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Unveiling Singapore’s Death Penalty Discourse: A Critical Analysis of Public Opinion and Deterrent Claims

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While Singapore’s Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) maintains a firm stance on the effectiveness of the death penalty in managing drug trafficking in Singapore, the article presents evidence suggesting that the methodologies and interpretations of these studies might not be as substantial as portrayed.

Texas executes Arnold Prieto

Arnold Prieto
Arnold Prieto
After nearly 22 years and a number of denied appeals, Arnold Prieto became the first Texas death row inmate executed in 2015.

Arnold Prieto, 41, was pronounced dead at 6:31 p.m. He becomes the first person executed on the watch of Texas Governor Greg Abbott.

As the lethal injection started, Prieto said "I can smell it...Whoa!" He took sharp breaths, snorted and then all movement stopped. Asked by the warden if he had a final statement, Prieto replied: “There are no endings, only beginnings. Love y’all. See you soon.”

For months, police searched for leads in the stabbing deaths of Virginia and Rodolfo Rodriguez and Paula Moran at their San Antonio home, until an interview with Jessie Hernandez implicated the 16-year-old, along with his brother Guadalupe and their mutual friend Arnold Prieto.

According to the Austin Chronicle, after four hours of interrogations, Prieto submitted a statement to police detailing his connections to the Hernandez brothers and the lengthy road that led them to breaking into the Rodriguez’s home.

According to Prieto’s statement, the Hernandez brothers introduced him to cocaine, leading to financial troubles and the eventual decision to rob his great aunt and uncle.

On the night of Sept. 11, 1993, the trio broke into the Rodriguez home intending to rob the couple. Rodolfo Rodriguez, 72, his wife, Virginia, 62, and Paula Moran, 90, the family’s former nanny who lived at their home, were each stabbed or cut multiple times.

The trio then made their way through the home stealing jewelry and valuables, according to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.

The assailants fled with the jewelry and a purse containing about $300. Back in the Dallas suburb of Carrollton, they split the money and pawned some of the jewelry. Prieto was found with other items taken during the robbery and acknowledged to police his involvement in the attacks.

The murders of the Rodriguez and Moran went to trial in 1995 ending in a conviction for both Jessie Hernandez and Arnold Prieto.

While Prieto was sentenced to death, Jessie received a lesser sentence of life in prison due to his juvenile status at the time of the murders. Guadalupe, however, did not stand trial due to insufficient evidence, resulting in the charges against him being dropped.

Prieto had originally spurned a plea deal for a sentence of less than life in prison if he would testify against one of his alleged companions, then became the only one to receive the death penalty.

“There was a way out,” recalled Michael Bernard, one of Prieto’s trial lawyers. “We just couldn’t get there.”

Prieto served more than 21 years of his life behind bars and on death row.

According to court records, while Prieto did not appeal the verdict of his 1995 trial, he filed a number of other appeals.

In 2002, Prieto argued that he should not be put to death, due to his attorney’s misrepresentation of evidence that could have led to him being found not in control of his executive functions. Ultimately, an appellate court found that the ruling would stand and that the attorneys in charge of Prieto’s case had done a sufficient job.

In 2009, the United States Supreme Court refused to review his case.

Prieto had not filed another appeal since the 2009 refusal and had spent the last few years focusing on his artwork. He had gained a reputation as a jailhouse poet and artist, writing about Death Row conditions and drawing pictures. His Death Watch Journal can be found on Thomas Whitaker's blog "Minutes Before Six".

At least a dozen other executions are scheduled in Texas in the coming months, including two next week. Last year, 10 condemned inmates received lethal injections of pentobarbital.

Prieto becomes the 1st condemned inmate to be put to death this year in Texas and the 519th overall since the state resumed capital punishment on December 7, 1982. He becomes the 1st condemned inmate to be put to death since Greg Abbott became governor of the state; Abbot was inaugurated just yesterday, Jan. 20.

Prieto becomes the 4th condemned inmate to be put to death this year in the USA and the 1398th overall since the nation resumed executions on January 17, 1977. There are 5 more executions scheduled in the USA this month....last year, there were 6 executions in the month of January. 

Sources: The Houstonian, The Guardian, The Associated Press, Rick Halperin, January 21, 2015

Report an error, an omission: deathpenaltynews@gmail.com

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