State empties death row of 12 inmates
over 6 weeks
Associated Press Oct 24, 08 2:25 PM CDT
(AP)
-
A dozen condemned inmates in Texas's "death watch" cells are being executed at a scheduled rate of two a week through November. The executions relieve a logjam created when the US Supreme Court effectively halted lethal injections while deciding whether the method was unconstitutionally inhumane. It ruled the method constitutional, and executions resumed.
More »
Former child actor may now be sentenced to death
Orange County Register (Calif.) Oct 21, 08 4:42 CDT
(Newser)
-
A former bit-part child actor has been found guilty of murdering a couple by tying them to an anchor and throwing them overboard off the California coast in a plot to steal their yacht, the Orange County Register reports. The jury must now decide if Skylar Deleon, also found guilty of cutting a man's throat in an unrelated murder, should get the death penalty or a life sentence.
More »
Convicted killer had
2 hours to live before ruling spared him
Atlanta Journal-Constitution Sep 23, 08 8:45 PM CDT
(Newser)
-
The Supreme Court issued a stay of execution for a Georgia man only two hours before he was scheduled to die tonight, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. Troy Anthony Davis has been on death row since 1991, when he was convicted of killing an off-duty police officer. Seven of nine key prosecution witnesses have since recanted their testimony, and his family and supporters have called for a new trial.
More »
Carter, clergy, NAACP have asked for life sentence for Troy Davis
Atlanta Journal-Constitution Sep 23, 08 9:18 CDT
(Newser)
-
A man sentenced to die tonight in Georgia is looking to the US Supreme Court after the state’s parole board and top court rejected clemency yesterday, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. Troy Anthony Davis was convicted in 1991 for murdering a police officer, but seven prosecution witnesses have since recanted testimony, leading to calls for his sentence to be commuted to life in prison.
More »
Cooey says that he didn't intentionally
pile on the pounds
CNN Sep 17, 08 12:54 PM CDT
(Newser)
-
Convicted killer Richard Cooey knows there have been jokes at his expense. But he insists he’s not afraid to die— just too fat for lethal injection. At 5’ 7”, 267 pounds, Cooey is so rotund that it’s nigh-impossible to find a vein. “It's hard getting access to my veins,” Cooey told CNN. “If it would make people happy, shoot me in the head with a .45. Do it legally.”
More »
No parole for woman who shut daughter in microwave
Dayton Daily News Sep 9, 08 2:22 CDT
(Newser)
-
An Ohio mother who burned her month-old baby alive in a microwave oven was sentenced yesterday to life without parole. The jury could not agree on imposing the death penalty, reports the Dayton Daily News . China Arnold, 28, was not present for the emotionally charged hearing, and instead watched the proceedings on a closed-circuit TV in another room.
More »
More about:
murder
•
death penalty
World Court had ordered hearing
Houston Chronicle Aug 6, 08 2:33 CDT
(Newser)
-
A Mexican national convicted of raping and murdering two girls was executed in Texas yesterday in defiance of an international court. Attorneys for Jose Medellin, 33, had argued that authorities violated an international treaty when Medellin was denied access to Mexican consular officials after his arrest, reports the Houston Chronicle . The United Nations world court ordered a hearing on the issue 4 years ago, but Texas officials refused.
More »
Denies rights groups' charges of excessive use
BBC Jul 27, 08 11:00 CDT
(Newser)
-
Amid charges of excessive use, Iran hanged 29 convicts this morning in Tehran. The Iranian Supreme Court approved the death sentences, variously on charges of murder, rape, armed robbery, or drug trafficking, the BBC reports. Last year, the country carried out 317 executions, second only to China. Tehran, however, insists the death penalty is an effective deterrent, judiciously used after a lengthy legal process.
More »
Court was wrong about federal death penalty
New York Times Jul 2, 08 2:36 CDT
(Newser)
-
The Supreme Court misconstrued a key fact in reaching its recent decision banning the death penalty for child rape, reports the New York Times . Swing justice Anthony Kennedy mistakenly noted in his decision that child rapists did not face the death penalty in federal jurisdiction. But in fact the rape of a child was made a military capital crime when the military code of justice was revised in 2006.
More »
Panel calls for reforms to clear massive execution backlog
Sacramento Bee Jul 1, 08 3:43 CDT
(Newser)
-
California's capital punishment system is nearing collapse, according to a state commission. The time between sentencing and execution in the state is as long as 25 years—double the national average. The panel recommended California spend $100 million a year to hire more lawyers and clear the "overwhelmed" appeals system, reports the Sacramento Bee .
More »
Dem disagrees with Supreme Court ruling against Louisiana law
Associated Press Jun 26, 08 6:10 CDT
(Newser)
-
Barack Obama joined rival John McCain yesterday in supporting the death penalty for child rapists, the AP reports. The Democratic candidate spoke after the Supreme Court ruled against a Louisiana law allowing capital punishment for child rape, saying it violates the constitution's ban on cruel and unusual punishment. The verdict negates similar laws in five other states.
More »
Top court also trims $2.5B Exxon Valdez damages to $500M
Associated Press Jun 25, 08 10:19 CDT
(Newser)
-
The Supreme Court found today that the “death penalty is not a proportional punishment for the rape of a child,” striking down a Louisiana law as cruel and unusual punishment. While the court split 5-4 on the hot-button issue—swing justice Anthony Kennedy penned the opinion—there has not been an execution in 44 years for a crime that didn’t involve a victim’s death.
More »
Orders state to change executions
New York Times Jun 10, 08 10:53 PM CDT
(Newser)
-
An Ohio judge has ordered authorities to stop using a lethal three-drug cocktail for executions because it may cause excruciating pain. Instead, the judge ruled in favor of a single lethal dose of a barbiturate used in animal euthanasia, the New York Times reports. State officials are reviewing the decision—which bucks the trend of recent cases in the wake of a Supreme Court ruling that upheld similar executions.
More »
As trial opens, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed requests death penalty
MSNBC Jun 5, 08 10:28 CDT
(Newser)
-
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the man said to have planned the Sept. 11 attacks, asked a judge to be put to death today, MSNBC reports. During his arraignment at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base a military judge told Mohammed he could face the death penalty. Mohammed replied, “Yes, this is what I wish, to be a martyr for a long time.”
More »