capital punishment

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Pathologist: SC Botched Firing Squad Execution

Physician says Mikal Mahdi was in excruciating pain for as long as a minute

(Newser) - A man who was put to death last month in South Carolina's second firing squad execution was conscious and likely in extreme pain for as long as a minute after the bullets, meant to quickly stop his heart, struck him lower than expected, according to a pathologist hired by...

State's Longest Death-Row Inmate Gets an Execution Date

Richard Jordan, 78, will be put to death on June 25, after nearly 50 years on Mississippi's death row

(Newser) - Mississippi's Supreme Court has set June 25 as the execution date for Richard Gerald Jordan, the state's longest-serving death row inmate, condemned for the 1976 kidnapping and murder of Edwina Marter in Harrison County. Jordan, 78, has contested his sentence for decades, but his most recent appeal...

Gulf War Vet Executed for Killing Girlfriend, Her 3 Kids

Jeffrey Hutchinson, 62, denied carrying out 1998 shotgun murders in Florida

(Newser) - An Army combat veteran whose Gulf War experience triggered severe mental problems was executed Thursday evening in Florida for the 1998 shotgun slayings of his girlfriend and her three young children , the AP reports. Jeffrey Hutchinson, 62, was pronounced dead at 8:15pm following a lethal injection at Florida State...

'I Just Shot My Family': Gulf War Vet Faces Execution

Jeffrey Hutchinson scheduled to receive lethal injection in Florida on Thursday

(Newser) - A Gulf War veteran who maintains his innocence faces execution Thursday in Florida for the 1998 killings of his girlfriend and her three children. Details:
  • The state is scheduled to execute Jeffrey Hutchinson, 62, convicted of fatally shooting girlfriend Renee Flaherty, 32, and her three children, ages 4 through
...

Alabama Killer Apologizes as He's Put to Death

Tracy Lynn Brown, 44, was murdered by James Osgood and girlfriend

(Newser) - An Alabama man who dropped his appeals and said he deserved to die for the rape and murder of a woman in 2010 was put to death Thursday evening. James Osgood, 55, was pronounced dead following an injection at a south Alabama prison, authorities said. A jury in 2014 convicted...

With Execution Nigh, Inmate Says He Welcomes Death

James Osgood dropped all his legal appeals last summer

(Newser) - A man on Alabama's death row wants his execution to go forward Thursday, saying he believes in an "eye for an eye." "The reason I dropped my appeals is I am guilty of murder," James Osgood told the AP in a telephone interview from prison....

Luigi Mangione Will Face the Death Penalty

Pam Bondi calls UnitedHealthcare CEO's murder a 'premeditated, cold-blooded assassination'

(Newser) - US Attorney General Pam Bondi said Tuesday she has directed federal prosecutors to seek the death penalty against Luigi Mangione, the man accused of gunning down UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson outside a Manhattan hotel on Dec. 4. Mangione, 26, faces separate federal and state murder charges for the killing. The...

Oklahoma Execution Is Third of the Week in US
Florida Execution Is
4th of the Week in US
UPDATED
Mar 21, 2025 12:00 AM CDT

Florida Execution Is 4th of the Week in US

Florida executes man on same day Oklahoma carried out another death sentence

(Newser) - A busy week of executions continued across the nation on Thursday, the latest two in Oklahoma and Florida:
  • Oklahoma: The state on Thursday morning executed 56-year-old Wendell Grissom, who fatally shot a woman during a robbery of her home 20 years ago. Grissom received a lethal injection at the Oklahoma
...

South Carolina Executes Prisoner via Firing Squad

Brad Sigmon, 67, chose the rarely used method

(Newser) - South Carolina executed death row inmate Brad Sigmon on Friday, going through with the nation's first execution by firing squad in 15 years.
  • Brad Sigmon, 67, did not receive a last-minute reprieve from the governor or the Supreme Court. He was pronounced dead at 6:08pm Eastern, reports the
...

Experts on SC's New Firing Squad: 'It's Going to Be Traumatic'

They're concerned about ricochets, dangerous fumes, hearing damage, and 'gore'

(Newser) - Witnesses to South Carolina's planned firing squad execution of convicted killer Brad Sigmon, the first of its kind in the state, will watch Friday from behind "bullet-resistant" glass. But experts nonetheless fear ricochets are possible, along with hearing damage and exposure to dangerous fumes, NPR reports. According to...

Supreme Court Throws Out a High-Profile Death Sentence

Oklahoma inmate Richard Glossip had been served a last meal 3 times

(Newser) - The Supreme Court on Tuesday threw out the murder conviction and death penalty for Richard Glossip, an Oklahoma man who has steadfastly maintained his innocence and averted multiple attempts by the state to execute him. The justices found that Glossip's trial violated his constitutional rights, reports the AP . The...

Kim Kardashian Sued Over Photo Gaffe

She tried to post image of a death row inmate, but used the wrong person

(Newser) - She meant well, but Kim Kardashian is getting sued over a photo mistake on Instagram. Last year, the reality star attempted to post an image of death row inmate Ivan Cantu in Texas to highlight his case, but she inadvertently posted an image of the wrong Ivan Cantu, reports NBC...

Longtime Death-Row Inmate Dies Ahead of March Execution

'Justice should have been delivered long ago,' Louisiana AG says of death of 81-year-old inmate

(Newser) - The oldest inmate on Louisiana's death row, a terminally ill man convicted of killing his young stepson in the early '90s, has died, just weeks before he was set to be executed. The state's Department of Public Safety and Corrections announced that 81-year-old Christopher Sepulvado died Saturday...

South Carolina Inmate Chooses Firing Squad

Brad Sigmon's execution by that manner on March 7 would be the state's first

(Newser) - South Carolina is now on track to carry out its first-ever execution by firing squad next month. Death row inmate Brad Sigmon, 67, chose the option over electrocution and lethal injection, reports the New York Times . He is scheduled to die on March 7.
  • Rarity: The state made the option
...

2 Men Executed an Hour Apart
2 Men Executed,
One Hour Apart
Feb 14, 2025 1:00 AM CST

2 Men Executed, One Hour Apart

Richard Lee Tabler executed in Texas after James Dennis Ford put to death in Florida

(Newser) - Texas and Florida both carried out executions Thursday night, about an hour apart:
  • In Florida, James Dennis Ford was put to death via lethal injection, USA Today reports. In 1997, Ford invited his co-worker Gregory Malnory and Malnory's wife, Kimberly, on a fishing trip to a sod farm. They
...

He Hates the Death Penalty, Advocates for Firing Squads

Texas doctor views them as the most humane method of execution

(Newser) - James Williams, an ER doctor in Texas, occupies what for him is an uncomfortable place in the conversation about the death penalty. He tells the Marshall Project that he is "mostly opposed to capital punishment," and yet he has emerged as perhaps the nation's foremost expert on...

Alabama Carries Out Nation's 4th Nitrogen Gas Execution

Man was also convicted of a murder in Michigan

(Newser) - An Alabama man convicted of murdering a woman after breaking into her apartment as she slept was put to death Thursday evening in the nation's fourth execution using nitrogen gas, the AP reports. Demetrius Frazier, 52, was pronounced dead at 6:36pm at a south Alabama prison for his...

Texas Executes Man Who Robbed, Killed Pastor

Steven Lawayne Nelson died by lethal injection

(Newser) - A Texas man convicted of beating and suffocating a Dallas-area pastor in his church during a robbery was put to death Wednesday evening, the second execution in the US this year and the first of four scheduled in Texas over the next three months, the AP reports. Steven Lawayne Nelson,...

Trump Signs Death Penalty Order
Trump Signs
Death Penalty Order
Jan 21, 2025 1:00 AM CST

Trump Signs Death Penalty Order

He directs attorney general to help states get lethal injection drugs

(Newser) - President Trump signed a sweeping execution order Monday on the death penalty that directs the attorney general to "take all necessary and lawful action" to ensure that states have enough lethal injection drugs to carry out executions, the AP reports. Trump's order, coming just hours after he returned...

Inmate Asks Court to Block Nitrogen Gas Execution

Demetrius Frazier's lawyers want Alabama to change protocol for this form of capital punishment

(Newser) - Attorneys for an Alabama inmate scheduled to be the fourth person put to death with nitrogen gas asked a federal judge on Wednesday to block the execution, arguing the first three inmates showed signs of suffering from suffocation as the gas flowed. Demetrius Terrence Frazier, 52, is scheduled to be...

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