execution

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Iowa Meth Kingpin Who Killed 5 Set for Execution

Dustin Lee Honken will be 3rd federal inmate executed this week

(Newser) - A meth kingpin from Iowa who killed five people, including two young girls, is scheduled Friday to become the third federal inmate to be executed this week, following a 17-year pause in federal executions. Dustin Honken, 52, was sentenced to death for killing government informants and children in his effort...

Facing Execution, Inmate Comments on His 'Sanitized Murder'

Wesley Ira Purkey was 2nd US inmate executed this week

(Newser) - Wesley Ira Purkey was pronounced dead by lethal injection Thursday morning—America's second execution this week after a 17-year hiatus, the Tribune-Star reports. A 5-4 Supreme Court decision in the wee hours allowed the lethal injection to proceed in Terre Haute, Ind., despite concerns over Purkey's mental competency....

SCOTUS Splits 5-4 on 2nd Execution This Week

Court clears way for execution of Wesley Purkey

(Newser) - The Supreme Court early Thursday cleared the way for a second federal execution this week. The vote to allow the execution of Wesley Ira Purkey to go forward was 5-4, with the court's four liberal members dissenting, the AP reports. Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote that “proceeding with Purkey’...

Lawyers: Federal Inmate Is Mentally Unfit for Execution

DC judge halts plan to execute Wesley Purkey

(Newser) - A Washington, DC judge has halted plans to execute a second federal inmate in two days. Wesley Ira Purkey, 68, was scheduled to be executed at 4pm Wednesday for the 1998 kidnapping, rape, and murder of 16-year-old Jennifer Long. US District Judge Tanya Chutkan issued an injunction Wednesday morning blocking...

First Federal Execution Since 2003 to Proceed

SCOTUS approves execution of Daniel Lewis Lee in Indiana

(Newser) - The Supreme Court cleared the way for federal executions to resume early Tuesday, just hours before a man convicted of killing a family of three was scheduled to die. The 5-4 opinion, issued around 2am, determined inmates had "not made the showing required to justify last-minute intervention," per...

First Federal Execution in 17 Years Is Delayed Again

Judge says legal issues haven't been resolved

(Newser) - A US district judge on Monday ordered a new delay in federal executions, hours before the first lethal injection was scheduled to be carried out at a federal prison in Indiana, per the AP . The administration is certain to ask a higher court to allow the executions to move forward....

Federal Executions Jarred by Positive Virus Test

The staffer was helping prepare for the first federal executions in nearly 20 years

(Newser) - The federal Bureau of Prisons said Sunday that a staff member involved in preparing for the first federal executions in nearly two decades has tested positive for coronavirus, the AP reports. The Justice Department said the development will not mean an additional delay in the government’s timetable, already stalled...

Judge Halts Execution Over Risk to Families

Relatives of victims filed suit saying they shouldn't have to travel during pandemic

(Newser) - Three days before it was scheduled to take place, a federal judge in Indiana on Friday halted the first federal execution planned in 17 years over COVID-19 concerns. Daniel Lee had been scheduled to die by injection on Monday. But Chief District Judge Jane Magnus-Stinson in Indiana ruled that the...

Nation’s Busiest Death Penalty State Resumes Executions

Billy Joe Wardlow put to death in Texas for 1993 murder

(Newser) - A Texas inmate received lethal injection Wednesday evening for fatally shooting an 82-year-old man nearly three decades ago, ending a five-month delay of executions in the nation’s busiest death penalty state because of the coronavirus pandemic. Billy Joe Wardlow was put to death at the state penitentiary in Huntsville...

Priest Says Federal Execution Gives Him 'Impossible Decision'

Buddhist says he fears federal execution could be COVID 'super-spreader' event

(Newser) - A Zen Buddhist priest, who is a spiritual adviser to one of three federal death row inmates scheduled to be executed this month, filed a lawsuit Thursday arguing the Bureau of Prisons is putting him at risk for the coronavirus by moving forward with executions during a nationwide pandemic. Dale...

Feds Schedule First Executions Since 2003

4 federal inmates will be executed this summer, Barr says

(Newser) - The federal government plans to execute more people this summer than it did in the previous 30 years combined. The Justice Department says four inmates—all child-killers—will be put to death by lethal injection in July and August, NPR reports. On July 13, Daniel Lewis Lee, a former white...

For First Time in US During Pandemic, an Execution

Missouri puts Walter Barton to death

(Newser) - Many states have postponed scheduled executions amid the coronavirus pandemic, but on Tuesday night, an inmate was put to death for the first time since March 5. Walter Barton, 64, was convicted of murdering his former landlord, 81-year-old Gladys Kuehler, in 1991, USA Today reports. Kuehler operated a mobile home...

India Hangs 4 Men for Gang Rape That Stunned Country

Victim died 2 weeks after 2012 bus rape

(Newser) - Four men sentenced to death for the gruesome gang rape and murder of a woman on a New Delhi bus in 2012 were hanged Friday, concluding a case that exposed the scope of sexual violence against women in India and prompted horrified Indians to demand swift justice. The men were...

Governor Faces Unexpected Spectator: 'You Killed My Brother'

Pamela Woods faces off against Kay Ivey in Alabama on death of Nathaniel Woods

(Newser) - An event kicking off the Alabama census got somewhat heated Thursday when the state's governor was confronted by the family of a man executed last week under her charge. The Washington Post reports that Gov. Kay Ivey was taking questions from reporters in Montgomery, and she was answering one...

Despite Outcry, Alabama Executes Nathaniel Woods

He was convicted of being an accomplice in the killings of 3 officers

(Newser) - A man convicted in the 2004 killings of three police officers in Alabama who were shot by another man was executed Thursday evening. Nathaniel Woods, 43, was pronounced dead at 9:01pm following a lethal injection at the state prison in Atmore, authorities say. The inmate had no last words...

They Tried to Save His Life. Before Death, He Thanked Them

Nicholas Sutton chose electric chair over lethal injection

(Newser) - A convicted murderer was put to death in Tennessee's electric chair Thursday, becoming the state's fifth prisoner over 16 months to choose electrocution over the state's preferred method of lethal injection. Nicholas Sutton, 58, was pronounced dead at 7:26pm at the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in...

The People Trying to Halt His Execution Are Unexpected

Among them: the daughter of one of the people Nick Sutton murdered

(Newser) - Death row inmate Nick Sutton has an unusual group of supporters seeking to block his scheduled execution Thursday. Among them are family members of his victims, as well as past and present prison workers calling for clemency. Sutton, 58, was sentenced to death in 1986 for killing fellow inmate Carl...

Executions Are About to Resume in Oklahoma

A 'reliable' drug supplier has been found, says the state

(Newser) - Oklahoma is set to resume executions after a five-year lull prompted by drug mix-ups, but it won't be relying on nitrogen gas . As a 2015 law allowing the state to pursue execution by nitrogen hypoxia only permits the method if lethal injection drugs are unavailable, executions will be carried...

Texas Man Who Killed His Family Apologizes, Is Executed

Abel Ochoa shot dead his wife, 2 daughters, and 2 relatives in 2002

(Newser) - A Dallas man was executed Thursday evening for a shooting in which he killed his wife, two children and two other relatives during a drug-fueled rage nearly 18 years ago. Prosecutors say Abel Ochoa was high on crack cocaine and looking for money to buy more drugs when he started...

DNA Will Prove If State Executed an Innocent Man

Ledell Lee maintained his innocence until he was put to death in 2017

(Newser) - Ledell Lee was executed in Arkansas in 2017 , despite legal challenges requesting more DNA testing using modern technology; the state denied those requests. Lee never stopped insisting he was innocent of the 1993 murder of Debra Reese, and now Slate reports that his case "could result in DNA evidence...

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