death row

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37 Inmates Spared by Biden Are Headed to Supermax

They'll be treated like they're still on death row, Bondi says

(Newser) - Dozens of former federal death row inmates will spend the rest of their lives being treated like they're still on death row, Attorney General Pam Bondi said Thursday. She said the 37 inmates whose sentences were commuted to life without parole by then-President Biden less than a month...

Alabama, Texas Carry Out Executions
Alabama, Texas
Put 2 Men to Death
Sep 26, 2025 12:00 AM CDT

Alabama, Texas Put 2 Men to Death

In Alabama case, son of victim had pleaded for killer's life to be spared

(Newser) - Two executions took place Thursday night, the 32nd and 33rd in the US this year:
  • An Alabama man convicted of killing a woman during a 1997 gas station robbery was put to death Thursday after apologizing to his victim's family and pleas from the woman's son to spare
...

Tests Find Illegal Drugs in Executed Inmates

Alabama officials have acknowledged drug trafficking in prisons

(Newser) - Some of Alabama's most tightly guarded death row inmates have managed to get high behind bars, with toxicology reports revealing illegal drugs in the systems of several men executed by the state since 2023. Four inmates put to death since the state resumed capital punishment in 2023—including...

Death Row Inmate Has Bizarre Take on Execution

Judge overrules Steven Bixby, who believes only treason is punishable by death

(Newser) - A South Carolina judge has ruled that Steven Bixby, a death row inmate convicted of killing two law enforcement officers in 2003, is mentally fit to be executed, despite his unconventional legal and religious beliefs. Judge R. Scott Sprouse's decision opens the way for Bixby, 58, to receive...

Death Row Inmate Unmasks Serial Killer Hiding in Plain Sight

Inmate Joseph Naso's jailhouse notes tie him to decades-old murders

(Newser) - Charlotte Cook left her home in Oakland, California, one January afternoon in 1974 to visit her sister. The next day, her body was found at the bottom of a bluff near Daly City, a belt around her neck. For years, Cook's murder was a cold case, until a...

Utah: Prisoner With Dementia Won't Face Firing Squad

Lawyers argue Ralph Leroy Menzies can't understand why he's facing execution

(Newser) - The impending execution of a man by firing squad in Utah was blocked by the state's Supreme Court on Friday after his attorneys argued he should be spared because he has dementia. As the AP reports, Ralph Leroy Menzies, 67, was set to be executed Friday for abducting and...

On Alabama's Agenda: a Nitrogen Gas Execution

Gov. Kay Ivey has set an execution date of Oct. 23 for Anthony Boyd

(Newser) - Alabama has scheduled an October execution by nitrogen gas for an inmate who has an ongoing lawsuit challenging the new method as unconstitutionally cruel. Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey on Monday set an Oct. 23 execution date for Anthony Boyd. Boyd, 53, is one of four men convicted in the 1993...

Richard Glossip Could Go Free Today
Richard Glossip
Could Go Free Today
Jul 23, 2025 10:15 AM CDT

Richard Glossip Could Go Free Today

Wednesday's bond hearing to be followed by an August hearing on potential plea deal

(Newser) - After nearly three decades on death row and a conviction overturned by the Supreme Court, Richard Glossip could walk free from an Oklahoma prison on Wednesday as questions linger about the case that kept him behind bars. Glossip, now 62, is scheduled for a bond hearing in Oklahoma City,...

Texas Death Row Lets Its Inmates Mingle

Program at Livingston's Polunsky Unit breaks the isolation of solitary, lets some share meals, chats

(Newser) - For the first time in decades, Texas death row inmates are experiencing a change in daily life: no handcuffs, no solitary, and—for a select group—a taste of community. After more than 25 years of near-total isolation sparked by a notorious 1998 escape, the Polunsky Unit in Livingston...

Man With Dementia Set for Execution by Firing Squad

Lawyers for Ralph Leroy Menzies file appeal as judge sets execution date for Sept. 5

(Newser) - A Utah judge on Wednesday set an execution date for a man with dementia who has been on death row for 37 years, even as his lawyers file appeals and argue his condition is worsening. Ralph Leroy Menzies, 67, is to be executed Sept. 5 for abducting and killing Utah...

SCOTUS Sides 6-3 With Texas Death Row Inmate

Ruben Gutierrez came within 20 minutes of being executed last year

(Newser) - The Supreme Court on Thursday ruled for a Texas death row inmate who is seeking DNA testing to show he should be ineligible for execution. The 6-3 decision in favor of Ruben Gutierrez gives him a potential path to have evidence tested that his lawyers say would help prove he...

Mississippi Executes Kidnapper of Bank Executive's Wife

Richard Gerald Jordan was sentenced to death in 1976 for killing Edwina Marter

(Newser) - Mississippi's longest-serving death row inmate was executed Wednesday, nearly five decades after he kidnapped and killed a bank loan officer's wife in a violent ransom scheme. Richard Gerald Jordan, a 79-year-old Vietnam veteran who suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, received a lethal injection at the Mississippi State Penitentiary...

Alabama Carries Out Its 5th Nitrogen Gas Execution

Gregory Hunt put to death for woman's 1988 murder

(Newser) - An Alabama man convicted of killing a woman in 1988 was put to death Tuesday evening in the nation's sixth execution by nitrogen gas, the AP reports. Gregory Hunt, 65, was pronounced dead at 6:26pm at a south Alabama prison, authorities said, one of four executions scheduled this...

Woman Who Spent Years on Death Row Dies in House Fire

Story of Sonia 'Sunny' Jacobs is one of triumph and tragedy

(Newser) - A 78-year-old American died in a fire Tuesday at her cottage in Ireland—the final twist in a life filled with twists and turns. As the Guardian reports, Sonia "Sunny" Jacobs spent years on death row for a crime she said she did not commit. As a 28-year-old in...

After Friends Are Executed, He Wants to Volunteer to Die

James Robertson makes move to hasten his own execution

(Newser) - After his best friend and four other of his fellow death row inmates have been put to death in less than a year, a South Carolina inmate wants to become his own attorney—which would likely mean his own execution would come in weeks or months. A federal judge has...

Lawyers Hit Indiana Execution as 'Finality Over Fairness'

State puts cop killer Benjamin Ritchie to death by lethal injection, in state's 2nd execution since 2009

(Newser) - In a rare move for Indiana, the state has executed Benjamin Ritchie, marking only its second use of the death penalty since 2009. Ritchie, 45, was executed by lethal injection early Tuesday at Indiana State Prison, after being convicted in 2002 for the 2000 shooting death of Beech Grove...

Florida Executes Man Who Was Eyed in OJ Simpson Case

Glen Rogers was convicted of 1995 murder; LAPD says he didn't kill OJ's ex, her friend

(Newser) - A suspected serial killer once scrutinized for a possible link to the OJ Simpson double-murder case was executed Thursday in Florida for the murder of a woman in a Tampa motel room. Glen Rogers, 62, was pronounced dead at 6:16pm after receiving an injection at Florida State Prison near...

Pathologist: SC Botched Firing Squad Execution

Physician says Mikal Mahdi was in excruciating pain for as long as a minute

(Newser) - A man who was put to death last month in South Carolina's second firing squad execution was conscious and likely in extreme pain for as long as a minute after the bullets, meant to quickly stop his heart, struck him lower than expected, according to a pathologist hired by...

State's Longest Death-Row Inmate Gets an Execution Date

Richard Jordan, 78, will be put to death on June 25, after nearly 50 years on Mississippi's death row

(Newser) - Mississippi's Supreme Court has set June 25 as the execution date for Richard Gerald Jordan, the state's longest-serving death row inmate, condemned for the 1976 kidnapping and murder of Edwina Marter in Harrison County. Jordan, 78, has contested his sentence for decades, but his most recent appeal...

Gulf War Vet Executed for Killing Girlfriend, Her 3 Kids

Jeffrey Hutchinson, 62, denied carrying out 1998 shotgun murders in Florida

(Newser) - An Army combat veteran whose Gulf War experience triggered severe mental problems was executed Thursday evening in Florida for the 1998 shotgun slayings of his girlfriend and her three young children , the AP reports. Jeffrey Hutchinson, 62, was pronounced dead at 8:15pm following a lethal injection at Florida State...

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