Tag Archives: death penalty

The Associated Press reports: A Florida man convicted of killing his wife and two children with a machete in 1994 is set for execution Thursday, which would be the ninth death sentence carried out in 2025 to set a new state record for a single year. A 10th execution is scheduled for Aug. 19 and an 11th on Aug. 28. …

The Guardian reports: A South Carolina firing squad botched the execution of Mikal Mahdi last month, with shooters missing the target area on the man’s heart, causing him to suffer a prolonged death, according to autopsy records and his attorneys. As shots were fired, Mahdi cried out and his arms flexed, and after roughly 45 seconds, he groaned twice, the …

The Daily Beast reports: Attorney General Pam Bondi gloated on Wednesday about “signing death warrants” during a Cabinet meeting where she offered extensive praise of President Donald Trump. After staring adoringly at Trump she also confessed that the administration was facing a record number of lawsuits—200 and counting—due to the president’s executive orders. “On top of everything else, I think I’m …

South Carolina’s The State reports: With the United States Supreme Court having rejected his final appeal, Brad Sigmon will be executed by firing squad Friday barring last minute clemency from South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster. It will be the first time that a person in South Carolina has been executed by firing squad and only the fourth time a person …

The Associated Press reports: Condemned South Carolina inmate Brad Sigmon has chosen to die next month by a firing squad. He would be the first U.S. inmate shot to death in an execution in 15 years. Sigmon is scheduled to die March 7. On Friday, he became the first South Carolina inmate to choose the state’s new firing squad over …

NBC News reports: Two prisoners who are among the 37 federal inmates whose death sentences were commuted last month by President Joe Biden — a move that spares them from the death chamber — have taken an unusual stance: They’re refusing to sign paperwork accepting his clemency action. Shannon Agofsky and Len Davis, both inmates at the U.S. Penitentiary in …

“Joe Biden just commuted the Death Sentence on 37 of the worst killers in our Country. When you hear the acts of each, you won’t believe that he did this. Makes no sense. Relatives and friends are further devastated. They can’t believe this is happening! As soon as I am inaugurated, I will direct the Justice Department to vigorously pursue …

CBS News reports: President Biden is granting clemency to 37 of the 40 federal inmates facing death sentences. Their sentences will be commuted to life in prison without the possibility of parole. The three inmates who didn’t get clemency are the convicted murderer in the Tree of Life Synagogue shooting, the gunman at Mother Emanuel Church in Charleston, and the …

The Washington Post reports: A man convicted of killing his brother and three other men in 1997 was executed in Indiana early Wednesday — the state’s first execution in 15 years. A statement from the Indiana Department of Correction said Joseph Corcoran was pronounced dead at 12:44 a.m. at a state prison in Michigan City, Ind. His wife, Tahina Corcoran, …

Charleston’s ABC affiliate reports: Gov. Henry McMaster has weighed in on the South Carolina Supreme Court’s ruling upholding the state’s three methods of execution. The state’s highest court, in a nearly 100-page opinion, upheld the firing quad, electric chair and lethal injection, along with the state’s death penalty itself, are legal. “The Supreme Court has rightfully upheld the rule of …

The Texas Tribune reports: Texas executed Ivan Cantu Wednesday for the murder of his cousin and his cousin’s fiancée, James Mosqueda and Amy Kitchen. Prior to the state’s first execution of the year, post-trial evidence raising questions about Cantu’s guilt had persuaded jurors from his original trial to ask Texas courts to reconsider his case. A public campaign pushing to …

The Associated Press reports: Alabama is seeking to put a second inmate to death using nitrogen gas, a move that comes a month after the state carried out the first execution using the controversial new method. Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall’s office asked the Alabama Supreme Court on Wednesday to set an execution date for Alan Eugene Miller. The state …

NBC News reports: A Louisiana lawmaker is proposing a bill that would allow for nitrogen gas to be used in executions in the event lethal injection is unavailable, making it the latest state to consider adopting the practice after Alabama put a man to death last month through the first-of-its-kind method. Rep. Nicholas Muscarello, a Republican who chairs the House’s …

ABC News reports: Ohio lawmakers have introduced a bill that would allow execution by nitrogen gas, a controversial practice critics call untested and lacking in evidence that it’s more humane than lethal injection, after Alabama became the first state to execute someone with nitrogen gas. Ohio state Reps. Phil Plummer and Brian Stewart, both Republicans, introduced legislation during a press …

The Associated Press reports: Republican state Attorney General Dave Yost scheduled a news conference Tuesday to discuss “next steps to kickstart” Ohio’s capital punishment system. He has expressed support for the nitrogen gas method used for the first time in Alabama last week, when convicted murderer Kenneth Eugene Smith, 58, was put to death with nitrogen gas administered through a …

The Birmingham News reports: Alabama Death Row inmate Kenneth Eugene Smith on Thursday night became the first prisoner to die using a new untested method of execution in the United States—suffocation by nitrogen gas. The 58-year-old was executed at William C. Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore. In announcing the execution had been carried out, Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey stated: “I …

Courthouse News reports: The Supreme Court refused to pause an experimental execution in Alabama on Wednesday, allowing the state to move forward with the U.S.’s first oxygen deprivation execution. Kenneth Eugene Smith asked the Supreme Court to block Alabama’s second shot at carrying out his death sentence. In 2022, Alabama spent nearly two hours poking and prodding Smith while he …

The Messenger reports: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis Thursday voiced his support for prosecutors in the state’ decision to seek the death penalty for a man indicted for the sexual battery of a child. He noted it’s the first case to challenge Supreme Court decisions concerning rape since DeSantis signed legislation to “make pedophiles eligible for the death penalty.” The top …

The Associated Press reports: A divided Alabama Supreme Court said the state can execute an inmate with nitrogen gas, a method that has not previously been used carry out a death sentence. The all-Republican court in a 6-2 decision Wednesday granted the state attorney general’s request for an execution warrant for Kenneth Eugene Smith. The order did not specify the …

The Associated Press reports: Alabama is seeking to become the first state to execute a prisoner by making him breathe pure nitrogen. The Alabama attorney general’s office on Friday asked the state Supreme Court to set an execution date for death row inmate Kenneth Eugene Smith, 58. The court filing indicated Alabama plans to put him to death by nitrogen …