death penalty

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Feds Will Pursue Death Penalty Against Dylann Roof

'The nature of the alleged crime and the resulting harm compelled this decision'

(Newser) - The Justice Department announced Tuesday it will seek the death penalty for Dylann Roof , who is accused of killing nine people during a Bible study class inside a historic black church last June in Charleston, South Carolina. "The nature of the alleged crime and the resulting harm compelled this...

Texas Execution Halted, State Won't Appeal

John Battaglia killed his 2 young daughters as revenge against his ex

(Newser) - The Texas Attorney General's Office is not appealing a federal appeals court ruling that has halted the scheduled execution of a Dallas man convicted of killing his two young daughters 15 years ago, the AP reports. State attorneys could have appealed to the US Supreme Court the decision to...

Ohio Tried, Failed to Execute This Man, Gets to Try Again

Romell Broom survived botched attempt in 2009

(Newser) - Ohio tried and failed once to execute Romell Broom, and now a court has given the state permission to try again. The state's Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected Broom's argument that a second attempt would amount to cruel and unusual punishment and a violation of double jeopardy, reports...

Florida Revamping Death Penalty to Reboot Executions

Bill sent to governor requires a 10-2 jury vote for judge to OK execution

(Newser) - In January, the US Supreme Court ruled that the way Florida's death penalty was carried out was unconstitutional. Now, in reaction to that decision, the state is overhauling its system, with the Florida Legislature sending a bill to Gov. Rick Scott that would mandate at least 10 out of...

Inmate Avoids Execution by Paying to Get Pregnant

A male inmate left sperm and a syringe in a plastic baggie for her

(Newser) - Four prison guards in northern Vietnam have been suspended for alleged negligence after a female inmate on death row for drug trafficking became pregnant, which means her death sentence will be commuted to life in prison once her child is born, the AP reports. The Thanh Nien newspaper says Nguyen...

Death Row Inmates' Last Words Are Often Surprising

They're frequently positive, says a new study

(Newser) - What would you say if you were about to be executed? There's a good chance your last words would be on the positive side. At least that was the case for 407 death row inmates executed between 1982 and 2015 in Texas, according to a new study published in...

What It&#39;s Like to Witness an Execution
 What It's Like 
 to Witness 
 an Execution 
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Feb 7, 2016 7:03 AM CST

What It's Like to Witness an Execution

Columnist describes his first experience

(Newser) - Last week, reporter St. John Barned-Smith went to cover his first execution. "You'll never be the same," one anti-death-penalty protester warned him outside Texas's Walls Unit prison, where James Garrett Freeman would be put to death for killing a Texas game warden in 2007, when he...

Inmate Again Facing Death for 1983 Murders

Kevin Cooper continues to insist he's innocent in California

(Newser) - Now that California has lifted its moratorium on the death penalty, convicted murderer Kevin Cooper, 57, is once again preparing to be executed for high-profile slayings he says he didn't commit. "I am innocent," Cooper tells NBC News . "And it's not my execution, it's...

Killer Sentenced in Murder of Real Estate Agent

Arron Lewis gets life in prison without parole

(Newser) - An Arkansas man was sentenced to life in prison without the chance of parole Friday for the suffocation death of a real estate agent he was accused of luring to a fake home showing as part of a plot to kidnap her for ransom. Arron Lewis' punishment came shortly after...

Supreme Court: Fla. Death Penalty System Unconstitutional

It was found to violate the right to trial by jury

(Newser) - The US Supreme Court declared Florida's death penalty system unconstitutional on Tuesday, opening the possibility of new hearings for at least some of the 390 inmates currently on death row in the state, the AP reports. In an 8-1 vote, the Supreme Court ruled the system violated the right...

Scalia: Wouldn't Surprise Me If Death Penalty Struck Down

Justice also talks retirement plans, how the Constitution isn't flexible

(Newser) - The death penalty is not long for this Earth, or at least for the US, if Antonin Scalia's predictions are to be believed. The conservative Supreme Court justice spoke Tuesday at the University of Minnesota Law School, and capital punishment was brought up after Scalia started expounding on his...

Oklahoma Calls Off All Executions This Year

State will wait for inquiry into drug mix-up

(Newser) - Richard Glossip will live to see 2016. The Oklahoma murderer was supposed to be the next prisoner put to death this year in the state, but an investigation into drug confusion means no executions will take place there through the rest of this year, reports the Tulsa World . Glossip had...

Texas Inmate Executed for Cop's Death

He's the 12th convicted killer executed in Texas this year

(Newser) - A Texas man already being sought for a neighbor's slaying when he killed a Dallas police officer outside a club in 2001 was executed Wednesday. Licho Escamilla, 33, was given a lethal injection for the death of Christopher James, who was trying to break up a brawl involving Escamilla....

Texas Executes Man Who Killed for $8

Garcia was 18 when he shot missionary to death

(Newser) - A convicted killer in Texas was executed Tuesday for fatally shooting another man in a robbery that yielded just $8. No late appeals were filed for Juan Martin Garcia, who was lethally injected for the September 1998 killing and robbery of Hugo Solano in Houston. Solano, a Christian missionary from...

Drug Glitch Leads Oklahoma to Halt 3 Executions

Problem was discovered just hours before one execution was scheduled

(Newser) - Oklahoma's highest criminal court unanimously agreed Friday to halt all of the state's scheduled executions after the state's prison system received the wrong drug for a lethal injection this week. The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals granted the state's request and issued indefinite stays of execution...

Man Who Killed 5 for $170 Dodges Death Penalty

Holmes case may have ended death penalty in Colorado

(Newser) - A man convicted of stabbing five people to death during a Denver bar robbery that netted $170 will be formally sentenced to life in prison on Wednesday. A judge will issue a mandatory sentence of life without parole for Dexter Lewis, 25, who was convicted in August of five counts...

Man Arrested at 17 in Saudi Arabia to Be Crucified

Ali Mohammed al-Nimr's appeals have run out

(Newser) - Ali Mohammed al-Nimr was just 17 when he was arrested in 2012 and accused of taking part in anti-government protests and illegally possessing firearms; he was sentenced to death by crucifixion in 2014. Now, Saudi Arabia has dismissed his final appeal and he has no other legal options to fight...

Arkansas to Resume Executions After 10 Years

Governor announces 4 double executions

(Newser) - Arkansas will resume lethal injections after a 10-year gap starting next month with the first of four double executions, Gov. Asa Hutchinson says. The state hasn't executed an inmate since 2005, largely because of court challenges to its lethal-injection law and a nationwide shortage of drugs often used during...

Ohio's Trouble: 24 Executions, No Drugs

State has just 4 months to line them up

(Newser) - Ohio has four months to get the lethal drugs it needs to execute two-dozen condemned killers, the first of whom is scheduled to die Jan. 21. The state's last execution was performed in January 2014, when it tested a new two-drug execution method that left a condemned man gasping...

Death Row Inmate Dies, but Not via Execution

California has only executed 13 out of hundreds of death row inmates since 1978

(Newser) - Ronald Seaton had been on death row at San Quentin State Prison for 26 years following a 1986 conviction for murder, robbery, and burglary. On Friday, he died of natural causes while awaiting execution, NBC Bay Area reports. Seaton became the 69th death row inmate to die of natural causes...

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