Execution shock for four of the Bali nine

September 6, 2006
Execution blow
FOUR more of the Bali nine drug runners are facing execution after Indonesia's Supreme Court rejected their appeals for lighter jail terms and instead ordered that they be put to death.

In a legal shock, the court has imposed death sentences on 20-year-old Scott Rush, Tan Duc Than Nguyen, 23, Si Yi Chen, 21, and the youngest of the nine, 19-year-old Matthew Norman — even though prosecutors had asked only that their jail terms be increased. Last night, none of the nine, their families or their lawyers had been officially informed of the new sentences. But The Age uncovered the verdicts in a search of Supreme Court records yesterday, and confirmed them with court authorities.

Only Renae Lawrence, the one female member of the nine, is certain not to face a firing squad as she accepted her 20-year conviction and did not lodge a further appeal. The Supreme Court upheld convictions of the four for attempting to courier heroin from Bali to Australia, but annulled a previous High Court decision to grant lighter sentences and imposed the death penalty.

The Supreme Court also affirmed the death sentences imposed on the ringleaders of the scheme, Myuran Sukumaran, 25, and Andrew Chan, 22. Verdicts in the remaining appeals of Martin Czugaj and Martin Stephens are pending. Relations between Australia and Indonesia are likely to be strained by the move. Prime Minister John Howard has urged Indonesia not to execute Australians and promised to make a plea for clemency for any of the Bali nine if death penalties were imposed.

Criticism of the Australian Federal Police for informing Indonesia of the smuggling scheme and exposing the participants to possible death penalties is also likely to be reignited. The new death sentences were unexpected. Prosecutors, in their appeals against 20-year terms faced by most of the nine, had only called for them to be upgraded to life imprisonment.

The only hope for the convicted is an extraordinary appeal for a judicial review — which must be based on new evidence or significant error in law — or a pardon from President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who has never pardoned a convicted drug trafficker and whose office has indicated he would not do so. Nguyen, Chen and Norman were sentenced to life in their original trial, but their sentences were reduced to 20-year terms in an initial High Court appeal. Life terms for Rush and Stephens were upheld. Eight of the nine, and their prosecutors, then appealed to the Supreme Court against the decision of the High Court. Supreme Court spokesman Djoko Sarwoko told The Age that "those with life sentences have had their sentences increased to death".

"The two whose original sentence was death have had their appeals rejected, namely Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran," he said. It is believed the cases were finalised last month, but court officials in Bali have not received the results. A Supreme Court official who attended the hearings, Mulyadi, said court notes stated the verdict was "accept the appeal, reject the verdict by High Court, death sentence". He said the Supreme Court "accepted the appeal" from prosecutors, not the defendants. Even if prosecutors only sought life sentences, "the Supreme Court has the authority to increase a sentence if we think errors of judgement were made by lower courts", Mr Mulyadi said.

DEADLY DECISION
SCOTT RUSH Sentenced to life. On appeal, Supreme Court imposes the death penalty.
MATTHEW NORMAN Sentenced to life. On appeal, Supreme Court imposes the death penalty.
TAN DUC THAN NGUYEN Sentenced to life. On appeal, Supreme Court imposes the death penalty.
MARTIN STEPHENS Sentenced to life. Awaiting Supreme Court appeal.
MICHAEL CZUGAJ Sentenced to life. Awaiting Supreme Court appeal.
SI YI CHEN Sentenced to life. On appeal, Supreme Court imposes death penalty.
ANDREW CHAN Sentenced to death. Upheld on appeal.
MYURAN SUKUMARAN Sentenced to death. Upheld on appeal.
RENAE LAWRENCE Life term reduced to 20 years. She accepted verdict.

TRAFFICKING AND EXPORTING HEROIN
No reasons for the tougher sentences were available and details were unlikely to be published for at least a month, court officials said. It is unclear when the results of appeals by Stephens and Czugaj will be announced. But the other verdicts signal that Stephens, already facing a life term, and Czugaj, who has a 20-year sentence, could also be ordered before firing squads.

Since Rush's original conviction, it emerged that he had suppressed details of drug-related convictions in Australia during his trial and Nguyen had helped recruit some of the other couriers. Rush was arrested, along with others, attempting to carry eight kilograms of heroin through Bali's airport on April 17 last year. Chen, Nguyen and Norman were to courier a second shipment. They were arrested, along with Sukumaran, in a Bali hotel room containing a small amount of heroin soon after the other couriers were apprehended at the airport.

The families of the rest of the Bali nine claimed they were pawns of Chan and Sukumaran.
When the High Court cut their original life sentences, Judge Hyster Arsan Pardede said it was unfair for the couriers to spend their lives behind bars as "the brains" — Chan and Sukumaran — faced execution.

Imette St. Guillen - Brutal NYC Student Rape, Murder Mystery

updated: March 22, 2006 - Littlejohn indicted in St. Guillen murder

Imette St. Guillen was fiendishly raped and murdered in New York City on Saturday, Feb. 25, 2005. The AP Reported:

NEW YORK -- Imette St. Guillen, a graduate student on the dean's list, suffered the sort of gruesome death typically reserved for drug dealers or mobsters who cross the boss. St. Guillen, 24, was raped, strangled and left on the side of a remote road in Brooklyn. Beige packing tape masked her entire face. A sock had been stuffed in her mouth, and her body was wrapped in a floral bedspread. St. Guillen (pronounced GHEE yen) had been set to graduate this semester with a master's degree in forensic psychology from John Jay College of Criminal Justice in Manhattan. She was on the Graduate Dean's List. She graduated Magna Cum Laude from George Washington University in Washington, D.C. in 2003 as a member of Phi Beta Kappa. Ms. St. Guillen came to New York in 2004 after graduating from George Washington University in Washington with a major in criminal justice. A Boston native, she attended the prestigious Boston Latin High School. Her father, Seimundo St. Guillen, who died in 1990, had earned bachelor's and master's degrees in criminal justice. He had worked as an alcohol counselor.

Ms. St. Guillen lived with a roommate, Rebecca Reilly, for two years in a basement apartment on West End Avenue, on the upper West Side of Manhattan. She was a member of the New York City Social Sports Club (NYCSSC) and played dodgeball. St. Guillen had just returned from a Florida vacation when she went out drinking Friday night with her long-time friend Claire Higgins and other friends. The two walked out of the Pioneer Bar, at 218 Bowery, together about 3:20 a.m. Saturday, after Ms. Higgins decided she wanted to go home for the night. A security camera captured footage of the two parting ways outside the bar in the Bowery section where they had spent the past four hours.

Progression of police theories regarding the murder reported by news outlets:

1.Someone she met at the Falls bar abducted her.
2.Ms. Guillen may have been gang raped.
3.Someone was perhaps stalking her. Ms. Guillen's email, background, and former boyfriend (fellow John Jay student Ryan Kocher) were checked.
4.An "evil stranger" accosted her after she left The Falls bar.
5.A fake livery driver picked up St. Guillen.
6.Some person(s) associated with a moving company abducted her.
7.Random act by a serial killer or killers who have committed violence before.
8.Ms. Guillen was possibly abducted by someone working or lurking in or around The Falls Bar, because she doesn't appear on security cameras further down the block after 4 a.m.
9.The Falls bouncer, Darryl Littlejohn, has become the prime suspect in the investigation. Police reportly tipped by the attorney for Danny Dorrian, age 33, brother of the co-owner Michael J. Dorrian.
10.Police suspect an accomplice may have been involved and are questioning other bar patrons and people in Mr. Littlejohn's neighborhood.

What's up with NYPD?-

So the Imette St. Guillen murder investigation has come full circle. It started at The Falls bar and it appears to be ending at The Falls bar. The New York Police Department has some serious explaining to do. How did they miss Darryl Littlejohn in their initial response to the murder? Why did it take a tip from the bartender, Danny Dorrian, to move this case along? Was he initally interviewed? Were all The Falls employees interviewed separately and their statements compared?
Basic police procedure requires that all witnesses give statements. Each witness then has their name, identity, and social security number checked. How did the NYPD and all the manpower they directed at this case miss or ignore Mr. Littlejohn's ex-con/parolee status? Especially given his key position as the bouncer and prime witness in establishing a timeline for Ms. Guillen's movements. This oversight put a lot of people through a week of hell. Hopefully, these questions will be answered and some light will be shed.

AP Exclusive: Iraqi's death during CIA interrogation

By SETH HETTENA Associated Press
February 17, 2005

SAN DIEGO (AP) - An Iraqi whose corpse was photographed with grinning U.S. soldiers at Abu Ghraib died under CIA interrogation while in a position condemned by human rights groups as torture _ suspended by his wrists, with his hands cuffed behind his back, according to reports reviewed by The Associated Press.

The death of the prisoner, Manadel al-Jamadi, became known last year when the Abu Ghraib prison scandal broke. The U.S. military said back then that the death had been ruled a homicide. But the exact circumstances under which the man died were not disclosed at the time. The prisoner died in a position known as "Palestinian hanging," the documents reviewed by The AP show. It is unclear whether that position was approved by the Bush administration for use in CIA interrogations. The spy agency, which faces congressional scrutiny over its detention and interrogation of terror suspects at the Baghdad prison and elsewhere, declined to comment for this story, as did the Justice Department. Al-Jamadi was one of the CIA's "ghost" detainees at Abu Ghraib _ prisoners being held secretly by the agency.

His death in November 2003 became public with the release of photos of Abu Ghraib guards giving a thumbs-up over his bruised and puffy-faced corpse, which had been packed in ice. One of those guards was Pvt. Charles Graner, who last month received 10 years in a military prison for abusing detainees. Al-Jamadi died in a prison shower room during about a half-hour of questioning, before interrogators could extract any information, according to the documents, which consist of statements from Army prison guards to investigators with the military and the CIA's Inspector General's office.

One Army guard, Sgt. Jeffery Frost, said the prisoner's arms were stretched behind him in a way he had never before seen. Frost told investigators he was surprised al-Jamadi's arms "didn't pop out of their sockets," according to a summary of his interview. Frost and other guards had been summoned to reposition al-Jamadi, who an interrogator said was not cooperating. As the guards released the shackles and lowered al-Jamadi, blood gushed from his mouth "as if a faucet had been turned on," according to the interview summary.

The military pathologist who ruled the case a homicide found several broken ribs and concluded al-Jamadi died from pressure to the chest and difficulty breathing. Dr. Michael Baden, a distinguished civilian pathologist who reviewed the autopsy for a defense attorney in the case, agreed in an interview that the position in which al-Jamadi was suspended could have contributed to his death. Dr. Vincent Iacopino, director of research for Physicians for Human Rights, called the hyper-extension of the arms behind the back "clear and simple torture." The European Court of Human Rights found Turkey guilty of torture in 1996 in a case of Palestinian hanging _ a technique Iacopino said is used worldwide but named for its alleged use by Israel in the Palestinian territories.

The Washington Post reported last year that after the Abu Ghraib scandal broke, the CIA suspended the use of its "enhanced interrogation techniques," including stress positions, because of fears that the agency could be accused of unsanctioned and illegal activity. The newspaper said the White House had approved the tactics. Navy SEALs apprehended al-Jamadi as a suspect in the Oct. 27, 2003, bombing of Red Cross offices in Baghdad that killed 12 people. His alleged role in the bombing is unclear. According to court documents and testimony, the SEALs punched, kicked and struck al-Jamadi with their rifles before handing him over to the CIA early on Nov. 4. By 7 a.m., al-Jamadi was dead.

Navy prosecutors in San Diego have charged nine SEALs and one sailor with abusing al-Jamadi and others. All but two lieutenants have received nonjudicial punishment; one lieutenant is scheduled for court-martial in March, the other is awaiting a hearing before the Navy's top SEAL. The statements from five of Abu Ghraib's Army guards were shown to The AP by an attorney for one of the SEALs, who said they offered a more balanced picture of what happened. The lawyer asked not to be identified, saying he feared repercussions for his client.

According to the statements: Al-Jamadi was brought naked below the waist to the prison with a CIA interrogator and translator. A green plastic bag covered his head, and plastic cuffs tightly bound his wrists. Guards dressed al-Jamadi in an orange jumpsuit, slapped on metal handcuffs and escorted him to the shower room, a common CIA interrogation spot.

There, the interrogator instructed guards to attach shackles from the prisoner's handcuffs to a barred window. That would let al-Jamadi stand without pain, but if he tried to lower himself, his arms would be stretched above and behind him. The documents do not make clear what happened after guards left. After about a half-hour, the interrogator called for the guards to reposition the prisoner, who was slouching with his arms stretched behind him. The interrogator told guards that al-Jamadi was "playing possum" _ faking it _ and then watched as guards struggled to get him on his feet. But the guards realized it was useless. "After we found out he was dead, they were nervous," Spc. Dennis E. Stevanus said of the CIA interrogator and translator. "They didn't know what the hell to do."