[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----S. DAK., CALIF., USA

[Rick Halperin]

April 24



SOUTH DAKOTA----stay of impending execution

Judge delays execution of South Dakota inmate



A South Dakota death row inmate's execution has been delayed pending resolution 
of his latest appeal.

Circuit Court Judge Douglas Hoffman signed a stay of execution late Thursday 
afternoon for Rodney Berget.

Berget had been scheduled to be executed the week of May 3 for the death of a 
South Dakota prison guard.

Berget filed a habeas appeal to stay his execution on April 16. Attorney 
General Marty Jackley asked for additional documents from Berget's defense team 
on his wishes.

Berget and another prisoner, Eric Robert, killed Ronald Johnson, a senior 
correctional officer, during an escape attempt in 2011 from the South Dakota 
State Penitentiary. At the time, Berget was serving two life sentences for 
attempted murder and for raping a convenience store clerk.

After the inmates killed Johnson, Robert put on Johnson's uniform and tried to 
move a large box with Berget inside it toward the prison gate.

They were caught before making it out of the prison.

Robert was executed in 2012.

A 3rd inmate, Michael Nordman, was sentenced to life in prison for providing 
the plastic wrap and a pipe used to kill Johnson.

Attorney General Marty Jackley had opposed the stay of execution but 
acknowledged the court may need more time to consider Berget's appeal.

"While I have opposed the stay on various legal grounds," Jackley said, "I 
recognize that as a result of these recent filings, due process may require 
additional proceeding before the warrant is carried out."

Berget's initial appeal to the South Dakota Supreme Court claimed that the 
lower court should have accepted the additional evidence he wanted to present. 
His case was remanded for a limited re-sentencing in 2013 after the high court 
found that Judge Brad Zell had improperly considered evidence from a 
psychiatric report that hadn't been admitted into evidence. The admission of 
the evidence violated Berget's right against self-incrimination.

Berget did not call the psychiatrist as a witness at the re-sentencing, but 
sought having new evidence admitted. He was again sentenced to death by lethal 
injection.

In March, the nation's highest court declined to hear his appeal.

Earlier this month, Judge Zell again denied Berget's motion, finding that it 
was outside of the court's jurisdiction.

Death row inmate Charles Rhines, the longest serving death row inmate, has a 
continuing federal habeas appeal for the 1992 stabbing death of 22-year-old 
Donnivan Schaeffer during a burglary at a Rapid City doughnut shop.

(source: Argus Leader)

************************

Judge issues stay of execution for death row inmate Berget



A Circuit Court Judge has issued a stay of the warrant of execution for the man 
sentenced to death for his role in the death of a correctional officer at the 
South Dakota State Penitentiary in 2011.

Circuit Court Judge Douglas Hoffman delayed the execution of Rodney Berget on 
Thursday, according to Attorney General Marty Jackley. That decision puts a 
hold on Berget's execution, which had been scheduled for next month, to give 
the court more time to consider Berget's appeal.

Berget is facing the death penalty for his role in the death of correctional 
officer Rodney Berget during an escape attempt. Another inmate in that 
incident, Eric Robert, was executed back in 2012.

The court has requested the parties to prepare a proposed scheduling order in 
relation to the habeas proceedings. Berget had been sentenced to be executed on 
the week of May 3.

"It remains that State's position that due process has been satisfied and the 
interest of justice requires these proceedings to move forward in a timely 
fashion," said Jackley, in a statement.

(source: KSFY news)








CALIFORNIA----death row inmate dies

California inmate dies of unknown causes after 25 years on death row



A California inmate who spent 25 years on death row for the murder of a 
brain-damaged woman has died of unknown causes, making him the 3rd condemned 
prisoner to die this year in a state that has not carried out an execution in 
nearly a decade.

Raymond Edward Steele, 67, was found unresponsive in his cell in San Quentin 
prison and pronounced dead at about 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, the California 
Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said.

If his death is determined to be from natural causes, Steele's case is likely 
to add fuel to an ongoing controversy about the death penalty in the most 
populous U.S. state, where nearly 70 inmates have succumbed to old age and 
other ailments since 1978.

The 2 other death row inmates who died this year passed away of natural causes. 
One was 70 years old and the other 54.

Last year, a federal judge declared the state's use of capital punishment 
unconstitutional because inmates lingered on death row for years or even 
decades.

Steele had been on death row since 1990, when he was convicted of the 1988 
murder of Leann Thurman, who had suffered from brain damage since birth, the 
state said. Steele had previously been convicted of raping his aunt's neighbor 
and killing his 15-year-old babysitter by stabbing her 8 times, the state said.

The death penalty was voided in numerous states, including California, by the 
U.S. Supreme Court in 1972, but many soon adopted sentencing reforms that met 
the high court's requirements. Among them was California, which reinstated its 
death penalty in 1978.

But a lengthy appeals process, along with a lack of political pressure to carry 
out executions, has left California with more than 750 people on death row. 
Since the penalty was reinstated, 13 inmates have been executed, 24 have 
committed suicide and nearly 70 have died of natural causes, the state said. 
One was executed in Missouri.

California has not put an inmate to death since 2006.

(source: Reuters)








USA:

Death penalty sought for man accused in deadly Cairo bank stabbing



The United States Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois is seeking the 
death penalty for a man accused in a deadly attempted bank robbery in Cairo, 
Illinois.

On Tuesday, April 21, Stephen R. Wigginton, U.S. Attorney for the Southern 
Dist. of Illinois, George A. Norwood and James M. Cutchin, Assistant United 
States Attorneys filed a notice of intent to seek the death penalty for James 
Nathaniel Watts if he is convicted of attempted armed bank robbery resulting in 
death.

Watts appeared in court on Thursday, April 23 for a status conference. He will 
be back in court on May 27 at 10 a.m. at the Benton Courthouse for a pretrial 
conference.

Back in May 2014 2 employees died after a violent stabbing at the First 
National Bank in Cairo, Ill.

Those employees were bank branch president Anita J. Grace, 52, of Olive Branch, 
Ill., and bank customer service representative Nita J. Smith, 52, of Wickliffe, 
Ky.

A 3rd employee, a 23-year-old woman was also stabbed. She was treated and 
released from the hospital.

(source: KFVS news)








SOUTH AFRICA:

Should South Africa reinstate the death penalty?



New data from Amnesty International shows which countries were the biggest 
killers through the sanctioned execution of criminals in 2014, and why the 
practice should be abolished.

This week, over 4,000 people in Port Elizabeth marched to the Kabega Park 
police station, protesting the death of Eastern Cape teacher Jayde Panayiotou.

Panayiotou was allegedly abducted outside her home on 21 April, and her body 
was reportedly found near KwaNobuhle Township in Uitenhage the following 
morning.

As part of the march, protesters called for the teacher's murderers to be 
brought to justice - with a cry for the reinstatement of the death penalty in 
South Africa.

Crowds of people chanted "Enough is Enough", "Ons is Gatvol" and "Bring back 
the death penalty".

South Africa abolished the death penalty in 1995, as it went against the 
country's new-found constitution.

Between 1959 and 1989, when the last execution took place, South Africa 
executed almost 3,000 people by hanging, with over 1,200 in the 1980s alone.

As of 2014, 98 countries in the world, including South Africa, had abolished 
the death penalty by law. In total, 140 countries have abolished it in 
practice.

Poorly executed

According to Amnesty International, countries who execute people commonly cite 
the death penalty as a way to deter people from committing crime.

However, this claim has been repeatedly discredited, and there is no evidence 
that the death penalty is any more effective in reducing crime than 
imprisonment, the group said.

"The death penalty is a symptom of a culture of violence, not a solution to 
it," it said.

The group added that the death penalty goes against the universal declaration 
of human rights, is open to abuse in skewed or failing justice systems, and 
will undoubtedly target the poor.

"You are more likely to be sentenced to death if you are poor or belong to a 
racial, ethnic, or religious minority because of discrimination in the justice 
system," said Amnesty International.

"Poor and marginalised groups have less access to the legal resources needed to 
defend themselves."

Who still kills for crime

Were South Africa to reinstate the death penalty, it would join 58 countries 
across the world that use the practice as a method of punishment.

We would join nations such as Iran, Saudi Arabia, China, Iraq, Sudan, Yemen, 
Egypt, Japan, and the USA.

The latter 2 countries are the only G8 nations that execute - with the USA the 
only country in the Americas that uses the practice.

(source: Business Tech)