Death Penalty News
November 13, 2009 - The Associated Press
DC council defiant of Catholic Church's pressure to be exempt from gay marriage proposal
The Catholic Archdiocese of Washington wants the city to change its proposal to legalize same-sex marriages to exempt the church from the law, but so far city council members aren't budging.
November 13, 2009 - The Plain Dealer
Ohio to use untested one-drug method to execute death row inmates
Ohio will soon become the only state to execute inmates using just a massive dose of sedative, a procedure that has never been tested on human beings.
November 11, 2009 - Los Angeles Times
Death penalty is considered a boon by some California inmates
White supremacist gang hit man Billy Joe Johnson got what he asked for from the Orange County jury that convicted him of first-degree murder last month: a death sentence.
October 21, 2009 - NPR
Former Texas governor rethinks death penalty
MELISSA BLOCK, host: A former Texas governor is making news by raising doubts about the death penalty. Democrat Mark White was governor from 1983 to '87, then a strong death penalty supporter who oversaw 19 executions. Now he's rethinking capital punishment and he joins us from Houston to explain why.
October 20, 2009 - The New York Times
One reporter’s lonely beat, witnessing executions
Of all the consequences of shrinking newsrooms, one of the oddest is this: Fewer journalists are available to watch people die.
October 20, 2009 - Dayton Daily News
Death penalty not efficient, police chiefs say
American police chiefs support the death penalty in principle, but don’t think it’s an efficient use of taxpayer money or a valuable tool for reducing violent crime, according to a nationwide poll to be released today, Oct. 20.
October 19, 2009 - The New York Times
Judge delays another Ohio execution
CINCINNATI — A federal judge has indefinitely delayed an execution scheduled for Dec. 8, the fourth execution to be postponed in Ohio since technicians failed for two hours last month to administer lethal drugs to a man convicted of murder and rape.
October 15, 2009 - The Wall Street Journal
Lethal injection draws scrutiny in some states
Despite the many arguments over whether criminals should be put to death, states thought they had settled at least one matter: the best way to carry out an execution.
October 10, 2009 - The Christian Science Monitor
Europeans press the US to end the death penalty
The United States does not often find itself in a league with China, Iran, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia.
October 6, 2009 - The Associated Press
Ohio considering bone, muscle for lethal injection
Ohio is considering injecting lethal drugs into inmates' bone marrow or muscles as an alternative to — or a backup for — the traditional intravenous execution procedure, a prisons department spokeswoman said Tuesday.
September 29, 2009 - The Columbus Dispatch
Freeze on lethal injections sought
The ghosts of problem executions past combined with an aborted attempt two weeks ago are haunting state prison officials as death-penalty foes argue that Ohio's lethal injections should be halted, at least temporarily.
September 24, 2009 - The Associated Press
Other death penalty states watching appeal of Ark. lethal injection case
ST. LOUIS - An attorney for four Arkansas death row inmates who are challenging the state's lethal injection procedure told a federal appeals court panel Thursday that even with new methods in place, the process can cause pain and suffering.
September 17, 2009 - The New York Times
Inmate will testify about failed execution
CINCINNATI — Two days after the execution of a convicted rapist-murderer was halted when technicians were unable to inject him with lethal drugs, a federal judge ordered Thursday that the inmate be deposed for a federal lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of Ohio’s lethal injection procedure.
September 2, 2009 - Los Angeles Times
Californians' support for death penalty waning
A majority of Californians still favor the death penalty, but their support has waned from 79% to 66% over the last two decades as fears of executing the wrongly convicted escalate, a researcher reported Tuesday.
August 18, 2009 - The Indianapolis Star
Activists again seek moratorium on death penalty in Indiana
Indiana hasn't executed a prisoner for more than two years, and a slowdown in new death sentences has resulted in a dwindling Death Row.
August 13, 2009 - The New York Times
Judges’ Dissents for Death Row Inmates Are Rising
It took just 80 words for a federal appeals court to deny Kevin Cooper’s most recent plea to avoid execution.
August 10, 2009 - The Associated Press
Nebraska consulting with other states on death penalty
Nebraska officials have obtained advice from execution experts in Kentucky and Texas on a protocol to carry out the state's new lethal-injection law, and say they could have a proposal by this fall.
June 30, 2009 - The Associated Press
Public comments on Calif. lethal injection proposal
More than 100 speakers lined up Tuesday for their chance to weigh in on California's new proposed rules for executing condemned inmates at a state hearing that quickly morphed into a debate over the morality and practicality of capital punishment.
May 28, 2009 - The Associated Press
Nebraska governor signs lethal-injection bill
Nebraska will replace "Old Sparky" with lethal injection by this fall, but the state remains several years away from carrying out its first execution in more than a decade.
May 18, 2009 - The Columbus Dispatch
Role of EMTs in executions criticized
When the state carries out a death sentence, intermediate-level emergency medical technicians deliver the fatal drugs to condemned prisoners.
May 3, 2009 - Deseret News
Utah bucking U.S. death penalty trend
While many states are trading the death penalty for life sentences to save millions in tax dollars, the Utah Attorney General's Office is pushing to strengthen the state's ultimate punishment by limiting the appeals process.
April 27, 2009 - The New York Times
Issue of Execution and the Retarded Returns to Supreme Court
It does not bode well for a death row inmate when his lawyer must spend the bulk of a Supreme Court argument fending off combative questions from two of the court’s most liberal justices.
March 19, 2009 - Salt Lake Tribune
New Mexico governor abolishes capital punishment
Gov. Bill Richardson, who has supported capital punishment, signed legislation to repeal New Mexico's death penalty, calling it the "most difficult decision in my political life."
March 7, 2009 - The Associated Press
To execute or not: A question of cost?
After decades of moral arguments reaching biblical proportions, after long, twisted journeys to the nation's highest court and back, the death penalty may be abandoned by several states for a reason having nothing to do with right or wrong: Money.
March 5, 2009 - The Washington Post
O'Malley Set To Move on as Death Penalty Repeal Sinks
Gov. Martin O'Malley is preparing to move forward with regulations to allow executions to resume in Maryland now that his effort to repeal the death penalty appears to have failed, a spokesman said yesterday.
February 25, 2009 - The New York Times
Citing cost, states in U.S. consider halting death penalty
When Governor Martin O'Malley appeared before the Maryland Senate last week, he made an unconventional argument that is becoming increasingly popular in cash-strapped states: abolish the death penalty to cut costs.
February 17, 2009 - The Associated Press
Md. governor asks faith leaders to help end death penalty
Gov. Martin O'Malley said Monday his effort to get the votes to repeal capital punishment in Maryland "is not done," and he asked the religious community to help by petitioning lawmakers facing a difficult decision.
February 12, 2009 - The Associated Press
Economic argument gives death penalty opponents more ammunition as states face money crunch
The well-spoken guys in business suits with the firm handshakes don't stand out from countless other lobbyists jamming the state Capitol until you hear where they used to live: death row.
February 4, 2009 - The New York Times
Science Found Wanting in Nation's Crime Labs
Forensic evidence that has helped convict thousands of defendants for nearly a century is often the product of shoddy scientific practices that should be upgraded and standardized, according to accounts of a draft report by the nation’s pre-eminent scientific research group.
February 3, 2009 - Time
The Tide Shifts Against the Death Penalty
If there were such a thing as a golden age of capital punishment in America, it peaked in 1999.
January 4, 2009 - Kansas City Star
2008 decline in U.S. executions has states reflecting on capital punishment
Death penalty proponents and opponents agree on at least one thing.
December 30, 2008 - The News & Observer
In N.C., death penalty gets rarer
North Carolina will finish this year with just one defendant sentenced to death, a record low since the penalty was reinstated 31 years ago.
December 25, 2008 - The Associated Press
Wash. prison doctor resigns over executions
The head doctor of the Washington Department of Corrections has resigned to avoid an ethical conflict over a pending state execution.
December 11, 2008 - The Associated Press
Report: U.S. executions, death sentences on decline
New death sentences in the United States were at or near a three-decade low this year and the number of people executed will be the lowest since 1994, according to a new report.
November 22, 2008 - Los Angeles Times
New death penalty rules rejected by California court
Death penalty opponents and the attorneys for two condemned men at San Quentin won another round in their quest to delay executions in California when a state appeals court on Friday held that newly revised rules for administering lethal injections are illegal.
November 19, 2008 - The Associated Press
Lawyers face dilemma when inmates seek death
John Delaney faced the toughest moment of his legal career — his condemned client wanted to drop his appeals and die by injection, an act Delaney opposed and had been trained to try to prevent.
November 13, 2008 - The Associated Press
Md. governor renews call for death penalty ban
He urges lawmakers to take 'fresh look' at issue after panel's recommendation.
October 21, 2008 - The Washington Post
Two Justices Clash Over Race and Death Penalty
The sensitive issue of race and the death penalty triggered an unusual public debate yesterday between two Supreme Court justices.
October 7, 2008 - The Associated Press
Missouri: Lawsuit challenges execution procedures
A group of inmates, families, clergy and lawmakers asked the state’s highest court Tuesday to toss out Missouri’s roughly 2-year-old execution protocols.
October 2, 2008 - The Washington Post
High Court Will Not Reconsider Decision on Child Rape
The Supreme Court today declined to revisit its June decision that it is unconstitutional to impose the death penalty on child rapists, although two justices said they would have reopened the case and two others sharply criticized the majority.
August 15, 2008 - The Associated Press
Doctor behind executions speaks out
He owns three Harleys, is a self-described staunch Roman Catholic — and has helped kill dozens of men. Dr. Alan Doerhoff calls himself the "world's authority on lethal injection."
July 24, 2008 - The Associated Press
New lawsuit seeks to stop executions in Missouri
Inmates, families, clergy and legislators claimed in a lawsuit filed Thursday that Missouri’s method of lethal injection violates state law.
July 11, 2008 - The Washington Post
Carter Attorney General to Head Panel on Death Penalty
Gov. Martin O'Malley tapped a former U.S. attorney general yesterday to lead a panel examining Maryland's death penalty, opening another chapter in the state's long-running legal and political drama over the issue.
July 1, 2008 - Los Angeles Times
California's death penalty process is 'dysfunctional,' panel finds
The time from sentencing to execution is twice the national average. A state commission says delays undermine the system and recommends more sentences of life without parole instead.
June 30, 2008 - The Washington Post
Opinion: A Death Penalty Puzzle
The Murky Evidence for and Against Deterrence
June 28, 2008 - The Associated Press
Illinois urged to get out of death-penalty limbo
When then-Gov. George Ryan took the extraordinary step of emptying Illinois' death row over fears that an innocent person could be executed, he urged lawmakers to reform the death penalty.
June 26, 2008 - The Washington Times
Louisiana vows to nullify child-rape ruling
Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal said he will seek to enact laws that would invalidate Wednesday's U.S. Supreme Court ruling that struck down the death penalty for raping a child.
June 26, 2008 - The Washington Post
High Court Rejects Death For Child Rape
The Supreme Court ruled yesterday that it is unconstitutional to execute someone who rapes a child, issuing a broad decision that reserves the death penalty for murderers and those who commit crimes against the state.
June 25, 2008 - The Associated Press
Supreme Court Rejects Death Penalty for Child Rape
The Supreme Court on Wednesday struck down a law that allows the execution of people convicted of a raping a child.
June 11, 2008 - The New York Times
Judge Orders Ohio to Alter Its Method of Execution
Ohio must stop using a common combination of three chemicals to execute condemned inmates because they may produce excruciating pain, a state court judge there ruled Tuesday.
