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Death Penalty

1296 ABA Journal Death Penalty articles.

Nonunanimous death penalty verdicts upheld by Florida Supreme Court

The Florida Supreme Court has upheld the legality of allowing death penalty verdicts by nonunanimous juries, according to Legal Newsline.

Jan 5, 2026 10:01 AM CST

Supreme Court to review Mississippi case on alleged omission of Black jurors

The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to review the conviction of a death-row inmate in Mississippi who says prosecutors discriminated by excluding Black jurors during his 2006 trial.

Dec 15, 2025 1:21 PM CST

Supreme Court wrestles with death penalty in cases of intellectual disabilities

The Supreme Court on Wednesday wrestled with whether to allow Alabama to execute a man with low cognitive function, a ruling that could set new rules for states to condemn those with borderline intellectual disabilities to death row.

Dec 10, 2025 3:45 PM CST

Florida cases seeking death penalty for child sex abuse could test precedent in Supreme Court

Two Florida prosecutions could test the U.S. Supreme Court’s 5-4 ruling in 2008 that held that the death penalty for child rape is unconstitutional.

Oct 30, 2025 10:01 AM CDT

How Trump’s death penalty push is straining legal defense teams

President Donald Trump’s push to advance the death penalty as an “essential tool” for punishment and deterrence comes at a time when legal teams are facing a severe shortfall in federal funding for poor defendants nationwide, putting them under additional strain, they have argued in court filings.

Oct 13, 2025 3:00 PM CDT

Trump signs memo ordering the enforcement of the death penalty in DC

President Donald Trump instructed top prosecutors in a memo on Thursday to pursue the death penalty “to the maximum degree practicable” in D.C., marking his latest move to exert control over law enforcement in the city.

Sep 26, 2025 9:35 AM CDT

Chemerinsky: What were the sleeper cases of this SCOTUS term?

As always, the end of the U.S. Supreme Court’s term was filled with important cases that received a great deal of media attention. But the term also had a number of significant decisions that received much less media attention.

Jul 29, 2025 10:56 AM CDT

Reluctant prosecutor can’t ‘manufacture mootness’ or ruin standing for inmate seeking DNA test, SCOTUS says

A Texas death row inmate who wants DNA testing to establish that he wasn’t at a murder scene, although he helped plan a robbery there, has standing to challenge the state law governing testing procedures, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Thursday.

Jun 26, 2025 11:42 AM CDT

SCOTUS will consider impact of death row inmate’s multiple IQ tests in determining execution eligibility

The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to decide whether and how courts can consider multiple IQ tests when considering whether a death row inmate is intellectually disabled and ineligible for execution.

Jun 12, 2025 3:51 PM CDT

ABA asks Nevada Supreme Court to reverse mentally ill man’s death sentence

The ABA is advocating for the reversal of a death sentence imposed on a person with severe mental illness, according to an amicus brief filed with the Nevada Supreme Court on Wednesday.

May 22, 2025 12:21 PM CDT

Firing squad mostly missed South Carolina inmate’s heart, causing him to ‘scream and groan,’ lawyers say

The April 11 firing squad execution of South Carolina inmate Mikal Mahdi was “a massive botch” because the bullets “largely missed his heart,” according to a report filed by his attorneys with the state supreme court.

May 12, 2025 2:15 PM CDT

‘Secrets of the Killing State’ exposes realities of lethal injection

Execution by lethal injection is seen by many Americans as a less barbaric alternative than older methods, such as hanging, firing squads and electrocution. It is easy to assume that the process must resemble euthanasia procedures for terminally ill people or pets. The reality is very different, says Corinna Barrett Lain, a law professor and a death-penalty expert.

Apr 23, 2025 8:51 AM CDT

Seeing power abuse by federal judges, 5th Circuit judge warns of ‘hundreds of kings in judicial robes’

A federal appeals judge issued a concurrence to his majority opinion in a death-penalty case last week to remark on federal trial judges who, in his view, abuse their powers to overturn the will of the electorate.

Apr 21, 2025 3:32 PM CDT

Inmate executed with nitrogen gas after Supreme Court declines to intervene, with 4 dissents

A Louisiana death row inmate was executed Tuesday by nitrogen gas, the first time that the execution method was used in Louisiana and the fifth time that it was used in the United States.

Mar 19, 2025 10:02 AM CDT

State’s failure to correct accuser’s lithium testimony entitles death row inmate to new trial, SCOTUS rules

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that an Oklahoma death row inmate is entitled to a new trial because the prosecution failed to correct testimony by the man who implicated him.

Feb 25, 2025 2:28 PM CST

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