David Mitchell

Case identification

David Mitchell (1972 – 6 January 2000)

The offence

David Mitchell killed two German tourists in the Bahamas.

He was convicted of stabbing two tourists from Germany to death.

Trial and sentencing

Mitchell received the mandatory sentence of death by hanging.

Mitchell was originally scheduled to be executed on 10 August 1999.

The execution was delayed to allow the Bahamian appeal courts to hear his appeal on the constitutionality of the death penalty.

His appeal was rejected by the Bahamian courts and by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in London, which acted as the final court of appeal for the Bahamas.

Timeline

• 10 August 1999 — Mitchell was originally scheduled to be executed.
• 6 January 2000 — Mitchell was executed in the Fox Hill Prison in Nassau.

Investigation

Arrest

Appeals

Mitchell’s execution was carried out while he had an appeal pending before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.

Amnesty International alleged that Mitchell’s execution amounted to a violation of the Bahamas’ treaty obligations as a member of the Organization of American States.

Execution

Mitchell was executed in the Fox Hill Prison in Nassau on the morning of 6 January 2000.

A notice announcing Mitchell’s death was posted on the gates of Fox Hill Prison.

Mitchell had been one of three convicted killers due to be hanged at hourly intervals during the day.

Related events on the same day

John Higgs was scheduled to be executed the same day as Mitchell for an unrelated murder, but Higgs committed suicide the day before.

A third inmate, Eddie Thurston, was given a last-minute reprieve to appeal to the Privy Council.

Thurston was described as a former mechanic convicted of murdering an unidentified man in 1995.

Other details

Mitchell’s execution was described as controversial.

The victims’ son had requested that the death sentence be commuted.

Amnesty International urged the government of the Bahamas to:

"uphold its obligations under international law, and to impose an immediate moratorium on executions, with a view to abolishing the death penalty permanently".

Amnesty earlier said Higgs’ suicide was:

"an illustration of the brutal realities of the death penalty".

Amnesty stated:

"People on death row have been convicted of appalling crimes, but society should not condone the killing of defenceless people, whatever they have done."

The Bahamas executed its first convict in 12 years in 1996 and had since hanged four prisoners.

The Bahamas was described as among several Caribbean countries eager to use capital punishment to fight increasing crime.

The country was described as having a record 65 people murdered the previous year.

The UK Government was described as trying to persuade its former colonies in the Caribbean to abolish capital punishment, and as having become unpopular with many residents, particularly those in Trinidad and Tobago.

The text described that leaders of island nations had been discussing whether to set up their own regional supreme court, which would have the final say over cases such as these.