Death Penalty News

A Florida pastor who became a potential candidate for the death penalty gets a triple life sentence for filming himself abusing a child. Jonathan Elwing, who was senior pastor at Palm View First Baptist in Palmetto when the abuse occurred, will spend the rest of his life in prison without parole after a jury found him guilty on 12 felony counts. Police initially charged the pastor and father of four with four counts of possessing child pornography and for using cryptocurrency to buy explicit images of children from the dark web.

Singer, 21, could face death penalty after being charged with murder of 14-year-old Video game Fortnite is approving refunds for any D4vd cosmetics after the singer, 21, was charged with the sexual abuse, murder and mutilation of a 14-year-old girl. He pleaded not guilty to the charges. The game first collaborated with D4vd, whose legal name is David Burke, in 2024, initially releasing an emote to his track “Feel It” before releasing Fortnite’s first official anthem with Burke, titled “Locked and Loaded”, the following year.

North Korea dramatically increased executions during the Covid-19 pandemic, particularly for consuming South Korean dramas, K-pop and other foreign culture and political offences, a report published Tuesday showed.  Pyongyang closed its borders in January 2020 to stop the spread of the coronavirus, with research and media reports indicating that the diplomatically isolated nation spent subsequent years bolstering security along its frontiers.  Campaigners have said the shutdown worsened longstanding human rights abuses in North Korea, whose government is widely seen as one of the world's most repressive.

Tian Yongming, who was initially sentenced for a series of violent crimes and then had his sentence changed to death early this year, has been executed in Yunnan province following approval from China's top court. The execution was carried out by the Intermediate People's Court in Yuxi, Yunnan, on Tuesday, with local prosecutors supervising the process. Before the execution, Tian was allowed to meet with his family members. The case dates back to September 1996, when Tian was sentenced to nine years in prison for the rape and attempted murder of his sister-in-law. After his release on July 15, 2002, he plotted revenge against the woman. On the night of Nov 13, 2002, he broke into her home armed with a knife.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) announced on Friday that it will resume the federal use of capital punishment and that it is seeking death sentences against 44 defendants. DOJ also said that it will use firing squads, electrocution, or nitrogen asphyxiation if the drug used in lethal injection is unavailable. The announcement follows the Restoring and Strengthening the Federal Death Penalty report, published on April 24. The report is especially critical of the moratorium on federal executions, ordered by Attorney General Merrick Garland in July 2021, to remain until the death penalty could be conducted “fairly and humanely.” Garland was concerned about the federal lethal injection protocol, which uses only one drug, pentobarbital, and the possibility that it causes “unnecessary pain and suffering.” In response to Garland’s moratorium and concerns, President Biden commuted the sentences of 37 prisoners on federal death row, leaving only three prisoners.

Itanagar, Apr 27: A special POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) court in Arunachal Pradesh’s Yupia has sentenced a 44-year-old man to death for repeatedly raping his minor relative in 2019, terming the offence a “rarest of rare” case marked by a grave breach of trust. Special Judge (POCSO) Dr Hirendra Kashyap convicted Lakang Tallang under multiple sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), including rape by a person in a position of trust and criminal intimidation, read with Section 6 of the POCSO Act.

Adam Sheafe, the California man who admitted to killing a New River, Arizona, pastor in a crucifixion-style attack, has asked prosecutors to offer him a plea deal that would result in a natural life sentence rather than the death penalty he had previously sought. Advisory council attorneys representing Sheafe sent a formal plea offer to prosecutors this week, about two weeks after his father and stepmother died in a plane crash at Marana Airport on April 8, according to 12 News. Sheafe, 51, is charged with first-degree murder in the death of William Schonemann, 76, pastor of New River Bible Church, who was found dead inside his home last April.

TOKYO— A 47-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of killing a 29-year-old woman in Tokyo’s Roppongi district in 2018. Police said Nobuaki Takahashi, who had been on an international wanted list since June 2019, was arrested on Saturday at Narita airport after being extradited from Malaysia, NTV reported. Takahashi left Japan for Malaysia on Oct 13, 2018, five days before the body of Aisha Kumi Balletta, 29, was found in his apartment. Balletta, a Japanese-American, had multiple head injuries and had been dead for more than a week. She lived in Yokohama and was apparently a regular visitor to the apartment, neighbors said.

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) has directed federal prisons to expand the range of methods used for executions to include firing squads, gas asphyxiation and electrocution. In a 48-page memo released on Friday, the department says this will "strengthen" the death penalty, "deterring the most barbaric crimes, delivering justice for victims, and providing long-overdue closure to surviving loved ones". The previous administration had placed a moratorium on most federal executions. Before leaving office, former president Joe Biden gave clemency to 37 of the 40 federal death row prisoners. President Donald Trump directed the DOJ to resume seeking executions on his first day in office last year.

The US Justice Department is moving to accelerate federal death penalty cases, introducing significant changes that include expanding execution methods to allow death by firing squad. The shift signals a broader effort to revive and reinforce policies aimed at speeding up capital punishment proceedings after a period of rollback under the previous administration. At the core of the changes is a renewed emphasis on enforcement. Officials say the updated framework is designed to reduce delays in the legal process and ensure that sentences — particularly in the most serious criminal cases — are carried out more efficiently.

Iran has executed two men for alleged Mossad spying and protest-linked "chaos". Following the recent string of executions, rights groups have accused the Iran administration and judiciary of holding opaque trials and forced confessions. Iran has carried out two separate executions in recent days, putting to death individuals accused of links to Israel and involvement in anti-government unrest. The executions are part of the Iranian authorities’ wider crackdown that has drawn heavy flak from rights groups.

Iran has ramped up its executions since the outbreak of war with Israel and the US, putting to death 9 people linked to the protests since mid-March TEHRAN — Iran on Saturday executed a man for his role in mass anti-government protests in January, claiming he was carrying out a “mission” on behalf of Israel’s spy agency, the judiciary reported. It is the latest in a string of executions since war broke out with Israel and the United States. Erfan Kiani was hanged after his sentence was upheld by the country’s Supreme Court, the judiciary’s Mizan Online website said.

Every Thursday at 9 a.m. when the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals publishes its orders and opinions online, Melissa Lucio’s family, supporters and lawyers scan the court’s website for the death row inmate’s name. Caught between freedom and a potential execution for the last two years, waiting for every Thursday morning is all Lucio and her team can do. The 56-year-old, found guilty in 2008 of killing her 2-year-old daughter, Mariah Alvarez, has spent two of her 17 years on death row in a legal limbo as the CCA weighs a district judge’s 2024 recommendation to overturn her capital murder conviction because of withheld evidence. An additional ruling from the judge six months later declared Lucio “actually innocent” of killing Mariah.

Saturday April 25th is National DNA Day , mark­ing the anniver­sary of the 1953 dis­cov­ery of DNA’s dou­ble helix struc­ture and the 2003 com­ple­tion of the Human Genome Project. Today, the Death Penalty Information Center is pleased to present a new resource exam­in­ing the con­tro­ver­sial role of ​“junk sci­ence” in cap­i­tal cas­es. When DNA test­ing became one of the most rig­or­ous­ly val­i­dat­ed tools in foren­sic sci­ence, its devel­op­ment also prompt­ed greater scruti­ny of oth­er foren­sic tech­niques. Many dis­ci­plines that were long accept­ed in U.S. court­rooms have now been found to lack ade­quate sci­en­tif­ic foun­da­tion and have become known as ​“junk science.”

A day after the state carried out its fifth execution of the year, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed his eighth death warrant of 2026. DeSantis on Wednesday signed the warrant for Richard Knight, 47, to be executed May 21 for the 2000 murder of Odessia Stephens and her four-year-old daughter Hanessia Mullings in Broward County. According to court records, Knight became irate after Stephens asked him to move out of the apartment where she lived with his cousin Hans Mullings and her daughter. Hans Mullings was not home at the time. After going outside to walk, Knight returned, exchanged more words with Stephens, got a knife from the kitchen and went to the master bedroom where he began stabbing Stephens until she stopped resisting.

Advisory urges travellers to avoid carrying items for strangers and stay vigilant at transit points as arrests of foreign nationals rise under stricter legal regime The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) on Thursday issued a strong warning to Indian nationals travelling to the Maldives, cautioning them about that country’s recently strengthened anti-drug laws that now impose life imprisonment and even the death penalty for drug-related offences. RELATED |  Maldives: Death penalty law for drug trafficking now in effect Under the amended Maldives’ Drugs Act, which took effect last month, the country has introduced some of the world’s most stringent penalties for drug-related crimes. The NCB warned that under the new legal framework, “ignorance of the law is not a defence”, and any violation will result in severe judicial consequences.

OCALA, Fla. — State prosecutors announced Thursday they will seek the death penalty against a Citra man accused of the 2024 killing of a 3-year-old child, following the filing of a new capital charge. Jeroen Coombs, 37, appeared in a Marion County courtroom where the state formalized its intent to pursue the execution of the defendant. The notice of intent follows a grand jury indictment that now includes sexual battery on a child under the age of 12.  Coombs was already facing counts of first-degree murder and aggravated child abuse in connection with the toddler's death. Court records do not explicitly state whether the supplemental sexual battery charge involves the deceased victim or a separate individual. Under Florida’s current capital sentencing statutes, the presence of certain aggravating factors—including the age of the victim and the commission of a felony such as sexual battery during a homicide—allows the state to seek the highest penalty under the law. The case has mo...

Erbil, Kurdistan Region - Iranian authorities on Thursday executed another prisoner, citing alleged ties to Israel’s intelligence service, Mossad, as well as to an exiled opposition group, a media affiliate of the Iranian judiciary reported. This comes as Tehran has in recent weeks executed more than a dozen detainees, including individuals arrested during nationwide anti-government protests in January. Mizan Online relayed that Soltanali Shirzadi Fakhr was hanged after he “was convicted on charges of moharebeh [waging war against God] through membership in the terrorist [Mojahedin Khalq Organization] MKO/MEK group.”

Judges reject a challenge that argued it was cruel and degrading Malaysia's top court has ruled that the use of caning as a form of punishment is constitutional, while dismissing a plea from prisoners seeking relief from the punishment imposed on them. In a 2-1 majority decision, the Malaysian Federal Court ruled that the use of whipping or caning did not fall within the ambit of a cruel, oppressive and degrading punishment in the constitutional sense, Bernama reported on April 22. It is not the function of the court to act as a moral arbiter or a 'super-legislature' in the guise of constitutional interpretation, Wan Ahmad Farid Wan Salleh, one of the judges, said.