Death Penalty News

Two for­mer California death-sen­tenced pris­on­ers, Ernest Dykes and Curtis Ervin , have filed law­suits against Alameda County, accus­ing the District Attorney’s office of ​“set[ting] out to rig the juries” in their cap­i­tal cas­es. Both men were released from prison after their death sen­tences were reduced because of the dis­cov­ery of uncon­sti­tu­tion­al pros­e­cu­to­r­i­al mis­con­duct dur­ing each of their jury selec­tions in the 1990s. The law­suits allege that the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office (ACDAO) had a long-stand­ing prac­tice of engag­ing in racial dis­crim­i­na­tion dur­ing jury selec­tion in cap­i­tal cas­es. ​“The evi­dence shows that the errors were com­mit­ted know­ing­ly and not in iso­la­tion, but rather, borne from the prod­uct of a pat­tern and prac­tice rein­forced by those with super­vi­so­ry author­i­ty with­in the ACDAO,” the suits state. Both law­suits accuse the ACDAO of vio­lat­ing the men’s right to a fair tri­al by uncon­sti­tu­tion­al­ly...

Special tribunal in capital Dhaka hands down death penalty in absentia for crimes against humanity DHAKA, Bangladesh—A special tribunal in Bangladesh on Sunday gave the death sentence in absentia to three police officers, including the former police chief of the capital Dhaka, in connection with the killing of protesters during a 2024 uprising that led to the collapse of the government. A three-member International Crimes Tribunal led by Justice Md Golam Mortuza Mozumder delivered the verdict.

An Australian man has been charged with murder after the body of a 17-year-old girl was found in a suitcase in Thailand. Police in the coastal city of Pattaya said they found Tunchanok Donhomla "stuffed" in the bag, which had been discarded near a railway track, in the early hours of Saturday. Thai police said they arrested Simon Peter Carman at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi Airport in connection with the death as he was allegedly "preparing to flee the country." He denies the charges. In a message issued to the victim's family after his arrest, Carman said: "I feel bad for what happened to your daughter. It was out of my control."

Pune (Maharashtra): A special court in Pune on Monday awarded the death penalty to a 65-year-old man convicted of raping and murdering a three-year-old girl in Pune district, describing the crime as “heinous.” The convict, identified as Bhimrao Kambale, was found guilty of raping and murdering the minor in Nasrapur village. The incident took place on May 1. The case was heard in a fast-track court (POCSO) following the incident. While pronouncing the sentence, the special court observed that the nature of the offence was heinous and held that the gravity and motive of the crime warranted the imposition of the death penalty.

Recently Florida carried out the execution of Dusty Spencer , a 74-year-old Marine veteran, for the murder of his wife, Karen, in 1992. It was the ninth Florida execution this year. For their own sake, I urge Florida’s corrections workers to refuse to carry out another one. Before you dismiss me as some soft lefty, you should know that I am an Air Force veteran. I voted for Ron DeSantis for governor twice—and for Donald Trump for president three times.

Correction officials confirmed Westville can accommodate firing squad executions as lawmakers, the governor, and the U.S. Justice Department push for changes to protocols. As Indiana inches toward what could be its fourth state execution since resuming capital punishment, prison officials confirmed the state’s next correctional complex is already equipped for an execution method Hoosier lawmakers have yet to authorize. The Indiana Department of Correction confirmed to the Indiana Capital Chronicle that the new Westville Correctional Facility, now nearing completion, is designed to accommodate both lethal injection and firing squad executions. Indiana law currently allows only lethal injection.

A United Nations expert on violence offered a shocking reaction when a female October 7 survivor confronted her for denying Hamas' rapes after she detailed her own sexual abuse at the hands of the terrorist group. Ilana Gritzewsky testified at the UN Human Rights Council's 62nd session on Tuesday and offered an emotional account of the trauma Hamas inflicted on her when she was held as a hostage. 'On October 7, terrorists stormed our Kibbutz, murdering, kidnapping, and burning,' Gritzewsky said. 'They touched me and sexually abused me.' Gritzewsky, who was brought to the floor by watchdog nongovernmental organization UN Watch, added that she had been sexually assaulted by at least seven Hamas terrorists.

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); 24 June 2026: Issa Rahmani, a Baluch man on death row for drug-related offences, was executed in Zahedan Central Prison. According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, a man was hanged in Zahedan Central Prison on 21 June 2026. His identity has been established as Issa Rahmani, a 38-year-old Baluch man from Saravan. He was arrested almost four years ago and sentenced to death on drug-related charges by the Revolutionary Court.

74-year-old man becomes oldest inmate executed in modern Florida history  A 74-year-old man convicted of fatally stabbing his wife became the oldest person executed in Florida’s modern history on Thursday, and the state is scheduled to execute another 74-year-old inmate next month.  Dusty Ray Spencer was pronounced dead at 6:10 p.m. following a 3-drug injection at Florida State Prison near Starke. Spencer was convicted of the 1992 stabbing death of his wife Karen. 

Dusty Ray Spencerʼs crime “merits a severe punishment,” but the state should “exercise mercy,” the state bishops' conference said. Florida’s Catholic bishops are urging state Gov. Ron DeSantis to spare the life of a convicted murderer set to be executed for killing his wife more than three decades ago. DeSantis should “grant a stay of the execution of Dusty Ray Spencer and … commute his sentence to life without parole,” the Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops said in a letter to DeSantis dated June 18.

Iran Human Rights (IHR) reported the issuance of death sentences for two brothers, Hadi and Fazlollah Nikbakht, warning that both are at imminent risk of execution. Their other brother, Mohammad Nikbakht, is also facing charges that could potentially lead to a capital sentence. According to the report, Hadi and Fazlollah Nikbakht were sentenced to death approximately two weeks ago by the Revolutionary Court of Golpayegan on charges of “corruption on earth.” The two brothers were arrested at their home in Golpayegan on October 24, 2025, after they attempted to prevent the confiscation of their agricultural land. Following two months of absolute incommunicado detention, they were transferred to Isfahan Central Prison, also known as Dastgerd Prison.

June 24 (Reuters) - A conservative federal judge on Wednesday took the position that despite a 2008 U.S. Supreme Court ruling barring the death penalty for child rape, prosecutors today may be free to seek capital punishment in cases involving sexual offenses against children. St. Louis-based U.S. District Judge Joshua ​Divine, who was appointed to the bench only last year by Republican President Donald Trump, delivered his views in an unusual ‌court opinion issued on the same day he was set to sentence a Missouri man who faced a maximum prison term of 20 years.

Brooke George from Gravesend, Kent, is accused of stabbing the man to death with a kitchen knife after they met on Facebook Brooke George, 23, from Gravesend, Kent is accused of killing a fellow Brit with a kitchen knife. According to campaign group Detained in Dubai, George stabbed him to death in an act of self defence. Radha Stirling, CEO of Detained in Dubai, said: “She reached for a knife after being attacked. Authorities must treat her as a domestic violence survivor while they investigate.”

Gov. Bill Lee has not responded to calls for a death penalty pause after the failed lethal injection of Tony Carruthers It has been just over a month since executioners in Nashville abandoned the lethal injection of Tony Carruthers, who was strapped to a gurney for more than an hour as they tried and failed to place a secondary IV line. But while Gov. Bill Lee quickly granted Carruthers a one-year reprieve, his administration has not responded to urgent calls for a pause on the state’s death penalty.

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — A new murder trial has been set for a former Oklahoma death row inmate who was on the brink of being executed multiple times during the three decades he spent in prison for the 1997 killing of his former boss. The Supreme Court overturned Richard Glossip’s conviction in 2025, and a state judge released the man on bond last month. His attorneys had asked the same judge to consider whether there is enough evidence to retry him, but after a hearing Tuesday, the judge ruled that a new trial would start Sept. 28.

Weeks before calling to abolish capital punishment in Ohio, Gov. Mike DeWine commuted the man’s death sentence to life in prison without parole. When Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine called on lawmakers to abolish the state’s death penalty last week, he wouldn’t tell reporters if he would spare any of the more than 100 people on death row. Three weeks earlier, however, DeWine quietly did just that for Gregory Lott, a man with intellectual disabilities. Lott, now 64, will spend the rest of his life in prison without parole for the death of an 82-year-old East Cleveland man he set on fire during a home burglary in 1986.

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — A former Oklahoma death row inmate who was released from incarceration after nearly three decades is scheduled to be back in court as his case proceeds to a retrial for a 1997 killing that put him on the brink of execution three times. Richard Glossip’s initial conviction was overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court last year, and he was released on bond by a state judge last month.  Tuesday’s hearing will determine whether his case goes straight to retrial or if he will be given a new hearing to determine whether there is enough evidence to proceed.

After prosecuting Saldaño's murder case, Texas officials joined the man's bid to remand the case to a trial court to fully weigh his intellectual disability argument. WASHINGTON (CN) — The Supreme Court declined Monday to hear a Texas man’s bid to stave off his looming execution related to a murder conviction based on his argument that he is intellectually disabled. Victor Saldaño was previously successful in challenging a 1994 murder conviction and death sentence, but when retried in 2004 he again faced the death penalty, which he argues was wrong due to his trial attorney’s failure to present mental health or intellectual disability evidence.

The death row population in the U.S. has dropped below 2,000 for the first time since the 1980s, according to the latest report on national capital punishment trends released by the civil rights think tank Thurgood Marshall Institute (TMI) of the Legal Defense Fund (LDF). The Spring 2026 edition of Death Row U.S.A., which tracks state and national data on death row populations, executions, the race and sex of victims in execution cases, and the impact of moratoria and judicial reversals, shows that the nation’s death row population now stands at 1,993, down 47% from its peak of 3,726 in January 2001. The current death-row population is the smallest recorded in LDF’s more than 50 years of monitoring since December 1987, when 1,982 incarcerated people faced execution.