[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----FLA., S.DAK., US MIL.

[Rick Halperin]

September 9




FLORIDA:

Florida prosecutor sets up unit for wrongful convictions



A Florida prosecutor who got into a legal fight with the governor for her 
refusal to seek the death penalty is setting up a unit to look at possible 
wrongful convictions.

State Attorney Aramis Ayala said this week that the unit will review claims of 
innocence by individuals convicted of crimes in her circuit which makes up most 
of metro Orlando.

Ayala says she hopes there have been no wrongful convictions but past 
exonerations around the nation show wrongful convictions happen.

Ayala's declaration last year that she would no longer seek the death penalty 
triggered a fight with Gov. Rick Scott, who took away cases from her office.

Earlier this year, she said her office will no longer request monetary bail 
bonds for defendants accused of low-level crimes.

(source: Associated Press)








SOUTH DAKOTA:

Gay man sentenced to death by reported homophobic jurors will not get his 
appeal



A divided 3-judge panel of the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals yesterday 
refused to hear the appeal of Charles Rhines, a gay man on death row in South 
Dakota, who argued that he should be allowed to present new evidence showing 
that anti-gay bias may have motivated the jury to sentence him to death.

Several jurors came forward saying that other jurors were making comments about 
Rhines's sexuality. One juror recalled that there was "a lot of disgust" during 
deliberations about how Rhines was gay.

Another said that a juror said that Rhines wouldn't mind life in prison. "It 
was not a joke," she said.

A juror recalled someone saying, "if he's gay, we'd be sending him where he 
wants to go," referring to life in prison.

6 civil rights organizations, including the American Civil Liberties Union, 
American Civil Liberties Union of South Dakota, Lambda Legal, GLBTQ Legal 
Advocates & Defenders, National Center for Lesbian Rights, and National LGBT 
Bar Association, filed a friend-of-the-court brief in August following the 
discovery of comments from jurors suggesting that sentencing Rhines to life in 
prison with other men would be "sending him where he wants to go."

The brief provided information about the long and painful history of 
discrimination against lesbian, gay, and bisexual people in the United States 
and asked the court to issues a certificate of appealability to Rhines to allow 
him to present evidence of juror bias.

"There is compelling new evidence that some of the jurors who sentenced Charles 
Rhines to death in South Dakota were motivated by anti-gay bias. Statements 
from 3 jurors show that the jury sentenced Mr. Rhines to death because some 
thought that, as a gay man, he would enjoy life in prison with other men," 
Rhines' attorney, Shawn Nolan, said.

"The U.S. Supreme Court's decision in 2017, Pena-Rodriguez v. Colorado, applies 
to Mr. Rhines's case and requires that a court review his evidence of anti-gay 
bias before his execution can proceed," Nolan added.

"Anti-gay stereotypes and animus should have no role in our criminal justice 
system and certainly should never be a reason to impose a death sentence. We 
are gratified that one of the judges on the panel, Judge Kelly, voted to review 
this important issue," he added.

"Our judicial system has safeguards to prevent bias based on sexual 
orientation," said Ria Tabacco Mar, senior staff attorney for the ACLU LGBT & 
HIV Project. "Those safeguards failed for Mr. Rhines."

Mar added, "We appreciate that Judge Kelly voted to consider Mr. Rhines's 
petition for the opportunity to show whether his death sentence was the result 
of anti-gay bias."

Ethan Rice, Lambda Legal Fair Courts Project attorney, said, "Mr. Rhines's case 
represents one of the most extreme forms anti-LGBT bias can take. Evidence 
suggests that he has been on death row for the past 25 years because he is a 
gay man."

Rice added, "We are deeply disappointed that the court has chosen not to allow 
for review of this case when it is clear that Mr. Rhines may have been denied 
the constitutional right to a fair trial because the jury deliberations 
included bias."

Today, the federal government and 28 states do not have laws that expressly 
prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation, leaving lesbian, gay, and 
bisexual people at risk for discrimination in jobs, housing, education, credit, 
health care, jury service, retail stores, and other aspects of public life.

In 2017, 46 % of LGBTQ employees reported remaining closeted at work and 2016 
was the deadliest year on record for hate crimes against the LGBTQ community 
with more than 1,000 incidents of hate violence reported.

Additional information regarding the case can be found in the amicus brief 
filed by the 6 organizations on August 2, 2018.

(source: lgbtqnation.com)








US MILITARY:

High hopes for new judge of 9/11 tribunal----Victim's sister decries delay



A new judge taking over the 9/11 military tribunal could finally bring "sanity" 
to the painfully slow prosecution, a sister of a victim and a retired FAA agent 
who warned of the attack told the Herald.

"It's a travesty this has gone on for so long," said Debra Burlingame, whose 
brother was one of the pilots murdered 17 years ago Tuesday.

"It makes our country look like fools," she added. "Justice delayed is justice 
denied."

Army Judge Col. James L. Pohl is retiring on Sept. 30 and has handed the 
tribunal over to Marine Col. Keith A. Parrella.

He picks up the death-penalty case against 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh 
Mohammed and 4 other alleged accomplices.

All face military execution if found guilty of conspiring with the hijackers 
who killed 2,976 people on Sept. 11, 2001 - including on 2 jets that took off 
from Logan International Airport that sunny morning.

"It's ridiculous it's taken this long," said Brian Sullivan, a now-retired 
Federal Aviation Administration official based in Boston who warned of a terror 
attack at Logan just months before it happened.

"They all should have been tried and hanged a long time ago," Sullivan added.

Burlingame's brother Charles "Chic" Burlingame III was the pilot of American 
Airlines Flight 77 that was hijacked out of Washington Dulles International 
Airport in Dulles, Va., and flown into the Pentagon on 9/11.

She said the anniversary of the attack will be a time for reflection of those 
lost and the first responders who are still dying from breathing in the toxic 
fumes from the toppled Twin Towers. But, she added, the tribunal cannot be left 
to linger any longer.

"I really hope this new judge brings sanity back to this process," she said, 
"and sets a trial date.

"The press has abandoned this case," she added. "We need help to pressure the 
Department of Defense and Department of Justice to move ahead with the case. 
... It's not treated like the trial of the century any more."

The five accused terrorists are being held at Guantanamo Bay, where they also 
will be tried. The idea of holding the trial in Manhattan was scrapped long 
ago.

Defense attorneys say they need to probe how the detainees were tortured - one 
of the many motions filed in the case.

And like the civilian wrongful death cases that were all settled out of court, 
certain details will never be made public due to national security concerns.

Still, Burlingame said enough is enough.

"Think of all the adult victims whose parents were alive at the time of the 
attack. Many are now gone. This has taken too long. It's ridiculous," she said. 
"Nobody could have been worse than Judge Pohl. ... I'm hoping the new judge 
will feel a sense of responsibility."

(source: Boston Herald)