Georgia Inmate Executed After Being Denied Appeal for DNA Testing
A man accused of murdering a woman he’d met at a nightclub in 1994 was put to death in Georgia Thursday night, following a series of eleventh-hour attempts to delay his death.
Report: Arizona Department of Corrections Busted for Illegally Importing Lethal Injection Drugs
The Associated Press got their hands on documents that show Arizona attempted to illegally import unapproved lethal injection drugs through Phoenix Airport in July. The shipment was stopped and seized at the airport by federal agents.
Still Unable to Procure Lethal Injection Drugs, Ohio Delays Executions Until 2017
The state of Ohio, which last put someone to death in January 2014, has delayed all of its scheduled executions again, until at least 2017, the Associated Press reports. The prisons department announced that it has run out of supplies of lethal injection drugs and hasn’t been able to acquire new chemicals.
Supreme Court: Drug Used in Botched Execution Not Cruel and Unusual
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday approved the continued use of a sedative called midazolam in lethal injections, despite the controversy around a painful botched execution in Oklahoma last year. The petitioners in the case, Glossip v. Gross, are three Oklahoma death row inmates arguing the state’s execution drug…
Lawmakers in Nebraska — Nebraska! — Vote to End the Death Penalty
The mostly Republican Legislature of the mostly Republican state of Nebraska voted Wednesday to ban capital punishment by a margin that’s likely to withstand the governor’s veto.
The state of Texas is scheduled to use its last dose of the lethal injection drug pentobarbital on Wednesday, leaving its ability to carry out several upcoming scheduled executions in question. The drug shortage comes too late for some people.
Unable to Score Lethal Injection Drugs, Ohio Postpones All Executions
After a botched execution left a condemned man writhing and gasping for air, Ohio announced this month that it would be returning to an earlier, sodium thiopental-based lethal injection formula. Now the state says it's delaying all executions until 2016 as it struggles to secure a supply of the drug.
Georgia Executes Mentally Disabled Man
On Tuesday night, Georgia executed Warren Lee Hill—an inmate with an IQ of 70—who was unable to prove he had a mental disability under Georgia's strict legal standard.
Nearly two-thirds of Americans polled by NBC News said they'd favor a return to death by gas, electric chair, firing squad or hanging if lethal injection was found impractical. What's your preference? Personally, I'd like to have seen polling numbers for garroting and breaking on the wheel.
The Electric Chair Could Soon Make a Comeback
For reasons unfathomable to mortal man, the United States is unable to secure a supply of drugs to use to lethally inject into its own citizens. Therefore, one of our states may now bring back the electric chair as a mandatory punishment. The year is 2014.
More States Are Looking for Old-School Ways to Kill Prisoners
For centuries, we Americans have sought easier ways to kill our convicts. Lethal injection had been the gold standard for sending toughs to oblivion. But amid a sudden spate of botched shots and poison shortages, what are we to do? Let's go back to guns, gas and zap juice!
Maybe Georgia Will Execute an Innocent Man
Texas shouldn't be the only U.S. state that gets to execute innocent people, right? That's what the jealous state of Georgia seems to be saying in planning to execute Troy Davis, convicted of murdering a police officer in 1991 and possibly innocent of the crime.
States' Appetite for Execution Grows Despite Death Penalty Drug Shortage
Bloodthirsty states are desperate for sodium thiopental—part of the lethal injection cocktail, and may be getting it illegally. Georgia allegedly bought some from an "unlicensed British company that operates from the back of a London driving school." Nice.
Drug Maker to Quit Producing Execution Cocktail Ingredient
Under pressure from Italy, Hospira—the U.S. company that produces a drug used in lethal injections, sodium thiopental—is going to stop producing it, forcing states to look for other drugs to kill people with (like this one). [WaPo]
Oklahoma to Execute Man with Animal Euthanasia Drug
Oklahoma today will execute a man with the same drug used to euthanize cats and dogs.
Arizona Prison Officials Called 'Life Savers' for Sharing Lethal Drug
A nationwide shortage of key execution drug sodium thiopental has put several death row cases on hold this year. Documents show that California prison officials obtained some from Arizona, making them very happy: "You guys in AZ are life savers."
Tennessee Struggles With Proper Lethal Injection Technique
Convicted murderer Stephen Michael West was due to be executed tomorrow in Tennessee by lethal injection, but the state's Supreme Court put it on hold until a lower court figures out if authorities are killing prisoners the right way.
California Shadily Acquires Scarce Lethal Injection Drug
The California Department of Corrections somehow managed to get enough sodium thiopental — a drug used in lethal injections — to kill four people, even though the supply has run out across the country. So much for this lucky break.
America Has Plenty of Drugs, Except the Ones For Lethal Injection
There's a worldwide shortage of "thiopental sodium," the drug used to carry out lethal injections.
