The Supreme Court turned down an appeal Monday from an Arizona man, first sentenced to death in 1977, who says he has been on death row too long to be executed. "Yeah, I finally got this cell to just the way I like it....remodeling is a bitch when you have to order all your tiles and grout from the prison canteen!"
Joe Clarence Smith Jr. has been sentenced to die three times for his crimes. Smith picked up two teen-age hitchhikers in the Arizona desert, a month apart, and killed them by stuffing their throats with dirt and taping their mouths. He also stabbed them repeatedly. Which, in the warped world view of Mr. Smith and his scumbag lawyers, is not cruel and unusual punishment....
The justices rejected Smith's latest plea to escape Arizona's execution chamber in which he argued that executing him now after so much time on death row would violate the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment.
Alone among his colleagues, Justice Stephen Breyer said he would have agreed to hear Smith's case. "In my view, Smith can reasonably claim that his execution at this late date would be 'unusual,' " Breyer wrote, explaining his vote. "And whether it is 'cruel' to keep an individual for decades on death row ... raises a serious constitutional question." I thought that the fact that we don't rush to kill someone on death row, but have a long, drawn out, mandated appeals process, was supposed to guarantee their constitutional rights?? I'm so confused....
Smith's first death sentence was thrown out because of a change in Arizona's death penalty statutes. A federal appeals court tossed out second sentence after finding that his lawyers did a poor job at the second sentencing proceeding.
In 2004, an Arizona trial court then rejected his claim that he has been on death row too long and sentenced him to death again, a decision upheld by the state Supreme Court. I will give him props for not even bothering with the usual "Ima changed man! I believe in God now!" horsesh*t....but they still need to hook him up.....
#2
Who stretched out the process for thirty years with endless appeals? You got far more years upon this earth than your victims received at your hands.
Around 18,000 will be murdered this year, down from a high of 24,000 from the 80's. Where is their 'due process', their appeals, their protection from 'cruel and unusual'? When you fix that, come talk to us again about your plight. Notice how we confine ourselves at night? Notice how we worry about where our children are at when night falls? Notice that there are parts of our cities and communities we do not travel to or through? Now, tell me that a death penalty doesn't alter behaviors.
#8
He's intentionally dragged out the legal process for this long so thatwith both his parents dead of old agehe can finally demand clemency due to being an orphan.
The only thing long overdue in this particular case is a thorough revamping of the death penalty process to avoid exactly this sort of horseshit.
#9
It would be cruel to take him out of his death row cell after so many years pondering potential death by injection. The State of Arizona should leave him in his death row cell, mouth taped and full of dirt.
Posted by: High Brow ||
10/16/2007 13:57 Comments ||
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#10
"I've got five hundred bucks for the first guy to whack this POS."
#11
30 yrs!? WTF.....no more than 3 appeals & a yr waiting to get needled - at the very max is all these jokers rate........what a joke. Our CJ system is broke. Somebody publicly hang this sumbitch & get it over with.
PITTSBURGH -- Rescue crews freed a woman trapped under a sport utility vehicle in Brookline late Monday morning. Police said the woman, whose name has not been released, feared her husband was cheating on her. They said she went to spy on him by crawling under an SUV outside her husbands alleged girlfriends house in the 1300 block of Oakridge Street.
She apparently fell asleep under the vehicle and became trapped after someone let the air out of the tires.
Ray Ludchak was working on the house next door when he heard the womans cries for help. "I peered down to see a body beneath a vehicle," said Ludchak.
The couple has been married for 26 years. The woman was taken into custody to undergo a mental health evaluation. Police are trying to determine who let the air out of the tires. So far, no charges have been filed. IIRC, in Paris there is or was a band of ecodumbasses who make "political" statements by deflating the tires of big cars, could that be that?
I wonder if the husband knew what was going on the whole time ...
MIAMI -- The man accused of leaving a 5-year-old girl to be eaten alive by alligators in the Everglades has been sentenced to death. Harrel Braddy attacked Quatisha Maycock and her mother after he was released early from prison in another case for good behavior. He was convicted in July of first-degree murder, attempted murder, kidnapping, attempted escape and other charges.
He was also sentenced Monday to three consecutive life terms on the kidnapping and burglary with an assault charges. He also received 30 years in prison on the attempted murder of the girl's mother, Shandelle Maycock, 15 years on child neglect causing great bodily harm and five years on attempted escape.
Prosecutors said Braddy tossed Maycock in the trunk of his car in 1998 and drove her to a remote sugarcane field, choked her to unconsciousness and left her to die. She never saw her child again.
The case took so long because Braddy repeatedly fired his lawyers and occasionally represented himself in court.
#1
Unfortunately, the state of Florida doesn't use alligators as a means of execution.
Posted by: Mike ||
10/16/2007 7:40 Comments ||
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#2
Actually I think is douchebag rates *sshole of the year.
C'mon you anti-death penalty pansies.......don't let me down now, you have to go out and protest this gross abuse of justice by the state of Florida....because it's so cruel & unusual. Kind of like leaving a poor 5 yr old girl for the gators.
#3
It never ceases to amaze me how some people can live with themselves. People like Braddy have to be so uncontaminated by even a scintilla of conscience that you'd think their other brain functions would have shut down a long time ago as well. Criminals like this make me regret we ever banned the electric chair or gas chamber. The needle is far too kind for this scum.
#4
Where's those Lake Placid crocodiles when ya need em?
Posted by: Charles ||
10/16/2007 8:18 Comments ||
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#5
"15 years on child neglect"? That's kind of an unusual charge to levy against a kidnapper, unless he was her biological father or had a previous relationship with her mother.
Also odd, but explainable, was that he probably said that she was still alive when he left her, lying in that he had probably strangled her to death.
The story needs more details. Granted, no objection here to slowly lowering him into a vat full of burning pitch, whatever the details.
#7
"15 years on child neglect"? That's kind of an unusual charge to levy against a kidnapper, unless he was her biological father or had a previous relationship with her mother.
It could be that even kidnappers are expected to act in loco parentis.
They saved the best bit until the final paragraph, Abbe sounds like a RB sort of gal. ;.
Miami-Dade prosecutor Abbe Rifkin, who has handled Braddy's case for the eight years since Quatisha's body was pulled from the swampy canal, has suffered through too many continuances to pin her hopes on that date.
"If I have to come out of retirement to prosecute Harrel Braddy," she says, "you better believe I will."
#11
It's just way too bad that they didn't take this a55hole back to the swamp to review evidence, and then let him 'try to escape' even if it meant pushing him out of the airboat......
Posted by: Fred ||
10/16/2007 00:00 ||
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A lot of people in this country pooh-pooh Moldovan table wines. This is a pity as many fine Moldovan wines appeal not only to the Bassarabian palate but also to the cognoscenti of lower Poughkeepsie.
Black Stump Batuta Neagra is rightly praised as a kvass flavoured Pinot Gris, whilst a good Singerei Syrup can rank with any of the world's best salted wines.
Château Barza Alba, too, has won many prizes; not least for its taste, and its lingering afterburn.
Old Furmint 1998 has been compared favourably to a Texan claret, whilst the Moldovan Wino Society thoroughly recommends a 1990 Kvint du Stefan cel Mare, which, believe me, has a kick on it like a mule: eight bottles of this and you're really finished. At the opening of the Soroca Bridge Club, they were fishing them out of the Nistru shallows every half an hour.
#2
Of the sparkling wines, the most famous is Purcari Pink. This is a bottle with a message in, and the message is 'beware'. This is not a wine for drinking, this is a wine for laying down and avoiding.
Another good fighting wine is Tamaioasa Old-and-Yellow, which is particularly heavy and should be used only for hand-to-hand combat.
#3
Quite the reverse is true of Château Hurlgut, which is an appellation controlée, specially grown for those keen on regurgitation; a fine wine which really opens up the sluices at both ends.
#4
Real emetic fans will also go for a Glodeni Muddy, and a prize winning Cuvee Reserve Château Bottled Nuit San Milestii Mici, which has a bouquet like a shepherd's armpit.
The Department for Transport has advised local authorities to keep speeds in residential streets down to 20mph "unless there are overriding reasons for accepting higher speeds".
The limit would be enforced by "time over distance" devices that measure the average speed of a car between two points. This is to stop motorists accelerating when there is one camera in use.
These cameras are undergoing trials and are still awaiting approval for use in 20mph zones from the Home Office.
The news comes as the Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety (Pacts) published its report calling for sweeping changes to reduce the number of people killed and injured on roads.
It called for the cameras to be approved for use in speed zones under 30mph and said the cameras were seen as safer and more car-friendly than speed humps. Pacts said humps and chicanes led to an increase in vehicle emissions and proved expensive and unpopular.
However, the proposals were criticised last night.
Paul Smith, the camera campaigner, said the plans were "ridiculous". "We don't need more regulation," he said. "We need better drivers through education and road safety culture."
They're called speed bumps on this side of the Atlantic. Shown remarkable success in reducing high speeds in residential areas, particularly in removing undercarriages of transiting low riders, minis and flesh from motorcycle enthusiasts addicted to the fast lane.
#4
if memory serves, doesn't the Pennsylvania Turnpike already do this by comparing time over distance on your toll ticket? lot cheaper than cameras, but admittedly not as sexy.
#6
Got 2 trafficam tickets in England in my rent-a-car during August. Doing about 35 mph on a divided semi-rural road on consecutive nights. Due to the exchange rate, cost me about $130. Sucks ass, Beavis.
Posted by: Tibor ||
10/16/2007 18:01 Comments ||
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#7
Does the Penna Turn pike hit the EZPass for the fine? Cause I've never gotten a ticket, or a point.
#8
"if memory serves, doesn't the Pennsylvania Turnpike already do this by comparing time over distance on your toll ticket? lot cheaper than cameras, but admittedly not as sexy."
Not absolutely sure, but I don't think so. I recall there was a proposal to do this a few years back, but I think it got shouted down by howls of outrage.
In any case, I fly drive the Turnpike end-to-end every month or two, with both afterburners on; and I've never gotten a ticket on the basis of transit time. Whacked by radar? Hell, yeah. But not transit time.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
10/16/2007 18:50 Comments ||
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#9
Song > "I can't drive 55". Okay-y-y. so how about 20 mph???
New Zealand police refused to confirm on Tuesday reports that Prime Minister Helen Clark had been targeted by a paramilitary group, which has also reportedly tested a napalm bomb and trained dissidents planning terrorist attacks. There were reports that a specific threat had been made recently against Clark, who would not comment although she confirmed that police had briefed her.
A police anti-terrorist squad launched a coordinated nationwide series of raids on suspects Monday, arresting 17 people and seizing a range of military-style assault rifles, Molotov cocktails and other weapons.
A cabinet meeting was told that police had monitored a group calling itself the Freedom Fighters that had held training camps in the remote Urewera mountain range, traditional home of the indigenous Maori Tuhoe tribe, for more than a year.
A cabinet meeting was told that police had monitored a group calling itself the Freedom Fighters that had held training camps in the remote Urewera mountain range, traditional home of the indigenous Maori Tuhoe tribe, for more than a year. Police chief Howard Broad said that he ordered the raids because "there was a significant risk and I deemed it prudent to act now rather than allow this risk to continue."
The highest profile arrest was that of prominent Maori rights campaigner Tame Iti, 55, who appeared in court charged with possessing firearms. Iti, who has demanded independence for what he calls the "Tuhoe nation," was convicted of shooting a New Zealand flag in public in 2005 but his conviction was overturned on appeal.
Broad said people who attended the training camps had different motivations and were from different ethnicities. Reports said they included environment campaigners and members of so-called peace groups. He said there were no known international connections.
A napalm bomb - of the kind United States forces used during the Vietnam War - was detonated eight days ago in a guerrilla-style exercise at one of the training camps, Wellington's Dominion Post reported.
This article starring:
Helen Clark
Posted by: Fred ||
10/16/2007 00:00 ||
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"was convicted of shooting a New Zealand flag in public in 2005"
Back off coppers! One move and the flag gets it!
Posted by: DanNY ||
10/16/2007 8:22 Comments ||
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#3
Hillary needs her own "crimes" book, which both explicitly implicates her for her individual offenses, and presents the evidence, as well as what she has done in past to protect herself from indictment.
But in truth, it doesn't matter. The Republicans just don't have the cajones to prosecute either Bill or Hillary. They are above the law.
Quagmire!
Baghdad (AKI) - During the Islamic festival of Eid-ul-fitr, marking the end of the holy Muslim month of Ramadan, children in the Iraqi capital have been asking for compressed-air guns and rifles from their parents as presents. The children's preferred game is to 'recreate' the daily clashes on streets of their neighbourhoods between warring factions and US troops, reported Kuwaiti daily al-Watan.
The mother of a 12 year old child says that her son asked for two costumes, one a US military uniform and the other a black one, like that worn by the Shia militia Jaish al-Mahdi. In one incident, a child dressed like an American soldier ended up in hospital after being injured during a mock battle with his cousin dressed in the Jaish al-Mahdi costume.
According to toy vendors, sales of compressed-air guns and rifles have skyrocketed, while at the same time hospitals have treated a rising number of children for injuries to their faces and the eyes from rubber pellets. Not to mention the airsoft VIED.
Parents have accused toy vendors of selling real guns as toys, while the vendors claim the children merely want to reproduce what they see and hear on the streets.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
MIAMI -- The man accused of leaving a 5-year-old girl to be eaten alive by alligators in the Everglades has been sentenced to death. Harrel Braddy attacked Quatisha Maycock and her mother after he was released early from prison in another case for good behavior. He was convicted in July of first-degree murder, attempted murder, kidnapping, attempted escape and other charges.
