Execution

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 »

September 19, 2007 -- AUSTIN – Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott offers the following information about Michael Wayne Richard, who is scheduled to be executed after 6 p.m. Tuesday, September 25, 2007. Richard was convicted and sentenced to death for the capital murder of Marguerite Dixon during a burglary of her Houston-area home in 1986.

FACTS OF THE CRIME    » read more »

September 19, 2007 -- (MONTGOMERY)— "LaSamuel Gamble has been convicted of murdering three people in cold blood. District Attorney Robby Owens sounded the retreat of common sense and justice when he testified to free this monster from Death Row where a Shelby County jury had sent him ten years ago. Owens says he was compelled to do so. He is wrong – wrong on the facts, wrong on the law, and wrong on his duty. Whether 30 DAs or 42 DAs call for me to do so, I will never turn my back on Alabama's victims or desecrate the graves of those who Gamble murdered.    » read more »

09/14/2007 -- Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen today commuted the death sentence of Michael Joe Boyd (also known as Mika’eel Abdullah Abdus-Samad) to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole citing grossly inadequate legal representation received by Boyd during his post conviction hearing and procedural limitations.

On March 10, 1988 Michael Joe Boyd was convicted of murder in the first degree in the perpetration of a robbery and was sentenced to death for this conviction.    » read more »

September 12, 2007 -- (MONTGOMERY) — Alabama Attorney General Troy King has notified Shelby County District Attorney Robbie Owens that he is using his statutory authority to superintend—taking over from the District Attorney—the case of convicted murderer LaSamuel Gamble.    » read more »