Cop Killer Mumia Abu Jamal Will Spend Rest of Life In Prison After Prosecutors Drop Death Penalty

Prosecutors drop death penalty against convicted cop-killer Mumia Abu Jamal. He will spend the rest of his life in prison without parole. This comes as the US Supreme Court declined to hear the case.

The decision by District Attorney Seth Williams, made with the support of the officer's widow and the city police commissioner, comes after nearly 30 years of legal battles over the racially charged case.

Abu-Jamal was convicted of fatally shooting Philadelphia police Officer Daniel Faulkner on Dec. 9, 1981. He was sentenced to death after his trial the following year.

Abu-Jamal, who has been incarcerated in a Pennsylvania prison, has garnered worldwide support from those who believe he was the victim of a biased justice system.

Abu-Jamal, a one-time journalist, garnered worldwide support from the "Free Mumia" movement. Hundreds of vocal supporters and death-penalty opponents regularly turn out for court hearings in his case, even though Abu-Jamal is rarely entitled to attend.

Shannon Faulker, Daniel's widow, has dealt with this for 30 years, and she and the prosecutors have agreed to drop the death penalty from the case.

Abu-Jamal will spend the rest of his days in prison.

Iran Commits To Stoning Another Woman For Adultery

The death penalty in Iran for many crimes is stoning, and it is frequently carried out against women who have committed adultery. They are buried up to their neck, and then stoned by a crowd of people. The grisly scene can play out for a half hour or more until the woman is brutally killed.

Men who are to be stoned are buried up to their waist - and suffer even more pain and brutality before succumbing.



Iranian judges found that one such woman should be stoned to death:

Convicted of adultery in 2006, Ashtiani has been sentenced to be stoned to death for her alleged crime.

Originally sentenced to 99 lashes for her alleged "illicit relationship outside of marriage," Ashtiani endured that punishment in front of her then 17-year-old son.

"The authorities asked if I wanted to wait outside. I said no. I could not leave my mother alone."

Sajjad says it is a day he will never forget. But, he says, that day he thought the worst was over.

"I was thinking, OK, they hit her, now it's finished. They told me this process was finished. She's done. She's free to go. "

But then a judges' panel in Tabriz suspected Ashtiani of being involved in her husband's murder and re-opened her case.

She was cleared of the murder charges, but the panel re-examined Ashtiani's adultery sentence, and based on unspecified "judges' knowledge," decided she should be put to death for the alleged affair.

All that is despite evidence that she was coerced into confessing to a crime she didn't commit.

DC Sniper Execution Expected To Be Carried Out This Evening

A last ditch effort by John Allen Muhammad to stay execution was thwarted yesterday when the US Supreme Court declined to postpone the execution and don't expect Virginia Governor Tim Kaine to step in either. His death sentence will be carried out today.

Unless Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine steps in, sniper mastermind John Allen Muhammad will be executed Tuesday for the attacks that terrorized the nation's capital region for three weeks in 2002.

Muhammad is set to die by injection at Greensville Correctional Center in Jarratt. His attorneys have asked Kaine to commute his sentence to life in prison because they say he is mentally ill. The U.S. Supreme Court turned down Muhammad's final appeal Monday.

Muhammad was sentenced to death for killing Dean Harold Meyers at a Manassas gas station during a spree that left 10 dead across Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C.

He and his teenage accomplice, Lee Boyd Malvo, also were suspected of fatal shootings in other states, including Louisiana, Alabama and Arizona.

Muhammad will be executed by lethal injection at the Virginia correctional facility. He was sentenced to death for murdering Dean Harold Meyers at a gas station during a spree of sniper killings throughout the DC region. In all, he is responsible for killing at least 10 people and injuring four others with his accomplice, Lee Boyd Malvo. It is also suspected he was involved in the murders of several other people along the Gulf Coast and even California.

Malvo is serving several life sentences after cooperating with law enforcement.

New Jersey Repealing Death Penalty After Unofficially Ending It 44 Years Ago

Today, Governor Jon Corzine and the state legislature will make a big deal about repealing the New Jersey death penalty statute. The media and death penalty foes are making a big deal about it as well. Convicted murderers seem to like the idea of getting rid of the death penalty as well.

One big problem.

The state unofficially ended the death penalty in 1963.

That was the last time someone was executed in the state under a death penalty statute, and while there are a handful of people on death row in New Jersey since the state reenacted a death penalty statute in 1976, no one has been executed. It's a penalty that has not been imposed.

The move is more symbolic than it is substantive.

Of course, all this comes at a time when the state has more pressing issues. Heck, New Jersey legislators couldn't be bothered to increase penalties on those who do not clear their vehicles of snow and ice, which injures or kills New Jersey residents annually. The Road Warrior has written about this issue in the past, and notes that there were other issues facing the Transportation committee such as dealing with monetizing toll roads and transportation funding, but that is a cop out by those legislators for doing their jobs.

Priorities.

Capital Punishment Charade

Mr. Codey, who sponsored legislation in the early 1980s that reinstated New Jersey’s death penalty, said the system plays a cruel hoax on murder victims’ families by giving them the false hope of an execution.

“The best thing to do for us as a society to do is to be honest with them,” said Mr. Codey, who more recently served as governor. “Don’t tell someone that we’re going to execute somebody when the reality is it’s not going to happen — at least here in the state of New Jersey. Maybe in Texas. Maybe in other states. But it’s not going to happen here in New Jersey, and we’ve got to accept that.”

New Jersey is heading to repeal the death penalty, and would become the first state since the death penalty was resurrected nationwide in 1976.

New Jersey has not executed a convicted felon since 1963, which is why this is such a farce. This move is out of symbolism and nothing more, which is the thrust of Codey's comments. Of course, honesty and the New Jersey legislature are words that have never quite gone together.

With all the other woes facing the state, this is what Trenton decides to spend time debating.

Passing For Priorities In New Jersey

What's the first thing that comes to mind when you think of issues that New Jersey politicians should be tackling in Trenton? Taxes? Corruption? Taxes? Pay to play? Taxes? Infrastructure? Taxes?

Nope, they've decided that repealing the death penalty is a priority and will be accomplished by the end of the year. What gets ignored is the fact that New Jersey hasn't actually carried out a death penalty sentence since 1963.

It doesn't matter where you actually stand on the issue of the death penalty in New Jersey. The state has de facto treated the death penalty as though it doesn't exist. Making the repeal priority now when there are real issues - taxes, corruption, infrastructure that deserve serious attention shows just how unserious Trenton is about all the problems facing the state.

Yet again, we've got evidence that the idiots and insane are not only eligible to vote in New Jersey, but inhabit the walls of Trenton.

Your Mileage Will Vary

The next level of moral equivalence. Stoning is more than acceptable under Iranian human rights because that's how they interpret it.

A top Iranian official Sunday defended the use of execution by stoning after a sentence was carried out on an adulterer, saying the punishment was legal and in line with Iran's rights commitments.

Mohammad Javad Larijani, the head of the Iranian judiciary's human rights committee, said the judiciary supported the principle of stoning after confirmation last week of the stoning sparked international condemnation.

"Stoning is based on Islamic Sharia law and it is not contrary to any of our international obligations," Larijani was quoted as saying by state television's Web site.

"We have signed four important treaties on human rights. None of them has any opposition to stoning.

"But since Westerners have their own interpretations of the articles and the contents of these documents, they oppose stoning," said Larijani, the brother of Iran's top nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani.

The stoning to death of Jafar Kiani in a village in the northwestern province of Qazvin was the first time Iran had confirmed such an execution in five years, and came despite a 2002 directive to suspend the practice.

By that reasoning, expect the Iranians to claim that a clampdown on free speech and the press is acceptable because they say it doesn't violate international law and Sharia makes it so.

Iran is laughing in the face of the West and shows that all those treaties and international laws that claim to prevent human rights abuse are so much nonsense because they can be violated at the drop of a hat.

Iran will continue doing its own thing, stoning and carrying out gross violations of human rights until they are stopped. Sanctions are not likely to work, and Iran knows this all too well. The West is too fractured to truly bring power to bear on Iran because of the ongoing Iraq campaign and the resultant fallout from that endeavor.

Iran's mullahs are using their crackdown to cement their hold on power, but one has to wonder whether the more they tighten their grip, the more people slip through and realize the mullah's folly in seeking a massive confrontation with the West that might lead to a regional war of epic proportions.

New Jersey to Eliminate the Death Penalty

TRENTON, Jan. 2 — A legislative commission recommended on Tuesday that New Jersey become the first state to abolish the death penalty since states began reinstating their capital punishment laws 35 years ago. Its report found “no compelling evidence” that capital punishment serves a legitimate purpose, and increasing evidence that it “is inconsistent with evolving standards of decency.”

The report, whose lone dissenter was the original author of the state’s modern death penalty statute, came a year after New Jersey joined Illinois and Maryland in imposing moratoriums on executions, and amid growing unease among politicians and the public about capital punishment.

Eight other states, including New York, have also suspended executions in recent years, most because of court decisions. Maryland had lifted its moratorium in 2003, after a year, but a court essentially reinstated it last month.

Death penalty experts said that New Jersey was the first state to receive an official recommendation that capital punishment be abandoned, and it lands in a state where legislators have a Democratic majority along with a Democratic governor who supports repeal of the statute.

The Commission'e 100+ page report can be downloaded here.

New Jersey has not executed anyone since 1963 and has had a moratorium on executions since 2006, pending release of this study.

The study makes the following findings:

(1) There is no compelling evidence that the New Jersey death penalty rationally serves alegitimate penological intent.
(2) The costs of the death penalty are greater than the costs of life in prison without parole, but it is not possible to measure these costs with any degree of precision.
(3) There is increasing evidence that the death penalty is inconsistent with evolving standards of decency.
(4) The available data do not support a finding of invidious racial bias in the application of the death penalty in New Jersey.
(5) Abolition of the death penalty will eliminate the risk of disproportionality in capital sentencing.
(6) The penological interest in executing a small number of persons guilty of murder is not sufficiently compelling to justify the risk of making an irreversible mistake.
(7) The alternative of life imprisonment in a maximum security institution without the possibility of parole would sufficiently ensure public safety and address other legitimate social and penological interests, including the interests of the families of murder victims.
(8) Sufficient funds should be dedicated to ensure adequate services and advocacy for the families of murder victims.

and recomends:

...that the death penalty in New Jersey be abolished and replaced with life imprisonment without the possibility of parole, to be served in a maximum security facility. The Commission also recommends that any cost savings resulting from the abolition of the death penalty be used for benefits and services for survivors of victims of homicide.

Given the infrequency of the use of the death penalty in New Jersey, the Commissions recommendations amount to little. Having a penalty on the books without using it nearly 45 years is tantamount to not having it all.

Still, I am pro-death penalty. I do not believe that life without the possibility of parole actually exists. Moreover, such a sentence may actually be more harmful to prison guards -- an inmate who is in for life can commit any crimes with impunity as his sentence cannot increase. I hope the legislature keeps the death penalty on the books. I believe it is an invaluable tool in the prosecutor's arsenal and I believe it is a legitimate punishment for the heinous crime of 1st degree murder.


Technorati: New Jersey death penalty execution crime punishment

Reaction Pours In On Saddam's Death

A new dawn rises over Baghdad and it is the first one in recent Iraqi history where Saddam Hussein was not alive to see it. His hanging was justice delayed for the hundreds of thousands of people harmed by his actions - murder, rape, ethnic cleansing, genocide, war crimes including the use of chemical weapons, and support for terrorism around the world.

Thus far, there is no curfew in Baghdad.

Ed Morrissey live blogged the event.

Hundreds of Iraqis protested the death in Saddam's home town of Tikrit, but compare that to the celebrations elsewhere in Iraq and around the world. Indeed, the majority of people recognize that Saddam was a tyrant who not only ruined Iraq but caused such grief and misery for millions through his actions.

The next issue will be the disposition of the body. The Tikritis are calling for his body to be turned over to his family. The US and Iraqis appear leaning towards burying him in a secret location.

The Vancouver Sun headlines that the Butcher of Baghdad is dead. The Guardian says that witnesses thought that Saddam was a broken man. Newsweek notes that he was afraid. That compares with other reports saying that he was defiant until the end. People are going to see what they want to see in all this.

World leaders and selected experts weighed in:

US PRESIDENT GEORGE W BUSH:

Bringing Saddam Hussein to justice will not end the violence in Iraq, but it is an important milestone on Iraq's course to becoming a democracy that can govern, sustain, and defend itself.

FRENCH FOREIGN MINISTRY:

France, which advocates like all its European partners the universal abolition of the death penalty, takes note of Saddam Hussein's execution.

That decision belongs to the Iraqi people and to the Iraqi sovereign authorities.

France calls on to all Iraqis to look forward and to work for reconciliation and national unity.

More than ever the aim must be a return to the full sovereignty and stability of Iraq.

AUSTRALIAN FOREIGN MINISTER ALEXANDER DOWNER:

The people of Iraq now know that their brutal dictator will never come back to lead them.

While many will continue to grieve over their personal loss under his rule, his death marks an important step in consigning his tyrannical regime to the judgment of history and pursuing a process of reconciliation now and in the future.

US DEMOCRATIC SENATOR JOSEPH BIDEN, INCOMING CHAIR OF THE SENATE FOREIGN RELATIONS COMMITTEE:

Iraq has closed one of the darkest chapters in its history and rid the world of a tyrant.

Every effort was made to afford Saddam the judicial rights he denied to the 148 innocent victims of Dujail and to hundreds of thousands of other Iraqis during his brutal reign.

I hope that the families of his many victims can now begin the healing process.

BRITISH FOREIGN SECRETARY MARGARET BECKETT:

I welcome the fact that Saddam Hussein has been tried by an Iraqi court for at least some of the appalling crimes he committed against the Iraqi people.

He has now been held to account.

RICHARD DICKER, DIRECTOR OF HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH:

The test of a government's commitment to human rights is measured by the way it treats its worst offenders ... History will judge the deeply flawed Dujail trial and this execution harshly.

LARRY COX, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL USA:

The rushed execution of Saddam Hussein is simply wrong. It signifies justice denied for countless victims who endured unspeakable suffering during his regime, and now have been denied their right to see justice served.

TOMOHIKO TANIGUCHI, DEPUTY PRESS SECRETARY OF JAPAN'S FOREIGN MINISTRY:

We have acknowledged that the judgment has been made according to due process and pay respect to the legal procedures that the Iraqi government has taken.

That said, what is most important in our view is to make this sentence not a new source of conflict but of reconciliation between the Iraqi people.

INDIAN FOREIGN MINISTER PRANAB MUKHERJEE:

We had already expressed the hope that the execution would not be carried out.

We are disappointed that it has been.

We hope that this unfortunate event will not affect the process of reconciliation, restoration of peace and normalcy in Iraq.

UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO POLITICAL SCIENCE PROFESSOR CHARLES LIPSON:

This will be a public accounting for the crimes that he and his regime undertook systematically over many years, but sadly it won't do much, I think, to set Iraq on a path to stability.

The nature of the internal divisions are too deep. Saddam's execution won't be able to set right the problems that we allowed to take root.

SETH JONES, POLITICAL SCIENTIST/TERRORISM EXPERT:

This means very little in the long run for the level of violence over there.

I expect this will trigger some revenge killings.

But the insurgency has been caused by so many factors I don't think this will have any meaningful impact over the long term.

LIAQAT BALUCH, A LEADER OF PAKISTAN'S SIX-PARTY OPPOSITION ALLIANCE OF CONSERVATIVE RELIGIOUS PARTIES:

This will further increase hatred of America. No one liked or supported Saddam Hussein here but the way he was tried was improper and unjust.

Saddam was a bad guy and he had to be tried for his crimes but not that way.

America is trying to divide Iraq on sectarian lines. U.S. forces are brutally killing civilians there.

BRAZIL FOREIGN MINISTRY:

(Brazil) does not believe carrying out this sentence will contribute to bringing peace to Iraq.

The Boston Globe thinks that this plants the seeds of future strife.

The Washington Post combines Saddam's death with a car bombing in Kufa that killed 30+.

The last moments of Saddam were captured on video.

So what were Saddam's last words? His lawyers released his last written statement, but his final words before his execution were:

Palestine is Arab

To the end, Saddam sided with terrorism. And the Palestinians played to form as well - mourning his death because Saddam tossed money at the Palestinian suicide bombers.

JammieWearingFool has a good roundup of reactions as does Pajamas Media. Memeorandum has a monster wrapup on reactions.

Ed Driscoll notes Drudge's unusual use of two sirens relaying the story.

Others blogging and noting media reaction: Webloggin, Florida Masochist (who wont be watching the execution), Clarity and Resolve, Dr Sanity (who notes the cheering in heaven), Sensible Mom, Hot Air, QandO and Michelle Malkin.

Technorati: saddam hussein, saddam's death, iraq, kurds, dujail, shiites, bush, capital punishment, justice.

Saddam Cannot Escape His Destiny

Saddam Hussein was hanged by the Iraqis shortly before 6:00AM local time in Baghdad.

Good riddance.

I don't think there's much to add on the subject of his execution other than it was richly deserved.

CBS News broke in with the news, while the other networks have not broken into their programming with the news. Interesting. NBC and ABC are still in their regular programming.

UPDATE:
Drudge reports that NBC actually broken in first and CBS reported second followed by ABC.

Technorati: saddam hussein, iraq, kurds, dujail, shiites, bush, capital punishment, justice.

What's the Rush?

The New York Times thinks that there's a rush to execute Saddam Hussein - carrying out the sentence handed down by the Iraqi tribunal that determined he was guilty of murdering 148 people at Dujail.

It's been about three years since Saddam was captured by US forces. Saddam has not only faced a trial for crimes committed while he was the thug-in-charge in Iraq, but had an appeal heard (and denied). That's a legal process he denied his victims.

The real question is whether justice is delayed or denied by executing Saddam before the other trials for his crimes and whether the political considerations of waiting before the largest of the trials - the Anfal campaign trial - is brought to a close before carrying out the death sentence.

The Times writes:

What really mattered was whether an Iraq freed from his death grip could hold him accountable in a way that nurtured hope for a better future. A carefully conducted, scrupulously fair trial could have helped undo some of the damage inflicted by his rule. It could have set a precedent for the rule of law in a country scarred by decades of arbitrary vindictiveness. It could have fostered a new national unity in an Iraq long manipulated through its religious and ethnic divisions.

The Times seems to have quite a different take on what the criminal justice system is supposed to do. It is not about nurturing hope. It is about meting out justice and protecting society against those who have brought harm against it.

Yet, there may be good reason to delay the execution that has nothing to do with support or opposition to the death penalty.

It has to do with the enormity of the crimes that still remain to be heard.

Among the crimes awaiting or currently on the docket are the slaughter of more than 100,000 Kurds in the Anfal campaign. That bloody campaign included the use of chemical weapons, ethnic cleansing, and mass murder. There is good reason to delay the sentencing until after that trial is brought to conclusion.

There are good reasons to see that justice is carried out for the hundreds of thousands of Kurds who suffered at the hands of Saddam and his minions and this trial is potentially more significant than the trial just concluded due to the sheer number of people killed and affected by the Anfal campaign. The political dimensions of seeing that hundreds of thousands of Kurds are able to gain some measure of closure on that grisly chapter of their history should not be overlooked. It needs to be balanced with the operation of justice in the Dujail case.

Indeed, the US experience in dealing with crimes across multiple jurisdictions offers some guidance on what the Iraqi justice system should do. Consider the Beltway Sniper case, where the charges against John Allen Muhammad and Lee Malvo were brought in Virginia and Maryland for their murder spree around the Beltway.

The pair were first tried and convicted of murder in Virginia (where Muhammad now faces the death penalty and Malvo faces life in prison) but the pair were then extradited to Maryland where they were tried for their crimes in Maryland. The two will then be returned to Virginia for the carrying out of the sentences.

The Iraqi justice system could follow this model, by permitting the delay of the execution until after the Anfal trial is completed.

Yet, the Times is clearly siding with the likes of Ramsey Clark and others who think that the procedural difficulties were such that Saddam was not tried fairly. I disagree. Saddam was provided not only the opportunity to defend himself, but at times was able to use the trial as a podium from which to launch into tirades against the court, the US, and the Iraqi government that replaced his tyrannical rule. The tribunal operated under difficult circumstances, including assassinations and ongoing threats of physical violence, but managed to produce a just result.

It Shines for All thinks that Saddam should be sending thank you cards to the Times.

In the meantime, he remains in US custody. Saddam would have to be transferred to Iraqi custody in order for the sentence to be carried out.

Others commenting: Ed Morrissey and bRight and Early.

UPDATE:
An Iraqi judge has called for Saddam to be executed tomorrow. Saddam's lawyers say that he's been transferred to Iraqi custody, which is the final step before Saddam heads to the gallows.

UPDATE:
Dead at dawn? The execution is supposed to take place at 6AM Baghdad time or 10:00PM EST. Meanwhile, there is a report indicating that Saddam may be trying to get the US to block his execution. Good luck with that one.

Hussein's lawyers filed documents Friday afternoon asking for an emergency restraining order aimed at stopping the U.S. government from relinquishing custody of the condemned former Iraqi leader to Iraqi officials, a spokeswoman for a federal court in Washington D.C. said.

The documents were being processed and were not immediately made public. The Justice Department had not yet responded to the request.

A similar request by the former chief justice of the Revolutionary Court, Awad Hamed al-Bandar, was denied Thursday and is under appeal. Al-Bandar also faces execution. The Justice Department argued in that case that U.S. courts have no jurisdiction to interfere with the judicial process of another country.

Al-Bandar argued that his trial violated his rights under the U.S. Constitution but Justice countered that foreigners being tried in foreign courts are not protected by the U.S. Constitution.

Technorati: saddam hussein, iraq, kurds, dujail, shiites, bush, capital punishment, justice.

Swinging From An End of a Rope By New Year's Day?

Ex-dictator's execution expected to be carried out by start of Eid holiday — Former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, sentenced to death for his role in 148 killings in 1982, will have his sentence carried out by Sunday, NBC News reported Thursday.

The Iraqis aren't messing around and it would appear that they want to permanently remove Saddam from the docket by New Year's Day.

Yet, the world may not know or view the hanging until well after the deed is done out of an abundance of caution on security grounds. The hanging will be videotaped for posterity. That is, if it even takes place.

Allah sees all kinds of problems within problems with the situation.

Iraqi Court Upholds Saddam's Death Sentence

An Iraqi appeals court has upheld the death sentence for Saddam Hussein, Iraq's national security adviser said Tuesday. "The appeals court approved the verdict to hang Saddam," said the official, Mouwafak al-Rubaie.

On Nov. 5, an Iraqi court sentenced Saddam to the gallows for the 1982 killings of 148 people in a single Shiite town after an attempt on his life there.

He's one step closer to dancing from the end of the rope he so richly deserves. Of course, expect the usual suspects to complain about how Saddam's trial was marked by various discrepancies and other procedural issues that somehow nullify the atrocities he committed. Those same usual suspects were notably silent on those atrocities and that it took the US action to depose Saddam to put the Iraqis in a position to bring Saddam to justice.

UPDATE:
The New York Times has more, including that under Iraqi law, the sentence will likely be carried out within 30 days.

Reuters and other news agencies also quoted a court official, Raid Juhi, as saying that the verdict had been upheld.

It was not immediately clear when the execution under the verdict could be carried out, but under Iraqi law it is supposed to happen within 30 days of the final appeal. Mr. Hussein is currently being tried in a separate case on charges of genocide in connection with the deaths of 50,000 Kurds in a campaign that ultimately killed 180,000 Kurds in the 1980s.

The Shiite-led government has argued for a swift execution, saying that as long as Mr. Hussein is alive, he remains a powerful source of motivation for elements of the Sunni Arab insurgency fighting to restore him to power.

Earlier this year, Mr. Hussein’s chief lawyer, Khalil al-Dulaimi, said that Mr. Hussein had been expecting a death sentence handed down by the Iraqi court trying him on charges of crimes against humanity.

“Saddam Hussein is convinced of this,” Mr. Dulaimi said. “He knows the sentence has been issued from Washington, and if there’s an even greater punishment than the death sentence, he’ll get it.”

Never mind that Hussein is now on trial for the genocide and ethnic cleansing of hundreds of thousands of Kurds during the Anfal campaign, the Times has to carry water for the pro-Saddamists and take note of the current violence and strife ravaging Baghdad.

UPDATE:
Jason Smith notes that Saddam will be missing the Super Bowl. Too bad. So sad. Pajamas Media covers the story and notes that the swift appeal means that Saddam can't take advantage of Iraqi law that forbids the execution of persons over the age of 70.

Others taking note of the court's decision: Charles at LGF, Bill's Bites, Hot Air, TexasFreds (who offers the Administration some sharp criticism for not taking the reins and getting a grip on the situation in Iraq), NoisyRoom, Backseat Blogger, Thunder Pig, and Dread Pundit Bluto.

Technorati: saddam hussein, iraq, kurds, dujail, shiites, bush, capital punishment, justice.

Florida Suspends Death Penalty

OCALA, Florida — Gov. Jeb Bush has suspended all executions in Florida on Friday after a medical examiner says the lethal injection of a convicted killer was botched.

The execution of a convicted killer Angel Nieves Diaz took 34 minutes — twice as long as normal — because officials botched the insertion of the needles that delivered the lethal chemicals, a medical examiner said.

Bush responded to the findings by halting the signing of more death warrants until a commission he created to examine the state's lethal injection process completes its final report by March 1.

Dr. William Hamilton, who performed the autopsy, said the needles pierced Diaz's veins and then went into soft tissue in his arms. The lethal chemicals are supposed to go directly into the veins.

Hamilton refused to say whether he thought Diaz died a painful death.

"I am going to defer answers about pain and suffering until the autopsy is complete," he said. He said the results were preliminary and toxicology tests and other tests may take several weeks.

Diaz, 55, was put to death Wednesday for murdering of the manager of a Miami topless bar during a holdup in 1979. The condemned man not only took 34 minutes to die, but also needed a rare second dose of the lethal chemicals.

The medical examiner's findings contradicted the explanation given by prison officials, who said Diaz needed the second dose because liver disease caused him to metabolize the lethal drugs more slowly.

Hamilton said that although there were records that Diaz had hepatitis, his liver appeared normal.

So what now? Is Florida going to look for a less painless, more humane way to kill someone? Diaz was a convicted murderer. It took him 34 minutes to die...how long did it take his victim to die? How long has his victim's family suffered? Lets not rush to feel sorry for this murderer! There are others that deserve our sympathy more!

Fallout From Saddam's Death Penalty Conviction

Leave it to the media to tell you that reaction in Iraq is mixed. Should this surprise anyone? Saddam used the societial divisions to maintain his grip on power. His supporters were the Ba'athists, Sunni Muslims centered on Tikrit and the larger Baghdad region. Shi'ites and Kurds were his habitual whipping posts - and hundreds of thousands of both were slaughtered in his campaigns against both.

The Sunnis aren't happy campers, but the Kurds and Shi'ites are pretty satisfied with the outcome.

If you want some idea at the animus the Iraqi people in general held towards Saddam, look no further than this photo expose of the literally thousands of portraits, mosaics, and photographs of Saddam throughout Iraq. They've been defaced by the Iraqis themselves. The photographer's studio is set up on Hudson Street not too far from the Christopher Street station for those that want to get a better peak at the imagery.

In ‘Saddam Mania,’ a new exhibit at Think Tank 3, Belgian war photographer Teun Voeten captures an aspect of the Iraq invasion that no one else thought to document: the destruction of Saddam’s once-ubiquitous image.

Stop the ACLU notes the schizophrenic nature of the Times coverage of Saddam's conviction. The editorial has one notion of fair justice, while the news side has a completely different one. Covering all the bases, or is it that the editorial board isn't reading the news again? I think the Times is making an emotional argument instead of a rational one. The Times wants to defer (read: delay) the execution of the sentence. Justice delayed is justice denied. Why should the Iraqis listen to the Times editorial board's judgment when the editorial board does not have the Iraqi interests at heart. The healing process is also about instituting the rule of law.

We didn't see Saddam taken out back and hanged for all the world to see moments after the verdict came down. Under Saddam's version of governance, that is precisely what would have happened. Instead, the current Iraqi government has an appeals process and Saddam is taking full advantage of it. That, in itself, is a major step forward. It sets standards for how to deal with disputes, even ones of such tremendous import. It also shows the rule of law superseding the emotional need to rid the planet of such a horrendous tyrant and ruthless dictator.

AJ Strata also takes the Times to task for its latest nonsensical ravings.

Tony Blair has come out in opposition of the death penalty, but as I noted yesterday, I think he's wrong about this - as are most of the Europeans on the matter. If there's anyone deserving of the death penalty, Saddam fits the bill. And this verdict is only the first of a series of trials on the murder, genocide, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity Saddam and his minions perpetrated on the Iraqis since he took power nearly 30 years ago.

The curfew instituted in Baghdad has been lifted. While there was scattered violence, it wasn't as much as feared. The rioting has not materialized, though the media is still waiting for it to happen.

So, what about the timing of the verdict? Is it just a wee bit curious as the timing coincides with the US elections? Okay. So it does. And why shouldn't the US try and tout the successes in Iraq - and successes by Iraqis themselves ahead of a difficult election that Democrats themselves frame as a referendum on Iraq?

It certainly shouldn't hurt the Administration that Saddam's verdict was returned with a death sentence. All Democrats can do is question the timing, and that makes their criticisms seem paltry and unfocused, which the GOP will exploit as being incapable of leading on national security.

Technorati: saddam hussein, iraq, war+crimes, bush, anfal, marsh arabs.

Verdict's In: Saddam Gets Death

As I noted yesterday, there's no tree branch or street lamp high enough to hang Saddam for all of his crimes, let alone the ones for which he was convicted earlier today.

He was convicted of crimes against humanity for killing 148 Shi'ites. Two codefendants were also convicted of the crime. Nothing could change the fact that as of today, Saddam is a condemned man.

Now, he's not going to be hanged immediately. There are going to be appeals. There are also going to be additional war crimes/crimes against humanity cases against him. Specifically, Saddam needs to be tried for his ordering the Anfal campaign in which he used chemical weapons to deadly effect killing thousands of Kurds.

Shi'ites are cheering the verdict, but Sunnis are not so happy. That's as expected. Despite the clampdown on Baghdad, there was scattered violence and Shi'ites were celebrating by firing off their rockets.

CBS Morning News is doing its best this morning to smear the verdict and the process of the trial. Citing Amnesty International and Ramsey Clark is not going to cut it with me. Clark has not met a dictator he couldn't coddle. His anti-American views are in stark contrast to the millions of Iraqis who were wronged by Saddam. Amnesty International has politicized its views to such an extent that they're distorted on the issue of eliminating dictators who murdered hundreds of thousands of people, instead finding fault with those who depose such tyrants.

Pajamas Media has a roundup.

Others blogging this historic act: Stop the ACLU, Hot Air, Outside the Beltway, and Gateway Pundit.

UPDATE:
As I noted in the initial posting, the media is spewing its own opinions about the trial and its legitimacy, but avoiding the facts and circumstances of the charges and evidence thereof. Patterico also notes the media carrying water for Saddam - ah, the joys of media bias.

Wait for it. The Political Pit Bull is expecting a whole bunch of "that's nice, but..." coming from the left as the verdict filters down through the masses.

Still others blogging: bRight and Early, Wizbang, Scared Monkeys, Jo's Cafe.

UPDATE:
Michelle Malkin has a big roundup. She points out the charging documents, and a day-by-day outline of the trial. The Anfal trial is ongoing.

Iraq the Model has the pulse of the streets of Baghdad.

Via PJ Media:

Saddam execution will not be delayed for new trials: Post-verdict court press conference by the Iraqi High Tribunal spokesman:

— The district attorney will not appeal the not guilty verdict for one of the defendants and will support his release for lack of evidence against him. I want to make clear what took place today

— Ramsay Clark submitted a memorandum to the court that were insulting to the court and the Iraqi people and so the court has decided to vacate him from the court and will complain about him to the American Bar Association for his statements regarding the Iraqi judicial system.

— Regarding the life and death sentences, an automatic appeals process will take place within 30 days starting tommorow and they can submit memorandums and motions to dismiss following proper procedures. And the court executive committee will examine and either confirm the ruling or overturning the ruling. If they are upheld, the executions will move ahead.

Well, we've always known that Clark was a disgrace, this is simply icing on the cake.

UPDATE:
So what does the UN think of all this? The UN is criticizing the sentence. Bastards. The Secretariat - and Kofi Annan - looked the other way as they were enriched from Saddam's OFF program contributions (aka bribes and corruption). And they have the audacity to criticize the Iraqis' enforcement of the rule of law? The UN HRC avoided the discussion of the hundreds of thousands killed by Saddam over the years, instead trying to focus on the damage done by sanctions.

They don't want to see Saddam hanged. And it speaks volumes.

The HRC hopes he isn't hanged, but will abide by the decision of the Iraqi people. Like the UN has any choice in the matter?

UPDATE:
Patterico takes the LAT to task on yet another op-ed piece masquerading as a news piece. Keep mocking the modicum of justice meted out by the Iraqi court for all the vile acts committed by Saddam Hussein over the past three decades. Media outlets simply do not care that they lace their news stories with their opinions. It is pervasive and it does no one any favors. To their credit, thus far the NYT and WaPo have kept the editorializing to a minimum within the basic news stories though I expect that the analyitical pieces will be forthcoming, so expect that to change as well.

UPDATE:
The EU doesn't want to see Saddam hanged either. Now, there's a strong current of opposition to the death penalty in Europe, and even the Vatican has come out opposing the death penalty in this instance. However, I think they're wrong. If there's ever a case where the death penalty is appropriate, this is the one.

UPDATE:
President Bush delivers his statement on the verdict:

THE PRESIDENT: Today, Saddam Hussein was convicted and sentenced to death by the Iraqi High Tribunal for the massacres committed by his regime in the town of Dujayl. Saddam Hussein's trial is a milestone in the Iraqi people's efforts to replace the rule of a tyrant with the rule of law -- it's a major achievement for Iraq's young democracy and its constitutional government.

During Saddam Hussein's trial, the court received evidence from 130 witnesses. The man who once struck fear in the hearts of Iraqis had to listen to free Iraqis recount the acts of torture and murder that he ordered against their families and against them. Today, the victims of this regime have received a measure of the justice which many thought would never come.

Saddam Hussein will have an automatic right to appeal his sentence; he will continue to receive the due process and the legal rights that he denied the Iraqi people. Iraq has a lot of work ahead as it builds its society that delivers equal justice and protects all its citizens. Yet history will record today's judgment as an important achievement on the path to a free and just and unified society.

The United States is proud to stand with the Iraqi people. We will continue to support Iraq's unity government as it works to bring peace to its great country. We appreciate the determination and bravery of the Iraqi security forces, who are stepping forward to defend their free nation. And we give our thanks to the men and women of America's Armed Forces, who have sacrificed so much for the cause of freedom in Iraq -- and they've sacrificed for the security of the United States. Without their courage and skill, today's verdict would not have happened. On behalf of the American people, I thank every American who wears the uniform, I thank their families -- and I thank them for their service and continued sacrifice.

Thank you very much.

Technorati: saddam hussein, iraq, war+crimes, bush, anfal, marsh arabs.

Charged

A former U.S. soldier was arrested and charged with killing four Iraqi civilians and raping one of the female victims, U.S. officials said on Monday.

Steven Green, 21, who was stationed in Iraq with the 101st Airborne Division, appeared in court in Charlotte, North Carolina, and is expected to be sent to Kentucky where he has been charged with the attacks that took place in March 2006 near Mahmudiya, Iraq.

Green, who faces a possible death penalty if convicted, is charged with going to a house near Mahmudiya with three other people to rape a woman living in the house, according a statement by the U.S. attorney in Kentucky.

Green allegedly shot and killed an man, a woman and a 5-year-old girl. After raping a second female, described as an adult, Green shot and killed her, the statement said.

If these charges pan out, then Green can and should spend the rest of his life in federal prison for his acts (unless the feds are going to impose the death penalty).

Rushing to Judgment on Haditha?

Ilario Pantano knows all about rushing to judgment. He was the focus of a rush to judgment by media and others who just knew that he had to be guilty of killing two Iraqis - of committing murder.

The Marine Corps brought charges against Pantano, and prosecutors made quite the case for the first five days. And yet the entire case fell apart against Pantano when the autopsy found that he could not have committed the crimes alleged.

The Corps dropped the charges.

So, in the rush to judgment on those Marines who are being accused of criminal acts in Haditha, we should remember that the military justice system works - and rushing to judgment on whether certain Marines acted in a criminal manner makes matters worse. As Pantano notes:

Mr. Murtha's position is particularly suspect when he is quoted by news services as saying that the strain of deployment "has caused them [the Marines] to crack in situations like this." Not only is he certain of the Marines' guilt but he claims to know the cause, which he conveniently attributes to a policy he opposes.

Members of the U.S. military serving in Iraq need more than Mr. Murtha's pseudo-sympathy. They need leaders to stand with them even in the hardest of times. Let the courts decide if these Marines are guilty. They haven't even been charged with a crime yet, so it is premature to presume their guilt -- unless that presumption is tied to a political motive.

Rep. John Murtha (D-PA) has been quite vocal as an opponent of the war in Iraq, and has latched on to every misstep and alleged misdeed to slam the Administration and the war effort.

Murtha may claim that he has more knowledge and been briefed by military officials about the incident in Haditha - and the facts may end up bearing out Murtha.

Or not.

None of this excuses criminal activities, and as I've noted before, those who committed criminal acts in Haditha must be brought to justice and face criminal trials. If guilty, they should receive the harshest sentences for their acts. Indeed, some of those Marines involved could face the death penalty.

We're still quite a ways away from that, and while Murtha may indeed be correct that Haditha may hurt the war effort, the same can be said of his repeated pronouncements undermining the war effort based on selected readings of information about the Iraq campaign. And from rushing to judgment despite the fact that the Marines are still innocent until proven guilty. And Murtha is even going so far as to accuse the military of a coverup in Haditha.

The sad fact is that Murtha needs to let the military justice system work - and his statements are guaranteed to find a wide audience skewing perceptions of the public on the matter.

Blue Crab Boulevard and Mac Ranger have additional thoughts.

Dan Riehl notes that Murtha's got some peculiar ethics.

On this Memorial Day, we need to remember those who came before us who served with honor and distinction. We need to remember that they gave their lives and fought for defending this nation against Nazis, Communists, and are now fighting to spread freedom to those who are repressed by militant Islam. It is those soldiers, sailors, and Marines who need to know that they not only have our deserved respect, but our support.

UPDATE:
Added the link to the Pantano statement above.

Technorati: haditha, iraq, war+crimes, murder, jag, marines, investigation.

It's Only Life

A hostage taker involved in one of the bloodiest hostage sieges, the Beslan School massacre that resulted in over 330* people murdered (over 180 children), received a sentence of life in prison.

A Russian court sentenced the only surviving Beslan hostage-taker to life in prison on Friday for his part in the bloody 2004 school siege that killed 331 people.

Nurpashi Kulayev, a Chechen carpenter born in 1980, was found guilty on all charges, which included terrorism and murder. He had pleaded not guilty.

Prosecutors had requested the death penalty for Kulayev, but Judge Tamerlan Aguzarov said a current moratorium on capital punishment ruled that out.

*Wikipedia claims that 344 civilians were killed in the siege.

Sole Surviving Beslan Terrorist Found Guilty

The sole surviving Islamic terrorist who assaulted Beslan School Number Three and took hundreds of men, women, and children hostage on the first day of the new school year (September 1, 2004) - and murdered 331* of them in a bloody end to the siege was found guilty of his criminal acts.

However, the article makes no mention of his Islamic ties, or that of the Chechen terrorist group that perpetrated the attack.

"The court has established that Kulayev took part in an armed attack and a hostage-taking..., that he committed murder against defenceless people," said Tamerlan Aguzarov, chief justice of the high court in the province of North Ossetia Tuesday.

"He committed an act of terrorism with the aim of influencing the decisions of the authorities," the judge told the court.

The prosecutor has asked for the death penalty for Kulayev, who had pleaded not guilty, although Russia has declared a moratorium on capital punishment.

Court officials said the reading of the entire verdict would take several days.

Kulayev is the only survivor among the 32 Chechens who stormed the packed school in Beslan in September 2004 and held children, teachers, parents and relatives hostage there for three days.

The siege came to a tragic end in a bloody gunbattle with rescue forces, in which 331 people died, 186 of them children.

The group that attacked School Number One in the North Ossetian town of Beslan was demanding the removal of Russian troops from Chechnya. Moscow's troops have been entrenched for the past decade in a war against Chechen separatists that takes lives every week.

It wasn't just a gunbattle, but the terrorists had rigged the school with explosives that would be set off if rescuers tried to enter the buildings. The place became a deathtrap.

*Wikipedia claims that 344 civilians were killed in the siege.

HT: LGF