Israel: IDF expected to seek death penalty for killers of Fogel family

Death sentences were occasionally handed down against terrorists in the early years of the state, but were always commuted.

The army will apparently seek the death penalty for the murderers of 5 members of the Fogel family in the West Bank settlement of Itamar in March. This would be the 1st time it has sought a sentence of death since the mid-1990s.

Such a request would most likely be purely symbolic, since the only case in which a death penalty was ever actually carried out in Israel was that of Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann in 1962. Death sentences were occasionally handed down against terrorists in the early years of the state, but were always commuted.

The victims of the Itamar settlement attack, 10-year-old Yoav Fogel, Udi Fogel, 37, four-year-old Elad Fogel, 3-month old Hadas Fogel and Ruth Fogel, 36.

Yet even to seek such a penalty would be a departure from longstanding army policy: Since the mid-1990s, not even the most heinous terrorist acts have resulted in a request for capital punishment.

Military prosecutors are expected to demand the death penalty this time due to the extreme nature of the case: Udi and Ruth Fogel and 3 of their children, ranging in age from 3 months to 11 years, were killed in their beds shortly after the family finished their Shabbat dinner.

The Shin Bet security service has wrapped up its investigation into the murders and indictments are expected to be filed shortly against the two suspects, Hakim and Amjad Awad of the village of Awarta, near Itamar. Both confessed to the killings under interrogation. On Tuesday, a military court ordered them held in detention for another 10 days.

Though the death penalty has never been used against terrorists, Israel Defense Forces regulations in the West Bank allow its imposition subject to various conditions: Incriminating evidence must be presented at the trial even if the defendants have confessed; the judges trying the case must hold the rank of lieutenant colonel or higher; and the sentence must get the judges' unanimous consent.

A death sentence is automatically reviewed by a 5-judge appellate panel even if the defendant does not seek to appeal. If the appellate court upholds it, the military commander in the territories must then review the sentence as well and consider commuting it.

Source: Ha'aretz, May 20, 2011

_________________________

Use the tags below or the search engine at the top of this page to find updates, older or related articles on this Website.

Israel: Death Penalty Unlikely for Itamar Massacre Terrorists

Israel is very unlikely to mete out the death penalty for the two terrorists who slaughtered five members of the Fogel family, but calls are mounting to make it mandatory in such cases.

Israeli civilian law allows the death penalty only for Nazi criminals, and the only time it has been implemented was for Adolf Eichmann. Military courts could impose a death sentence on terrorists in Judea and Samaria, which are under military law, but this has never happened.

Chava Chai, the neighbor of the Fogels and whose house was the first to be entered by the terrorists while the Chai family was away for the Sabbath, told The New York Times, “We hope they will receive the same justice as the Fogel family. They should be given the death penalty.”

The death penalty is the least that the terrorists deserve, said National Union Knesset Member Uri Ariel, quoting a saying by Rabbinic sages that “whoever takes mercy on cruel people will eventually be cruel to merciful people."

Likud MK Tzipi Hotovely also called for a change in legislation to allow the death penalty for terrorists, explaining that doing so would serve as deterrence. She was joined by Druze Likud MK Ayoub Kara.

National Union KM Dr. Michael Ben-Ari also called for the death penalty for what he called "monsters.”

Source: IsraelNationalNews.com, April 18, 2011

_________________________

Use the tags below or the search engine at the top of this page to find updates, older or related articles on this Website.

Ohio executes Frank G. Spisak Jr.

Frank G. Spisak Jr.

Serial killer Frank G. Spisak Jr., a Hitler devotee whose 1982 murder spree on the Cleveland State University campus terrified a city, was executed Thursday morning, the state said.

The death sentence was carried out at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility via intravenous lethal injection. The time of death was 10:34 a.m. His sentence was imposed in 1983 by the Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court.

Spisak, 59, read his final statement — a German language reading of Revelation 21:1-7 — which begins, “Then I saw a new heaven and earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away."

In a prepared statement, Cora Warford, the mother of one of Spisak’s victims, said, “In memory of my baby boy, Brian Warford, I can finally say justice has been served. Spisak will have to stand before a higher court one day as we all will, and may God have mercy on his soul.”

Witnesses to Thursday’s lethal injection were to include Brian Warford’s two brothers, the daughter of victim Timothy Sheehan, and John Hardaway, who survived being shot by Spisak. The lead prosecutor in the case, Donald Nugent, now a federal judge, also was to witness the execution. Spisak’s attorneys and a friend, Bill Kimberlin, were to witness on his behalf.

Kimberlin is a professor of psychology at Lorain Community College who studies death row inmate. Kimberlin became acquainted with Spisak while doing that research, said Carlo LoPara, spokesman for the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction.

Spisak, 59, arrived at the Lucasville prison from death row in Mansfield just before 10 a.m. Wednesday. “His mood was calm and reserved,” LoParo said.

He ate a “special meal” of spaghetti, tossed salad, chocolate cake, root beer and coffee Wednesday night, LoParo said. He spent the night resting in bed and listening to music. He wrote a letter.

Two priests conducted a Roman Catholic Mass for Spisak at the death house at 7 a.m. Thursday, three hours before the scheduled execution. “There was an indication during the Mass he was a bit emotional,” LoParo said.

He said Spisak’s body is to be cremated and the state will handle disposition of the remains.

A self-acknowledged disciple of Adolf Hitler, Spisak, 59, killed 3 men, wounded Hardaway and shot at a woman. He later admitted he went on “hunting parties” to kill blacks in hopes of fomenting a race war in Cleveland.

The survivors later identified Spisak as their assailant. Spisak admitted to the crimes, but unsuccessfully argued at his 1983 trial that he was legally insane.

In a clemency report last month that unanimously recommended against sparing Spisak’s life, the Ohio Parole Board told Gov. John Kasich that Spisak remains fascinated by Nazis and still reads books about Hitler, though he says he no longer agrees with Hitler’s philosophies. Spisak has said he learned racial tolerance by associating with blacks on death row.

“Spisak’s expressions of remorse for his victims are insincere and manipulative,” the report said. It noted that in 2004, Spisak wrote a threatening letter to the son of one of his victims. The son, Brendan Sheehan, was an assistant Cuyahoga County prosecutor and is now a common pleas judge.

Kasich denied clemency, and a federal appeals court on Tuesday denied Spisak’s last-minute bid for a stay of execution. The U.S. Supreme Court declined to step in.

Spisak’s attorneys attempted to halt the execution by quoting anti-death penalty statements this year by former Ohio Supreme Court Justice Paul Pfeifer, a Republican who helped to write the state’s death penalty law while in the legislature. Pfeifer said he no longer supports the death penalty and the process lacks the proper reviews.

Spisak is to be the last Ohio inmate to be executed using the drug sodium thiopental, whose production in Italy has been discontinued amid controversy about its use in capital punishment.

The state intends to use another single drug — Pentobarbital, also known as Nembutal — in future executions, beginning with that of Johnnie Baston of Toledo on March 10. Including Spisak, 9 executions are set for 2011 in Ohio.

Spisak becomes the 1st condemned inmate to be put to death this year in Ohio and the 42nd overall since the state resumed capital punishment in 1999.

Spisak becomes the 7th condemned inmate to be put to death this year in the USA and the 1241st overall since the nation resumed executions on January 17, 1977.

Related article: "Two voices, one story", Gamso for the Defense, Feb. 17, 2011

Sources: Springfield News Sun, Rick Halperin, Feb. 17, 2011

_________________________

Use the tags below or the search engine at the top of this page to find updates, older or related articles on this Website.

Condemned Ohio killer of 3 asks panel for mercy

A condemned Ohio inmate with Nazi sympathies who killed 3 men at Cleveland State University is asking the state's new governor for mercy.

Frank Spisak blamed the 1982 murders on his hatred of gays, blacks and Jews and also claimed his crimes were sparked by mental illness related to confusion about his sexual identity.

His attorneys planned to tell the Ohio Parole Board Thursday that Spisak suffers from a severe bipolar mood disorder that was not diagnosed until years after he was convicted.

The lawyers argue the information could have led jurors to consider a different sentence.

Spisak's plea to spare his life will be the 1st death penalty case to come before newly sworn-in Republican Gov. John Kasich

Source: Associated Press, January 13, 2011