Woman Condemned

Ana Cardona is officially back on Floridas death row. She spent a short reprieve in a state facility while trying to appeal her death sentence with a new trial. As usual the death penalty makes no sense here. Ana was involved in the killing of her own child. A small boy named Lazaro Figueroa, three years old. There is also proof of long standing abuse. The story goes that after Ana's rich drug dealing boyfriend died she inherited the estate worth hundreds of thousands, only to squander it all away. She later hooked up with a lesbian chick named Olivia and the two of them dealt drugs and shop lifted. Somehow Lazaro became the punching bag and scapegoat for Ana's fall from riches and was eventually found badly beatten on a roadside in Miami. Ana was given the death penalty but Olivia was given a 40 year sentence- both were proven to have had a hand in the little boys death. Once again we are left wondering why some child abusers are killed by the state and others allowed to...

The Oppression of Bail Mathew Barker- Benfield Most people are quite familiar with the concept of bail; Law and Order attorneys arguing for or against the possibility of bail for some suspected criminal, often at values of $10,000 or more. The concept behind bail is that individuals accused of a crime either a) need to be kept in jail until their trial, or b) need to pay some amount of money as a guarantee that they will go to their trial, where they will be given back their money. Of course, television obscures a huge part of the politics behind bail, bail bond agencies, and the often little amounts of money that comes between an individual and their freedom. The fact of the matter is, more than 500,000 inmates in jail today are there not because they are guilty, but because they are unable to pay bail, and so must wait in jail for months at a time until their trial, causing huge emotional and financial hardship on them, their families, and their communities. Most people aren’...

Judge Seals Decision In Jacob Shaffer Case: Judge Robert Crigler Of Lincoln County Picks Location For Jury Pool, But Seals The Decision – WHNT I have been following this case with rabid attention. Jacob Shaffer committed this crime about an hour and a half away from where I live.  I have been to every single one of his court appearances and pay close attention to news reports. From what I gather Jacob went to his wife’s Fayetteville, Tennessee home and killed her. He then killed her brother, her 16 year old son and a neighbor boy. Jacob also traveled across the street and killed her father. There is also evidence that before this killing spree he killed a man in Alabama in his place of business. There are some interesting elements of criminal justice coming out here.  It is a capital murder case so the death penalty could very well be on the table. Most certainly will be.  The judge has decided that the pool of jurors will be outside Lincoln County but has refused to s...

Facts About Capital Punishment Crimes that can result in a death penalty are known as capital crimes or capital offences. As of 2006, Ninety percent of all executions were carried out in Asia and the United States. Around 13,000 people have been executed with capital punishment, since the colonial times. The term capital originates from Latin capitalis, literally "regarding the head" (Latin caput). Hence, a capital crime was originally one punished by the severing of the head. The United States ranks fourth in the number of executions every year. Over 60 percent of the world's population live in countries where executions take place. The United States court banned the practice of capital punishment in 1972, but it was later reinstated in 1976. In China, human trafficking and serious cases of corruption are punished by the death penalty. Between 2005 and May 2008, Iran, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Yemen were reported to have executed child offenders...

  U.S. faces calls for the death penalty end | news The entire world is looking at the U.S. like we are the biggest idiots this side of Mars. The entire United Nations scolded the U.S. like spoiled child for which the three jurisdictions -. Texas, Virginia and Oklahoma – account for more than half the country’s executions. What a complete embarrassment.

Its a scary thought but many people believe that every single one of us could be a murderer if the circumstances were there. You might think to yourself, "well, if my child were in danger or if it were a life or death situation..." But what about other circumstances? I know a young woman who sits on death row now for the murder of her boyfriends parents. She was 17 at the time and he was 22. She was very caught up in the love and attention she received for him and would have followed him blindly into hell, happily. Now that is exactly where she is. Years later she wonders how she ever did what she did. Then there is Christa Pike who sits on death row for the killing of a rival for her boyfriend. Her mother knew something was wrong with her mentally and asked the state and doctors for help for her for many, many years only to be turned down. Then there is Andrea Yates and Susan Smith, who killed their children. Each received very different punishments. One deemed insane,...