Death penalty

18 December 2007 -- The global campaign against the death penalty secured a landmark victory on Tuesday when the United Nations General Assembly endorsed the call for a worldwide moratorium (suspension) on executions.

In a landslide result, 104 UN member states voted in favour of the ground-breaking resolution. 54 countries voted against, while there were 25 abstentions.

Amnesty International welcomes this timely resolution, passed at the UN headquarters in New York City, as a clear recognition of the international trend towards worldwide abolition of the death penalty.    » read more »

December 17, 2007 -- New Jersey Governor Jon S. Corzine - Remarks as Delivered
December 17, 2007

Good morning everyone.

Thank you all for being here. Today, December 17th 2007, is a momentous day - a day of progress - for the State of New Jersey and for the millions of people across our nation and around the globe who reject the death penalty as a moral or practical response to the grievous, even heinous, crime of murder.

Today, through my signature on this bill, New Jersey abolishes the death penalty as a policy of our state.    » read more »

December 17, 2007 -- TRENTON - New Jersey Governor Jon S. Corzine today signed legislation abolishing the death penalty in New Jersey and replacing it with life imprisonment without parole. New Jersey is the first state in the nation to enact a law to end use of the death penalty since it was reinstated by the United States Supreme Court in 1976. To ensure that the intent of the legislation was fully carried out as to the eight remaining inmates on death row, on Sunday evening Governor Corzine commuted the sentences of those inmates to life in prison without parole.    » read more »

11/15/2007 -- Today's call for a global moratorium on executions by the UN General Assembly's Third Committee is an "historic resolution and major step towards the abolition of the death penalty worldwide", Amnesty International said.

The landmark decision had cross-regional support and was co-sponsored by 87 states from around the world.

The resolution was adopted by 99 countries in favour, 52 against and 33 abstentions. The General Assembly is expected to endorse the decision in a plenary session in December.    » read more »

Based on Multi-state Findings, Bar Association Renews Call for Nationwide Moratorium on Executions

WASHINGTON, D.C., Oct. 29, 2007— The American Bar Association today released the findings from their three-year study on state death penalty systems and called for a nationwide moratorium on executions.    » read more »

New York -- 16 October -- Three men sentenced to death for crimes they did not commit, today urged member states of the United Nations General Assembly to support a resolution for a global moratorium on executions.

"I have faced death at the hands of my government and I'm here to tell the international community of the human suffering caused by the death penalty, and to urge them to end this terrible punishment," said Edward Edmary Mpagi, from Uganda who spent 18 years on death row. Mpagi, sentenced to death in 1981, was accused of killing a man who was later found to be alive.    » read more »

October 17, 2007 -- RICHMOND – Virginia Governor Timothy M. Kaine issued the following statement on the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to stay tonight’s scheduled execution of Christopher Scott Emmett:

“On October 10, 2001, Christopher Scott Emmett was found guilty of the capital murder of a co-worker, John Fenton Langley, during the commission of a robbery.    » read more »

10/10/2007 -- On this year's World Day against the Death Penalty - 10 October, Amnesty International is calling on the world's governments to vote for the UN resolution on a global moratorium on executions, which will be introduced at the current session of the UN General Assembly.    » read more »

11 October 2007 -- A coalition of 60 non-governmental organizations is urging the United Nations to adopt a resolution that calls for a global moratorium on the death penalty. Supporters believe such a resolution has enough support to pass.

In 2003, The World Coalition Against The Death Penalty designated October 10 as the "World Day Against the Death Penalty.

At a news conference in New York Wednesday, the group said more than 90 countries nations have abolished the death penalty for all crimes, 131 have done so in practice and 66 retain it.    » read more »

09 October 2007 -- U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments Wednesday in the case of a convicted murderer from Mexico who is trying to escape the death penalty by arguing that he was not informed at the time of his arrest in Texas of his right to speak with the Mexican consul. The case centers not on the crime or the legal proceedings in Texas, but on the limits of presidential power.    » read more »

10/04/2007 -- Doctors and nurses should not participate in executions ordered by the state in breach of their ethical oath, said Amnesty International in a new report today.

The report, Execution by lethal injection – a quarter century of state poisoning looks at the legal and ethical implications of the use of the lethal injection across the world.    » read more »

October 4, 2007 -- CURTIS OSBORNE

Georgia Attorney General Thurbert E. Baker offers the following information in the case against Curtis Osborne, who is currently scheduled to be executed during the execution window starting at noon on October 23, 2007, and ending at noon on October 30, 2007.

Scheduled Execution    » read more »

October 4, 2007 -- JACK E. ALDERMAN

Georgia Attorney General Thurbert E. Baker offers the following information in the case against Jack E. Alderman, who is currently scheduled to be executed during the execution window starting at noon on October 19, 2007 and ending at noon on October 26, 2007.

Scheduled Execution    » read more »

10/03/2007 -- Citing judicial prudence, Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson today asked the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals (OCCA) to delay scheduling executions in Oklahoma until the U.S. Supreme Court defines what constitutes cruel and unusual punishment in execution procedures.

The Supreme Court (USSC) has agreed to hear the appeal of a Kentucky death row inmate who claims that state’s execution process violates the Eighth Amendment ban on cruel and unusual punishment. The case, Baze v. Rees, is expected to establish a national standard for executions.    » read more »

October 1, 2007 -- AUSTIN – Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott offers the following information about Heliberto Chi, who is scheduled to be executed after 6 p.m. Wednesday, October 3, 2007, for the robbery-murder of the manager of a men’s clothing store in Arlington.

FACTS OF THE CRIME

Heliberto Chi was convicted and sentenced to die in Texas state court for the aggravated robbery and murder of Armand Paliotta, the manager of K&G Men’s Store in Arlington, Texas. The evidence presented at trial is as follows.    » read more »