death penalty

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Court Tosses Death Penalty for Scott Peterson

But it reaffirms that he's guilty of murdering wife Laci and their unborn child

(Newser) - Scott Peterson is still a murderer in the eyes of the law, but he is no longer on death row because of it. California's state Supreme Court upheld the high-profile murder convictions for Peterson, now 47, in the deaths of his pregnant wife, Laci, and their unborn child in...

China Hands Out 3rd Death Sentence to a Canadian

This follows the controversial arrest of a Huawei exec in Vancouver

(Newser) - China has sentenced a third Canadian citizen to death on drug charges amid a steep decline in relations between the two countries. The Guangzhou Municipal Intermediate Court announced Xu Weihong's penalty on Thursday and said an alleged accomplice, Wen Guanxiong, had been given a life sentence, per the AP...

Iowa Meth Kingpin Who Killed 5 Set for Execution

Dustin Lee Honken will be 3rd federal inmate executed this week

(Newser) - A meth kingpin from Iowa who killed five people, including two young girls, is scheduled Friday to become the third federal inmate to be executed this week, following a 17-year pause in federal executions. Dustin Honken, 52, was sentenced to death for killing government informants and children in his effort...

SCOTUS Splits 5-4 on 2nd Execution This Week

Court clears way for execution of Wesley Purkey

(Newser) - The Supreme Court early Thursday cleared the way for a second federal execution this week. The vote to allow the execution of Wesley Ira Purkey to go forward was 5-4, with the court's four liberal members dissenting, the AP reports. Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote that “proceeding with Purkey’...

Executed Inmate's Final Words: 'I Didn't Do It'

Daniel Lewis Lee is first federal inmate executed in nearly 2 decades

(Newser) - The first federal execution in nearly 20 years has taken place. Daniel Lewis Lee, 47, of Yukon, Okla., died by lethal injection at the federal prison in Terre Haute, Ind., reports the AP . The move came after the Supreme Court cleared the way in an overnight ruling. Lee was convicted...

First Federal Execution Since 2003 to Proceed

SCOTUS approves execution of Daniel Lewis Lee in Indiana

(Newser) - The Supreme Court cleared the way for federal executions to resume early Tuesday, just hours before a man convicted of killing a family of three was scheduled to die. The 5-4 opinion, issued around 2am, determined inmates had "not made the showing required to justify last-minute intervention," per...

First Federal Execution in 17 Years Is Delayed Again

Judge says legal issues haven't been resolved

(Newser) - A US district judge on Monday ordered a new delay in federal executions, hours before the first lethal injection was scheduled to be carried out at a federal prison in Indiana, per the AP . The administration is certain to ask a higher court to allow the executions to move forward....

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
Mar 24, 2020 9:00 AM CDT

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
Nov 21, 2019 6:22 AM CST

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...

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