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Claim your innocence World – News about the death penalty in the world


Hi everyone,

Just a little reminder, I created a blog about the death penalty in the world, you can read the news in all countries practicing the death penalty.

You find the blog here,  http://claimyourinnocenceworld.wordpress.com/

Thanks so much for your support.

 

Anabel

Swiss Government Wants To End Death Penalty Everywhere


July 19 2012 AP- huffington Post

GENEVA — The Swiss government has reaffirmed its commitment toward seeking the abolition of the death penalty “throughout the world.”

A Foreign Ministry statement Thursday says Switzerland firmly opposes the death penalty “in any and all circumstances” anywhere on the planet.

The statement came in response to Hamas authorities hanging three Palestinians on Tuesday who were convicted of murder in different cases, the sixth such executions in the Gaza Strip this year.

Switzerland called for a moratorium on capital punishment in the Gaza Strip, calling the death penalty “a violation of the most fundamental of human rights.”

Switzerland outlawed capital punishment for civilians in 1942 and for the Swiss military in 1992. The country also belongs to the Council of Europe, which opposes the death penalty.

 

CONNECTICUT – AP Interview: Death row inmate says new law unfair – Daniel Webb


July 17, 2012 The associed Press : AJC 

SOMERS, Conn. — Daniel Webb is awaiting execution for the 1989 kidnapping and murder of a Connecticut bank executive, but he believes he is also paying a price for another, unrelated crime that has heavily influenced the state’s debate on capital punishment.

Webb told The Associated Press in a death row interview that he thinks there would be no capital punishment in the state if not for the public’s desire to execute the men responsible for the 2007 home-invasion slayings of a mother and her two daughters in suburban Cheshire. The only survivor of that crime, Dr. William Petit, lobbied to keep the death penalty for the men who killed his family, Steven Hayes and Joshua Komisarjevsky.

Dr. Petit is angry with them and with his anger he wants to kill all of us,” said Webb, who spoke by telephone from behind a glass window. “Now you are trying to increase my suffering and take away the little that I had because you want to make Komisarjevsky suffer. That’s not right.

Webb was sentenced to die for the slaying in Hartford of Diane Gellenbeck, a 37-year-old Connecticut National Bank vice president, who was taken from a downtown parking garage and shot to death near a local golf course as she ran from an attempted sexual assault.

The state legislature in April abolished capital punishment, but only for future crimes. Gov. Dannel P. Malloy and key state lawmakers had insisted on that as a condition of their support for repeal in a long-running debate that focused on the Petit case.

“If you are going to abolish the death penalty, abolish the death penalty,” said Webb. “I don’t think you can have a law that has double standards. Abolish means abolish, doesn’t it?”

A spokesman for Malloy declined to comment on Webb’s assertion.

William Petit’s sister, Hanna Petit Chapman, said she does not care what Webb thinks. She compared him to her relatives’ killers for laying blame with others.

“His condemnation is a direct result of his choices and actions. His finger pointing and blaming others sounds very familiar to what we heard from Komisarjevsky and Hayes. He could have let her go, yet, chose to shoot her five times when she escaped. I am not sure how that translates to being my family’s fault,” she said.

The balding, bearded Webb also complained during the hour-long interview Friday that the conditions of his confinement are unbearable and amount to torture.

Death-row inmates at Northern Correctional Institution are kept isolated in 8-by-12 foot cells with almost no human contact, even with other death-row inmates. They are given an hour of recreation a day, alone in cell-sized cages in the prison yard.

Webb, 49, says he has no friends on death row. He can only communicate by shouting through his steel door or into an air vent, something he says makes conversations with other inmates almost impossible.

Correction Department spokesman Brian Garnett described the conditions as humane and constitutional.

The mother of Webb’s victim is not sympathetic. Dorothy Gellenbeck, 86, said Webb deserves to live in the harshest conditions and to die for killing her daughter.

“I have had a lot of years to miss my girl,” Gellenbeck said from her home in Pennington, N.J. “I don’t care what the new Connecticut law is. He is guilty of murder and at the time of the murder the death penalty was in effect. And why should he live, when he killed someone?”

Connecticut’s only execution since 1960 came in 2005, after serial killer Michael Ross voluntarily gave up his appeals.

“I can now see what can push a man to that point,” said Webb. “I’d rather be dead than live like this.”

Webb said he attempted to hang himself in January, and later wrote a letter to court officials asking to give up his appeals and be executed. He has since rescinded that decision, saying lawyers and mental health professionals convinced him to wait and see how legal challenges to the death penalty are received.

Chief State’s Attorney Kevin Kane testified during public hearings this spring that he expects inmates to challenge the constitutionality of keeping them on death row by arguing the sentence is now unfairly applied based on the date of the crime.

Webb said he also has evolved and matured since 1989. Nobody, he said, should be held in isolation, just waiting to die.

“I’m still human,” he said. “People grow. Even people as despised as Joshua or Hayes, they can change over time.”

40’000 views for Claim Your Innocence after 5 months online


I want to thank everyone for your support, for your comments, reactions, I am proud that people from around the world read articles on Claim your innocence. Without you, Claim your innocence could not exist. thank you !

Anabel 

Nueva Pagina – VERSION EN ESPANOL – Detalles sobre la pena de muerte


Estados Donde Se Practica la Pena de Muerte

Alabama
Arizona
Arkansas
California
Colorado
Connecticut
Delaware
Florida
Georgia
Idaho
Indiana
Kansas
Kentucky
Louisiana
Maryland
Mississippi
Missouri
Montana
Nebraska
Nevada
Nuevo Hampshire
Carolina del Norte
Ohio
Oklahoma
Oregon
Pennsylvania
Carolina del Sur
Dakota del Sur
Tennessee
Texas
Utah
Virginia
Washington
Wyoming

– Gobierno Federal de los EEUU
– Fuerzas Armadas de los EEUU



Estados Donde No Se Practica la Pena de
 Muerte

Alaska
Hawaii
Illinois
Iowa
Maine
Massachusetts
Michigan
Minnesota
Dakota del Norte
Nueva Jersey
Nuevo México
Nueva York
Rhode Island
Vermont
Virginia del Oeste
Wisconsin

– Distrito de Columbia

El Pabellón de la Muerte



California 721 Carolina del Sur 63 Connecticut 10

Fuente: NAACP Fondo de Defensa Legal, 
El Pabellón de la Muerte, U.S.A. 
(1 de enero, 2011)

Florida 398 Gobierno Federal 61 Utah 9
Texas 321 Mississippi 60 Kansas 9
Pennsylvania 219 Missouri 50 Washington 9
Alabama 206 Arkansas 43 Fuerzas Armadas 6
Carolina del Norte 165 Kentucky 36 Maryland 5
Ohio 159 Oregon 34 Colorado 4
Arizona 138 Delaware 20 Dakota del Sur 3
Georgia 103 Idaho 16 Montana 2
Tennessee 87 Illinois 16 Nuevo México 2
Louisiana 86 Indiana 14 Wyoming 1
Nevada 81 Nebraska 12 Nuevo Hampshire 1
Oklahoma 77 Virginia 11
  • Cuando uno añade los números, el total es un poco más alto que 3,251 porque algunos presos son condenados en más que un estado.
  • Las juridicciones que tienen 10 o más presos con el porcentaje altísimo de las minorías en el pabellón de la muerte:
    • Texas (70%)
    • Pennsylvania (69%)

Vida Sin Libertad Condicional



 Estados con la Pena de Muerte que Ofrecen la Vida Sin Libertad Condicional  

  (34/34 Estados)

Arizona Maryland Dakota del Sur
Arkansas Mississippi Tennessee
California Missouri Texas
Colorado Montana Utah
Connecticut Nebraska Virginia
Delaware Nevada Washington
Florida Nuevo Hampshire Wyoming
Georgia Carolina del Norte Estatuto Federal
Idaho Ohio Estatuto Militar
Indiana Oklahoma
Kansas Oregon
Kentucky Pennsylvania
Louisiana Carolina del Sur

Estados sin la Pena de Muerte que Ofrecen la Vida Sin Libertad Condicional 
  (15/16 Estados)

Hawaii Minnesota Vermont
Illinois Nueva Jersey Virginia del Oeste
Iowa Nuevo México Wisconsin
Maine Nueva York Distrito de Columbia
Massachusetts Dakota del Norte
Michigan Rhode Island Alaska no tiene la vida sin libertad condicional.

Lawyer: Zimmerman Is No Threat, Should Be Released


June 25, 2012  Source : http://www.huffingtonpost.com

ORLANDO, Fla. — The jailed neighborhood watch volunteer charged with killing Trayvon Martin poses no threat to the community and should be released a second time on bail, his attorney said in a court motion released Monday

George Zimmerman’s attorney asked that Zimmerman be granted bond for a second time as he awaits a second-degree murder charge in the 17-year-old Martin’s shooting death during a confrontation in February in a gated community in Sanford, Fla. His attorney says Zimmerman isn’t a flight risk and stayed in touch with law enforcement during his initial release on bail.

A judge will consider the request at a second bond hearing Friday.

Zimmerman has pleaded not guilty, claiming self-defense.

The neighborhood watch volunteer was granted a $150,000 bond last April but it was revoked earlier this month after prosecutors accused Zimmerman and his wife of misleading the court about how much money they had raised from donations to a website. Prosecutors say they had raised at least $135,000 from the website created by Zimmerman.

During the hearing, Zimmerman’s wife, Shellie, testified that the couple had limited funds to use for bail since she was a fulltime nursing student and he wasn’t working. Zimmerman did nothing to correct her as she testified by telephone due to safety concerns. Prosecutors say jailhouse calls between Zimmerman and his wife a few days before the hearing show the neighborhood watch volunteer instructing his wife on how to transfer funds raised by the website to her account.

Zimmerman’s wife, Shellie, was later charged with making a false statement.

“Mr. Zimmerman’s failure to advise the court of the existence of the donated funds at the initial bail hearing was wrong and Mr. Zimmerman accepts responsibility for his part in allowing the court to be misled as to his true financial circumstances,” Zimmerman’s attorney, Mark O’Mara wrote in the motion.

O’Mara also will ask Circuit Judge Kenneth Lester to reconsider his decision to make public all of Zimmerman’s jailhouse calls and the statement of an unnamed witness. O’Mara said most of the calls aren’t subject to the state’s public records laws and the witness statement is irrelevant and could prejudice a potential jury.

Attorneys for two sets of media groups filed motions Monday arguing there was no need for the judge to reconsider his decision.

“There should be no further delay in the public’s access to these public records,” attorney Scott Ponce wrote in a motion for one media group that includes The Associated Press.

George Zimmerman’s Reenactment Of Trayvon Martin Shooting (VIDEO)


june 21, 2012 Source :http://www.huffingtonpost.com

ORLANDO, Fla. — George Zimmerman appears believable when he re-enacts for police what he says led to the fatal shooting of Trayvon Martin, but some of his statements are questionable, lawyers who reviewed the footage Thursday said.

Watch here : video 

Even a detective who interrogates the neighborhood watch leader in an audio recording points out inconsistencies in his story, particularly Zimmerman’s claim that Martin confronted him, punched him and slammed his head onto the ground when the teenager had no prior history of violence.

Detective Chris Sereno asks Zimmerman whether he was profiling Martin because he was black, a claim Martin’s parents have made.

“You know you are going to come under a lot of scrutiny for this,” Sereno said. “Had this person been white, would you have felt the same way?”

“Yes,” said Zimmerman, who father is white and his mother Hispanic.

The video and audio tapes released by Zimmerman’s attorney give Zimmerman’s most detailed account yet of what led to the Feb. 26 shooting. They were released almost a week before Zimmerman’s second bond hearing on a second-degree murder charge, and on the heels of unflattering telephone calls capturing Zimmerman and his wife talking in code about using money collected for a defense fund to pay credit cards.

Zimmerman claims he shot the unarmed 17-year-old Martin teen in self-defense, under Florida’s “stand your ground” law.

Martin’s parents have said Zimmerman was the aggressor. They said Martin was walking back from a convenience store through the gated community in Sanford when Zimmerman spotted Martin and started following him.

In the video ( ), Zimmerman said he grabbed his gun from a holster on his waist before Martin could get it, and shot Martin once in the chest as they fought on the ground outside townhomes in a gated community. After firing, Zimmerman said he thought he missed. http://apne.ws/KWquJX

“He sat up and said, `You got me. You got me, or something like that,'” Zimmerman said.

Zimmerman said Martin had been on top of him, slamming his head against the ground and smothering his mouth and nose with his hand and arm. The tape shows two butterfly bandages on the back of Zimmerman’s head and another on his nose. There are red marks on the front of his head.

It felt like my head was going to explode,” he said.

Criminal defense lawyers who reviewed the video for The Associated Press and have no connection to the case said there were some parts that didn’t add up.

“He came across as being straight-forward,” attorney David Hill said. “I didn’t see him being too slick on the details.”

Hill said the video didn’t show him to be the zealous “cop-wannabe” that Martin’s parents have portrayed.

Zimmerman claims Martin confronted him after the neighborhood watch leader had given up searching for him and was walking back to his truck. But there doesn’t appear to be a place to hide in the area where Zimmerman says Martin suddenly appeared, Hill pointed out.

Zimmerman’s injuries also don’t appear to be consistent with the severity of the attack he described, Hill said.

Attorney Blaine McChesney said he found parts of Zimmerman’s re-enactment difficult to envision, such as his account of how he was able to reach for his gun with Martin on top of him. Zimmerman said he got on top of Martin after the shooting to restrain him.

“I also find it strange that Zimmerman would have attempted to use both his arms to hold Martin facedown, re-holstering his firearm, given those circumstances,” McChesney said. “Once out from under Martin’s alleged attack, it would have been more logical to hold Martin at gunpoint from a few feet away until police arrived.”

In one of the audio recordings, Sereno tells Zimmerman three days after the shooting that Martin was a “good kid, mild-mannered kid.”

Sereno tells Zimmerman that Martin, an athlete with an interest in aeronautics, was “a kid with a future, a kid with folks that care.” The detective said Martin only had a bag of Skittles and an iced tea on him when he died.

“Not a goon,” Sereno said.

He asked Zimmerman to explain why he doesn’t have bruises on his body or broken ribs. The two dozen punches Zimmerman claims he took are “not quite consistent with your injuries,” Sereno said.

Benjamin Crump, the attorney for Martin’s parents, couldn’t immediately be reached for comment Thursday. But appearing on CNN’s “Piers Morgan Tonight,” Crump said Zimmerman’s credibility is the issue.

“Everybody’s going to have to look at this for what it is,” Crump said. “You’ve got objective evidence, and then you’ve got George Zimmerman’s versions. You put them up against one another and we know that written statement that he did that night doesn’t match up to that 911 tape.

“And there are other inconsistencies, and when we see the lie, we’ve got to call it out and say, there’s his credibility again, and that’s the important thing.”

Zimmerman called police after spotting Martin walking around the neighborhood and the dispatcher told him not to follow the teen. For reasons that are still unclear, Zimmerman kept up his pursuit, even getting out of his truck. He lost sight of Martin and was walking back to his truck when Martin confronted him, Zimmerman said.

“Do you have a problem?” Zimmerman said, quoting Martin.

If Zimmerman’s account his accurate, he has a viable “stand your ground” defense, McChesney said.

Zimmerman’s attorney has the option of asking for a “stand your ground” hearing in which he will present Zimmerman’s account to a judge and ask that the charge be dismissed without going to trial.

Zimmerman’s second bond hearing will be June 29. His $150,000 bond was revoked earlier this month after prosecutors said Zimmerman and his wife, Shellie, misled the court about how much money they had available for bail. Shellie Zimmerman was charged last week with making a false statement.

Defense attorney Mark O’Mara said his client will be shown to have told the truth about the incident, even though the statement regarding the Zimmermans’ finances was shown to be false.

“The attacks on Mr. Zimmerman’s credibilities are going to pale in comparison to the undeniable, objective evidence,” he said.

FLORIDA – George Zimmerman’s Jailhouse Calls To Wife Reveal Couple’s Alleged Plan To Hide Funds (AUDIO)


June 18,  2012 Source : http://www.huffingtonpost.com

The special prosecutor in the case of George Zimmerman, the Florida man accused of murdering 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, released a half-dozen recorded jailhouse phone conversations between Zimmerman and his wife, Shellie, which prosecutors say reveal the couple’s plans to conceal more than $130,000 of donated money via transfers between their personal bank accounts.

The release of the recordings comes just a week after Shellie Zimmerman was arrested and charged with perjury for lying under oath about the family’s financial status during an April hearing in which her husband was granted bond.

Prosecutors say that while George and Shellie Zimmerman told the judge under oath that they were broke, and their lawyer requested a low bond because of the couple’s dire financial situation, they were instead paying off credit card bills and transferring funds into his wife’s personal bank account from a Paypal account linked to a website to raise defense funds.

In a call on April 12 Zimmerman tells his wife how happy he is about all of the money pouring in from website.

“Oh, man, that feels good… that there are people in America that care,” George Zimmerman tells Shellie. “Yeah they do,” she responds.

Shellie Zimmerman then tells George how so many people had gone to the website that it crashed several times.

“It makes me feel happy and to lay here and um be okay,” George Zimmerman tells his wife during that phone conversation.

“I’m so happy to know that you’re gonna be okay,” Shellie Zimmerman says. “After this… you’re gonna be able to just, have a great life.”

“We will,” Zimmerman said.

The call was made the day after Zimmerman was arrested and charged with second-degree murder.

LISTEN PHONE CALLS : CLICK HERE 

On Friday, State Attorney Angela Corey’s office said that it would be releasing a trove of evidence in the case, including 151 audio recordings of phone calls that Zimmerman made from the Seminole County Jail. But not long after the announcement, Mark O’Mara, Zimmerman’s attorney, argued that only a fraction of those calls — which prosecutors used to have Zimmerman’s bond revoked and charges levied against his wife — should be released.

O’Mara has said that he plans on filing a motion to ask the judge in the case only to allow the release of phone calls that are directly related to Zimmerman’s bond. Otherwise, he wrote in a web posting, the privacy of family and friends of his clients could be compromised.

“Our motion will contend that the majority of the phone calls are personal and irrelevant to the charges against Mr. Zimmerman or issues surrounding the next bond hearing,” O’Mara wrote on gzlegalcase.com. “Moreover, the public release of these phone calls could jeopardize the privacy of friends and family of Mr. Zimmerman who are unrelated to the case. We will not be objecting to the release of phone calls that include conversations relevant to the the bond hearing or the charges Mr. Zimmerman faces.

Shortly after George Zimmerman’s initial bond hearing in May, it was revealed that he had raised as much as $200,000 via a website to collect funds for his defense. At a June 1 hearing, his bond was revoked after prosecutors presented recorded jailhouse conversations in which the Zimmermans seem to collude to keep the funds hidden. Zimmerman told his wife to “pay off all the bills,” which included those for American Express and Sam’s Club credit cards.

“This court was led to believe they didn’t have a single penny,” prosecutor Bernie De la Rionda said at the hearing. “It was misleading, and I don’t know what words to use other than it was a blatant lie.”

According to court documents filed last week, prosecutors also obtained bank records showing that between April 16 and April 19, just days before Zimmerman’s first bond hearing, Shellie Zimmerman transferred more than $74,000 from her husband’s account to her own.

There were a total of eight transfers, according to the documents — four transfers in the amount of $9,990, two for $9,999, and two others for $7,500. Even after Zimmerman’s release, the large transfers of cash continued. On April 24, Shellie Zimmerman transferred more than $85,000 from her husband’s account to her own.

Shellie Zimmerman was arrested and charged last week but that same day posted a $1,000 bond and was released.

George Zimmerman, who has plead not guilty to second-degree murder charges in the February 26 shooting death of Martin, has a new bond hearing scheduled for June 29.

read the full article : click here