Hawaii holds death penalty trial despite having abolished capital punishment

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press

Hawaii holds death penalty trial despite having abolished capital punishment

• Soldier allegedly murdered daughter on military property
• Federal government seeks death sentence for Naeem Williams

Associated Press in Honolulu
theguardian.com, Saturday 8 March 2014 09.18 EST

A Honolulu courtroom is set to become the scene of a death penalty trial, even though Hawaii abolished capital punishment in 1957.

Opening statements are scheduled for Tuesday in the trial of a former Hawaii-based army soldier accused of beating his five-year-old daughter to death in 2005. But because the crime allegedly took place on military property, Naeem Williams is being tried in federal court – a system that does have the death penalty.

It is rare for the government to seek the death penalty in a state that does not allow it. Only seven of 59 inmates currently on federal death row are from states that did not have the death penalty at the time the sentence was imposed, according to the Death Penalty Information Center in Washington.

While the Williams case has not received much publicity, the death penalty circumstance gives it something in common with a more high-profile case for federal prosecutors: the Boston Marathon bombing.



Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/mar/08/hawaii-death-penalty-trial-naeem-williams

[McCamy Taylor]

1. Misleading title. Its "Feds prosecute death penalty trial."

Hawaii is not the same as the "feds."

[Judi Lynn]

2. The article just says "because the crime allegedly took place on military property,

Naeem Williams is being tried in federal court – a system that does have the death penalty."

The death penalty should have been removed so long ago, back when it appeared that was the trend, before the right-wing sociopaths conspired to lie, cheat, and steal their way into power.

[dlwickham]

3. does Cuba still have the death penalty

[jmowreader]

4. They do, at least in spirit

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_punishment_in_Cuba

The last three people to receive capital punishment (by firing squad) were executed in 2003 for hijacking a ferry and threatening to kill passengers. All the people on death row after that got their sentences commuted in 2010.

[okaawhatever]

5. No kidding, they even used the Boston bombing trial. That's pathetic journalism. nt

[davidpdx]

6. While it's true the title isn't completely accurate

Given it is LBN the person is following DU rules.

[Skittles]

7. that little girl