death penalty

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Supreme Court Clears Way for Federal Executions

First since 2003 schedule to take place in July

(Newser) - The Supreme Court on Monday refused to block the execution of four federal prison inmates who are scheduled to be put to death in July and August, per the AP . The executions would mark the first use of the death penalty on the federal level since 2003. The justices rejected...

Feds Schedule First Executions Since 2003

4 federal inmates will be executed this summer, Barr says

(Newser) - The federal government plans to execute more people this summer than it did in the previous 30 years combined. The Justice Department says four inmates—all child-killers—will be put to death by lethal injection in July and August, NPR reports. On July 13, Daniel Lewis Lee, a former white...

Drug Dealer Hears Death Sentence Over Zoom

Malaysian man sentenced for drug trafficking in Singapore

(Newser) - A man has been sentenced to death in Singapore over a Zoom call, which is probably not how Zoom CEO Eric Yuan envisioned his product being put to use. Reuters reports it's "one of just two known cases where a capital punishment verdict has been delivered remotely."...

For First Time in US During Pandemic, an Execution

Missouri puts Walter Barton to death

(Newser) - Many states have postponed scheduled executions amid the coronavirus pandemic, but on Tuesday night, an inmate was put to death for the first time since March 5. Walter Barton, 64, was convicted of murdering his former landlord, 81-year-old Gladys Kuehler, in 1991, USA Today reports. Kuehler operated a mobile home...

22nd State Abolishes Death Penalty
22nd State
Abolishes
Death Penalty

22nd State Abolishes Death Penalty

Colorado governor also commutes sentences of 3 men on death row

(Newser) - Colorado has become the 22nd state to abolish the death penalty, which it hasn't used since 1997. Forty-four years after capital punishment was reinstated in the Centennial State, Gov. Jared Polis signed a bill Monday banning its use—"consistent with the recognition that the death penalty cannot be,...

Man Behind Attack That Sickened Japan Gets Death

Satoshi Uematsu murdered 19 people in a 2016 stabbing attack outside of Tokyo

(Newser) - It was an attack that left Japan stunned and sickened in 2016, and the man behind it on Monday was sentenced to death by hanging. In what was at the time the country's biggest mass killing since World War II, then 26-year-old Satoshi Uematsu murdered 19 people at a...

Governor Faces Unexpected Spectator: 'You Killed My Brother'

Pamela Woods faces off against Kay Ivey in Alabama on death of Nathaniel Woods

(Newser) - An event kicking off the Alabama census got somewhat heated Thursday when the state's governor was confronted by the family of a man executed last week under her charge. The Washington Post reports that Gov. Kay Ivey was taking questions from reporters in Montgomery, and she was answering one...

Executions Are About to Resume in Oklahoma

A 'reliable' drug supplier has been found, says the state

(Newser) - Oklahoma is set to resume executions after a five-year lull prompted by drug mix-ups, but it won't be relying on nitrogen gas . As a 2015 law allowing the state to pursue execution by nitrogen hypoxia only permits the method if lethal injection drugs are unavailable, executions will be carried...

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...

Appeal: Dylann Roof Thought He'd Be Freed After Race War

White supremacist appeals death penalty, with lawyers faulting judge's move

(Newser) - White supremacist Dylann Roof on Tuesday appealed his federal convictions and death sentence in the 2015 massacre of nine black church members in South Carolina, arguing that he was mentally ill when he represented himself at his capital trial. In a 321-page legal brief filed with the 4th US Circuit...

Judge Halts Federal Executions
Judge Halts
Federal Executions

Judge Halts Federal Executions

4 men were set to be executed in Indiana in December and January

(Newser) - The cases of four men set to be put to death in Indiana over the next couple of months have spurred a nationwide reprieve. On Wednesday, District Judge Tanya S. Chutkan halted those executions, effectively stopping all federal executions across the US, Politico reports. A fifth execution in Indiana set...

Supporters Turn to Governor and Courts as Execution Nears

Rodney Reed's team builds case that Stacey Stites' fiance killed her

(Newser) - The legal wheels are turning as Rodney Reed sits in a Texas prison, less than two weeks from his scheduled execution. New witnesses, he says, implicate the victim's fiance, Jimmy Fennell, in the rape and killing of Stacey Stites in 1996. An inmate says in an affidavit that Fennell...

Celebrities Go to Bat for Man Sentenced to Die

Kim Kardashian West, others ask Texas governor to stop execution of Rodney Reed

(Newser) - Kim Kardashian West has been spending a lot of time fighting for criminal justice reform , and the latest prisoner she's advocating for has a lot of other celebrities on his side, too. Rodney Reed is on death row in Texas after being convicted of the 1996 rape and murder...

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...

Nation's Law Would Bring Death Penalty for Gay Sex

Critics say revived bill in Uganda will 'fire up more hatred'

(Newser) - Africa is known for having some of the most rigid laws against homosexuality in the world, with Uganda now vying for one of the top spots on that front. Reuters reports a bill is in the works there that would resurrect a long-dormant one, with a dire punishment for gay...

Blood-Filled Tumors Weren't Enough to Stop His Execution

Russell Bucklew executed after Missouri Gov. Mike Parson denies clemency request

(Newser) - Missouri executed Russell Bucklew Tuesday, despite concerns that the 51-year-old inmate's rare medical condition could have resulted in what his attorneys feared would be a gruesome death. Gov. Mike Parson earlier Tuesday denied a clemency request, and the US Supreme Court in April gave the go-ahead for Bucklew to...

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....

First Federal Executions in 16 Years Are Set

'We owe it to the victims,' says AG Barr

(Newser) - Federal executions will resume later this year after a 16-year hiatus, on the orders of Attorney General William Barr. The Bureau of Prisons has scheduled the executions of five men convicted of murdering children for December and January at Indiana's US Penitentiary Terre Haute, reports CNBC . "We owe...

Mom Who Allegedly Drowned Son Is Eligible for Death Penalty

Sherri Telnas is charged with 4 counts

(Newser) - The son she tried to kill 11 years ago is dead and her other son is in a coma . It's possible she could be put on death row if convicted of the crime. The Visalia Times-Delta outlines Tulare County prosecutors' options in the case of Sherri Telnas, who was...

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...

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