Death Penalty News

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.

Almost 100 people executed so far this year as dozens more remain on death row for drug-related offences Saudi Arabian authorities have executed nearly 100 people so far this year, including at least 61 for drug-related offences, the latest of which was on 18 June. In response, Dana Ahmed, Middle East Researcher at Amnesty International, said today: “It is halfway through the year and Saudi Arabia has executed nearly 100 people, a grim milestone exposing the authorities’ unconscionable and unlawful use of the death penalty. Of the 96 people put to death already in 2026, an astounding 61 were executed for drug-related offences; 39 of them were foreign nationals and 22 Saudi nationals.

Rules capital charges leveled against the disabled Catholic man were fabricated A Pakistani court has acquitted a blind Catholic man of blasphemy charges, ruling that the case against him was fabricated. The Additional Session Judge Court in Lahore, capital of Punjab province, cleared Nadeem Masih, 51, on June 22 and ordered his immediate release from detention. Judge Saad Salman Khan delivered the verdict in a case that carried the death penalty under Pakistan’s Penal Code.

Iran has turned executions and opaque security trials into one of its harshest tools for suppressing dissent and maintaining control. The Iranian regime has used its conflict with Israel and the United States, regional tensions, and recurring political crises as tools to intensify repression at home. The sharp rise in executions in recent years stands out as the starkest expression of this policy. Reports published by international human rights organizations show that Iran remains one of the world’s leading executioners.

Iranian authorities have executed two Afghan nationals, Mirwais Khalilzadi and Ebrahim Ahmadshahi, in Shiraz Central Prison. Both men had previously been sentenced to death in separate cases on drug-related charges. With these two executions, at least 12 Afghan prisoners have been executed in Iran in less than six months since the beginning of 2026. According to information obtained by the Hengaw Organization for Human Rights, the executions of Mirwais Khalilzadi, 55, and Ebrahim Ahmadshahi, 40, both fromAfghanistan, were carried out at dawn on Sunday, June 21, 2026, in Shiraz Central Prison (Adelabad).

Government says men were involved in terror and drug cases between 2014 and 2022; over 100 remain on death row, Amman says executions to proceed ‘one by one’ Jordan hanged on Sunday six men convicted of killing security personnel, a government official said, ending a nine-year moratorium on the use of the death penalty. Government spokesman Mohammad Momani said in a statement that the men had been convicted in “terrorism and criminal cases” that led to the deaths and injuries of police officers and soldiers. According to the Jordanian Roya News outlet, the executions were carried out at dawn Sunday. Two of the men were involved in a 2018 case in the city of Salt, where six security officers were killed during a raid, the Jordanian government said.

Dubai: Kuwait has executed five men convicted of murder and other serious crimes after their death sentences were upheld by the country's highest courts and ratified by the Emir, the Public Prosecution said. The executions were carried out by hanging at the Central Prison after all legal procedures had been completed, according to a statement carried by local media. The public prosecution said the convicts had been granted all constitutional guarantees, including the right to defense and appeal throughout the investigation and trial process. 

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); 19 June 2026: Pejman Saedi, a Kurdish man convicted of murder based on a qassameh ceremony after being exonerated, was executed in Qorveh Prison. According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, a man was hanged in Qorveh Prison on 12 January 2026. His identity has been established as Pejman Soltani, a 21-year-old Kurdish man from Dehgolan. He was arrested around three years ago and sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) for murder.

Iranian Court Imposes Flogging Sentences on Musician and Production Team The criminal division of the Qom provincial court has handed down 74-lash sentences to Iranian performer Parastoo Ahmadi and eight production staff members, according to legal assessments released this week.  The sentencing concludes a case initiated after a December 2024 YouTube livestream, in which Ahmadi performed an “imaginary concert” at a historic caravanserai without wearing a mandatory head covering. Beyond the corporal punishment, the court has mandated a two-year ban on the defendants leaving the country and a two-year prohibition on all professional creative work.

Iranian authorities executed two women, Asieh Farahmand and Zeinab Zarini, in Qazvin Central Prison earlier this month after they were convicted in a joint case of “premeditated murder.”  Data compiled by Hengaw Organization for Human Rights shows that at least nine women have been executed in Iranian prisons over the past six months. Information received by Hengaw Organization for Human Rights shows that the executions were carried out in the early hours of June 7, 2026, at Qazvin Central Prison (Choobindar Prison). Farahmand, 28, and Zarini, 32, were both from Qazvin.

Hengaw – Friday, June 19, 2026: At least 12 prisoners, including two Baloch prisoners, one Kurdish prisoner, one Arab prisoner and one Lor prisoner, have been executed in recent weeks in prisons across Iran. The prisoners, identified as Karim Karami, Zahir Shahouzehi, Hossein Brahoui, Rashid Arefi, Khalegh Shahriari, Mehdi Moradian, Sadegh Shiri, Keyvan Rashidian, Mohammadreza Malekzadeh, Mansour Bakhtiari, Abbasgholi Seifzadeh and Rahman Bikar, had been sentenced to death on charges including drug-related offenses, premeditated murder, rape and armed robbery.

FRANKLIN COUNTY, Mo. – A judge issued a death sentence Thursday for Kenneth Simpson, the man who shot two police officers in Hermann and killed one in 2023. Simpson was convicted of first-degree murder and eight other felonies in the shooting and death of Detective Sgt. Mason Griffith and the shooting of Officer Adam Sullentrup on March 12, 2023. On Thursday, in a packed courtroom, prosecutors introduced evidence that showed Simpson bragging about the shooting on video calls, where he claimed law enforcement officers were no match for him.

VIERA, Fla. (Court TV) — A Florida man will not face a potential death sentence for the death of a child after pleading no contest to multiple charges as part of a deal with prosecutors. Joshua Manns, 30, pleaded no contest to first-degree felony murder, aggravated manslaughter of a child, aggravated child abuse, and felony child abuse on Wednesday, court records show. Manns had initially denied any responsibility for the death of 3-year-old Jameson Nance, who had been left in his care when he died. On June 11, 2021, Nance’s mother, Erica Dotson, called 911 after Manns called her and said something was wrong with her son. She said that when she arrived home, Manns was nowhere in sight, but Jameson was “lying on the bathroom floor with his arm stuck in the upward position.”

Gov. Kay Ivey announced the execution window for Jeremy Williams Thursday. Williams will be executed during a window from August 13 to 14 by lethal injection. Williams was convicted of kidnapping, raping and killing a 5-year-old Kamarie Holland from Georgia. He was given four death sentences for his crime. Russell County Circuit Court Judge David Johnson handed down the sentence.

Florida has set an execution date of June 25, 2026, for 74-year-old death row inmate Dusty Ray Spencer, a move that would make him the oldest person ever executed in the state’s history . Governor Ron DeSantis signed the death warrant on May 26, 2026, marking the tenth such warrant issued this year as the state continues its current pace of capital punishment. Spencer was convicted in 1992 of the first-degree murder of his wife, Karen Spencer, in Orange County. Court records detail a prolonged and violent pattern of abuse preceding the homicide. On January 18, 1992, after prior incidents of physical assault and threats, Spencer stabbed his wife to death in their backyard. The trial evidence included testimony that the victim was alive and conscious during the attack, which involved blunt force trauma and multiple stab wounds while the couple's son was present.

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); 18 June 2026: At least eight men were executed in a group hanging in Ghezel Hesar Prison on 13 June and two men were hanged on 15 June. According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, at least eight men were hanged in Ghezel Hesar Prison on 13 June 2026. They were all sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) for murder. Three of the men have been identified as Amirabbas Dakami from Gharchak, Seyed Akbar Banihashem and Mehdi Moradian. The identities of the other five men have not been established at the time of writing.

TOPEKA — Gov. Laura Kelly denied a Kansas serial killer clemency from his death sentence on Thursday. She denied the request of John Robinson, an 82-year-old Kansas prison inmate convicted of killing eight women from the mid-1980s until he was arrested in 2000. The governor said he did not meet the criteria for clemency. “As the existence of a credible claim of innocence or evidence of manifest injustice are absent in his request,” Kelly said in a press release, “I have denied John Robinson’s request to commute his death sentence.”

Mr Mangione, 28, is accused of fatally shooting UnitedHealthcare CEO ​Brian Thompson outside a hotel in Midtown in December 2024 Luigi Mangione, the man accused of gunning down a health insurance executive on a Manhattan sidewalk, is for now withdrawing plans to introduce evidence at trial that he was undergoing an extreme mental health crisis at the time of the ​ alleged killing, according to a Friday court filing.