death row

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They Were Put to Death. There Was Something Off With Their Lungs

NPR looked at 216 death-row inmate autopsies

(Newser) - It's impossible to ask a death row inmate whether they're suffering as they are being put to death by lethal injection. The typical three-drug cocktail first anesthetizes them (rendering them unconscious) and then paralyzes them before stopping their heart. But it turns out their bodies can tell us....

This Man Will Die Tonight Against a Government's Wishes

The Navajo Nation has been opposed to the death penalty for Lezmond Mitchell from the start

(Newser) - After a 17-year pause, federal executions resumed this summer, with three men put to death. A fourth man on federal death row is slated to experience the same fate tonight in Terre Haute, Ind., but that fate is one a government—the Navajo government—has vehemently opposed. That's because...

Lawyers: Federal Inmate Is Mentally Unfit for Execution

DC judge halts plan to execute Wesley Purkey

(Newser) - A Washington, DC judge has halted plans to execute a second federal inmate in two days. Wesley Ira Purkey, 68, was scheduled to be executed at 4pm Wednesday for the 1998 kidnapping, rape, and murder of 16-year-old Jennifer Long. US District Judge Tanya Chutkan issued an injunction Wednesday morning blocking...

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....

Lawyer of Newly Free Death Row Inmate: 'He Is Very Tired'

Walter Ogrod released after prosecutors decide he likely didn't kill 4-year-old Philly girl

(Newser) - A man who spent nearly three decades behind bars, most of them on death row, after he was convicted at his second trial of killing a 4-year-old girl in Philadelphia was released Friday after prosecutors concluded he very likely didn't do it. Walter Ogrod left death row and the...

The People Trying to Halt His Execution Are Unexpected

Among them: the daughter of one of the people Nick Sutton murdered

(Newser) - Death row inmate Nick Sutton has an unusual group of supporters seeking to block his scheduled execution Thursday. Among them are family members of his victims, as well as past and present prison workers calling for clemency. Sutton, 58, was sentenced to death in 1986 for killing fellow inmate Carl...

In Rare Move, Japan Hangs a Foreigner

Wei Wei was convicted of the 2003 murders of a family of 4

(Newser) - "It was an extremely cold-blooded and cruel case, in which (Wei) killed four innocent members of a happy family," said Japan's justice minister in announcing a rare move: the execution of a foreigner. The AP reports Wei Wei's Thursday death by hanging was the first time...

Killer of 5 Teens Dies in Prison
'Tool Box Killer' Dies in Prison
Dec 16, 2019 6:15 PM CST

'Tool Box Killer' Dies in Prison

California death row inmate murdered 5 teenagers

(Newser) - Lawrence Sigmond Bittaker, one of the “Tool Box Killers" who preyed on teenage girls in Southern California 40 years ago, has died of natural causes, state corrections officials said Monday. Bittaker and accomplice Roy Lewis Norris kidnapped, raped, tortured and murdered five girls in 1979. Their nickname came from...

Tennessee Nears Execution of Blind Convict, a Rarity

As inmates age on death row, an expert says, health problems increase

(Newser) - The execution of a blind man in Tennessee this week would mark only the second time in recent decades that a person without vision has been put to death in the US, the death row inmate's lawyers say. Lee Hall, 53, is scheduled to be electrocuted Thursday in a...

Man Nearing Execution by Firing Squad Has Died

Ron Lafferty's murder case was featured in Jon Krakauer's 'Under the Banner of Heaven'

(Newser) - A Utah death-row inmate whose double-murder case was featured in the book Under the Banner of Heaven and who was nearing execution by firing squad has died of natural causes, prison officials said Monday. Ron Lafferty, 78, died at the state prison in the Salt Lake City suburb of Draper,...

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...

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...

Right Before His Execution, Words for His Victim's Family

Mark Anthony Soliz, 37, was executed in Texas Tuesday night

(Newser) - A Texas death row inmate was executed Tuesday for fatally shooting a 61-year-old grandmother at her North Texas home nearly a decade ago during an eight-day spate of crimes that included thefts and another killing. Mark Anthony Soliz, 37, received a lethal injection at the state penitentiary in Huntsville for...

He's Set to Die Tomorrow, Says Science Proves He's Innocent

Larry Swearingen has long maintained his innocence in the death of Melissa Trotter

(Newser) - Larry Swearingen is scheduled to die in Texas on Wednesday. His bid for clemency was unanimously denied Monday by the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles, though the 48-year-old is waiting to hear on whether the Supreme Court will stay his execution and have him sidestep death for now. It'...

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....

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...

Inmate Declines Special Last Meal, Wants to Feed Homeless

Donnie Johnson turns down $20 meal, asks supporters to feed the homeless instead

(Newser) - Donnie Edward Johnson declined to choose a special last meal, and will eat what the general prison population eats before his 7pm execution Thursday. But the convicted murderer is calling for his supporters to buy a meal for a homeless person, the Tennessean reports. Johnson's lawyer says he was...

His Death Shocked the World. Now, a 2nd Man Will Die for It

John William King to be executed in Texas Wednesday for the murder of James Byrd Jr.

(Newser) - A high-profile execution is scheduled to take place in Huntsville, Texas, Wednesday night. John William King, 44, is set to die for the gruesome 1998 murder of James Byrd Jr., a black man who was on June 7, 1998, offered a ride home in Jasper. The offer was a ruse:...

Death Row Inmate Wants Buddhist Minister With Him at Execution

Patrick Murphy is seeking a stay of execution over the issue

(Newser) - Attorneys for a Texas death row inmate have asked the US Supreme Court to stay his lethal injection until a Buddhist minister can be present with him in the execution chamber, the AP reports. Patrick Murphy's lawyers argue that executing the 57-year-old "Texas 7" member without his spiritual...

Man's Last Words Before Execution: 'That'll Be $5'

Billie Wayne Coble, 70, killed estranged wife's parents and brother, who was a cop

(Newser) - A Texas inmate was executed Thursday evening for the killings nearly 30 years ago of his estranged wife's parents and her brother, who was a police officer. Billie Wayne Coble received a lethal injection at the state penitentiary in Huntsville for the August 1989 shooting deaths of Robert and...

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