FEATURED POST

Communist Vietnam's secret death penalty conveyor belt: How country trails only China and Iran for 'astonishing' number of executions

Published
Image
Prisoners are dragged from their cells at 4am without warning to be given a lethal injection Vietnam's use of the death penalty has been thrust into the spotlight after a real estate tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to be executed in one of the biggest corruption cases in the country's history. Truong My Lan, a businesswoman who chaired a sprawling company that developed luxury apartments, hotels, offices and shopping malls, was arrested in 2022.

Texas: Court of Criminal Appeals stays execution of Larry Swearingen

Published
The Court of Criminal Appeals today stayed the execution of Larry Swearingen, sending the case back to the trial court for further review.

Swearingen was convicted of the 1998 kidnap-rape-murder of 19-year-old Melissa Trotter in Montgomery County. Prosecutors have said – and the CCA has previously agreed – that a "mountain" of evidence links Swearingen to the college student's death.

Trotter disappeared on December 8, 1998 from the Montgomery College campus; Swearingen was seen with her at the college shortly before she disappeared. He was arrested, on outstanding warrants, three days later and has remained behind bars since then. Trotter's body was not found until January 2, 1999, off a dirt road near Lake Conroe in the Sam Houston National Forest. The theory was that Swearingen killed Trotter on Dec. 8, after she rebuffed his sexual advances, and he then dumped her body, that same day, in the forest.

But much of the evidence linking Swearingen to the case was circumstantial and since his conviction in 2000, science has stepped in: scientists now agree that Trotter was not in the woods for three weeks; moreover, they argue that biological evidence demonstrates that she wasn't killed until after Swearingen was arrested – meaning that Swearingen could not have been Trotter's killer.

Swearingen's latest appeal, based on new microscopic tissue evidence, was granted by the CCA today and his execution, scheduled for August 18, was stayed. You can find the order here.

More about the Swearingen case can be found here.

Source: The Austin Chronicle, July 28, 2011

Related articles:

Jan 27, 2009
Larry Swearingen, 37, faced lethal injection Tuesday evening for the death of Melissa Trotter, whose body was found Jan. 2, 1999, in the Sam Houston National Forest south of Huntsville. The discovery came 25 days after ...
Jan 26, 2009
Larry Swearingen, 37, faced lethal injection Tuesday evening for the death of Melissa Trotter, whose body was found Jan. 2, 1999, in the Sam Houston National Forest south of Huntsville. The discovery came 25 days after ...
Jan 23, 2009
Swearingen, a convicted rapist from Willis, became an obvious suspect. The married electrician had been spotted with Trotter. Some of his co-workers said she had angered him a couple of days before her disappearance when she stood him ...
Location: Texas, États-Unis
Related content:

Most Viewed (Last 7 Days)

Communist Vietnam's secret death penalty conveyor belt: How country trails only China and Iran for 'astonishing' number of executions

Published
Image
Prisoners are dragged from their cells at 4am without warning to be given a lethal injection Vietnam's use of the death penalty has been thrust into the spotlight after a real estate tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to be executed in one of the biggest corruption cases in the country's history. Truong My Lan, a businesswoman who chaired a sprawling company that developed luxury apartments, hotels, offices and shopping malls, was arrested in 2022.
Read more

Japan | Death-row inmates' lawsuit targeting same-day notifications of executions dismissed

Published
Image
The Osaka District Court on Monday dismissed a lawsuit by death row inmates that claimed same-day notifications of executions violate the Constitution — the first ruling of its kind. The plaintiffs filed the lawsuit against the government in hopes of sparking a wider discussion on the rights of death row prisoners. They also sought ¥22 million in compensation and plan to appeal to a higher court.
Read more

Texas | State district judge recommends overturning Melissa Lucio’s death sentence

Published
Image
In a rare joint statement, the district attorney and the defense agreed that prosecutors withheld evidence that could point to a Rio Grande Valley woman’s innocence in the death of her toddler. A district judge who previously presided over a woman’s capital murder case recommended last week that the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals overturn Melissa Lucio's 2008 conviction after a district attorney’s office admitted that prosecutors withheld evidence from her defense.
Read more

U.S. Supreme Court to hear Arizona death penalty case that could redefine historic precedent

Published
Image
The U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments centering on an Arizona death row prisoner that could set new precedent to determining ineffective assistance of counsel.  A Mohave County Superior Court jury convicted Danny Lee Jones for the 1992 murders of Robert Weaver and his daughter Tisha, as well as the attempted murder of Weaver’s grandmother. A judge sentenced Jones to death for the two murders.
Read more

Iran | Probable Child Offender and Child Bride, Husband Executed for Drug Charges

Published
Image
Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); April 15 2024: Marjan Hajizadeh and Esmail Hassaniani, a couple sentenced to death for drug-related charges in a joint case, were executed in Zanjan Central Prison.  Marjan is reported to have been 16 at the time of arrest, which IHRNGO is working to confirm. If verified, she will be the first child offender executed for drug charges since 2014. She was also a child bride forced into marriage.
Read more

Bill Moves Forward to Prevent Use of Nitrogen Gas Asphyxiation in Louisiana Executions

Published
Image
There’s an effort underway, in the current legislative session in Baton Rouge, to reverse course on the controversial execution method with Senate Bill 430. When Louisiana legislators approved the use of nitrogen gas asphyxiation as an execution method during a second special legislative session in February, the move attracted national attention; not the least because it has only been used in the U.S. once. That’s when Alabama executed convicted killer Kenneth Eugene Smith on January 25th of this year. Now there’s an effort underway, in the current legislative session in Baton Rouge, to reverse course on the controversial execution method with Senate Bill 430.
Read more