SIR D WATSON
CAPITAL PUNISHMENT
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1. You may wish to let Miss Lestor know that the Governor
of Belize has reported that, after obtaining the unanimous advice of the Advisory Committee of his Council of Ministers,
he has decided not to exercise his delegated Prerogative of
Mercy in a capital case of murder in his Territory. The
execution date has been fixed for 28 March. The Governor does
not consider the exercise of his Prerogative of Mercy until all
legal Rights of Appeal have been exhausted. There is no
indication in this case that the condemned man is contemplating
a Petition for Mercy to The Queen.
2.. The facts of the case briefly are that a tourist couple
who had been attacked in Belize City pointed out their assailant
to a young police constable on duty. The constable went up
con
to the man, who almost immediately stabbed him fatally. The
murderer was a notorious and feared criminal with sixteen
previous convictions for crimes of violence. Local opinion was
outraged by the crime and there is no sympathy for the murderer,
3. I attach a Background Note on the Constitutional position
and on the exercise of the Prerogative of Mercy in Dependent
Territories. In the case of those Territories which have elected
Legislatures the 1947 procedure described in paragraph 7 of the
Background Note has always been observed. As the decision to
abolish capital punishment in the United Kingdom was taken on a
free vote in Parliament (and the penalty is still retained on
the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands) it would be illogical
in these territories to override local opinion on the retention
of capital punishment. The exercise of the Prerogative is a
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