Latest news with #capitalpunishment
Yahoo
7 hours ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Federal prosecutors to seek death penalty for New Mexico man
Jun. 27—Federal prosecutors in New Mexico said Friday they plan to seek the death penalty for the first time since 2018 in the case of a man charged in two homicides and other crimes. The request by U.S. Attorney Ryan Ellison of New Mexico also marks the state's first capital punishment case since President Donald Trump's administration lifted the ban on federal executions on Feb. 5. The request comes in the case of Labar Tsethlikai, 52, an enrolled member of Zuni Pueblo, whom federal prosecutors have described as "a serial murderer, kidnapper and sexual abuser" who victimized Native American men, the U.S. Attorney's Office has said. He has been charged with 17 felonies, including first-degree murder and two counts of kidnapping resulting in death, according to a superseding indictment filed in December 2024. Other charges include aggravated sexual abuse, assault with intent to commit murder and nine counts of kidnapping. "The maximum penalty for the kidnapping resulting in death charges is death, and Attorney General Bondi has authorized and directed the United States Attorney for the District of New Mexico to pursue capital punishment in this case," Ellison's office said in a news release issued Friday. Federal executions in the U.S. have been on hold since former U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland imposed a moratorium in 2021. On his first day in office, Jan. 20, President Trump ordered the attorney general, now Pam Bondi, to pursue the death penalty "for all crimes of a severity demanding its use." The last time federal prosecutors in New Mexico filed a notice to seek the death penalty was in January 2018, according to the Federal Capital Trial Project website. The notice was filed in the case of defendant Kirby Cleveland, who was charged in the 2017 fatal shooting death of Houston Largo, a Navajo Nation Department of Public Safety law enforcement officer. The U.S. Attorney's Office in New Mexico withdrew the notice months later. Cleveland pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was sentenced to 30 years in federal prison. In Tsethlikai's case, Ellison, a Trump appointee, notified U.S. District Court Judge David H. Urias on Friday of his intent to seek the death penalty. Tsethlikai "engaged in a pattern of predatory and sexual violence against other individuals," Ellison and two assistant U.S. attorneys wrote in a notice of intent to seek the death penalty filed in U.S. District Court in Albuquerque. The alleged crimes were committed "in an especially heinous, cruel, or depraved manner in that it involved torture or serious physical abuse" of the victim, Ellison wrote. The notice also said that Tsethlikai had previously been convicted of two or more offenses "involving the infliction, or attempted infliction of, serious bodily injury or death upon another person." Tsethlikai is from Zuni but traveled extensively around New Mexico, including Gallup, Albuquerque and Santa Fe, the U.S. Attorney's Office said. He is believed to have worked in the Native American jewelry industry. Tsethlikai initially was charged in April with second-degree murder in the Jan. 18, 2024, death of a man found dead in a remote area of the Zuni reservation. Tsethlakai now faces first-degree murder in that death. In July, Tsethlikai was charged in the October 22, 2022, death of a man identified as "John Doe 1," who died as a result of a kidnapping, according to a superseding indictment. Additional charges are part of a larger series of violent crimes committed by Tsethlikai against Native American men across New Mexico between 2022 and 2024, the agency has said. Prosecutors said the victims were Native American men, but none are identified by name in court records. Most of the attacks occurred in McKinley County. "Simply put, (Tsethlikai) preys on a vulnerable segment of the population, that being males who are either homeless or addicted to controlled substances, or both," prosecutors wrote in an April 29 pretrial detention motion. U.S. Magistrate Judge Laura Fashing in May ordered Tsethlikai to remain in custody pending trial. He faces a mandatory life sentence or death if convicted of first-degree murder or kidnapping resulting in death, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.
CTV News
a day ago
- Politics
- CTV News
Japan executes man convicted of murder for killing and dismembering 9 people in his apartment
Takahiro Shiraishi leaves a police station in Hachioji, suburbs of Tokyo, in November 2017. (Takuya Inaba/Kyodo News via AP, File) TOKYO — A man convicted of murder for killing and dismembering nine people in his apartment near Tokyo was executed Friday, Japan's Justice Ministry said. Takahiro Shiraishi, known as the 'Twitter killer,' was sentenced to death in 2020 for the killings in 2017 of the nine victims, most of whom had posted suicidal thoughts on social media. He was also convicted of sexually abusing female victims. Police arrested him later that year after finding the bodies of eight teenage girls and women as well as one man in cold-storage cases in his apartment. Investigators said Shiraishi approached the victims via Twitter, offering to assist them with their suicidal wishes. He killed the three teenage girls and five women after raping them. He also killed the boyfriend of one of the women to silence him. 'The case caused the extremely serious outcomes and dealt a major shockwave and unease to the society,' Justice Minister Keisuke Suzuki told an emergency news conference. He said he signed the execution earlier this week, but did not witness Shiraishi's hanging. The execution was carried out as calls grow to abolish capital punishment or increase transparency in Japan after the acquittal of the world's longest-serving death row inmate Iwao Hakamada last year. Suzuki justified the need for the execution in Japan, noting a recent government survey shows an overwhelming majority of the public still supports capital punishment, though opposition has somewhat increased. 'I believe it is not appropriate to abolish execution,' Suzuki said, adding there is growing concern about serious crime. Shiraishi was hanged at the Tokyo Detention House in secrecy with nothing disclosed until the execution was done. Japan now has 105 people on death row, including 49 seeking retrials, Suzuki said. Executions are carried out in secrecy in Japan, where prisoners are not even informed of their fate until the morning of their hanging. Since 2007, Japan has begun disclosing the names of those executed and some details of their crimes, but disclosures are still limited. Japan and the U.S. are the only two countries in the Group of Seven leading industrialized nations that retain capital punishment. Japan's most recent execution, in July 2022, was of a man who killed seven people in a vehicle crash and stabbing rampage in a crowded Tokyo shopping district of Akihabara in 2018. Japan's crime rate is relatively low, but it has seen some high-profile mass killings in recent years. Mari Yamaguchi, The Associated Press
BreakingNews.ie
a day ago
- Politics
- BreakingNews.ie
Japan hangs 'Twitter killer' in first execution since 2022
Japan has executed a man who killed nine people after contacting them on social media, the first use of capital punishment in the country in nearly three years. Takahiro Shiraishi had been sentenced to death for his 2017 strangling and dismembering of eight women and one man in his apartment in Zama city in Kanagawa near Tokyo. He was dubbed the "Twitter killer" as he contacted victims via the social media platform. Advertisement Justice minister Keisuke Suzuki, who authorised Shiraishi's hanging, said he made the decision after careful examination, taking into account the convict's "extremely selfish" motive for crimes that "caused great shock andunrest to society." It followed the execution in July 2022 of a man who went on a stabbing rampage in Tokyo's shopping district Akihabara in 2008. World Japan's agriculture minister resigns after remark... Read More It was also the first time a death penalty was carried out since prime minister Shigeru Ishiba's government was inaugurated last October. In September last year, a Japanese court acquitted Iwao Hakamada, who had spent the world's longest time on death row after a wrongful conviction for crimes committed nearly 60 years ago. Capital punishment is carried out by hanging in Japan and prisoners are notified of their execution hours before it is carried out, which has long been decried by human rights groups for the stress it puts on death-row prisoners. "It is not appropriate to abolish the death penalty while these violent crimes are still being committed," Suzuki told a press conference. There are currently 105 death row inmates in Japan, he added.
Irish Times
a day ago
- Politics
- Irish Times
Japan hangs ‘Twitter killer' in first execution since 2022
Japan executed a man on Friday who killed nine people after contacting them on social media, the first use of capital punishment in the country in nearly three years. Takahiro Shiraishi had been sentenced to death for his 2017 strangling and dismembering of eight women and one man in his apartment in Zama city in Kanagawa near Tokyo. He was dubbed the 'Twitter killer' as he contacted victims via the social media platform. Justice minister Keisuke Suzuki, who authorised Shiraishi's hanging, said he made the decision after careful examination, taking into account the convict's 'extremely selfish' motive for crimes that 'caused great shock and unrest to society'. READ MORE It followed the execution in July 2022 of a man who went on a stabbing rampage in Tokyo's shopping district Akihabara in 2008. It was also the first time a death penalty was carried out since prime minister Shigeru Ishiba's government was inaugurated last October. In September last year, a Japanese court acquitted Iwao Hakamada, who had spent the world's longest time on death row after a wrongful conviction for crimes committed nearly 60 years ago. Capital punishment is carried out by hanging in Japan and prisoners are notified of their execution hours before it is carried out, which has long been decried by human rights groups for the stress it puts on death-row prisoners. 'It is not appropriate to abolish the death penalty while these violent crimes are still being committed,' Mr Suzuki told a press conference. There are currently 105 death row inmates in Japan, he added. – Reuters
Asharq Al-Awsat
a day ago
- Asharq Al-Awsat
Japan Executes Man Convicted of Murder for Killing, Dismembering 9 People
A man convicted of murder for killing and dismembering nine people in his apartment near Tokyo was executed Friday, Japan's Justice Ministry said. Takahiro Shiraishi, known as the 'Twitter killer,' was sentenced to death in 2020 for the killings in 2017 of the nine victims, most of whom had posted suicidal thoughts on social media. He was also convicted of sexually abusing female victims, The Associated Press reported. Police arrested him later that year after finding the bodies of eight teenage girls and women as well as one man in cold-storage cases in his apartment. Investigators said Shiraishi approached the victims via Twitter, offering to assist them with their suicidal wishes. He killed the three teenage girls and five women after raping them. He also killed the boyfriend of one of the women to silence him. 'The case caused the extremely serious outcomes and dealt a major shockwave and unease to the society,' Justice Minister Keisuke Suzuki told an emergency news conference. He said he signed the execution earlier this week, but did not witness Shiraishi's hanging. The execution was carried out as calls grow to abolish capital punishment or increase transparency in Japan after the acquittal of the world's longest-serving death row inmate Iwao Hakamada last year. Suzuki justified the need for the execution in Japan, noting a recent government survey shows an overwhelming majority of the public still supports capital punishment, though opposition has somewhat increased. 'I believe it is not appropriate to abolish execution,' Suzuki said, adding there is growing concern about serious crime. Shiraishi was hanged at the Tokyo Detention House in secrecy with nothing disclosed until the execution was done. Japan now has 105 people on death row, including 49 seeking retrials, Suzuki said.
