Death penalty acts discussed
DALLAS (AP) - The American
Bar Association’s call for a national
moratorium on capital punishment,
made three years ago this month,
once seemed destined for a quiet
death. No more.
“There’s growing momentum,”
ABA President William Paul said
Saturday at his 400,000-member
group’s national convention. “The
moratorium issue clearly is alive.”
The major catalyst was Illinois
Gov. George Ryan’s announcement
two weeks ago that no one would be
executed in his state until he finds
out why more death sentences have
been overturned than carried out.
Since 1976, when the Supreme
Court allowed reinstatement of capi
tal punishment, Illinois has executed
12 people. Since 1987, the state has
released 13 from death row after
their convictions were overturned.
Nationwide, according to the
Washington-based Death Penalty
Information Center, 85 death-row
inmates have been freed since 1973.
“Governor Ryan’s decision was
really a key,” said Jerome Shestack, a
Philadelphia lawyer and former ABA
president. Later this month, he will
testify before the Pennsylvania
Legislature in favor of a death penal
ty moratorium.
“We are learning that a lot of mis
takes are made, and errors cannot
easily be rectified after someone’s
execution,” he said.
Paul, an Oklahoma City lawyer,
emphasized that the ABA does not
support or oppose the death penalty
but is interested in ensuring that
defendants get adequate legal help
and that there are other safeguards.
“We’ve tried to be aggressive, but
it ultimately is up to the people of
each state,” he said.
Legislatures in 16 of the 38 states
with death penalty laws have consid
ered or are now considering a ban on
executions while they study whether
the punishment must be meted out
more fairly. Only Nebraska passed a
moratorium, which was vetoed by
the governor.
In Congress, Sen. Patrick Leahy,
D-Vt., introduced a bill Friday to
address what he called “the growing
national crisis in the administration
of capital punishment.”
His “Innocence Protection Act”
seeks stronger guarantees of ade
quate legal help for capital defen
dants. It also provides for DNA test
ing of inmates who seek to prove
they did not commit the underlying
crime for which they were con
demned.
President Clinton is considering
a request by Sen. Russ Feingold, D
Wis., to suspend federal executions.
' Meantime, Congress and Attorney
General Janet Reno are studying the
cases of the 21 people awaiting death
for federal crimes.
There has not been a federal exe
cution since 1963, but the number of
people put to death by the states is
growing, reaching 98 last year, the
most since the Supreme Court ruling
in 1976.
Nearly 3,600 people await execu
tion. Texas leads with 463 on its
death row and also has executed
more people than any state.
Cynthia Orr, a San Antonio
defense lawyer, called her state “the
fastest assembly line to the death
chamber in the nation.”
Still, ABA leaders say a corner
may have been turned."
“The momentum on capital pun
ishment has gained intensity locally,
nationally and internationally,” said
James Coleman Jr., chairman of the
ABA’s Section on Individual Rights
and Responsibilities, in a new
report, “A Gathering Momentum.”
“We have made great progress in
refocusing the death penalty debate
and shifting momentum toward
acceptance of the principles underly
ing the moratorium resolution ...
eliminating unfairness,” said
Coleman, a Dallas lawyer.
In addition to Illinois, Nebraska
and Pennsylvania, the number of
states that have proposed, or are con
sidering abolishing capital punish
ment, imposing a moratorium or
scrutinizing their death penalty laws
is growing.
Ethnic Albanian snipers attack NATO
■ Fighting among peace
keepers, ethnic Albanian
snipers, attacks on ethnic
Albanians wound 19.
KOSOVSKA MITROVICA,
- Yugoslavia (AP) -Fighting between
peacekeepers and snipers, along with
grenade attacks on ethnic Albanians,
killed one person and reportedly
.wounded 19 Sunday in the bitterly
divided city of Kosovska Mitrovica.
Two of the wounded were French
soldiers, hit by ethnic Albanian
snipers firing from the northern,
Serb-controlled part of the city,
NATO officials said.
“It was an attempt to kill our sol
diers,” French spokesman Lt. Col.
Patrique Chanliau said. “We would
like to believe it was an isolated inci
dent of extremists, of terrorists.”
One soldier was wounded in the
stomach while on patrol in the Serb
part of the city, Chanliau said. The
second soldier was shot in the arm
after NATO peacekeepers launched a
counterattack, he said.
The counterattack killed one of
the snipers and wounded five others.
Grenade attacks on ethnic Albanian
houses in the north wounded seven,
NATO officials said. And an
American with the U N. police force
was also injured by glass shards,
after gunfire from outside broke the
windows of a train he was riding on.
Yugoslavia’s state-run news
agency, Tanjug, said four more peo
ple, identified as Serbs, were wound
ed, at least some by snipers.
Seventeen people were detained
by late Sunday, NATO said, but gave
no details. Peacekeepers imposed a
curfew from sunset to daybreak.
Bursts of semiautomatic gunfire
could be heard from the northern
side of the mostly Serb city located
about 20 miles north of Pristina.
Occasional explosions sounded over
the gunfire, which died down by
afternoon.
Some sniping continued,
Chanliau said, but the peacekeepers
had located the positions from where
the snipers were firing.
Serb sources, who asked for
anonymity, said the trouble began
when several ethnic Albanians from
the southern side crossed a bridge
over the Ibar River leading to the
Serb side and threw several hand
grenades. A large number of Serbs
gathered, they said, and NATO
peacekeepers tried to control the
crowd.
However, NATO said all the
grenade attack victims were ethnic
Albanians living in the north, sug
gesting Serbs were still trying to
expel them from the neighborhood.
U.N. police rescued two ethnic
Albanians, Hysen Xhersheku and his
wife, Sofija, after one of their houses
was damaged by a grenade and the
other set ablaze.
“They beat us. They set our house
on fire,” Hysen Xhersheku said in
the safety of a U.N. police building in
the city’s south. He said 10 Serbs
entered their house and told them to
leave in 10 minutes or die.
At least 10 French tanks rumbled
Ult was an
attempt to kill
our soldiers. We
would like to
believe it was an
isolated incident
of extremists, of
terrorists.’’
Lt. CoL Patrique Chanliau
French spokesman
over the Ibar bridge from the ethnic
Albanian side. Civilians on the
Albanian side were warned to take
cover from possible sniper fire from
the Serb section. The bridge - the
scene of previous confrontation -
was cordoned off with barbed wire.
Partly cloudy Partly cloudy
high 42, low 34 high 49, low 28
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Democrats skewing of
primary concerns Bush
WASHINGTON (AP) - Gov.
George W. Bush expressed concern
Sunday that Democrats are mobilizing
to support Sen. John McCain in South
Carolina’s open Republican presiden
tial primary.
But McCain said Bush’s allegation
that some Democrats believe McCain
would be the easier candidate to defeat
in the general election in November
“flies in the face of the facts.”
“The facts are that independents
are also flocking in large numbers to
my candidacy, as well as Republicans,”
McCain said on CBS’ “Face the
Nation.” “Everybody knows that if
you’re going to win a general election,
you have to have those independents
and some Democrats.”
He said it was his message that was
attracting non-Republicans.
“I’m very proud that libertarians or
vegetarians or anybody would consid
er supporting me because I have a
vision of reform for America that I
think is taking hold, not only in South
Carolina, hut all over the country,”
McCain said.
Stitt, Bush and his surrogates
claimed - without offering proof - that
Democrats were trying to skew the
results of Saturday’s GOP primary, in
which non-Republicans may vote.
“The only thing I’m concerned
about is that Democrats flock into the
Republican primary to decide who the
Republican nominee is, and then head
back for the Democrats in the general
election,” Bush said on NBC’s “Meet
the Press.”
Pat Robertson, founder of the
Christian Coalition and a Bush sup
porter, alleged on CBS that “people
who are allied with (Vice President) A1
Gore are indeed making telephone
calls to try to encourage Democrats to
vote in the Republican primary ... I
think that they consider him a weaker
candidate than Governor Bush.”
Gore campaign spokesman Chris
Lehane dismissed the claims, saying
the Texas governor was “increasingly
sounding like a rattled candidate.”
“I would suggest that he focus on
earning the support of Republicans in
his own primary rather than worrying
about what Democrats are doing.”
Datelines
■ Washington, D.C.
Tycoon Trump decides
against bid for presidency
WASHINGTON (AP) - New
York tycoon Donald Trump has
decided against running for presi
dent.
The move ends a lengthy flirta
tion with the notion that he could tap
his personal fortune to capture the
White House as a third-party candi
date, The Associated Press learned.
Sources connected with New
York’s Independence Party move
ment, speaking on condition of
anonymity, said Trump has told asso
ciates he will announce today that he
is not mounting a presidential bid.
After months of speculation
about a possible Reform Party cam
paign, Trump decided recently that
the party is too fractured to support a
credible presidential candidate, the
officials said.
The Reform Party operates in
New York under the Independence
Party banner.
He met over the weekend with
advisers to consider a second option,
running as an Independence Party
candidate, but determined there is
not enough time to get on state bal
lots.
■ England
Passengers of hijacked plane
seek asylum in other countries
LONDON (AP) - Seventy-four
asylum-soekers from a hijacked
Afghan plane could be dispersed to
the United States, India, Pakistan and
elsewhere under a new plan being
drafted by Britain, a foreign office
spokesman said Mondy (Sunday
CDT).
“We are in touch with a number of
interested countries in case passen
gers want to go there,” the spokesman
said on condition of anonymity.
The asylum-seekers were among
the passengers aboard a hijacked
Ariana Airlines Boeing 727 jet divert
ed to Stansted airport, north of
London, last week.
The plane was en route from
Kabul to the northern city of
Mazar-e-Sharif when it was hijacked
at gunpoint. The hijackers and the
passengers left the plane peacefully
on Thursday.
Nineteen people from the aircraft
remained in British custody Monday
in connection with the hijacking.
Essex police said the detained
men were likely to be charged with
hijacking or air piracy, which carries
a life sentence, as well as possession
of firearms.
■ Maryland
Robot space craft set to orbit
mountain-sized Eros asteroid
LAUREL, Md. (AP) — A robot
craft that missed its mark a year ago is
on target for a Valentine’s Day ren
dezvous with an asteroid named for
the Greek god of love.
The Near Earth Asteroid
Rendezvous (NEAR) spacecraft is
approaching the asteroid Eros slowly
and is expected to slip into orbit
.around the mountain-sized space
rock at midmoming today.
If successful, NEAR will become
the first spacecraft to orbit an aster
oid.
Researchers hope data compiled
about Eros could one day help
humans defend the Earth against a
“killer asteroid” like one thought to
have wiped out the dinosaurs 65 mil
lion years ago.