death penalty

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Justices Deny 11 Capital Appeals

Court passes on death-row cases following ruling upholding lethal injection

(Newser) - The Supreme Court today dismissed appeals from 11 death-row prisoners in seven states, including three who received last-minute stays of execution last year; the result was no surprise 1 week after the landmark ruling upholding lethal injection in Kentucky, the New York Times reports. The earlier opinion held that the...

Lethal Injection Ruling Will Spur Executions, Lawsuits

Pro-death states will waste no time; lawsuits likely in others

(Newser) - Executions will resume in the United States, thanks to the Supreme Court’s ruling on lethal injection yesterday, but so will lawsuits, the New York Times reports. By condoning methods “substantially similar” to Kentucky’s, the court has invited more challenges. “We have left the states with nothing...

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,...

Justices to Weigh Death Penalty for Child Rape

Louisiana case seeks harsher punishment for crimes against children

(Newser) - The Supreme Court could forbid the death penalty for child rapists in a major upcoming decision, the Washington Post reports. On Wednesday, the court will hear the case of a Louisiana man who raped his 8-year-old stepdaughter so violently she needed surgery—a case that follows a series of landmark...

Mexico Is No Longer Outlaw Central
Mexico Is No Longer Outlaw Central
analysis
Apr 12, 2008 5:31 AM CDT

Mexico Is No Longer Outlaw Central

Treaty with US is working, but bars death penalty

(Newser) - It's getting harder for US crooks to hide out in Mexico—as Cpl. Cesar Laurean would no doubt attest, Patrick J. Lyons blogs in the New York Times. In fact, Mexico and Washington have extradited dozens of suspects every year since an old treaty was improved in 1995. But the...

1996 Survey Reveals a More Liberal Barack

Aides deny Obama opposed death penalty and gun ownership

(Newser) - Barack Obama's older, liberal views came to light today after Politico unearthed an old questionnaire. Twelve years ago, he apparently wrote that he opposed the death penalty and the possession of handguns—opinions he has fine-tuned since. But his camp denies the writing is Obama's. "There are several answers...

Court Refuses to Reinstate Mumia's Death Sentence

Pa. judges order life in prison, or new hearing

(Newser) - Famed death-row inmate Mumia Abu-Jamal earned some measure of triumph today as a US appeals court refused to reinstate his death sentence, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports. Abu-Jamal was convicted in 1982 of killing a Philly cop, and has fought for retrial. The court upheld the conviction but said Abu-Jamal should...

Bush Can't Force US Courts to Obey World Body: Justices

Ruling by international court not binding, nor was president's order for US to follow

(Newser) - The Supreme Court ruled today for states, and against President Bush in a quarrel over international law, finding that a foreign death-row inmate did not have a right to further review—though the world's top court said he did. Ernesto Medellin was not provided counsel from his native Mexico, violating...

Brit Furor Over Asylum for Gay Iranian

Teen says boyfriend was killed; calls gay treatment 'genocide'

(Newser) - A gay teenager who fears the death penalty at home in Iran, after his boyfriend was hanged for sodomy, is fighting for the right to stay in  the UK permanently, the Independent reports. Mehdi Kazemi, 19, lost his asylum claim in Britain and is now in a detention center in...

Jury Spares Life of Killer Former Cop

He gets 57 years to life for murdering his pregnant girlfriend

(Newser) - An Ohio judge sentenced Bobby Lee Cutts to life in prison with possible parole in 57 years for the murder of his pregnant girlfriend after the jury recommended against the death penalty, CNN reports. Judge Charles Brown added years to the jury's recommended sentence—life in prison with parole in...

Killer Ex-Cop Begs Jury to Spare His Life

Pleads for life sentence for murdering pregnant girlfriend

(Newser) - A former Ohio police officer convicted last week of murdering his pregnant girlfriend yesterday begged a jury not to sentence him to death. "I'm asking you to spare my life," said a sobbing Bobby Cutts Jr. The jury begins penalty deliberations this afternoon, reports the Canton Repository.

US Seeks Death for 6 in 9/11 Case
US Seeks Death for 6
in 9/11 Case
Feb 11, 2008 9:00 AM CST

US Seeks Death for 6 in 9/11 Case

Capital punishment could put new burden on untested military tribunal system

(Newser) - US authorities are preparing to ask for the death penalty for six suspects in the 9/11 attacks who are detainees at Guantanamo. “If any case warrants it, it would be for individuals who were parties to a crime of that scale,” a Defense Department official told the New ...

Afghan Senate Revokes Call for Execution

About-face is lifeline for journalism student convicted of blasphemy

(Newser) - Following international outcry, the Afghan Senate has withdrawn its call for the execution of Sayed Pervez Kambaksh, a 23-year-old student convicted of blasphemy for downloading a report on women's rights. The Senate now calls its previous endorsement of the death penalty for Kambaksh "a technical mistake," raising hopes...

Long-Held Secret Takes Man Off Death Row

Ethics board allows lawyer to speak up

(Newser) - A Virginia lawyer revealed a 10-year-old secret last year that had put a man on death row: Prosecutors coached another suspect to make his testimony match the evidence. When the state's legal ethics board reversed its gag order on Leslie Smith, the lawyer spoke up last week, and the sentence...

Suspect in Ga. Hiker's Murder Denied Bail

Autopsy shows she was held captive for 3 days, bludgeoned

(Newser) - Gary Michael Hilton was denied bail this afternoon on murder charges in the gruesome death of 24-year-old Georgia hiker Meredith Emerson. The DA on the case says he has not decided whether to seek the death penalty, despite an agreement between Hilton and investigators to forgo it if Hilton led...

Death Penalty Details Withheld
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

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...

States Drag Feet on 'Humane' Lethal Injections

Supreme Court ruling may

(Newser) - With the Supreme Court scrutinizing whether lethal injections constitute "cruel and unusual punishment," the New York Times wonders why none of the 38 states who use it have taken a simple step that could solve the problem: trade the three-drug sequence that's said to risk intense pain for...

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...

Public Defender Gets Case to Supreme Court

Lethal-injection appeal filed by 29-year-old on docket next week

(Newser) - When the Supreme Court hears a case on the legality of a method of capital punishment next week—for the first time in over a century—it will be largely thanks to the toils of a 29-year-old assistant public defender, AP reports. David Barron filed the appeal on behalf of...

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