death penalty

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Broke Counties Eschew Pricey Death Penalty

Capital punishment cases double, triple costs of normal trial

(Newser) - Could the recession snuff out the death penalty? Probably not, but it’s doing a real number on it. Death penalty cases have been cut in half since 2000, from 224 nationwide to 112 last year, and part of that dip appears to be related to the economy, Fox News...

No. 1 Governor in Executions: Rick Perry

234 executions in 11 years sparks debate from death penalty opponents

(Newser) - Rick Perry holds one impressive record as Texas governor that even some of his competitors for the GOP's presidential nomination might not want—overseeing more executions than any governor in modern history, reports the Washington Post . With 234 people executed in Texas in Perry's 11 years as governor,...

Face It: We Need Revenge

 Face It: We Need Revenge 
OPINION
Jul 28, 2011 1:00 PM CDT

Face It: We Need Revenge

Justice is just a fancy word for vengeance, argues Thane Rosenbaum

(Newser) - Norway doesn’t have the death penalty, and that means it’s “legally and morally” unprepared to deal with the likes of Anders Breivik, the man allegedly responsible for the Oslo massacre, argues legal scholar Thane Rosenbaum in the New York Times . Americans, meanwhile, are outraged over the acquittal...

Ohio Serial Killer Convicted of Murdering 11 Women

Anthony Sowell now faces the death penalty

(Newser) - An ex-Marine and newly convicted serial killer who had the bodies of 11 women in his Cleveland home will face the death penalty. Anthony Sowell , 51, was convicted of aggravated murder after a three-day jury deliberation, reports the Cleveland Plain Dealer . Now the trial moves into the mitigation phase during...

Ala. Judges Override Juries— but Not to Be Merciful

Most of the time power is used, it's to impose the death penalty

(Newser) - It sounds sensible, even merciful: Alabama judges are allowed to override the decisions of capital juries. Justice Thurgood Marshall, a staunch death penalty opponent, was in favor of the system, because it allows "someone who had seen more than one case" to make the ultimate decision, says one retired...

Texas Executes Mexican After Appeal Rejected

Humberto Leal dies for rape, murder of teen

(Newser) - A Mexican citizen was put to death in Texas soon after the US Supreme Court and Gov. Rick Perry rejected appeals from the White House , among others, to spare his life to protect American interests. The court, by a 5-4 majority, decided against delaying the execution until Congress could consider...

Hasan Faces Military Trial, Death Penalty

Alleged Fort Hood shooter's lawyer loses argument

(Newser) - Nidal Hasan, the alleged shooter in the Fort Hood massacre, will face a military trial and could, if convicted, be sentenced to death, Fort Hood's commanding general announced today. Hasan's lawyers had tried to convince the military that a death penalty case would be too expensive, time consuming,...

Drug Maker 'Horrified' It's Being Used in Executions

Pentobarbital was intended as an epilepsy drug

(Newser) - A Danish pharmaceutical company says it's desperately seeking a way to stop US prisons from executing people with its epilepsy drug Nembutal. “We are horrified at this fact, and we are looking at ways to prevent prisons from getting this drug,” a spokesman for Lundbeck A/S said....

Ohio to Bend Execution Rules for Inmate With Cancer

Kenneth Smith will be executed with one arm free, in order to use his voice box

(Newser) - Ohio will make it easier for an inmate who lost his larynx to cancer to make a final statement at his execution. The state will raise the gurney where Kenneth Smith will lie and let him keep one arm free to make it easier for him to use his artificial...

California Holds Off on Executions for 6th Year

San Quentin warden asks for time to replace execution team

(Newser) - Officials in California have given up on efforts to resume executing convicts this year, meaning that the state will have gone at least 6 years without executions. A review of lethal injection procedures has been delayed until at least January because the new warden of San Quentin prison wants to...

Military Court Less Likely to Sentence KSM to Death

Military hasn't executed anyone in 50 years

(Newser) - Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is dying to be executed. He’s confessed to plotting the 9/11 attacks and a host of other terrorist activity, and said he’d like to be a martyr. But that’s significantly less likely to happen now that he’ll be tried by a military commission,...

DEA Seizes Georgia's Execution Drug
DEA Seizes Georgia's Execution Drug
Mar 16, 2011 2:12 PM CDT

DEA Seizes Georgia's Execution Drug

Sodium thiopental may have been acquired improperly

(Newser) - The DEA has seized Georgia’s supply of sodium thiopental, one of the key drugs used to execute prisoners, because it believes the state may have improperly imported it. Like many states, Georgia was forced to import the drug from England last year thanks to a shortage in the US,...

Illinois to Ban Death Penalty

Gov. Quinn expected to sign repeal bill today

(Newser) - Capital punishment is facing its end in Illinois and a last-minute reprieve from the governor is highly unlikely. Pat Quinn is expected to sign legislation today abolishing the death penalty in the state, and abolition supporters have been invited to a private bill-signing ceremony, reports the Chicago Tribune . "They...

China Drops Death Penalty for Tax Evasion

Along with a dozen other non-violent crimes

(Newser) - China has eliminated the death penalty as a possible punishment for 13 non-violent offenses, the AP reports. But critics say it probably won't make a big dent in the estimated 5,000 annual executions in the country—nearly 70 crimes still carry a possible death sentence, many of them non-violent....

Border Vigilante Gets Death in Killing of Girl, Dad

Shawna Forde plotted home invasion turned murder

(Newser) - Shawna Forde, the self-styled border vigilante convicted in the deaths of a 9-year-old Arizona girl and her father, was sentenced to death yesterday. Forde’s attorney had asked jurors to spare Forde’s life because repeated childhood abuse had left her a “broken person,” but the DA noted...

Even If Convicted, Loughner Unlikely to Be Executed

Federal death penalty has been carried out just 3 times in 23 years

(Newser) - Even though the prosecution is looking hard at the death penalty for Jared Lee Loughner in the Tucson shootings, he could still die an old man behind bars, reports the LA Times . Loughner faces charges in federal court, where death penalties are rarely given out—only three out of 182...

Sole Producer of Lethal Injection Drug Quits

Hospira's decision could cause delays for states

(Newser) - The capital punishment system faces a serious obstacle: the only US producer of an anesthetic used in lethal injection has decided to stop making it, the Wall Street Journal reports. Thiopental sodium is made exclusively by Hospira, an Illinois company. It had already suspended production in 2009 because of manufacturing...

Iran's on an 'Execution Binge:' Rights Group

An inmate meets his maker every 8 hours or so since year began

(Newser) - Iran's basically executing people left and right, says a US-based human rights group. With 47 people hanged since the beginning of the year, Tehran's averaging a staggering pace of one every eight hours. "The Iranian Judiciary is on an execution binge orchestrated by the intelligence and security agencies,"...

Insanity Defense Will Be Tough for Loughner

Lawyer will be lucky if he avoids death penalty

(Newser) - Once upon a time, it would have been easy for Jared Lee Loughner’s lawyers to mount an insanity defense—after all, the guy sure seems nuts . But these days, that's easier said than done, legal experts tell the AP . Congress made it drastically harder to mount an insanity defense...

Iranian Man Executed as Israeli Spy
Iranian Man Executed
as Israeli Spy
Dec 28, 2010 11:15 AM CST

Iranian Man Executed as Israeli Spy

Second man executed for supporting opposition group

(Newser) - Iran today hanged Ali-Akbar Siadat after convicting him of “spreading corruption on earth,” “supporting the Zionist regime,” and “opposing the Islamic republic" as a spy for Israel. According to Iranian authorities, Siadat met with Israel repeatedly over the course of six years, traveling to such...

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