Fresh doubts over a Texas execution. Webb was dismissed from the diving school in June 1998, after he was jailed on a Houston drug charge.
In his arrest records, Webb listed a $1,000 stipend from Pearce as his only source of income. In August 1998, Webb pleaded guilty and was sentenced to two years in prison. At the same time, his parole on the robbery charge was revoked, which kept Webb in prison until 2007. As soon as Webb returned to prison, Pearce resumed sending money to Webb’s commissary account with a $200 deposit in the fall of 1998 and $400 in 1999, according to the prison records.
In February 2000, Webb wrote to Pearce saying he was scared because other inmates had learned he had testified against Willingham. In March 2000, Webb submitted a hand-written document titled “Motion to Recant Testimony” to the Navarro County District Attorney’s Office. "I was forsed (sic) to testify against Mr. That August, Jackson wrote to Webb again. Webb was paroled again in 2007. Ninth Circuit finds First Amendment right to information on Arizona executions using lethal injection - FIRST AMENDMENT COALITION. Secret America: how states hide the source of their lethal injection drugs. States subjecting death row inmates to longer deaths amid scramble for drugs. US death penalty states face a deepening crisis in their struggle to procure medical drugs for use in lethal injections, with new evidence that the increasingly random methods being used are subjecting condemned prisoners to prolonged and possibly excruciating deaths.
A Guardian survey of death sentences carried out over the past three years by Texas – the most prolific of all execution states – has found that the procedure now takes on average twice as long as under previous protocols. A study of Texas department of criminal justice records and eyewitness media reports mainly from the Associated Press shows a notable lengthening of the death process following the switch in July 2012 from the conventional three-drug cocktail to a single drug, pentobarbital.
Ten executions prior to the change took on average 10 minutes to complete, ranging from nine to 11 minutes between the administration of the lethal injection and the declaration of death. Take Action Now. Texas set to execute 'mentally retarded' man - Americas. A man whose lawyers say is clinically "mentally retarded" is set to be put to death by lethal injection in Texas.
Marvin Wilson was convicted of fatally shooting a police drug informant nearly 20 years ago, with the sentence of death by lethal injection. The US Supreme Court soon afterwards found the penalty to be in violation of the constitution’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment when imposed on the mentally retarded. Commenting on the case, Simon Whitaker, a clinical psychologist from the UK, told Al Jazeera: "This is a miscarriage of justice, he [Wilson] would have the same reasoning powers of a five-year-old child, if a five-year-old child killed someone we would not execute them in part. "Texas courts have judged Wilson as not mentally retarded - even though psychologists measured his IQ in the bottom one percentile, about equal to that of an average five-year-old child. A recent poll indicated more than 70 per cent of Texans approve of capital punishment for murder.
The death penalty in India: Fatally flawed. Hanging Mules in Singapore. Ready for the big drop (Asia Sentinel) The island republic's inflexible drug laws doom drug couriers "He is a good boy," Cheong Kah Pin whispers, "but they took him away.
" He scrunches up his tear-streaked face, uses the back of his hand to rub his eyes. His anguish is palpable. "Please help. Please. " Chun Yin is not alone. Tough Stand It's not clear how many drug mules Singapore sends to the gallows each year, since the government doesn't publish figures. Opponents disagree. "I told him to come back soon. Lawyer M Ravi, Singapore's leading anti-death penalty lawyer, calls the policy "unconscionable". "It's a one-size-fits-all approach that doesn't take into account mitigating factors or the personal circumstances of the accused," he says. Ravi looks exhausted when we meet. "These are important questions," Ravi says.
Yong's Story - Witness. In Singapore anyone caught with more than 15 grams of heroin faces a mandatory death penalty.
No extenuating circumstances can be taken into account by the legal system and this, argues the UN special rapporteur, is a violation of human rights. Now, the conviction of one young Malaysian man, Yong Vui Kong, sentenced to death after being found guilty of heroin trafficking, is forcing Singaporean courts to re-examine the law. Madasamy Ravi, Yong's lawyer, is fighting to make legal history as he takes Yong's story to the Court of Appeal. Already his client's death has been postponed twice. Meanwhile Yong's brother, Yun Leong, is preparing the family for the possibility that Yong will hang. In the following account Lynn Lee shares her views on Yong's story.
At first it was just a name. And then we saw him in person. This kid was going to die for a crime committed when he was just 19. We were told he had converted to Buddhism, had vowed to be good.