death penalty

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Inmate's Last Words: 'Something's Wrong'

Details emerge on Clayton Lockett execution

(Newser) - More details are emerging about the botched execution of Clayton Lockett , including the fact that Lockett was struggling to speak before he died. Reporters from News on 6 and the Tulsa World, who were among 12 media observers, offer minute-by-minute recaps. Some key moments:
  • 6:23pm: The execution begins. The
...

Oklahoma Botches Execution; Inmate Dies

Clayton Lockett began writhing 3 minutes after being declared unconscious

(Newser) - An Oklahoma inmate whose execution was halted tonight because the delivery of a new drug combination was botched died of a heart attack, the head of the state Department of Corrections said. The execution began at 6:23pm when officials began administering the first drug, and a doctor declared Clayton...

Ohio's Solution to Drawn-Out Execution: Bigger Dose

Inmate didn't suffer during long execution, state decides

(Newser) - The unusually long execution of Ohio inmate Dennis McGuire with a previously untested combo of drugs did not cause him "any pain or distress," state authorities have decided—but they plan to up the dosage in the future to be sure. McGuire, who raped and murdered a pregnant...

4.1% of Those Sentenced to Die Are Innocent
4.1% of Those Sentenced
to Die Are Innocent
STUDY SAYS
Apr 29, 2014 12:03 AM CDT

4.1% of Those Sentenced to Die Are Innocent

Most end up serving life, 'forgotten'

(Newser) - At least 4.1% of people sentenced to death in the US are innocent, a new report warns—and most of them end up neither executed nor exonerated, but serving life behind bars. Researchers say that at a conservative estimate, one in 25 of the thousands of people condemned to...

Oklahoma: Warden Can Pick Any of 5 Lethal Injections

Inmates' lawyers raise concerns over chemical combinations

(Newser) - After a pair of executions were delayed over a dearth of fatal drugs, Oklahoma is saying that as of Friday, it has a new execution protocol—and its warden can now pick from any of five options for its lethal injections. Lawyers for death-row inmates Charles Warner and Clayton Lockett...

Tennessee to Execute 10, Keep Details Secret

Law allows it to keep executioner, where drugs came from under wraps

(Newser) - Tennessee officials plan to execute a record number of death row inmates over the next two years, all under a cloak of secrecy. The state late last year asked its Supreme Court for permission to execute at least a dozen convicts—its biggest request ever—and intends to use a...

Death Row's Longest Serving Inmate Goes Free

All-white jury convicted Glenn Ford of murder in 1984

(Newser) - In 1984, Glenn Ford, who is black, was wrongfully convicted by an all-white jury in the murder of an elderly white man in Louisiana. He spent the next three decades on death row—but yesterday afternoon, he was finally set free, the Atlantic reports. During the case, Ford had cooperated...

Texas May Have Executed Innocent Man

Informant lied to strike a deal, says advocacy group

(Newser) - Cameron Todd Willingham was executed in Texas in 2004 after being convicted of an especially heinous crime: murdering his three young daughters in a fire. But a decade later, the Innocence Project says newly discovered documents suggest something else heinous: The state killed an innocent man. As the New York ...

Accused Craigslist Killer's Dad: OK to Execute Her

If Miranda Barbour is found guilty and jury wants death, Sonny Dean says that's fine

(Newser) - Should Miranda Barbour be convicted of killing a 42-year-old she and her husband are accused of luring via Craigslist and murdering , execution would be a fine punishment. So says her ... father. In an interview with the Daily Item , Sonny Dean says that he would actually "stand side by side"...

Pharmacy Won't Help Missouri Execute This Man

Oklahoma's Apothecary Shoppe responds to Michael Taylor's suit

(Newser) - Michael Taylor is scheduled to be executed by the state of Missouri next Wednesday, and an Oklahoma pharmacy says it will not provide the drug needed to carry out his fate. Taylor had filed a lawsuit against Tulsa's Apothecary Shoppe that his lawyers argued was providing a compounded version...

Washington State Suspends Death Penalty

Gov. Jay Inslee 'not convinced equal justice is being served'

(Newser) - Gov. Jay Inslee today brought the use of the death penalty to a screeching halt in Washington state, declaring a moratorium on a system he says has "too many flaws" and pushing his state to "join a growing national conversation" about capital punishment. "There is too much...

Missouri Executed This Man Minutes Before Court Ruled

Herman Smulls died at 10:20pm; the high court denied his stay request at 10:24pm

(Newser) - Lately, the lion's share of death-penalty controversy has surrounded the drugs now used in executions. But writing for the Atlantic , Andrew Cohen airs a new issue, specific to Missouri: Men have been put to death while their appeals were still pending. Herbert Smulls, who was executed last Wednesday , was...

Feds Want Death for Tsarnaev
 Feds Want Death for Tsarnaev 
Jan 30, 2014 1:39 PM CST

Feds Want Death for Tsarnaev

US will seek death penalty for alleged Boston bomber

(Newser) - The Justice Department will seek the death penalty in its case against alleged Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, Eric Holder announced today. "The nature of the conduct at issue and the resultant harm compel this decision," the attorney general said in a statement . The decision is not exactly...

With No Final Words, Missouri Killer Executed

Herbert Smulls killed with lethal dose of pentobarbital

(Newser) - Despite a temporary Supreme Court stay after petitions from his defense lawyers, Missouri inmate Herbert Smulls was executed by a lethal dose of pentobarbital as planned yesterday and was pronounced dead at 10:20pm local time, Reuters reports. His lawyers had argued Missouri's refusal to disclose the name of...

Supreme Court Holds Off Execution Over Drug Issue

High court is expected to issue ruling today

(Newser) - The US Supreme Court is expected to rule today on two petitions regarding Missouri death row inmate Herbert Smulls, the Missouri Attorney General's office says. Smulls' execution was temporarily stayed late yesterday with an order from the high court signed by Justice Samuel Alito. It was sent about two-and-a-half...

Lethal Drugs Now Rare, States Eye Old-School Executions

Drug shortage raises talk of firing squads, electrocution

(Newser) - With lethal-injection drugs in short supply and new questions looming about their effectiveness, lawmakers in some death penalty states are considering bringing back relics of a more gruesome past: firing squads, electrocutions, and gas chambers. Most states abandoned those execution methods more than a generation ago, but to some elected...

Missouri Lawmaker Wants Firing Squads, Too
Missouri Lawmaker Wants Firing Squads, Too
in case you missed it
Jan 19, 2014 7:00 PM CST

Missouri Lawmaker Wants Firing Squads, Too

Proposed bill follows similar one in Wyoming

(Newser) - Do two states make a trend? After a lawmaker in Wyoming proposed the return of firing squads, a lawmaker in Missouri has done the same, reports Raw Story . State Rep. Rick Brattin filed a bill this week that would allow the state to execute prisoners the old-fashioned way, in part...

Daughter Suing Over Dad's Slow Execution

McGuire suffered cruel and unusual punishment: lawyer

(Newser) - An Ohio inmate put to death for murder was tortured by his unusually slow execution , the man's daughter said today as she announced plans to file a lawsuit over her father's death. Dennis McGuire's daughter, Amber, referred to the "agony and terror" of watching her father...

Lawyer: People 'Should Be Appalled' by Ohio Execution

Dennis McGuire's death took longer than expected

(Newser) - The events leading up to this morning's execution of murderer Dennis McGuire made headlines because of Ohio's use of untested drugs . It doesn't look like the controversy is going to fade anytime soon, after McGuire gasped and choked for about 10 minutes before being pronounced dead. “...

Wyo. Senator to Try to Bring Back Firing Squads

Because gas chambers are 'cruel and unusual'

(Newser) - That there is a shortage of lethal injection drugs is not news, but a Wyoming senator's response to the situation is. Republican state Sen. Bruce Burns yesterday very simply pointed to state law, which commands a gas chamber to be used if those drugs aren't accessible. Except Wyoming...

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