death penalty

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Man Who Killed His Wife and Her 6-Year-Old Apologizes Before Execution

Gary Green, 51, put to death in Texas

(Newser) - A Texas inmate convicted of fatally stabbing his estranged wife and drowning her 6-year-old daughter in a bathtub nearly 14 years ago was executed on Tuesday, the AP reports. Gary Green, 51, received a lethal injection at the state penitentiary in Huntsville. He was condemned for the September 2009 deaths...

In This State, a Move Forward on a New Execution Method

Alabama says it's 'close' on protocol for using nitrogen gas to put inmates to death

(Newser) - The head of Alabama's prison system said Wednesday that a protocol for using nitrogen gas to carry out executions should be finished this year. "We're close. We're close," John Hamm, commissioner of the state's Department of Corrections, said of the new execution method that...

Pennsylvania Governor Does a 180 on Death Penalty

Democrat Josh Shapiro says he wants it abolished for good, won't sign any execution warrants

(Newser) - Josh Shapiro was once a supporter of the death penalty, including for the suspected gunman in the Tree of Life synagogue shooting in Philadelphia in 2018. Now, the Democratic governor of Pennsylvania says his views on capital punishment have shifted, and that he won't be signing any execution warrants...

Feds Won't Seek Death for Shooter Accused of Killing 23

Patrick Crusius accused of opening fire at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, in 2019

(Newser) - Federal prosecutors will not seek the death penalty for a man accused of fatally shooting nearly two dozen people in a racist attack at a West Texas Walmart in 2019, per the AP . The Department of Justice disclosed the decision not to pursue capital punishment against Patrick Crusius in a...

Oklahoma to Allow Anti-Execution Minister in Death Chamber

U-turn will prevent delay to execution of Scott Eizember, officials say

(Newser) - Oklahoma prison officials said Wednesday that they will allow an anti-death penalty minister with a history of protest-related arrests inside the execution chamber for Thursday's lethal injection of death row inmate Scott Eizember. Department of Corrections Director Steven Harpe said he reversed his earlier decision not to allow the...

US Executes First Transgender Inmate

Missouri puts transgender woman to death

(Newser) - A Missouri inmate was put to death Tuesday for a 2003 killing, in what is believed to be the first execution of a transgender woman in the US, the AP reports. (It's thought to be the country's first execution of any openly transgender person, male or female, CNN...

2022 Will Go Down as the 'Year of the Botched Execution'

35% of those attempted were 'visibly problematic'

(Newser) - Among the various things we'll remember 2022 for, death penalty researchers add an ignoble item to the list: botched executions, and a lot of them. The Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC) in its year-end report found that the number of people who were executed in the US—18—was...

Everyone on Oregon's Death Row Gets Sentence Commuted

Gov. Kate Brown says action was taken because death penalty is 'immoral'

(Newser) - Oregon's death row will soon be empty. Gov. Kate Brown is commuting the death sentences of all 17 people on it to sentences of life without the possibility of parole, she announced Tuesday. Declaring that the death penalty "cannot be and never has been administered fairly and equitably,...

Lawyer: 'Tonight ... Missouri Killed Kevin Because He Is Black'

Kevin Johnson died by lethal injection Tuesday night

(Newser) - A Missouri man convicted of ambushing and killing a St. Louis area police officer he blamed in the death of his younger brother was executed Tuesday night, the AP reports. Kevin Johnson, 37, died after an injection of pentobarbital at the state prison in Bonne Terre. It was the state’...

Alabama Calls for Halt to Executions

Political scientist Austin Sarat wants to see the 'insane' method ended across the country

(Newser) - Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey has called for a stop to executions in the state after two failed attempts at lethal injections—a problem on display in other states this week. In a Monday release, following the failed executions of Kenneth Smith on Nov. 17 and Alan Miller on Sept. 22,...

'Today's a Day for Adam,' Child's Killer Says at Execution

Oklahoma executes Richard Stephen Fairchild for 1993 murder of 3-year-old

(Newser) - Oklahoma executed a man Thursday for the torture slaying of his girlfriend’s 3-year-old son in 1993, the third of four scheduled executions in the US over a two-day stretch. Richard Stephen Fairchild, who turned 63 on Thursday, received a lethal three-drug combination at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester....

SCOTUS Allows Texas Execution to Proceed

2 more executions are scheduled for Thursday

(Newser) - There were 11 executions in the US in 2021, the lowest total in decades, but that number has already been surpassed this year, with more executions to come. In Texas, Stephen Barbee was executed Wednesday evening for the murders of his pregnant ex-girlfriend and her 7-year-old son in 2005. The...

Arizona Man Executed After SCOTUS Rejects Appeal

'It’s all been said. Let it be done,' Murray Hooper told execution team

(Newser) - An Arizona man convicted of murdering two people in 1980 was put to death Wednesday in the state’s third execution since officials started carrying out the death penalty in May after a nearly eight-year hiatus. Murray Hooper, 76, died by lethal injection at the state prison in Florence for...

Woman Who Killed Friend, Took Fetus Sentenced to Death

Victim's mother calls Taylor Parker an 'evil piece of flesh demon'

(Newser) - A Texas jury sentenced a woman to death Wednesday for killing a pregnant woman she knew to take her unborn daughter. Jurors returned with the sentence for Taylor Parker, 29, after deliberating for just over an hour, the Texarkana Gazette reports. The same Bowie County jury convicted Parker on Oct....

Texas Executes Man Who Killed His Mom, Buried Her in Yard

Tracy Beatty's lawyers had argued his mental illness history should rule out death penalty

(Newser) - A man who killed his mother and buried her body in her backyard was executed Wednesday in Texas despite his lawyers’ appeals that he should not be put to death because he had a history of mental illness, the AP reports. Tracy Beatty, 61, received a lethal injection at the...

Texas DA Tried to Halt His Execution. It Went Forward Anyway

John Henry Ramirez dies by lethal injection

(Newser) - Update: A Texas man who won his legal battle to have his pastor with him as his execution was carried out was put to death by lethal injection Wednesday in Huntsville. John Henry Ramirez addressed the family of Pablo Castro, the Corpus Christi convenience store clerk he murdered in 2004,...

After Rollercoaster Day, SCOTUS Says Alabama Can Execute Man

A second court blocked the execution before high court said it can proceed

(Newser) - Update: A divided US Supreme Court said Alabama can proceed Thursday night with the lethal injection of an inmate convicted in a 1999 workplace shooting, vacating two lower court rulings that sided with the condemned man and his request for a different method of execution. The 5-4 decision reversed rulings...

Inmate Had No Last Words, Which Some See as Suspicious

Private autopsy suggests Joe Nathan James Jr.'s arm may have been cut to find a vein

(Newser) - An anti-death penalty group alleges that Alabama corrections officials apparently botched an inmate's execution last month, citing the length of time that passed before the prisoner received the lethal injection and a private autopsy indicating his arm may have been cut to find a vein. Joe Nathan James Jr....

Iran Doubles Number of Executions
Executions in Iran
Have Doubled
Jul 29, 2022 4:43 PM CDT

Executions in Iran Have Doubled

3 women were put to death in one day this week for killing their husbands, rights group reports

(Newser) - Three women were executed in Iran this week for killing their husbands, a watchdog group says, part of a sharp increase in the use of the death penalty. The government has put twice as many people to death this year as last, the BBC reports—including 32 in the past...

Daughters, Brother of Slain Woman Want Mercy for Her Killer

They've asked Alabama governor to stop the execution

(Newser) - Terryln Hall was just 6 years old when her mother, Faith, was fatally shot by a former boyfriend. Now, nearly 30 years later, Hall and her sister—along with their uncle—oppose Alabama’s plan to execute the man who killed their mother, the AP reports. Unless a judge or...

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