death row

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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...

US Executions Were Near Historic Lows in 2018
US Executed
25 People in 2018
Dec 14, 2018 12:42 AM CST

US Executed 25 People in 2018

Executions close to historic low

(Newser) - Three states resumed executions of death row inmates in 2018 after long breaks, but nationwide, executions remained near historic lows this year, according to an annual report on the death penalty released Friday. The report by the District of Columbia-based Death Penalty Information Center says 25 executions were carried out...

Last Words Before Execution: 'Beats Being on Death Row'

Tennessee executes longest-serving condemned man

(Newser) - Tennessee executed its longest-serving death row inmate Thursday night—and after 36 years as a condemned man, David Earl Miller was apparently ready to die. The Tennessean reports that the 61-year-old's last words after he was strapped into the electric chair were initially inaudible. After the warden asked him...

Serial Killer Kills Himself After 3rd Death Sentence

He was one of 2 killers found dead at San Quentin

(Newser) - Death was apparently preferable to life on California's Death Row for serial killer Andrew Urdiales. The 54-year-old inmate was found dead in his cell at San Quentin State Prison on Friday night and authorities believe he killed himself, News 10 reports. Urdiales was sentenced to death by an Orange...

Maker of Electric Chair This Man Will Die in Is Concerned

Edmund Zagorski is scheduled to die Thursday in Tennessee

(Newser) - Edmund Zagorski is officially on death watch in Tennessee ahead of his planned Thursday execution. He'll be under surveillance for 24 hours in a cell next to the execution chamber as he awaits his death by electric chair , reports the AP . But there's one hiccup in terms of...

Death-Row Inmate Spared After Hellish Childhood Is Revealed

Raymond Tibbetts has Gov. John Kasich to thank

(Newser) - Ohio Gov. John Kasich on Friday spared a condemned killer whose sentence was challenged after a juror came forward and said information about the extent of the inmate's tough childhood wasn't properly presented at trial. The Republican governor commuted the sentence of death row inmate Raymond Tibbetts to...

He Didn't Commit Crime He Was Jailed For. Now, the Oprah Nod

Winfrey picks memoir by Anthony Ray Hinton, wrongly imprisoned for 30 years, for book club

(Newser) - Anthony Ray Hinton, wrongly imprisoned for nearly 30 years, can hardly believe how his luck has changed. Hinton's memoir, The Sun Does Shine: How I Found Life and Freedom on Death Row, is Oprah Winfrey's latest book club pick, a dream for virtually any writer and beyond the...

Alabama Death Row Inmate Apparently Kills Himself

He came within 3 hours of execution last year

(Newser) - A condemned inmate in Alabama apparently decided not to wait for the state to take his life. Jeffrey Lynn Borden, a 57-year-old Death Row inmate convicted of two 1993 murders, was found hanged in his cell early Sunday in what authorities say was an apparent suicide, AL.com reports. Borden...

Lawyers: Boys Don't Cry Killer Is Ineligible for Execution

They argue John Lotter has IQ of a child

(Newser) - Attorneys for a Nebraska death row inmate whose case inspired the 1999 movie Boys Don't Cry say he should be ruled ineligible for execution because he has the intellect of a young child. John Lotter was sentenced to death for his role in the 1993 killings of Brandon Teena,...

He Had His Mom, Brother Killed. Will He Die Tonight?
With His Execution Nigh,
a Big Twist in Texas
the rundown
Feb 22, 2018 11:47 AM CST

With His Execution Nigh, a Big Twist in Texas

Thomas Whitaker's case is in Gov. Greg Abbott's hands

(Newser) - The crime was horrific, the aftermath doubly so: A Texas family of four was shot by a masked gunman in December 2003. Kent Whitaker's wife and one of his two sons didn't make it, and Whitaker's initial desire for vengeance gave way to a decision to forgive,...

He's Fighting to Save His Family's Killer. The Killer: His Own Son

Bart Whitaker set to be executed Feb. 22 for killing his mom and brother, but dad isn't giving up on him

(Newser) - "My wife and son were murdered by a masked gunman, and my other son and I were left for dead, but survived." Those are the words of Kent Whitaker on his website , detailing the horrific crime that tore his life apart in December 2003. But, he adds, things...

Scott Dozier Just Wants Nevada to Kill Him Already

The Marshall Project takes a look at one death row inmate's desire to die

(Newser) - It's a death-row fact that is likely to surprise: In five states—Connecticut, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, and South Dakota—only one type of condemned man has been put to death since the 1970s: a "volunteer." That's legal-world parlance for a person who has been sentenced...

Lawyer in Death Row Case Defies Own Client—and Loses

Now the Supreme Court will weigh in on the fairness of that

(Newser) - The Supreme Court on Wednesday will hear arguments in a death row case, but this one has an unusual element. The case involves Robert McCoy, who is currently on Louisiana's death row after being convicted of a triple homicide back in 2011. McCoy has always maintained his innocence, but...

SCOTUS OKs Execution of Man Who Can't Remember Crime

Vernon Madison understands he was convicted of murder, high court rules

(Newser) - In 1985, Vernon Madison shot and killed Mobile, Ala., police officer Julius Schulte after Schulte responded to a domestic call involving Madison; prosecutors say he crept up on the officer as he sat in his police car and shot him twice in the back of the head, the AP reports....

'Poster Child for the Death Penalty' May Die Sitting Up

Alva Campbell's execution is set for Nov. 15 in Ohio

(Newser) - Allowing a condemned killer with health problems to partially sit up during his execution next month would be a "reasonable" accommodation, according to a doctor working for Ohio's prison system. Death row inmate Alva Campbell—described by a Franklin County prosecutor as "the poster child for the...

Man Maintains Innocence as He Faces 8th Execution Date

Tommy Arthur has escaped execution 7 times in past 16 years

(Newser) - When you've faced your own execution seven times with an eighth on the way, it's important to have the right mindset. “You can either let a stressful situation break you ... or you hold on to hope and use your every waking moment to fight," Tommy Arthur...

Victim's Family's Kind Act Surprises Death Row Inmate

Family paid for Kenneth Williams' daughter to fly to Arkansas

(Newser) - Kayla Greenwood understands the desire to see one's father a final time. In 1999, when she was 5, Greenwood’s dad was killed when an escaped prisoner in a stolen truck slammed into his vehicle during a police chase. That escaped prisoner, convicted of killing two others, is now...

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