death sentence

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Texas Inmate's Last Words: I Didn't Do It

Ivan Cantu has long claimed he didn't kill his cousin, cousin's girlfriend

(Newser) - A Texas man who had long claimed his conviction more than 20 years ago was based on false testimony and questionable evidence was executed Wednesday for fatally shooting two people, including his cousin, the AP reports. Ivan Cantu received a lethal injection and was pronounced dead at 6:47pm at...

A New State Considers Controversial Execution Method

Ohio could join Alabama, which was the first to use nitrogen method

(Newser) - Another state could soon join Alabama in using a controversial new execution method. Ohio, where executions have been paused since 2018 due to problems obtaining lethal injection drugs, is considering the use of nitrogen gas executions, USA Today reports. Two Republican state representatives have introduced legislation that would allow death...

Inmate's Spiritual Adviser: Protection Needed for Nitrogen Execution

Nitrogen gas could present a problem in the case of a leak

(Newser) - The spiritual adviser for an Alabama prisoner set to be the first person executed with nitrogen gas has asked the state prison system to provide additional precautions to ensure the safety of bystanders and witnesses at the execution, the AP reports. The Rev. Jeff Hood, who will stand near Kenneth...

US' First Nitrogen Execution Can Go Forward: Judge

Kenneth Eugene Smith's attorneys say they will appeal

(Newser) - Alabama will be allowed to put an inmate to death with nitrogen gas later this month, a federal judge ruled Wednesday, clearing the way for what would be the nation's first execution under a new method the inmate's lawyers criticize as cruel and experimental, the AP reports. US...

UN Has Harsh Words for Iran Over Child's Execution

Country reportedly put a 17-year-old to death on Friday

(Newser) - The UN had harsh words for Iran on Tuesday over the country's decision to execute two young people last Friday. "We deplore the executions," Elizabeth Throssell, a rep for the UN Human Rights Office, said in a statement in reference to the deaths of Hamidreza Azari, 17,...

Due to Be Executed After Botched Lethal Injections, He's Concerned

James Barber says he feels 'trepidation,' but not fear, over what's to come

(Newser) - James Barber is set to be put to death in Alabama Thursday night unless an appeals court intervenes, and he will be the first prisoner the state executes since a series of botched lethal injection and lethal injection attempts led to a temporary halt in executions that started in November...

Supreme Court Sides With Alabama Death Row Inmate

Says Kenneth Smith should be put to death by nitrogen hypoxia

(Newser) - The US Supreme Court on Monday sided with an Alabama death row inmate, who had his lethal injection called off at the last minute in November, and argues he should be put to death by nitrogen hypoxia when he is ultimately executed, the AP reports. Justices without comment rejected the...

Florida Executes 'Ninja Killer'
'Ninja Killer'
Executed in Florida

'Ninja Killer' Executed in Florida

Louis Bernard Gaskin, 56, wore ninja clothing during 1989 double murder

(Newser) - Florida executed a man known as the “ninja killer” on Wednesday for the 1989 slayings of a couple visiting the state from New Jersey, the AP reports. Louis Bernard Gaskin, 56, was pronounced dead at 6:15pm after receiving a lethal injection, the governor’s office said. He was...

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...

Inmate Filmed for Comedy Central 'Roast' Appeals Death Sentence

Gabriel Hall's lawyers say attorneys should have been present during Jeff Ross special

(Newser) - Lawyers for a death row inmate in Texas say it was unconstitutional for prosecutors to use unaired footage from a Comedy Central special filmed in jail. Gabriel Hall was sentenced to death a few months after the special with "Roastmaster General" Jeff Ross was filmed in the Brazos County...

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,...

Iran Hangs the First of Its Protesters

Mohsen Shekari, 23, was accused of attacking a security official with a knife

(Newser) - Iran has carried out the first execution of an anti-government protester convicted over recent unrest triggered by the death of Mahsa Amini. Mohsen Shekari, 23, who in a video shared by state media admitted to attacking a member of a volunteer paramilitary force with a knife or machete and blocking...

'Execution Survivor' Won't Be Subjected to Lethal Injection Again

Any future effort to execute Alan Eugene Miller will be done by nitrogen hypoxia

(Newser) - Alabama won't seek another lethal injection date for an inmate whose Sept. 22 execution had been halted because of problems establishing an intravenous line, according to the terms of a settlement agreement approved by US District Judge R. Austin Huffaker Jr. on Tuesday. The state agreed to never use...

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’...

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...

Kuwait Stages a Rare Mass Execution
Kuwait Stages a
Rare Mass Execution

Kuwait Stages a Rare Mass Execution

5 men, 2 women were put to death

(Newser) - Kuwait on Wednesday put to death seven prisoners in a rare mass execution in the small, oil-rich nation despite facing international criticism over its plans. The state-run KUNA news agency described those executed as all being convicted of premeditated murder and other charges in the sheikhdom. It identified those killed...

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...

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...

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...

Woman's 'Death by Stoning' Sentence Rattles Activists

It's the first such sentence in Sudan in nearly a decade

(Newser) - An October military coup in Sudan may have shifted the movement on women's rights there, and not in a good way. A 20-year-old woman arrested in White Nile state last month and charged with adultery has now heard her fate: death by stoning, the first known sentence like it...

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