death sentence

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Attorneys for Woman Set to Be Executed Ask Trump to Intervene

Commute Lisa Montgomery's sentence, her lawyers ask POTUS

(Newser) - The only woman on federal death row is set to be executed Tuesday—but her lawyers are hoping the president will intervene. Lisa Montgomery's defense team filed a petition for clemency Tuesday, USA Today reports. "We're asking now that President Trump to please hear our plea,"...

Bad News for Only Woman on Federal Death Row

Lisa Montgomery could now be executed before Joe Biden takes office

(Newser) - A federal appeals court has cleared the way for the only woman on federal death row to be executed before President-elect Joe Biden takes office, the AP reports. The ruling, handed down Friday by a three-judge panel on the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, concluded...

&#39;Twitter Killer&#39; Hears His Fate
'Twitter Killer' Hears His Fate
Dec 15, 2020 6:40 AM CST

'Twitter Killer' Hears His Fate

Takahiro Shiraishi gets death after pleading guilty to murdering, dismembering 9 in Japan

(Newser) - The "Twitter Killer" of Japan has heard his fate, and he didn't react. Takahiro Shiraishi received the death penalty Tuesday after pleading guilty in September for the murder and dismemberment of nine people, and the judge who handed down the sentence had to ask if the "stone-faced"...

Chinese Kindergarten Teacher to Die for Her School Crime

Wang Yun laced bowls of porridge with sodium nitrite

(Newser) - A former kindergarten teacher in China "should be punished severely in accordance with the law," said a Henan province court ruling Monday, per CNN , and the punishment it doled out is the severest of all: death. Wang Yun killed one child and sickened two dozen others by adding...

Feds Execute Man Who Thought He Killed 'Tinkerbell'

That was the name William LeCroy used for a former sitter who he thought put a hex on him

(Newser) - The US government on Tuesday executed a former soldier who said an obsession with witchcraft led him to kill a Georgia nurse he believed had put a spell on him. William Emmett LeCroy, 50, was pronounced dead at 9:06pm EDT after receiving a lethal injection at the same US...

China Sentences 4th Canadian to Death

Move seen as retaliation for arrest of Huawei exec

(Newser) - China has sentenced a fourth Canadian citizen to death on drug charges in less than two years following a sharp downturn in ties over the arrest of an executive of tech giant Huawei. Ye Jianhui was sentenced Friday by the Foshan Municipal Intermediate Court in the southern province of Guangdong,...

Boston Marathon Bomber Has Death Sentence Overturned

New penalty-phase trial is ordered

(Newser) - A federal appeals court on Friday overturned the death sentence of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the man convicted in the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing. A three-judge panel of the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ordered a new penalty-phase trial, finding that the judge who oversaw the case didn't sufficiently...

First Federal Execution in 17 Years Is Delayed Again

Judge says legal issues haven't been resolved

(Newser) - A US district judge on Monday ordered a new delay in federal executions, hours before the first lethal injection was scheduled to be carried out at a federal prison in Indiana, per the AP . The administration is certain to ask a higher court to allow the executions to move forward....

Iran to Execute Man Who Spied on Soleimani

Conviction is not related to Iranian general's killing in January

(Newser) - An Iranian man who provided information on Revolutionary Guards commander Qasem Soleimani to US and Israeli intelligence has been sentenced to die, according to Iran's judiciary. A spokesperson described Mahmoud Mousavi-Majd as a spy for both the CIA and Mossad at a Tuesday news conference, reports Reuters . Gholamhossein Esmaili...

Man Who Killed 8 Gets 4 Death Sentences

Willie Godbolt blamed devil for Mississippi murders

(Newser) - A Mississippi man was given four death sentences by a jury on Thursday, hours after he spoke in court and blamed the devil for his actions the night eight people were shot to death . Willie Cory Godbolt, 37, was convicted Tuesday of the May 2017 slayings of eight people, reports...

DNA Will Prove If State Executed an Innocent Man

Ledell Lee maintained his innocence until he was put to death in 2017

(Newser) - Ledell Lee was executed in Arkansas in 2017 , despite legal challenges requesting more DNA testing using modern technology; the state denied those requests. Lee never stopped insisting he was innocent of the 1993 murder of Debra Reese, and now Slate reports that his case "could result in DNA evidence...

Pakistan Sentences Former Ruler to Death

But Pervez Musharraf has been out of the country for years

(Newser) - A Pakistani court on Tuesday sentenced the country's former military ruler, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, to death in a treason case related to the state of emergency he imposed in 2007 while in power, officials said. It's the first time in Pakistan's history that a former army chief...

Inmate Uses Last Words to Forgive Victim's Family

Donnivan Schaeffer's parents say they weren't expecting an apology anyway

(Newser) - There was no apology given nor remorse shown before Charles Rhines was put to death in South Dakota Monday night for murdering Donnivan Schaeffer in 1992—but with his last words, Rhines did "forgive" Schaeffer's family, the Rapid City Journal reports. "Ed and Peggy Schaeffer, I forgive...

Principal, 15 Others Sentenced to Death for Killing Student

Bangladesh woman had refused to drop sexual harassment charges

(Newser) - A court in eastern Bangladesh sentenced the principal of an Islamic school and 15 others to death on Thursday over the killing of an 18-year-old woman who was set on fire for refusing to drop sexual harassment charges against the principal. Judge Mamunur Rashid found Principal Siraj Ud Doula and...

He's Set to Die Tomorrow, Says Science Proves He's Innocent

Larry Swearingen has long maintained his innocence in the death of Melissa Trotter

(Newser) - Larry Swearingen is scheduled to die in Texas on Wednesday. His bid for clemency was unanimously denied Monday by the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles, though the 48-year-old is waiting to hear on whether the Supreme Court will stay his execution and have him sidestep death for now. It'...

Under the Banner of Heaven Killer Closer to Firing Squad

Ronald Watson Lafferty lost his latest appeal Monday

(Newser) - A Utah death row inmate featured in the popular book Under the Banner of Heaven after killing his sister-in-law and her child for resisting his polygamist beliefs inched closer to becoming the first American to be executed by firing squad in nearly a decade after losing his latest appeal Monday....

Country Hires 2 Hangmen, Says Executions Will Happen

Sri Lanka last put a man to death in 1976

(Newser) - Sri Lankan prison authorities have recruited two hangmen ahead of planned executions that would end a 43-year-old moratorium on the death penalty, an official said Monday. The recruitment of the two hangmen comes as prison authorities are preparing to carry out an order by Sri Lanka president Maithripala Sirisena, who...

Father Who Killed His 5 Kids Is Sentenced

Jurors sentence Timothy Jones Jr. to death

(Newser) - A South Carolina father was sentenced to death Thursday for killing his five children with his own hands, the AP reports. After they were dead, he drove around with their bodies for nine days before dumping them in garbage bags on the side of an Alabama dirt road. Timothy Jones...

Inmate Declines Special Last Meal, Wants to Feed Homeless

Donnie Johnson turns down $20 meal, asks supporters to feed the homeless instead

(Newser) - Donnie Edward Johnson declined to choose a special last meal, and will eat what the general prison population eats before his 7pm execution Thursday. But the convicted murderer is calling for his supporters to buy a meal for a homeless person, the Tennessean reports. Johnson's lawyer says he was...

After a Series of Apologies, Georgia Man Is Executed

Scotty Morrow killed 2 women in 1994

(Newser) - A man who shot and killed his ex-girlfriend and another woman nearly 25 years ago was executed Thursday evening in Georgia. Scotty Garnell Morrow's approximate time of death was 9:38pm, Warden Benjamin Ford told witnesses at the state prison in Jackson. Morrow, 52, was convicted of murder in...

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