execution

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South Carolina Executes Another by Firing Squad

Mikal Mahdi is the second in 5 weeks

(Newser) - A firing squad on Friday executed a South Carolina man who killed an off-duty police officer, the second time the rare execution method has been used by the state in the past five weeks. Details, via the AP :
  • Mikal Mahdi, 42, gave no final statement and did not look to
...

Florida Executes Man Who Killed Miami Herald Employee

Michael Tanzi apologized to Janet Acosta's family in his final statement

(Newser) - Florida has executed a man who kidnapped, raped, and murdered a Miami Herald employee 25 years ago. Michael Tanzi, whose lawyers had argued that he was too obese for lethal injection to work, was pronounced dead at 6:12pm Tuesday following a three-drug injection at Florida State Prison, the AP...

Oklahoma Execution Is Third of the Week in US
Florida Execution Is
4th of the Week in US
UPDATED
Mar 21, 2025 12:00 AM CDT

Florida Execution Is 4th of the Week in US

Florida executes man on same day Oklahoma carried out another death sentence

(Newser) - A busy week of executions continued across the nation on Thursday, the latest two in Oklahoma and Florida:
  • Oklahoma: The state on Thursday morning executed 56-year-old Wendell Grissom, who fatally shot a woman during a robbery of her home 20 years ago. Grissom received a lethal injection at the Oklahoma
...

Canada Says China Has Executed 4 Canadians

Dual citizens were executed this year despite top-level pleas for leniency, Canada's foreign minister says

(Newser) - Canada's foreign affairs minister says China executed four Canadian citizens earlier this year despite the intervention of herself and former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Mélanie Joly said the four Canadians were dual citizens and faced "charges linked to criminal activities, according to China, linked to drugs,"...

Man Will Be First in 8 Years Executed Under a Blue Governor
Arizona Executes First
Inmate in Two Years
UPDATED
Mar 19, 2025 1:32 PM CDT

Arizona Executes First Inmate in Two Years

Aaron Brian Gunches received lethal injection

(Newser) - An Arizona man who kidnapped and murdered his girlfriend's ex-husband was executed Wednesday, the second of four prisoners scheduled to be put to death this week in the US, per the AP . Aaron Brian Gunches, 53, was lethally injected with pentobarbital at the Arizona State Prison Complex in the...

Louisiana Carries Out First Execution With Nitrogen Gas

Jessie Hoffman Jr. is first person state has executed in 15 years

(Newser) - Louisiana used nitrogen gas to put a man to death Tuesday evening for a killing decades ago, marking the first time the state has used the method as it resumed executions after a 15-year hiatus. Jessie Hoffman Jr., 46, was pronounced dead at 6:50pm at the Louisiana State Penitentiary,...

South Carolina Executes Prisoner via Firing Squad

Brad Sigmon, 67, chose the rarely used method

(Newser) - South Carolina executed death row inmate Brad Sigmon on Friday, going through with the nation's first execution by firing squad in 15 years.
  • Brad Sigmon, 67, did not receive a last-minute reprieve from the governor or the Supreme Court. He was pronounced dead at 6:08pm Eastern, reports the
...

Experts on SC's New Firing Squad: 'It's Going to Be Traumatic'

They're concerned about ricochets, dangerous fumes, hearing damage, and 'gore'

(Newser) - Witnesses to South Carolina's planned firing squad execution of convicted killer Brad Sigmon, the first of its kind in the state, will watch Friday from behind "bullet-resistant" glass. But experts nonetheless fear ricochets are possible, along with hearing damage and exposure to dangerous fumes, NPR reports. According to...

How SC's Firing Squad Execution Will Happen

3 volunteers will fire rifles at Brad Sigmon, strapped to a chair with a hood over his head

(Newser) - When a South Carolina man who killed his ex-girlfriend's parents with a baseball bat steps into the death row chamber Friday night, it won't be lethal injection or electrocution that ends his life. It will be three people holding rifles about 15 feet away who will complete his...

Feds Send Inmate to Oklahoma for Execution

Convicted killer George John Hanson had been serving a life sentence in federal prison

(Newser) - Federal prison officials transferred an inmate to Oklahoma custody so that he can be executed for a 1999 killing, following through on President Trump's sweeping executive order to more actively support the death penalty. George John Hanson, 60, was moved from a federal prison in Louisiana to the Oklahoma...

2 Men Executed an Hour Apart
2 Men Executed,
One Hour Apart
Feb 14, 2025 1:00 AM CST

2 Men Executed, One Hour Apart

Richard Lee Tabler executed in Texas after James Dennis Ford put to death in Florida

(Newser) - Texas and Florida both carried out executions Thursday night, about an hour apart:
  • In Florida, James Dennis Ford was put to death via lethal injection, USA Today reports. In 1997, Ford invited his co-worker Gregory Malnory and Malnory's wife, Kimberly, on a fishing trip to a sod farm. They
...

Alabama Carries Out Nation's 4th Nitrogen Gas Execution

Man was also convicted of a murder in Michigan

(Newser) - An Alabama man convicted of murdering a woman after breaking into her apartment as she slept was put to death Thursday evening in the nation's fourth execution using nitrogen gas, the AP reports. Demetrius Frazier, 52, was pronounced dead at 6:36pm at a south Alabama prison for his...

Texas Executes Man Who Robbed, Killed Pastor

Steven Lawayne Nelson died by lethal injection

(Newser) - A Texas man convicted of beating and suffocating a Dallas-area pastor in his church during a robbery was put to death Wednesday evening, the second execution in the US this year and the first of four scheduled in Texas over the next three months, the AP reports. Steven Lawayne Nelson,...

Trump Signs Death Penalty Order
Trump Signs
Death Penalty Order
Jan 21, 2025 1:00 AM CST

Trump Signs Death Penalty Order

He directs attorney general to help states get lethal injection drugs

(Newser) - President Trump signed a sweeping execution order Monday on the death penalty that directs the attorney general to "take all necessary and lawful action" to ensure that states have enough lethal injection drugs to carry out executions, the AP reports. Trump's order, coming just hours after he returned...

Inmate Asks Court to Block Nitrogen Gas Execution

Demetrius Frazier's lawyers want Alabama to change protocol for this form of capital punishment

(Newser) - Attorneys for an Alabama inmate scheduled to be the fourth person put to death with nitrogen gas asked a federal judge on Wednesday to block the execution, arguing the first three inmates showed signs of suffering from suffocation as the gas flowed. Demetrius Terrence Frazier, 52, is scheduled to be...

Death Row Inmate Asks to Expedite His Execution

State high court rejects Aaron Gunches' request for Valentine's Day, but it could happen in March

(Newser) - Aaron Gunches doesn't want to waste any more time. The death row inmate in Arizona, convicted of murdering his girlfriend's ex more than two decades ago, put in a handwritten request on New Year's Eve to the state's Supreme Court to circumvent the legal wrangling and...

Oklahoma Carries Out Nation's Last Execution of 2024

Kevin Underwood killed 10-year-old girl, planned to eat her

(Newser) - An Oklahoma man who killed a 10-year-old girl in a cannibalistic fantasy died by lethal injection Thursday in the nation's 25th and final execution of the year. Kevin Ray Underwood was pronounced dead at 10:14am at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester, state Department of Corrections spokesperson Lance...

Indiana Carries Out Its First Execution in 15 Years

Joseph Corcoran was put to death without witnesses from media

(Newser) - An Indiana man convicted of killing four people including his brother and his sister's fiancé decades ago was put to death Wednesday, without any independent witness, marking the state's first execution in 15 years , the AP reports. Joseph Corcoran, 49, was pronounced dead at 12:44am CST at...

Missouri Is Running Out of Inmates to Execute

There are now just 8 condemned inmates in state, down from nearly 100 in 1997

(Newser) - Missouri's status as one of the most active death penalty states is about to change for one simple reason: The state is running out of inmates to execute. The lethal injection of Christopher Collings on Dec. 3 left just eight men on death row—a figurative term since condemned...

Indiana Preps for an Execution After 15-Year Pause

Joseph Corcoran's execution is scheduled for Wednesday

(Newser) - Indiana officials are preparing to execute the state's first death row inmate in 15 years, a man who was convicted a quarter-century ago of killing his brother and three other men, the AP reports. Joseph Corcoran, 49, has been on Indiana's death row since 1999. If he is...

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