Death Penalty News

Kirk, a close ally of President Donald Trump, was shot dead last week during an event on a Utah university campus. The suspect in the killing of Charlie Kirk appeared in court Tuesday, charged with the conservative activist’s murder, as prosecutors said they were seeking the death penalty for a crime that has shaken the United States. Kirk, a close ally of President Donald Trump and the founder of student activism group Turning Point USA, was shot dead last week during an event on a Utah university campus.

Scott Peterson was convicted in 2004 in the deaths of 27-year-old Laci Peterson, who was eight months pregnant, and the couple's unborn child. The two-decade-old murder conviction of Scott Peterson was the focus of a court hearing Tuesday when the Los Angeles Innocence Project revived the case in a Northern California courtroom.

Federal prosecutors on Tuesday filed 74 charges against the person who killed five people and injured 19 others at a Colorado Springs LGBT club in 2022 — including 50 hate crime charges. Documents filed Tuesday in federal court indicate that the shooter intends to plead guilty to the federal charges in exchange for an agreement that federal prosecutors will not seek the death penalty. In that agreement, Anderson Lee Aldrich, now 23, will serve “multiple concurrent life sentences.”

SINGAPORE — Two days after he was arrested for allegedly killing his wife, Eshan Tharaka Koottage was formally charged for murder on Monday (Sept 11), an offence that carries the death penalty. The 30-year-old Sri Lanka national was arrested on Sept 9 after he turned himself in to officers at the Marine Parade Neighbourhood Police Centre. He told the police at about 5.05pm that he had killed his wife at the Holiday Inn Express Singapore Katong in East Coast Road, which is located near the i12 Katong shopping mall.

The Medan Court in North Sumatra on Tuesday sentenced Mawardi, a 24-year-old man from Gayo Lues, Aceh, to death after being found guilty of carrying 1.3 tonnes of marijuana, fulfilling the demand of the prosecutors.  In the trial, which was held online, presiding judge Yusafrihardi Girsang said in his verdict that the defendant violated several articles of Law No. 35/2009 on narcotics.  Yusafrihardi said the severe sentence was because the defendant had violated the government’s attempts to fight against drugs.  The judge said he found no mitigating factors for the verdict.  Defendant Mawardi, who was present via teleconference, decided to appeal the verdict. 

SINGAPORE - A former business owner, who was wanted for drug trafficking and subsequently arrested in Malaysia in March, was charged with the offence in a Singapore district court on Monday. Appearing in court via video link, Singaporean Lian Hoe Heng, 56, will face the death sentence if convicted of the offence. A search with the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority reveals that Lian used to own Chuan Hup Seng Tentage Construction and Long Seng Chairs & Tables Rental Enterprise. In an earlier statement, the Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) said he had been out of Singapore since Nov 19, 2018. On or around Oct 7, 2020, Lian was out of the country when he allegedly instructed another man, identified as Tan Guosheng, 26, to possess at least 253g of methamphetamine for the purpose of trafficking.

📢 Click here to Google translate this article into your own language La vista de la cuarta apelación, puerta para un nuevo juicio, será telemática y  se celebrara el próximo 28 de febrero Pablo Ibar ya tiene fecha y hora para su vista de apelación. Será el próximo 28 de febrero a las 14.00 horas (hora local de Florida).

Courts in Singapore will next week consider arguments by four men who have spent more than a decade on death row, amid fears the city state may push ahead with executions to free up space on death row. The Singaporean government does not disclose how many people are held on death row, though campaigners believe there are likely more than 50 men awaiting execution, the majority of whom have been convicted of drug offences. Singapore has not carried out any executions for the past two years, due to a number of pending court applications that forced the authorities to pause proceedings. However, sentences of the death penalty have continued to be handed down, even during the height of the pandemic when hearings were held over Zoom. Families fear there is now a backlog that the authorities are attempting to clear. Among the cases to be heard next week, is an appeal launched by Nagaenthran K Dharmalingam , whose execution was stayed last year pending appeal. Nagaenthran, who has an intellec...

Defence lawyers said the death penalty for 38 convicts is the highest in a single case in the country — in 1998, a TADA court had handed the death sentence to 26 accused in the assassination of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. A special court, designated for speedy trial of the accused in the 2008 Ahmedabad serial blasts that killed 56 people and injured over 200, handed the death sentence Friday to 38 of 49 convicts. The remaining 11 have been awarded life terms in jail. The 49 were convicted on February 8 by special judge A R Patel who acquitted 38 other accused in the case. Defence lawyers said the death penalty for 38 convicts is the highest in a single case in the country — in 1998, a TADA court had handed the death sentence to 26 accused in the assassination of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. While the sentencing order has not yet been put in the public domain, the prosecution claimed that the accused planned the serial blasts as “revenge” for the 2002 post-Godhra riots in...

The campaign for the abolition of the death penalty, launched by civil society and embraced by Christian Churches and organizations, is intensifying in Indonesia. Several Indonesian civil society organizations have called on the government to remove the death penalty from the country's legal system, noting that there is evidence that "this form of legal murder is capable of deterring people from committing crimes". Furthermore, according to groups committed to protecting human rights, there is a high risk of an unjust sentence that could deprive even an innocent person of life.  However, despite the pandemic, the Indonesian judiciary continues to impose the death penalty (mainly for cases related to drug trafficking) with evidence that is evaluated in "teleconference": this is a system that jeopardizes the conduct of the process in a fair and equitable manner, the organizations detect.  According to the data collected by the supervisory body on "Imparsial...

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A California judge said Wednesday that she plans to resentence Scott Peterson to life in prison Dec. 8 while she separately considers whether he receives a new trial in the 2002 murders of his pregnant wife and unborn son. Peterson was sentenced to death in 2005 and has spent more than 15 years on death row, but the California Supreme Court tossed out his sentence last year and prosecutors say they won’t again seek to have him executed. “This is no longer a death penalty case,” Stanislaus County District Attorney Birgit Fladager reiterated during Wednesday’s brief hearing. “There is no way in the world this is anything other than a life without parole case.” She expects the resentencing hearing to last no longer than two hours, with brief statements from family members of 27-year-old Laci Peterson, who was eight months pregnant at the time of her killing. Peterson has been appearing at the hearings through a remote link from San Quentin State Prison, home to Califo...

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Four former Minneapolis police officers charged with violating George Floyd's civil rights pleaded not guilty Tuesday to the federal charges against them. A federal grand jury indicted Derek Chauvin, Thomas Lane, J. Kueng and Tou Thao in May for allegedly depriving Floyd of his rights while acting under government authority on May 25, 2020, as Floyd, 46, was held face-down, handcuffed and not resisting in a restraint that was captured on bystander video. His death led to worldwide protests and calls for change in policing. All four of the men appeared at the hearing remotely via videoconference. Chauvin appeared from a room in the state's maximum security prison, where he is serving a 22 1/2-year sentence for murder in Floyd's death. The other three men appeared remotely alongside their attorneys.  Prosecutors and attorneys for the former officers are also arguing their positions on about 40 pretrial motions Tuesday.  Among them, Kueng and Thao have asked...

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Accused Parkland shooter Nikolas Cruz virtually went before a judge on Wednesday as his attorneys prepare to defend his violent actions. Multiple attorneys for both the defense and prosecution went back and forth during the pre-trial hearing on several motions filed regarding Cruz and his upcoming trial. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for Cruz, who confessed to the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Feb. 14, 2018. A total of 17 students and faculty were killed that day, with another 17 injured in the shooting. Cruz’s attorneys filed multiple motions on his behalf, working toward what they’re calling a fair trial. One of his attorneys argued she has no intention of justifying his actions, but that information on his character should not go unheard. “The whole concept on individualized sentenced is what makes the death penalty constitutional in this country,” said defense attorney Melissa McNeil.  “There’s no more certain way t...

Arif alias Ashfaq has been convicted in the 2000 Red Fort attack case in which three people, including two Army jawans, were killed. The Supreme Court will begin hearing on 40 death penalty cases from Tuesday.  A circular in this regard was issued by the court on Wednesday (September 1), stating that these cases will be listed before three-judge benches starting September 7.  The cases include the one related to Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorist Mohammad Arif. Arif alias Ashfaq has been convicted in the 2000 Red Fort attack case in which three people, including two Army jawans, were killed. The list also includes four review petitions of convicts whose appeals were dismissed by the apex court after upholding death penalty.  Several cases are appeals filed by the accused whose death penalty was confirmed by the respective high courts. The Supreme Court had earlier issued a fresh Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) to accord final hearing of cases in physical mode from Septemb...

The Federal Court found that the High Court and Court of Appeal failed to establish any affirmative findings of trafficking by the former teacher. A former international school teacher escaped the gallows after the Federal Court substituted her trafficking charge to that of possession. A 3-member bench chaired by Rohana Yusuf spared Suhailah Abdullah’s life due to a “miscarriage of justice” by the High Court which was later affirmed by the Court of Appeal. Rohana said the conviction for trafficking was unsafe as the trial judge failed to evaluate the evidence of the defence as required under Section 182A of the Criminal Procedure Code (CPC). “We find that the Court of Appeal had also failed to consider her defence,” she said in a virtual hearing that ended late yesterday evening. However, Rohana added, Suhailah could not “shut her eyes to the obvious” that she was an innocent carrier. “This defence should also have been considered by the High Court and the Court of Appeal,” said Rohana...

A woman was charged with the murder of her 8-year-old daughter on Thursday morning (Aug 11). The 35-year-old is alleged to have caused the death of the girl some time before 11.38am in Geylang Lorong 31 on Tuesday. A copy of the redacted charge sheet, dated Aug 10, obtained by The Straits Times on Thursday, indicated that the case is being handled by the Special Investigation Section of the Criminal Investigation Department. The woman cannot be named, as there is a gag order on her identity. She was charged via video conference while at Changi Medical Centre at the Changi Prison Complex, where she has been remanded for psychiatric observation. In an earlier statement, the police said that they were alerted to an incident in a residential unit in Geylang at around 11.40am on Tuesday. Officers found the child lying motionless, with multiple wounds. She was unconscious when she was rushed to a hospital, and was pronounced dead at 12.45pm. The police arrested her mother. Chinese evening da...