capital punishment

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Texas Performs 500th Execution

Kimberley McCarthy first woman executed in 3 years in US

(Newser) - Texas yesterday executed Kimberly McCarthy, marking the state's 500th execution since it brought back the death penalty in 1982. McCarthy, 52, was the first woman to face the death penalty in the US in three years, the AP notes. She was associated with three killings, including the stabbing of...

Texas Set for Record 500th Execution Tonight

Kimberly McCarthy due to be executed today

(Newser) - Kimberly McCarthy is due to be executed in Texas today, and if all goes according to plan, she'll be the state's 500th inmate put to death. The Lone Star State has been responsible for almost 40% of the 1,300-plus executions in the US since 1976, the AP...

NC Scraps Law That Brought Executions to Halt

Gov. Pat McCrory signs repeal of 'Racial Justice Act'

(Newser) - North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory has put an end to what he calls a "judicial loophole to avoid the death penalty": On Wednesday he repealed the Racial Justice Act, four years after it was put on the books. The law, passed under a Democratic legislature, allowed Death Row inmates...

Saudi Problem: Not Enough Swordsmen for Executions

Firing squads now an acceptable alternative

(Newser) - The only country in the world that still beheads criminals is facing a shortage of swordsmen, leading Saudi Arabian authorities to rule that using a firing squad is an acceptable alternative to publicly lopping the heads of those convicted of crimes including murder, drug trafficking, and apostasy, the New York ...

Iran Executes Muggers Who Took Man's Coat

Video of crime was posted to YouTube

(Newser) - After pledging to get tough on growing street crime, Iran has publicly hanged two muggers who took a man's coat, bag, and cash in November, in a crime that was videotaped and posted to YouTube. The convicts were hanged by crane, whose operators lifted the men from the ground...

Next State to Ban Death Penalty: Maryland?

Yep, if Gov. Martin O'Malley has his way

(Newser) - Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley wants 2013 to be the year his state bans the death penalty once and for all, and he's not wasting any time in getting the ball rolling. The Democrat plans to introduce a bill outlining such a ban this week. If his bid is...

9 States Executed People in 2012, a 20-Year Low

Four states, led by Texas, account for 75% of executions

(Newser) - US states executed 43 people this year, the same as last year, but a group that opposes the death penalty says 2012 stats show capital punishment is on the wane across the country. Some highlights from AFP and the AP :
  • Nine states executed people this year, the smallest number in
...

Ohio Spares Man 'Too Fat to Be Executed'

But it wasn't Ronald Post's weight that saved him

(Newser) - A 450-pound murderer in Ohio who argued that he was too fat to be executed has been spared—but not because of his weight. Gov. John Kasich followed a parole board's recommendation and commuted Ronald Post's death sentence to life without parole on the grounds that he had...

Punishment for Atheism in 7 Countries: Death
Punishment for Atheism
in 7 Countries: Death
new report
Dec 10, 2012 8:49 AM CST

Punishment for Atheism in 7 Countries: Death

And atheists don't enjoy full rights in Arkansas: report

(Newser) - Choosing not to believe can be a deadly choice in seven of the world's countries, according to a new report out today. It found that atheists can be executed for their views in Afghanistan, Iran, Maldives, Mauritania, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Sudan. Reuters notes that the report didn't...

480-Lb. Killer: I&#39;m Too Fat for Execution
480-Pound Killer: I'm Too
Fat for Execution
in case you missed it
Sep 22, 2012 7:00 PM CDT

480-Pound Killer: I'm Too Fat for Execution

Ronald Post's lawyers say lethal injection could be 'torturous'

(Newser) - Convicted Ohio killer Ronald Post wants a delay of execution because, he says, his scar tissue and 480 pounds of body mass would make lethal injection far too painful, the AP reports. "There is a substantial risk that any attempt to execute him will result in serious physical and...

Texas to Execute Man Deemed Mentally Retarded

Tomorrow's penalty would run counter to Supreme Court ruling

(Newser) - A Texas prisoner diagnosed as mentally retarded is set for the death penalty tomorrow—despite a 2002 US Supreme Court ruling barring mentally retarded people from execution. The court decision left states some leeway in carrying out executions, and Texas controversially continues to use its own definition of mental retardation,...

Court Halts Execution of Georgia Inmate

Says lethal injection changes may require public comment

(Newser) - Georgia's high court has halted a controversial execution in the nick of time. Warren Hill, whose lawyers say he is mentally retarded and thus can't be executed, was set to die last night. But the court delayed the move for an entirely different reason: Judges are set to...

Inmate Is First Executed in Texas With Single Drug

State changes lethal injection formula used since 1982

(Newser) - America's most prolific death penalty state has executed its first inmate using one drug instead of three. Yokamon Hearn, 33, was killed with a single dose of pentobarbital, which had been part of a three-drug mixture used for executions before shortages of the other drugs arose. Ohio, Arizona, Idaho,...

Georgia to Execute Man Deemed Mentally Retarded

State isn't convinced he meets the definition, despite court ruling

(Newser) - The US Supreme Court declared that the death penalty for mentally retarded criminals was unconstitutional in 2002. Georgia, however, is set to execute a prisoner so labeled next week, reports the Guardian . The execution of Warren Hill is proceeding because Georgia, alone among the states, says that learning disabilities must...

Arkansas High Court Strikes Down Execution Law

Legislature, not corrections dept., must set death penalty rules: court

(Newser) - A split Arkansas Supreme Court says the state's execution law is unconstitutional. The state's constitution says that execution rules must be set by the legislature, but a 2009 law put matters in the hands of the Department of Corrections, the AP reports. Under that law, the director of...

How Texas Executed an Innocent Man
 How Texas 
 Executed an 
 Innocent Man 
NEW REPORT
May 15, 2012 8:56 AM CDT

How Texas Executed an Innocent Man

Carlos DeLuna allegedly took the fall for Carlos Hernandez

(Newser) - Carlos DeLuna was executed in 1989 for the murder of Wanda Lopez, but a 400-page article in the Columbia Human Rights Law Review asserts that Texas actually put the wrong man to death, while the real killer bragged about the murder and the fact that DeLuna took the fall. Lopez,...

Connecticut Kills Death Penalty

 Connecticut Kills Death Penalty 
Apr 26, 2012 1:53 AM CDT

Connecticut Kills Death Penalty

Law won't affect murderers already on death row

(Newser) - Life without the possibility of parole has replaced lethal injection as the harshest punishment Connecticut's courts can hand down. Gov. Dan Malloy signed a bill to repeal capital punishment, making the state the 17th to do so, and the fifth in the last five years, ABC reports. The new...

Landmark Racial Ruling Takes Inmate Off Death Row

North Carolina judge says prosecutors kept jury mostly white

(Newser) - A black inmate in North Carolina came off death row today thanks to a controversial new law in the state. A judge reduced the sentence of Marcus Reymond Robinson to life without parole after ruling that prosecutors purposely sought to keep blacks off his jury, reports the News & Observer...

Experts Can't Figure Out If Death Penalty Deters Murder

Existing studies are flawed, and shouldn't be considered: committee

(Newser) - Ohio executed one death-row inmate yesterday and has 11 executions on the books over the next 20 months. The AP notes that could once again make the state one of the country's busiest executioners. So is all that capital punishment deterring murders there? Who knows? That's basically the...

Connecticut to Kill the Death Penalty

Senate OKs bill repealing capital punishment

(Newser) - The death penalty is a dead man walking in Connecticut. The state is almost certain to become the 17th one to do away with capital punishment, following a 20-16 vote in the state Senate. That—the 10 hours of debate and the 2:05am vote—was the hard part, explains...

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