[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----N.C., S.C., LA., ARK., KY., CALIF., USA

[Rick Halperin]

March 20


NORTH CAROLINA:

1st American ISIS convert in custody, Justin Sullivan, to face the death 
penalty


Before his 20th birthday, authorities say, Justin Sullivan fatally shot an 
elderly neighbor, solicited a murder contract on his parents, and dreamed of 
killing up to 1,000 people.

This week he added another distinction: The 19-year-old from Morganton is now 
the 1st American ISIS convert in custody to face the death penalty

District Attorney David Learner announced Monday that he will try Sullivan's 
alleged murder of 74-year-old John Bailey Clark as a capital case. The FBI says 
Sullivan shot Clark in 2014 to get money for an assault rifle to use in a mass 
killing.

Sullivan was arrested last June and charged with federal terrorism-related 
crimes. A Burke County grand jury indicted him in Clark's murder in February. 
His attorney Victoria Jayne of Hickory, did not return a phone call this week 
seeking comment.

71 U.S. supporters of ISIS have been arrested since 2014. Up to now, only 
Sullivan has been charged with a capital offense, says Seamus Hughes, a George 
Washington University professor and co-author of "Isis in America," which 
details domestic ties to the Islamic State.

Learner's office declined to discuss the case Thursday. So did the U.S. 
Attorney's Office in Charlotte. While federal documents first linked Sullivan 
to Clark's death, federal prosecutors left it to Learner to file the murder 
charge and seek the death penalty.

Why? Capital cases have a far easier path in the state courts. Learner must 
only decide if a case warrants the maximum punishment. Now, he must persuade a 
jury of Sullivan's guilt and, secondly, that he deserves to die.

Federal prosecutors don't have that leeway. They 1st must meet with a Justice 
Department death-penalty committee in Washington, D.C., which makes a 
recommendation on whether capital punishment is appropriate for the particular 
case. The final decision is left to the attorney general.

2 Charlotte-based prosecutors, Assistant U.S. Attorneys Beth Greene and Don 
Gast, went through the process in late February. They're believed to be seeking 
the death penalty against suspected Charlotte gang members Jamell Cureton and 
Malcolm Hartley who are accused in the murders of Doug and Debbie London. The 
FBI says Cureton ordered the hit on the couple to keep Doug London from 
testifying against him in a robbery case. Hartley, court documents say, gunned 
down the Londons at their Lake Wylie home in October 2014.

The attorneys for the 2 defendants also were on hand in Washington last month. 
Charlotte lawyer Rob Heroy, who represents Hartley, says he met with up to 10 
government lawyers for an hour to argue against the death penalty. He doesn't 
know what the government will decide. "There is some peace in the fact that we 
gave it everything we had," he said.

One sobering note for Hartley: Prosecutors in Charlotte have successfully 
navigated the death penalty in a gang-related case before.

In 2010, Jill Rose, now U.S. Attorney, put the 1st member of MS-13 on death row 
for opening fire in a Greensboro restaurant in 2007, killing 2.

In the Londons' case, Greene and Gast may have the added advantage of arguing 
that the gang members murdered to subvert justice.

Sullivan? A North Carolina jury hasn't sent a murder defendant to death row for 
2 years. The state hasn't executed anyone for a decade.

But the teenager's case may challenge both streaks. John Bailey Clark's killing 
may not have gang ties. But Learner will argue to jurors that it has something 
even more disturbing.

It has ISIS.

(source: miamiherald.com)






SOUTH CAROLINA:

Avenging Angel? A look at 5 of Donnie Myers' more memorable death penalty cases


During his 40-year career, Donnie Myers never shed a tear for the killers he 
tried, 28 of whom he convinced juries to send to death row - some of them twice 
after the defendants won new trials or sentencing hearings.

"When I get into court, I don't even want to give that person (a killer) a 
bottle of air to breath from," Myers once told a reporter in 1990.

No prosecutor in South Carolina has tried more death penalty cases than Myers. 
And he quickly drew nicknames like "Doctor Death" and "Death Penalty Donnie" 
for pursuing the death penalty frequently and frequently getting a jury to 
agree with him.

Myers announced last week he won't run again for the position of 11th Circuit 
Solicitor, bringing an end soon to an era of sometimes over-the-top courtroom 
theatrics and creative legal tactics designed to convince 12 people to vote for 
the ultimate punishment. Death verdicts must be unanimous.

Myers' career as a prosecutor bridged the 1970s, 1980s, 1990s and 2000s - a 
time when support for capital punishment and the practice of executing 
convicted killers rose and fell.

Over the years, Myers succeeded in getting some of South Carolina's most 
depraved and dangerous - such as serial killer Larry Gene Bell, who kidnapped 
at random a young girl and a young woman - into the electric chair. Bell's 
random snatchings of Shari Faye Smith, 17, and Debra May Helmick, 9, and the 
later discovery of their bodies in Lexington County, had terrorized the 
Midlands during the summer of 1985. Bell was executed in 1996.

But Myers' 3 dozen-plus death penalty trials have resulted in few executions.

A look at his statistics, compiled by Justice 360, the Columbia-based death 
penalty monitoring and defense group, shows that from 1977 to the present, 
Myers:

-- Won 39 death sentences against 28 defendants. (Some defendants were tried 
twice.)

-- Of those 28 defendants, only 6 have been executed.

-- 7 of the 28 are still on death row.

-- 12 were eventually given life sentences.

-- 2 died on death row.

-- 1, Joseph Ard, was released after the charges against him were reduced to 
involuntary manslaughter and he was given credit for time served. At the time 
of his original sentencing, in 1996, Ard was the 1st person sentenced to death 
in South Carolina for a killing involving a fetus.

Most of Myers' death cases and subsequent rulings on appeal are noteworthy, 
either because of the killer's notoriety, or the legal precedents set.

Here's a look at 5 of Myers' more memorable cases and their appeals, including 
the most recent - last week - when a federal judge excoriated Myers for using 
racist language to inflame the jury that sentenced Johnny Bennett to death.

THE STATE V. BENNETT. On Wednesday, U.S. Judge Richard Gergel of Charleston 
vacated Bennett's death sentence, saying Myers used offensive, racist language 
to secure a death penalty conviction in 2000 before an all-white Lexington 
County jury.

Myers "made multiple statements clearly calculated to excite the jury with 
racial imagery and stereotypes," Gergel wrote in his order. Bennett had been 
convicted of murder and armed robbery in the 1990 death of Benton Smith, who 
was stabbed more that 70 times with a Phillips-head screwdriver.

Specifically, Gergel wrote, Myers called Bennett - a 6-7 African-American 
weighing 300 pounds - "King Kong," a reference to the giant black movie ape, 
and also presented evidence showing the black defendant had a relationship with 
a blond, white female prison guard.

In his ruling, Gergel noted that a slice of white culture in America has a 
"long and ugly history of depicting African-Americans as monkeys and apes. ... 
King Kong, as vividly depicted in the (movie) studio's promotional literature, 
involved a giant ape who escaped from captivity, kidnapped a white woman and 
went on a murderous rampage."

Myers' use of such language before an all-white jury was "a not so subtle dog 
whistle on race that this court cannot and will not ignore," Gergel wrote. "The 
Solicitor made multiple statements clearly calculated to excite the jury with 
racial imagery and stereotypes."

Gergel's ruling was remarkable for its pages devoted to American racial 
discrimination and civil rights history. Gergel also included an exhibit rarely 
seen in dry judges' rulings - a photo of a movie poster for King Kong, 
clutching a white woman in his hand.

Myers on Friday said in an email he sent to The State newspaper that before the 
case had come before Gergel, the S.C. Supreme Court and a circuit judge each 
had on 2 previous occasions upheld Bennett's death sentence.

"We are requesting the Attorney General's office to immediately appeal 
(Gergel's) order," Myers' statement said.

THE STATE V. KELLY. In this case, the U.S. Supreme Court in 2002 overturned the 
1996 death sentence of William A. Kelly, ruling that at his trial, the judge in 
the case refused to tell the jury that if it gave Kelly a life sentence, he 
could not be paroled.

Kelly had killed a pregnant woman, Shirley Shealy, by stabbing her, slashing 
her throat and then robbing her.

Studies have shown that juries who know that a convicted killer will get life 
without parole are less likely to impose a death penalty.

This case, and a later law passed by the S.C. General Assembly, finally stopped 
the practice in South Carolina courtrooms that allowed the judge and the 
prosecutor deliberately to let a death penalty jury wrongly assume that a 
vicious killer might be paroled in 20 or so years.

Kelly is now serving a life sentence in the S.C. Department of Corrections.

THE STATE V. FINKLEA. In this case, one of Myers' most vivid courtroom stunts 
was found to be legal by the S.C. Supreme Court. The case involved Ron Finklea, 
who had been convicted of robbing an ATM and in the process, shooting a 
security guard, dousing him with gasoline and setting him on fire with a 
lighter, killing him.

At trial, during his death penalty argument, Myers held out a large, 
match-shaped, metal fire-starter before the jury and ignited it, saying, 
"Gasoline pouring on another human being and the fire, the fire, the burning. 
When you're cooking sometimes and you touch the stove ... and you touch that 
hot thing or you're grilling, whooo, oh, it hurts, it's painful."

Over defense protests, the high court approved Myers' use of flicking a lighter 
to make his point during the jury argument.

Finklea remains on death row. His appeals are pending.

THE STATE V. NORTHCUTT. In this 2007 decision, the S.C. Supreme Court 
overturned the death sentence of Ron Northcutt, who was convicted of the 2001 
killing of his infant daughter, Breanna, by beating her to death because she 
would not stop crying.

In his argument to the jury seeking death, Myers had, among other over-the-top 
actions, inflamed the jury "by producing a large black shroud and draping it 
over (a) baby's crib," the Supreme Court ruled. Myers then wheeled the crib 
from the courtroom in a staged funeral procession and also improperly told the 
jury they would "declare open season on babies in Lexington County" if they did 
not give Northcutt the death penalty.

After another sentencing trial, Northcutt was sentenced again to death. He is 
now on death row.

THE STATE V. QUATTLEBAUM. Myers drew a sharp reprimand from the S.C. Supreme 
Court for unethical conduct when one of his assistant solicitors eavesdropped 
on a defense attorney's legally protected, confidential conversation with 
Robert Quattlebaum, who was charged with murder and armed robbery.

"Prosecutors are ministers of justice and not merely advocates," the Supreme 
Court wrote in overturning Quattlebaum's 2000 death penalty sentence. "The 
participation at trial of a prosecutor who has eavesdropped on the accused and 
his attorney tarnishes us all. We will not tolerate prosecutorial misconduct 
...," the high court's majority opinion said.

Myers did not directly participate in the eavesdropping, but when he found out 
about it, he did not ensure that his office disclosed the action to defense 
attorneys. A supervising attorney, such as Myers, must make sure his 
subordinates choose ethical actions, the high court said.

Quattlebaum is now serving a life sentence.

DEATH PENALTY DECLINE

EXECUTIONS DROP NATIONWIDE. Nationwide, in 2015, there were only 29 executions 
- the lowest number since 1991, according to the National Death Penalty 
Information Center.

AND IN SC. Across South Carolina, courts have only imposed the death penalty 
twice in the past 5 years.

ON HOLD. Currently, the S.C. Department of Corrections is unable to get the 
lethal drugs necessary to carry out executions, even if one were to be ordered 
by the state Supreme Court. South Carolina has not held an execution since 
2011.

(source: The State)






LOUISIANA:

Death penalty costs taxpayers a bundle


When it comes to the death penalty, Louisiana can't seem to keep up.

Michael Wearry just became our 58th death row inmate to have his conviction 
overturned since 2000. Over the same period, Louisiana juries handed down just 
54 new death sentences. Death row will become depopulated if this goes on.

Not, however, for quite some time, because we still have 79 under sentence of 
death at the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola and two at the Louisiana 
Correctional Institute for Women.

One way we hardly ever reduce the numbers is by carrying out an execution. We 
have managed only e since 2000, and it might have been w if Gerald Bordelon had 
not declined to appeal in 2010.

Meanwhile, 4 condemned men have died of natural causes. The condemned know that 
old age will probably get them first; they wouldn't give a hoot about air 
conditioning on death row if they expected to be dispatched any time soon.

Wearry will get a retrial now that the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that 
Louisiana prosecutors worked the old dipsy doodle at his trial by hiding 
exculpatory evidence. That's the usual story in Louisiana, but, of the 
preceding 57 who had their convictions reversed since 2000, 7 were flat-out 
exonerated, either having charges dismissed or winning acquittal the 2nd time 
around.

Louisiana's largely pointless pursuit of the death penalty costs taxpayers 
dear, since they must pick up the tab not only for the prosecution but also for 
the defense when defendants cannot afford to hire lawyers, which most of them 
can't.

Since prisoners sentenced to death also cost much more to maintain than lifers, 
thanks to extra security and legal costs, the state loses out at every turn. 
How much money has gone down the drain is impossible to say, but it would make 
a dent in the state's budget deficit.

That deficit is so severe that the states' indigent defender boards, many of 
which are already in such dire straits that they are refusing cases, face 
further drastic cuts in state aid. As State Supreme Court Chief Justice 
Bernette Johnson warned legislators the other day, the miscarriages of justice 
that will inevitably result will drain the treasury even further as convictions 
are overturned and fresh trials ordered.

Every capital case costs a fortune, even if prosecutors don't pull any dirty 
tricks and the verdict holds up. But since we lack the will to execute the 
guilty, anyway, and since experience shows that death row inmates might well be 
innocent, the case for abolishing the death penalty is overwhelming.

It won???t happen any time soon. The death penalty may be regarded as a 
barbarous anachronism in the rest of the civilized world, but America is always 
happy to be exceptional. And although capital punishment represents a colossal 
waste of money we don't have, the evidence is no match for the myth that it is 
cheaper than life imprisonment.

Any legislator will oppose capital punishment only if he is ready to retire 
from politics.

Louisiana is hardly alone in botching capital punishment. Nationwide last year, 
5 death row prisoners were exonerated. Now, under the aegis of the Constitution 
Project in Washington, a group of prosecutors, prison officials and cops hopes 
to improve "the administration of the death penalty in America and to help 
policymakers explore alternatives to it."

The group cites such familiar problems as "disparities in the application of 
capital punishment along racial, gender and geographic lines," and the "impact 
of protracted appeals on victims' families." Its members' main cause of 
"apprehension," however, is "the prospect of executing an innocent person."

As veterans of the criminal justice system, they can vouch for its fallibility.

Chances of "executing an innocent person" can only grow stronger as Louisiana's 
indigent defender offices are stretched even thinner. But wherever capital 
punishment is in force, the wrong guy is bound to get it from time to time.

The only sure way of preventing that is obvious, but the death penalty is here 
to stay. We're just never going to get it right.

(source: James Gill, The Advocate)






ARKANSAS:

Condemned killer allowed to resume appeals----In a 4-3 decision, the court 
reversed a Polk County circuit judge's ruling that Karl Roberts, now 48, was 
mentally competent to make a knowing and intelligent decision to waive his 
appeal rights.


A death-row inmate who waived his right to further appeals in the killing of a 
Polk County girl and said he wanted to be executed was not mentally competent 
to make that decision, a divided Arkansas Supreme Court ruled Thursday.

In a 4-3 decision, the court reversed a Polk County circuit judge's ruling that 
Karl Roberts, now 48, was mentally competent to make a knowing and intelligent 
decision to waive his appeal rights.

Roberts was convicted in 2000 of capital murder and sentenced to die in the 
1999 killing of his 12-year-old niece, Andria Nichole Brewer. Roberts confessed 
to raping and strangling the girl, whose body was found in a wooded area near 
Mena.

The case was automatically appealed to the Supreme Court, which upheld Roberts' 
conviction. In 2003, Roberts told a judge he wished to waive further appeals 
and wanted to die for his crime.

But in January 2004, hours before he was to be executed, Roberts changed his 
mind and authorized his attorneys to appeal his conviction and sentence. A 
judge stayed the execution.

A Polk County circuit judge declined to reopen the case, so Roberts' lawyers 
appealed to the state Supreme Court, which in February 2013 sent the case back 
to circuit court for a new mental evaluation.

In December 2014, Polk County Circuit Judge J.W. Looney ruled that, based on 
the new mental evaluation, Roberts was competent to make a knowing and 
intelligent decision when he waived his right to further appeals.

In oral arguments before the Supreme Court last month, an attorney for Roberts 
told the justices that Roberts is actively psychotic and schizophrenic, hears 
voices talking to and about him, and has delusions that people are conspiring 
against him and spying on him.

In its majority opinion Thursday, the Supreme Court said Roberts is entitled to 
withdraw his waiver of his appeal rights and pursue new appeals in circuit 
court.

"The evidence before the circuit court evinces that it is undeniable that 
Roberts suffers from schizophrenia, that these symptoms of his psychological 
disorder clearly impact his ability to choose between life and death and to 
knowingly and intelligently waive his appeal rights," the court said in an 
opinion written by Justice Rhonda Wood.

The majority also said it would refer to its Committee on Criminal Practice the 
question of whether post-conviction proceedings should be mandatory and not 
subject to waiver in death-penalty cases.

Justice Courtney Goodson wrote in a dissenting opinion that she would have 
upheld Looney's ruling that Roberts knowingly and intelligently waived his 
appeal rights.

"The circuit court had the first-hand opportunity to observe Roberts and to 
assess the credibility of the expert witnesses. On this record, the circuit 
court could well conclude that Roberts understands the choice between life and 
death and that his decision to waive further review is knowingly and 
intelligently made," she wrote.

Chief Justice Howard Brill wrote in a separate dissenting opinion that the case 
was not properly before the Supreme Court. He said Looney did not include 
specific findings of fact in his order and that "the majority engages in 
fact-finding that is within the exclusive province of the circuit court."

Justice Paul Danielson joined in Brill's dissent.

(source: Stuttgart Daily Leader)






KENTUCKY:

Prosecutors File Death Penalty Notice In Clark County Shooting


Clark County prosecutors say they plan to seek the death penalty if 4 suspects 
in a woman's shooting death are convicted at trial.

The Winchester Sun reports prosecutors notified Clark County Circuit Court 
during a status hearing last week.

21-old Christopher Robinson is charged with murder, 1st-degree burglary and 2 
counts of 1st-degree assault in the December 2014 shooting at a Winchester 
apartment complex.

19-year-old Lillian Barnett, 19-year-old Aaron Stailey and 21-year-old Lamont 
Wilkerson are indicted on charges of complicity to murder, burglary and 
assault.

Police say shots were fired when the 4 went to the apartment. A bullet went 
through the floor and into an apartment below, killing 19-year-old Amber 
Caudill.

? The defendants are set for trial in May, although a motion is pending to try 
them separately.

(source: Associated Press)






CALIFORNIA:

Controversy remains in death penalty case


12 years ago, I was sent to San Quentin State Prison to cover a scheduled 
execution for Kevin Cooper, who was convicted of murdering 3 members of a Chino 
Hills family, and their young friend, in 1983.

The youngest member of the family, then 8, had his throat slit but survived.

I was on the prison grounds that night when we received word, just hours before 
Cooper was to die by lethal injection, that it would not happen. I couldn't see 
them from my vantage point, but I learned there were hundreds of protestors 
gathered outside the gates.

Among them was the Rev. Jesse Jackson, who had led rallies in Southern 
California calling for the execution to be delayed. Jackson also showed up in 
San Diego, where the trial was moved decades earlier because of intense 
publicity in San Bernardino County.

Now, as California wrestles with whether executions can resume, the American 
Bar Association has weighed in on Cooper's request for clemency. Association 
President Paulette Brown sent a letter to Gov. Jerry Brown last week asking him 
to grant an "executive reprieve" until an investigation to further evaluate 
Cooper's guilt or innocence is completed.

"Specifically, the ABA is greatly concerned that, although Mr. Cooper has 
exhausted all of his legal appeals, evidence has emerged in the more than 30 
years since his arrest that continues to cast doubt on his conviction and that 
has never been comprehensively examined by any court," the letter reads.

The execution was stayed in 2004 after a federal appeals court granted a 
request for a review of issues raised by Cooper's lawyers. 5 years later, the 
court upheld the conviction, but in a dissenting opinion, 5 judges suggested he 
may be innocent based on questions surrounding the mishandling and testing of 
evidence.

Others, including a San Diego federal judge in 2005, have said there was 
overwhelming evidence pointing to Cooper's guilt. San Bernardino District 
Attorney Mike Ramos posted a message on his Facebook page saying he was 
"disgusted" by the ABA president's comments.

Brown said in her letter that the ABA takes no position on the death penalty, 
but has "a strong interest in ensuring a fair and accurate justice system."

I take no position on the death penalty either, but I am curious to see whether 
Cooper will again receive an execution date at San Quentin. And I wonder, this 
time, who will be waiting outside the gates?

(source: Dana Littlefield, San Diego Union-Tribune)

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

Bar seeks clemency for Kevin Cooper


With claims of racial bias, police misconduct, evidence tampering and 
poor-quality defense counsel, the president of the American Bar Association 
sent Gov. Brown a letter Monday asking for clemency for convicted murderer 
Kevin Cooper in the slaying of 4 people in Chino Hills more than 30 years ago.

Mr. Cooper sits on death row in San Quentin State Prison. He was convicted 2 
years after the 1983 murders of Doug and Peggy Ryen, their 10-year-old daughter 
Jessica, and neighbor Chris Hughes, 11. The Ryen's 8-year-old son Joshua 
survived the attack despite a slashed throat.

Paulette Brown wrote the letter asking the governor for an executive reprieve 
for Mr. Cooper "so that there can be an investigation to fully evaluate his 
guilt or innocence."

"We recommend that this investigation include testing of forensic evidence 
still available to be analyzed to put to rest the questions that continue to 
plague his death sentence. This is the only course of action that can ensure 
that Mr. Cooper receives due process and the protection of his rights under the 
Constitution," Mrs. Brown wrote.

Gov. Brown had not commented on the letter by Champion press time Friday.

4 months ago, the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed an earlier court 
ruling declaring California's death penalty unconstitutional, giving the state 
the right to continue executions.

A clemency petition for Mr. Cooper was filed in February.

In the years since the murders, evidence has emerged that casts doubt Mr. 
Cooper's conviction, evidence that has not been comprehensively examined in 
court, Mrs. Brown wrote.

She admitted that only a small percentage of questions have gone unanswered in 
Mr. Cooper's case, but asked the governor to ensure a full investigation before 
an execution is scheduled.

(source: championnewspapers.com)






USA:

All the Things the Bible Wants to Execute You For----All the GOP delegates 
declaring homosexuality a biblical sin punishable by death should tread 
carefully - and not gather any sticks on the Sabbath.


With the race for the GOP nomination reaching an unruly sprint, politicians are 
looking to court the evangelical vote. This means demonstrating that their 
platforms are consistent with Biblical values.

Just this past week footage emerged of Ted Cruz stumping at the National 
Religious Liberties Conference in Iowa. He was there looking for support from 
the conference's organizer, pastor-cum-radio-host Kevin Swanson. In introducing 
Cruz, the "next candidate for the office of the President of the United 
States," Swanson remarked that in "Romans Chapter 1 verse 32 the Apostle Paul 
does says that homosexuals are worthy of death."

Swanson's support for the death penalty for homosexuality might play well to 
his audience. But there are other crimes that also warrant the death penalty, 
though these seem less popular among delegates these days:

1. Disobeying one's parents. According to Deuteronomy, if a man disobeys his 
parents they should take him to the elders of the city, denounce him as a 
glutton and a drunkard, and then everyone should stone him to death.

2. Gathering sticks on the Sabbath day. When the Israelites were in the 
wilderness, they found a man gathering sticks on a Saturday. They brought him 
to Moses, who was unsure what to do with him. The word came down from on high 
that the man should be put to death, and the entire congregation stoned him 
outside the camp. This appears to have been an isolated incident, but just in 
case avoid gathering firewood or carrying pencils on the Sabbath.

3. Sexual relations with your in-laws. The penalty for sleeping with both a 
mother and her daughter is that all of them should be burned to death. 
Interestingly, sleeping with your daughter-in-law or stepmother incurs the more 
ambiguous punishment of you being put to death. Sex with your aunt or sister 
invokes social alienation, but not the death penalty.

4. Attending Hogwarts. According to Leviticus 20:27 "Any man or woman who is a 
medium or wizard shall be put to death." Stoning is the specified method of 
execution. Sorry, Harry.

5. Kidnapping. Anyone who kidnaps someone should be put to death, regardless of 
whether or not the victim is still in their possession. Bad news for those 
involved in human trafficking and espionage.

6. Taking the Lord's name in vain. Anyone - whether they are a local or an 
under-informed foreigner - can be stoned to death for taking the Lord's name in 
vain. Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit continues to be a serious sin in the 
New Testament: it is described in the gospel of Matthew as the only sin that 
will not be forgiven.

7. All kinds of extramarital sex. Sex with animals, adultery, sex with a woman 
who is betrothed to someone else, and sex with someone while betrothed to 
someone else all warrant the death penalty. For men, sex with slaves was 
probably the safest option, but for women the situation was always dire. If a 
woman is found not to be a virgin on her wedding night, then the entire town 
gathers at the entrance to her father's house and stones her to death.

8. Worshipping other gods. If there's one theme that emerges from reading the 
Hebrew Bible, it's that God doesn't like it when you worship other gods. When 
the whole people cheat, he allows them to be conquered by a foreign land. But 
when you do it solo you're looking at the death penalty.

These regulations are just those warranting the capital punishment. There are 
many others - sporting tattoos, wearing blended fabrics, and cooking steak in 
butter - that are also forbidden, but carry lesser penalties.

Every one of these regulations, as tough as it is, can be understood in the 
context of ancient Near Eastern society and culture in general. Part of that 
context meant that crimes were settled between the families of the victim and 
the perpetrator. There's some debate about how regularly the death penalty was 
actually implemented. In most cases it seems that the family of an accused 
murderer could pay a settlement (a ransom) for the life of the accused.

Oddly, none of these regulations get trumpeted at Ted Cruz rallies. Ann Glover, 
the last woman hanged for witchcraft, in Boston, died in 1688. And, so far as I 
know, no one in the U.S. has ever been executed for gathering sticks on the 
Sabbath. If Swanson and Cruz want to replace American law with the book of 
Leviticus, they should be sure they really know what that involves.

(source: thedailybeast.com)