The Supreme Court has tossed out a lower court ruling that nullified the death sentence for former Black Panther Mumia Abu-Jamal, who was convicted of gunning down a Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, police officer more than 28 years ago.
Use of capital punishment by states continues its steady decline, with fewer death sentences handed down in 2009 than any year since the death penalty was reinstated by the Supreme Court in 1976.
A province in northeastern China has become the first to execute convicts by injection, rather than gunshot, state-run media reported Friday.
An Ohio inmate, convicted of killing and dismembering a 22-year-old woman in 1991, was executed Tuesday using a new, untested one-drug method of lethal injection, state officials said.
Two Supreme Court justices engaged in a late-night exchange of harsh words before the execution early Wednesday of a convicted Tennessee killer who had been sitting on death row for nearly three decades.
A federal appeals court on Wednesday granted Ohio's request to resume scheduled executions next month when the state will use a new, untested one-drug method of lethal injection.
A jury sentenced an Arkansas man to life in prison without parole for killing a television anchor, officials said Thursday.
Justice fell short with the execution of Washington-area sniper John Allen Muhammad, one of his victims' survivors said after witnessing his death by lethal injection.
At 678, California has the nation's largest death row population, yet the state has not executed anyone in four years.
An attorney for convicted Washington-area sniper John Allen Muhammad, who is scheduled to be executed November 10, will seek clemency from Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine on October 22.
The Supreme Court has tossed out a lower court ruling that nullified the death sentence for former Black Panther Mumia Abu-Jamal, who was convicted of gunning down a Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, police officer more than 28 years ago.
Use of capital punishment by states continues its steady decline, with fewer death sentences handed down in 2009 than any year since the death penalty was reinstated by the Supreme Court in 1976.
A province in northeastern China has become the first to execute convicts by injection, rather than gunshot, state-run media reported Friday.
An Ohio inmate, convicted of killing and dismembering a 22-year-old woman in 1991, was executed Tuesday using a new, untested one-drug method of lethal injection, state officials said.
Two Supreme Court justices engaged in a late-night exchange of harsh words before the execution early Wednesday of a convicted Tennessee killer who had been sitting on death row for nearly three decades.
A federal appeals court on Wednesday granted Ohio's request to resume scheduled executions next month when the state will use a new, untested one-drug method of lethal injection.
A jury sentenced an Arkansas man to life in prison without parole for killing a television anchor, officials said Thursday.
Justice fell short with the execution of Washington-area sniper John Allen Muhammad, one of his victims' survivors said after witnessing his death by lethal injection.
At 678, California has the nation's largest death row population, yet the state has not executed anyone in four years.
An attorney for convicted Washington-area sniper John Allen Muhammad, who is scheduled to be executed November 10, will seek clemency from Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine on October 22.
Ohio's governor granted temporary reprieves to two death row inmates just hours after a federal appeals court blocked the execution of one of them -- adding to the mounting confusion over the state's capital punishment system.
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear an appeal from a female death row inmate who said fetal alcohol syndrome should have been considered by the state court that reviewed her sentence.
A campaigner for a British grandmother on death row in Texas made a unique plea for her life Thursday -- from atop a plinth in London's Trafalgar Square.
Death row inmates in Japan spend decades in isolation and face inhuman conditions that can lead to mental illness, Amnesty International said Thursday.
Two Norwegian citizens were sentenced to death Tuesday in the Democratic Republic of the Congo for espionage, murder and attempted murder, Norway's Ministry of Foreign Affairs has confirmed to CNN.
Samar Saed Abdullah's entire body trembles as she speaks about her impending execution. She thinks of the gallows room, the noose around her neck and that moment when she will take her final breath.
At least 1,000 prisoners are on death row in Iraq, which now has one of the highest rates of execution in the world, the human rights group Amnesty International says in a report being released Tuesday.
China, often criticized for its liberal use of the death penalty, will reduce the number of criminal executions it carries out, a top official said.
The U.S. Supreme Court delayed a decision on whether to accept an appeal from a Georgia death row inmate who has gained international support for his claims of innocence in the the murder of a Savannah police officer two decades ago.
Thursday the U.S. Senate passed a resolution apologizing for slavery and for legalized segregation.
A California man convicted of the 2006 arson murders of five U.S. Forest Service firefighters was sentenced to death Friday.
Asia is a major source of opium and heroin for the world market, according to the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime. Consequently, across Asia, most countries have adopted a severe stance against drug-related crime, and heavy penalties -- including capital punishment -- have been widely adopted.
A federal appeals panel has rejected the application of Georgia death row inmate Troy Davis for a new trial.
New Hampshire's state House of Representatives voted Wednesday to abolish the state's death penalty, which has not been carried out in nearly 70 years.
Almost 2,400 people worldwide were executed last year, but most countries moved a step closer toward abolishing the death penalty, Amnesty International said Tuesday.
Mumia Abu-Jamal sits on Pennsylvania's death row, perhaps the most recognized of the 228 condemned inmates at the Greene Correctional Facility, an hour south of Pittsburgh.
New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson signed a bill Wednesday repealing the death penalty in his state, his office confirmed.
Two Supreme Court justices on opposite sides of the ideological aisle exchanged tough words Monday over the fate of a Florida murderer who has been on death row for 32 years.
Brian Sanderholm thinks Justin Thurber deserves to die for raping and killing his 19-year-old daughter.
An Iraqi court on Monday sentenced to death a former Iraqi general known as "Chemical Ali" for his role in putting down a uprising in Baghdad a decade ago, Iraqi state TV reported.
Japan executed four convicted killers on death row Thursday, the government said, marking the first set of executions in the country since October 2008.
Japan executed four convicted killers on death row on Thursday, the government said, marking the first set of executions in the country since October 2008.
A former drug dealer was executed in Texas on Wednesday night for the murders of two reputed gang members -- 15 years to the day after the crime.
Atlanta courthouse shooter Brian Nichols was spared a death sentence Friday after the jury deliberating his fate announced that it could not agree on a sentence.
The number of executions in U.S. prisons hit a 14-year-low in 2008, continuing a downward trend and coinciding with a drop in juries handing out death sentences, according to a year-end report.
A federal judge has stayed what would be the nation's first military execution since 1961, saying the U.S. soldier -- who was convicted of rape and murder two decades ago -- should have more time to pursue a federal appeal.
The former Iraqi general known as Chemical Ali has been sentenced to death a second time, the country's official state television reported Tuesday.
The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals granted a stay of execution Friday for a Georgia death row inmate who had been scheduled to die on Monday, his attorney said.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected an appeal from a Georgia death row inmate who has gained international support for his claims of innocence in the murder of a Savannah police officer in 1989.
An Ohio death row inmate was executed Tuesday after the Supreme Court rejected his last-minute plea that he was too overweight to be put to death.
An Ohio death row inmate who says he is too overweight to be executed took his plea to the Supreme Court on Friday.
The Supreme Court has refused to reconsider its June ruling banning capital punishment for child rapists, rejecting Louisiana officials' argument that a "significant error" led to its conclusion that there is a "national consensus" against executing non-murderers.
The United States violated international law by putting a Mexican national to death in Texas, the Mexican government said Wednesday.
Mexican national Jose Ernesto Medellin, whose death penalty conviction in the rape and murder of two teen girls sparked international controversy, was put to death in Texas on Tuesday night, prison officials said.
Executions jumped by a third in Iran and quadrupled in Saudi Arabia last year, causing the total number of executions around the world to rise yet again in 2007
The U.N.'s highest court is ruling Wednesday on an emergency Mexican appeal to block the execution of its citizens on death row in the United States
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 Wednesday that child rapists cannot be executed, concluding that capital punishment for crimes against individuals can be applied only to murderers.
Virginia is set to carry out its 100th execution, the country's eighth by lethal injection since the Supreme Court upheld the procedure. An update on an unending debate
The Supreme Court ruled Wednesday morning that child rapists cannot be given the death penalty, effectively reserving the punishment only for murderers.
Convicted killer James Earl Reed was executed Friday after the U.S. Supreme Court denied his last-minute request for a stay, said Josh Gelinas, spokesman for the South Carolina Department of Corrections.
A man scheduled to be executed on Friday was issued a stay just minutes before he was to be electrocuted
Viewpoint: The court's recent ruling that lethal injection is legal will give a boost to one growing category of death-row inmates: those who volunteer to die
After more than three years of waiting for courts to consider an appeal he never wanted, convicted killer Marco Allen Chapman may soon get his wish
John Allen Muhammad, who is on Virginia's death row in connection with the 2002 Washington-area sniper spree, has written to Virginia prosecutors saying he wants to waive all rights to appeal.
A Georgia man convicted of kidnapping and killing his girlfriend was executed Tuesday.
Washington-area sniper John Allen Muhammad is asking prosecutors in a letter to help him end legal appeals of his conviction and death sentence "so that you can murder this innocent black man"
Georgia's Parole and Pardon Board has denied a condemned inmate's request for clemency, paving the way for William Earl Lynd to die by injection at 7 p.m. on Tuesday.
Earl Wesley Berry came within 21 minutes of dying at the hands of the state of Mississippi in October, before the Supreme Court issued a last-minute stay.
The Supreme Court on Monday denied the appeals of more death row inmates, setting the stage for a possible nationwide resumption of capital punishment in coming weeks or months.
The Supreme Court's opinion may clear the way for most executions, but the death penalty debate remain confused
The Supreme Court, in a 7-2 ruling, upheld Kentucky's use of lethal injection as a means of executing prisoners, ruling that the method -- used in 35 states -- is properly and humanely applied.
The Supreme Court focused Wednesday on whether "evolving standards of decency" in the United States forbid a resumption of capital punishment for any felony but murder. But the justices offered no clear indication of how they will rule in the case of a man who is on Louisiana death row for raping a child.
He is not a killer, but the state of Louisiana is determined to execute Patrick Kennedy for his crime.
The Ohio Supreme Court has overturned the death sentence of a man who argued he cannot be executed because he is mentally retarded
A woman convicted of murdering an expectant mother and kidnapping the baby from her womb received a federal death sentence.
Former Black Panther Mumia Abu-Jamal, convicted of gunning down a Philadelphia police officer 27 years ago, deserves a new hearing to determine whether he should be executed for his crime, a federal appeals court ruled Thursday.
U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey said Friday he is "kind of hoping" the prisoners facing military trials in connection with the September 11 attacks do not receive the death penalty, which would fulfill their desire to be martyrs.
A child killer received a reprieve Friday from the Nebraska Supreme Court, which ruled that electrocution, the state's only means of capital punishment, is unconstitutional.
The Nebraska Supreme Court outlawed the electric chair in the only state that still used it as its sole means of execution
The Supreme Court blocked a scheduled execution at the last minute, keeping in place a de facto moratorium on capital punishment while it considers the constitutional question over how lethal injection is administered.
The U.S. Supreme Court appeared divided along ideological lines Monday over whether lethal-injection execution methods in about three dozen states are being properly and humanely applied.
The use of lethal injection will be expanded in China to replace execution by shooting, a senior legal official said in an interview with a government-owned Chinese newspaper.
A Texas mother convicted of capital murder in the drowning deaths of her five children will have the rest of her life to mull over her crime: a jury on Friday decided to spare her from the death penalty and sentence her to life in prison.
A day after New Jersey banned executions, newly released figures show that capital punishment dropped this year to a 13-year low.
They were convicted one after another -- four U.S. soldiers who helped gang rape and kill a 14-year-old Iraqi girl in one of the war's worst atrocities
The man who raped and killed 7-year-old Megan Kanka -- the 1994 crime that inspired "Megan's Law" -- is one of eight men whose sentences were commuted to life in prison this week as part of New Jersey's new ban on execution.
New Jersey becomes the first state in modern times to abolish capital punishment, as momentum builds nationwide to reconsider seldom-used death-penalty statutes
New Jersey lawmakers have voted to abolish the death penalty in the state, sending the governor a bill he has already said he will sign. The measure will make New Jersey the first state in more than 40 years to outlaw capital punishment.
A Texas couple charged with killing the little girl known as "Baby Grace" now face capital murder charges, after a Texas grand jury upgraded the charges on Wednesday.
The Florida Supreme Court on Thursday denied a death row inmate's request to stay his execution, saying the state's lethal injection procedures are not cruel and unusual punishment.
The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday stayed the pending execution of a Virginia man convicted of beating a co-worker to death in 2001 for drug money.
The Supreme Court agreed Tuesday to delve into a divisive controversy over capital punishment -- whether lethal injection causes excruciating pain and violates the Constitution's ban on "cruel and unusual punishment."
Even though more countries are renouncing the death penalty, more people were put to death last year -- 5,628 -- than in the past two years, an anti-death penalty group reported Thursday.
Texas, which leads the nation in carrying out the death penalty, has executed the 400th person since the state resumed capital punishment in 1982.
Troy Davis, sentenced to death for the 1989 murder of a police officer, gets time to prove he was wrongly convicted
What Troy Davis' case tells us about the dangers of trying to speed up the wheels of justice
The state's overcrowded corrections system is in crisis. But a federal panel's judgment could force open prison doors
The Supreme Court once again split 5-4 on an important death penalty case on Monday, with a majority of conservative justices rejecting an Arizona killer's claims his legal team did not do enough to keep him off death row.
Sitting on Iraq's death row is a 25-year-old woman convicted in the slayings of three relatives. She says her husband carried out the killings and fled. She confessed to being an accomplice, she says, only after being tortured in police custody.
Just hours before his execution by injection, a Tennessee death row prisoner who was convicted of killing a police officer ordered his final meal -- pizza for a homeless person.
When Gary Gilmore was choosing between the firing squad and the electric chair in 1977, Dr. Jay Chapman remembers discussing the inhumanity of each option with his colleagues at the Oklahoma state medical examiner's office.
Lawyers for convicted cop killer Philip Workman and Tennessee prosecutors were locked in a federal court battle Monday over Workman's execution, scheduled for early Wednesday.
Lethal injection has become the most common method of execution in the United States. Last year, 52 of the 53 executions in the country were by injection.
Seven years ago, Philip Workman got the kind of news a death row inmate wants.
Philip Workman has prepared to die three times before.
An Iraqi court Monday changed the sentence of a convicted former Iraqi vice president under Saddam Hussein from life in prison to execution by hanging.
While many countries and rights groups around the world said they did not support the death penalty, most expressed the hope that the execution of Saddam Hussein would prove a turning point for the people of Iraq.
Former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein is expected to be executed "this weekend," Bush administration officials told CNN on Thursday.
The Iraqi High Tribunal's appellate chamber on Tuesday upheld Saddam Hussein's death sentence in the Dujail massacre case, Judge Aref Shaheen announced.
After it took 34 minutes for an inmate in Florida to die by injection, Gov. Jeb Bush on Friday ordered a moratorium on all executions in the state. Meanwhile, a federal judge in California ruled Friday that lethal injection could be unconstitutionally cruel and unusual punishment and stopped executions in that state.
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