execution

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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...

Texas Executes Man Who Set Elderly Store Clerk on Fire

Matthew Lee Johnson was executed 13 years to the day of robbery in Dallas suburb

(Newser) - A Texas man was executed Tuesday evening, 13 years to the day of a convenience store robbery in which he set an elderly clerk on fire in a Dallas suburb. Matthew Lee Johnson , 49, received a lethal injection at the state penitentiary in Huntsville and was pronounced dead at 6:...

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...

'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
...

Judge: Execution Drugs Can't Be Prepped in Secret in Idaho

Decision comes in response to a suit from a number of media outlets

(Newser) - Idaho prison officials must allow media witnesses at executions to watch as lethal injection drugs are prepared and administered to a condemned person, a federal judge ruled Tuesday. US District Judge Debora K. Grasham ordered the Idaho Department of Correction to provide the audio and visual access for any executions...

With Execution Nigh, Inmate Says He Welcomes Death

James Osgood dropped all his legal appeals last summer

(Newser) - A man on Alabama's death row wants his execution to go forward Thursday, saying he believes in an "eye for an eye." "The reason I dropped my appeals is I am guilty of murder," James Osgood told the AP in a telephone interview from prison....

South Carolina Executes Another by Firing Squad

Mikal Mahdi is the second in 5 weeks

(Newser) - A firing squad on Friday executed a South Carolina man who killed an off-duty police officer, the second time the rare execution method has been used by the state in the past five weeks. Details, via the AP :
  • Mikal Mahdi, 42, gave no final statement and did not look to
...

Florida Executes Man Who Killed Miami Herald Employee

Michael Tanzi apologized to Janet Acosta's family in his final statement

(Newser) - Florida has executed a man who kidnapped, raped, and murdered a Miami Herald employee 25 years ago. Michael Tanzi, whose lawyers had argued that he was too obese for lethal injection to work, was pronounced dead at 6:12pm Tuesday following a three-drug injection at Florida State Prison, the AP...

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
...

Canada Says China Has Executed 4 Canadians

Dual citizens were executed this year despite top-level pleas for leniency, Canada's foreign minister says

(Newser) - Canada's foreign affairs minister says China executed four Canadian citizens earlier this year despite the intervention of herself and former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Mélanie Joly said the four Canadians were dual citizens and faced "charges linked to criminal activities, according to China, linked to drugs,"...

Man Will Be First in 8 Years Executed Under a Blue Governor
Arizona Executes First
Inmate in Two Years
UPDATED
Mar 19, 2025 1:32 PM CDT

Arizona Executes First Inmate in Two Years

Aaron Brian Gunches received lethal injection

(Newser) - An Arizona man who kidnapped and murdered his girlfriend's ex-husband was executed Wednesday, the second of four prisoners scheduled to be put to death this week in the US, per the AP . Aaron Brian Gunches, 53, was lethally injected with pentobarbital at the Arizona State Prison Complex in the...

Louisiana Carries Out First Execution With Nitrogen Gas

Jessie Hoffman Jr. is first person state has executed in 15 years

(Newser) - Louisiana used nitrogen gas to put a man to death Tuesday evening for a killing decades ago, marking the first time the state has used the method as it resumed executions after a 15-year hiatus. Jessie Hoffman Jr., 46, was pronounced dead at 6:50pm at the Louisiana State Penitentiary,...

South Carolina Executes Prisoner via Firing Squad

Brad Sigmon, 67, chose the rarely used method

(Newser) - South Carolina executed death row inmate Brad Sigmon on Friday, going through with the nation's first execution by firing squad in 15 years.
  • Brad Sigmon, 67, did not receive a last-minute reprieve from the governor or the Supreme Court. He was pronounced dead at 6:08pm Eastern, reports the
...

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...

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