Hero to zero? Philippine president feels typhoon backlash

Two days before one of the world's most powerful typhoons rammed into the Philippines, President Benigno Aquino had a simple but ambitious target for all government agencies: zero casualties.
Fast-forward a week: thousands are dead, anger is growing over the slow relief effort and Aquino's once-unassailable popularity is under threat - along with the reforms that have helped transform the Philippines into one of Asia's fastest-growing and hottest emerging economies.

Aquino faces a challenge that could define and undermine his presidency in the wake of Typhoon Haiyan, whose 313 km per hour (195 mph) winds and tsunami-like wall of water turned coastal regions into corpse-strewn wastelands.

The 53-year-old heir to a political dynasty appears to have been caught off guard by the magnitude of the devastation and has struggled to quell the growing frustration among survivors.
He's appeared only briefly on TV, including once from the city of Tacloban huddling with local officials and again at the Malacanang presidential palace to announce a national calamity. Other media appearances, from both Manila and the affected areas, have been rare.

"He should have grasped the enormity of the crisis," said Ramon Casiple, executive director of the Institute for Political and Electoral Reforms in Manila.

"This could be big. If nothing happens in the next week or so, and the rehabilitation goes haywire, he will have a big political problem."

Aquino spokesman Herminio Coloma both defended the president's performance but said criticism of the government was understandable.

The president had avoided visits to the hardest-hit areas so stretched local government officials were not distracted from relief work, Coloma added.

"We do not deny that there may have been shortcomings but that is borne out of severe constraints ... The severity and magnitude of this disaster are unprecedented and unparalleled in our previous experience," he said.
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WHO'S IN CHARGE HERE?"
On Sunday, while in Tacloban, Aquino refused to believe reports that the city of 220,000 people was 95 percent devastated, with looting in some parts, according to an official who was there when the president met local authorities.

He complained that disaster officials were giving him conflicting reports, with no reliable information after the typhoon brought down telephone and power lines, said the source, who declined to be identified so he could speak candidly.

One TV network quoted Aquino as telling the head of the disaster agency he was running out of patience. Defence Secretary Voltaire Gazmin said Aquino was just "discouraged" with the incomplete data he was getting.

Compounding Aquino's problems is the slow delivery of aid. For the first six days, the government distributed only 50,000 "food packs" containing 6 kg (13 lb) of rice and canned goods each day, covering just 3 percent of the 1.73 million families affected, according to government figures
As desperation grew, local media have begun to question Aquino's leadership.
"Who's in charge here?" ran a headline in the Philippine Daily Inquirer on Thursday.

Ohio man who sexually assaulted baby seeks mercy

Condemned killer Steven Smith's argument for mercy isn't an easy one. Smith acknowledges he intended to sexually assault his girlfriend's 6-month-old daughter but says he never intended to kill the baby.

The girl, Autumn Carter, of Mansfield, died because Smith was too drunk to realize his sexual assault was killing the child, Smith's attorneys were telling the Ohio Parole Board on Tuesday. And Ohio law is clear, they say: a death sentence requires an intent to kill the victim.

"The evidence suggests that Autumn's death was a horrible accident," his attorneys, Joseph Wilhelm and Tyson Fleming, said in a written argument prepared for the board.

They continued: "Despite the shocking nature of this crime, Steve's death sentence should be commuted because genuine doubts exist whether he even committed a capital offense."

Smith, 46, was never charged with sexual assault, meaning the jury's only choice was to convict or acquit him of aggravated murder, his attorneys say.
The Richland County prosecutor said Smith continues to hide behind alcohol as an excuse, and calls Smith's actions "the purposeful murder of a helpless baby girl."
Prosecutor James Mayer told the board in his own written statement that the girl's injuries are consistent with a homicide that contradicts Smith's claim he didn't intend to kill the girl.
"The horrific attack upon Autumn Carter showed much more than Smith's stated purpose," Mayer said.
Mayer said Monday he didn't know why Smith wasn't charged with rape, but said it wasn't part of a trial strategy.
The attack happened early in the morning of Sept. 29, 1998, in the Mansfield apartment of the girl's mother, Kaysha Frye, a woman Smith had been dating about six months.
Frye was awakened after 3 a.m. by a naked Smith, who placed Autumn beside her in bed, according to records prepared for the parole board hearing. Frye realized the girl wasn't breathing, told Smith he'd killed her, then ran to a neighbor's house for help.
Smith, known to consume as many as 12 beers a day, had had several beers earlier in the evening and had a blood-alcohol content of .123 — well above the legal limit for drivers — when he was tested almost eight hours later, at 11 a.m., records show.
Smith had unsuccessfully tried to have sex with his girlfriend the evening before the attack, according to records. The prosecutor argued that Smith's assault of the girl was revenge for Smith's failure to perform with Frye.
Smith's attorneys dispute this, saying the girlfriend was not upset with Smith.
Prosecutors presented evidence at trial that Smith's attack lasted as long as 30 minutes, during which time Smith beat the girl to death.
Expert witnesses for Smith conclude he may have accidentally suffocated the girl within three to five minutes while he lay on top of her, according to Smith's clemency petition.
Smith's attorneys have an uphill battle in their argument because of the "moral repugnancy" surrounding the claim of partial innocence, said Doug Berman, an Ohio State University law professor and death penalty expert.
"But if the lawyers for this defendant can legitimately assert that the evidence doesn't show or support that this was an intentional killing, not only is it appropriate to bring this up at clemency, I think they're obliged, representing their client appropriately, to stress this point," Berman said.
If executed, Smith would become the 51st inmate put to death in Ohio since the state resumed executions in 1999. The state has enough of its lethal injection drug, pentobarbital, to execute Smith and two other inmates before the supply expires. Eight more inmates are scheduled to die from November through mid-2015.