[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

July 11


TRINIDAD & TOBAGO:

Archbishop: Do all to end death penalty



While this country still has the death penalty on its statute books, the head 
of TT's RC flock, the Archbishop of Port of Spain, Jason Gordon, says more must 
be done to ensure it is scrapped as the ultimate form of punishment by the 
State.

Gordon made this call in his dual role of Apostolic Administrator of the 
Diocese of Bridgetown, Barbados, after the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) 
recently declared the mandatory death sentence for murder in Barbados 
unconstitutional and a violation of the right to life.

The CCJ ruled on the unconstitutionality of the mandatory death sentence late 
last year, in a pair of unrelated death penalty cases from Barbados, filed by 
lawyers for Jabari Sensimania Nervais and Dwayne Omar Severin.

The Trinidad-based CCJ held that Section 11 of the Barbados Constitution, which 
gives the right to protection of the law, was enforceable, and that the 
mandatory death penalty breached that right, as it deprived a court of the 
opportunity to exercise the quintessential judicial function of tailoring the 
punishment to fit the crime.

"The CCJ's decision is a step in the right direction but does not remove the 
death penalty from the laws in Barbados, so there is still some work to be 
done," Gordon said in a statement of support for the CCJ decision.

"Every life is a precious gift from God. We are all created in the image and 
likeness of God and thus have inherent dignity. The taking of 1 life does not 
therefore justify the taking of another."

In 2016, Gordon and the other bishops of the Antilles Episcopal Conference 
(AEC) appealed to "politicians and citizens in our region to abolish capital 
punishment or the death penalty and embrace a restorative justice approach to 
crime and violence.

"A restorative justice approach focuses on holding the offender accountable in 
a more meaningful way and helping to achieve a sense of healing for both 
victims and the community. It embraces socialization, rehabilitation and 
reconciliation, rather than retribution and vengeance."

In that 2016 statement, the bishops underscored that, "to reject capital 
punishment is not to make light of the loss of loved ones and the violation of 
human dignity and rights experienced by victims of crime. The pastoral care of 
the Church is directed first towards the comfort and assistance of these 
victims."

(source: newday.co.tt)








FRANCE:

Sale of guillotine divides France



A 150-year-old guillotine with "a few dents on the blade" will go under the 
hammer in Paris today.


The 10-foot (3-metre) tall instrument of execution which was used to dispatch 
criminals in France until 1977 is in working order. But the Drouot auction 
house insisted that the model was built as a replica and has never been used to 
behead anyone.

The sale of guillotines has been highly controversial in France where the death 
penalty was only abolished in 1981, with the French auction watchdog already 
objecting to the auction.

"They should not be selling this guillotine," a spokesman told the Parisien 
newspaper. "Objects like the clothes of people who were deported to the (Nazi 
death) camps and instruments of torture are sensitive."

That did not, however, stop another going for 220,000 euros (USD 234,000) in 
the same saleroom in 2011 when US pop star Lady Gaga was reportedly among the 
bidders. Nor does the watchdog have the power to stop the proceedings because 
the guillotine is part of a bankruptcy sale.

With a reserve price of between 5,000 and 8,000 euros, auctioneers expect 
plenty of interest. However, a similar apparatus valued at 40,000 euros failed 
to sell in the western city of Nantes 4 years ago. And in 2012 the French 
culture ministry stepped in to stop the sale of 812 objects belonging to the 
last French executioner in Algiers.

Fernand Meyssonnier had executed 200 people there when it was part of France, 
most of them fighters for Algerian independence.

Guillotines, sometimes known as "The National Razor" (Le Rasoir National) or 
"The Patriotic Shortener" (La Raccourcisseuse Patriotique) in French, were 
first adapted as a "humane" alternative to hanging, when many of the condemned 
had long, lingering deaths on the scaffold.

They became notorious in the Terror that followed the French revolution when 
more than 16,000 people were beheaded between the summers of 1793 and 1794.

The last person to die on the guillotine in France was Tunisian Hamida 
Djandoubi, who was executed in a Marseille prison in September 1977 after being 
convicted of the torture and murder of a young woman.

(source: Agence France-Presse)



SAUDI ARABIA:

2 Saudis Sentenced to Death for Targeting Police



The Riyadh Specialized Criminal Court passed a preliminary ruling on serving 
capital punishment to 2 Saudi nationals after being found guilty of partaking 
in the formation of a terror cell, killing security men, and promoting 
disorder.

A 3rd Saudi national was given a 23-year prison sentence for involvement in 
illicit arms sales.

According to a statement, the court confirmed the defendant's 1st conviction of 
participating in the formation of a cell belonging to a secret armed 
organization aiming to create security, killing security men, attacking and 
destroying public property, promoting chaos and disrupting public order.

The court also convicted the 1st defendant of firing at security patrols, 
checkpoints, Al-Awamiyah police station and security men during a raid on a 
wanted person.

Defendants were also condemned for spurring riots, carrying out sabotage in the 
Qatif province, and raising anti-state slogans.

The court pointed out that the 2nd defendant was also convicted of 
participating in the formation of a terrorist cell seeking to rattle Saudi 
internal security and to cause public strife and division.

More so, a court statement pointed out that the second defendant was trained 
and could operate high-level weapons with the desire to fire on security men 
and patrols. The accused was found guilty of firing multiple times at security 
patrols and checkpoints and on the general prison located in Qatif.

They were also convicted of throwing Molotov cocktails at security vehicles.

As for the 3rd defendant, the court found them guilty of selling and buying 
arms without a license, collaborating with Qatif-based rabble-rousers who were 
involved in disrupting security by running an arms sales business in the 
eastern region.

It was learned that the weapons would later be used by rioters in Qatif 
province.

(source: aawsat.com)




INDIA:

Cannot Abolish Death Penalty Just Because Other Countries Have Done It, Says 
Supreme Court



The Supreme Court while upholding death penalty of Nirbhaya rape convicts 
observed that death penalty cannot be abolished in India only on the ground 
that other countries have done it, Live Law has reported.

A bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra made this observation while 
dismissing the review plea. Advocate A P Singh said that the law was passed in 
a colonial era and that it was abolished in England and other Latin American 
countries.

Senior Advocate Siddharth Luthra, who represented the state responded by saying 
that it was for the parliament to amend the law and it has already been 
established in the case Bachan Singh vs State of Punjab.

Justice Ashok Bhushan who authored the judgement said, "The submission of Mr. 
Singh that death penalty has been abolished by the Parliament of UK in the year 
1966 and several Latin American countries and Australian States have also 
abolished death penalty is no ground to efface the death penalty from the 
statute book of our country. So far the death penalty remains in the Penal Code 
the courts cannot be held to commit any illegality in awarding death penalty in 
appropriate cases."

(source: swarajyamag.com)

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

Executioners hunt begins in MP



With around 30 prisoners in jails across Madhya Pradesh been awarded death 
penalty in different cases, the state is on a hunt for executioners as 
currently there are no people at the post.

In December last year, Madhya Pradesh became the 1st Indian state to make rape 
of girls under the age of 12 a crime punishable by death.

However, to execute death penalties to prisoners, the state apparently doesn't 
have executioners. Such is the situation that executioners might be called in 
from different states.

"I believe there will be a big decline in the number of women harassment cases 
because of Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan's law for awarding death 
sentence to those guilty of raping girls aged 12 or below in the state. It's 
true that there are no executioners in the state right now, however, we will 
abide by the orders and will bring executioners from different places to hang 
prisoners. We will also recruit new executioners from Madhya Pradesh itself," 
jail minister Antar Singh Arya told ANI.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Rahul Kothari said: "In such cases, the 
Madhya Pradesh people will themselves serve as the executioners in such cases. 
The people in the state are against all such crimes."

However, the Opposition doubts the state government's stand.

"When we talk about death penalty, how will they do it without executioners? 
How will they give punishment to those accused of rape?" questioned Congress 
leader Manak Agarwal.

(sourcve: webindia123.com)

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

In India, death row cases dealt extremely slowly



The 2012 barbaric Delhi rape case has come close to its end, with the Supreme 
Court dismissing the review petitions of the accused. Even though the case went 
through a fast track court, accelerated by the mood of the nation, it took 6 
years to reach its closing stage.

There are at least 477 prisoners awaiting death sentence in the country. 
India's rate of executing the death penalty is low; in the last decade (2007- 
July 4, 2018) only 3 executions (hangings) were carried out.

Some 132 death sentences were handed down each year by the courts, but the 
Supreme Court confirms barely 3 or 4 death sentences each year, according to 
the National Crime Records Bureau. Since the accused are allowed a cycle of 
appeals and approvals are also pending with the President's office, the number 
of cases on death row tend to pile up.

According to a report titled 'The Death Penalty Database- India', by Cornell 
Law School in the US, as of 2016-17 there are at least 477 individuals under 
sentence of death.

Speaking to Deccan Chronicle Navkiran Singh, human rights lawyer practising in 
the Haryana & Punjab High Court, explained, "The accused always gets an 
opportunity to seek pardon before the President of India, who has the right to 
forgive. Most Presidents try not to decide on the pardon petition for various 
reasons including opposition to the death sentence by many people, especially 
human rights activists who believe that the death sentence does not act as a 
deterrent. The system also gives the opportunity to the accused to approach the 
highest court of law to get the death sentence converted to life imprisonment."

Lawyer Arvind Bhardwaj points out that several cases are delayed and pending 
because there is no legal aid during the trial.

"This apart, if cases are linked to any kind of political motivation, they 
proceed at a faster rate. Many times the pardon petition is pending with the 
President's office due to the delay caused by the council of ministers that is 
supposed to assist the President in decision making," he said.

Rape has lowest conviction rate in India among others

Among all cognizable crimes in India, rape has the lowest conviction rate. The 
overall rate of conviction of rape cases in India stands at 25.5 per cent as on 
December 2016.

If the death sentence is carried out on those convicted in the 2012 Delhi rape 
case, it will be the 1st time the death penalty has been executed in a case of 
rape. This was made possible by the ordinance and later act under which rape is 
punishable by death.

Aparna Reddy, a criminal lawyer, says poor conviction rates are due to shoddy 
investigations by the police. "With a weak chargesheet, victims are not able to 
get legal representation during a trial. Thus either there is a delay in the 
case or the accused gets acquitted. Also, declining conviction rate in rape 
cases ordinarily means fewer registered cases could be proved in court."

"Stringent implementation of laws and strict policing may help in reducing rape 
incidents, but the real change will come when abusers and rapists are 
consistently convicted for their crimes," says Sathvika Rao, member of a city 
based women and child welfare organisation.

Some 2,78,886 rape cases have been reported in India over the last 10 years 
under Section 376 of the Indian Penal Code. The conviction rate for rape, at 
25.5 %, remains low compared to all cognisable crimes.

Also, so far no convicted rapist has been hanged. In 2013, then President 
Pranab Mukherjee passed an ordinance approving the death penalty if a rape 
leads to death or if it leaves the victim in a persistent vegetative state. 
Repeat perpetrators of aggravated rape also face capital punishment under this 
ordinance.

The ordinance became law in April 2013 as the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 
2013. The 3 convicted in the rape, mutilation and death of a young woman in 
Delhi 5 years ago could be the 1st to be executed for this crime.

(source: Deccan Chronicle)

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

Death penalty can't prevent crimes against women: Amnesty----"Instead, the 
government must allocate adequate resources for the effective implementation of 
laws, improve conviction rates and ensure certainty of justice in all cases."



After the Supreme Court decided to reaffirm its verdict of upholding the death 
sentence to 4 convicts who gang-raped and murdered Nirbhaya, Indian chapter of 
the global rights group, Amnesty International, said on Monday that executions 
will not help in eradicating violence against women.

"Unfortunately, executions do not eradicate violence against women. There is no 
evidence to show that the death penalty acts as a deterrent for sexual violence 
or any other crime," Asmita Basu, Amnesty International India's Programmes 
Director, said in a statement.

"Instead, the government must allocate adequate resources for the effective 
implementation of laws, improve conviction rates and ensure certainty of 
justice in all cases.

"Even the Justice (J.S.) Verma Committee, whose recommendations were relied 
upon to reform laws on sexual assault and rape, had opposed imposing the death 
penalty in cases of rape," she said.

Noting that in April this year, the Central government approved an ordinance 
introducing death penalty for those convicted of raping girls aged 12 or 
younger, Basu said: "All too often lawmakers in India hold up capital 
punishment as a symbol of their resolve to tackle crime, and choose to ignore 
more difficult and effective solutions like improving investigations, 
prosecutions and support for victims' families.

(source: greaterkashmir.com)








CHINA:

Chinese court sentences man to death over school stabbings



A Chinese court sentenced a man to death Tuesday for a knife attack that killed 
9 children and wounded another 11 as they returned home from school in northern 
China.

Zhao Zewei, 28, was arrested in April following the killings that he said were 
in response to a long-held grudge against the school.

The attack was "premeditated murder," the Yulin Intermediate Court said in a 
statement, adding that the circumstances warranted the death penalty.

"The goal of the crime was clear, the murderer's methods were despicable, and 
the consequences were extremely grave," it said on a statement on its website.

After his arrest, Zhao said he had been bullied when he attended the school, 
"hated" his classmates and decided to use a "dagger" to kill people, the court 
said in its verdict.

In preparation for the crime, he purchased 5 knives online. He carried 3 of 
them to the school, where he waited outside the gate for classes to finish 
before "rushing headlong into the stream of students and ... stabbing wildly," 
the court said.

9 students died, another 4 were seriously wounded and 7 others received light 
injuries from the assault, it said.

Zhao was subdued by teachers, security guards and students and then handed over 
to the police.

Photos from the trial show an emaciated Zhao being held by 2 police officers in 
the dock as he received his sentence.

Knife attacks are not uncommon in the country.

2 boys were stabbed to death outside a Shanghai elementary school in June.

In February, a knife-wielding man with a personal grudge killed a woman and 
injured 12 others in a busy Beijing shopping mall - a rare act of violence in 
the heavily policed capital.

In the southern city of Shenzhen, a man armed with a kitchen knife killed 2 
people and wounded 9 others in a supermarket last July.

(source: Agence France-Presse)








TAIWAN:

New Taipei court sentences man to death for murder of 4 year old in his 
care----The man's mother was sentenced to life imprisonment for abetting and 
contributing to the abuse leading to the death of the 4 year old girl



The Taiwanese courts have just handed down a death sentence to a man found 
guilty of the murder of a 4 year old child, whose care was entrusted to the man 
and his mother.

A court in New Taipei City on July 10 sentenced Zhuang Chia-yi to death for the 
murder of a 4 year old girl who was the daughter of a woman that had been 
cohabitating with Zhuang and his mother. The mother received a sentence of life 
imprisonment.

The girl's mother, surnamed Qiu, was involved in drug use and sent to jail in 
October 2017. She entrusted Zhuang, with whom she was cohabitating, and his 
family with the care of her young daughter.

However, shortly after Qiu was incarcerated, Zhuang began to mistreat the girl 
who he claimed was disobedient, reportedly beating the girl with metal bars, 
which caused serious damage to the bones in her legs.

The girl was also malnourished while under the supervision of the man and his 
mother. Social services made several attempts to check on the girl's condition 
during the time she was with them, but the mother consistently gave excuses, 
and lied about the girl's whereabouts to avoid meeting with the social workers.

On Nov. 22 of last year both Zhuang and his mother were away from the house, 
and had left the girl with a 10 year old nephew, charged with feeding her.

It was later determined that the girl was already dying before the adults had 
left her in the care of the young boy. She was dead by the time the adults 
returned to the house, and after alerting a local hospital, the adults were 
arrested on suspicion of negligence and mistreatment leading to the girl's 
death.

The nephew later testified in court, and said that the entire afternoon, the 
girl had eaten only four small mouthfuls of food throughout the day. The boy 
was quoted as saying "it was too late for little sister".

Despite several broken bones in her legs and right hand, and her bruised and 
battered body, it is suspected that the girl may have actually died from septic 
shock. She was purportedly so malnourished and dehydrated that she was unable 
to properly chew her food for several days, leading to bacteria in her mouth 
and throat from unswallowed food particles which may have precipitated a septic 
condition.

The mother, surnamed Liu, has been given life imprisonment on the charges of 
lying to social services, obstructing investigations into the child's 
condition, and abuse contributing to the death of a the child.

A spokesman for the Children's Rights Association of Taiwan quoted by Liberty 
Times said that they agreed with the decision of the court to hand down the 
death penalty to Zhuang and a life sentence for the mother. Their reasoning was 
based on the condition of the young girl's body which evidenced severe beatings 
and a complete disregard for the health and well-being of the child.

The Association also organized held a farewell ceremony and funeral for the 
young girl last year.

(source: Taiwan News)



SRI LANKA:

Sri Lanka to implement death penalty on drug traffickers



Minister of Buddhasasana Gamini Jayawickrama Perera said today the cabinet of 
Ministers had decided to Implement the death sentence for drug traffickers 
including those who were already being sentenced to death in prisons.

Speaking to the Media at the Ministry of Buddhasasana, he said the decision of 
implementing the death sentence could have been carried out during the past 15 
years.

The cabinet of ministers had taken this collective decision considering the 
recent deaths and a large amount of drug imports planned by the drug 
traffickers who were already in the prison custody and sentenced to death.

With the cheers of the cabinet ministers, President Maithripala Sirisena had 
instructed Justice and Prison Reforms Minister Thalatha Atukorale to prepare 
the draft bill to implement the death sentence.

"As the Ministry of Buddhasasana, I never take decisions on my own. My Chief 
advisers are Mahanayakas, Anunayakas and Lekakadhikari Theras including the 
Maha Sangha," he said.

All the Maha Sangas had agreed to the decision taken by the Cabinet Ministers.

(source: Daily Mirror)

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

Sri Lanka approves death penalty for drug crimes



The Sri Lankan cabinet has unanimously approved a move to bring back capital 
punishment for drug-related crimes, the Press Trust of India reports, citing a 
senior minister.

Gamini Jayawickrema Perera, minister of the Buddhist order, said President 
Maithripala Sirisena had recently stated that he was under pressure to 
reintroduce capital punishment as a deterrent to serious crimes.

"The Cabinet in unison agreed to it. We cannot allow inmates in prison to 
destroy the country by directing crimes," Perera said, adding inmates carry out 
drug trade while still in prison.

As most of the people approve President Sirisena???s move to reactivate capital 
punishment, civil society and anti-drug addiction groups say death penalty 
alone is insufficient to deter crimes or curb the smuggling of drugs into the 
country.

While many argued that punitive punishment would act as a caution to would-be 
offenders, others said it would only net small-scale drug dealers while major 
dealers would escape with the help of powerful politicians.

Alcohol and Drug Information Centre Executive Director Pubudu Sumanasekera said 
there was no scientifically-based evidence that capital punishment acted as a 
deterrent to crime. "This is not an option. We believe in prevention, treatment 
and rehabilitation," he said.

Although capital punishment is in the statute, Sri Lanka had stopped hangings 
since 1976. Death row prisoners spend life terms in jail.

Executions have not been carried out as successive presidents in office since 
1978 have refused to issue death warrants.

(source: bdnews24.com)

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

The death penalty is a cruel and irreversible punishment



Sri Lanka must pull back from any plans to implement the death penalty and 
preserve its longstanding positive record on shunning this cruel and 
irreversible punishment, Amnesty International said today.

The Sri Lankan President, Maithripala Srisena, is reportedly pressing ahead 
with plans to execute 19 death row prisoners convicted of drug-related 
offences.

"By resuming executions after more than 40 years, Sri Lanka will do immense 
damage to its reputation. The government must immediately halt plans to carry 
out any executions, commute all death sentences, and establish an official 
moratorium on the implementation of the death penalty as a 1st step towards its 
full abolition," said Dinushika Dissanayake, Deputy Director for South Asia at 
Amnesty International.

"Sri Lanka has been a leader in the region, with an enviable record of shunning 
this cruel and irreversible punishment at a time when many other countries 
persisted with it. Now, when most of the world has turned its back on the death 
penalty, it risks heading in the wrong direction and joining a shrinking 
minority of states that persist with this horrific practice."

Amnesty International is absolutely opposed to the death penalty in all 
circumstances, regardless of the crime or the method of execution.

Executing people for drug-related crimes is a violation of international law - 
which says the death penalty can only be imposed in countries that are yet to 
abolish it for the ???most serious crimes???, meaning intentional killing - and 
would brazenly defy Sri Lanka's international commitments, including its 
repeated votes in favour of a moratorium on the implementation of the death 
penalty at the UN General Assembly, including most recently in 2016.

There is no evidence that the death penalty has a unique deterrent effect 
against crime. Executions are never the solution and, for drug-related 
offences, constitute a violation of international law. Sri Lanka should choose 
a more humane and just path----Dinushika Dissanayake

Sri Lanka carried out its last execution in 1976.

"There is no evidence that the death penalty has a unique deterrent effect 
against crime. Executions are never the solution and, for drug-related 
offences, constitute a violation of international law. Sri Lanka should choose 
a more humane and just path," said Dinushika Dissanayake.

Background

As of today, 142 countries have abolished the death penalty in law or practice. 
In the Asia-Pacific region, 19 countries have abolished the death penalty for 
all crimes and a further seven are abolitionist in practice.

In 2017, as recorded by Amnesty International, executions were carried out in 
an isolated minority of countries (23), and only 11 of these ??? or 6% of the 
world's total - carried out executions every year in the past 5 years.

(source: Amnesty International)








JAPAN:

Death penalty sought for Japanese man charged with killing Chinese 'suitcase 
sisters'----Tatsuya Iwasaki accused of strangling Chen Baolan, 25, and her 
sister Chen Baozhen, 22, at their flat and dumping their bodies in the 
mountains

Prosecutors on Wednesday demanded the death penalty for a 40-year-old man 
accused of killing 2 Chinese sisters and leaving their bodies stuffed in travel 
bags in woods southwest of Tokyo last summer.

Tatsuya Iwasaki strangled Chen Baolan, 25, and her sister Chen Baozhen, 22, at 
their flat in Yokohama on July 6, 2017, and abandoned their remains in the 
mountains in Hadano, Kanagawa Prefecture the next day after packing their 
bodies into travel bags, according to the indictment.

"It was a planned act of extremely atrocious cruelty," the prosecutors told a 
hearing at the Yokohama District Court, adding that Iwasaki killed the 
"blameless sisters in a consecutive manner, thinking lightly of human lives."

Iwasaki had been romantically interested in the elder sister but killed her 
after coming to believe that she wished to use him to contract a fake marriage, 
according to the prosecutors. He then murdered the younger sister to try to 
cover up the crime, they said.

His defence counsel said Iwasaki was not involved in the killings and claimed 
that he only cooperated in a plan to make it look like the 2 women had 
disappeared as the elder sister's right to legal residence was about to expire.

The District Court is expected to hand down a ruling on July 20.

(source: South China Morning Post)








AUSTRALIA:

Resisting the death penalty: An event with advocate Richard Bourke



Richard Bourke, an Australian lawyer and tireless advocate working in the 
United States on death penalty cases, will be speaking in Brisbane. Stephen 
Keim SC and Arron Hartnett share details of this rare opportunity.

Richard Bourke is the director of the Louisiana Capital Assistance Center 
(LCAC), a non-profit law office based in New Orleans that provides legal 
assistance to poor people charged with capital offences in Louisiana (as well 
as Mississippi and Texas).

Mr Bourke had a thriving career practising at the Victorian Bar, but always had 
a deep passion for anti-death penalty advocacy. In 1998, he spent some months 
as an intern volunteering in New Orleans, offering assistance to clients who 
were facing the death penalty in Louisiana. In 2001, along with Melbourne 
criminal barrister, Nick Harrington, Mr Bourke founded Reprieve Australia, an 
organisation that sends Australian volunteers to work on death penalty cases in 
the southern U.S. States. Mr Bourke permanently relocated to the U.S. in 2002 
and has been with the LCAC since then.

Mr Bourke's decision to speak in his native Australia could not be more timely. 
Last month, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) released 
'Australia's Strategy for the Abolition of the Death Penalty', a 
whole-of-government strategy expressing Australia's commitment to ending the 
death penalty worldwide. The statement of intent in the policy expresses that 
???Australia opposes the death penalty in all circumstances for all people'. 
All Australian jurisdictions in Australia had abolished the death penalty by 
1985. (Queensland did so in 1922.) The Federal Government has enacted 
legislation preventing any State or Territory from reintroducing the death 
penalty.

By contrast, the U.S. is the world's 8th most active executioner, putting to 
death 23 people in 2017. (Somalia narrowly beat the U.S., executing 24 people 
that same year.)

The United States' approach to executing its own people varies widely between 
states and, indeed, between counties. In a 2016 feature for the New York Times 
Magazine, Emily Bazelon pointed out that, in 2015, only 14 of the 26 States 
which permit the use of the death penalty actually handed out death sentences 
to convicted offenders.

Justice Stephen Breyer, penning his 2015 dissent in Glossip v Gross, noted a 
disturbing trend that, of more than 3,000 counties in the U.S., 15 are 
responsible for routinely imposing the death penalty on their residents. Each 
of these 15 counties handed out 5 or more sentences between 2010 and 2015. 
According to Ms Bazelon, 2 % of all counties in the U.S. now account for the 
majority of people awaiting execution. Caddo Parish, nestled in the northwest 
corner of Mr Bourke's adopted home of Louisiana, is one place in the U.S. where 
the death penalty still lives. Boasting a population of just 225,000 people, it 
imposed 5 death sentences between 2010 and 2015.

Mr Bourke is all too familiar with Louisiana???s track record for executing its 
people. On 4 August 2011, just next door to Caddo Parish, in Bossier Parish, a 
Louisiana District Court convicted Robert McCoy of 3 counts of 1st-degree 
murder. Mr Bourke and the LCAC represented Mr McCoy all the way to America's 
highest court in a bid to quash his conviction. On 6 March 2017, following a 
failed appeal to the Louisiana Supreme Court, which unanimously affirmed Mr 
McCoy's convictions and his 3 death penalty sentences, Mr McCoy appealed to the 
U.S. Supreme Court. The Supreme Court agreed to take the case on 26 September 
2017.

Mr McCoy was charged with 3 counts of 1st-degree murder for the killing of 3 
members of his estranged wife's family. At his trial, Mr McCoy had instructed 
his lawyer not to admit to the jury that he was guilty of the 3 murders. 
Instead, Mr McCoy said that he wanted to protest his innocence and give 
evidence of an alibi defence. His lawyer, deciding that Mr McCoy had no chance 
of avoiding a conviction with this strategy, admitted before the jury that Mr 
McCoy "committed [the] 3 murders".

'Sometimes, it feels as if one could reach out and touch abolition. At other 
times, abolition feels much too far away.'

The lawyer concluded that Mr McCoy would have a greater chance of avoiding 
conviction simply by stating that Mr McCoy didn't have the mental state 
required for a first-degree murder conviction (which is required for the death 
penalty to be imposed in Louisiana). The jury convicted Mr McCoy of 1st-degree 
murder on all 3 counts. In a separate penalty hearing before the jury, Mr 
McCoy's lawyer conceded Mr McCoy's guilt again but asked for the jury's mercy 
because Mr McCoy had mental and emotional issues. Juries decide whether to 
impose the death penalty in Louisiana. The jury returned three death verdicts.

The Supreme Court heard argument on 17 January 2018 and rendered its opinion on 
14 May 2018. Justice Ruth Bader-Ginsburg, writing for a 6-justice majority, 
said that the Sixth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution guarantees an accused 
the right to choose the objective of their defence and insist that a lawyer 
refrains from admitting their guilt. This is so, Justice Ginsburg wrote, even 
where the lawyer's opinion is that confessing to the offence would place the 
accused in a better position to avoid the death penalty.

Justice Samuel Alito, authoring a 3-justice dissent, concluded that Mr McCoy's 
lawyer had not admitted to the offences of first-degree murder. Instead, the 
lawyer had admitted only 1 element of the offence: the killing itself. Justice 
Alito concluded that there was no such right for an accused to insist that the 
accused's attorney contest guilt on all charged offences. Further, Justice 
Alito said, Mr McCoy's appeal did not meet the Supreme Court???s criteria for 
judicial review and the court should not have considered it. Ultimately, the 
U.S. Supreme Court quashed Mr McCoy's conviction. The case will likely go back 
to the Louisiana District Court, where Mr McCoy will again be tried.

Mr Bourke said that, while rare in most of the country,

" ... what happened to Mr McCoy was a part of Louisiana's broken criminal 
justice system that fails to respect individual human dignity."

For Mr Bourke, Mr McCoy???s case is a tale of deeper, structural problems that 
attend prosecutions in Louisiana for capital offences.

Mr Bourke said:

"Mr McCoy's was 1 of 10 death sentences imposed in Louisiana since 2000 that 
have been tainted with the same flaw."

He has suggested that the practice of criminal defence lawyers in Louisiana 
admitting guilt in capital offences had become common. Part of this might be 
because juries in Louisiana have authority to impose the death penalty, meaning 
that there is a separate post-conviction penalty hearing before the jury about 
whether to impose the death penalty. Avoiding the death penalty becomes the 
primary focus of the defence lawyer's energy.

McCoy's case is one of many death penalty cases which continue to reignite the 
debate over capital punishment in the U.S. and abroad. In September 2016, the 
Washington Post reported the findings of a Pew Research Survey which showed 
that less than 1/2 the U.S. supported the death penalty - the lowest level of 
support in 40 years. The Supreme Court itself has had a history of division 
over the issue.

At one point, the Supreme Court appeared poised to abolish executions 
altogether. In 1972, the Supreme Court gave its opinion in Furman v Georgia. A 
5-4 majority of the court issued a country-wide moratorium on all legal regimes 
which permitted imposition of the death penalty. This moratorium stopped short 
of complete abolition. In a carefully crafted opinion, the Supreme Court 
allowed legislatures latitude to design a death penalty scheme that was not 
arbitrarily or inconsistently imposed (and, therefore, not violating the Eighth 
Amendment of the U.S. Constitution's prohibition on cruel and unusual 
punishment).

The death penalty was effectively reinstated just 4 years later, following the 
Supreme Court???s 1976 decision in Gregg v Georgia. Because of the dedicated 
work of lawyers like Richard Bourke, the numbers of people being executed in 
the United States have declined considerably since the beginning of this 
century. Sometimes, it feels as if one could reach out and touch abolition. At 
other times, abolition feels much too far away.

While the death penalty remains in place in the United States, the force of the 
moral case for abolition in countries such as Iraq, Iran, Pakistan and, 
especially, China, which carry out more and more frequent executions than the 
United States, is depleted. Australians have learned that the death penalty can 
strike Australians overseas. Capital punishment is wrong everywhere and at any 
time. But winning the battle in the U.S. has the potential to create momentum 
for abolition elsewhere.

Meanwhile, the battle must go on, case by case and life by life. It takes a 
rare character to abandon a burgeoning practice at the Victorian Bar to fight 
for the dignity of, and justice for, people whom the state seeks to execute. A 
strange truth emerges about Richard Bourke, and other leading advocates against 
the death penalty in the United States and elsewhere. Despite the traumas of 
always carrying the stress that one might be unsuccessful for this client, 
these advocates seem to gain more from their clients and their work than even 
the tremendous contributions they make. There is dignity in the people with and 
for whom they work. There is a dignity in the work they do. And there is the 
strength of knowing that one's life is never without meaning.

For this reason, the opportunity to meet and hear Richard Bourke is a rare 
opportunity. We can learn from him lessons that are important in our lives. We 
can show him that his work for a cause that we hold important is appreciated by 
us. We can find a new understanding of that truth that his clients teach him, 
every day - that every person is much more than the worst thing they have ever 
done. And there is the opportunity to be mesmerised by his retelling the 
stories through which he has lived of offenders finding redemption, and of 
victims and victims' families finding a way to reach out, to forgive and to 
love again.

An opportunity not to be missed.

Tickets to attend the Richard Bourke event can be purchased by emailing 
AACPbooking at gmail.com or visiting the University of Queensland website.

(source: Stephen Keim is a barrister and president of Australian Lawyers for 
Human Rights----Arron Hartnett is a barrister and a teacher of constitutional 
law at the Queensland University of Technology; independentaustralia.net)