death penalty

Washington State Strikes Down Death Penalty, Citing Racial Bias

6:12pm October 11, 2018

by Merrit Kennedy

"We are confident that the association between race and the death penalty is not attributed to random chance," the state's supreme court justices wrote in a majority opinion.

Convicted murderer Carey Dean Moore did not put up a legal challenge to the execution protocol.

National

Nebraska Carries Out 1st Execution Using Fentanyl In U.S.

2:23pm August 14, 2018

by Merrit Kennedy

A federal three-judge panel denied a drug company's request to halt the execution of Carey Dean Moore over concerns about whether the state obtained the drugs improperly.

Pope Francis, shown here in May, has previously spoken out against the death penalty.

Catholic Church Now Formally Opposes Death Penalty In All Cases

11:40am August 02, 2018

by Merrit Kennedy

It's a shift for the church, which used to consider the death penalty an "acceptable, albeit extreme, means of safeguarding the common good" in response to certain crimes.

Nevada death row inmate Scott Dozier, shown here during a 2017 court appearance, was scheduled to be executed on Wednesday night but the execution was postponed indefinitely.

National

Nevada Postpones Planned Execution Using Fentanyl

9:48pm July 11, 2018

by Merrit Kennedy

Convicted murderer Scott Dozier has clearly and repeatedly stated that he wants to be put to death. It would be the first use of fentanyl in an execution in the U.S.

Walter Leroy Moody, seen in a photo provided by the Alabama Department of Corrections, targeted the NAACP and the federal court system with bombs in 1989.

National

Alabama Serial Bomber Walter Leroy Moody, 83, To Be Executed Thursday

6:05pm April 19, 2018

by Bill Chappell

Moody killed a federal judge at his home in Alabama and a civil rights attorney at his office in Georgia. He would be the oldest U.S. inmate executed since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976.

President Trump speaks about his plan to address the opioid crisis at an event at Manchester Community College in Manchester, N.H., on Monday.

President Trump Vows To 'Liberate' U.S. From Opioid Crisis

5:53pm March 19, 2018

by Scott Horsley

Trump traveled to New Hampshire on Monday to outline his plans to combat opioid addiction. New Hampshire's death rate from opioid overdoses is twice the national average.

The gurney in the the execution chamber at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester, Okla.

National

Oklahoma Plans To Use Nitrogen For Executions

3:24pm March 15, 2018

by Merrit Kennedy

After having trouble obtaining drugs needed for lethal injections, state officials plan to change the primary method of execution to nitrogen gas inhalation. It would be a first for a U.S. state.

The Broward County state attorney will seek the death penalty in its case against Nikolas Cruz, who is charged with 17 counts of murder in the Parkland, Fla., shooting. Cruz is seen here at a hearing Feb. 19 in Fort Lauderdale.

National

Florida State Attorney Will Seek Death Penalty For Parkland Shooting Suspect

9:10pm March 13, 2018

by Laurel Wamsley

Nikolas Cruz, 19, has already been charged with 17 counts of murder in the shootings at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. Public defenders had sought to avoid a trial by having Cruz plead guilty.

There were 23 executions in 2017, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. Over the past 25 years, only last year's total, 20, was lower.

National

Use Of The Death Penalty In U.S. Near A 25-Year Low, Report Finds

5:28pm December 14, 2017

Executions of death row inmates occurred in only eight states in 2017 as public support for capital punishment wanes, according to an annual report by the Death Penalty Information Center.

Florida State Attorney Aramis Ayala answers questions during a news conference Friday in Orlando, Fla.

National

After Losing In Court, Florida Anti-Death-Penalty Prosecutor Charts Way Forward

7:00pm September 01, 2017

by Merrit Kennedy

After Florida's Supreme Court said the governor could reassign her first-degree-murder cases, State Attorney Aramis Ayala said she respects the decision and announced new review measures.