Death Penalty

Texas High Court Judge Defends Execution Order: We’re Not ‘Bloodthirsty’

The judge in charge of the case for death-row inmate Charles Dean Hood is defending a ruling made without input from defense lawyers that allowed the execution to proceed. “They said they needed one hour, but three hours later we had no response,” Judge Cheryl Johnson told the Austin American-Statesman.…

Jun 19, 2008 10:49 AM CDT

30-Day Execution Reprieve for Hood, But Judge’s Claimed Affair Not the Reason

It reportedly never has happened before in this state known for its many executions. But time was on Charles Dean Hood’s side last night as Texas officials waiting through an appeal-filled evening eventually decided to call off his lethal injection because of a lack of time to complete the execution…

Jun 18, 2008 7:39 PM CDT

Texas Judge Halts Planned 6 PM Execution, Appeals Court Overrules, Clock Ticks

Updated: Barely an hour before Charles Dean Hood was scheduled to be put to death by the state of Texas at 6 p.m. tonight, a Collin County judge withdrew his execution warrant, in the first of a series of dramatic developments as the evening progressed. Prosecutors immediately sought a reversal…

Jun 17, 2008 10:54 PM CDT

Texas Appeals Court Denies Habeas to Hood, Despite Judge’s Claimed Affair

Updated: As 10 legal ethics experts today protested the planned execution of a murderer convicted in a trial in which the judge allegedly was having a secret affair with a prosecutor, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has denied his habeas petition. In an order issued late in the day,…

Jun 17, 2008 12:13 AM CDT

Death-Row Inmate Claims Trial Judge Secretly Dated Prosecutor

A Texas death-row inmate scheduled to be executed on Tuesday claims in court papers that the judge who presided at his trial was secretly dating the prosecutor. The allegation was made in an appeal filed on behalf of Charles Dean Hood, convicted of a double murder in 1990, the Austin…

Jun 13, 2008 12:20 PM CDT

Ohio Judge Bars Executions Using Three-Drug Cocktail, Orders Substitute

Citing a state law, an Ohio judge has barred executions in the state using a three-drug cocktail similar to the one upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court. Judge James Burge of Elyria ordered the state to substitute a single large dose of barbiturate, the New York Times reports. The execution…

Jun 11, 2008 11:26 AM CDT

Judge Blames Guards, Not Inmate for Prison Bus Murder

Finding a prison inmate guilty but not criminally responsible today for strangling another inmate to death on a prison bus, a Maryland judge said the prison system should have been able to prevent the murder. Kevin Johns Jr., who was already serving time for murder, had faced a possible death…

Jun 9, 2008 8:04 PM CDT

35-Minute Delay in Execution of Inmate Who Said His Lawyer Wanted Him Dead

An inmate who claimed his lawyer said he deserved to die waited for 35 minutes yesterday while his executioners struggled to find a vein for his lethal injection. A vein was finally found and Curtis Osborne died 14 minutes later for killing two people in a dispute over $400, the…

Jun 5, 2008 11:35 AM CDT

Former FBI Chief Calls Death-Row Inmate’s Defense ‘Woefully Deficient’

Former FBI director William S. Sessions in an op-ed published today blasts the lawyer who represented death-row inmate Curtis Osborne. Osborne is scheduled to die tomorrow after a denial of his final bid for clemency by a Georgia pardons board. He was convicted of killing two people in a dispute…

Jun 3, 2008 4:01 PM CDT

Man Faces Beheading in Saudi Arabia for Swearing

A man who reportedly took God’s name in vain during an argument with a neighbor in Saudi Arabia is in prison and sentenced to be beheaded. “This nation is ruled by a strict Wahhabi brand of Islamic justice that doles out lashings and public beheadings for crimes including murder, rape…

May 29, 2008 11:17 PM CDT

Prison Chaplain to Texas Death Row Inmates Profiled in Documentary

A new documentary profiles a Texas prison chaplain who witnessed 95 executions. The Rev. Carroll Picket tells filmmakers he believes some of the men he counseled were innocent. His experiences led him to conclude the death penalty is not just or moral, the New York Times reports. He previously supported…

May 28, 2008 4:11 PM CDT

Capital Murder Trial Chronicled Via Twitter

Updated: Trial junkies following the high-profile prosecution of a Wichita man accused in the contract killing of a pregnant 14-year-old girl can get continual, brief updates at Twitter.com from a reporter covering the trial. Reporter Ron Sylvester is covering the trial of defendant Theodore Burnett for the Wichita Eagle, but…

May 15, 2008 5:49 PM CDT

Appeals Court Reviews Va. Lethal Injections, Considers ‘Excruciating Death’

A federal appeals court considered yesterday whether Virginia’s method of lethal injection is constitutional. The oral arguments before the Richmond, Va.-based 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals were the first to be held at the appellate level since the U.S. Supreme Court upheld Kentucky’s three-drug lethal injection cocktail in April,…

May 15, 2008 3:55 PM CDT

Justice Stevens, Considered Liberal, Joined Conservatives in Three Notable Opinions

Justice John Paul Stevens, appointed by a Republican, is regarded as one of the U.S. Supreme Court’s liberals. But he joined with conservatives in three of the court’s most recent high-profile opinions. Former Stevens clerk Joseph Thai told the Associated Press that he is beginning to wonder if Stevens is…

May 13, 2008 3:14 PM CDT

Cert Granted to Death Row Inmate Who Claims Shoddy Legal Work

The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear an appeal by a Virginia death row inmate who contends the federal courts improperly weighed his claim that his lawyer did a poor job representing him at sentencing. At issue is the level of deference that federal courts should give to state…

May 12, 2008 4:24 PM CDT