Tuesday, August 31, 2021

Ray Hanania: Reinstate death penalty in the killing of police


Such an extreme act of pure evil can only be met by the most extreme of responses - and that can only be death. All my life I've been against the death penalty. I genuinely never thought I'd say this, but I am now convinced that the monster who executed this young woman in cold blood should, in turn, be killed as punishment for his crime. - John Stevens, Baron Stevens of Kirkwhelpington

[PHOTO SOURCE: https://quozio.com/quote/qzr7p7f333ks/1229/such-an-extreme-act-of-pure-evil-can-only-be-met-by-the]

https://victimsfamiliesforthedeathpenalty.blogspot.com/2020/11/john-stevens-baron-stevens-of.html



            There are some death penalty opponents who changed their position on capital punishment after someone they loved were murdered. John Stevens, Baron Stevens of Kirkwhelpington, a former Met Police Chief, changed his mind on the death penalty after the murder of PC Sharon Beshenivsky. Officer Ella G. French of the Chicago Police Department, Illinois who was shot and killed on August 7, 2021, was a similar case to Sharon Beshenivsky.

   

REST IN PEACE: Chicago Police Officer Ella French was killed in the line of duty Saturday night during a traffic stop. She was 29-years-old. https://bit.ly/37rLdam


Let us honor this fallen policewoman by remembering how she lived on this earth and treasure her memories. We will give her a 30th birthday remembrance this year on August 31. We, thank Ray Hanania for calling for the death penalty for cop killers. Although we believe the death penalty should be use for all murders, we are happy that he spoke out in favor of it.

   

This morning on "Fox & Friends," Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke said that every murder of a law enforcement officer should be classified as a capital crime punishable by death. http://bit.ly/2hoRK9V

[PHOTO SOURCE: https://web.facebook.com/FoxNews/photos/a.184044921335.134777.15704546335/10154866789451336/?type=3&theater]

http://victimsfamiliesforthedeathpenalty.blogspot.com/2016/12/sheriff-david-clarke-wants-death.html


Special Column: Reinstate death penalty in the killing of police

Ray Hanania Ray Hanania

The shooting murder of Chicago Police Officer Ella French and the wounding of her partner by three suspects revives calls to reinstate the death penalty for individuals who kill someone intentionally with gun. They should be put to death with no compassion. Killing these killers would send a strong message to other criminals who use guns to kill people, maybe stopping some who make the intentional choice from doing so. Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s blather is disgusting and shameful

By Ray Hanania

Two Chicago Police officers were attacked by armed thugs who were pulled over during a routine traffic stop near 63rd Street and South Bell Avenue in Chicago Saturday around 9 p.m.

One of the officers, Ella French, 29, died from her wounds. Her partner is listed in serious condition. One of the three suspects who opened fire on the officers was injured and is in a hospital. The other two criminals are in custody.

Had this been two minority civilians shot by police, riots would be raging in Chicago Lawn and activists would be screaming about “defunding” the police.

But it was the police who were attacked by armed thugs and all three of those suspects should be prosecuted. If convicted, they should be given the death penalty. They don’t deserve to live.

The killing of officer French reminds us of the dangers that police face each and every time they confront criminals who violate the law. Any law, from the most minor to the most significant.

We know what is going to happen, right? The killers are going to get the best legal representation ever. Cook County States Attorney Kim Foxx will insist that they be given every courtesy as suspects, innocent until proven guilty. Politicians like Mayor Lori Lightfoot will pretend to care about street gang violence but do nothing, preferring instead to support weakening our police and strengthening the rights of the accused.

But the presumption of guilt can’t be ignored. Suspects who murder a Police Officer need to face the maximum penalty. All three are murderers, not just the one who pulled the trigger on the gun that killed officer French.

Our society has been turned upside-down by a twisted debate that makes the police the bad guys and the criminals the heroes. Hypocritical activists twist and distort facts in police and civilian clashes asserting that the police are guilty, despite the fact that the victims are often on drugs, carrying weapons and refuse to follow police commands.

The suspects end up dying, because of their own criminal behavior not because the police tried to stop them. But the families of the victims see dollar signs. The activists see headlines. Suddenly, a drugged-up criminal is a “good student” represented by a high school graduation picture.

The public should have no illusions about what’s at stake here. What is at stake is the safety of the law abiding public. They respect everyone’s rights. They pay their taxes. They raise their kids by moral standards. They take responsibility for their own actions.

All they want is to live in safe neighborhoods.

And yet their interests are being challenged by activists who are using the police-criminal confrontations as excuses to ease the burden on the criminals and impose heightened punishment on the police.

These activists are stereotyping police. Yes, there are some bad cops and those police should be prosecuted not by mobs but my the Rule of Law. But the vast majority of police put their lives on the line every minute of every day to ensure the safety of average law abiding civilians. They are our heroes.

The fight to defend our police is a battle at every corner of society.

This week in the Village of Mount Prospect, activists led by the League of Women Voters and other “defund” police movements, are seeking to force the police there to remove a badge that is designed to express community pride and support for police.

The badge reads “Honor, Respect, Remember” has an emblem with the words “Police, Mount Prospect,” part of the American flag, the State of Illinois, the date Mount Prospect’s incorporation, 1917, and black and white stripes, with one Blue line.

The League of Women Voters, a group that claims to be “non-partisan” but is in fact at the forefront of the far left movement to undermine police and censor anyone who disagrees with their extremist views, is rallying supporters to protest the emblem because of that Blue line.

The Blue line is embraced across America as a symbol of support for the police, our men and women in “blue.” According to the League and its radical activist supporters, the Blue line is a symbol of White Supremacists and racists. But that’s just a political lie, an effort to demonize supporters to silence them by bullying. They want to undermine public support for the Police.

Mt. Prospect has a public hearing on Tuesday where activists hope to bully village residents into silence and remove the badge because of the Blue line. Activists from throughout Chicagoland, who have fought to defend criminals while undermining police by calling for them to be defunded, are being encouraged to attend and disrupt the meeting.

It’s time that the public, the majority of Americans who want justice for all and a judicial system that fairly weighs crimes in order to achieve a safer society, stand up and defend the police.

The three suspects involved in the murder of police officer Ella French, should be charged with First Degree murder. The Illinois Legislature should repeal the death penalty ban and pass a law that mandates the death penalty in any case where a suspect is convicted of intentionally killing someone, especially a police officer, with a gun.

Family of killers aware of the criminal behavior of their family members should be charged as accomplices, including parents who only suddenly show concern for their children when they are killed by police and they stand to win millions in activist-backed lawsuits.

Membership in a street gang that has a history of gun violence should be a felony and at least result 20 years of jail time without parole.

 

If the death penalty was not imposed then "wrong really has finally totally triumphed over right and all civilised society, all we hold dear, is the loser." - John Stevens, Baron Stevens of Kirkwhelpington

[PHOTO SOURCE: https://quozio.com/quote/hwwv7bcchftj/1092/if-the-death-penalty-was-not-imposed-then-wrong-really-has]

When we are soft on crime, all we are doing is empowering the criminals, sending a message that they have a better chance of avoiding punishment.

We need to change that message and be tough. Anyone engaged in any crime must be punished. You use a gun in a crime and are convicted in a murder, you should be put to death.

It’s time we made law abiding members of the public the priority. But that will only happen if law abiding citizens end their silence and speak out forcefully against the louder voices of the small groups of extremist activists who have hijacked our society and are trying to hijack our system of justice.

We need to draw a line. And I think that line should be Blue.

(Ray Hanania is an award winning former Chicago City Hall reporter and political columnist. His mainstream columns are published in the Southwest News Newspaper Group in the Des Plaines Valley News, Southwest News-Herald, The Regional News, The Reporter Newspapers. His Middle East columns are published at ArabNews.com. For more information on Ray Hanania visit www.Hanania.com or email him at rghanania@gmail.com.)

INTERNET SOURCE: https://suburbanchicagoland.com/2021/08/15/special-column-reinstate-death-penalty-in-the-killing-of-police/ …. ….

https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=164126559136675&id=101692122046786 …. ….

OTHER LINKS:

POLICE OFFICER ELLA FRENCH (AUGUST 31, 1991 TO AUGUST 7, 2021)

PHOTO: https://www.facebook.com/Samurai-Police-1109-101692122046786/photos/161043812778283

http://victimsfamiliesforthedeathpenalty.blogspot.com/2021/08/police-officer-ella-french-august-31.html

Unit 1012 USA Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/3350621811720081/posts/4179428075506113

Birthday Photo: https://www.facebook.com/Samurai-Police-1109-101692122046786/photos/173492518200079

https://victimsfamiliesforthedeathpenalty.blogspot.com/2021/08/30th-birthday-remembrance-for-police.html

http://victimsfamiliesforthedeathpenalty.blogspot.com/search/label/Death%20Penalty%20For%20Cop%20Killers

Sen. Toomey pushes act that would increase death penalty chances for convicted cop-killers

https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=112614107621254&id=101692122046786

https://wjactv.com/news/local/sen-toomey-pushes-act-that-would-increase-death-penalty-chances-for-convicted-cop-killers

https://victimsfamiliesforthedeathpenalty.blogspot.com/2016/12/local-police-chief-wants-death-penalty.html

http://soldierexecutionerprolifer2008.blogspot.com/2021/08/texas-cop-killer-otis-mckane-sentenced.html

Tuesday, August 24, 2021

Yakuza Boss: Satoru Nomura (野村 悟, Nomura Satoru) sentenced to death (August 24, 2021)

In an unprecedented move, Japanese courts have sentenced Satoru Nomura, the 74-year-old head of the ‘Kudo-kai’ crime syndicate, to death.

A local newspaper reported that upon receiving his sentence, Nomura told the court ‘I asked for a fair decision’ and ‘You will regret this for the rest of your life.’ Reports suggest that Nomura is the first senior Yakuza figure to face Japan’s death penalty and the verdict could signal a cultural change in the way legal systems treat organized crime.

FULL STORY: https://on.rt.com/bf83

[PHOTO SOURCE: https://www.facebook.com/RTnews/photos/a.10150144237704411/10160350816489411/.... …..

https://www.facebook.com/RTnews/posts/10160350819844411]


'Resistance to evil by force and by the sword is permissible not when it is possible, but when it is necessary because there are no other means available’; in that case it is not only a man’s right but his duty to enter that path even though it may lead to the malefactor’s death. – Ivan Ilyin

[PHOTO SOURCE: https://quozio.com/quote/6sxb834whz9p/1197/resistance-to-evil-by-force-and-by-the-sword-is-permissible]


            On this date, August 24, 2021, Yakuza Boss, Satoru Nomura was sentenced to death by hanging in the Fukuoka District Court. He was the first senior member of the Yakuza to be given the death penalty.

   

If an offender has committed murder, he must die. In this case, no possible substitute can satisfy justice. For there is no parallel between death and even the most miserable life, so that there is no equality of crime and retribution unless the perpetrator is judicially put to death. – Immanuel Kant

[PHOTO SOURCE: http://victimsfamiliesforthedeathpenalty.blogspot.com/2015/02/immanuel-kants-pro-death-penalty-quote.html]

http://victimsfamiliesforthedeathpenalty.blogspot.com/2017/02/immanuel-kant-on-punishing-criminals.html


Yakuza boss is first ever to be sentenced to death in Japan: Senior crime clan member tells judge 'You will regret this for the rest of your life' after being found guilty of ordering a murder and violent attacks

·         Satoru Nomura, 74, is the head of the violent Kudo-kai yakuza crime syndicate

·         He was sentenced to death by Fukuoka District Court in west Japan on Tuesday

·         Prosecutors argued he ordered three violent assaults and one murder 

·         Nomura denies the accusations and his lawyers said he intends to appeal 

·         Believed to be first time a senior yakuza member has received death sentence 

By Charlotte Mitchell For Mailonline and Afp and Reuters

A yakuza boss has been sentenced to death in Japan in what is believed to be a first after his criminal organisation murdered and attacked other citizens.

Satoru Nomura, 74, told the judge Fukuoka District Court, in western Japan, on Tuesday: 'I asked for a fair decision... You will regret this for the rest of your life,' Nishinippon Shimbun newspaper reported.

It is believed to be the first time a senior yakuza member has been sentenced to death, the BBC reported.

Nomura, the head of the 'Kudo-kai' crime syndicate in southwest Japan, denied accusations he had masterminded the violent assaults. Kudo-kai is often described as Japan's 'most violent' yakuza gang.

According to Japanese broadcaster NHK, there was no direct evidence that Nomura had ordered the attacks. 

However, in handing down the sentence, the judge said that the gang operated under such strict rules that it was unthinkable that attacks could have been carried out without its leader's authorisation.

The trial revolved around attacks carried out by Kudo-kai members between 1998 and 2014. During that time, a former head of a fishing cooperative was shot and killed, and three others - including a nurse and former police officer - were injured by shooting or stabbing.

 

Satoru Nomura, 74, (pictured) is the head of the Kudo-kai crime syndicate, often described as Japan's 'most violent' yakuza gang


Defence lawyers for Nomura plan to appeal the ruling, according to Kyodo news agency. Nomura's number two, Fumio Tanoue, was jailed for life on Tuesday, the court said.  

The yakuza mafia were long tolerated in Japan as a necessary evil for ensuring order on the streets and getting things done quickly, however dubious the means.

But in recent decades, stiffer anti-gang regulations, waning social tolerance and a weak economy have resulted in steadily falling yakuza memberships.

Nomura was found guilty of ordering the fatal 1998 shooting of an ex-boss of a fisheries cooperative who exerted influence over port construction projects, major media outlets said.

He was also behind a 2014 attack on a relative of the murder victim, and a 2013 knife attack against a nurse at a clinic where Nomura was seeking treatment, the court reportedly said.

The 2012 shooting of a former police official who had investigated the Kudo-kai was also deemed Nomura's responsibility. The official survived with serious injuries to his waist and legs, media said. 

Pictured: Police officers enter Nomura's Kitakyushu house in September 2014 to arrest him [File photo]


The yakuza grew from the chaos of post-war Japan into multi-billion-dollar criminal organisations, involved in everything from drugs and prostitution to protection rackets and white-collar crime.

Unlike the Italian Mafia or Chinese triads, yakuza have long occupied a grey area in Japanese society - they are not illegal, and each group has its own headquarters in full view of police.

With more than 100 inmates on death row, Japan is one of few developed nations to retain the death penalty.

Public support for capital punishment remains high despite international criticism, including from rights groups.  

INTERNET SOURCE: https://www.facebook.com/DailyMail/posts/7388468664546151 .... ….. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9922947/Yakuza-boss-sentenced-death-Japan.html

“There is one other consideration which I believe should never be overlooked. If the criminal law of this country is to be respected, it must be in accordance with public opinion, and public opinion must support it. That goes very nearly to the root of this question of capital punishment. I cannot believe or the public opinion (or would I rather call it the public conscience) of this country will tolerate that persons who deliberately condemn others to painful and, it may be, lingering deaths should be allow to live…”



   

If the death penalty was not imposed then "wrong really has finally totally triumphed over right and all civilised society, all we hold dear, is the loser." - John Stevens, Baron Stevens of Kirkwhelpington

[PHOTO SOURCE: https://quozio.com/quote/hwwv7bcchftj/1092/if-the-death-penalty-was-not-imposed-then-wrong-really-has]

Satoru Nomura on the cover of Jitsuwa Jiho in 2012

[PHOTO SOURCE: https://www.tokyoreporter.com/crime/yakuza/fukuoka-cops-arrest-yakuza-boss-in-attempted-murder-of-ex-detectie/]

Don of yakuza gang dealt unprecedented death sentence

THE ASAHI SHIMBUN

August 24, 2021 at 19:25 JST

FUKUOKA--In a high-profile trial, the head of an organized crime syndicate often described as the most violent in Japan was sentenced to death at the Fukuoka District Court on Aug. 24.

Satoru Nomura, 74, the head of the Kudo-kai gang based in Kita-Kyushu in Fukuoka Prefecture, was handed the death penalty for his involvement in four violent incidents, one of which an individual died.

Presiding Judge Ben Adachi also handed down a life sentence to Nomura’s second-in-command, Fumio Tanoue, 65.

The court said in the ruling that Nomura and Tanoue conspired to carry out the four attacks. Nomura gave an order in the murder case, and the other three crimes were carried out under a chain-in-command structure headed by Nomura, the court said.

The Fukuoka District Public Prosecutors Office had sought the death penalty for Nomura, and a life sentence for Tanoue along with a fine of 20 million yen ($182,200).

There was no clear direct evidence to connect Nomura and Tanoue to the four cases, while those who actually carried out the crimes have been convicted.

Both Nomura and Tanoue have denied their involvement and claimed their innocence.

Nomura was displeased with the court’s sentence and seemingly threated the presiding judge.

After the court was vacated, Nomura told Adachi, “I asked you for a fair judgment. But this is not fair at all. You will regret this for the rest of your life.”

Tanoue also said, “You are awful, Mr. Adachi,” as he left the courtroom.

It was apparently the first time for prosecutors to seek a death penalty for a head of a gang recognized by the Prevention of Wrongful Acts by Members of Organized Crime Groups Law.

The court’s decision to grant the prosecution’s demand is expected to impact future investigations of organized crime groups.

  


CRIMES DATED BACK MORE THAN 20 YEARS

The first of the four assaults occurred in 1998. A former leader of a local fishery cooperative, who was 70, was gunned down and killed on the streets of Kita-Kyushu.

The second occurred in 2012. A former Fukuoka prefectural police officer was shot in Kita-Kyushu.

The third occurred in 2013 in Fukuoka, in which a female nurse at a medical clinic where Nomura was seeking treatment was stabbed.

The fourth took place in 2014, in which a male dentist who happened to be a relative of the former fishery cooperative leader was stabbed in Kita-Kyushu.

Prosecutors argued that each of the four incidents was a coordinated attack by the Kudo-kai, and both Nomura as the mastermind and Tanoue as the group’s No. 2 sanctioned the acts through the gang’s chain-of-command structure.

While gang underlings may have been the ones who actually carried out the attacks, as the head of an organization in which the boss’s orders were absolute, Nomura and Tanoue held the ultimate responsibility, prosecutors argued.

The two were charged with murder, a coordinated attempt to murder and weapons violation.

Prosecutors argued that the first and fourth crimes stemmed from Nomura’s desire to get his hands on economic interests held by a fishery cooperative. But the former leader rebuffed Nomura’s overtures.

The shooting and the stabbing, occurring 16 years apart, were attempts to intimidate family members who controlled the economic interests and force them into submission.

The second attack was an obvious attempt to put pressure on local law enforcement that had launched a crackdown on the Kudo-kai.

The third assault was triggered by Nomura’s dissatisfaction with the nurse who treated him at a clinic, prosecutors said.

Those who actually carried out the crimes have already been convicted. In all trials except the one for the murder of the former fishery cooperative head, the courts recognized the existence of a chain-in-command system headed by Nomura and Tanoue.

One of the major points in dispute in the latest trial was whether both Nomura and Tanoue gave direct orders to commit the violent acts, as there is no solid evidence directly linking both to the court cases. 

   

The active resistance against the villain’s evil designs on others, and against the villain himself is not evil, but good. And therefore it can and must be the work of a pious love. – Ivan Ilyin

[PHOTO SOURCE: https://quozio.com/quote/hhrgdp3rdpdr/1236/the-active-resistance-against-the-villains-evil-designs-on]

https://victimsfamiliesforthedeathpenalty.blogspot.com/2021/03/illinois-murderers-dream-state.html

Prosecutors argued Nomura deserved the harshest sentence because none of the victims in the four incidents had connections to rival gangs.

“Ordinary citizens became a target in all of the incidents, repeatedly posing a direct threat to society,” prosecutors said.

These incidents were “unprecedented in the extremely egregious nature of the crimes carried out by organized gangs,” they said. 


Satoru Nomura, left of center, goes outside during a house search by Fukuoka prefectural police on April 1, 2010, in Kita-Kyushu’s Kokura-Kita Ward. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)


DEFENDANTS PROCLAIMED THEIR INNOCENCE

Defense lawyers, on the other hand, denied Nomura’s involvement in the first and fourth incident, by saying that he “never had an interest in the cooperative.”

As for the shooting of a police officer, the defense argued that it would only backfire to strike against law enforcement, as it would prompt police to launch a tougher crackdown on the Kudo-kai.

For the stabbing of a nurse, Nomura’s displeasure with her was only temporary, defense argued.

Nomura “had no motivation to attack” in all four cases, the defense argued.

Defense also criticized prosecutors and said their “evaluation of circumstantial evidence is extremely arbitrary.”

Prosecutors “have not taken other hypotheses into consideration because they want to forcibly tie (Nomura and Tanoue) with the incidents,” and they “are entirely focused on their self-righteous speculations,” defense said.

Nomura in his final statement said, “I am innocent.”

Tanoue said, “I have never been involved, not even in the slightest.”

Both have maintained their innocence.

  

http://soldierexecutionerprolifer2008.blogspot.com/2017/07/national-police-agency-japan-aka.html

LAW ENFORCEMENT MOVE AGAINST KUDO-KAI

Fukuoka prefectural police launched a massive operation in September 2014 to destroy the Kudo-kai and made arrests of senior members, including Nomura and Tanoue.

As of the end of 2020, there were about 430 members and quasi-members of the Kudo-kai. At the end of 2008, when the group reached its peak, there were about 1,210 gang members, about three times more than the current membership. 

The trial of Nomura and Tanoue began in October 2019.

Out of safety concerns, the Fukuoka District Court decided to exclude the trial from a lay judge system where ordinary citizens are involved alongside professional judges.

A total of 62 hearings were held until March this year, and a total of 91 people including former gang members and police officers gave testimony.

Kudo-kai has been based in Kita-Kyushu, a major port city in the prefecture near its capital, Fukuoka, and a gateway to the Kyushu region, while extending its influence in areas around Tokyo with umbrella organizations.

Because the group had repeatedly violently attacked citizens, it has been named as a special-designated dangerous crime organization under the anti-organized crime law. Kudo-kai is the only organization designated as such in Japan.

INTERNET SOURCE: https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=169743928574938&id=101692122046786 …. …. https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/14424860

   

A drawing of Satoru Nomura, left, and Fumio Tanoue at the Fukuoka District Court on Aug. 24 (The Asahi Shimbun)

[PHOTO SOURCE: https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/photo/40398926]


A nation is like a person though it does not have a tangible body. Lawless and vicious individuals are like illnesses that attack the body. Police powers can be likened to daily treatments to keep the body healthy. A judge is a doctor, while law is medicine. In cases where the police cannot prevent a crime despite its efforts to that effect, it catches the criminal and hands him over to a judge. This is like entrusting an ill person with a doctor. A trial is a process to cure an ill person by administering appropriate medicine. As petty offenses are minor illnesses, police officers themselves treat them. This is like a home remedy.

- Kawaji Toshiyoshi ((川路 )

[PHOTO SOURCE: https://quozio.com/quote/ptf8hzq6ss6b/1004/a-nation-is-like-a-person-though-it-does-not-have-a]

https://soldierexecutionerprolifer2008.blogspot.com/2020/06/judge-is-doctor-and-law-is-medicine.html


Japan police to protect judges, witnesses after yakuza head sentenced to death

Fukuoka Prefectural Police on Aug. 25 ordered officers to protect related judges and witnesses after a local court handed a death sentence to the head of the feared Kudo-kai crime syndicate the previous day.

The notice came in response to a remark made by 74-year-old Kudo-kai head Satoru Nomura to the presiding judge immediately after the Fukuoka District Court ruling on Aug. 24: "You'll regret this for the rest of your life."

The Kitakyushu, Fukuoka Prefecture-based group is the only designated dangerous crime syndicate in Japan. The prefectural police are poised to beef up security measures once again against the gang.

In connection with the public hearings of Nomura's case, a member of a Kudo-kai-affiliated gang was arrested and indicted for allegedly intimidating a male witness when they met as well as talked over the phone, in violation of Japan's organized crime law.

The prefectural police headquarters has led the response to the Kudo-kai threat with about 100 officers at its organized crime division's protective measures office, keeping a close eye on the gang's moves following the court decision. The headquarters will also share information with other police departments to ensure the safety of those under protection in and outside Fukuoka Prefecture.

INTERNET SOURCE: https://www.msn.com/en-xl/news/other/japan-police-to-protect-judges-witnesses-after-yakuza-head-sentenced-to-death/ar-AANMTYv

RELATED LINKS:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satoru_Nomura

https://news.sky.com/story/you-will-regret-this-japan-crime-bosss-chilling-threat-to-judge-after-being-sentenced-to-death-12390781

https://www.rt.com/news/532947-japan-yakuza-boss-sentenced-death/

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/8/25/japanese-court-sentences-yakuza-boss-to-death-for-ordering-murder

Thursday, August 19, 2021

OKLAHOMA SERIAL KILLER: WILLIAM REECE SENTENCED TO DEATH (AUGUST 19, 2021)

 

Convicted killer William Reece sentenced to die for 1997 murder

[PHOTO SOURCE: https://kfor.com/video/convicted-killer-william-reece-sentenced-to-die-for-1997-murder/6686070/]

  

If the death penalty was not imposed then "wrong really has finally totally triumphed over right and all civilised society, all we hold dear, is the loser." - John Stevens, Baron Stevens of Kirkwhelpington

[PHOTO SOURCE: https://quozio.com/quote/hwwv7bcchftj/1092/if-the-death-penalty-was-not-imposed-then-wrong-really-has]


On this date, August 19, 2021, Oklahoma Serial Killer, William Lewis Reece sentenced to death for the murder of Tiffany Johnston in 1997. He is now suspected of killing four women in total. As terrorists, serial killers and mass murderers had changed me from a death penalty opponent to supporter, Davis should get the needle and he should not be allowed to keep his life at all. Hopefully, he will meet the Bali Bomber, Amrozi one day.

A confessed serial killer who preyed on young Houston girls -- and killed at least two of them -- was formally sentenced to death Thursday by a judge in Oklahoma City. William Reece, 61, was tried for the 1997 kidnapping and murder of Tiffany Johnston, a 19-year-old newlywed in Bethany, Oklahoma.

[PHOTO SOURCE: https://www.khou.com/article/news/crime/serial-killer-william-reece-death-sentence/285-749d3e7b-82ed-4590-bbb5-b756d1158d77]



Murder trial begins for man accused of serial killings in Oklahoma, Texas

Nolan Clay

Oklahoman

Tiffany Johnston

After being linked by DNA to a cold case in Oklahoma, Texas inmate William Lewis Reece began confessing.

By the time he was done, he had admitted to the killing in Oklahoma and three more in Texas, prosecutors say. All were in 1997, after he got out of an Oklahoma prison after serving time for rape.

He led investigators in Texas to two bodies after prosecutors there agreed not to seek the death penalty for his cooperation.

Texas Rangers pushed Oklahoma County District Attorney David Prater to do the same. The district attorney refused.

Now — almost six years after being charged — Reece, 61, is going on trial in the Oklahoma murder case.

Jurors questioned about death penalty

Jury selection began Monday morning in Oklahoma County District Court. The trial is expected to last three weeks.

District Judge Susan Stallings is having potential jurors questioned one at a time, and away from others, about their opinions on the death penalty.

Potential jurors also are being asked about any exposure to pretrial publicity.

Reece made his confessions to two Texas Rangers and a police detective from Friendswood, Texas, according to testimony at pretrial hearings and court filings.

At trial, "these officers will testify that the defendant stated his reasoning for confessing to these crimes was that he wanted to clear his conscience and let the families have closure," prosecutors wrote in a legal filing.

"At no time did the defendant express remorse for his actions."

Victim abducted at Bethany car wash

Reece confessed to strangling Tiffany Johnston after abducting her on July 26, 1997, from a car wash in Bethany. Her partially nude body was found the next day in tall weeds in Yukon, just south of Interstate 40.

Johnston was 19 and a newlywed.

He said he sexually assaulted her inside a horse trailer and strangled her with his hands and then a rope, according to evidence and testimony in the case. She hit him with a horseshoe at one point.

"He didn't know why. He just said it happened," a Texas Ranger testified at the 2017 preliminary hearing.

Reece also has confessed to killing Kelli Ann Cox, a 20-year-old student at the University of North Texas in Denton, and Jessica Cain, 17, who was from the Galveston area, authorities say. He said he used a bulldozer both times to bury their bodies. Their remains were found in 2016.

He also confessed to killing Laura Kate Smither, 12, of Friendswood, Texas, while working in the area at a construction job.

He claimed he accidentally hit her with his truck while she was jogging in the rain. He said he then snapped her neck to stop her from screaming and dumped her body in a retention pond. Prosecutors allege there is evidence he raped the girl, but he denied any sexual contact.

Her body was found 17 days after she went missing.

Reece was in prison in Texas for abducting a 19-year-old woman in 1997. The victim escaped by jumping from his moving truck.

Held at Oklahoma County jail

He has been held at the Oklahoma County jail since being brought from Texas. There, he has helped out on the medical floor as a trustee, court records show.

Trials involving serial killer suspects are rare, and Reece's case is getting international media attention.

The FBI has described serial murder as "the unlawful killing of two or more victims by the same offender(s), in separate events." The FBI put out the definition after hosting a symposium of 135 experts in 2005.

The FBI noted in the same report that a federal law in 1998 described serial murder as a series of three or more killings.

INTERNET SOURCE: https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=114298550786143&id=101692122046786

https://www.oklahoman.com/story/news/2021/05/11/man-accused-being-serial-killer-goes-trial/5027190001/

  

Snakes are poisonous wherever they are. You can't underestimate a snake just because there's only one. It's dangerous wherever it is. - Ashin Wirathu

[PHOTO SOURCE: https://quozio.com/quote/cfng2qb4scqt/1289/snakes-are-poisonous-wherever-they-are-you-cant]

http://soldierexecutionerprolifer2008.blogspot.com/2021/09/firebrand-buddhist-monk-ashin-wirathu.html


Judge Seals Fate of Oklahoma Serial Killer After Jury Recommended Death Penalty in Slaying of Teen

Adam Klasfeld

Aug 19th, 2021, 2:47 pm

A little more than two months after an Oklahoma jury recommended a death sentence, serial killer William Lewis Reece’s fate has been sealed by a judge over the death of a teen, according to news reports and the case’s docket.

During Reece’s trial for strangling newlywed Tiffany Johnston to death in a car wash, jurors reportedly heard the man’s confessions to four separate slayings in 1997: three in Texas and one in Oklahoma. Reece had been previously serving a 65-year sentence for the aggravated kidnapping of Sandra Sapaugh, who jumped out of a car and lived to tell police about her brush with a man authorities called a “true predator,” according to the ABC-affiliated TV station KTRK.

Johnston was not able to escape Reece with her life. The killer choked her to death at age 19 that same year. The teen disappeared in July 1997, when authorities spotted her Dodge Neon with her keys in the ignition. But she reportedly was not in the car.

Authorities found the victim’s naked body the next day in a field in Oklahoma’s Canadian County.

Nearly two decades would pass before DNA evidence linked Reece to Johnston in 2015, after examiners reportedly took vaginal and rectum swabs from the slain newlywed. Reece, who had been incarcerated for Sapaugh’s kidnapping at the time, confessed to the four killings when confronted by authorities the next year.

Oklahoma County District Judge Susan Stallings, who affirmed the death penalty for Reece on Thursday, let prosecutors show the jury his confessions during his trial this past spring, the Oklahoman reported.

As reported by the Oklahoman, Reece agreed with detectives that he had a dark side right after his confession.

“Well, yeah, ain’t no doubt about it. I ain’t going to lie to you,” Reece reportedly told the detective.

In 2016, Reece also reportedly confessed to killing Kelli Ann Cox, 20; Jessica Cain, 17; and Laura Kate Smither, 12. He used a bulldozer to bury Cox and Cain’s bodies, the paper reported.

“He likes to abduct, sexually assault girls and young women and sometimes kill them,” Assistant District Attorney Jimmy Harmon reportedly told the jury during closing arguments in late May. “It was his thing.”

An Oklahoma jury previously sentenced Reece to death in June, some 24 years after the deaths of the young women and girls.

Records show that Reece filed his notice of appeal on Thursday. Reece’s lawyer, Assistant Public Defender Jacob Benedict, did not immediately respond to a voicemail requesting comment, but press accounts suggests he did not dispute that his client is a killer. Instead, Benedict reportedly told jurors that his client confessed because a Texas Ranger had promised that prosecutors would not seek to put him to death in Texas.

“A promise he couldn’t keep, but still a promise,” Benedict told jurors, according to the Oklahoman.

Oklahoma authorities refused to sign onto the deal.

When Reece was being tried on death-penalty counts this past spring, Jessica Cain’s father released a statement that the family would be at peace, whatever the outcome.

“I’m just glad that he can never harm another innocent young woman,” C.H. Cain told KTRK in a statement. “We will miss Jessica every day of our lives, but as for Reece, my heart had been at ease for a very long time, because I know that the final judgement belongs to God. What happens on Earth is temporary. What God decides is eternal.”

(Photo via KTRK screengrab)

INTERNET SOURCE: https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=166663468882984&id=101692122046786

https://lawandcrime.com/crime/judge-seals-fate-of-oklahoma-serial-killer-a-jury-sentenced-to-death-for-slaying-teen/

  

William Reece, 62, was convicted in June of kidnapping and murdering Tiffany Johnston, 19, in the town of Bethany, Oklahoma.

[PHOTO SOURCE: https://www.click2houston.com/news/investigates/2021/08/19/convicted-killer-formally-sentenced-to-death/]

‘He’s not really sorry’: Convicted killer, William Lewis Reece, formally sentenced to death

An Oklahoma judge affirmed a jury’s death sentence for a man accused of a string of murders in 1997.

William Reece, 62, was convicted in June of kidnapping and murdering Tiffany Johnston, 19, in the town of Bethany, Oklahoma.

“There’s an old saying the law, ‘justice delayed is justice denied.’ Justice will not be delayed any longer in this case. I sentence you to death,” Oklahoma County judge Susan Stallings said during the hearing.

Johnston’s mother, Kathy Dobry, also spoke during the hearing.

“Tiffany was my shadow, we talked and shared her thoughts about the future, having children and me being a grandparent. William Reece’s actions left me with just my memories,” said Dobry. “William Reece might have taken my baby, but he can’t take my memories.”

Reece is also charged with murdering Laura Smither in Friendswood, Jessica Cain in La Marque and kidnapping Kelli Ann Cox from Denton before murdering her and burying her body in a Brazoria County field. All of these murders were committed in 1997, but it took two decades for Texas Rangers and several law enforcement agencies to gather enough evidence to charge Reece.

Reece has been in prison since 1998. He was also charged with kidnapping Sandra Sapaugh from a parking lot in Webster. Sapaugh escaped by jumping from Reece’s truck and her testimony was crucial in securing a 60-year prison sentence for Reece.

Both Kelli Ann Cox’s and Laura Smither’s families traveled to Oklahoma for today’s hearing.

“I am just thankful he will not ever be out on the streets again, I mean ever,” said Jan Bynum, Cox’s mother.

At the time Cox was kidnapped and murdered she had a 19-month old daughter. Alexis Bynum also attended the hearing and spoke about the pain of growing up not knowing what happened to her mother.

“I remember looking for her,” said Alexis Bynum.

Cox’s body was not found until Reece confessed in 2016 and led detectives to the spot where she was buried.

“Disgusting, he’s disgusting,” Alexis Bynum said. “I mean you could feel the evil enter the room and leave it when he was coming in and out.”

Reece also confessed to Cain’s murder in 2016 and finally led investigators to her remains. Cain’s family declined to comment.

Smither’s body was found a few weeks after she disappeared while jogging near her Friendswood home.

“You would hope for something in a person to say I’m sorry,” said Gay Smither.

The judge did give Reece a chance to speak, but he declined. Gay Smither said that silence told her all she needed to know.

“It confirms that even though we have confessions he’s not really sorry for what he did,” said Smither. “That’s always disheartening to recognize that somebody is so broken that they don’t even know what they did was wrong.”

Reece’s attorneys say they will appeal his sentence. Prosecutors in Galveston and Brazoria counties have not yet decided whether to continue pursuing their cases against Reece.

Smither said she wants prosecutors to keep Laura’s and the other women’s cases active, at least until the appeal process in Oklahoma is finished. While he had not completed his 60-year sentence in Oklahoma, Texas Department of Criminal Justice officials said they will not seek his return now that he has been sentenced to death.

Prior to the murders, Reece served time in an Oklahoma prison for rape.

INTERNET SOURCE: https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=2042783905872970&id=1299628893521812

https://www.click2houston.com/news/investigates/2021/08/19/convicted-killer-formally-sentenced-to-death/

    

If the criminal taking of a human life does not merit forfeiture of one's own life, then what value have we placed on the life taken? - Pat Buchanan

[PHOTO SOURCE: https://quozio.com/quote/5hvg8xggccvn/1318/if-the-criminal-taking-of-a-human-life-does-not-merit]

http://victimsfamiliesforthedeathpenalty.blogspot.com/2015/11/pat-buchanan-on-sanctity-of-life-pro.html

Article: http://victimsfamiliesforthedeathpenalty.blogspot.com/2015/11/scalia-v-pope-whos-right-on-death.html


‘There is no closure on love.’ Victims’ families speak out after judge sentences convicted serial killer to death

Emily Akins/KFOR

OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) – An Oklahoma family finally sees justice 24 years after a young newlywed’s murder.

“There’s an old saying in the law, ‘justice delayed is justice denied,’ justice will not be delayed any longer in this case, I sentence you to death,” said Judge Susan Stallings.

Judge Stallings sentenced accused serial killer William Reece to death in an Oklahoma County courtroom Thursday.

William Reece after being sentenced to death.

A look back at the trial and grisly confessions of a serial killer sentenced to death in Oklahoma

In 1997, Tiffany Johnston was abducted from a Bethany car wash.

Her body was found in a field in Canadian County a day later.

Investigator connected Reece to Johnston’s murder.

The jury found him guilty in June.

Johnston’s mother has been fighting for answers for more 20 years.

“He might’ve killed her, but he can’t take my memories,” said Kathy Dobry. “I believe in God and all that, but I’ll never forgive him… and I’m glad people can, but not this momma.”

Convicted serial killer sentenced to death for murder of Oklahoma teen

Tiffany wasn’t Reece’s only victim.

Reece is also accused of and confessed to killing three other young women in Texas around the same time Johnston was murdered.

In 2016, Reece led investigators to a grave in Texas, containing remains of 20-year-old Kelli Cox’s body.

Cox’s mother and daughter were both in the courtroom Thursday.

“He will not be able to ever do this to anyone else,” said her mother, Jan Bynum.

“No one needs to go through this, not even William Reece himself would I wish this upon him,” said Kelli’s daughter, Alexis.

Alexis was only 19 months old when her mother was murdered.

“It flipped my entire life upside down,” she said.

The family of 12-year-old Laura Smither, a Texas child Reece admitted to killing, was sitting alongside the Coxes.

“He will never be able to get out and harm another child, that’s very important,” said Laura’s mother, Gay Smither.

An image of William Reece next to images of his victims.

Smither carries a picture of Laura on necklace that sits close to her heart.

“Keep dancing baby,” she said, “Laura loved to dance and she’s free to dance for all eternity now.”

“I want everyone to know she was an absolutely beautiful person,” said Johnston’s cousin, Misty Witt

Even though real ‘closure’ doesn’t exist for any of these families, they feel justice was served.

“It doesn’t change anything… it just helps everybody so that he can’t hurt anybody else,” said Deborah Maxwell, Laura’s aunt.

“You do what you got to do to keep going,” said Alexis Bynum.

“There is no closure on love,” added Smither.

Reece also admitted to killing Jessica Cain in Texas.

The victim’s families also want this to be a reminder that this can happen to anyone.

The defense filed to appeal the death penalty ruling. They declined to interview.

INTERNET SOURCE: https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=2041959985955362&id=1299628893521812

https://kfor.com/news/local/there-is-no-closure-on-love-victims-families-speak-out-after-judge-sentences-convicted-serial-killer-to-death/

   

It diminishes the victims when people burn candles and mourn someone who has committed a heinous crime. People on death row are some of the worst individuals that appear on the face of the earth. The abolitionists refuse to acknowledge that evil exists and evil has to be put down. – Marc Klaas

[PHOTO SOURCE: https://quozio.com/quote/kspp5czvzbmx/1011/it-diminishes-the-victims-when-people-burn-candles-and]

https://victimsfamiliesforthedeathpenalty.blogspot.com/2017/10/marc-klaas-defends-death-penalty-pro.html


OTHER LINKS:

On a personal level, do any of you disagree with the fact that child rapists deserve the death penalty? I used to be not really pro-death penalty. I'm super pro-death penalty now. – Steven Crowder

https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=242342334648430&id=101692122046786

https://www.mediamatters.org/steven-crowder/youtube-steven-crowder-i-would-send-out-gangs-retarded-people-lynch-pedophiles

“I care more about how the families feel than I care about this guy being trapped or not being trapped. And if the families are telling me that the way they’re going to get closure is by him being put to the death penalty, then so be it. Because the priority, for me, is the families that had those lives stolen from them.” – Ana Navarro said, referring to the alternative of him spending life in prison.

PHOTO: https://www.facebook.com/Surviving-Victims-of-Murderer-Promoters-1299628893521812/photos/a.1935292193288809/2109906249160735

https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=2095705927247434&id=1299628893521812

https://victimsfamiliesforthedeathpenalty.blogspot.com/2021/10/parkland-gunman-nikolas-cruz-should-be.html

Parents of Murdered Children Demand Steeper Penalties for Killing Kids

https://vk.com/wall-184585082_352

https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=2118661191618574&id=1299628893521812

https://news.wttw.com/2021/11/16/parents-murdered-children-demand-steeper-penalties-killing-kids

YouTube Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udP09XDUpXY

Anti LWOP/Mass Incarceration:

3a. "I believe life without parole is death by another name, and I do not believe in death sentences," Miranda told her colleagues on Tuesday. "I do not believe that justice is upholding mass incarceration in our communities that perpetuates generational poverty, violence and trauma."

https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=195606665988664&id=101692122046786

https://www.telegram.com/story/news/local/2021/10/05/life-without-parole-knocked-death-another-name/6010748001/

3b. Mass. Lawmakers Consider Bill Ending Sentences of Life Without Parole

People who have lost loved ones to violence spoke both in support of and in opposition to a bill that would end life sentences without parole in Massachusetts

https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=195607442655253&id=101692122046786

https://www.nbcboston.com/news/politics/mass-lawmakers-consider-bill-ending-sentences-of-life-without-parole/2509165/

Victims’ Families against parole:

4. Parents Of Murdered Daughter Need Your Help To Keep Killer In Prison

https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=2078721268945900&id=1299628893521812

https://kfiam640.iheart.com/content/2021-10-05-parents-of-murdered-daughter-need-your-help-to-keep-killer-in-prison/

Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/3350621811720081/permalink/4364685930313659

Families of homicide victims, including Colleen Ritzer’s parents, split over parole for offenders

https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=2078738875610806&id=1299628893521812

https://www.bostonherald.com/2021/10/05/families-of-homicide-victims-including-colleen-ritzers-parents-split-over-parole-for-offenders/

Ritzer Family Speaks Against Bill That Would End Life Without Parole Sentences In Massachusetts

https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=2082908501860510&id=1299628893521812

https://boston.cbslocal.com/2021/10/05/colleen-ritzer-family-philip-chism-massachusetts-sentencing-hearing/

Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/3350621811720081/permalink/4369445149837737

Chicago mother fighting to keep daughter's killer in prison: 'It is torture for me' https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=2079474945537199&id=1299628893521812

https://www.facebook.com/Fox32Chicago/posts/10160490323573797

https://www.fox32chicago.com/news/chicago-mother-fighting-to-keep-daughters-killer-in-prison-it-is-torture-for-me

Mass. lawmakers introduce bill to end life without parole

https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=2101863139965046&id=1299628893521812

https://tuftsdaily.com/news/2021/11/02/mass-lawmakers-introduce-bill-to-end-life-without-parole/

RELATED LINKS:

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/65004628/tiffany-michelle-johnston