Death Penalty

An estimated 10 percent of death row inmates are veterans, report says

A report by the Death Penalty Information Center estimates there are at least 300 inmates on death row who are military veterans, a number that represents about 10 percent of the capital population. Many death row veterans suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder or other mental disabilities related to combat, yet…

Nov 11, 2015 5:45 AM CST

Federal judge imposes $70K sanction on defense attorney over witness gaffe that caused mistrial

A federal judge on Friday imposed a sanction of nearly $70,000 on an attorney representing the city of Chicago in a wrongful-conviction case last year because of a gaffe by a testifying police witness that caused a mistrial. U.S. District Judge Matthew Kennelly said in his opinion that he believed…

Nov 9, 2015 5:00 PM CST

New California plan calls for single-drug executions; drug to be chosen on ‘case-by-case’ basis

California’s governor on Friday announced a plan for a new single-drug execution protocol in death-penalty cases. It would replace a three-drug lethal cocktail that has been the subject of court challenges throughout the country. In California, the three-drug approach was struck down by a federal judge in 2006 as inhumane,…

Nov 6, 2015 4:15 PM CST

Death-penalty opponents are split on when to push SCOTUS for ban on executions

Death-penalty opponents are divided on whether to quickly accept Justice Stephen G. Breyer’s invitation for briefing on whether executions are a violation of the Eighth Amendment. In a June dissent joined by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Breyer said it is “highly likely” the death penalty is unconstitutional. Since then, Justice…

Nov 4, 2015 10:44 AM CST

9th Circuit panel vacates death row inmate’s conviction because of biased jury selection

An appellate court has tossed aside a 29-year-old guilty verdict and death sentence against an African-American inmate due to racial bias. The Sacramento Bee reported on Monday that a divided three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco has upheld a lower court ruling vacating…

Oct 27, 2015 12:30 PM CDT

Arizona asks FDA to return seized shipment of illegal execution drugs

Arizona’s attempt to import a lethal injection drug not approved for use in the U.S. was thwarted in July by federal agents who caught the shipment at the Phoenix airport, the Associated Press reports. The sodium thiopental had been used previously for executions in the U.S. but is no longer…

Oct 23, 2015 12:35 PM CDT

Death-row inmate seeking ‘spiritual freedom’ opts for statutory right to electric chair

Wayne Doty was already serving a life prison term for a 1996 murder when he and another man incarcerated at Florida State Prison in Raiford murdered a fellow inmate. That second murder, of a man accused of stealing a package of cigarettes, put Doty, now 42, on death row. After…

Oct 22, 2015 3:10 PM CDT

Better lawyering has caused drop in death sentences in Virginia, study author says

Capital sentencing hearings in Virginia are getting longer and the number of death sentences is getting lower. The author of a study released Monday suggests the two developments are linked, the Associated Press and UVA News report. University of Virginia law professor Brandon Garrett compared 21 capital murder trials held…

Oct 22, 2015 5:45 AM CDT

Supreme Court considers Florida’s advisory death penalty system, juvenile sentencing

Supreme Court justices expressed skepticism about Florida’s advisory system for determining capital punishment as they heard oral arguments in two sentencing cases on Tuesday. In the Florida case, a judge sentenced Timothy Lee Hurst to death for the 1998 murder of his fast-food co-worker after jurors found two aggravating circumstances…

Oct 14, 2015 10:49 AM CDT

Oklahoma used wrong drug in January execution, autopsy report suggests

Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin is delaying executions in the state after an autopsy report indicated that an inmate executed in January may have received the wrong execution drug. Fallin says “it became apparent” last week that one of the drugs used to execute Charles Frederick Warner was potassium acetate rather…

Oct 9, 2015 7:29 AM CDT

Scalia focuses on murder details during arguments in Kansas cases, notes Breyer’s capital views

During oral arguments on Wednesday, Justice Antonin Scalia focused on the details of a heinous murder and noted a colleague’s views questioning the constitutionality of capital punishment. Justices were considering two issues during oral arguments in the sentencing of brothers Reginald and Jonathan Carr, report the Washington Post, the New…

Oct 8, 2015 10:50 AM CDT

Supreme Court declines appeal citing juror’s racial slur in post-conviction affidavit

The U.S. Supreme Court has refused to consider whether the courts can consider a juror’s affidavit that uses a racial slur to describe the defendant who was sentenced to death in 1997. The court denied cert Monday in the case of death-row inmate Kenneth Fults, who contends he was deprived…

Oct 6, 2015 11:19 AM CDT

What’s wrong with executions? Breyer offers opinions; 6 capital convictions to be reviewed

Justice Stephen G. Breyer has a couple reasons why he wants to hear arguments from both sides on the constitutionality of capital punishment. Breyer called for briefing on the issue in a dissent, joined by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, in a June decision that upheld the use of the execution…

Oct 5, 2015 7:27 AM CDT

Virginia inmate is executed after judge rejects claim execution drug could be ineffective

A Virginia inmate was executed on Thursday after a judge rejected his claims about the efficacy of one of his execution drugs. Alfredo Prieto, who was convicted of three murders and linked to six others, had an “utterly painless death,” the Washington Post reports. In his last statement, Prieto thanked…

Oct 2, 2015 6:40 AM CDT

Inmate’s claim that Pennsylvania’s top justice should have recused himself gets SCOTUS review

The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to consider whether a death-row inmate’s constitutional rights were violated when Pennsylvania’s then-chief justice refused to recuse himself, despite approving the inmate’s capital prosecution as district attorney. The court granted cert on Thursday in the case of Terrance Williams, who says Chief Justice Ronald…

Oct 2, 2015 5:45 AM CDT