Death Penalty News

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WZTV) — Christa Pike’s attorneys are asking a Davidson County Chancery Court judge to order Tennessee officials to preserve evidence from the state’s Sept. 30 execution attempt that was not completed. The emergency motion, filed Friday, Oct. 2, asks the court to protect physical, written, and electronic evidence related to the attempted lethal injection while Pike’s broader legal challenge continues. The filing does not ask the court to decide whether Tennessee violated Pike’s constitutional rights during the procedure. Instead, it argues the state has a duty to preserve potential evidence before it can be altered, tested, discarded, or lost.

The stunning failure in Tennessee’s execution chamber on Wednesday has left both sides on the death penalty debate demanding answers. Christa Pike was placed on a ventilator and unconscious in a hospital in the hours after her failed execution in Tennessee, her attorneys said in a court filing Friday. Hospital staff, her lawyers said, were working to save Pike’s life and clear the two doses of the drug that the state uses to execute prisoners. The stunning failure in Tennessee’s execution chamber on Wednesday has left both sides on the death penalty debate demanding answers. The state's governor has ordered an independent review.

Gov. Bill Lee has ordered a 3rd-party review of the botched execution of Christa Pike and put a hold on state executions for the rest of the year.  “Carrying out a lawfully imposed sentence is among the State’s most serious responsibilities, and the people of Tennessee expect it to be done in a manner that is not only legal and constitutional but is effective,” said Lee in a statement.  The execution of Gary Wayne Sutton is ordered for Dec. 3, but Lee said he is pausing executions for the rest of 2026. 

Iranian authorities executed four prisoners, including three Turks, in Zanjan Central Prison and Meshgin Shahr Central Prison. Three were executed on charges related to “drug-related offenses,” while the fourth was executed on a charge of “premeditated murder.” According to reports received by the Hengaw Organization for Human Rights, three prisoners were executed in Zanjan Central Prison on Sunday, September 27, 2026. Fateh Shafiei, 33, a Turk from Zanjan and father of one, and Hassan Mahdipour, 30, a Turk from Mianeh, were among those executed. Shafiei had been arrested three years earlier, while Mahdipour had been arrested two years earlier.

The lethal drug administered in Tennessee’s failed attempt to execute Christa Pike has been used in multiple states that carry out the death penalty and by the U.S. government after President Donald Trump resumed federal executions during his first term. Pike, 50, remained alive after two doses of pentobarbital were administered Wednesday, according to her attorneys and media witnesses. One of her lawyers said Thursday that she was being treated at a hospital. Tennessee officials haven’t explained yet what went wrong during the execution.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Christa Pike was in critical condition Thursday and receiving “lifesaving care” at a hospital, her lawyers said, a day after a failed attempt to execute her pushed Tennessee’s governor to halt further executions this year and order an independent review. Pike, who was sentenced to death for a 1995 murder, was taken to a hospital Wednesday night after surviving a double dose of the drug Tennessee uses to execute prisoners.

The law is now set to be reviewed by the Senate before being officially ratified by Tebboune. Algerian lawmakers adopted on Thursday a law imposing the death penalty on convicted forest arsonists, after deadly wildfires ripped through swathes of the country in recent weeks. The official death toll from the blazes, which swept through the country's northeast during the summer, was 12 people, but witnesses have reported the deaths of dozens. Algeria had upheld a moratorium on the death penalty since 1993, but in August, President Abdelmadjid Tebboune ordered the justice minister to amend the penal code to broaden the list of crimes for which capital punishment is allowed.

Jang Yun-gi avoided the death penalty sought by the prosecution for murdering a student while attempting to rape her.  A man who killed a high school girl on a Gwangju street in an attempt to sexually assault her was sentenced to life in prison on Wednesday, after prosecutors had sought the death penalty .  Prosecutors had charged Jang with murder in the course of rape, which carries only two possible sentences: death or life imprisonment. They demanded the death penalty at the final hearing on Aug. 31.

Iranian authorities have executed at least two prisoners, Ali Alizehi, a Baloch man, and Mehrdad Sheikhi, in prisons in Kerman and Isfahan. Both had previously been sentenced to death on charges related to “drug offenses.” Based on information received by the Hengaw Organization for Human Rights, Alizehi, approximately 43 years old and a father of two from Zahedan, was executed at dawn on Wednesday, September 30, 2026, at Kerman Central Prison.

Baghdad—The Iraqi authorities carried out the death sentence against 10 people convicted of terrorism crimes, according to what the French news agency AFP reported from informed sources. This comes in the latest execution of death sentences against those convicted of terrorism-related cases in the country. The sources reported that the sentences were implemented against the convicts after judicial death sentences were issued on the grounds of terrorism crimes. This comes within the framework of the Iraqi authorities implementing judicial rulings related to those convicted in these cases.

The prosecution of lawyers and restrictions on independent defence In Iran’s judicial system, prosecutors pursue charges and judges decide on release, detention and the outcome of cases. In the face of these powers, a defendant’s chosen lawyer must be able to access the case file, speak with their client and challenge the actions of judicial and security bodies without fear of personal or professional repercussions. A lawyer’s independence in this context is not a professional privilege; it is a condition for an effective defence against state power.

Iran executed two more in relation to the nationwide January protests over the country’s battered economy, the judiciary said Wednesday, accusing them of involvement in killing four security personnel in the northeastern Mashhad city.  The judiciary’s Mizan Online News Agency accused Ali Himati and Majid Nikandish of being “leaders of the unrest in Tabarsi, Mashhad,” where rioters allegedly carried weapons and incendiaries causing damage to public property. 

A 77-year-old man convicted of killing a woman with a hammer has become the 16th person executed this year in Florida  A 77-year-old Florida man was put to death Tuesday for his conviction in a deadly hammer attack on a woman decades ago, becoming the 16th person executed to date this year in the nation’s busiest death chamber.  Curtis Wilkie Beasley was pronounced dead at 6:12 p.m. following a lethal injection at Florida State Prison near Starke. He was convicted of 1st-degree murder, robbery, and grand theft auto in the 1995 hammer attack on Carolyn Monfort at her home south of Orlando. 

The case has highlighted the difficulty of distinguishing between the public demand for severe punishment and the legal treatment of suspects according to their age. TUNIS – Shock over the alleged collective rape of a 15-year-old girl in Tunis has revived debate in Tunisia over the severity of penalties for sexual violence against children, including renewed calls to reconsider the country’s abolition of the death penalty for rape.

Kosowski returns to court Oct. 8 for a Spencer hearing as the judge considers whether to sentence him to death.  Convicted killer Tomasz Kosowski will return to court Oct. 8 as a judge moves closer to deciding whether the former plastic surgeon will be sentenced to death for the murder of attorney Steven Cozzi.  The case is entering its final stage under unusual circumstances. Kosowski is representing himself, waived a jury for both the guilt and penalty phases, and has declined to present mitigation or evidence intended to support a sentence other than death. 

Cases involving shaken baby syndrome (SBS) have resulted in overturned convictions in Georgia and California, while New Jersey's high court has jumped a step further.  As courts in other states reconsider convictions based on shaken baby syndrome, Robert Roberson’s lawyers have kept close watch—filing new notices in Texas each time a ruling calls the theory into question.  In Georgia and California, judges have overturned convictions after finding that advances in medical science could have changed the outcomes. In New Jersey, the state’s highest court went a step further, declaring shaken baby testimony inadmissible in criminal trials. 

Gov. Bill Lee does not plan to stop Christa Pike's execution. Pike, 50, is scheduled to be killed by lethal injection 10 a.m. Sept. 30 at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville. “After deliberate consideration of Christa Gail Pike’s request for clemency, and after a thorough review of the case, I am upholding the sentence of the State of Tennessee and do not plan to intervene," Lee said in a statement released Sept. 28. Pike's attorneys lamented the news.

Iranian authorities have executed at least five prisoners, including two Kurdish men and one Baloch, in prisons in Isfahan and Karaj. The five had been sentenced to death on “drug-related” or “murder” charges. According to reports received by the Hengaw Organization for Human Rights, Abdolghani Salarzehi, a 35-year-old Baloch prisoner, was executed at Isfahan Central Prison at dawn on Monday, September 28, 2026. Informed sources said Salarzehi, a married father of five, had been arrested seven years earlier on “drug-related” charges and subsequently sentenced to death.

Justin Michael Wolfe’s case once attracted national attention as an example of suburban youths dabbling in the worlds of drugs and death. A Virginia man once sentenced to death in a 2001 murder-for-hire case will be released from prison after a plea deal finalized Monday ended his decades-long legal battle, his attorneys said. Justin Michael Wolfe, whose case attracted national attention as an example of suburban youths dabbling in the worlds of drugs and death, pleaded guilty to two lesser charges of conspiracy to distribute marijuana and solicitation of robbery, according to court records. The latter disposition was made under an Alford plea, meaning a defendant doesn’t admit guilt but does admit prosecutors have enough evidence that could lead to a conviction.