death penalty

A new report by a think tank examining executions in the United States says death penalty cases show a long history of racial disparity, from who is executed to where and for what crimes.

Iran’s state TV is reporting that the country’s authorities have executed a wrestler for allegedly murdering a man

A Texas inmate with a history of violence against women was executed Wednesday evening for fatally shooting his wife, who had feared she would never get out of her marriage alive. John Gardner, 64, received a lethal injection at 6:30 p.m. CST at the state penitentiary in Huntsville for the January 2005 slaying of Tammy Gardner. Prosecutors said the couple…

A man sentenced to death for killing a Texas couple camping in Oklahoma nearly 20 years ago won a chance on Monday to prove he should be spared the death penalty over questions about why his lawyer didn’t tell jurors of the client’s brain damage. The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver ordered that a federal court in...

Japan executed its first foreigner in 10 years on Thursday, a Chinese man convicted in the 2003 murder and robbery of a family of four. Wei Wei, 40, was hanged Thursday at a detention center in Fukuoka where he had been on death row for more than 16 years, Justice Minister Masako Mori said. Wei was convicted of robbing and…

A Mississippi man whose murder conviction was overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court for racial bias was released from custody Monday for the first time in 22 years. Curtis Flowers walked out of the regional jail in Louisville hours after a judge set his bond at $250,000. A person who wanted to remain anonymous posted $25,000, the 10% needed to…

Fewer than 30 people were executed in the United States and under 50 new death sentences were imposed for the fifth straight year, part of a continuing decline in capital punishment that saw only a few states carry out executions, a new report issued Tuesday said. But even as death row populations were dropping in most of the 29 states…

The Supreme Court on Friday blocked the Trump administration from restarting federal executions next week after a 16-year break. The justices denied the administration’s plea to undo a lower court ruling in favor of inmates who have been given execution dates. The first of those had been scheduled for Monday, with a second set for Friday. Two more inmates...

A perplexed prospective juror at the trial of a former graduate student charged with kidnapping and killing a University of Illinois scholar from China said during jury selection last week that she didn’t understand how a conviction could carry the death penalty in Illinois when the state struck capital punishment from its statutes years ago.

A perplexed prospective juror at the trial of a former graduate student charged with kidnapping and killing a University of Illinois scholar from China said during jury selection last week that she didn’t understand how a conviction could carry the death penalty in Illinois when the state struck capital punishment from its statutes years ago.

The former University of Illinois physics student accused of kidnapping and killing a visiting scholar from China will face trial in April 2019.

A prosecutor says he plans to seek the death penalty for a man arrested in the fatal shootings of five women at a Florida bank last month. State Attorney Brian Haas said at a news conference Friday that he had reached the “unquestionable conclusion” that he should seek the death penalty against 21-year-old Zephen Xaver. Haas also said a grand...

Some drugs obtained for the first lethal injection in Nevada since 2006 will expire before the state Supreme Court decides whether to approve their use, officials said Friday.

Seth Meyers takes a closer look at the Republicans’ proposed tax cut bill, as well as President Donald Trump’s “death penalty tweet.”