Death Penalty News

SHERMAN, Texas (KXII) - The murder of Laura Thomas and her two children is a case prosecutor Kerye Ashmore can’t shake. “I think it’s important to remember the brutality of these murders,” said Grayson County First Assistant District Attorney Kerye Ashmore. A jury convicted Thomas of stabbing all three people to death and cutting their hearts out. Since the incident in 2004, Thomas has taken out both of his eyes and eaten one of them. His defense attorney argued he is too mentally ill for the death penalty to be constitutional. “The question is, is he so mentally ill that he does not know his execution is imminent and why he is being executed?” said Ashmore. “That’s an entirely different question.”

SINGAPORE - Lawyer M. Ravi has filed a civil suit against the Attorney-General (A-G), two Deputy A-Gs and five prosecutors on behalf of a Malaysian drug runner who was spared the death penalty last month by the Court of Appeal. Gobi Avedian, 32, who was instead given 15 years' jail and 10 strokes of the cane, is seeking unspecified damages from the defendants. In court papers, Gobi alleged that the defendants had "abused their powers and acted in bad faith by improperly performing a legal act which resulted in harm to the plaintiff". He also alleged that the defendants had "breached their fundamental duties to assist in the administration of justice". Nine defendants are named in the suit: the office of the A-G, current A-G Lucien Wong, Deputy A-Gs Hri Kumar Nair and Lionel Yee, deputy chief prosecutor Mohamed Faizal Mohamed Abdul Kadir, and prosecutors Tan Zhongshan, Nicholas Wuan, Chin Jincheng and Chong Kee En. A spokesman for the Attorney-General's Chamb...