The Latest Breaking News from Death Penalty

Clemency bid denied for Arizona prisoner set for execution

Arizona’s clemency board has declined to recommend that the death sentence of a prisoner be delayed or reduced to life in prison in what would be the state’s first use of the death penalty in nearly eight years

The Independent UK · Apr 28, 2022

Melissa Lucio was given the death penalty in Texas for killing her baby. What if she's innocent?

After nearly a decade on death row, Melissa Lucio's life was spared at the 11th hour. Now, she faces another gruelling fight to overturn her conviction.

ABC News · Apr 28, 2022

Revisiting death penalty jurisprudence

The top court may have to look at the core question in ‘Bachan Singh’ — the constitutional validity of the death penalty

The Hindu · Apr 28, 2022

Nigerian Senate outlaws ransom payments, sets death penalty for abductions

Nigeria's Senate on Wednesday passed a bill imposing jail terms of at least 15 years for paying a ransom to free someone who has been kidnapped, and made abduction punishable by death in cases where victims die.

Reuters · Apr 27, 2022

Belarus eyes wider death penalty use after anti-war railway sabotage

Belarus moved on Wednesday to make attempted acts of terrorism punishable by the death penalty after activists tried to sabotage parts of the railway network to make it harder for Russia to deploy forces into Ukraine for its invasion.

Reuters · Apr 27, 2022

Malaysian Nagaenthran executed on drugs charges in Singapore

Execution comes the morning after mother’s last-ditch effort to save her intellectually disabled son was dismissed.

Al Jazeera · Apr 27, 2022

Debate over executing Melissa Lucio leads some Texas conservative lawmakers to rethink death penalty

DALLAS — The fight to save the life of death row inmate Melissa Lucio has renewed the belief in conservative state Rep. Jeff Leach that the Texas capital punishment system needs extensive reforms.

Tribune News Service · Apr 26, 2022

Joe Biden grants clemency to 78 people – but no federal death row inmates

Biden ran on an election campaign that he wanted to abolish the federal death penalty and incentivise states to stop executions

The Independent UK · Apr 26, 2022

Emotional moment Melissa Lucio learns she has been granted a stay of execution

Melissa Lucio was told the news that Wednesday’s execution had been halted in a prison phone call with Republican state Rep Jeff Leach

The Independent UK · Apr 25, 2022

‘Fighting for momma bear’: Melissa Lucio’s son begs Texas to halt her execution for a crime he knows ‘she couldn’t have done’

EXCLUSIVE: In just six days, Melissa Lucio will be strapped to a gurney and injected with a lethal cocktail of drugs that will kill her for a murder that she not only says she didn’t commit – but that experts say didn’t even occur. Her son Bobby Alvarez tells Rachel…

The Independent UK · Apr 25, 2022