08
Feb
2013
Hood, Holland, the judge, O’Connell, the prosecutorCharles Dean Hood, the death row inmate who insisted he was innocent in the 1989 killings of a Plano man and his girlfriend, has pleaded guilty instead of facing a new sentencing trial. He was sentenced to life and cannot appeal. He will not receive credit for the 23 years he has spent on death...Read more http://deathpenaltynews.blogspot.com/2013/02/after-years-of-insisting-he-was.html07
Feb
2013
Executions in 2012, from Death Penalty Information Center's 2012 Year End Report. You can read the full text at deathpenaltyinfo.org/YearEnd2012...Read more http://deathpenaltynews.blogspot.com/2013/02/usa-executions-in-2012.html06
Feb
2013
2/3 of Hungarians would consider it desirable for Hungary to review its EU membership or some of the commitments resulting from membership, according to a poll conducted by the Iranytu Institute.A further 23.8% oppose the idea, while 9.7% did not take a stand.Only 17% said Hungary has benefited06
Feb
2013
King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia personally intervened to save a local woman from execution after she was sentenced to death eight years ago for murdering a Yemeni man, newspapers in the Gulf Kingdom reported on Wednesday.Amina bin Mohammed Dagreeri, 55, had been on the death row all that time but05
Feb
2013
Public hanging in TehranJan. 20, 2013Iran has begun handing down death sentences for robbery – a crime that previously carried much less severe punishments. In socially and politically uncertain times, the regime is increasingly resorting to Draconian measures in the hope that these will serve as04
Feb
2013
Reuters has reported that two men from Gao, Mali, who were due to be executed for having gay sex by an extreme Muslim militia, were rescued when French-led forces liberated the town.France, along with other African nations and including the Malian army, intervened to end a ten-month rebellion by
NEW DELHI--India's cabinet has proposed death as the maximum punishment for severe rape cases, a senior minister said Saturday in the wake of public demands for stern action after the brutal gang rape of a student in New Delhi in December.The death penalty proposal forms part of an ordinance
In 2006, after serving 19 years and 11 months in a Texas prison for a rape he didn't commit, Billy Smith was exonerated of all charges and set free. He was 54. Despite clearing his name, he's never been able to find a job."Who wants to hire someone who's 61 years old and who's an ex-convict?"01
Feb
2013
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — At least three death row inmates could be nearing execution as Kentucky moves toward a new lethal injection method.Execution requests for two of the condemned men were made to the governor's office in 2010, but a judge barred the state from carrying out any executions until it01
Feb
2013
James HolmesAn attorney with experience in death-penalty cases has been added to the prosecution team on the Aurora movie theater murder case.Daniel Zook will take an in-courtroom role in the prosecution of theater shooting suspect James Holmes, a spokeswoman for the district attorney's office
A British grandmother on Thursday lost a High Court bid to make the government pay for a lawyer to help her appeal against her death sentence in Indonesia for drug smuggling.Lindsay Sandiford, 56, was sentenced to death last week for smuggling nearly 5.0 kilos (11 pounds) of cocaine worth $2.431
Gen
2013
The executions bring to nine the number of people beheaded in Saudi Arabia so far this yearRiyadh: Saudi Arabia beheaded two of its nationals on Wednesday after they were sentenced to death for separate murders, the interior ministry announced.Marwan Al Balawi was convicted of stabbing to death07
Feb
2013
Sr. Prejean, Paris, 2007Prejean sees the problem is a US “culture of violence” that needs to change. There is a “seesaw” view of the world, “justice means, he’s dead- he dies.” Prejean has seen the pressure this puts on the families of victims to ask for the death penalty. Society says, “you have06
Feb
2013
Prince (L) and servant (R)London: A Saudi prince jailed for life in Britain for murdering his servant is to serve the rest of his sentence in his home country, a British government source said on Tuesday.Prince Saud Bin Abdul Aziz Bin Nasir, a grandson of Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah II, wasFebruary 5, 2013: Saudi authorities beheaded a man some thirty years after he was convicted of murder, after his victim's youngest son came of age and agreed to the punishment.The country's Interior Ministry announced that Abdullah al-Shomari was beheaded in the northern city of Ha'il for beating05
Feb
2013
Louisiana Death RowThe Louisiana Conference of Catholic Bishops asked the Jindal administration late Monday to halt the scheduled execution Feb. 13 of a convicted child killer because that lethal injection would occur on Ash Wednesday.“To execute a faithful Catholic on Ash Wednesday would be
Indian Supreme CourtIndia's president on Sunday approved harsher punishments for rapists, including the death penalty, after a brutal gang-rape in New Delhi sparked national outrage and triggered demands for tougher laws.President Pranab Mukherjee gave his assent to the new rape law two days after02
Feb
2013
HARARE (Feb 2, 2013): Zimbabwe has finally hired a hangman after seven years of searching, but he has not yet executed any of the 76 people on death row, a top prisons official has said."Indeed, we now have a hangman," Prison Service Commissioner Paradzai Zimondi was quoted as saying in Saturday's01
Feb
2013
Sharia execution in YemenJanuary 31, 2013: Amnesty International has expressed concern at the situation in a Yemeni prison where scores of children are on hunger strike to protest at their conditions and about a fellow inmate’s recent death sentence.The child detainees at Sana’a’s Central PrisonAbout 125 Filipinos are on death row abroadSaudi Arabia has spared one of two Filipino men sentenced to death by beheading for separate killings, Philippine Vice President Jejomar Binay said Friday.Rodelio "Dondon" Lanuza is expected to walk free after more than 12 years in prison following the01
Feb
2013
Ohio Death ChamberA newly elected Ohio Supreme Court justice who achieved the unlikely feat of ousting an incumbent without accepting any campaign contributions is not wasting any time in asserting his opposition to the death penalty. In an order this week setting an execution date for a convicted31
Gen
2013
Kerobokan PrisonThe sister of Lindsay Sandiford, the British grandmother sentenced to death by firing squad in Bali last week, fears that she cannot be saved from execution because of her inability to fund a lawyer.Hilary Parsons has spent the last pennies of her savings to try and find Sandiford30
Gen
2013
January 28, 2013: A man who killed his colleague and was sentenced to death, had his capital punishment verdict quashed by Abu Dhabi Court of Appeals, as the heirs of the victim pardoned him and gave up their rights.The Court handed down the Asian defendant three years in jail for murder. He will07
Feb
2013
Iran Human Rights, February 6: Three prisoners were hanged in the prison of Isfahan reported the Iranian state media today.According to the website of the Iranian national broadcasting the three prisoners who were not identified by name were convicted of drug related charges.Source: Iran Human06
Feb
2013
Serge AtlaouiSerge Atlaoui is one of the 2,200 French nationals detained abroad that Florence Cassez's recent release [Cassez was sentenced to 60 years in jail for kidnapping in Mexico and recently freed by Mexico's Supreme Court] has brought to light. As 40% of them, he was arrested for drug05
Feb
2013
ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Kirk Noble Bloodsworth, a beefy, crew-cut man whose blue T-shirt reads “Witness to Innocence,” took the microphone in a church hall here and ran through his story of injustice and redemption one more time. Twenty years ago, he walked out of a Maryland prison, the first inmate inA Saudi man convicted of killing another Saudi could be executed in the next few days after spending nearly 30 years in prison, newspapers reported on Monday.Abdullah bin Fandi Al Shammari was around 23-years old when he used a large stick to hit his victim on the head during a fight in the03
Feb
2013
Australians Myuran Sukumaranand Andrew ChanThe Attorney General’s Office has revealed that 12 death row inmates are liable to face the firing squad after exhausting all avenues for appeal, in the first state executions since 2008.Basrief Arief, the attorney general, said on Friday that there was02
Feb
2013
Feb 02, Colombo: Sri Lanka which is considering to implement the death penalty, has recruited two executioners, Ministry of Prison Reforms and Rehabilitation said.The two executioners, elected from 145 short-listed candidates, are presently undergoing a 14-day special training.After the training01
Feb
2013
Caning in Singapore(Bangkok) – Singapore continued its strict controls on free association, expression, assembly, and other basic rights in 2012, Human Rights Watch said today in its World Report 2013.In its 665-page report, Human Rights Watch assessed progress on human rights during the past year01
Feb
2013
Iran Human Rights, January 31: Five prisoners were executed in the prison of Kerman (Southeastern Iran) yesterday morning January 30., reported the state run Iranian media.According to the Fars news agency, the five prisoners were identified as "Allahnazar Sh.", "Rahmatollah Sh.", "Abdollah Sh."01
Feb
2013
A French national is facing the death penalty after he was caught carrying 70 grams of hashish at Ngurai Rai International Airport near Denpasar, Bali.Vincent Roger Petrone, a 43-year-old plasterer, arrived at the airport on Tuesday evening on board a Malaysia Airlines flight from Kuala
Montgomery County state district court Judge Kelly Case on Wednesday withdrew an order that had set the execution of condemned murderer Larry Swearingen for Feb. 27. The judge's decision came after a hearing in which Swearingen's lawyers argued that more time was required to accomplish DNA testing
Bills proposed by lawmakers that would eliminate the death penalty in Washington state were referred to committee Monday.Both House Bill 1504 and its companion Senate Bill, SB5372, were referred to respective law and judicial committees. If passed, the joint bill would put a stop to all