Pregnant Snooki's First TV Interview

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Though her pregnancy wasn't planned, the pint-sized "Jersey Shore" star says she sees the benefits of having a child at a young age. "I'm only 24 so it happened kind of quick," she said on MTV's "Jersey Shore After Hours" Thursday night. Snooki, who is expecting her first child with fiance Jionni LaValle, also believes her hard-partying past has helped her prepare for pregnancy. 1Snooki is looking forward to being a "MILF" when she gives birth to her first child.

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Bobby Brown Shopping Around Biopic Following Whitney Houston's Death

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There's a report out there that Bobby Brown is trying to cash in on Whitney Houston s death by shopping around a script on his biopic. 1Bobby Brown has put pen to paper, written a script about his tumultuous life and is now shopping it to Hollywood studios. Bobby would even like his 19-year-old daughter Bobbi Kristina to appear in the movie, RadarOnline.com is exclusively reporting. The script entitled The Bad Boy of R&B: The Bobby Brown Story was initially being sent out to potential backers late last year but received very little interest.

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Execution Watch: Guadalupe Esparza, 11/16

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By Elizabeth Stein
Producer, Execution Watch

Texas plans to carry out its 13th execution of 2011 Wednesday by putting to death Guadalupe Esparza of San Antonio.

Barring a stay, Execution Watch will broadcast details live on KPFT 90.1 HD-3, streaming at http://executionwatch.org.


RADIO PROGRAM PREVIEW
EXECUTION WATCH
Unless a stay is issued, we'll broadcast on ...
Wednesday, Nov. 16, 2011, 6-7 PM CT
Houston: KPFT 90.1 FM, HD-3
Streaming worldwide: www.executionwatch.org > Listen
*** Join the Execution Watch discussion on Facebook ***

TEXAS PLANS TO EXECUTE:
GUADALUPE ESPARZA, 46, received his execution date three months ago from a San Antonio judge who ignored his attorney's request for a delay to prepare an appeal based on evidence that Esparza is mentally retarded and therefore ineligible for execution. A jury ordered Esparza put to death in 2001 following his conviction in the abduction, rape and strangulation of a 7-year-old girl. The victim's mother, Diana Berlanga, said she planned to witness Esparza's execution. More background: executionwatch.org > Backpage on Guadalupe Esparza.

SHOW LINEUP
Host: RAY HILL, an ex-convict and activist who founded, and hosted for 30 years, the Prison Show on KPFT. His new show may be heard every weekday on hmsnetradio.org at 2 p.m. CT.

Legal Analyst: JIM SKELTON, a legal educator and retired attorney, he’s a native Texan and iconoclast who has seen capital trials from both the prosecution table and the defense table. His scheduled guests are fellow attorneys SUSAN ASHLEY and LARRY DOUGLAS.

Featured Interview: DEATH ROW EXONEREE. One of the former death row prisoners who participated in the 12th annual March to Abolish the Death Penalty in Austin and in the Witness to Innocence Freedom Ride Tour that preceded it, http://witnesstoinnocence.org.

Reporter, Death House, Huntsville: GLORIA RUBAC founder and leader, Texas Death Penalty Abolition Movement, abolitionmovement.org.

Reporter, Vigil, Houston: DAVE ATWOOD, a founder of the Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, will report from the execution vigil the group sponsors in Houston, www.tcadp.org.

NEXT SCHEDULED EXECUTION
On Jan. 26, Texas plans to execute RODRIGO HERNANDEZ. If so, we will broadcast the details. More at executionwatch.org

PRODUCER: Elizabeth Ann Stein, eliza.tx.usa @gmail.com.
TECHNICAL DIRECTOR Otis Maclay, omaclay @gmail.com.
STUDIO ENGINEER: Doyle.
THEME: By Victoria Panetti, SheMonster International, myspace.com/shemonster.

European Commission Extends Control over Goods which could be used for Capital Punishment or Torture

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The European Commission decided today to extend the list of goods subject to export controls, to prevent their use for capital punishment, torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. As of today, trade of certain anesthetics, such as sodium thiopental, which can be used in lethal injections, to countries that have not yet abolished the death penalty, will be tightly controlled. Furthermore, the scope of the European Union regulation has been enlarged to include other products such as spike batons that previously were not prohibited.
"I wish to underline that the European Union opposes the death penalty under all circumstances," said Catherine Ashton, High Representative for the Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the Commission. "The Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union states that no one shall be condemned to the death penalty, or executed. In this regard, the decision today contributes to the wider EU efforts to abolish death penalty worldwide. This is a first step in response to the calls of civil society organizations and the European Parliament to strengthen the EU legislation. It will be followed by a full review of the relevant regulation next year."
Background:
Council Regulation (EU) No 1236/2005 concerning trade in certain goods which could be used for capital punishment, torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment was adopted on June 27, 2005. It comprises an import and export ban for certain goods listed in Annex II and an export control regime for certain other goods listed in Annex III. 
In March 2010, Amnesty International published a report asking for a number of amendments to this Regulation. The European Parliament repeated these requests in a resolution adopted on June 17, 2010. Since then, the Commission has examined possible ways to move forward in order to respond to these calls.
Today, the Commission adopted regulation amending Regulation (EC) No 1236/2005 concerning trade in certain goods which could be used for capital punishment, torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. As a result:
−        exports of short and medium acting barbiturate anesthetic agents are subject to prior authorization by national authorities;−        imports and exports of spiked batons are prohibited;−        imports and exports of electric shock sleeves and cuffs are prohibited (electric shock belts were already banned before). The Commission will carry out an in-depth review in 2012 which may result in a proposal for amendment of Regulation 1236/2005 to be adopted by the European Parliament and the Council. The lists of goods may be further amended in parallel, if other goods are identified as needing particular surveillance.
Today's decision will be published in the Official Journal of the EU on December 21.

Latest News by Justice4Hank

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December 28, 2011
While we wait...

We made it past November 9, 2011 and thanks to you ALL we feel stronger. Your support, individual and collective, gives us the energy to overcome this horrible roller coaster, so thank you from the bottom of our hearts! 

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals issued a stay of execution on Monday November 7th while we were visiting with Hank. 

On November 21, 2011 Judge Emmert issued a second order denying the third motion for DNA testing. Hank's attorney are working on their brief that will be filed early next year.

It will most likely take several months for the CCA to rule on the issue. In the meantime, Hank's lead attorney, Rob Owen, who was court appointed to handle Hank's federal appeal, is working pro bono on the DNA issue. While we are very grateful for his time, we cannot expect him to cover the legal expenses he will incur. 

So our next goal is to raise funds to cover his legal expenses. We are asking all of you who have supported Hank during these past months, and signed petitions on his behalf, to make a $10 donation to his defense fund in order to make a difference. Click here to donate online or visit the website for more options!
We truly appreciate the support to prepare the future for Hank's case, that will in turn help other cases in Texas and in the United-States.

To those of you who write to Hank, please make ensure to always include your postal address and e-mail address if you have one, otherwise he cannot reply to your letters.

Thank you all for your assistance!

Please continue to support Hank, SHARE this message!

Last chance to donate to WTI in 2011

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Dear Friend:
This year, Witness to Innocence should havewelcomed TroyDavis into our organization as the country’s newest death row exoneree.  But instead, the state of Georgia executedhim for murder, despite strong evidence of his innocence.
2011 has been a year both ofdeep tragedy and great promise for the anti-death penalty movement. 
In the Troy Davis era, theissue of innocence is on people’s minds when it comes to the growing oppositionto the death penalty—a barbaric system that is fraught with error, improprietyand racial bias, and discriminates against the poor.  And innocent people surely have been put todeath.  Since 1973, 139 innocent men andwomen survived death row, despite a system bent on killing them.
As the new executivedirector of WTI, I look forward to 2012 as a watershed year in the abolition ofthis dreaded American institution.  Andexonerated former death row prisoners and their families will help lead theway.
Here are some of ouraccomplishments in 2011:

• We forged new partnerships with the United MethodistChurch and progressive evangelicals, recognition of the importance of people offaith in our movement.  Plus, WTIparticipated in the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS) People of ColorConference, with Shujaa Graham and Kathy Spillman conducting a workshopcalled “Using Stories of the Exonerated to Teach Race, Class, and Justice Issues.”

• Witness to Innocence supported death penaltyabolition efforts across the country.  Onthe heels of our 2009 abolition victory in New Mexico—in which then-GovernorBill Richardson cited wrongful convictions and executing the innocent as his primaryreasons for repealing the death penalty—WTI exonerees were instrumental in the repealof the death penalty in Illinois. 

• WTI wasthe one group that honored Illinois' exonerees for the central role of theirsacrifices in ending the death penalty in that state.  “As a state, we cannot tolerate the executionsof innocent people because such actions strike at the very legitimacy of agovernment,” said Illinois Gov. Patrick Quinn last March.  “Since 1977, Illinois has seen 20 peopleexonerated from death row. Seven of those were exonerated since the moratoriumwas imposed in 2000. That is a record that should trouble us all. To say thatthis is unacceptable does not even begin to express the profound regret andshame we, as a society, must bear for these failures of justice,” he added. 

• Randy Steidl and Nate Fields werefeatured in the press during the Illinois repeal, and Randyalso traveled to Rome to join the Sant'Egidio Community for theceremonial lighting of the Colosseum to celebrate abolition in Illinois. 

• WTI member Derrick Jamison gave testimonybefore the Ohio House of Representatives in support of legislation that would replacea death sentence with life without parole as the state’s highest punishment.

• Our exonerated death row survivors took theirpowerful message against the death penalty across TexasFreedom Ride in October.  They alsoled the 12th Annual March to Abolishthe Death Penalty at the state capitol in Austin.  Voiceof America, AustinAmerican Statesman, CorpusChristi Caller- Times, localaffiliates of the majornetworksand others were there to cover it.

• Joining a chorus of lawmakers, judges andlawyers, 27 Witness to Innocence members wrote a letter to Texas Governor RickPerry urging him to halt the execution of HankSkinner to allow for DNA testing.  Anappeals court granted the stay of execution. In September, WTI death row survivors signed a letter to the Georgia StateBoard of Paroles and Pardons on behalf of TroyDavis.

• Recently, Witness to Innocence members havebeen all over the news, domestic and international, wit RayKrone on Anderson Cooper 360, RandySteidl on CNN and the TavisSmiley Show, ShujaaGraham on Al-Jazeera and DeutscheWelle, and Juan Meléndez, Delbert Tibbs, RonaldKeine, David Keaton and others featured in Spain’s ElPaís magazine.  KirkBloodsworth and I wrote in the HuffingtonPost.  And WTI has been featured inthe BBC, Voice of America, and on the NBC News website, theGrio,aswell.

•  In November, WTI members Kirk Bloodsworth,Shujaa Graham and Ray Krone were invited to speak at the Washington, DC andPhiladelphia premiere of master filmmaker Werner Herzog’s death penalty documentary,”Into the Abyss.”   

• Witness to Innocence is partnering with London-basedfilmmaker Will Francome (“In Prison My Whole Life”) onhis film project “One For Ten,” a series of films featuring ten individuals whohave been freed from death row. 

• WTI Compensation Committee members CherylNaill, Larry Yates and Nate Fields met with the Innocence Project and U.S.Department of Justice officials to discuss providing reentry assistance toexonerated prisoners, including death row survivors.

In the new year, WTIwill continue to work closely with state abolition groups to support theirefforts.  We will be on the ground instates like California, Georgia, Maryland, Colorado and Florida. 
We will continue andstrengthen our already robust outreach to communities of color and the HBCUs,to the faith community and murder victims’ families, and seek to make death rowexonerees whole by advocating for federal compensation. 

And our members willcontinue to speak around the country about their experiences and change heartsand minds about the death penalty.  Further,as a new member of the Paris-based World Coalition Against the Death Penalty,Witness to Innocence will expand its human rights advocacy on an internationalstage.
I encourage you to contribute to Witness to Innocenceand join a movement of people who are fighting to end capital punishment in theU.S.— because they know the evils of the system firsthand.  Your contribution will allow us to further empowerour members to become effective leaders in the anti-death penalty movement; continueto work with abolition campaigns in key battleground states; build our coalitionacross the country, and reach new audiences.  Click here to go to our website to makeyour generous tax-deductible donation and help abolish the death penalty.  Thank you.
Sincerely,

EXECUTION WATCH NAMES TOP 10 DEATH PENALTY STORIES OF 2011

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The mostsignificant death-penalty stories of 2011 have been named by Execution Watch, a news program onPacifica Radio Network’s KPFT FM 90.1 that broadcasts and streams live whenever Texas puts a prisoner todeath:
1.      TroyDavis is executed in Georgiadespite lingering doubts about his guilt. The rush to execution was not as unusualas the broad international awareness of, and support for, Davis.
2.      MumiaAbu-Jamal makes the metaphorically giant leap from Pennsylvania’sdeath row into general prison population after the Philadelphia district attorney announces itwill stop its 30-year effort to obtain a durable death penalty against him.
3.      Texas executes Mexicannational Humberto Leal, flouting international law by refusing to give him anew hearing despite the failure by police to tell him at arrest that he may contactthe Mexican Consulate for legal help.
4.      Illinois abolishes thedeath penalty, reducing the number of states with capital punishment to 34. Ina related story, Oregon’sgovernor says no executions will take place during his term but neithercommutes any death sentences nor stops prison officials from selling excessexecution drugs to other states.
5.      TheEuropean Union escalates its activism against American use of the death penaltyby banning the export to the United States of barbiturates that could be used toin lethal-injection executions.
6.      Thenumber of new death sentences in the United States reaches an historiclow of 78, the first time in more than three decades that fewer than 100 peoplewere condemned to death.
7.      AnthonyGraves, exonerated from death row for a murder he did not commit, successfullysues the State of Texasfor compensation owed to him by law, accepting from the comptroller a check for$1.45 million.
8.      TheTexas death penalty is declaredunconstitutional by State District Judge Teresa Hawthorne of Dallas, echoing Harris County District JudgeKevin Fine’s earlier ruling, made moot by a plea deal.
9.      Thedeath penalty becomes part of the GOP primary race when Rick Perry elicitsapplause from a debate audience for presiding over more executions than anygovernor in history and disbelief from the media for declaring he has neverlost sleep over an execution.
10.  Director WernerHerzog successfully releases INTO THE ABYSS, a gritty documentary describing fromseveral points of view a triple murder in Texas and its aftermath. Another documentaryinvolving capital punishment, INCENDIARY, premieres and wins an award at Austin’s South bySouthWest Film Festival.
Other stories in 2011 that Execution Watch designated as especially noteworthy include:
-- A district judge in Georgetowntakes under advisement a request for a special inquiry into alleged wrongdoingby the top prosecutor in a murder trial that put an innocent man behind barsfor 25 years. Michael Morton presented evidence that ex-district attorney KenAnderson knowingly withheld evidence that might have led to his acquittal.
-- The U.S. Supreme Court vacates a $14 million jury verdictagainst former New Orleans District Attorney Harry Connick Sr. for withholdingevidence that might have averted the wrongful conviction and near-execution of JohnThompson. A divided court said a prosecutor’s office cannot be held liable for amember’s illegal withholding of exculpatory evidence due to inadequate training.-- The Texas Forensic Science Commission releases its final report on theTodd Willingham case, directing the Innocence Project of Texas to work with thestate fire marshall to review more than 700 arson cases for possible wrongfulconvictions based on outdated science.
-- Literary critics respond enthusiastically to thepublication of AUTHOBIOGRAPHY OF AN EXECUTION, a highly personal and humanisticmemoir by David Dow, litigation director of Texas Defender Service.
-- A Louisiana-based coalition of civic and religious groupscalled I Want to Serve launches a campaign to outlaw the exclusion from capitaljuries of people who oppose the death penalty.