execution – News Stories About execution - Page 32

Aug 6, 2008 2:33 AM CDT

Texas Defies UN, Executes Killer

World Court had ordered hearing

(Newser) - A Mexican national convicted of raping and murdering two girls was executed in Texas yesterday in defiance of an international court. Attorneys for Jose Medellin, 33, had argued that authorities violated an international treaty when Medellin was denied access to Mexican consular officials after his arrest, reports the Houston Chronicle....

Report: California Death Penalty in Critical Condition

Jul 1, 2008 3:43 AM CDT

Report: California Death Penalty in Critical Condition

Panel calls for reforms to clear massive execution backlog

(Newser) - California's capital punishment system is nearing collapse, according to a state commission. The time between sentencing and execution in the state is as long as 25 years—double the national average. The panel recommended California spend $100 million a year to hire more lawyers and clear the "overwhelmed" appeals...

Aussie Pardoned 86 Years After Execution

May 27, 2008 6:27 AM CDT

Aussie Pardoned 86 Years After Execution

New tests reveal evidence flaw that went undetected in 1921

(Newser) - An Australian man hanged for raping and murdering a 12-year-old girl has been pardoned 86 years after his execution, Reuters reports. Hairs found in his bed that were said to belong to the victim weren’t hers, recent tests showed. The attorney general said the case was a warning against...

Execution Ban Lifted, States Ready the Death Chambers

May 3, 2008 9:03 AM CDT

Execution Ban Lifted, States Ready the Death Chambers

With Supreme Court's blessing, officials move to play catch-up

(Newser) - States are getting ready to catch up on executions now that a Supreme Court moratorium has been lifted, the New York Times reports. At least 14 executions have been scheduled in six states in coming months. "The Supreme Court has essentially blessed their way of doing things," a...

Saddam Aide Begins Trial
in Baghdad

Apr 29, 2008 4:16 PM CDT

Saddam Aide Begins Trial in Baghdad

Former top diplomat Aziz faces death for executing merchants

(Newser) - The trial of Saddam Hussein’s former deputy prime minister began today in Baghdad, the New York Times reports. Tariq Aziz could get the death penalty for ordering the 1992 execution of more than 40 Iraqi merchants accused of price-gouging. The judge, however, has adjourned until May 20 because of...

China Gets
'Gold Medal'
for Executions

Apr 15, 2008 8:26 AM CDT

China Gets 'Gold Medal' for Executions

World leader doesn't report thousands more, Amnesty says

(Newser) - China's 470 executions in 2007 make it the world's leader, according to Amnesty International's annual report on the worldwide state of capital punishment. But even that number is likely low, the group says, with the real number probably in the thousands. "China gets the 'gold medal' for global executions,...

Saddam's Last Days Revealed

Mar 27, 2008 2:10 PM CDT

Saddam's Last Days Revealed

CNN tours the former dictator's US detention cell

(Newser) - The dictator who ruled with a murderous fist spent his time writing in his journal and tending to a small garden his captors allowed him in the prison courtyard. And on his execution day, the man known as "Vic" told guards to tell his daughter he was going to...

'Chemical Ali' Slated to Hang

Feb 29, 2008 5:50 AM CST

'Chemical Ali' Slated to Hang

Convicted of genocide, cousin of Saddam has death sentence approved

(Newser) - Saddam Hussein's cousin "Chemical Ali" will be hanged now that the last legal obstacle to his execution has been eliminated by the Iraqi presidency council, Reuters reports. The execution of Ali Hassan al-Majid will take place in a matter of days, according to a spokesman for Iraqi Prime Minister...

9/11 Executions Could Take Place in Gitmo

Feb 13, 2008 7:54 AM CST

9/11 Executions Could Take Place in Gitmo

Military rules changed allowing executions far from federal courts

(Newser) - Six 9/11 suspects detained at Gitmo could be executed at the controversial prison compound if found guilty, legal experts say. Military regulations used to require that executions take place at Fort Leavenworth in Kansas, but that rule was amended two years ago to allow prisoners to be executed in "...

Death Penalty Details Withheld

Jan 7, 2008 8:56 AM CST

Death Penalty Details Withheld

As high court weighs lethal injection, actual methods are shrouded in secrecy

(Newser) - With a landmark case coming before the Supreme Court today on lethal injection, the Los Angeles Times examines the unusual secrecy that shrouds the execution method. Defense lawyers who argue that it inflicts unnecessary pain are routinely blocked from information about executioners and the drugs injected. States say such information...

Supreme Court to Hear Child Rapist's Death Penalty Appeal

Jan 4, 2008 5:18 PM CST

Supreme Court to Hear Child Rapist's Death Penalty Appeal

Executions limited to murderers since 1964

(Newser) - The Supreme Court today agreed to hear the case of a Louisiana man sentenced to death in the brutal rape of his 8-year-old stepdaughter. His attorneys say Patrick Kennedy is "the only person in the United States who is on death row for a non-homicide offense." A 1977...

Pennsylvania Sticking With Death Penalty

Jan 2, 2008 4:44 AM CST

Pennsylvania Sticking With Death Penalty

Rash of court rulings back state on capital punishment

(Newser) - There have been only three executions in Pennsylvania since 1978, but four year-end rulings from the state's Supreme Court indicate the state won't be going the way of neighboring New Jersey, which abolished the death penalty, any time soon, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports. The state's deputy attorney general stresses...

Murder Earns Few Women Death Penalty

Dec 30, 2007 9:33 PM CST

Murder Earns Few Women Death Penalty

Will slaughter of 6 family members draw capital punishment for Wash. woman?

(Newser) - With prosecutors still debating whether to seek the death penalty against Michele Anderson, charged in the murder of six members of her family on Christmas Eve, the Seattle Times looks at the odds that the Carnation, Wash., woman might actually be sentenced to death. Women rarely receive the death penalty,...

Iraqis Mark Saddam's Death

Dec 30, 2007 9:51 AM CST

Iraqis Mark Saddam's Death

Heightened security greets first anniversary of Hussein's execution

(Newser) - "There is no life without the sun and no dignity without Saddam," read graffiti in the former Iraqi leader’s hometown of Tikrit today, the first anniversary of his execution. Small groups of mourners came to his tomb to praise Saddam Hussein’s accomplishments, reports Reuters, amid tightened...

Death Penalty Considered
in Carnation Slayings

Dec 29, 2007 11:10 AM CST

Death Penalty Considered in Carnation Slayings

Charges give chilling details of six deaths

(Newser) - Murder charges filed yesterday in the Christmas Eve slaying of six family members in a house in Carnation, Wash., added chilling details to the account of the deaths, and made the perpetrators liable for the death penalty, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports. Michelle Anderson and Joseph McEnroe have been charged with...

Texas Tallies 60% of Executions

Dec 26, 2007 4:47 AM CST

Texas Tallies 60% of Executions

Capital punishment in decline elsewhere

(Newser) - As the rest of the country backed away from applying the death penalty in 2007, Texas kept up its customary pace, making the state responsible for an astounding 60% of all executions in the US. Of last year's 42 executions, 26 were in Texas, the New York Times reports. In...

Executions Drop to 13-Year Low

Dec 19, 2007 12:14 PM CST

Executions Drop to 13-Year Low

42 people put to death in '07; further decline could follow Court ruling

(Newser) - With the Supreme Court set to hear arguments Jan. 7 about lethal-injection procedures, figures show that US states executed just 42 people this year, a 13-year low. The case before the court has prompted states using lethal injection to execute inmates to stay pending executions; on Monday, New Jersey became...

NJ Formally Outlaws
Death Penalty

Dec 17, 2007 1:23 PM CST

NJ Formally Outlaws Death Penalty

Governor signs controversial bill, says state is 'truly evolving'

(Newser) - New Jersey officially abolished the death penalty today, becoming the first state to ban capital punishment in the 4 decades since the US Supreme Court allowed the practice to resume. "Today, New Jersey is truly evolving," Gov. Jon Corzine said as he signed the measure, which sped through...

NJ on Verge
of Abolishing Death Penalty

Dec 13, 2007 6:32 PM CST

NJ on Verge of Abolishing Death Penalty

Governor says he'll sign bill passed today; first state since '65 to ban it

(Newser) - New Jersey's state assembly passed a bill today to abolish the death penalty, and Gov. Jon Corzine says he'll sign it into law within a week, the AP reports. Proponents of the bill, mainly Democrats, say the death penalty costs more than life imprisonment and can claim innocent victims; Republicans...

NJ Closer to Banning Death Penalty

Dec 10, 2007 5:51 PM CST

NJ Closer to Banning Death Penalty

Senators pass bill to nix it, and governor has vowed to sign

(Newser) - New Jersey senators nudged the state closer to a likely ban on capital punishment today, the Newark Star-Ledger reports. They passed a bill to nix the penalty by 21-16, sending it to expected approval in the assembly Thursday and signing by Governor Jon Corzine. New Jersey would become the first...