International Death Penalty News 2024, Issue 25: China, India, Malaysia, United States of America

China

On Friday, June 21, 2204, the Chinese government threatened to give a person a death sentence for “diehard” Taiwan independent separates, or those who seek Taiwanese independence.  Taiwan is a democratically governed island over which China has no jurisdiction, however, the Chinese government views Taiwan as its territory.  In recent months, China has increased military actions, trade sanctions, and coast guard patrols around Taiwan and its controlled land.  China has previously taken legal action against Taiwanese officials, but to little effect, as they have no jurisdiction.  Although the current Taiwanese President has offered to have talks with China, China has refused.  Senior Taiwanese officials also do not visit China.

India

On Thursday, June 20, 2024, the Orissa High Court acquitted one man and commuted the death sentence of another.  Both men were convicted and sentenced to death in 2022, in the same case, that of the rape and murder of a six-year-old girl on August 21, 2014.  Following their conviction and sentence, both men appealed their sentences.  Thirty-seve-year-old Sk Akil Ali was acquitted of all the charges against him, while the sentence for 38-year-old Sk Asif Ali alias Md Asif Iqbal was commuted to life in prison.

Malaysia

In December 2021, Firdaus Mohsin was convicted of drug trafficking and sentenced to death.  Now, upon appeal, the Federal Court commuted his sentence of death to 30 years in prison.  He was also ordered to receive 12 strokes of the rotan, a device for caning or whipping.  The now 40-year-old Firdaus was specially convicted of trafficking cannabis.  

Two individuals in the same case have had their death sentences reduced to 36-year jail terms.  Thirty-four-year-old G Puganeswaran and 47-year-old K Annamah were convicted of murdering M Ganesan by stabbing him to death while he slept on February 16, 2012.  Annamah and Ganesan were married at the time of the crime, however, there were problems in the marriage.  Annamah told her neighbor, Puganeswaran, a former shopkeeper, that her husband often came home drunk and would beat her.  Four others were also involved in the crime.  Due to being underage at the time of the crime, one will “be detained at the pleasure of the sultan of Selangor.”  The other three became witnesses for the prosecution and were not charged.

On Friday, June 21, 2024, the death sentence of 52-year-old Loh Yoon Fatt was commuted.  His sentence was commuted to 35 years in prison.  Loh was convicted of murdering 59-year-old Lam Siew Kong on December 25, 2009.

On Friday, June 21, 2024, the Federal Court commuted the death sentence of 36-year-old Yan Wai Seng.  Yan, along with codependent Chew Was Keong, were convicted and sentenced to death in 2012 for the murder of 31-year-old Teh Wai Toong, whom they had kidnapped for ransom in late April 2007.  Yan’s death sentence was commuted to a total of 17 strokes of the cane and 38 years in prison.  Chew was also appealing, however, his appeal was canceled after dying in prison.  In 2023, Malaysia legally abolished its practice of mandatory death sentences.  Since then, many death row inmates have filed appeals under this new law, seeking to have their death sentences commuted to life in prison.

United States of America

Twenty-four-year-old Anderson Lee Aldrich has avoided being sentenced to death on federal hate crime charges.  On Tuesday, June 18, 2024, Aldrich pleaded guilty to federal hate crime and gun charges.  In exchange for pleading guilty, he received 55 life terms.  This sentence come after previously pleading guilty to killing five individuals and injuring 19 others during a shooting at Club Q in Colorado Springs, Colorado on November 19, 2022.  Club Q was an LGBTQ+ nightclub, which Aldrich targeted.

Bill Lee, the governor of Tennessee, has approved a bill that allows for those convicted of raping a child to be sentenced to death.  Those convicted could also face a punishment of life in prison with the possibility of parole, or life in prison.  A similar bill came into effect in Florida about a year ago.  Prosecutors in Florida are now pursuing the first case using the new law.  The Supreme Court of the United States has previously ruled that the only crimes eligible for execution are murder or treason, meaning it is highly likely that any inmate convicted under these laws will eventually appeal them to the Supreme Court.

The death sentence for Giles Albert Nadey has been upheld by the California Supreme Court.  He was attempting to argue that Black women were improperly excluded from serving on the jury.  He also argued that the prosecution used derogatory language.  Nadey, a white man, was convicted of sodomizing and murdering 24-year-old Terena Fermenick, a Black women, in 1996.  The court voted 5-2 to uphold his death sentence, noting that the potential jurors were eliminated based on plausible non-race reason, however, the court also conceded that the trial court could have “done more.” There is a moratorium on executions in the state at this time.

On Wednesday, June 19, 2024, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals rejected a request to grant Paul David Storey a new sentencing trial.  The request was made by a former District Attorney who discovered that prosecutors lied during Storey’s trial.  Allegedly, the parents of Storey’s victim did not want prosecutors to seek the death penalty, however, the prosecutors told the jury that the parents were in full support of the death penalty.  Storey is convicted of murdering Jonas Cherry during a robbery.  Storey is convicted of the murder of 28-year-old Jonas Cherry on October 16, 2006, in Hurst, Texas.  He was scheduled to be executed in 2017, however, his execution was stayed by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals in the days leading up to his execution.

On Wednesday, June 19, 2024, The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals formally exonerated 68-year-old Kerry Max Cook.  Kerry was wrongly convicted and sentenced to death in 1978 for the 1977 rape, murder, and mutilation of 21-year-old Linda Jo Edwards.  This led to 20 years on death row and a multitude of appeals. After his first conviction was overturned, a 1992 trial ended with a mistrial.  A third trial in 1994 resulted in a new conviction and death sentence.  In 1996, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals reversed that verdict citing misconduct by the police and prosecutors that called the case into question from the beginning.  Kerry was released from prison in 1997 as part of a plea deal that prevented a fourth trial.  However, Kerry was still considered guilty of the crime.  Now, after further review, Kerry has been officially exonerated, meaning he is now longer classified as guilty of murder. In granting the exoneration, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals noted that during his initial trial, the prosecution illegally withheld favorable evidence from the defense.  Additionally, much of the evidence they relied upon has been proven to be false, including testimony from a jailhouse snitch who claimed Kerry confessed to him.  By testifying against Kerry, the other inmate received favorable treatment from prosecutors on his own charges.

On Thursday, June 20, 2024, the Delaware House of Representatives passed a bill 33-8, which would abolish capital punishment in the state.  The bill now heads to the State Senate.  The last execution in Delaware occurred on April 20, 2012.  However, in 2016, the Delaware Supreme Court ruled that the death penalty was unconditional, meaning no executions could be carried out in the state.  The ruling applied retroactively and those still on death row at the time, have since had their sentences commuted, with the last two received sentences of life in prison in 2018.