Battle Over Public Access to Executions Rages On
The Ninth Circuit heard oral arguments Wednesday appealing the dismissal of a case that accused the Arizona Department of Corrections of concealing information about the state’s executions.
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Rights Groups Blast 75 Death Sentences by Egyptian Court
Nearly a dozen rights groups on Tuesday condemned the passing of death sentences by an Egyptian court against 75 people, including top leaders of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood group, as the government of general-turned-president Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi dueled with the U.N. and EU over the verdicts.
Read moreNevada High Court Says Execution Doctor’s Name Stays Secret
The name of the physician picked to attend a state inmate’s execution can remain secret, even from drug makers suing to ban the use of their products in the twice-postponed lethal injection, the Nevada Supreme Court ruled Monday.
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A divided Eighth Circuit panel declined Friday to hear the appeal of a gay man who several civil rights groups claim may have been wrongfully sentenced to death based on some jurors’ belief that he would enjoy life in prison with other men.
Read moreTexas Death-Row Inmate Fights for Mitigation Expert
Counsel for a Texas death-row inmate who killed his wife and daughters in a cocaine-fueled rampage told the Fifth Circuit on Friday he needs funding for an investigation that could get his sentence reduced to life in prison.
Read moreFeds Can’t Use FBI Statements of Guantanamo Detainees
In the long-delayed prosecution of accused 9/11 bombers, a military judge threw out the statements Friday that Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and four others made to the FBI after they were tortured in CIA custody.
Read moreJudge Advances Lawsuit Over Access to Executions
California cannot dodge a lawsuit claiming it enacted unconstitutional rules to hide the most gruesome parts of inmate executions from the public, a federal judge ruled Friday.
Read moreNebraska Executes First Inmate in 21 Years Using New Drug Cocktail
When the heart of convicted double-murderer Carey Dean Moore stopped at 10:47 a.m. on this rainy Tuesday morning, the prolonged effort by Nebraska officials to execute a prisoner via lethal injection came to fruition.
Read moreDrugmaker Loses Bid to Block Nebraska Execution
Deferring to “the will of the people,” a federal judge on Friday denied a request by a pharmaceutical company to stop a planned execution of a Nebraska inmate by lethal injection of drugs made by the company.
Read moreSotomayor Dissents to Execution of Tennessee Inmate
The U.S. Supreme Court denied the last appeal of a 51-year-old who raped and murdered a 7-year-old girl just hours before Tennessee was scheduled to execute him – but not before Associate Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor expressed her dissatisfaction over what she called a “rush to execute.”
Read moreTennessee Set to Kill 1st Inmate in Nearly a Decade
Tennessee is set to execute a man for the 1985 rape and murder of a 7-year-old girl, in what would be the first time the state has applied the death penalty since 2009.
Read moreRights Groups Question Gay Man’s Death Sentence
A South Dakota jury may have wrongfully sentenced a gay man to death based on some jurors’ belief that he would enjoy life in prison with other men, several civil rights groups claim.
Read moreEgypt Court Sentences 75 to Death Over 2013 Sit-In
An Egyptian court sentenced 75 people to death on Saturday, including top figures of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood group, for their involvement in a 2013 sit-in, state media reported.
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Ohio Governor John Kasich on Friday spared the life of double murderer Raymond Tibbetts, commuting his sentence to life in prison based on claims that jurors were misled about his fraught childhood and drug addiction.
Read moreTexas Executes Its Eighth Inmate This Year
Texas executed a black man Tuesday night for shooting to death and robbing a convenience store owner in 2004, despite pleas from the victim’s son to spare his life.
Read moreClaiming Racism, Texas Inmate Asks Judge to Halt Execution
A black death-row inmate set to die Tuesday night claims that racism led the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles to vote against sparing his life, and now a federal judge is considering whether to postpone the execution.
Read moreExecution Halted
Plans to execute a twice-convicted killer who wants to die rather than spend his life in prison stalled Wednesday after a Nevada judge indefinitely delayed the execution over a pharmaceutical company’s objections to the use of one of its drugs to put someone to death.
Read moreCompany Disavows Use of Its Drug in Nevada Execution
Drug company Alvogen sued the state of Nevada and the Department of Corrections Tuesday over claims it acquired the drug midazolam under false pretenses to use in the upcoming execution of convicted murderer Scott Raymond Dozier.
Read moreJapan Cult Leader’s Hanging Closes Chapter on Shocking Crime
The executions Friday of a doomsday cult leader and six of his followers closed a chapter on one of Japan’s most shocking crimes, the poison gas attack on rush-hour commuters in Tokyo’s subway that killed 13 people and sickened more than 6,000.
Read more8th Circ. Upholds Arkansas’ Right to Bar Judge from Death-Penalty Cases
A state judge in Arkansas cannot pursue a civil rights lawsuit against the state’s highest court after it permanently barred him from hearing death-penalty cases, the Eighth Circuit ruled this week.
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