NEWS
May 22, 2012 | By Stacey Burling, Inquirer Staff Writer
After the only man convicted of the 1988 Lockerbie plane bombing was reported to have died Sunday, two South Jersey families who lost daughters that day were left to wonder if anyone else would be brought to justice. Susan Cohen of Cape May Court House and Stan Maslowski of Haddonfield say there are lingering questions about who else was responsible for the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 that exploded over Scotland, killing 259 onboard and 11 on the ground. Cohen - whose daughter Theodora, 20, a Syracuse University theater major, was among the dead - worries that the U.S. and British governments will see the death of Abdel Baset al-Megrahi as an excuse to stop investigating the bombing.
NEWS
May 21, 2012 | Stacey Burling, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER
After the only man convicted of the 1988 Lockerbie plane bombing was reported to have died Sunday, two South Jersey families who lost daughters that day were left to wonder if anyone else will be brought to justice. Susan Cohen, of Cape May Court House, and Stan Maslowski, of Haddonfield, say there are lingering questions about who else was responsible for the bombing of a Pan Am plane that exploded over Scotland, killing 259 onboard and 11 on the ground. Cohen, whose 20-year-old daughter Theodora, a Syracuse University theater major, was among the dead, worries that the U.S. and British governments will see the death of Abdel Baset al-Megrahi as an excuse to stop investigating the bombing.
NEWS
May 17, 2012 | Inquirer Editorial
With nearly 300 people across the nation exonerated after being sentenced to death, the risk of executing an innocent person is a reality in the 33 states, including Pennsylvania, where capital punishment remains legal. That risk alone should be enough to persuade responsible elected officials to scrap the death penalty — as Connecticut did in April, following the lead of Illinois, New Mexico, and New Jersey. There can be no more compelling reason for taking that step than evidence that the wrong person has been executed for a crime.
NEWS
May 5, 2012 | By Ben Fox, Associated Press
GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba - The man who once bragged about planning Sept. 11 "from A to Z" may mount a defense after all to charges that he orchestrated the worst terrorist attack in U.S. history, with families of the dead watching intently from the United States on closed-circuit TV. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, charged with four others with planning and helping to carry out the 2001 attack that sent hijacked jetliners into the World Trade...
NEWS
May 1, 2012 | By Mensah M. Dean, Daily News Staff Writer
In a low but steady voice, Donte Johnson on Monday rejected an offer from the District Attorney's Office to plead guilty and receive a life-without-parole prison sentence in the June 2010 rape and murder of Sabina Rose O'Donnell, the 20-year-old Northern Liberties woman whose slaying behind her apartment building rocked the trendy community. Johnson, 20, of 11th Street near Poplar, rejected the same offer in December 2010, when city prosecutors were talking about seeking the death penalty against him. They've since opted not to pursue the death penalty, which means Johnson, ironically, would face a life sentence if a jury finds him guilty of first-degree murder.
NEWS
April 26, 2012
Conn. abolishes the death penalty HARTFORD, Conn. - Gov. Dannel P. Malloy quietly signed a law Wednesday that ends the state's death penalty for future crimes, making Connecticut the 17th state to abolish capital punishment. The Democrat signed the bill behind closed doors, without fanfare. An aide said Malloy was surrounded by lawmakers, clergy, and family members of murder victims. While he called it a "historic moment," Malloy said in a written statement that it was a time "for sober reflection, not celebration.
NEWS
April 26, 2012
WASHINGTON - A Pentagon official signaled on Wednesday that the Army could lay off as many as 24,000 enlisted personnel and up to 5,000 officers within five years to meet a projected reduction in the force driven by budget cuts and the winding down of two wars. Pressed on the possibility of involuntary terminations, Thomas Lamont, an assistant secretary of the Army, told a Senate Armed Services panel that layoffs were possible as the Army shrinks from a peak of 570,000 to 490,000.
NEWS
April 20, 2012 | Howard Gensler
It's another edition of Global Tattle and we begin in India, where — don't let the kids read this one — Bollywood beauty Meenakshi Thapar was kidnapped, strangled and beheaded while shooting her latest film, "Heroine. " According to the London Telegraph, Thapar's killers were two actors she met on set. She had allegedly been bragging about her family's wealth when Amit Jaiswal and his lover Preeti Surin decided to invite her on a trip to see the Buddhist temples of Gorakhpur.
NEWS
April 19, 2012 | By Karl Ritter, Associated Press
OSLO, Norway - The right-wing fanatic on trial for massacring 77 people in Norway says he wants either freedom or death, calling the country's prison terms "pathetic" and arguing for the return of capital punishment, which was last used here to execute Nazi collaborators after World War II. In the third day of his terror trial, Anders Behring Breivik was grilled by prosecutors about the anti-Muslim militant group he claims to belong to. ...
NEWS
April 13, 2012 | By Shannon Young, Associated Press
HARTFORD, Conn. - The vote to repeal Connecticut's death penalty brought a moment of triumph for Elizabeth Brancato, a lifelong opponent of capital punishment despite the murder of her mother in 1979. Brancato had lobbied lawmakers for years, becoming more resolved against capital punishment as she met families of other victims frustrated by endless appeals. She also started a blog to highlight the voices of other victims' relatives in favor of repeal that she felt were overshadowed in the debate.