FEATURED POST

Japan | Hakamada found religion, but then felt under attack by ‘the devil’

Published
Image
Editor's note: This is the last in a four-part series on letters that Iwao Hakamada wrote while on death row. About a decade after cursing God, Iwao Hakamada was baptized Catholic at the Tokyo Detention House on Dec. 24, 1984. “Since I have been given the Christian name Paul, I am keenly feeling that I should be aware of the greatness of Paul.” (June 1985)

Mississippi: Appeals court blocks Simon execution

Published
A federal appeal court has stopped the scheduled execution of Mississippi death row inmate Robert Simon Jr. (left)

The 3-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans gave no immediate reason for its decision, which came hours before Simon was to be put to death by lethal injection. The execution had been set for 6 p.m.

Simon was convicted and sentenced to death in the 1990 slayings of Carl Parker; Parker’s wife, Bobbie Jo; and their 12-year-old son, Gregory. The killings occurred a few hours after the family had returned to their rural Quitman County home from church services.

Simon also was sentenced to life in prison for the killing of 9-year-old Charlotte Parker, daughter of the slain couple.

Source: AP, May 24, 2011


Court stays Mississippi execution

Mississippi State Penitentiary
(Reuters) - The scheduled execution in Mississippi on Tuesday of a man who killed a family of four in 1990 has been stayed by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, according to a court document.

The Mississippi Department of Corrections said it was waiting for the court's opinion, and was ready to carry out the orders of the court.

Further details were not immediately available.

The lethal injection scheduled for 6 p.m. local time would have been the third execution in the state this month.

Robert Simon Jr., 47, and an accomplice robbed and murdered a couple and their two children in Marks, Mississippi, the night of February 2, 1990, according to corrections officials.

They shot all four family members and cut off the husband's left ring finger to steal his wedding ring, officials said.

A passing motorist saw the family's house burning, and their bodies were found inside.

Simon confessed to the killings after his arrest, officials said. Found guilty of all four murders, he received one life sentence and three death sentences.

His accomplice, Anthony Carr, also was convicted of four counts of capital murder and is currently on death row.

Simon's execution was to be carried out at the Mississippi State Penitentiary in Parchman.

Eighteen people have been executed in the United States so far this year, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.

Source: Reuters, May 24, 2011
_________________________
Use the tags below or the search engine at the top of this page to find updates, older or related articles on this Website.
Related content:

Most Viewed (Last 7 Days)

First Third Of 2024 In Saudi Arabia: Executions Rise By 189% And Portend Another Bloody Year. At Least 71 Currently Facing Execution.

Published
Image
Since the beginning of 2024 until the end of April, the Ministry of Interior in Saudi Arabia announced the execution of 55 individuals. This figure constitutes a 189% increase compared to the executions in the first third of 2023, which witnessed 19 executions. The European Saudi Organization for Human Rights views these numbers as a clear indication of the Saudi government's continued approach towards executing and issuing death sentences, and that the promises made in recent years have become elusive.
Read more

Missouri | Man Facing Execution Next Month Is Hospitalized With Heart Problem

Published
Image
David Hosier, who is weeks away from execution, is in a hospital after suffering what a Missouri Department of Corrections spokeswoman described as a “medical emergency." ST. LOUIS (AP) — A Missouri death row prisoner who is due to be executed next month has been hospitalized because of a “medical emergency,” a spokeswoman for the Missouri Department of Corrections said.
Read more

Cruel and Unusual: Documentary explores epicenter of Texas’ prison system

Published
Image
Every few years, from childhood until my late teens, my granddad would take me along with him to the small Texas town where he grew up—Normangee, population 522—to visit old relatives and even older graves. The drive took us up I-45, beyond the Houston sprawl, past pine forests, and eventually through Huntsville, epicenter of the state prison system. One of the city’s seven prisons was just off the interstate, and as we passed by I’d stare at the guard towers and barbed wire before turning my attention across the street to the Texas Prison Museum, which had its own mock guard towers in the parking lot. (“Prison” and “museum” were words that never seemed to go together.) Later, I learned that the museum’s central attraction was the wooden electric chair the state used for executions until 1964.
Read more

Iran | Helicopter carrying Iran's President Raisi crashes in mountains; President, foreign minister found dead at crash site

Published
Image
The President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Ebrahim Raisi and his Foreign Minister Amir-Abdollahian are missing after the helicopter carrying them crashed in the middle of the Dizmar forest. DUBAI, May 19 (Reuters) - A helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and his foreign minister crashed on Sunday as it was crossing mountain terrain in heavy fog on the way back from a visit to the border with Azerbaijan, an Iranian official told Reuters. The official said the lives of Raisi and Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian were "at risk following the helicopter crash".
Read more