty by a jury of murder charges in connection to the death of Pasqalina Esen Badi. The case meets multiple aggravating circumstances needed to be a capital case, Wollman said. The aggravating circumstances here, Wollman said, include: that the crime was committed for the purpose of receiving money or any other thing of monetary value; the offense was outrageously or wantonly vile; and that the offense was committed for the purpose of avoiding, interfering with, or preventing arrest.  Only a Class A felony – like premeditated first-degree murder – is eligible for the death penalty in South Dakota. Should a defendant be found guilty, a jury w...

Indonesian authorities ranging from President Joko Widodo to National Narcotics Agency (BNN) Head Budi Waseso, have justified the country's use of the death penalty on drug offenders (and the shooting of drug suspects at the slightest provocation) by arguing that the country is in the midst of a full-blown drug emergency.  The statistics they use to make that claim are flawed, but there is a very clear law enforcement emergency taking place - inside of Indonesia's prisons. One of the reasons why the Indonesian people also strongly support the death penalty for drug dealers is because of numerous stories about criminals who manage to run narcotics operations even while in jail. The latest such incident involves a prisoner in Medan's Tanjung Gusta prison who was caught ordering 25 kg of crystal methamphetamines to be delivered to his penitentiary for distribution. What makes the case unique is that the 60-year-old prisoner, Togiman, was in prison after bein...

The state’s highest criminal court on Wednesday ordered a closer examination of death row inmate Areli Escobar’s claims that shoddy work by the Austin police crime lab compromised evidence in his case. Escobar is seeking to have his conviction overturned, and a new trial ordered, after a Travis County jury sentenced him to death in the 2009 sexual assault and stabbing of his neighbor, 17-year-old Bianca Maldonado, an LBJ High School student who was attacked at her East Austin apartment with her year-old son, who survived, nearby. In a brief order issued Wednesday, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals directed state District Judge David Wahlberg to examine claims that the crime lab produced false or misleading conclusions from DNA evidence in the case, particularly on tests performed on the shirt, jeans and shoes that tied Escobar to the murder. Defense lawyers also argued that problems discovered at the crime lab after Escobar’s trial — including poorly trained analysts, ...