capital punishment

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Southerners Twice as Likely to Apologize Before Execution

Though they're no more likely to show genuine remorse: researcher

(Newser) - In their final moments, Southerners stand apart from other Americans: In statements before execution, Southern inmates were twice as likely to say they were sorry for their actions, a study finds. They weren't, however, "more likely than non-Southerners to express remorse," says researcher Judy Eaton, who perused...

Tenn. Senate Votes to Bring Back Electric Chair

Meanwhile, Ohio considers sweeping new restrictions

(Newser) - What do you do when you can't get your hands on the drugs in your lethal injection cocktail? As far as Tennessee's Senate is concerned, you fire up Old Sparky. The state's Senate yesterday voted 23-3 to advance a bill allowing the state to execute inmates via...

Mississippi Woman on Death Row Gets Retrial

Michelle Byrom says she only confessed to protect her son

(Newser) - A Mississippi woman is glimpsing a ray of sunlight after 14 years on death row. Days after her official execution date , the state Supreme Court today ruled that Michelle Byrom, 57, will be retried, CNN reports. Byrom was convicted 14 years ago of masterminding the murder of her allegedly abusive...

Egypt Tries 682 More— Plus Brotherhood Leader

Lawyers boycott trial presided over by judge who ordered death of 529

(Newser) - A day after sentencing 529 people to death , Egypt launched another mass trial today, this time accusing 683 Muslim Brotherhood members—including the Brotherhood's top spiritual leader, Mohammed Badie—of crimes including murder and inciting violence in connection with a riot at a police station in Minya. Only 68...

Oklahoma: Warden Can Pick Any of 5 Lethal Injections

Inmates' lawyers raise concerns over chemical combinations

(Newser) - After a pair of executions were delayed over a dearth of fatal drugs, Oklahoma is saying that as of Friday, it has a new execution protocol—and its warden can now pick from any of five options for its lethal injections. Lawyers for death-row inmates Charles Warner and Clayton Lockett...

Miss. to Execute Woman— for Crime Son Confessed To

Byrom to be first woman executed in state since 1944

(Newser) - Mississippi is preparing to execute its first woman in 70 years—for a crime her son repeatedly confessed to. Michelle Byrom, 57, was found guilty of hiring a friend of her son's to kill her husband in 1999, but jurors were never shown letters in which son Edward Byrom...

Tennessee to Execute 10, Keep Details Secret

Law allows it to keep executioner, where drugs came from under wraps

(Newser) - Tennessee officials plan to execute a record number of death row inmates over the next two years, all under a cloak of secrecy. The state late last year asked its Supreme Court for permission to execute at least a dozen convicts—its biggest request ever—and intends to use a...

Texas Scores New Batch of Execution Drug

State was down to last few doses of pentobarbital

(Newser) - The nation's most prolific executioner has a new drug dealer that officials in states including Oklahoma , Louisiana , and Missouri would probably like to meet. Texas says it has secured enough of the lethal-injection drug pentobarbital to continue executing people after the end of this month—but the state plans...

Oklahoma Can't Find Lethal Injection Drugs

Pair of executions delayed after failed 'Herculean' effort

(Newser) - Two executions in Oklahoma have been pushed back a month as the state scrambles to find a source of lethal-injection drugs. The two inmates had filed a lawsuit seeking more information about the drugs that would be used to kill them, but the state's Court of Criminal Appeals decided...

New Hangman Sees Gallows, Quits

Sri Lanka searching for replacement

(Newser) - Sri Lanka is looking for a new hangman after its latest recruit quit in horror at his first sight of the gallows. The country's prison commissioner says the man was "shocked and afraid" after seeing the gallows after a week of training, reports the BBC . He is the...

Florida Executes Man for Boy's Horrific Murder

Slain boy's parents pushed for stronger predator laws

(Newser) - Would-be child abductors should think twice about killing their victims because "people will not forget, they will not forgive," said the father of 9-year-old Jimmy Ryce after his son's killer was executed last night. "We will hunt you down and we will put you to death....

Washington State Suspends Death Penalty

Gov. Jay Inslee 'not convinced equal justice is being served'

(Newser) - Gov. Jay Inslee today brought the use of the death penalty to a screeching halt in Washington state, declaring a moratorium on a system he says has "too many flaws" and pushing his state to "join a growing national conversation" about capital punishment. "There is too much...

14th Female Executed in US Since 1976

Suzanne Basso was convicted in 1998 torture killing

(Newser) - A woman convicted of torturing and killing a mentally impaired man she lured to Texas with the promise of marriage has been put to death in a rare execution of a female prisoner. Suzanne Basso this evening became only the 14th woman executed in the US since the Supreme Court...

Louisiana Stalls Execution to Study New Drug Cocktail

State wants to use combo that caused slow Ohio death

(Newser) - A last-minute switch of lethal-injection drugs has delayed Louisiana's first execution since 2010. Child killer Christopher Sepulvado was scheduled to die tomorrow but was granted a 90-day stay after the state confirmed it could not obtain the barbiturate pentobarbital, reports the Times-Picayune . The state plans to use a mixture...

Feds Want Death for Tsarnaev
 Feds Want Death for Tsarnaev 
Jan 30, 2014 1:39 PM CST

Feds Want Death for Tsarnaev

US will seek death penalty for alleged Boston bomber

(Newser) - The Justice Department will seek the death penalty in its case against alleged Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, Eric Holder announced today. "The nature of the conduct at issue and the resultant harm compel this decision," the attorney general said in a statement . The decision is not exactly...

Supreme Court Holds Off Execution Over Drug Issue

High court is expected to issue ruling today

(Newser) - The US Supreme Court is expected to rule today on two petitions regarding Missouri death row inmate Herbert Smulls, the Missouri Attorney General's office says. Smulls' execution was temporarily stayed late yesterday with an order from the high court signed by Justice Samuel Alito. It was sent about two-and-a-half...

Lethal Drugs Now Rare, States Eye Old-School Executions

Drug shortage raises talk of firing squads, electrocution

(Newser) - With lethal-injection drugs in short supply and new questions looming about their effectiveness, lawmakers in some death penalty states are considering bringing back relics of a more gruesome past: firing squads, electrocutions, and gas chambers. Most states abandoned those execution methods more than a generation ago, but to some elected...

Daughter Suing Over Dad's Slow Execution

McGuire suffered cruel and unusual punishment: lawyer

(Newser) - An Ohio inmate put to death for murder was tortured by his unusually slow execution , the man's daughter said today as she announced plans to file a lawsuit over her father's death. Dennis McGuire's daughter, Amber, referred to the "agony and terror" of watching her father...

Ohio Rejects Killer&#39;s Organ Donation Offer
Ohio Executes Killer With Untried Drug Combo
UPDATED
Jan 16, 2014 10:43 AM CST

Ohio Executes Killer With Untried Drug Combo

'Prolonged' execution takes 15-plus minutes

(Newser) - Dennis McGuire was put to death today with a two-drug combination previously untested in the US, and at more than 15 minutes, it was one of the longest executions in Ohio since the state resumed capital punishment in 1999. McGuire, whose lawyers had attempted to delay his execution by arguing...

What It Was Like to Execute 62 People

Jerry Givens describes 17 years as a Virginia's executioner

(Newser) - Jerry Givens is on a campaign to end capital punishment, and he comes to the issue with a pretty unique perspective: He worked for Virginia's department of corrections for 25 years, and was its executioner from 1982 to 1999. "When I accepted the job, there was nobody on...

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