death penalty

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Ohio Inmate Likely to Suffer 'Terror' During Execution

Expert warns against state's untested drugs

(Newser) - A death-row inmate in Ohio will likely suffer the "terror" of a suffocation-like phenomenon known as air hunger during his execution, an anesthesiologist told a judge today. "Air hunger is a horrible feeling," said the expert at a federal court hearing, reports AP . "It's the...

Rarity: US Executions Fall Below 40 for Year

Opposition group thinks we might be in 'final chapter' of capital punishment

(Newser) - The Death Penalty Information Center's year-end report is out, and the number of US executions fell to 39 in 2013—just the second time that number has fallen below 40 in almost 20 years, reports USA Today . What's behind the drop? Difficulty in getting the necessary drugs, fewer...

Tennessee Apparently Quite Eager to Execute People

State requests execution dates for 10 inmates

(Newser) - Since 1960, Tennessee has executed just six people. If the state has its way, however, 10 more prisoners could be dead in the near future. Officials have asked the state Supreme Court for execution dates for the death row inmates, in what the Tennessean calls an "unprecedented push,"...

What It Was Like to Execute 62 People

Jerry Givens describes 17 years as a Virginia's executioner

(Newser) - Jerry Givens is on a campaign to end capital punishment, and he comes to the issue with a pretty unique perspective: He worked for Virginia's department of corrections for 25 years, and was its executioner from 1982 to 1999. "When I accepted the job, there was nobody on...

After Mass Trial, Bangladesh to Execute 152

161 get life imprisonment after 2009 mutiny

(Newser) - A 2009 mutiny of disgruntled border guards seeking higher wages in Bangladesh resulted in 74 deaths; now far more than that are set to die. After a mass civilian trial that began in 2011 and involved 846 defendants, 152 border guards have been sentenced to execution, Reuters and the AP...

Flynt Doesn't Want Guy Who Paralyzed Him Executed

There's no proof death penalty is a deterrent, he writes in column

(Newser) - Joseph Paul Franklin is set to be executed next month for a series of murders. Franklin also shot and paralyzed Hustler publisher Larry Flynt in 1978—but Flynt doesn't want him executed, he reveals today in a guest column for the Hollywood Reporter . "Supporters of capital punishment argue...

Texas Gets Execution Drug From Controversial Source

Pentobarbital comes from a compounding pharmacy

(Newser) - Texas prison officials disclosed today that they are using a compounding pharmacy to obtain the drug used during executions. The Texas Department of Criminal Justice, responding to a Freedom of Information request, released documents showing the purchase of eight vials of pentobarbital last month from a compounding pharmacy near Houston....

Fort Hood's Hasan: No Closing Argument

He faces death penalty, chooses not to rebut prosecutors

(Newser) - It seems clear now that Nidal Hasan's decision to act as his own attorney in the Fort Hood shooting trial was really a decision to not act as an attorney of any kind. A day after he rested his case without calling a single witness, Hasan skipped his closing...

Florida Executes Man Who Says He Controlled Sun

Court didn't buy insanity argument

(Newser) - “I just want everyone to know that I am the prince of God and I will rise again." Those were the last words of mass killer John Errol Ferguson yesterday and a prime example of why his lawyers say he shouldn't have been executed in the first...

US' Busiest Executioner Nearly Out of Lethal Drug

We're talking, of course, about Texas

(Newser) - Texas isn't just America's busiest executioner, it's the country's busiest by far, having put 503 people to death since 1976. (Virginia, at No. 2, has executed 110.) The state on Wednesday notched its 11th execution this year, and has seven more slated to occur before...

648 New Charges Filed Against Ariel Castro

Brings total to 977

(Newser) - Accused kidnapper Ariel Castro has had 648 new counts added to his indictment, bringing the grand total to 977. To break it down, the entire indictment is 576 pages, and includes: 512 counts of kidnapping, 446 counts of rape, seven counts of gross sexual imposition, six counts of felonious assault,...

Missouri: We May Have to Bring Back Gas Chambers

Attorney general warns state supreme court

(Newser) - If the Missouri supreme court doesn't start letting the state schedule lethal injection executions again—and soon—the state may be forced to revert to the gas chamber, Attorney General Chris Koster warned this week. The trouble began when drug companies started refusing to sell their products to corrections...

Texas Performs 500th Execution

Kimberley McCarthy first woman executed in 3 years in US

(Newser) - Texas yesterday executed Kimberly McCarthy, marking the state's 500th execution since it brought back the death penalty in 1982. McCarthy, 52, was the first woman to face the death penalty in the US in three years, the AP notes. She was associated with three killings, including the stabbing of...

Texas Set for Record 500th Execution Tonight

Kimberly McCarthy due to be executed today

(Newser) - Kimberly McCarthy is due to be executed in Texas today, and if all goes according to plan, she'll be the state's 500th inmate put to death. The Lone Star State has been responsible for almost 40% of the 1,300-plus executions in the US since 1976, the AP...

Afghan Massacre Suspect to Plead Guilty, Avoid Death

Victims' relatives are irate Robert Bales won't face execution

(Newser) - Staff Sgt. Robert Bales will plead guilty to the murder of 16 Afghan villagers, his lawyer tells CNN , in a move to dodge the death penalty. Lawyer John Henry Browne says military prosecutors have approved the plea, but a rep for Joint Base Lewis-McChord wouldn't say whether the matter...

Jodi Arias: Give Me Death Penalty

'Death is the ultimate freedom'

(Newser) - Now that she's been convicted of murder , Jodi Arias would prefer the death penalty to life in prison, she told Fox 10 Phoenix immediately after the verdict was given. "The worst outcome for me would be natural life ... Longevity runs in my family, and I don't want...

Tsarnaev Had Zero Reaction When Told He Faced Death
Tsarnaev Had Zero Reaction When Told He Faced Death
says source

Tsarnaev Had Zero Reaction When Told He Faced Death

Meanwhile, judge under fire for reading Tsarnaev his Miranda rights

(Newser) - Dzhokhar Tsarnaev may have been badly wounded, with his face swollen, hand bandaged, and throat too injured to talk, but the young bomber apparently showed no signs of fear or regret during his hospital room court hearing Monday, reports NBC News . And when told the maximum penalty he was facing...

Dzhokhar Hears Rights, Goes Silent

To avoid execution, cooperating may be his best bet

(Newser) - Revelations from Dzhokhar Tsarnaev have dribbled out over the last three days , but that may be about to change. Right after hearing his Miranda rights read, he stopped talking, officials tell the AP . The silence came sixteen hours after law enforcement began interrogating the Boston suspect; during that period, he...

Ohio Sentences Craigslist Killer to Death

Richard Beasley killed 3 men seeking farm jobs

(Newser) - A self-styled street preacher who teamed up with a high school student in a deadly plot to lure men with bogus Craigslist job offers has been sentenced to death. A judge in Akron sentenced 53-year-old Richard Beasley today; the jury that convicted him recommended last week that he be executed....

Colorado Will Seek Death Penalty for Holmes

Plus: Will Fox journalist have to testify?

(Newser) - Prosecutors in the Aurora shooting case are seeking the death penalty for James Holmes, they announced in court today. Arapahoe County DA George Brauchler addressed the hearing, saying, "It's my determination and my intention that in this case for James Eagan Holmes justice is death." Holmes gave...

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