UK lawmakers approve assisted suicide for dying or terminally ill patients

After an emotive and at times impassioned debate, Britain’s lawmakers voted to allow assisted dying for terminally ill patients in England and Wales under strict conditions, opening the way to one of the most profound social changes in the country in decades, reported The New York Times.

By 330 votes to 275, members of Parliament gave their support to a bill that would permit doctors to help some terminally ill patients to end their lives.

Friday’s vote was not the final say on the matter for Parliament, as it will now be scrutinized in parliamentary committees and amendments to the bill may be put forward. But it is a landmark political moment, setting the stage for a significant shift that some have likened to Britain’s legalization of abortion in 1967 and the abolition of the death penalty in 1969.

The new legislation would apply to a narrow group: Applicants would have to be over 18, diagnosed with a terminal illness and have been given no more than six months to live. Two doctors and a judge would be required to give their approval, and the fatal drugs would have to be self-administered.

Assisted dying is already legal in a handful of European countries, as well as in Canada, New Zealand, 10 U.S. states and the District of Columbia.

The bill debated on Friday was proposed by a Labour Party member of parliament, Kim Leadbeater, but lawmakers were given the freedom to vote with their consciences, instead of being expected to vote along a party-line, meaning the outcome was impossible to predict.

ImageKim Leadbeater in London last month. The Labour lawmaker told Parliament that her legislation addressed “one of the most significant issues of our time.”Credit...Jaimi Joy/Reuters

During almost five hours of debate on Friday in a crowded parliamentary chamber, raw divisions were revealed over an issue that transcended political affiliations.

Meg Hillier, a Labour lawmaker, said the legislation would “cross a Rubicon,” by involving the state in the death of some of those it governs. “This is a fundamental change in the relationship between the state and the citizen, and the patient and their doctor,” she said.

But Kit Malthouse, a Conservative lawmaker, argued in support of the bill, saying, “The deathbed for far too many is a place of misery, torture and degradation, a reign of blood and vomit and tears.” He added, “I see no compassion and beauty in that — only profound human suffering.”

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Idaho Supreme Court says man who survived execution can be executed again

Idaho’s high court dismissed a final state appeal from Thomas Creech, leaving the federal courts to decide whether Idaho can try again to execute its longest-serving death row prisoner after a failed attempt earlier this year, reported the Idaho Stateman. The Idaho Supreme Court unanimously rejected Creech’s arguments that a second execution attempt would represent cruel and unusual punishment under the Eighth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

In February, the execution team was unable after nearly an hour to find a vein in Creech’s body suitable for an IV to lethally inject him, and prison leaders called off the execution. Creech became the first-ever prisoner to survive an execution in Idaho and just the sixth in U.S. history to survive one by lethal injection, according to the Washington, D.C.-based Death Penalty Information Center. Creech alleged in his appeal that another lethal injection attempt, this time possibly with a stepped-up method known as a central line IV, which uses a catheter through a jugular in the neck, or vein in the upper thigh or chest, would violate his constitutional rights.

 A lower state court ruled against the claim last month. “The application does not support, with any likelihood, the conclusion that the pain other inmates purportedly suffered in other states establishes an ‘objectively intolerable’ risk of pain for Creech, as required under the Eighth Amendment,” Idaho Chief Justice G. Richard Bevan wrote for the court. Idaho’s five justices also ruled against Creech in a similar appeal earlier this month. The court’s ruling Wednesday sided with Idaho Attorney General Raúl Labrador’s office and was determined on legal briefs alone.

No oral arguments were scheduled in the appeal. Justice Robyn M. Brody, left, and Chief Justice G. Richard Bevan are two of the five members of the Idaho Supreme Court. They ruled unanimously against an appeal from death row prisoner Thomas Creech on Wednesday.

Justice Colleen Zahn recused herself from Creech’s appeal and was replaced by Senior Justice Roger Burdick, who retired from the court in 2021. Zahn cited her decadelong tenure in the Attorney General’s Office before her appointment to the Supreme Court bench, state courts spokesperson Nate Poppino previously told the Idaho Statesman. The State Appellate Public Defender’s Office, Creech’s attorneys in the case, did not respond Wednesday to a request for comment from the Idaho Statesman.

The Attorney General’s Office declined to comment after the ruling. The Federal Defender Services of Idaho, which represents Creech in three other active appeals in federal court, declined to comment, including on its own federal appeal with the same legal arguments as the case just dismissed by the Idaho Supreme Court. Creech also has declined any interviews at this time through his attorneys. Creech was set to be executed earlier this month after he was served with a death warrant from Ada County Prosecuting Attorney Jan Bennetts’ office.

A federal judge issued a stay and hit pause on the scheduled execution timeline before Idaho could follow through on the state’s first execution in more than a dozen years. Creech, 74, has been incarcerated for 50 years on five murder convictions, including three victims in Idaho. His standing death sentence stems from the May 1981 beating death of fellow prisoner David D. Jensen, 23, for which Creech pleaded guilty. Before that, Creech was convicted of the November 1974 shooting deaths of two men in Valley County in Idaho, and later the shooting death of a man in Oregon and another man’s death by strangulation in California.

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Illinois schools ask police to stop ticketing students

In the strongest rebuke yet of Illinois school districts that ask police to ticket misbehaving students, the state attorney general has declared that the practice — still being used across the state — is illegal and should stop, reported ProPublica.

The attorney general’s office, which had been investigating student ticketing in one of Illinois’ largest high school districts, found that Township High School District 211 in Palatine broke the law when administrators directed police to fine its students for school-based conduct, and that the practice had an “unjustified disparate impact” on Black and Latino students.

“We strongly encourage other districts and police departments to review their policies and practices,” the office told ProPublica.

But the attorney general’s office did not alert other districts of its findings, which came in July, and did not issue guidance that the common practice violates the law. That means its findings against the suburban Chicago district could have a narrow effect.

The office also said that it is not investigating other districts for similar civil rights violations.

In 2022, a ProPublica and Chicago Tribune investigation, “The Price Kids Pay,” revealed how local police officers were writing students tickets that resulted in fines of up to $750. The tickets, for violating local ordinances, are considered noncriminal offenses and can be punishable only by a fine. The misbehavior included having vape pens, missing class, and participating in verbal or minor physical altercations.

In response, Gov. JB Pritzker and two state superintendents of education said schools should not rely on police to handle student misconduct.

State lawmakers have tried several times to pass legislation intended to stop the practice by specifically prohibiting schools from involving police in minor disciplinary matters. But the bills have stalled. School officials have argued ticketing is a necessary tool to manage student behavior, and some lawmakers worried that limiting officers’ role in schools could lead to unsafe conditions.

Rep. La Shawn Ford, a Democrat from Chicago, told ProPublica this month that he plans to try again next year. “We don’t want police doing schools’ work,” Ford said.

He said revised legislation will aim to address school officials’ concerns and will make clear that school employees can still involve police in criminal matters.

“What will really address this is a state law that would have an impact on all Illinois schools. That is the only possible way I see because it is so pervasive across Illinois,” said Angie Jiménez, an attorney at the National Center for Youth Law, which has pushed for reforms in Illinois law.

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PA lawmaker wants mandatory death penalty for illegals who kill

 A Pennsylvania state lawmaker is proposing a bill that would implement a mandatory death penalty for “illegal aliens convicted of murder,” reported WHTM-TV in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

State Representative Eric Davanzo (R-Westmoreland) says he plans to introduce the bill while citing cases across the country where those who have entered the United States illegally have been convicted of serious crimes.

Davanzo specifically cited the case of Laken Riley, a University of Georgia student who was killed by a Venezuelan man earlier this year after he unlawfully entered the country. He also cited the search for Brazilian native Danelo Cavalcante in Pennsylvania after he escaped the Chester County prison following a conviction for killing his ex-girlfriend.

“At a time when the Federal government has demonstrated an unmistakable aversion to countering this ever-increasing surge in illegal immigration and some district attorneys of this Commonwealth refuse to honor Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s detainers, drastic measures are needed to deter violent crime and illegal migration, promote justice for victims and their families, and ensure uniformity in punishment,” said Davanzo in a memo to House members. “I believe that any individual who unlawfully enters this country and commits a murder should face the most severe consequences under our laws. This legislation demonstrates that the House of Representatives is, unlike the Federal Government, willing to protect its citizens and ensure justice for victims.”

In Pennsylvania, the death penalty can only be applied in cases where a defendant is found guilty of first-degree murder if aggravating factors are present in the conviction.

Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro said last year we would block the death penalty during his administration and called for the practice to be abolished.

“The Commonwealth shouldn’t be in the business of putting people to death. Period,” said Shapiro in 2023.

Attorney General-elect Dave Sunday said during his 2024 campaign that he would seek the death penalty.

Since 1976, three people have been executed by lethal injection in Pennsylvania with the last being in 1999, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections. There are currently 95 people sitting on Pennsylvania’s death row, the most recent being added in May 2023.

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Mangino discusses Susan Smith parole hearing with Ted Rowlands of Court TV

Watch my interview with Ted Rowlands of Court TV discussing the parole hearing of Susan Smith, the South Carolina woman who murdered her two children 30 years ago.

To watch the interview CLICK HERE

Mangino discusses the conviction and sentencing of Jose Ibarra for the murder of Laken Riley on NewsNation

Great to join NewsNation to discuss the conviction and sentencing of Jose Ibarra for the murder of Laken Riley.

Václav Havel: 'There is only one thing I will not concede: that it might be meaningless to strive in a good cause'

One of the great spirits of modern times, the Czech playwright and dissident Václav Havel, wrote in “Summer Meditations,” “There is only one thing I will not concede: that it might be meaningless to strive in a good cause.” During the long Soviet domination of his country, Havel fought valiantly for liberal democracy, inspiring in others acts of resilience and protest. He was imprisoned for that. Then came a time when things changed, when Havel was elected President and, in a Kafka tale turned on its head, inhabited the Castle, in Prague. Together with a people challenged by years of autocracy, he helped lead his country out of a long, dark time.