Timeline: Death sentences in the UAE [as of 27 January 2010]

Timeline: Death sentences in the UAE

A list of recent instances of capital punishment handed out in the UAE

• Compiled by Gulf News Archives
• Published: 13:14 January 27, 2010

January 26, 2010
Dubai Court of First Instance sentenced two Indian men to death after they were convicted of the premeditated killing of an executive, stealing his wallet and leaving the body in his car at Dubai International Airport.

January 12, 2010
An Asian man is sentenced to death under Sharia law who was found guilty of setting his aunt and her husband on fire in Al Ain.

June 8, 2009
Sharjah Appeal Court upheld the death sentence to a Ukrainian man who hilled his Syrian business partner in 2002.

January 27, 2009
Dubai Court of First Instance imposed a death penalty to a Pakistani clerk convicted of murdering a security guard and trying to rob a showroom.

October 23, 2007
Sharia Court of First Instance in Sharjah sentenced to death an American for murdering a German businessman. In June 2009, Federal Supreme Court spared the life of the American and sent the case back to Sharjah Court of Appeals for review.

June 30, 2005
Dubai Court of First Instance sentenced to death an Iranian man who killed his hotel roommate after he asked to sleep with him.

May 18, 2004
An Omani is sentenced to death for smuggling large quantities of narcotics in Dubai.

November 18, 2003
Dubai Cassation Court confirmed a death sentence for two of six drug smugglers who set fire to a boat containing two tonnes of cannabis as an Anti Narcotics Squad approached them off the Dubai coast.

October 15, 2003
Dubai Court of First Instance handed four Indian men a death sentence for firing five bullets at a renowned Indian businessman at point blank range in front of the India Club.

April 2003
Dubai Court of First Instance issued a death sentence against three Iranians for smuggling and trafficking 9.4kg of drugs.

May 27, 2003
Dubai Court of First Instance sentenced to death four Pakistanis who strangulated a truck driver to death with a nylon rope Al Ghusais.

November 19, 2002
Dubai Court of Cassation confirmed a death sentence against three Indian men who smuggled and peddled 2.096kg of drugs.

February 11, 2001
Dubai Appeal Court has upheld the death sentence on a man convicted of the premeditated murder of a Russian woman. Unemployed an Afghan was sentenced to death by Dubai's Court of First Instance for killing Dilago Liva, after stealing her money.

October 23, 2000
Dubai Appeal Court has upheld a death sentence on an Iranian who murdered his Azerbaijani girlfriend after discovering she used to be a prostitute.

April 17, 2000
Dubai Court of First Instance sentenced a 36-year-old Filipino to death after he had been found guilty of premeditated murder.

October 2000
Fujairah Appeal Court has upheld the death sentence on a UAE national from Masafi for the premeditated murder of his neighbour over a land dispute.

May 29, 1999
Dubai Court of First Instance has sentenced M.B. and N.B.B., both Indians, to death for possessing hashish for the purpose of trading.

June 21, 1998
Dubai Cassation Court upheld a death sentence passed against Toran A., 30, an Iranian housewife, for possession of narcotics for the purpose of trading.

March 15, 1998
A death sentence passed against a 22-year-old student for taking and trading in drugs was upheld at the Dubai Court of Appeals.

 http://gulfnews.com/news/gulf/uae/crime/timeline-death-sentences-in-the-uae-1.574425

5 U.S. states with the most executions

The Death Penalty Information Center should not and never be trusted, they are an organization that values and loves murderers. Here are some states in the U.S.A are leaders in executions. Every execution saves lives….

5 U.S. states with the most executions

Leigh Montgomery | The Christian Science Monitor | Sep 17, 2011

http://www.alaskadispatch.com/article/5-us-states-most-executions

It's not often that the U.S. Supreme Court stays an execution, as it did late Thursday in the case of convicted murderer Duane Buck. But the justices routinely consider such requests, given that 34 states permit capital punishment. Since 1999, when a record 99 inmates were put to death, the number of executions has dropped slightly, according to the Death Penalty Information Center, which opposes capital punishment.

Can you guess which five states had the most executions over the past four years?

#5 Virginia

Virginia did not execute anyone in 2007, but it has carried out the death penalty 10 times since then. Death-row inmates may choose between lethal injection and electrocution, which two people have opted for in recent years.

The state executed six black men, three white men, and one white woman. One was John Allen Muhammad, the "D.C. sniper" who was found responsible for the shooting deaths of 10 victims within the Washington Beltway over a three-week period in 2002.

#4 Oklahoma

Oklahoma has executed 11 people – eight white and three black – since 2007, for an annual rate of about three executions a year.

The state joined Ohio in substituting a new drug, pentobarbital, for sodium thiopental to carry out three additional executions in 2011. Critics say the drug, a sedative used to euthanize animals, has not been tested for this purpose. Lundbeck, the Denmark-based US supplier, is also opposed to its use in executions. Oklahoma was also the last state to execute a person for a crime committed as a juvenile, which it did in 2003.

#3 Alabama

Alabama averaged 4.6 executions a year between 2007 and 2010. Of the 15 inmates executed during that time, eight were white and seven were black. Alabama has the highest use of the death penalty per capita, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.

#2 Ohio

Ohio’s use of the death penalty has seen a steady increase in recent years, rising from two executions in 2007 to five in 2009 to eight in 2010. Of the 15 inmates executed during the past four years, eight were white and seven were black.

A federal judge stayed an execution in Ohio over the summer out of concern about the process the state uses for its lethal injections, which involves a switch to the drug pentobarbital. The chief justice of the state's Supreme Court is now reviewing the matter.

By law, Ohio excludes public viewings of executions.

#1 Texas

The number of executions annually in Texas dwarfs those of any other state. The Lone Star State has averaged 21 executions a year, all by lethal injection, since 2007. Of the 85 men put to death over that time, 36 were black, 28 were white, and 21 were Latino.

The state has performed more than one-third of modern executions in the United States, including Charles Brooks Jr. in 1982, the first person put to death by lethal injection.

The Texas Constitution forbids the governor from imposing a moratorium on executions.

DEATH PENALTY ABOLITIONISTS WILL SOON BECOME LIFE SENTENCE ABOLITIONISTS (Part 2)

People think that murderers and criminals will die behind bars, it is not true at all. Check the latest news:

Life with parole about a 20-year term, study says

Bob Egelko, Chronicle Staff Writer

Friday, September 16, 2011

Inmates serving life with the possibility of parole in California, mostly convicted murderers, spend an average of 20 years in prison and almost never commit new crimes after being released, a new study concludes.

The report by the Stanford Criminal Justice Center at the university's law school, issued Thursday, also found that the state Board of Parole Hearings has become increasingly willing to set release dates for "lifers" in the last few years. But those dates have often been vetoed by the governor, under a voter-approved law that has parallels in only three other states, the report said.

Release rates are likely to increase, however, under Gov. Jerry Brown. Through April, Brown had overruled fewer than 20 percent of the parole dates approved by the board, which is composed mostly of former law enforcement officers and prison officials. The comparable veto rates were 70 percent for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and 98 percent for Gov. Gray Davis.

The study also found that prisoners who are denied parole must wait an average of five years for their next hearing, up from two years in 2007, mostly because of a new, voter-approved victims' rights law.

The board is less likely to approve release at an inmate's first hearing than at future hearings, the study found, and is less than half as likely to grant parole when a victim's relative attends the hearing.

The report also cited a recent study of 860 convicted murderers paroled in California since 1995. Only five had been sentenced for new felonies since then, none for crimes carrying life sentences, the study said.
 

The parole board, appointed by the governor, has no authority over most prisoners, who serve fixed terms based on their crimes. But it decides when lifers - those convicted of murder, attempted murder and a few other crimes, such as aggravated cases of kidnapping and rape - are suitable for release.

Starting in 2019, the board will also consider inmates sentenced to 25 years to life under the "three-strikes" law, which applies to felons with two previous convictions for serious or violent felonies. They now total one-fourth of the more than 32,000 lifers eligible for parole, the report said.

Lifers constitute one-fifth of the state's prisoners, the highest percentage of any state and an increase from 8 percent of the inmates in 1990, the study said.

In addition, California has 4,000 prisoners serving life without the possibility of parole and more than 700 sentenced to death, all for specific categories of murder, such as murder of a police officer, multiple murders and murder during a rape, robbery or burglary. 

Apart from those categories, prisoners convicted of premeditated first-degree murder are eligible for parole in 25 years, and those convicted of unplanned but deliberate second-degree murder are eligible in 15 years. Both categories serve an average of 20 years before release, the study said.

The parole board now approves release in 18 percent of the hearings, three times the approval rate in 2007, the study said. It said one reason was a 2008 state Supreme Court ruling that required parole decisions to be based on the risk to public safety and not, in most cases, solely on the facts of the crime. 

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/09/15/BABQ1L5603.DTL

DOES LIFE MEANS LIFE? NO! NO! BRING BACK HANGING NOW! (Part 2)

Parole boss defends murderer's jail release

• From: The Australian
• July 01, 2011 12:00AM

A MAN who buried his victim's body in an ants' nest, and sparked one of the Northern Territory's biggest manhunts when he escaped from custody, is to be released from prison. 

Daniel Lothar Heiss, now aged 46, was found guilty of murdering Peter Dean Robinson at a remote cattle station and sentenced to life in December 1990.

The NT parole board agreed unanimously on Wednesday to release Heiss. It was his eighth parole application hearing.

Parole board chairman Stephen Southwood, in a statement yesterday, said the board had given paramount consideration to the protection of the community and the likely effect of the prisoner's release on the family of the dead victim.

Justice Southwood said Mr Robinson's father did not believe Heiss was remorseful. "The board understands it will be difficult for the deceased's relatives to accept Mr Heiss is to be released on parole," he said.

"However, these factors are not such as to outweigh the public interest in having the rehabilitated prisoner released from prison on parole so he may be reintegrated into the community. There is low risk of Mr Heiss reoffending."

Having spent almost 22 years behind bars, and knowing his co-offender was released on parole more than a year ago, Heiss pleaded in Darwin's daily newspaper last month for a "fair go".

On May 14, 1989, Heiss and Peter Michael Kamm left Borroloola, southeast of Darwin, to go hunting with Robinson on a property near the Stuart Highway. Court documents show Heiss fired his rifle at Robinson, but missed, before Kamm fired two shots at the 22-year-old.

The document said the men dug a hole, placed Robinson's body in a sleeping bag and wrapped a rag around his head, before pouring petrol over the body and setting fire to it.

"After the flames died down, both respondents covered the body with leaves and other debris and then placed an ants nest on top of the grave," it said.

On December 9, 1995, Heiss and a fellow inmate, also serving a life sentence for murder, escaped from Berrimah jail. For 12 days they eluded one of the biggest manhunts in NT history, involving 230 police. Today, Heiss is regarded as one of the NT's best artists, having held several exhibitions in Darwin.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/parole-boss-defends-murderers-jail-release/story-e6frg6nf-1226085181458

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Gamesmen killer Ross Aaron Robinson released on parole

From: AAP

July 28, 2011 1:12PM

THE man convicted of murdering Angelo Cusumano, owner of The Gamesmen computer game shops, has been granted parole after serving 15-and-a-half years in jail.

Ross Aaron Robinson was convicted of killing Mr Cusumano in a botched robbery in 1995.

Now 35, he was granted parole today by the NSW Parole Authority and will be released next month.

His parole conditions prohibit him from living in Wollongong or visiting the city.

He's also banned from visiting central Sydney and the Sydney suburbs of Sutherland, Bankstown, Hurstville and Kogarah.

Robinson will be electronically monitored.

"The decision to grant parole was also based on recommendations from the Probation and Parole Service, who advised ... that the offender had successfully completed relevant programs," State Parole Authority director Robert Cosman said in a statement.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/breaking-news/gamesmen-killer-ross-aaron-robinson-released-on-parole/story-fn3dxity-1226103426677

 

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Convicted killer released again

Nigel Hunt

From: Sunday Mail (SA)

July 16, 2011 10:00PM

A MAN convicted of a murder at a Brompton halfway house in 1994 has been released on parole - again. 

Richard John Atkins, now 53, was released from Mt Gambier Prison after his parole was approved on Thursday.

He is the third convicted killer whose parole has been approved this year - murderers William Garve and Dean Manly were released on parole in May.

Atkins was convicted in May, 1996, of murdering Phillip John Aldam at a Brompton halfway house in April, 1994. During his Supreme Court trial the court was told Atkins, a heavy drinker, had consumed 24 cans of beer and some spirits before arguing with Aldam and stabbing him once in the chest.

In sentencing Atkins, Justice Brian Cox ordered that Atkins serve a nine-year non-parole period of his mandatory life sentence for murder.

In October, 2002, Atkins applied to the Parole Board for release and in October, 2003, he was released on parole for 10 years.

On September 17, 2005, he was stopped at a random breath testing station at Naracoorte and blew .106.

Atkins was charged with exceeding the prescribed concentration of alcohol and a breach of his provisional licence.

His strict parole conditions include abstaining from alcohol consumption.

http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/convicted-killer-released-again/story-e6frea6u-1226095992749

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Fear as killer to walk free

Katherine Danks

From: The Daily Telegraph

July 29, 2011 12:00AM

FIFTEEN years after the murder of her husband, Mary Cusumano "spoke with her husband's voice" when she warned his soon-to-be-released killer yesterday. 

 She warned Ross Aaron Robinson, 35, to stay away from her children, their home, where they work and places where they socialise when he is released from prison next month.

Robinson appeared via audio-visual link from Bathurst's Oberon jail and his unmoving face was projected on more than 10 screens as she read a statement to the Parole Authority hearing in Parramatta.

"I have lived in my area for the last 20 years and I want to travel around this area without any fear," Ms Cusumano said.

"My children were very young when their father was murdered and it would not be a good idea for them to run into the offender."

Robinson served 15 years and six months for the murder of computer software salesman Angelo Cusumano, a rags to riches businessman who was well known for his TV advertisements.

Robinson, who was 19 at the time, his 21-year-old brother Seldon and their friend Andrew Ly, extensively planned the robbery of The Gamesman computer store in Penshurst on December 21, 1995. Mr Cusumano was shot twice while Aaron Robinson was demanding a computer from him.

The three students fled the scene with a five-figure sum of money, having also robbed customers of their wallets.

The Parole Authority yesterday set strict conditions for Robinson's release, including that he wear an electronic monitoring bracelet until his maximum term ends in February 2016.

Robinson is banned from living in or visiting Wollongong, the Sutherland Shire, Bankstown, Hurstville, Kogarah and Sydney's CBD without approval.

He must not associate with Seldon Robinson and Ly without approval from his probation and parole officer.

Ms Cusumano, supported by one of the couple's four children Angelo Jr, said her family could feel safe with the conditions.

She also asked for a special condition that Robinson not work in the retail or wholesale computer gaming industry, which they said would be an "insult".

"I'm my husband's voice, I'm the one that can speak on his behalf and that's important to me, it's important to my family," Ms Cusumano said after the hearing.Seldon Robinson and Ly were each found not guilty of murder but pleaded guilty to armed assault with attempt to rob.

Both men were sentenced to minimum terms of four years.

In 2000, Ms Cusumano asked for Seldon Robinson to be moved to another TAFE after he was found to be studying near her home. The Serious Offenders Review Council supported Robinson's release from custody and noted his good behaviour while in jail, earning him low security status.

He will be released from prison after August 11.

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/familys-fear-as-cold-blooded-killer-to-walk-free/story-fn6b3v4f-1226103934083

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Gamesman killer Ross Aaron Robinson freed from jail

From: The Daily Telegraph

August 13, 2011 12:00AM

THE killer of computer businessman Angelo Cusumano will walk from Oberon jail today.

Ross Aaron Robinson, 35, has served 15 years and six months for the botched robbery at The Gamesman store in Penshurst on December 21, 1995.

The Parole Authority has set strict conditions on his release, including that he wear an electronic monitoring bracelet until his maximum term ends in February 2016.

Mr Cusumano's widow Mary sought a special condition that Robinson not be allowed in areas where she or her children live, work or socialise.

This means he is banned from living in or visiting Wollongong, the Sutherland Shire, Bankstown, Hurstville, Kogarah and Sydney's CBD. Mr Cusumano was shot twice while Robinson was demanding a computer from him.

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/sydney-nsw/gamesman-killer-ross-aaron-robinson-freed-from-jail/story-e6freuzi-1226114097983