death row

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Death-Row Inmate Spared After Hellish Childhood Is Revealed

Raymond Tibbetts has Gov. John Kasich to thank

(Newser) - Ohio Gov. John Kasich on Friday spared a condemned killer whose sentence was challenged after a juror came forward and said information about the extent of the inmate's tough childhood wasn't properly presented at trial. The Republican governor commuted the sentence of death row inmate Raymond Tibbetts to...

He Didn't Commit Crime He Was Jailed For. Now, the Oprah Nod

Winfrey picks memoir by Anthony Ray Hinton, wrongly imprisoned for 30 years, for book club

(Newser) - Anthony Ray Hinton, wrongly imprisoned for nearly 30 years, can hardly believe how his luck has changed. Hinton's memoir, The Sun Does Shine: How I Found Life and Freedom on Death Row, is Oprah Winfrey's latest book club pick, a dream for virtually any writer and beyond the...

Alabama Death Row Inmate Apparently Kills Himself

He came within 3 hours of execution last year

(Newser) - A condemned inmate in Alabama apparently decided not to wait for the state to take his life. Jeffrey Lynn Borden, a 57-year-old Death Row inmate convicted of two 1993 murders, was found hanged in his cell early Sunday in what authorities say was an apparent suicide, AL.com reports. Borden...

Lawyers: Boys Don't Cry Killer Is Ineligible for Execution

They argue John Lotter has IQ of a child

(Newser) - Attorneys for a Nebraska death row inmate whose case inspired the 1999 movie Boys Don't Cry say he should be ruled ineligible for execution because he has the intellect of a young child. John Lotter was sentenced to death for his role in the 1993 killings of Brandon Teena,...

He Had His Mom, Brother Killed. Will He Die Tonight?
With His Execution Nigh,
a Big Twist in Texas
the rundown
Feb 22, 2018 11:47 AM CST

With His Execution Nigh, a Big Twist in Texas

Thomas Whitaker's case is in Gov. Greg Abbott's hands

(Newser) - The crime was horrific, the aftermath doubly so: A Texas family of four was shot by a masked gunman in December 2003. Kent Whitaker's wife and one of his two sons didn't make it, and Whitaker's initial desire for vengeance gave way to a decision to forgive,...

He's Fighting to Save His Family's Killer. The Killer: His Own Son

Bart Whitaker set to be executed Feb. 22 for killing his mom and brother, but dad isn't giving up on him

(Newser) - "My wife and son were murdered by a masked gunman, and my other son and I were left for dead, but survived." Those are the words of Kent Whitaker on his website , detailing the horrific crime that tore his life apart in December 2003. But, he adds, things...

Scott Dozier Just Wants Nevada to Kill Him Already

The Marshall Project takes a look at one death row inmate's desire to die

(Newser) - It's a death-row fact that is likely to surprise: In five states—Connecticut, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, and South Dakota—only one type of condemned man has been put to death since the 1970s: a "volunteer." That's legal-world parlance for a person who has been sentenced...

Lawyer in Death Row Case Defies Own Client—and Loses

Now the Supreme Court will weigh in on the fairness of that

(Newser) - The Supreme Court on Wednesday will hear arguments in a death row case, but this one has an unusual element. The case involves Robert McCoy, who is currently on Louisiana's death row after being convicted of a triple homicide back in 2011. McCoy has always maintained his innocence, but...

SCOTUS OKs Execution of Man Who Can't Remember Crime

Vernon Madison understands he was convicted of murder, high court rules

(Newser) - In 1985, Vernon Madison shot and killed Mobile, Ala., police officer Julius Schulte after Schulte responded to a domestic call involving Madison; prosecutors say he crept up on the officer as he sat in his police car and shot him twice in the back of the head, the AP reports....

'Poster Child for the Death Penalty' May Die Sitting Up

Alva Campbell's execution is set for Nov. 15 in Ohio

(Newser) - Allowing a condemned killer with health problems to partially sit up during his execution next month would be a "reasonable" accommodation, according to a doctor working for Ohio's prison system. Death row inmate Alva Campbell—described by a Franklin County prosecutor as "the poster child for the...

Man Maintains Innocence as He Faces 8th Execution Date

Tommy Arthur has escaped execution 7 times in past 16 years

(Newser) - When you've faced your own execution seven times with an eighth on the way, it's important to have the right mindset. “You can either let a stressful situation break you ... or you hold on to hope and use your every waking moment to fight," Tommy Arthur...

Victim's Family's Kind Act Surprises Death Row Inmate

Family paid for Kenneth Williams' daughter to fly to Arkansas

(Newser) - Kayla Greenwood understands the desire to see one's father a final time. In 1999, when she was 5, Greenwood’s dad was killed when an escaped prisoner in a stolen truck slammed into his vehicle during a police chase. That escaped prisoner, convicted of killing two others, is now...

Ohio Inmate Kills Himself on Death Row

Patrick Leonard died Sunday night

(Newser) - An Ohio man condemned to die for the slaying of his former girlfriend has killed himself on death row. The Ohio prisons agency tells the AP that inmate Patrick Leonard died Sunday night of an apparent suicide on death row in Chillicothe; the AP didn't provide additional details. Leonard...

One Client Got Death. Then Another, and Another
One Client Got Death.
Then Another, and Another
in case you missed it
Dec 3, 2016 7:30 AM CST

One Client Got Death. Then Another, and Another

The 'Guardian' looks at defense lawyer Frederick Duchardt

(Newser) - Missouri claims less than 2% of America's population, but is the place where 14.5% of the convictions of the 62 people sitting on federal death row occurred. In a lengthy piece for the Guardian , David Rose looks at the lawyer who "has had more clients sentenced to...

With Her Love on Death Row, Woman Goes Back to School

Yancy Escobar Balderas is becoming a lawyer to help her husband, others

(Newser) - "I cried so much my nose was bleeding." Yancy Escobar Balderas, 29, was in the courtroom—as she had been every day during the two-month trial—when her now-husband Juan Balderas was sentenced to death for a murder she says he didn't commit. This month—two years...

Ohio Resuming Executions After 3-Year Moratorium

State will use a new 3-drug combination

(Newser) - Ohio plans to resume executions in January with a new three-drug combination after an unofficial three-year moratorium blamed on shortages of lethal drugs, an attorney representing the state told a federal judge Monday. Thomas Madden with the Ohio attorney general's office said the state will use the drugs midazolam,...

Death Row Inmates Are Somehow Dying From Drug ODs

Calif. prisoners found dead with meth, heroin in their systems

(Newser) - California hasn't executed anybody for more than a decade, but some Death Row inmates are still being killed by lethal drugs. Records from the coroner's office reveal that between 2010 and 2015, at least six condemned San Quentin inmates died with methamphetamine, heroin, or other drugs in their...

Execution Halted Over Shaken Baby Syndrome 'Junk Science'

Robert Roberson was convicted of murdering his 2-year-old daughter in 2002

(Newser) - A man on death row in Texas has been granted a last-minute reprieve after his lawyers successfully argued he was convicted on "junk science" regarding shaken baby syndrome, Reuters reports. Robert Roberson, who had been scheduled to be executed June 21, was convicted in 2002 of murdering his 2-year-old...

La. Has Spent $1M So Far to Fight a Cooler Death Row

Experts say it could cost the same or less for AC to protect inmates from dangerous heat

(Newser) - The state of Louisiana's refusal to install air conditioning on death row has already cost taxpayers at least $1,067,000 in expenses fighting a lawsuit filed on behalf of three inmates with medical problems, according to records obtained by the AP . Meanwhile the state could spend roughly the...

SCOTUS Nixes White Jury's Death Penalty for Black Man

29 years after Timothy Foster's sentence, court finds prosecutors kept blacks off jury for racial reasons

(Newser) - In a ruling Vox says "could have a big impact on racism in the justice system," the Supreme Court on Tuesday tossed a death sentence rendered almost 30 years ago against a Georgia black man, voting 7-1 that state prosecutors kept African-Americans off the jury that convicted him,...

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