[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, PENN., DEL., UTAH

[Rick Halperin]

April 2


TEXAS:

see: https://youtu.be/XMHz_tqw8Ww

(source: youtube.com)








PENNSYLVANIA:

Murder Victim's Mother Starts Death Penalty Petition



A Pocono woman whose daughter and grandson were murdered is fighting governor 
Tom Wolf's death penalty moratoriam. She started a petition to ask him to bring 
back capital punishment.

The governor put a moratorium on the death penalty in February. He called it 
ineffective, unjust, and expensive.

When Kim Adams of Saylorsburg heard about it she became instantly angry. "I was 
shocked. I was upset. I felt, how can he do this and why would he do it?" she 
said.

The issue is personal for Adams. Michael Parrish murdered her daughter Victoria 
and her grandson Sidney. "Victoria was a very loving girl, loving and her baby 
meant everything to her," said the bereaved mother.

In 2009, Parrish shot both victims at close range in their Effort home. At the 
time, the toddler was recovering from a heart transplant. Adams frowned, "He 
just started living, you know, he just started to live his life after the heart 
transplant."

Parrish was scheduled to be put to death last October but received a stay of 
execution. "We waited a long time to get to this point and now we have to wait 
longer," remarked Adams.

She started a petition at Change.org to encourage the governor to lift the 
moratorium. It has more than 900 signatures.

Adams said the death penalty would provide justice for Victoria and Sydney. "My 
children didn't have a 2nd, 3rd, 4th chance and now this man, if you want to 
call him a man, is still living out his life," she said.

(source: pahomepage.com)








DELAWARE:

Delaware Senate Passes Bill to Abolish Death Penalty



The Delaware Senate has passed a bill to abolish the state's death penalty.

The legislation, approved by an 11-9 vote Thursday, mirrors a bill that passed 
the Senate in 2013 by only 1 vote before dying in a House committee.

The bill now goes to the House. Democratic Gov. Jack Markell has not said where 
he stands.

The legislation removes execution as a possible punishment for 1st-degree 
murder, leaving life in prison without the possibility of parole as the only 
sentence.

The bill would not apply to the 15 killers currently on Delaware's death row.

Democratic Sen. Karen Peterson is the bill's chief sponsor. She said death 
penalty opponents believe capital punishment is arbitrary, discriminatory 
against minorities, costly to taxpayers and ineffective as a deterrent to 
crime.

(source: Associated Press)








UTAH:

Human-Rights Commission Chastises Utah's Firing Squad Death 
Penalty----Governor's Herbert's Bill Restoring Firearm Execution a "Step 
Backwards," Say Critics



On Wednesday, March 1, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) 
expressed concerns over the state of Utah's decision to restore the firing 
squad as a method of execution if drugs used for lethal injections are not 
available.

The IACHR, which considers the death penalty a "crucial challenge in the field 
of human rights," says the adoption of the bill is a "step backwards."

According to the Center for Information on Death Penalty, cited by the IACHR, 
"death by firing squad, can cause an inhuman, slow, and painful death" which 
would constitute a breach of the international obligation "not to expose 
persons within its jurisdiction to cruel and unusual punishment."

Utah Governor Gary Herbert signed the bill into law on March 23. The new 
regulation would allow death by firing squad only when drugs used for 
executions are unavailable, as has recently been the case in several states."

In 2011, US-based pharmaceutical company Hospira stopped producing sodium 
thiopental, a key drug in lethal injections, after facing problems acquiring 
the active ingredients in the drug and legal threats from authorities in Italy, 
where the death penalty is strongly opposed."

Death by firing squad had been an option for inmates on the death row in Utah 
until 2004, when the state outlawed the choice. The last firing squad execution 
was in 2010, as chosen by a death-row inmate sentenced before the 2004 law.

In 2012, the IACHR published a report, entitled The Death Penalty in the 
Inter-American Human Rights System: From Restrictions to Abolition, 
recommending its members to "implement a moratorium on executions as a step 
forward the gradual abolition of this penalty."

The United States is the only IACHR member that still carries out executions. 
Guatemala, Cuba, as well as several Caribbean islands, suspended the 
enforcement of capital punishment in 2008.

(source: PanAm Post)