death penalty

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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

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...

Killer Who Triggered Change in Japan Knife Law Is Hanged

Tomohiro Kato carried out a mass killing in 2008

(Newser) - Twenty minutes before committing a 2008 mass murder that shocked Japan, Tomohiro Kato posted a warning online that read, "It's time." Japan apparently decided the same thing for him. The 39-year-old has been hanged in the Tokyo Detention Centre, some eight years after he received a death...

Arrested at 13, He Faced Execution. Now He's Free

Murtaja Qureiris, said to be youngest Saudi prisoner for political protest, reportedly out of prison

(Newser) - Update: Murtaja Qureiris is now a free man. Human rights activists say the 21-year-old, who was arrested in Saudi Arabia at age 13 after being accused of participating in Arab Spring protests three years earlier, has been released from prison, reports CNN . Qureiris, who once faced the death penalty for...

Missouri Execution Goes Forward
Carman Deck
Executed in Missouri

Carman Deck Executed in Missouri

It's the country's 5th execution this year

(Newser) - A Missouri man who killed a couple during a robbery at their rural home more than a quarter of a century ago was put to death Tuesday, becoming just the fifth person executed in the United States this year, the AP reports. Carman Deck, 56, died by injection at the...

Idaho Will Seek Death Penalty for Lori Vallow

She's charged in murders of her two children, husband's first wife

(Newser) - Prosecutors in Idaho have confirmed that they will seek the death penalty for Lori Vallow if she is found guilty of any of the first-degree murder or conspiracy to commit first-degree murder charges against her. Vallow and husband Chad Daybell face multiple charges in the deaths of Vallow's two...

Arizona Judge Says 'Law Enforcement' Not a Profession

The ruling moves Arizona closer to its first execution since 2014

(Newser) - "Historically, law enforcement has not been thought of as a ‘profession’ … and has little of the characteristics of what is typically considered a profession," according to Judge Stephen Hopkins of the Maricopa County Superior Court, per NPR . The judge rejected the latest appeal effort by lawyers...

American Citizen Sentenced to Death in China

Shadeed Abdulmateen convicted of killing girlfriend

(Newser) - An American man has been sentenced to death in China for fatally stabbing a 21-year-old woman who tried to break off their relationship. Shadeed Abdulmateen was sentenced Thursday after a trial in the Intermediate People’s Court of Ningbo, a city in China’s eastern coastal province of Zhejiang, the...

Texas Executes Its Oldest Death Row Inmate

As Tennessee issues temporary reprieve to an inmate there

(Newser) - Texas’ oldest death row inmate was executed Thursday for killing a Houston police officer during a traffic stop nearly 32 years ago. Carl Wayne Buntion, 78, was executed at the state penitentiary in Huntsville. He was condemned for the June 1990 fatal shooting of Houston police officer James Irby, a...

After 2-Year Hiatus, Japan Resumes 'Abhorrent' Practice

3 death-row inmates executed amid continued controversy over how death penalty is carried out

(Newser) - For two years, Japan hasn't carried out any executions. That changed Tuesday with the hanging of three death-row inmates, reviving outcry from human rights activists on the controversial way in which the country carries out capital punishment. At a presser, Justice Minister Yoshihisa Furukawa cited the "extremely brutal"...

He Escaped Execution in 2018. 3 Years Later, He's Dead

Doyle Lee Hamm, 64, died of natural causes, with complications from lymphoma, per his lawyer

(Newser) - Update: An Alabama man put on death row for killing a motel clerk in 1987 lived through what his lawyer called a "botched" execution attempt in 2018. A private settlement was reached so that the state wouldn't try to execute Doyle Lee Hamm again, but his reprieve, it...

Man Who Tortured Family for 8 Hours Put to Death

David Neal Cox killed his estranged wife and sexually assaulted her daughter

(Newser) - A man who pleaded guilty to killing his estranged wife and sexually assaulting her young daughter as her mother lay dying was put to death Wednesday evening, becoming the first inmate executed in Mississippi in nine years. David Neal Cox, 50, abandoned all appeals and filed court papers calling himself...

Judge Balks at Retrial for Death Row's Rodney Reed

More than 20 witnesses implicated another man in 1996 murder in Texas

(Newser) - Update: A Texas judge says a death row inmate backed by celebrities including Kim Kardashian West and Rihanna should not receive a new trial. The judge in Bastrop County said Rodney Reed—sentenced to death for the 1996 murder of a young woman—"has not proven by clear and...

At Oklahoma Execution, a Rare Occurrence

John Marion Grant vomited, convulsed as he was being put to death

(Newser) - Oklahoma administered the death penalty Thursday on a man who convulsed and vomited as he was executed for the 1998 slaying of a prison cafeteria worker, ending a six-year execution moratorium brought on by concerns over its execution methods, the AP reports. John Marion Grant, 60, who was strapped to...

2 Oklahoma Death Row Inmates Get Reprieve

Federal appeals court granted stays of execution Wednesday

(Newser) - A federal appeals court granted stays of execution on Wednesday for two Oklahoma inmates who were scheduled to receive lethal injections in the coming weeks, the AP reports. A three-member panel of the 10th US Circuit Court of Appeals issued the stays for death row inmates John Marion Grant, who...

Judge OKs Oklahoma's Plans for 5 Executions

The method is at issue, with other condemned inmates choosing other drugs or firing squad

(Newser) - A federal judge in Oklahoma ruled Monday that the state can move forward with scheduled lethal injections for five death row inmates, including Julius Jones, whose case has drawn international attention and who is scheduled to die on Nov. 28. Judge Stephen Friot denied a motion for a preliminary injunction...

Alabama Execution Cancelled at Last Minute
After a Brief Reprieve,
Alabama Inmate Executed
UPDATED

After a Brief Reprieve, Alabama Inmate Executed

Willie B. Smith III was convicted of killing Sharma Ruth Johnson

(Newser) - Update: An Alabama man who avoided execution in February was put to death Thursday for the 1991 killing of a woman who was abducted during a robbery and then shot in a cemetery. Willie B. Smith III, 52, received a lethal injection at a prison in southwest Alabama, the AP...

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