Supreme Court Gives Inmate Second Chance To Appeal Death Penalty Conviction

By Lyndsey Kelly
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

WASHINGTON, D.C., United States of America – On Tuesday, 20 January 2015 the United States Supreme Court threw out an appeals court ruling that went against a Missouri death row inmate, effectively putting off the imminent threat of execution. The Supreme Court had previously made a ruling on this case, blocking the 28 October execution, allowing the inmate a chance to file new court papers. Now, inmate Mark Christeson will be given the chance to argue that his court-appointed attorneys were ineffective due to their failure to file an appeal in federal court back in 2005.

Missouri inmate Mark Christeson to be given a second chance for appeal (Photo Courtesy of Reuters)

Christeson currently faces a death sentence for killing Susan Brouk, 36, and her children in 1998. Christenson and his cousin Jesse Carter, at the time 18 and 17 years old, broke into Brouk’s home in order to steal her vehicle as part of their plan to run away from the home they were living in. Both men were armed with shotguns, when they kidnapped Brouk and her children, subsequently killing them and throwing the bodies into a nearby pond.

A group of attorneys argues that Christenson’s court-appointed attorneys, Phil Horwitz and Eric Butts, should be replaced from the current appeal due to a conflict of interest because they have refused to admit their own ineffective assistance. Horwitz and Butts missed a 2005 deadline t file a federal appeals petition. The groups of new attorneys have argued that substituting lawyers would give Christenson a fair chance to win a federal review.

In an unsigned petition, the Supreme Court said that the lower courts should have acknowledged that Horwitz and Butts faced a conflict of interest. Thus, making it nearly impossible to make a legal argument that would threaten their professional reputation. However, the opinion of the court was not unanimous as Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas dissented, stating that they would not have reversed the appeals court’s decision without a full briefing from both parties.

Christenson would have been the 11th man executed in Missouri last year, had the Supreme Court not put his execution on hold while it considered his appeal.

 

For more information, please see the following:

BOSTON HERALD- Supreme Court: Death Row Inmate Deserves Hearing – 20 Jan. 2015.

REUTERS- Supreme Court Gives Missouri Death Row Inmate Another Chance – 20 Jan. 2015.

STAR TRIBUNE- Supreme Court Says Missouri Death Row Inmate Deserves New Hearing – 20 Jan. 2015.

WALL STREET JOURNAL – Supreme Court Gives Second Chance To Condemned Missouri Inmate -20 Jan. 2015.

Six Dead After Inhaling Methane Gas At Healing Ceremony

By Delisa Morris

Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

QUITO, Ecuador – – Two Shaman along with a family of four died just before midnight on Tuesday.  The family was participating in a healing ceremony when the hot springs they were bathing in, located in the northern Andean province of Imbabura, leaked a poisonous gas, probably methane.

A Shaman performing a ritual/ image courtesy of allyouneedisecuador.com

Nearby a seven-year-old-boy, the couples son, slept in the car.  The tragedy came after he fell asleep while he waited for the night ceremony to finish.

Gabriel Bunay and his wife Martina Tacuri were taken to a thermal rockpool inside an indigenous settlement with their three children for an ‘energy healing’ ritual after being met by a local in the nearby city of Otavalo.

Shaman Gladys Tercero died along with another Shaman, her helper.  The spring, a thermal rockpool, began emitting a poisonous gas during the ceremony, thought to be methane gas.

Police chief Jacqueline Haro added: “The boy that survived fell asleep inside his family’s car after his mother told him to go and rest because the water was cold.”

“He is now in a children’s home receiving counselling while we wait for relatives to come and pick him up” she added.

“It’s an accidental death resulting from the inhalation of toxic gases emanating from the thermal waters,” the interior ministry said in a statement.

Local firefighter Carlos Lopez told AFP that toxicological tests had not yet been performed, “but it is confirmed that it is from inhalation of gases.”

t the site, authorities found homemade cane liquor, candles, eggs, medicinal plants, entrails and dead birds, as well as the business card of a shaman offering to solve problems with money, love, work, business and travel.

This isn’t the first time a participant has died during a ritual with Shamans:

Last April British student Henry Miller died at a tribal ceremony in neighboring Colombia.

Henry, 19, from Bristol, collapsed after taking a hallucinogenic drink called yage at a remote rainforest near the village of Mocoa in the south-east of the country.

For more information, please see:

London Evening Standard – Six dead from Healing Ceremony Methane Poisoning in Ecuador – 22 Jan. 2015

Jamaica Observer – Six die in shamanic ritual in Ecuador – 22 Jan. 2015

Business Standard News – Six die in shamanic ritual in Ecuador  – 23 Jan. 2013

The Straits Times – Six die in shamanic ritual in Ecuador – 22 Jan. 2013

King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia Dies at 90

By Kathryn Maureen Ryan
Impunity Watch, Managing Editor

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – Abdullah ibn Abdilazīz, King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia has died at the age of 90, Saudi state television has said. Saudi state run media television cut to Koranic verses early on Friday, which often signifies the death of a senior member of royal Royal Family, the House of Saud. Just a few minutes after cutting to readings of Koranic verses a formal announcement about King Abdullah’s passing was made, he had been hospitalized for several weeks and was suffering from pneumonia. Abdullah came to power in 2005 but had suffered frequent bouts of ill health in recent years.

King Abdullah ibn Abdilazīz of Saudi Arabia. (Photo courtesy of BBC)

United States President Barack Obama said of King Abdullah, “as a leader, he was always candid and had the courage of his convictions. One of those convictions was his steadfast and passionate belief in the importance of the US-Saudi relationship as a force for stability and security in the Middle East and beyond,” he said.

According to Al Jazeera’s Hashem Ahelbarra King Abdullah “is someone who is definitely going to be remembered as a reformist within the royal family.” State media also announced that Crown Prince Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, aged 79, is now officially the new Saudi king. “His Highness Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and all members of the family and the nation mourn the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz, who passed away at exactly 1 a.m. this morning,” State TV reported.

The newly named King Salman called on the royal family’s Allegiance Council to recognize Prince Muqrin as the new crown prince. “His Highness Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and all members of the family and the nation mourn the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz, who passed away at exactly 1am this morning,” the statement said.

King Abdullah has been called a reformer by some for his allowance of mild criticism of his government in the press. As king he also hinted that more women should be allowed to work in Saudi Arabia. However, throughout his reign as king Human Rights violations remained rampant in the country, most recently a webizen was convicted and sentenced to lashing for criticizing the state on an internet blog. Basic rights are denied to foreign workers in the country and freedom of movement is limited for women without a male companion and women are denied other rights including the right to drive.

For more information please see:

Al Jazeera – King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia dies – 22 January 2015

The Associated Press – Saudi State TV Reports: King Abdullah Has Died At 90 – 22 January 2015

BBC News – Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah dies – 22 January 2015

Bloomberg – Oil Surges in New York After Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah Dies – 22 January 2015

ICRC: Law & Policy Newsletter January 2015

 UN Investigators Urge Establishment of War Crimes Tribunal for Central African Republic

By Kathryn Maureen Ryan
Impunity Watch, Managing Editor

BANGUI, Central African Republic –United Nations-mandated investigators warned on Wednesday that war crimes are currently being committed in the Central African Republic and called for the establishment of a ‘truly international’ tribunal with international judges who could objectively investigate and prosecute perpetrators of such crimes in the war torn country on both sides of the ongoing conflict in the African nation. Law professor Philip Alston, member of the International Commission of Inquiry on the Central African Republic, warned against a proposal being discussed by the United Nations to establish a special criminal court in the country arguing that the Central African Republic does not have the capacity to handle such cases. Alston argued the country lacks judges with the independence and the ability to hold accountable the major political leaders who would likely be prosecuted by such a tribunal.

Fatimata M’Baye (right) and Philip Alston, two members of the International Commission of Inquiry on the Central African Republic (CAR), brief the press. (Photo courtesy of the United Nations News Centre)

International Commission of Inquiry on the Central African Republic was established up by the United Nations Security Council in 2013 with a mandate to probe reports of human rights violations in the Central African Republic, which has been engaged in a protracted civil war. The commission was mandated with compiling information and helping identify the perpetrators of potential human rights abuses. The commission is scheduled to release its most recent report to the Security Council tomorrow. Commissioner Alston said that the latest inquiry which was conducted over the strongly recommends the establishment of accountability mechanisms in order to identify the ‘cycle of impunity’ in the Central African Republic.

Two of the Commission’s three members have warned that unless the international community pays more attention to the ongoing siltation in the Central African Republic and works to hold the perpetrators of human rights abuses accountable, the situation in the country could intensify and even spiral into genocide. “We are here to say that we make some recommendations to the Security Council and Secretary-General but also to the African Union and the CAR Government,” said Commissioner Fatima. M’Baye, adding that: “We think that for the conflict in CAR not to grow even more, the international community must act fast against those who abuse human rights law and humanitarian law.” Fatima. M’Baye also said that the Commission has listed the perpetrators of abuses whom they are sure “are implicated in the ongoing conflict in the Central African Republic.” She also added that this list will be handed over to the United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, she said.

The Central African Republic has seen more than two years of civil war and sectarian violence which has displaced thousands across the country. According to the estimates of the United Nations, nearly 440,000 people remain internally displaced and 190,000 have become refugees seeking asylum across international borders. In December of last year, Under-Secretary-General for UN Peacekeeping Operations Hervé Ladsous warned of a potentially explosive situation in the African nation amid continuing violent clashes between the Séléka alliance, a majority Muslim group, and the majority Christian anti-Balaka militia.

For more information please see

ABC News – International Court Urged For Central African Republic – 21 January 2015

International Business Times – How European, Chinese Weapons Fuel Conflict In Central African Republic – 21 January 2015

United Nations News Centre – Central African Republic: UN Investigators Urge Establishment of War Crimes Tribunal – 21 January 2015

Reuters – U.N. Worker Kidnapped In Central African Republic: Mission – 20 January 2015