death penalty

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DC Museum Shooting Suspect Could Face Death Penalty
Grim Details of
DC Shooting Emerge
THE RUNDOWN
May 23, 2025 6:25 AM CDT

Grim Details of DC Shooting Emerge

Suspect in murders of 2 Israeli Embassy staffers outside DC museum could face death penalty

(Newser) - Capital punishment is on the table for the suspect in the DC museum shooting on Wednesday that left two Israeli Embassy staffers dead. Interim US Attorney for DC Jeanine Pirro now says that the case is eligible for the death penalty, and that Elias Rodriguez—who the Washington Post notes...

Tennessee Executes Man 3 Years After Surprise Reprieve

Oscar Smith, 75, killed his estranged wife and her teenage sons in 1989

(Newser) - Tennessee inmate Oscar Smith was executed by lethal injection on Thursday morning for the 1989 murders of his estranged wife and her teenage sons. Smith was convicted in 1990 of fatally stabbing and shooting Judith Smith and her sons, Jason and Chad, 13 and 16, at their Nashville home, the...

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...

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...

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...

'I Just Shot My Family': Gulf War Vet Faces Execution

Jeffrey Hutchinson scheduled to receive lethal injection in Florida on Thursday

(Newser) - A Gulf War veteran who maintains his innocence faces execution Thursday in Florida for the 1998 killings of his girlfriend and her three children. Details:
  • The state is scheduled to execute Jeffrey Hutchinson, 62, convicted of fatally shooting girlfriend Renee Flaherty, 32, and her three children, ages 4 through
...

Faulting Forensic Analysis, Judge Drops Murder Conviction

Jimmie Duncan's lawyers liken bite mark conclusions to 'junk science' in Louisiana murder case

(Newser) - A Louisiana man who has spent nearly three decades on death row has had his conviction overturned by a district judge following a review of forensic analysis that the inmate's legal team argued was based on "junk science." Jimmie Duncan was convicted of first-degree murder in 1998...

The Doctor 'Had No Business Conducting Executions'

Corinna Lain finds some of those doing the jobs don't have squeaky clean records

(Newser) - Few jobs are more shrouded in secrecy than that of a death row executioner, but in a lengthy piece for the Guardian , death penalty researcher Corinna Lain reveals what she's discovered after years of study: The people responsible for carrying out executions are rarely who you might expect....

Judge Would Allow Execution in Idaho Killings Despite Diagnosis

Prosecution argued Bryan Kohberger's mild autism includes no intellectual impairment

(Newser) - A judge ruled Thursday that prosecutors can pursue the death penalty against Bryan Kohberger if he is convicted of murdering four University of Idaho students in 2022, despite the defendant's recent autism diagnosis. Kohberger, 30, is charged in the stabbing deaths of Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle, Madison Mogen, and...

Youth Soccer Coach Charged in Murder of California Teen

Coach also accused of sexual assault in separate case

(Newser) - Oscar Omar Hernandez, 13, was found dead on a Southern California roadside earlier this month—and now youth soccer coach Mario Edgardo Garcia-Aquino has been charged with the young teen's murder. The charges include murder with a special circumstance of lewd acts with a child, making Garcia-Aquino eligible...

Luigi Mangione Will Face the Death Penalty

Pam Bondi calls UnitedHealthcare CEO's murder a 'premeditated, cold-blooded assassination'

(Newser) - US Attorney General Pam Bondi said Tuesday she has directed federal prosecutors to seek the death penalty against Luigi Mangione, the man accused of gunning down UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson outside a Manhattan hotel on Dec. 4. Mangione, 26, faces separate federal and state murder charges for the killing. The...

Oklahoma Execution Is Third of the Week in US
Florida Execution Is
4th of the Week in US
UPDATED
Mar 21, 2025 12:00 AM CDT

Florida Execution Is 4th of the Week in US

Florida executes man on same day Oklahoma carried out another death sentence

(Newser) - A busy week of executions continued across the nation on Thursday, the latest two in Oklahoma and Florida:
  • Oklahoma: The state on Thursday morning executed 56-year-old Wendell Grissom, who fatally shot a woman during a robbery of her home 20 years ago. Grissom received a lethal injection at the Oklahoma
...

Experts on SC's New Firing Squad: 'It's Going to Be Traumatic'

They're concerned about ricochets, dangerous fumes, hearing damage, and 'gore'

(Newser) - Witnesses to South Carolina's planned firing squad execution of convicted killer Brad Sigmon, the first of its kind in the state, will watch Friday from behind "bullet-resistant" glass. But experts nonetheless fear ricochets are possible, along with hearing damage and exposure to dangerous fumes, NPR reports. According to...

How SC's Firing Squad Execution Will Happen

3 volunteers will fire rifles at Brad Sigmon, strapped to a chair with a hood over his head

(Newser) - When a South Carolina man who killed his ex-girlfriend's parents with a baseball bat steps into the death row chamber Friday night, it won't be lethal injection or electrocution that ends his life. It will be three people holding rifles about 15 feet away who will complete his...

Feds Send Inmate to Oklahoma for Execution

Convicted killer George John Hanson had been serving a life sentence in federal prison

(Newser) - Federal prison officials transferred an inmate to Oklahoma custody so that he can be executed for a 1999 killing, following through on President Trump's sweeping executive order to more actively support the death penalty. George John Hanson, 60, was moved from a federal prison in Louisiana to the Oklahoma...

Supreme Court Throws Out a High-Profile Death Sentence

Oklahoma inmate Richard Glossip had been served a last meal 3 times

(Newser) - The Supreme Court on Tuesday threw out the murder conviction and death penalty for Richard Glossip, an Oklahoma man who has steadfastly maintained his innocence and averted multiple attempts by the state to execute him. The justices found that Glossip's trial violated his constitutional rights, reports the AP . The...

Longtime Death-Row Inmate Dies Ahead of March Execution

'Justice should have been delivered long ago,' Louisiana AG says of death of 81-year-old inmate

(Newser) - The oldest inmate on Louisiana's death row, a terminally ill man convicted of killing his young stepson in the early '90s, has died, just weeks before he was set to be executed. The state's Department of Public Safety and Corrections announced that 81-year-old Christopher Sepulvado died Saturday...

2 Men Executed an Hour Apart
2 Men Executed,
One Hour Apart
Feb 14, 2025 1:00 AM CST

2 Men Executed, One Hour Apart

Richard Lee Tabler executed in Texas after James Dennis Ford put to death in Florida

(Newser) - Texas and Florida both carried out executions Thursday night, about an hour apart:
  • In Florida, James Dennis Ford was put to death via lethal injection, USA Today reports. In 1997, Ford invited his co-worker Gregory Malnory and Malnory's wife, Kimberly, on a fishing trip to a sod farm. They
...

He Hates the Death Penalty, Advocates for Firing Squads

Texas doctor views them as the most humane method of execution

(Newser) - James Williams, an ER doctor in Texas, occupies what for him is an uncomfortable place in the conversation about the death penalty. He tells the Marshall Project that he is "mostly opposed to capital punishment," and yet he has emerged as perhaps the nation's foremost expert on...

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