Death Penalty News

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO) 2 April 2026: State media reported the execution of Amirhossein Hatami, an 18-year-old protester arrested at the 8 January protest in Tehran. He was one of seven defendants sentenced to death by “Death Judge” Salavati a month after being arrested. Condemning the execution in the strongest terms, IHRNGO once again draws the international community’s attention to the Islamic Republic’s use of the death penalty as a tool of political repression, and the ongoing execution of political prisoners in the shadow of the war.

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump removed U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi from her post Thursday, ending a 14-month tenure defined by a sweeping overhaul of the Justice Department and a hard-line approach to federal law enforcement. The president announced the decision on social media, naming Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche as acting attorney general.

A capital punishment case costs $1 to $3 million more than if the state sought a life sentence. COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — The 2025 Capital Crimes report from the Ohio Attorney General is out, and even though a state execution hasn’t been carried out in Ohio in nearly a decade, it has still cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars.   The state hasn’t executed anyone since 2018, meaning the more than 100 people on death row are essentially serving life sentences. In an interview with NBC4 Investigates, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost called the state’s capital punishment system “paralyzed.” The latest report from Yost’s office said that if the trend continues, it could lead to the number of those on death row who die from natural causes or suicide to surpass those who have been executed. 

OHIO — Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost released a new report renewing his call to move forward with the death penalty. Yost said the unofficial moratorium is a "mockery" to families and victims, but advocacy groups are pushing back, saying innocent lives are at stake. In Ohio there are currently 12 people who were wrongfully convicted and exonerated from death row, but Yost said it’s past time to do what’s right for the victims. “It’s time for us to recognize that justice requires action,” Yost said. “Today we issued the annual Capital Crimes report we’re required to do that by law and it continues to document a system that is working to protect against unjust convictions and sentences, but is not working because we haven’t actually carried out since 2018.”

  Florida Governor Ron DeSantis will leave office in January 2027 after the 2026 gubernatorial election. Florida's constitution limits governors to two consecutive four-year terms. DeSantis was first elected in 2018 and re-elected in 2022, so he is term-limited and cannot run for a third consecutive term in the November 3, 2026 election. TALLAHASSEE — As Gov. Ron DeSantis exits office, one of the legacies he‘ll leave behind is a record-shattering embrace of the death penalty.

James Broadnax, a Texas death-sen­tenced pris­on­er, is sched­uled to be exe­cut­ed on April 30, 2026. He was con­vict­ed in 2009 by a Dallas County jury for the mur­ders of two music pro­duc­ers, Stephen Swan and Matthew Butler, who were shot and killed out­side their record­ing stu­dio in 2008. On March 19, 2026, a lit­tle more than a month before his sched­uled exe­cu­tion, attor­neys for Mr. Broadnax filed a new appeal and a sworn affi­davit from his code­fen­dant and cousin Demarius Cummings, in which Mr. Cummings admits that he, not Mr. Broadnax, shot the vic­tims. The new fil­ing asks the Texas courts to stay Mr. Broadnax’s exe­cu­tion date, to remand the case to the tri­al court, and to ulti­mate­ly vacate Mr. Broadnax’s death sentence.

AMERICAN FORK, Utah (DPN) — Law enforcement officials confirmed Wednesday that forensic evidence has linked serial killer Ted Bundy to the remains of a teenager discovered more than 50 years ago in American Fork Canyon. The breakthrough, finalized in April 2026, concludes one of Utah’s oldest unidentified persons cases. The victim, whose identity is being withheld pending full family notification, was a teenager reported missing from the Wasatch Front in 1974.

A man convicted on terrorism-related charges has been executed in Saudi Arabia following a final court ruling, according to an official statement from the Interior Ministry and reporting patterns consistent with international news agencies. The Interior Ministry said the individual, identified as Saoud bin Muhammad bin Ali al-Faraj, was convicted of multiple offenses including alleged affiliation with a foreign-linked terrorist organization, targeting security personnel, supporting and financing terrorist activities, harboring suspects, manufacturing explosives, and illegal possession of weapons.The case was initially investigated by security authorities before being referred to the judiciary.

Iran has begun to strictly enforce its new espionage law in an environment of rising tensions; Judiciary Spokesman Asghar Jahangir stated that even sharing photos and videos containing information with the U.S. and Israel would be considered "collaboration with the enemy" and that this crime would be punishable by death. People accused of spying or cooperating with “hostile states” could face the death penalty and confiscation of all assets under a recently enhanced law, an Iranian judiciary spokesperson says, a month into the war with the United States and Israel. Under the law accepted and expanded in scope last October, sharing photos or videos of "damaged areas" is also considered a crime. The spokesperson argued that such content confirms the accuracy of targets, stating, "These images inform the enemy that the target has been accurately hit. Providing such information is equivalent to collaborating with the enemy in the field of intelligence." Irania...

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel’s parliament on Monday passed a law approving the death penalty for Palestinians convicted of murdering Israelis, a measure that has been harshly condemned by the international community and rights groups as discriminatory and inhumane. The passage of the bill marked the culmination of a years-long drive by the far-right to escalate punishment for Palestinians convicted of nationalistic offenses against Israelis. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu came to the Knesset to vote for the bill in person. The law makes the death penalty — by hanging — the default punishment for West Bank Palestinians convicted of nationalistic killings. It also gives Israeli courts the option of imposing the death penalty on Israeli citizens convicted on similar charges — language that legal experts say effectively confines those who can be sentenced to death to Palestinian citizens of Israel and excludes Jewish citizens.

The Knesset is set to vote on the far-right Otzma Yehudit party’s controversial bill to legislate the death penalty for terrorists in its second and third readings. The bill is likely to be passed despite reported pressure from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and Otzma Yehudit chair to withdraw the bill. It is among a series of last-minute laws that the coalition is trying to advance prior to the end of the current Knesset legislative session tomorrow and the beginning of the Knesset’s Passover recess.

In a prison in Arizona, a tiny vial is kept in a refrigerator. Or there was—the precise state of what’s inside is still up for debate. The contents may have expired, according to a retired judge looking into the state’s execution procedures. They would not expire, according to prison officials. This could not be independently verified by anyone outside the prison. Pentobarbital sodium is the drug in question, and the fact that its storage conditions in a correctional facility are now the focus of legal investigation indicates how far this specific compound has deviated from its intended use.

BOISE, Idaho — Faith leaders, community advocates and relatives of a person executed by firing squad are joining national advocacy groups to protest firms involved in constructing Idaho’s execution chamber, as states increasingly turn to alternative methods amid lethal injection drug shortages. Due to the refusal of pharmaceutical companies, especially in the past decade, many states have had to find alternative methods because of extensive shortages of lethal injection drugs. Further, this has led the state of Idaho to pass legislation authorizing execution by firing squad, which is one of the most aggressive among alternative methods.

Law is, as legal scholars and commentators have long recognized , both a refuge for those seeking to escape abuses of power and a trap in which their claims of justice get lost in a maze of statutory intricacies. Nowhere has this been more clearly on display than in the world of capital punishment. Over the span of half a century, the Supreme Court has gone from championing the rights of capital defendants and death row inmates to deflecting and denying their pursuit of justice. Where once the court carefully scrutinized procedures used in death cases, insisting that they had to conform to the dictates of so-called super due process , today it has made the due process accorded in those cases not super at all .

Kyrgyzstan has reaffirmed its commitment to human rights and the rule of law after its Constitutional Court rejected a proposal to reinstate the death penalty, despite strong public outrage following a tragic crime. The proposal emerged after the rape and murder of a young girl in September 2025 sparked nationwide anger and calls for stricter punishment. Responding to public sentiment, President Sadyr Japarov had submitted an amendment seeking to assess whether capital punishment could be reintroduced. However, on December 10, the Constitutional Court ruled that reinstating the death penalty would violate Kyrgyzstan’s international treaty obligations and declared the proposal unconstitutional.

Singapore’s Court of Appeal has dismissed an appeal by Mustaqim bin Abdul Kadir, who was convicted of trafficking a capital quantity of drugs to justify a death penalty. The court ruled that his attempt to introduce fresh psychiatric evidence amounted to an “abuse of process”. In its judgement text released on Tuesday (24 March), the Court of Appeal upheld both his conviction and sentence. They found no merit in his arguments, calling his account “self-interested” and inconsistent.

PHOENIX -- A May 20 execution has been scheduled for an Arizona man convicted of murder for fatally setting a man on fire during a 2002 attack, marking what would be the state’s first use of the death penalty this year. The Arizona Supreme Court on Thursday issued a warrant to execute 63-year-old Leroy Dean McGill, who was convicted of first-degree murder in the death of Charles Perez. Authorities said McGill threw a cup of gasoline and a lit match at Perez and another person, Nova Banta, as they were sitting on a sofa in an apartment in north Phoenix.

STARKE, Fla. (AP) — The execution of a former Florida police officer convicted of raping and murdering an 11-year-old girl was temporarily halted Thursday by the Florida Supreme Court. The court issued a stay in execution for 68-year-old James Aren Duckett, who was scheduled to receive a three-drug injection Tuesday at Florida State Prison near Starke. Duckett was sentenced to death in 1988 after being convicted of first-degree murder and sexual battery.

Leroy Dean McGill was sentenced to death for a 2002 gasoline attack in North Phoenix against a couple, Charles Perez and Nova Banta. PHOENIX — Attorneys for Arizona death row inmate Leroy Dean McGill have formally challenged the state’s attempt to secure an execution warrant, citing a catastrophic 2025 cyberattack and a long history of troubled lethal injection protocols. The challenge comes as Arizona seeks to resume capital punishment following a year-long hiatus. If the Arizona Supreme Court grants the state’s request, McGill would become the first person executed in the state since 2024.