Death Penalty News

(The Center Square) - A Catholic nonprofit has come out against an Arizona bill that would permit a firing squad to be used as an option for carrying out the death penalty. State Sen. Kevin Payne, R-Peoria, introduced Senate Bill 1751, which would allow death row inmates to choose a firing squad as a means of execution. SB 1751 also would require a firing squad be mandatory for people who kill Arizona law enforcement. Payne said juries in Arizona “impose the death penalty only in the most egregious cases after lengthy trials and appeals.”

Justice Sonia Sotomayor expressed concerns about Florida’s lethal injection procedure on Tuesday, urging more transparency as the Supreme Court denied a man’s emergency bid to avoid execution later in the day. The seniormost liberal justice voted with her colleagues to allow Melvin Trotter’s execution to move forward over the 1986 murder of a grocery store owner, saying Trotter hadn’t shown enough evidence that the state will mangle the procedure. “Even so, the record to date is troubling,” Sotomayor wrote. Her four-page solo opinion raises alarm that Florida’s lethal injection protocol has possible flaws, but state courts have prevented defendants from obtaining records to prove it.

Executions would be reserved for those convicted of certain sexual assaults against children under 13 A pair of Republican state lawmakers wants to bring the death penalty back to Wisconsin for the first time in more than 170 years. It would be reserved for those convicted of certain sexual assaults against children under 13 years old. The bill being introduced by state Sen. Chris Kapenga, R-Delafield, and state Rep. Elija Behnke, R-Town of Chase, would give prosecutors and judges the option of seeking the death penalty for people convicted of having sexual contact or intercourse with a person under 13 years old and causing great bodily harm. It would also be an option for all people convicted of having sex with a child under the age of 12.

Police observer Poengky Indarti has called for strict criminal sanctions against police personnel involved in drug cases to create a deterrent effect and prevent similar misconduct by other officers.  “The imposition of severe criminal penalties, including the death penalty and life imprisonment, is expected to provide a shock therapy,” she said in Jakarta on Tuesday.  According to Poengky, law enforcement should also apply multiple charges so that perpetrators are not only sentenced to prison terms but also financially impoverished. 

The execution of Melvin Trotter for the murder of 70-year-old Virgie Langford in 1986 comes as Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor questions Florida's 'deeply troubling' lethal injection record. Florida has executed its second inmate of the year even as a Supreme Court justice questioned the state's “deeply troubling" record on lethal injections and how it "shrouds its executions in secrecy."  Melvin Trotter, 65, was executed by lethal injection on Tuesday, Feb. 24, for the 1986 murder of 70-year-old Virgie Langford, a mother of 4 who was on the verge of retirement when she was stabbed to death in the corner grocery store that she owned for five decades. Trotter was pronounced dead at 6:15 p.m. ET. 

(INDIANA CAPITAL CHRONICLE) — New records from the governor’s office show Indiana paid $100,000 for execution drugs used in October — bringing the total amount the state has spent on pentobarbital to at least $1.275 million — and reveal how long lethal injection drugs remained in state custody before being used or destroyed. The documents, provided Monday to the Indiana Capital Chronicle, include a previously undisclosed Department of Correction drug inventory log that tracks purchases, use, and disposal of pentobarbital over the past two years. 

STARKE, Fla. (DPN) — A man convicted of stabbing and strangling a grocery store owner during a robbery nearly 40 years ago is scheduled to die by lethal injection Tuesday evening, becoming the second person executed in Florida this year. Melvin Trotter, 65, is set to receive a three-drug lethal injection beginning at 6 p.m. at Florida State Prison near Starke. Trotter was convicted of first-degree murder in the 1986 killing of Virgie Langford, 70, who owned Langford’s Grocery Store in Palmetto, in southwest Florida's Manatee County.

I have seen three executions. I hope I never see a fourth. Capital punishment is violence. But the state does all it can to conceal that fact. The viewing areas outside the death chamber are still and silent. Bright light floods the small room where people die. The warden pronouncing the sentence speaks in clipped, measured tones, saying no more than needed. You’re expected to view the act as a bloodless execution of justice.

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); 22 February 2026: Sajad Ahmadi, a man on death row for murder, was executed in Malayer Prison. According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, a man was hanged in Malayer Prison, Hamedan province, on 18 February 2026. His identity has been established as Sajad Ahmadi who was arrested for the murder of his wife around five years ago. He was sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) for murder by the Criminal Court.

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); 19 February 2026: Reza Karami, a man on death row for murder, was executed in Doroud Prison. The plaintiffs in the case had agreed to accept diya (blood money) in lieu of execution but changed their minds at the last minute. According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, a man was hanged in Doroud Prison, Lorestan province, on 14 February 2026. His identity has been established as 30-year-old Reza Karami who was arrested around three years ago and sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) for murder by the Criminal Court.

Indonesian prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for six defendants accused of smuggling nearly two tonnes of methamphetamine in Riau Islands waters, saying they knowingly transported the drugs aboard a vessel intercepted at sea.  Attorney General’s Office spokesperson Anang Supriatna said the suspects admitted receiving about 67 packages, weighing nearly two tonnes, in a mid-sea transfer.  “They were aware they received around 67 packages, or about 2 tonnes of meth, at sea,” Anang told reporters in Jakarta on Friday. 

Human Rights Watch said in its annual report that Saudi authorities carried out an unprecedented wave of executions in 2025, following trials that largely failed to meet standards of fairness and due process, while continuing to suppress freedom of expression and arbitrarily detain dissidents and activists. According to the report, Saudi authorities carried out at least 322 executions by early December 2025—the highest number recorded in the country’s modern history. The organization confirmed that among those executed were two individuals convicted of alleged crimes committed when they were under the age of 18, in direct violation of the international human rights law ban on executing children.

A special court in Uttar Pradesh’s Banda on Friday sentenced a former Junior Engineer (JE) of the Irrigation Department and his wife to death for the sexual exploitation of 33 minor boys — some as young as three — over a decade, officials said. The POCSO court termed the crimes as “rarest of rare” and held Ram Bhawan and his wife Durgawati guilty of systematically abusing children between 2010 and 2020 and producing child sexual abuse material. Convicting the duo under provisions of the Indian Penal Code and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, the court sentenced them to death for offences including aggravated penetrative sexual assault, using a child for pornographic purposes, storage of pornographic material involving children, and abetment and criminal conspiracy, they said.

SALT LAKE CITY — Utah death row inmates routinely spend three decades or more awaiting execution, with some dying of natural causes before their sentences can be carried out. One Republican lawmaker says the system is broken and is pushing legislation to accelerate the appeals process. Rep. Candice Pierucci, R-Herriman, sponsor of  House Bill 495, told a House committee on Feb. 19, 2026, that prolonged delays undermine the death penalty's purpose and burden taxpayers with indefinite appeals. She cited the case of Ralph Menzies, who spent 36 years on death row before dying of natural causes last year after his scheduled firing squad execution was halted over competency concerns.

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); 19 February 2026: At least 26 protesters have been sentenced to death and hundreds more, including juveniles, are facing death penalty charges following the bloody massacre of the recent nationwide protests. At the same time, defendants and their families are being subjected to pressure and threats to prevent them from publicising their cases.  This is while on 16 February, the head of judiciary reiterated orders to “prosecute and punish the main perpetrators of the unrest and terrorist acts” and to “act decisively and without any leniency.” In a press conference held the next day, the judiciary spokesperson announced that 8,843 indictments had been issued in relation to the nationwide protests. 

The Iranian authorities must immediately halt all plans to execute eight individuals sentenced to death after being convicted of committing offences during the January 2026 nationwide protests, Amnesty International said today.  The organization is urging authorities to quash their convictions and death sentences, and promptly put an end to expedited torture-tainted grossly unfair trials against at least 22 others in connection to the uprising.

PHOENIX — Arizona lawmakers advanced proposals on Feb. 19, 2026, that would expand execution options for death row inmates to include firing squads and lethal gas, amid ongoing challenges with lethal injection and concerns over carrying out capital sentences. The measures, sponsored by Sen. Kevin Payne, R-Peoria, cleared a Senate committee with a party-line vote. They aim to give condemned inmates more choices while mandating firing squad executions for those convicted of murdering law enforcement officers. Senate Concurrent Resolution 1049 proposes a constitutional amendment that Arizona voters would decide in November. If approved, it would allow defendants sentenced to death to select from three methods: firing squad, lethal injection (intravenous administration of lethal substances) or lethal gas. Lethal injection would remain the default if no choice is made.

The Taliban has passed a new law in Afghanistan allowing husbands to beat their wives as long as there is no serious bodily harm in a new criminal code published by the group.  The 90-page penal code, signed by Hibatullah Akhundzada, the Taliban's supreme leader, sets out different levels of punishments for people depending on their standing in society.  Article 9 of the code divides Afghan society into four categories: religious scholars (ulama), the elite (ashraf), the middle class, and the lower class. 

When Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry and Attorney General Liz Murrill took office in January 2024, they moved aggres­sive­ly to restart exe­cu­tions in the state. Gov. Landry signed bills that autho­rized nitro­gen suf­fo­ca­tion and elec­tro­cu­tion as exe­cu­tion meth­ods, increased his own pow­er over the state cap­i­tal defense sys­tem, and lim­it­ed post-con­vic­tion appeals , while AG Murrill moved to take over cap­i­tal appeal chal­lenges from local dis­trict attor­neys. In March 2025, the state con­duct­ed its first exe­cu­tion in 15 years.