Saint Kitts is a British Independent Territory that...

Saint Kitts is a British Independent Territory that retains the death penalty and for which the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council is the final court of appeal. Murder is the only death-qualifiable offense. The Governor-General has the power to grant clemency. On July 20, 1998, the first hanging in Saint Kitts and Nevis took place since 1981. They executed David Wilson, 28, an inmate convicted of beating a security guard to death in 1994. A panel of Appeal Judges had denied Wilson's appeal, and Governor-General Cuthbert Sebastian signed the required execution notice. The fact that the execution took place before Wilson was able to appeal to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council was most alarming. The region's leaders have angrily condemned pressure from British courts and human rights groups to end executions as an intrusion on national sovereignty. Polls consistently show that the majority of Caribbean people favor the death penalty.