Fogbow

Patagoniagirl wrote: ↑Sat Oct 30, 2021 5:56 am I probably wasnt as clear as I meant to be. I am absolutely against the death penalty. I am still haunted after reading about Todd Willingham in Texas. My point was, if we cant stop the death penalty, why cant this be done more humanely? I guess because it really comes down to cruelty.

Suranis wrote: ↑Mon Apr 12, 2021 10:00 am I hear that policy was tried before, and resulted in Australia.

CNN [in 2021]: Supreme Court agrees to review Boston Marathon bomber's death penalty case

The U.S. Supreme Court has reinstated the death penalty for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the convicted Boston Marathon bomber. The vote, in a decision issued Friday, was 6-3 with the court's liberals issuing a relatively subdued dissent.

* * *

The trial judge blocked the defense from presenting evidence to the jury showing that [his older brother] Tamerlan had, two years before the bombing, slit the throats of three men in Waltham, Mass., in an act of jihad on the anniversary of the 9/11 attack. The defense argued that this mitigating evidence may have convinced that jury to spare Tsarnaev's life, and a federal appeals court agreed.

On Friday, the Supreme Court reversed the appeals court and reinstated Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's death sentence.

Despite the decision, Tsarnaev will not be executed anytime soon. The Trump administration, in its waning days in office, ended a federal execution moratorium and executed 13 men sentenced to death on federal charges. But the Biden administration, has restarted the moratorium so that the Justice Department can conduct a thorough review of the department's policies and procedures.

Sister Helen Prejean @helenprejean wrote: Arizona has set a May 11th execution date for Clarence Dixon. He has 20 days to decide between lethal injection and the gas chamber. Clarence is 65 years old, blind, physically disabled, and suffers with severe schizophrenia

Clarence was convicted for the 1977 murder of ASU student Deana Bowdoin. It was a terrible crime. There's a back story, though, that reveals a series of societal failures that led up to this horrible act of violence committed by a man who was not in his right mind.

Clarence grew up on the Navajo Nation. His father was addicted to painkillers and viciously abused Clarence, his six siblings, and their mother. The neglect was so severe that Clarence was forced to eat dog food just to survive as a child.

Clarence began experiencing severe mental illness at a young age. In a prior criminal case, state doctors diagnosed him with schizophrenia and found him incompetent. This led then-Maricopa County trial judge Sandra Day O'Connor to find him not guilty by reason of insanity.

Then-Judge O'Connor directed the State of Arizona to immediately initiate civil commitment proceedings so Clarence would not be released back into the community without any supervision. The State failed to take action. Two days later, Deana Bowdoin was killed.

Clarence fired all his attorneys and represented himself at his death penalty trial. The jury never knew that he was legally insane at the time of the murder. No information about Clarence's background was presented in support of a life sentence.

Texas judge won’t let prosecutor cancel scheduled execution of John Ramirez
Nueces County District Attorney Mark Gonzalez said he is ethically opposed to the death penalty, but an employee wrongfully requested the execution date against his wishes. Gonzalez sought to cancel the execution two days later.

A Texas state district judge on Tuesday rejected a prosecutor’s request to cancel the scheduled October execution of John Ramirez, whose death last year was halted in part of a yearslong back-and-forth between the Texas prison system and the U.S. Supreme Court over religious rights of condemned prisoners.

Nueces County District Attorney Mark Gonzalez sought to have the execution canceled, saying one of his employees wrongfully asked a court to set the date in April, after the nation’s high court directed the state prison system to let the prisoner’s pastor touch and pray over him at his execution. Gonzalez said he is ethically opposed to the death penalty and did not want an execution warrant for Ramirez issued.

Along with Ramirez’s defense attorney, he sought to withdraw the new execution date two days after it was requested.

But in a Zoom hearing Tuesday, state District Judge Bobby Galvan said Gonzalez is “the captain of the ship,” and what his staff does is on him.

“I’ve really thought about this a lot,” Galvan said. “I respect y’all’s opinion on this, but I’m not going to withdraw the warrant.”

Gonzalez argued that, as the county’s elected prosecutor, he has the authority to request the cancellation.

“The main issues in this motion, your honor, are that the only legitimate voice for the state of Texas would be my office,” he said.

After the ruling, Ramirez’s attorney, Seth Kretzer, said it was unprecedented for a judge to deny a motion to withdraw a death warrant that has the support of the prosecution and the defense.

Spanish prison authorities on Tuesday euthanized a man who shot and wounded four people in December and was subsequently wounded in a shootout with the police, rendering him paralyzed and begging to be allowed to die while awaiting trial.

Courts allowed the man’s assisted death after rejecting several appeals by his victims, who argued he should face justice. The case even reached the Constitutional Court, which refused to deliberate on it, saying there had been no violation of fundamental rights.
Spain passed a law permitting euthanasia on Thursday for people with serious, chronic illness, no chance of recovery and unbearable suffering.

Disgruntled former security guard Eugen Sabau, 46, shot three of his colleagues, including a woman, at the security services firm where he worked in the northeastern city of Tarragona, and then wounded a police officer while making his escape.

Sabau died at 6.30 p.m. local time Tuesday, according to a source from the Catalan regional government.

The prison authorities were unavailable for comment and Sabau’s lawyer did not comment.

Spain legalized euthanasia just over a year ago. Prior to this, helping someone to end their life carried a jail term of up to 10 years.

After Sabau barricaded himself in a house with an arsenal of weapons, a tactical police unit stormed the place, shooting him several times.

RTH10260 wrote: ↑Wed Aug 24, 2022 5:12 pm This is surely not "a death penalty case".

Patagoniagirl wrote: ↑Wed Aug 24, 2022 10:02 pm I never questioned my opposition to the death penalty, especially after reading the entire Willingham case. After my step-daughter's mother's murder has recently been solved, I find myself conflicted. Forty damned years for her to suffer and try to find some solace and healing has just ripped a new whole mess and a myriad of emotions. I haven't asked her about it. I'll wait for her. She was only seven years old and she was severely emotionally crippled by all of it, for FORTY years.

But then,.there was Todd Willingham.