death penalty

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With No Final Words, Missouri Killer Executed

Herbert Smulls killed with lethal dose of pentobarbital

(Newser) - Despite a temporary Supreme Court stay after petitions from his defense lawyers, Missouri inmate Herbert Smulls was executed by a lethal dose of pentobarbital as planned yesterday and was pronounced dead at 10:20pm local time, Reuters reports. His lawyers had argued Missouri's refusal to disclose the name of...

Supreme Court Holds Off Execution Over Drug Issue

High court is expected to issue ruling today

(Newser) - The US Supreme Court is expected to rule today on two petitions regarding Missouri death row inmate Herbert Smulls, the Missouri Attorney General's office says. Smulls' execution was temporarily stayed late yesterday with an order from the high court signed by Justice Samuel Alito. It was sent about two-and-a-half...

Lethal Drugs Now Rare, States Eye Old-School Executions

Drug shortage raises talk of firing squads, electrocution

(Newser) - With lethal-injection drugs in short supply and new questions looming about their effectiveness, lawmakers in some death penalty states are considering bringing back relics of a more gruesome past: firing squads, electrocutions, and gas chambers. Most states abandoned those execution methods more than a generation ago, but to some elected...

Missouri Lawmaker Wants Firing Squads, Too
Missouri Lawmaker Wants Firing Squads, Too
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Jan 19, 2014 7:00 PM CST

Missouri Lawmaker Wants Firing Squads, Too

Proposed bill follows similar one in Wyoming

(Newser) - Do two states make a trend? After a lawmaker in Wyoming proposed the return of firing squads, a lawmaker in Missouri has done the same, reports Raw Story . State Rep. Rick Brattin filed a bill this week that would allow the state to execute prisoners the old-fashioned way, in part...

Daughter Suing Over Dad's Slow Execution

McGuire suffered cruel and unusual punishment: lawyer

(Newser) - An Ohio inmate put to death for murder was tortured by his unusually slow execution , the man's daughter said today as she announced plans to file a lawsuit over her father's death. Dennis McGuire's daughter, Amber, referred to the "agony and terror" of watching her father...

Lawyer: People 'Should Be Appalled' by Ohio Execution

Dennis McGuire's death took longer than expected

(Newser) - The events leading up to this morning's execution of murderer Dennis McGuire made headlines because of Ohio's use of untested drugs . It doesn't look like the controversy is going to fade anytime soon, after McGuire gasped and choked for about 10 minutes before being pronounced dead. “...

Wyo. Senator to Try to Bring Back Firing Squads

Because gas chambers are 'cruel and unusual'

(Newser) - That there is a shortage of lethal injection drugs is not news, but a Wyoming senator's response to the situation is. Republican state Sen. Bruce Burns yesterday very simply pointed to state law, which commands a gas chamber to be used if those drugs aren't accessible. Except Wyoming...

Ohio Inmate Likely to Suffer 'Terror' During Execution

Expert warns against state's untested drugs

(Newser) - A death-row inmate in Ohio will likely suffer the "terror" of a suffocation-like phenomenon known as air hunger during his execution, an anesthesiologist told a judge today. "Air hunger is a horrible feeling," said the expert at a federal court hearing, reports AP . "It's the...

Rarity: US Executions Fall Below 40 for Year

Opposition group thinks we might be in 'final chapter' of capital punishment

(Newser) - The Death Penalty Information Center's year-end report is out, and the number of US executions fell to 39 in 2013—just the second time that number has fallen below 40 in almost 20 years, reports USA Today . What's behind the drop? Difficulty in getting the necessary drugs, fewer...

Tennessee Apparently Quite Eager to Execute People

State requests execution dates for 10 inmates

(Newser) - Since 1960, Tennessee has executed just six people. If the state has its way, however, 10 more prisoners could be dead in the near future. Officials have asked the state Supreme Court for execution dates for the death row inmates, in what the Tennessean calls an "unprecedented push,"...

What It Was Like to Execute 62 People

Jerry Givens describes 17 years as a Virginia's executioner

(Newser) - Jerry Givens is on a campaign to end capital punishment, and he comes to the issue with a pretty unique perspective: He worked for Virginia's department of corrections for 25 years, and was its executioner from 1982 to 1999. "When I accepted the job, there was nobody on...

After Mass Trial, Bangladesh to Execute 152

161 get life imprisonment after 2009 mutiny

(Newser) - A 2009 mutiny of disgruntled border guards seeking higher wages in Bangladesh resulted in 74 deaths; now far more than that are set to die. After a mass civilian trial that began in 2011 and involved 846 defendants, 152 border guards have been sentenced to execution, Reuters and the AP...

Flynt Doesn't Want Guy Who Paralyzed Him Executed

There's no proof death penalty is a deterrent, he writes in column

(Newser) - Joseph Paul Franklin is set to be executed next month for a series of murders. Franklin also shot and paralyzed Hustler publisher Larry Flynt in 1978—but Flynt doesn't want him executed, he reveals today in a guest column for the Hollywood Reporter . "Supporters of capital punishment argue...

Texas Gets Execution Drug From Controversial Source

Pentobarbital comes from a compounding pharmacy

(Newser) - Texas prison officials disclosed today that they are using a compounding pharmacy to obtain the drug used during executions. The Texas Department of Criminal Justice, responding to a Freedom of Information request, released documents showing the purchase of eight vials of pentobarbital last month from a compounding pharmacy near Houston....

Fort Hood's Hasan: No Closing Argument

He faces death penalty, chooses not to rebut prosecutors

(Newser) - It seems clear now that Nidal Hasan's decision to act as his own attorney in the Fort Hood shooting trial was really a decision to not act as an attorney of any kind. A day after he rested his case without calling a single witness, Hasan skipped his closing...

Florida Executes Man Who Says He Controlled Sun

Court didn't buy insanity argument

(Newser) - “I just want everyone to know that I am the prince of God and I will rise again." Those were the last words of mass killer John Errol Ferguson yesterday and a prime example of why his lawyers say he shouldn't have been executed in the first...

US' Busiest Executioner Nearly Out of Lethal Drug

We're talking, of course, about Texas

(Newser) - Texas isn't just America's busiest executioner, it's the country's busiest by far, having put 503 people to death since 1976. (Virginia, at No. 2, has executed 110.) The state on Wednesday notched its 11th execution this year, and has seven more slated to occur before...

648 New Charges Filed Against Ariel Castro

Brings total to 977

(Newser) - Accused kidnapper Ariel Castro has had 648 new counts added to his indictment, bringing the grand total to 977. To break it down, the entire indictment is 576 pages, and includes: 512 counts of kidnapping, 446 counts of rape, seven counts of gross sexual imposition, six counts of felonious assault,...

Missouri: We May Have to Bring Back Gas Chambers

Attorney general warns state supreme court

(Newser) - If the Missouri supreme court doesn't start letting the state schedule lethal injection executions again—and soon—the state may be forced to revert to the gas chamber, Attorney General Chris Koster warned this week. The trouble began when drug companies started refusing to sell their products to corrections...

Texas Performs 500th Execution

Kimberley McCarthy first woman executed in 3 years in US

(Newser) - Texas yesterday executed Kimberly McCarthy, marking the state's 500th execution since it brought back the death penalty in 1982. McCarthy, 52, was the first woman to face the death penalty in the US in three years, the AP notes. She was associated with three killings, including the stabbing of...

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