Death Penalty

High court says later-decided case was wrongly used to exempt inmate from death penalty

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday said a federal appeals court wrongly relied on the high court’s 2017 decision on mental disability when it ruled an Ohio death-row inmate was not eligible for the death penalty.

Jan 7, 2019 2:05 PM CST

Death sentences, executions stay low for fourth straight year, report says

For the fourth year in a row, U.S. courts imposed fewer than 50 new death sentences and states performed fewer than 30 executions in 2018, according to a year-end report from the Death Penalty Information Center.

Dec 17, 2018 7:00 AM CST

Execution transcript shows inmate asked, ‘Is it supposed to feel like that?’ after drug flowed

The Death Penalty Information Center is calling for the release of more information on the drug used to execute a South Dakota inmate whose last words were, “Is it supposed to feel like that?” The state released a transcript Tuesday of the words spoken during the Oct. 29 execution of…

Nov 15, 2018 12:58 PM CST

Justices clash in death-penalty cases; Thomas concurrence highlights brutal murders

Justice Clarence Thomas clashed with Justice Stephen G. Breyer on Tuesday when the U.S. Supreme Court denied cert in seven death-penalty cases. Justice Sonia Sotomayor dissented from the cert denial, but Thomas didn’t take her to task for urging the Supreme Court to hear the cases. Instead, Thomas referred repeatedly…

Nov 13, 2018 3:27 PM CST

Supreme Court mandate on disability standards for death penalty was ignored, ABA amicus brief argues

The American Bar Association filed an amicus brief Thursday in the case of a defendant who’s at the U.S. Supreme Court for a second time, arguing that a lower court flouted the high court's prior decision.

Nov 8, 2018 6:06 PM CST

Bias in jury selection is back before Supreme Court; is ‘OJ strategy’ a Batson violation?

Lawyers for two death-row inmates are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to decide questions of racial bias in jury selection. Last Friday, the court accepted the case of Curtis Flowers, a black Mississippi inmate who has been tried six times for a 1996 quadruple murder at a furniture store, according…

Nov 7, 2018 12:07 PM CST

Inmate executed in electric chair after Supreme Court rejects stay; Sotomayor dissents

On Thursday, Edmund Zagorski became the first person in five years to die by the electric chair in the United States. Zagorski was executed for the murders of two men who planned to buy marijuana from him, report the Washington Post and the Tennessean. The U.S. Supreme Court denied a…

Nov 2, 2018 9:52 AM CDT

Man who built electric chair for Thursday execution had no engineering credentials

The man who built the electric chair that is set to be used Thursday in a Tennessee execution is worried the device will malfunction. Fred Leuchter promoted himself as an engineer, but he has no engineering degree or license, the Associated Press reports. His background came to light after he…

Nov 1, 2018 12:09 PM CDT

Sotomayor expresses ‘deep concern’ about failure to preserve tape in appeal hinging on one word

Justice Sonia Sotomayor on Monday issued a statement expressing “deep concern” over an Alabama judge’s failure to preserve an original recording of his disputed jury instruction in a capital case. Sotomayor said she agreed with the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to deny certiorari in the case of Tawuan Townes because…

Oct 29, 2018 12:58 PM CDT

Washington Supreme Court strikes down state death penalty as racially biased

The Washington Supreme Court has ruled the state’s death penalty violates the state constitution because it is "imposed in an arbitrary and racially biased manner."

Oct 11, 2018 12:34 PM CDT

Supreme Court considers whether prisoner with dementia and no memory of his crime should be executed

The Supreme Court granted full review of Alabama death row prisoner Vernon Madison’s case. The issue is whether the Eighth Amendment and relevant court precedents permit a state to execute someone who whose mental disability leaves him without memory of his commission of the capital offense, and whether evolving standards of decency bar the execution of a prisoner whose competency has been compromised by vascular dementia and multiple strokes.

Oct 1, 2018 1:35 AM CDT

Would Pope’s rejection of death penalty have changed Scalia’s opinion?

Cardinal Blase Cupich of Chicago told American Bar Association members that if Justice Antonin Scalia, a devout Catholic, had lived to hear the pope’s death penalty proclamation, he might have reconsidered his position supporting capital punishment.

Oct 1, 2018 12:35 AM CDT

Chemerinsky: Another blockbuster Supreme Court term is ahead

At this point, review has not been granted in any cases involving abortion rights, affirmative action, campaign finance law, or gay and lesbian rights. But there are potentially important rulings about many different areas of law.

Sep 26, 2018 6:00 AM CDT

The right age to die? For some, science outpaces the Supreme Court on juveniles, death penalty

When 15-year-old Luis Cruz joined the Latin Kings in 1991, he was a child by almost any measure: he couldn’t legally drive, drop out of school, or buy a beer. But was he still a child a few years later when—just months after he turned 18—he murdered two people on the orders of gang leaders?

Aug 14, 2018 3:00 PM CDT

First execution using fentanyl carried out after 8th Circuit rejects appeal

Nebraska inmate Carey Dean Moore became the first person to be executed with the drug fentanyl on Tuesday after a federal appeals court rejected a drug company’s challenge to two other drugs used in the four-drug lethal cocktail. Moore, 60, was executed for killing two cab drivers in 1997, report…

Aug 14, 2018 1:44 PM CDT