A Harlingen woman is the 1st in Cameron County's history to be given the death penalty. After hearing almost 3 days of testminony, a jury gave Melissa Lucio the death penalty for killing her 2-year-old daughter Mariah Alvarez. The jury convicted the ...
It's amazing how much you can learn years later about evidence that's been right under your nose all along. Remember JonBenet Ramsey? For years, I thought her mom had something to do with her death. Fortunately, I wasn't a grand juror. Because it tu...
On June 17, Tsutomu Miyazaki, Shinji Mutsuda and Yoshio Yamazaki were executed in Japan. Lawyer Maiko Tagusari, who defended 1 of the 3 men, denounces the rising number of executions in her country. "On the morning of June 17, my client on death row...
In Indonesia, the death penalty is carried out by firing squad. When the time comes, after any final wishes have been granted, the prisoner is taken to a field to stand in front of 12 gunmen. A single shot is fired from each rifle, carefully aimed a...
Gov. Martin OMalley announced Thursday the appointment of former U.S. Attorney General Benjamin Civiletti to chair the Maryland Commission on Capital Punishment. OMalley and Civiletti were joined by Lt. Gov Anthony Brown (D) and state House Speaker M...
Kent Jermaine Jackson was put to death tonight for the murder of an elderly Newport News neighbor 8 years ago. Jackson, 26, was executed by injection and was pronounced dead at 9:18 p.m. He was convicted of capital murder for the brutal slaying of B...
Parliament adopted a resolution calling for Troy Davis, who has been convicted of murder and sentenced to death in Georgia, USA, to be granted a retrial in view of evidence which strongly indicates his innocence. Troy Davis was sentenced to death by...
Accepting blood money is one of the Islamic ways of saving the necks of convicted murderers from dying at the sword and it is not an uncommon practice in Saudi Arabia. But what if you do not have enough money to pay the wergild? In this case you ...
Ruth Greenglass, whose testimony in a sensational Cold War espionage trial helped send her sister-in-law Ethel Rosenberg to the electric chair, has died. Her death at age 84 was revealed in court documents filed by prosecutors in late June. She'd bee...
The case of Carlton Akee Turner, who is scheduled for the Texas death chamber Thursday evening, presents the state and its noble citizens a whole set of conundrums: What really should be done with troubled youths who commit horrible crimes? Do we t...
A very apologetic Carlton Turner was executed Thursday night for the slayings of his adoptive parents a decade ago at their suburban Dallas home. "I've been sorry for the last 10 years. I wish you could accept my apology," he said to an uncle who wa...
The severity of the topic is reason enough to again mention a visitor who came through the state recently. He is Dr. Philip Alston, an Australian fellow, professor of law at New York University and the U.N. Human Rights Council special envoy on execu...
Barack Obama is dismissing the idea that he's been shifting his positions on the Iraq war, gun control and the death penalty to appeal to more voters. The Democrat was asked about allegations of flip-flopping at a town-hall style event in Georgia to...
A cry of anguish rang from a victim's relative as a prosecutor implored jurors Monday to recommend the death penalty for a man convicted of murdering 11 people by causing a commuter rail disaster. Deputy District Attorney Cathryn Brougham said justi...
State executes child killer (Two reactions from readers after last week’s execution of Dean Schwab) We should abolish death penalty. Despite my opposition to capital punishment, I too would have stood outside the death chamber wearing a T-shirt as...
As a deputy district attorney in Alameda County, I once argued to put a young man to death. But I won't do it again. In October 2002, Demarcus Ralls and his seven co-defendants embarked on a three-month journey of terror. By the time all 8 defendant...
A law that could see the death penalty imposed for cyber crimes is set to be debated in Iran's parliament, reports said on Wednesday. Under the draft bill, those found guilty of promoting corruption, prostitution and apostasy on the internet may fac...
The cabinet of Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani has approved a decision to commute the death sentence of 7,000 persons on the death row to life imprisonment, barring habitual criminals guilty of heinous crimes. On the occasion of the birthday annive...
18 months after Florida botched its last execution, its new lethal injection procedures resulted in what appeared to be a smooth and peaceful death for child killer Mark Dean Schwab. Although the new procedures may allow Florida's executions to begi...
A state commission on the death penalty concluded today that the administration of capital punishment in California is dysfunctional and close to collapse. This commission did not recommend abolishing the death penalty, but it did bring to light som...
A federal appeals court is ordering a hearing for a man condemned for abducting, torturing and killing a woman in suburban Dallas and is critical of Texas courts for refusing to hold such a hearing to consider evidence the convicted killer may be men...
A former Tennessee death row inmate is scheduled to be freed from prison on bail for the 1st time in nearly 23 years. Paul House was sentenced to death for the slaying of a young mother. He is being retried in October in the 1985 slaying of Carolyn ...
A prominent association of lawyers is throwing its weight behind trying to end the death penalty in Illinois for good. The Illinois State Bar Association's assembly voted Saturday to support abolishing capital punishment. The 35,000-member associati...
Florida on Tuesday carried out its 1st execution since a botched lethal injection procedure prompted the state to revamp the way it conducts capital punishment. Mark Dean Schwab, who was convicted of kidnapping, raping and killing 11-year-old boy, di...
Iran has sentenced to death a man found guilty of spying for Israel, state media reported Monday. Tehran's Revolutionary Court convicted Ali Ashtari, 45, of spying for Israel's intelligence agency, Mossad, in exchange for money, the news agencies sa...
UN rights expert calls on United States to ensure death penalty is applied fairly Philip Alston, UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions 30 June 2008 The United States should take immediate steps to ensure that the d...
German politicians across the political spectrum have responded with surprise and harsh criticism to comments by US presidential candidate Barack Obama calling for the death penalty for child rapists. Despite their immense adoration and support for ...
When it comes to choosing the next president of the United States, voters have a clear choice. From the war in Iraq to health care, Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. John McCain have differing positions on many issues. Unfortunately, the 2 have found commo...
For the law to be just, it must temper societys anger over even the most horrible acts with decency and restraint. The Supreme Court exemplified that principle on Wednesday, striking down the death penalty for the rape of a child. While acknowledging...
Ask Governor to Halt Execution of Child Murderer 9 bishops of Florida sent a letter to Governor Charlie Crist urging him to stop executions in Florida, beginning with the scheduled execution of Mark Dean Schwab next week. "We can never fully compreh...
Right to Face Accusers Is Affirmed in Unusual Case. Witness Was Murder Victim The Supreme Court yesterday threw out the conviction of a man accused of murdering his ex-girlfriend because the defendant could not challenge an incriminating account she...
The Supreme Court made the right decision by rejecting execution for nonlethal crimes In concluding that capital punishment can be imposed constitutionally only for the crime of deliberate murder, the Supreme Court wisely has prevented a further exp...
Supreme Court prohibits death penalty for child rape Based both on consensus and our own independent judgment, our holding is that a death sentence for one who raped but did not kill a child, and who did not intend to assist another in killing the c...
A computer program designed by U.S. researchers can predict with chilling accuracy the very few men among the thousands on America's death row who will actually be executed, according to a new study. It says the chief factor that determines whether ...
Robert Stacy Yarbrough, 30, was pronounced dead at the Greensville Correctional Center at 9:28 p.m. He died by injection. Yarbrough was sentenced to die for the May 8, 1997, capital murder of Mecklenburg County store owner Cyril H. Hamby, 77. Hamby w...
The efforts of nearly a dozen states to execute child rapists were derailed Wednesday by a Supreme Court decision that incensed supporters of such punishment. Officials in at least 2 states said they weren't ready to give up. Louisiana Gov. Bobby Ji...
Democrat Barack Obama said Wednesday he disagrees with the Supreme Court's decision outlawing executions of people who rape children, a crime he said states have the right to consider for capital punishment. "I have said repeatedly that I think that...
Finland summoned Iran's ambassador in Helsinki Tuesday to express concern over Tehran's execution of a juvenile offender and its plans to execute 3 others, the foreign ministry said. Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb summoned ambassador Reza Nazar...
A young man who allegedly committed a crime when he was 15 years old is due to be executed in Iran in the next few days. Salah Ghasseh, 18, will be the 2nd ethnic Kurd youth to be hanged in the past 6 months at the Sanandaj prison in the area known a...
Kuwait's supreme court has upheld a death sentence against a member of the emirate's ruling Al-Sabah family for drug trafficking. The sentence against the royal, named only as Sheikh Talal, was already upheld by an appeals court in December. The fina...
Delaware prison officials botched the execution of a murderer who was put to death 3 years ago, attorneys challenging Delaware's use of lethal injection said in court papers filed Monday. Attorneys representing Delaware death row inmates in a class-...
Tracie Lynn Wallace, 26, and Ronald Williamson, 46, were shot to death in the home they shared in Plano in 1989. 19 years later, the man convicted of killing them is still on death row and at the center of a case in which the Texas judicial system is...
Nepalese Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Hamid Ansari, who is also accredited in Kuwait and 4 other countries in the region, has launched an international initiative to save a 29-year-old Nepali maid who has been sentenced to death by a Kuwaiti court for ...
Viv Mason spent only 100 minutes with her "lover" before he was executed by lethal injection. With two-and-a-half years of emotional letter writing behind them, she met convicted killer Karl Eugene Chamberlain at the Allan Polunsky Unit, in Livingst...
Despite delays, experts predict state will lead nation once again Of the 3 inmates who had dates with death this year, only one was sent into Texas' death chamber and executed, an uncharacteristic start for a state that consistently leads the nation...
A South Carolina man convicted of killing his ex-girlfriend's parents 14 years ago was executed in the state's electric chair Friday night after a last-ditch effort to halt the sentence was denied by the U.S. Supreme Court. James Earl Reed was pronou...
Pakistani Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani Saturday announced a plan to convert death sentences of thousands of convicts into life imprisonment. Gilani told the parliament that the interior ministry would be asked to move a summary to the presi...
Don't read too much into the court ruling that will allow DNA testing for infamous death row inmate Darlie Routier. Don't hold your breath for finally, at long last a definitive answer. The dead-certain specificity with which improved genetic testi...
As an African American women living in Oakland, whose brother was murdered, I strongly oppose the death penalty. More than anything, I want to live in a safe community, a community where my six sons and my daughter are able to pursue all of theirs dr...
Shep Wilson Jr. was buried Tuesday after waiting 18 years for new trial. Even his lawyers believed he'd probably be convicted again of store clerk's murder. A dozen trial dates came and went over the years. 3 different prosecutors, 2 judges handled c...
These are the top 10 amounts cited by the Texas comptroller's office as compensative settlements to wrongful convictions (45 people have been paid almost $8.5 million since 2001): $1,000,000 -- Larry Charles Fuller, Dallas County: Spent almost 20 ye...
A Northumberland County jury will begin hearing testimony today about whether or not Richard C. Curran should be sentenced to die for killing his ex-wife Tina. Jurors should weigh the evidence and make whatever decision they feel is appropriate, but ...
The state Attorney General's office says scheduled executions will remain on hold until a decision is made in its appeal of a federal judge's ruling that the state's 3-drug method of lethal injection is cruel and unusual punishment. Other states hav...
Execution delay in Collin County case started long night of legal wrangling The morning after the clock dramatically ran out on Charles Dean Hood's death warrant, weary prosecutors and defense attorneys girded themselves for more legal sparring as ...
Texas halted the scheduled execution of a former topless club bouncer for a double slaying almost 20 years ago as time ran out. Prison officials were faced with a midnight CDT deadline Tuesday to administer the lethal drugs to Charles Dean Hood but f...
An Oklahoma man convicted of killing a university student from Japan by throwing a firebomb into his apartment complex has been put to death. Terry Lyn Short was injected with a lethal combination of three chemicals Tuesday evening at the Oklahoma S...
A man who twice received the death sentence for the 1987 killing of an elderly woman has had his sentence changed to life in prison without parole after being ruled mentally disabled. Baldwin County Circuit Judge James H. Reid changed the sentence f...
Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda said on Tuesday he supported continuing the death penalty, hours after the country executed 3 convicted murderers including a notorious serial killer. "In Japan, the majority view is that capital punishment shoul...
Texas and National Ethics Experts Say Judge's Affair with District Attorney Makes Death Sentence Null and Void 10 of the nation's leading experts on legal ethics filed a statement with the Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas today testifying that the...
The longest-serving prisoner on Texas' death row won a U.S. Supreme Court ruling Monday that his case must go back to his trial court in Dallas. Ronald Chambers, 53, has been on death row for 32 years, sent there in 1976 for the abduction and fatal ...
A federal appeals court has overturned for the 3rd time the death sentence for a man convicted of bludgeoning a young woman to death with an iron bar during a 1981 burglary in San Joaquin County. A 3-judge panel of the 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appe...
The Japanese Justice Ministry executed 3 death-row inmates Tuesday morning. Tsutomu Miyazaki, 45, was hanged for killing four young girls in 1988 and 1989 in Tokyo and neighbouring Saitama province, while Shinji Mutsuda, 37, was convicted of murder ...
Re: "Dallas woman's killer is executed 'I am so terribly sorry,' he tells victim's relatives," Thursday news story. I never cease to be amazed and repulsed by the media's incessant fascination with the last meal of a condemned inmate. What relevanc...
I'm 15 and attending a high school in Broome County. I play sports and lead a common teenage life. However, I am ashamed of the times we live in. What has the world come to where the value of human life is being diminished, where people are being pu...
Reference: 'Kaine commutes death sentence, cites mental issue,' front page, June 10: I agree with Gov. Kaine's decision to commute the execution of Percy Walton to life with no parole. Both as the brother of a murder victim and an activist for human ...
Belarus -- the last country in Europe to apply the death penalty -- will eventually abolish capital punishment by presidential decree or parliamentary vote, rather than by calling on the people to decide the issue in a referendum. This was confirmed...
Opposition now classed as treason in Zimbabwe as leader faces death penalty Opposing the regime of Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe is now a treasonable offence, campaigners were told today. The warning came after the deputy leader of the oppositi...
A: I think the death penalty should be full force, no second thoughts about it. The victim has always less rights than the perpetrator. There's a scripture in the Bible that says an eye for an eye a tooth for a tooth and if we would abide by that and...
The Legislature and the governor, like governors and Legislatures before them, are ducking hard decisions on what to do about the old death-row facilities at San Quentin Prison in Marin County. Now the California state auditor has issued a report, "...
Lawyers for a Texas inmate facing execution next week filed court papers on Thursday accusing the judge at his double-murder trial of having an affair with the prosecutor. The papers, filed in the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, argue that the rela...
New Nation's Justice System Strains to Keep Pace With Convictions The number of people under supervision in the nation's criminal justice system rose to 7.2 million in 2006, the highest ever, costing states tens of billions of dollars to house and ...
Almost 2/3 of Czechs believe that death penalty should exist in the Czech Republic, while 1/3 believes the opposite, according to a poll the CVVM agency conducted in May and released. 6 % of the respondents said they were undecided on the issue. The...
Death row inmate Matthew Eric Wrinkles has lost an appeal alleging the Department of Correction lost some of his property, including legal documents. Wrinkles was sentenced to death in 1995 for fatally shooting his estranged wife, brother-in-law and...
Ohio must stop using a common combination of 3 chemicals to execute condemned inmates because they may produce excruciating pain, a state court judge there ruled Tuesday. Then, in what legal experts said was a first, the judge instead ordered the sta...
Killer put to death in Texas' 1st execution in 9 months. He apologizes to Dallas single mom's family, including her son, who found her body after 1991 attack. A remorseful convicted killer was executed Wednesday night for the rape and slaying of a wo...