Death Penalty Information Center

Criticism at lethal injection after botched execution

September's botched execution of a US inmate, whose veins could not take a lethal injection, has led Ohio to call a moratorium that may prompt a wholesale reexamination of the execution method.
 

Criticism at lethal injection after botched execution

September's botched execution of a US inmate, whose veins could not take a lethal injection, has led Ohio to call a moratorium that may prompt a wholesale reexamination of the execution method.
 

Ohio considering bone, muscle for lethal injection

Ohio considering bone, muscle injection in prison death chamber in wake of failed execution. 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.
 

Screams, flames among horrors of botched US executions

US executions are meant to be clinical and humane, but for some they end up resembling medieval torture, complete with the smell of burning flesh, screams, and scenes so gruesome that witnesses faint.
 

Ending death penalty could save US millions: study

Even when executions are not carried out, the death penalty costs US states hundreds of millions of dollars a year, depleting budgets in the midst of economic crisis, a study released Tuesday found.
 

Death penalty rare, executions rarer in military

Death penalty possible for Fort Hood massacre suspect, but military executions have been rare. Though the suspect in the shooting rampage at Fort Hood could face the death penalty, he will be prosecuted in a military justice system where no one has been executed in nearly a half-century.
 

Ohio plans execution method untried on prisoners

Ohio waded into uncharted territory Friday when it announced plans to switch from the usual three-drug cocktail used to execute inmates to a one-drug method that death penalty opponents praised as a step forward ? albeit one that has apparently never been tried on prisoners.
 

Ohio plans execution method untried on prisoners

Ohio makes plans to execute inmates with 1-drug method untried on prisoners. Ohio waded into uncharted territory Friday when it announced plans to switch from the usual three-drug cocktail used to execute inmates to a one-drug method that death penalty opponents praised as a step forward ? albeit one that has apparently never been tried on prisoners.
 

Governor delays Ohio execution after vein troubles

Gov. Ted Strickland ordered a weeklong reprieve for a condemned inmate Tuesday after the Ohio execution team had problems finding usable veins for the lethal injection even after the inmate tried to help.
 

Governor delays Ohio execution after vein troubles

After his lethal injection was delayed for hours because of his own attorney's appeal request, an Ohio inmate condemned for the 1984 rape and slaying of a teen girl tried to help hasten his own death as his executioners had trouble finding usable veins.
 

Ohio inmate 'traumatized' after failed execution

The lawyer for an inmate whose execution was halted after an unprecedented two hours said trying to put him to death again in a week could be a disaster.
 

Ohio inmate 'traumatized' after failed execution

The lawyer for an inmate whose execution was halted after an unprecedented two hours said trying to put him to death again in a week could be a disaster.
 

Feds might race illness if they seek death penalty

Dilemma in case against Aryan Warrior isnÕt new, but has big significance here. Federal prosecutors here and in Washington are weighing whether to seek the death penalty for the reputed leader of a violent white supremacy prison gang awaiting trial on murder and racketeering charges. If they prevail, Ronald L. (Joey) Sellers would be the first in decades in Nevada to die at the hands of the United States government.
 

Ohio killer's lethal injection marks 1,000th in US

Ohio executes spree killer; 1,000th lethal injection in US since death penalty reinstated. A man who went on a 1992 Christmas holiday killing spree that left six people dead, including an 18-year-old mother gunned down at a pay phone, was executed Tuesday, the state's second execution in two weeks and the 1,000th lethal injection in the U.S. since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976.
 

Mo. executions on hold because of federal review

Incoming Mo. chief justice says executions on hold because of federal stay in inmate's case. The state's incoming chief justice said Tuesday that it was unlikely any executions would be scheduled in Missouri while the courts assess an inmate's lawsuit challenging the state's lethal injection procedure.
 

Death cases among early issues for new justice

Sotomayor's views on death penalty could get early test on Supreme Court. As a director of a Puerto Rican advocacy group in the 1980s, Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor was part of a three-person committee that equated capital punishment with racism.
 

Nebraska's governor signs lethal injection bill

Neb. gov OKs lethal injection bill; opponents predict executions won't happen for 'a while'. Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman signed a bill Thursday to change the state's method of execution from electrocution to lethal injection, although observers said it could be years before the law is applied.
 

Iraq slaying verdict highlights combat stress

Case of soldier spared death for Iraqi slayings may signal greater combat stress awareness. There's no question ex-soldier Steven Dale Green raped and killed a 14-year-old Iraqi girl and murdered her parents and sister.
 

Ex-U.S. soldier gets life sentence for Iraq murders

LOUISVILLE, Kentucky (Reuters) - A former U.S. soldier convicted of raping a 14-year-old Iraqi girl and killing her and her family will be sentenced to life in prison after a jury on Thursday failed to agree on whether he should be executed.
 

Colo. may end death penalty to focus on cold cases

Colo. considers ending costly death penalty, using savings to investigate cold cases. Colorado is one of 10 states that have considered abolishing the death penalty this year to save money, but Colorado's proposal has a twist: It would use the savings to investigate about 1,400 unsolved slayings.