THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, February 25, 1996 TAG: 9602250073
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: STAFF AND WIRE REPORT
DATELINE: GENEVA LENGTH: Medium: 68 lines
The United Nations says in a new report that governments around the world continue to violate the right to life, and it cited Virginia's execution of Dennis Walden Stockton as one example of a death sentence that came despite doubts about his guilt.
A special investigation by the U.N. Commission on Human Rights into executions around the world documents 820 cases in 94 countries in which victims were executed without a trial. The report was published Friday.
Investigator Bacre Waly Ndiaye said he finds ``particularly disturbing'' reports that the United States is imposing the death penalty on mentally retarded or ill people.
Ndiaye also said he was concerned that ``many of the death sentences (in the United States) continue to be handed down after trials which fall short of international guarantees for a fair trial.''
He said six people in the United States were reportedly given death sentences despite doubts about their guilt, including Stockton.
Stockton was executed by injection in September, 12 years after a jury convicted him of the 1978 killing and dismemberment of 18-year-old Kenneth Arnder in a murder-for-hire in western Virginia.
To the end, Stockton maintained his innocence.
A week before his execution, three new witnesses came forward to say it was another man who killed Arnder.
But Virginia Gov. George F. Allen refused to stay the execution after state police interviewed a North Carolina sheriff and examined jail records to verify that the other suspect was in jail at the time of Arnder's slaying.
The U.N. report also said four people in the United States were allegedly not given an adequate defense, and three were allegedly sentenced to death after a trial ``marked by racial bias.''
Twelve other people were named as having been sentenced to death despite serious mental retardation. One man was sentenced to death without the ability to appeal, and another was sentenced to death after a judge overruled a unanimous jury recommendation of life imprisonment.
Ndiaye said he requested a visit to the United States, a move usually reserved for countries that are the worst rights violators.
Ndiaye also highlighted a number of deaths in custody, principally of non-Europeans, in France, Germany and Britain.
One of the most serious violators was Colombia, where armed conflict between the government and guerrillas have resulted in ``daily'' reports of summary killings, the report said. It said tens of thousands die each year.
Ndiaye said information suggested the Colombian army and police were responsible for half the deaths, guerrillas for a quarter and paramilitary groups for about 18 percent.
In China, Ndiaye received reports of lawyers having no more than two days to prepare a defense, death sentences allegedly decided in advance, and the executed being used as organ donors.
In Brazil, street children continue to be targeted by death squads reportedly composed of off-duty military and civil police officers and at times supported by the local police, Ndiaye noted. MEMO: This story was compiled from reports by The Associated Press and The
Virginian-Pilot. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
Dennis W. Stockton was executed for the 1978 killing of an
18-year-old.
by CNB