FEATURED POST

Arkansas Supreme Court Decision Allows New DNA Testing in Case of the ​“West Memphis Three,” Convicted of Killing Three Children in 1993

Image
On April 18, 2024, the Arkansas Supreme Court decided 4-3 to reverse a 2022 lower court decision and allow genetic testing of crime scene evidence from the 1993 killing of three eight-year-old boys in West Memphis. The three men convicted in 1994 for the killings were released in 2011 after taking an Alford plea, in which they maintained their innocence but plead guilty to the crime, in exchange for 18 years’ time served and 10 years of a suspended sentence. 

U.S. Supreme Court stays execution of ex-Army recruiter Cleve Foster

HUNTSVILLE, Texas — A former Army recruiter who maintained his innocence in the rape-slaying of a woman in Fort Worth nine years ago has received a reprieve from execution Tuesday evening.

Forty-seven-year-old Cleve Foster's lethal injection was stopped by the U.S. Supreme Court so it can further review an appeal. In the court's brief order, Justices Antonin Scalia and Sam Alito indicated they would have allowed the punishment to proceed.

Foster has insisted a friend was responsible for fatally shooting 30-year-old Nyaneur Pal, who had fled Sudan for Texas. The friend, Sheldon Ward, one of Foster's recruits, also was condemned for the slaying. He died of cancer last year while in prison. Foster's lawyers said the evidence did not support his conviction.

Foster and Ward also were implicated but never tried in the slaying of 22-year-old Rachel Urnosky in Fort Worth several weeks before Pal's murder.

Source: AP, January 11, 2011

Most Viewed (Last 7 Days)

Arkansas Supreme Court Decision Allows New DNA Testing in Case of the ​“West Memphis Three,” Convicted of Killing Three Children in 1993

Utah requests execution of death row inmate

Alabama SC approves second nitrogen gas execution

Cuba Maintains Capital Punishment to "Deter and Intimidate"

Four More Prisoners Executed in Iran

Iran | 10 Men Executed in 2 Days in Isfahan Prison