Death Penalty

Fla. Executions to Resume

A convicted child murderer is scheduled to be the first person put to death in Florida since the state suspended executions over concerns about its lethal injection procedure. Mark Schwab is scheduled for execution on Nov. 15, the New York Times reports. Gov. Charlie Crist signed the death warrant yesterday.…

Jul 19, 2007 2:54 PM CDT

Innocence Claim Delays Execution

Georgia’s parole board has granted a 90-day stay of execution for Troy Anthony Davis, who says he is innocent. Davis’ scheduled execution for shooting a policeman was less than 24 hours away when the board granted the reprieve, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. A press release says the board will evaluate…

Jul 17, 2007 2:45 PM CDT

St. Louis Prosecutor: Right Man Executed

Friends of Larry Griffin and death penalty opponents have been eagerly awaiting a report by the chief St. Louis prosecutor on whether Griffin was innocent of the 1980 murder for which he was executed in 1995. But now Chief Prosecutor Jennifer Joyce says the state of Missouri imposed the ultimate…

Jul 13, 2007 5:28 PM CDT

State’s Execution First in 60 Years

A death-row inmate who gave up his appeals died by lethal injection today, the first execution in South Dakota in 60 years. Elijah Page, 25, received the death sentence for murdering a robbery victim with the help of two accomplices in March 2000. (See this prior ABAJournal.com post for details.)…

Jul 12, 2007 2:14 PM CDT

HIV Death Sentences Affirmed

The Libyan Supreme Court has rejected the results of an investigation that found unsanitary hospital medical conditions are to blame for the infection of more than 400 children with the AIDS virus. The court affirmed death sentences for five nurses and a physician convicted of charges they intentionally infected the…

Jul 11, 2007 4:12 PM CDT

Death Penalty for ‘Most Prolific’ LA Killer

Updated: A pizza deliveryman and convicted rapist who reportedly has murdered more victims than any other serial killer in Los Angeles history was sentenced to death today. Chester Turner, 40, received a capital sentence from Superior Court Judge William Pounders, who ratified a jury’s death penalty recommendation and told him…

Jul 10, 2007 10:09 PM CDT

Celebrities Support Convicted Killer

The upcoming execution of a man who says he was wrongly convicted of killing a police officer has drawn international attention. Courts have refused to allow death-row inmate Troy Anthony Davis to present new evidence, even though seven of nine prosecution witnesses who implicated him have renounced much of their…

Jul 10, 2007 5:26 PM CDT

China Executes Ex-Drug Chief

China has executed the former director of its Food and Drug Administration for taking bribes to approve medicines. Zheng Xiaoyu was convicted of taking cash and gifts worth more than $800,000 to approve untested medicine, according to the Associated Press. He oversaw the food and drug agency from 1998 to…

Jul 10, 2007 1:22 PM CDT

First S.D. Execution in 60 Years Set

An inmate who has asked to die is set to become the first person to be executed in South Dakota in 60 years. Elijah Page, 25, received the death sentence for murdering a robbery victim with two accomplices in March 2000, the Associated Press reports. Prosecutors claimed the two men…

Jul 6, 2007 3:41 PM CDT

China Drug Official Gets Death

A second Chinese food and drug official has been sentenced to death for accepting bribes from medical companies seeking approval for their products. The sentence against Cao Wenzhuang, a department director at the State Food and Drug Administration, may not be carried out, the Associated Press reports. Cao was given…

Jul 6, 2007 3:19 PM CDT

Thomas Calls Holding ‘Half-baked’

A federal district court will have to sort out the details of yesterday’s 5-4 Supreme Court ruling in the case of a mentally ill death-row inmate. The court will have to consider whether Scott Panetti, who thinks the state of Texas wants to executive him for preaching the gospel, has…

Jun 29, 2007 4:10 PM CDT

Court Clarifies Execution Standard

Updated: The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that a federal appeals court used an “improperly restrictive test” when it ruled that a mentally delusional death-row inmate could be put to death. The 5-4 decision blocks the execution of Scott Panetti, Associated Press reports. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals…

Jun 28, 2007 6:44 PM CDT

Did Missouri Execute an Innocent Man?

A dozen years after Larry Griffin was executed, despite his continuing proclaimations of innocence, by the state of Missouri, there are major unanswered questions about whether he was actually guilty of the 1980 drive-by shooting he was convicted of committing. After a University of Michigan law professor brought to light…

Jun 26, 2007 8:35 PM CDT

Lone N.J. Juror Can Decide Retardation

The New Jersey Supreme Court ruled yesterday that a defendant may not receive a death sentence if at least one juror finds he is mentally retarded. The court said the finding must be made in a sentencing hearing after a guilty verdict, the New York Times reports. The court said…

Jun 19, 2007 3:13 PM CDT

‘Mockingbird’ Legacy: Remembrance of Racist Times Past

Although it is a novel, rather than non-fiction, Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird” has, perhaps more than any other book, impressed into the minds of many a consciousness of the racist justice system that characterized the segregated American south for much of the last century. An instant best-seller after…

Jun 13, 2007 9:53 PM CDT