http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/deathpenalty/ en-us Tue, 30 Jun 2009 11:16:20 GMT Focus Forum 15 http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2282279/posts CAIRO // June has been dubbed “the month of executions” and 2009 “the year of mass executions” by Egyptian newspapers and analysts amid debate about abolishing capital punishment. More than 200 death sentences have been handed down since the beginning of the year, including 68 in June alone, according to official sources at the justice ministry. There are usually about 80 people executed each year. A headline in the state-owned Al-Akhbar el-Youm weekly on Saturday read: the executioner is very busy these days: is execution a necessity to combat the proliferation of crimes? “32 death sentences in 72 hours ...... The National http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2282279/posts#comment Tue, 30 Jun 2009 11:16:20 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2282242/posts The state could save up to $1 billion over the next five years, they say, by commuting all 682 death row inmates' sentences to life without the possibility of parole.Nearly 3 1/2 years into a court-ordered suspension of executions, opponents have embraced a new argument: that Californians can't afford to carry out the death penalty in a constitutional manner. They contend that by commuting all 682 death row inmates' sentences to life without the possibility of parole, the state could save up to $1 billion over the next five years -- a view expected to be offered, and challenged, during... Los Angeles Times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2282242/posts#comment Tue, 30 Jun 2009 08:05:18 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2278985/posts Lawmakers shocked by the brutal beating of little Nathaniel Turner allegedly at the hands of his father are pushing anew for the death penalty as the only punishment that fits the sickening crime. “The way that boy was beaten and tortured, it’s unconscionable. It’s deplorable,” said House Rule Chairman John J. Binienda (D-Worcester). “I would definitely vote for that.” “If this doesn’t convince people we need it I don’t know what will,” said Rep. James R. Miceli (D-Wilmington), who plans on organizing a group of pro-death penalty lawmakers today. “I’m going to do my best to get this on the... Boston Herald http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2278985/posts#comment Thu, 25 Jun 2009 07:38:54 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2278418/posts Aplington-Parkersburg High School football coach Ed Thomas has died after being shot multiple times among students at the school’s weight room this morning, officials have confirmed. Thomas was shot at point blank range, including once in the head, according to the school's business manager Pat Gosch. No one else was injured in the incident. The suspected gunman is in custody. The family of Ed Thomas released a statement through Covenant Medical Center in Waterloo: "The family of Ed Thomas would like the media to know that Ed passed away shortly after arriving at Covenant Medical Center," the statement read. Sports... Cedar Rapids Gazette http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2278418/posts#comment Wed, 24 Jun 2009 16:12:19 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2267634/posts Sonia Sotomayor says the death penalty disproportionately impacts minorities. A question for her: Death sentences are meted out most often to (a) blacks, (b) whites, (c) Hispanics or (d) the guilty. A recently unearthed memo not disclosed on the questionnaire filed with the Senate Judiciary Committee shows that the empathy that the Supreme Court nominee feels is more for the predators among us than their victims. It also shows that some of the reasons this self-proclaimed "wise Latina" has for opposing capital punishment are bogus and flawed. IBD Editorials http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2267634/posts#comment Tue, 9 Jun 2009 00:43:37 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2265767/posts Sotomayor Failed to Disclose to Senate Memo in Which She Argued Death Penalty is 'Racist' Friday, June 05, 2009 By Pete Winn, Senior Writer/Editor (CNSNews.com) – The Judicial Confirmation Network (JCN) says Judge Sonia Sotomayor failed to disclose to the Senate Judiciary Committee a controversial document arguing that the death penalty is “racist” and a violation of the present “humanist” thinking of society The 1981 memo, they say, should have been disclosed as required under Question 12 (b) of the questionnaire that the Supreme Court nominee turned in Thursday. Question 12(b) requires a nominee to "(s)upply four (4) copies of... CNS News http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2265767/posts#comment Fri, 5 Jun 2009 20:19:28 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2264282/posts LUCASVILLE, Ohio -- The "horrendous decision" that Daniel Wilson made 18 years ago came full circle this morning when he was executed for locking Carol Lutz in the trunk of her car and setting it on fire. Wilson, 39, died at 10:33 a.m. after receiving a lethal injection of drugs at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility near Lucasville. Columbus Dispatch http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2264282/posts#comment Thu, 4 Jun 2009 01:44:40 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2261320/posts New York Times columnist Bob Herbert, who never saw a convicted murderer who deserved execution, has found another dirt bag to save. His latest cause is Troy Davis, who was found guilty in 1991 for the murder of police officer Mark Allen MacPhail in 1989 in the parking lot of a Burger King in Savannah, Georgia. A jury found Davis guilty of shooting the off-duty officer to death as he tried to save a homeless man from being pistol-whipped. There were 7 eyewitnesses to the murder and it still took 2 years to convict in this most sluggish of all... American Thinker http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2261320/posts#comment Sat, 30 May 2009 19:18:11 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2255595/posts SEOUL (UCAN) -- A letter from the late Pope John Paul II, which saved the life of former President Thomas More Kim Dae-jung, has been made known to the public recently.   Former president Kim Dae-jung The late Pope sent the letter to then-South Korean President Chun Doo-hwan on Dec. 11, 1980, asking for "clemency" for Kim, a Catholic, who had been sentenced to death a week before.The National Archives of Korea (NAK) on May 18 revealed the contents of letter at the request of the "Kwangju Ilbo," the local daily newspaper in Gwangju (Kwangju).Former President Chun, who seized power in a... UCA http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2255595/posts#comment Thu, 21 May 2009 16:55:08 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2255397/posts Opponents of the death penalty looking to exonerate wrongly accused prisoners say their efforts have been hobbled by the dwindling size of America’s newsrooms, and particularly the disappearance of investigative reporting at many regional papers. In the past, lawyers opposed to the death penalty often provided the broad outlines of cases to reporters, who then pursued witnesses and unearthed evidence. Now, the lawyers complain, they have to do more of the work themselves and that means it often doesn’t get done. They say many fewer cases are being pursued by journalists, after a spate of exonerations several years ago based... New York Times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2255397/posts#comment Thu, 21 May 2009 12:37:43 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2254954/posts We have few iconic couples from the 1960s and 1970s left. Sonny and Cher divorced and went their separate ways politically. Republican Congressman Sonny Bono died tragically in a skiing accident in 1998. Cher continues to perform by herself. But not all was Laugh-In and flower power. Today another famous couple, comrades-in-arms and former collaborators in Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), Weatherman, and then Weather Underground — and now coauthors of the book Race Course Against White Supremacy — are bringing their show on the road. I am talking about Bill Ayers, once-fugitive “peace activist,” whose photo of him... Pajamas Media http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2254954/posts#comment Wed, 20 May 2009 20:30:56 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2254659/posts I was hoping you can let them know what we the people think about murder... AP Poll http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2254659/posts#comment Wed, 20 May 2009 14:14:01 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2254505/posts HUNTSVILLE, Texas – A man who fatally stabbed a convenience store clerk during a robbery 23 years ago apologized repeatedly to her relatives and to his mother before he was executed Tuesday. "I know I hurt you very bad," Michael Lynn Riley said to his victim's relatives, including her two daughters and husband. "I want you to know I'm sorry." Brandy Oaks said she accepted Riley's apology and was pleased to hear it. She was 4 when her mother, Wynona Harris, was killed. "This is a difficult day and there are no winners on either side," Oaks said. "Her spirit... news.yahoo http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2254505/posts#comment Wed, 20 May 2009 07:27:33 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2254487/posts A man who fatally stabbed a convenience store clerk during a robbery 23 years ago apologized repeatedly to her relatives and to his mother before he was executed Tuesday. "I know I hurt you very bad," Michael Lynn Riley said to his victim's relatives, including her two daughters and husband. "I want you to know I'm sorry." Brandy Oaks said she accepted Riley's apology and was pleased to hear it. She was 4 when her mother, Wynona Harris, was killed. "This is a difficult day and there are no winners on either side," Oaks said. "Her spirit will live on... Kansascity.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2254487/posts#comment Wed, 20 May 2009 05:41:09 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2251864/posts A man convicted of battering his girlfriend's 8-year-old son and stuffing the body in a freezer was put to death Thursday in Oklahoma, while a man in Alabama was executed for fatally stabbing a mother of six. Donald Lee Gilson, 48, proclaimed his innocence in the death of Shane Coffman before he was injected in Oklahoma with a lethal combination of drugs. "I'm an innocent man but ... I get to go to heaven and I'll see Shane tonight," he said in his final statement. He was pronounced dead at 6:19 p.m. Gilson's parents, sister, a friend and a pastor... cbsnews http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2251864/posts#comment Fri, 15 May 2009 21:58:43 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2243040/posts Iran has hanged a young woman who was convicted of murder when she was a minor, her lawyer said Saturday, drawing condemnation from international human rights groups who have sought to end capital punishment for juvenile offenders. Authorities executed the 23-year-old woman Friday in northern Iran without informing her lawyer or allowing the family to be present, said the lawyer, Mohammad Mostafaei. She was 17 at the time the crime was committed, in 2003. StarTribune http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2243040/posts#comment Sun, 3 May 2009 03:39:43 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2241446/posts The first wave of slayings haunted Los Angeles in the mid-1970s. The killer slipped mostly unseen through the night, preying on older women who lived alone. He raped them and squeezed their necks until they passed out or died. On the 17 who were killed, he placed pillows or blankets over their faces. The second wave hit a decade later in Claremont -- five older women raped and strangled, faces again covered. Even with at least 20 survivors, police never connected the two homicide-and-rape rampages nor solved either of them. The victims gave conflicting descriptions of the rapist, police in... LA Times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2241446/posts#comment Thu, 30 Apr 2009 19:08:25 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2241382/posts SACRAMENTO - Riverside County District Attorney Rod Pacheco called for overhauling the state's death-penalty system during a Capitol rally Wednesday for crime victims. Pacheco, the keynote speaker at the 20th annual Victims March on the Capitol, criticized the years-long delays between when a criminal is sentenced to death and when the execution takes place. Pacheco singled out the 1992 death sentence for Andrew Lamont Brown, of Riverside, for killing 17-year-old Christina Ann Ramirez, of Riverside, during a carjacking. Brown remains on death row. "How has this animal not received justice?" Pacheco said, choking up. "He has been sitting on death... Riverside Press-Enterprise http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2241382/posts#comment Thu, 30 Apr 2009 17:34:11 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2229109/posts Harvard Islamic chaplain Taha Abdul-Basser ’96 has recently come under fire for controversial statements in which he allegedly endorsed death as a punishment for Islamic apostates. In a private e-mail to a student last week, Abdul-Basser wrote that there was “great wisdom (hikma) associated with the established and preserved position (capital punishment [for apostates]) and so, even if it makes some uncomfortable in the face of the hegemonic modern human rights discourse, one should not dismiss it out of hand.” The e-mail was forwarded over Muslim student e-mail lists and later picked up by the blogosphere, sparking debate and, in... Harvard Crimson http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2229109/posts#comment Tue, 14 Apr 2009 21:45:29 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2226759/posts A recent story in the Guardian confirmed my suspicion of a lingering liberal indulgence toward the former Soviet Union. Headlined ORPHANED BY THE STATE, it consisted of an interview with Robert Rosenberg, the younger son of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, executed by electric chair in 1953 for spying on behalf of the Soviet Union. Robert was then six, and surely anyone with the most minimal human feeling must sympathize deeply with his account of his bewilderment at the time. The interviewer, Joanna Moorhead, tells us that she had tears in her eyes as he related the story, thereby imparting an... CityJournal.org http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2226759/posts#comment Sat, 11 Apr 2009 01:46:46 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2221265/posts Two Morris County men were so proud of pulling off a UFO hoax that they chronicled it in an online magazine. But the Morris County prosecutor regarded the stunt as a threat to aviation and tonight said he was filing disorderly person charges against Chris Russo, 29, and Joe Rudy, 28. "If there is a single word to describe this ... it is in essence 'stupidity'," Prosecutor Robert Bianchi said at a press conference in Morristown. Bianchi said although there were indictable offenses with which he could have charged the men, he wanted to take a "measured approach" toward the... nj.com/news http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2221265/posts#comment Fri, 3 Apr 2009 03:50:42 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2219810/posts CNN's Roland Martin is hosting Campbell Brown: No Bias, No Bull for the next eight weeks. On Monday's program, Martin clearly demonstrated he's going to have trouble living up to the program's title. The subject was the Notre Dame-Barack Obama controversy. Martin argued with the Catholic League's William Donohue that inviting the adamantly pro-abortion Obama to the school and awarding him an honorary degree is no different from Notre Dame's 2001 treatment of former President George W. Bush, who supports capital punishment: And one of the critical issues when it came to Bush speaking in 2001, death penalty. I have... RenewAmerica http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2219810/posts#comment Wed, 1 Apr 2009 14:50:24 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2218384/posts A prosecutor says a killer who claims a jailhouse informant committed perjury at his trial hasn't offered enough evidence to warrant delaying his execution. Summit County Prosecutor Sherri Bevan Walsh argues in an Ohio Supreme Court filing Monday that death row inmate Bret Hartmann has no basis for stopping his execution. The 34-year-old Hartmann wants time to gather evidence of the alleged perjury and test other evidence he says will prove his innocence. Hartmann also wants time to demonstrate that Ohio's method of lethal injection is unconstitutional. Hartmann is scheduled to die April 7 for the 1997 fatal stabbing of... WTTE http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2218384/posts#comment Mon, 30 Mar 2009 21:17:38 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2218375/posts The highest criminal court judge in Texas failed to disclose nearly $2 million in real estate holdings and claimed it would be "financially ruinous" to pay lawyers to fight misconduct charges that could get her removed from the bench. Sharon Keller, presiding judge of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, is seeking dismissal of charges by the state Commission on Judicial Conduct that she violated her duties in a death penalty case. The commission says Keller cast "public discredit on the judiciary" for not keeping court offices open after 5 p.m. on the 2007 night Michael Wayne Richard was executed.... Houston Chronicle http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2218375/posts#comment Mon, 30 Mar 2009 21:02:56 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2216670/posts It’s been a big day for the NY-20 special Congressional election. The Libertarian Party candidate was forced off the ballot due to technical issues with his petitions, a problem Barack Obama’s 1996 state Senate opponents might sympathize with. Democrat Scott Murphy has caught Republican Jim Tedisco in the polls. Barack Obama has lent his considerable star power to Murphy in an attempt to hold the seat for Democrats. This new ad by the NRCC might make Obama regret that decision, though: Hot Air http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2216670/posts#comment Sat, 28 Mar 2009 04:23:40 GMT