Nitrogen gas may be the next method of state-sanctioned executions, according to The New York Times. Many states are considering the gas as an alternative to the controversial use of other lethal drug combinations. "25 percent of millennial-age American men think asking a woman who is not a romantic partner to go for a drink is harassment," according to a recent survey by The Economist/YouGov reports The New York Times 1-17-18. The change in execution method comes on the heels of lawsuits alleging botched attempts with lethal injections, … [Read more...] about Nitrogen gas could be new method for executions
Death Penalty
Cloud of capital punishment lingers in New Mexico
The only two inmates remaining on New Mexico’s death row are fighting to have their death sentences overturned by the state Supreme Court. The appeal claims that their sentences were arbitrary because worse crimes did not draw a death sentence. New Mexico repealed capital punishment in 2009, but death sentences were not commuted for Robert Fry and Timothy Allen, The Associated Press (AP) reported. Gov. Bill Richardson signed the repeal without commuting their sentences. The state Supreme Court did agree to consider appeals of death … [Read more...] about Cloud of capital punishment lingers in New Mexico
California’s next governor faces executions
California’s next governor could be forced to make a life-or-death decision that the state’s top executive hasn’t faced in over a decade; whether to spare an inmate facing execution. There are nearly 750 people on death row at San Quentin State Prison, more than any other state, and decisions made by the next governor will help set the pace of executions going forward. Five of the top six top candidates oppose the death penalty. But few say they’d use the office’s commutation power to broadly move inmates from death row to life in … [Read more...] about California’s next governor faces executions
Tennessee schedules three executions
Tennessee has scheduled three executions this year, after nearly a decade without them, according to USA Today. Dozens of Death Row prisoners lost challenges to the use of the death penalty and lethal injection. The Tennessee Supreme Court has consistently ruled in favor of the process. “The intended result of an execution is to render the inmate dead,” wrote Chief Justice Jeffrey Bivins in his official opinion, upholding the state’s practice of executing the condemned by lethal injection. The execution dates of James Hawkins, Billy Ray … [Read more...] about Tennessee schedules three executions
Death Row inmate freed after serving more than 25 years
A man who spent 27 years on Death Row walked out the prison gates on April 17, 2018. “He appeared amazed to be on the other side of the wall,” Public Information Officer Lt. Sam Robinson said. About eight people, including family members and his attorney, awaited Vicente Benavides as he exited the prison as a free man. Decades earlier, a Kern County courthouse convicted Benavides in the 1991of first-degree murder and rape of his girlfriend’s daughter, 21-month old Consuelo Verdugo. Benavides was sentenced to be executed and sent to San … [Read more...] about Death Row inmate freed after serving more than 25 years
States seeking lethal injection cocktails from black market
Some states have turned to the black market to obtain scarce lethal injection drugs that have caused botched executions, according to www.Reason.com. According to the report by C.J. Ciaramella, investigative journalists found that, “these states have turned to untraceable cash transactions, unregulated pharmacies, and overseas scammers to buy drugs to fill the veins of condemned inmates.” Some experimental combinations have even resulted in botched executions. Further complicating the matter, Virginia and 14 other states have passed secrecy … [Read more...] about States seeking lethal injection cocktails from black market
French journalist films San Quentin Death Row inmate
Keith Zon Doolin is on death row despite evidence of his innocence, according to Agnes Buthion, a French journalist who has directed a documentary called “20 Years on Death Row.” Interviewed by The Fresno Bee, Buthion said that she hoped to highlight Doolin’s innocence. In 1996, Doolin was convicted of a crime spree shooting six sex workers in Central California. The result of his conviction was a sentence of death. Doolin is housed in East Block at San Quentin death row. During her filming Buthion interviewed Doolin and visited the crime … [Read more...] about French journalist films San Quentin Death Row inmate
US Supreme Court Death Row case Hidalgo v. Arizona Arizona death penalty law
In the coming months, the U.S. Supreme Court will decide whether to take up a challenge to the death penalty in Arizona. If the justices agree to hear the case, the court’s decision could also affect the California death penalty law. And that could spare the lives of 746 prisoners on California’s death row, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. The pending case, Hidalgo v. Arizona, challenges the new Arizona death penalty law, which makes virtually every first-degree murder subject to potential capital charges. With 343 homicides in … [Read more...] about US Supreme Court Death Row case Hidalgo v. Arizona Arizona death penalty law
Arizona inmates allowed more privileges
Many of Arizona’s death-row inmates are no longer spending their days in solitary confinement, reported The Associated Press (AP). The Arizona Department of Corrections moved 93 of its 120 death-row inmates to a Florence, Arizona, prison, where they can be outside and socialize with other death-row inmates in a common area, instead of being isolated in their 9½-by-10-foot cells. In addition, their cells open and are not sealed by a steel door. They can also shoot hoops, play volleyball, and go on the prison recreational fields for several … [Read more...] about Arizona inmates allowed more privileges
2017’s low executions only 23
Though 2017 had the second fewest annual prison executions in several decades—23 executions to be exact—the controversies surrounding capital punishment have yet to decline, reports Newsweek. In the five death penalty cases Newsweek featured, issues of mental health, overlooked or incorrect use of evidence and neglect of inmates’ rights were brought to the forefront. Similarly, since all of the inmates were executed by lethal injection, disputes over the use of a new drug in the cocktails were also featured. Firing squad Ricky Jovan Gray was … [Read more...] about 2017’s low executions only 23