SOME BANGLADESHI JUSTICE

A Bangladeshi woman who spent nearly eight years in prison for murdering her son has been freed after the boy turned up alive. Kamala Khatun and her second husband, Mizanur Rahman, walked free from jail in Sherpur district, 140 kilometres north of the capital, Dhaka, yesterday, The Daily Star reported.

In 1997, Khatun's first husband - the father of her son, Faruk - accused her and her new spouse of killing the boy. Although no body was found, a court convicted the couple of murder and sentenced them to life in prison. Faruk, now 19, presented himself to the authorities in February and said his father had abducted him eight years earlier and kept him hidden all that time, the newspaper reported.

Human rights groups took up the case with the High Court which ordered Khatun and Rahman's release earlier this month, the report said. The court also ordered an investigation into the false prosecution. Khatun demanded that her ex-husband be punished for her sufferings, the report said.

From here




DISGUSTING KILLER ESCAPES DEATH BECAUSE JURORS READ BIBLE

This is from a little while back but is still worth noting for the extreme irrelevance of the reasoning used. The verdict should have been appealed

The Colorado Supreme Court has overturned a convicted killer's death sentence because jurors brought Bibles into the jury room and wrote down and quoted passages from the Old Testament during deliberations. Robert Harlan will serve life in prison without parole after being convicted and sentenced to death in 1995 for the kidnapping, murder and rape of a 25-year-old woman and the attempted murder of a woman who came to her aid.

Casino waitress Rhonda Maloney was driving home from work when Harlan forced her car off the road and raped her. The victim escaped and flagged down a passing motorist, Jaquie Creazzo. The ''good samaritan'' was driving Maloney to a police station when Harlan gave chase and fired at her vehicle. Creazzo was struck by a bullet and paralyzed in the attack. Harlan then pulled Maloney from the car and fled. Her body was found a week later.

The jury recommended the death penalty, but defense attorneys challenged the sentence after discovering several of the jurors brought Bibles into the jury room. As WorldNetDaily reported, although jury members, who were sequestered in a hotel during the period of their deliberations, were not exposed to newspapers and other media coverage, court officials didn't remove the Bibles from jurors' rooms. The defense argued allowing jurors to refer to religious works while deliberating was improper because they are not part of Colorado law, the Associated Press reported. Two Old Testament verses from Leviticus were particularly problematic, claimed the defense. One read, ''fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, as he has caused disfigurement of a man, so shall it be done to him.'' The other: ''Whoever kills an animal shall restore it, but whoever kills a man shall be put to death.''

Adams County District Judge John J. Vigil, who admitted Harlan's crimes ''were among the most grievous, heinous and reprehensible'' he had ever seen, ruled the death penalty ''must be imposed in a constitutional manner'' and vacated the sentence. The state of Colorado then appealed the ruling to the state Supreme Court. ''The Supreme Court finds that it can no longer say the death penalty verdict was not influenced by passion, prejudice or any other arbitrary factor,'' the court said in a 47-page ruling. The court said Bible passages, including the verse that commands ''an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth,'' could lead jurors to vote for death. Prosecutors argued jurors should be allowed to refer to the Bible or other religious texts while deliberating and reaching a verdict.

Report here



(And don't forget your ration of Wicked Thoughts for today)