Death Penalty News

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); 2 March 2026: Three days into the war by the United States and Israel against Iran, prisoners are being subjected to additional restrictions while concerns have intensified regarding the risk of harm to prisoners as a result of military strikes or possible retaliatory actions by the authorities. In particular, the families of a number of detainees have expressed serious concern about the safety of their loved ones. In addition, tens of thousands of protesters arrested in connection with the December 2025/January 2026 nationwide protests are being held in facilities run by the Ministry of Intelligence and the Intelligence Organisation of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), some of which have reportedly been amongst the targets of recent military attacks, further increasing concerns regarding their safety.

COLUMBUS, Ohio (Statehouse News Bureau) — Ohio has not gone through with an execution since July 2018, closing in on eight years, and extending the entirety of Gov. Mike DeWine’s tenure. DeWine has postponed every one since January 2019, some more than once. In his last year as governor, the longtime Republican elected official is hinting at coming out against the death penalty in practice. If he does, it won’t be an easy sell among lawmakers, at least in the Ohio House. A slow-growing contingent of Republican lawmakers are for abolishing executions, but House Speaker Matt Huffman (R-Lima) said it’s not a majority of the caucus.

Federal prosecutors will seek capital punishment for the kidnapping, carjacking and killing of Florence County Paramedic Phonesia Machado-Fore FLORENCE, S.C. — Federal prosecutors will seek the death penalty against a South Carolina man charged in the 2024 kidnapping, carjacking and killing of a Florence County paramedic, according to a statement from the Department of Justice. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of South Carolina filed a notice of intent to seek capital punishment against Jaremy Alexander Smith, 35, of Marion. A federal grand jury returned a superseding indictment on Feb. 24.

A man who confessed to fatally shooting Fort Pierce Police Officer Danny Parrish with his own service weapon during a 1991 traffic stop is scheduled to be executed starting at 6 p.m. March 3, barring a last-minute stay. Billy L. Kearse, 53, will be the third person put to death by the state this year, just one week after the execution of Melvin Trotter, who was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death for strangling and stabbing Virgie Langford in Palmetto in 1986. The Florida Supreme Court on Feb. 12 denied a motion for a stay of execution and a motion for an extension due to the fading health and death of the father of Kearse's attorney. Attorneys for Kearse have filed a motion with the U.S. Supreme Court to stop the execution, citing violations of the Sixth, Eighth and 14th Amendments of the United States Constitution.

The Missouri House is moving forward with legislation that eliminates allowing a judge to sentence someone to death in the case of a deadlocked jury. House members gave first-round approval to the legislation last week. It is likely to pass the chamber this week. Missouri is one of two states where, if a jury is deadlocked on whether to sentence someone to death, the judge can issue the death penalty. Indiana is the other. The bill removes that ability.

Federal prosecutors say they will not appeal a judge's ruling that tossed capital punishment charge against accused UnitedHealthcare CEO killer The accused killer's life will be spared after federal prosecutors said Friday they will not appeal a judge's ruling to quash capital punishment against him. In a letter, the U.S. Attorneys Office for the Southern District said it accepts U.S. District Judge Margaret Garnett‘s Jan. 30 decision to dismiss a death penalty-eligible murder charge against Mangione, who is accused of fatally shooting UnitedHealthCare CEO Brian Thompson Dec. 4, 2024.

Iran confirms that its former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was killed in Israeli airstrike. Ahmadinejad was reportedly struck at his residence in the Narmak neighborhood of Tehran on February 28 (Saturday), along with bodyguards and companions.  Iranian sources confirmed his death in the attacks, which also killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and targeted other senior figures of the regime.

SAITAMA, Japan — Public prosecutors on Thursday demanded the death penalty for a 43-year-old man charged with the Christmas Day 2022 killing of a family of three in Hanno, a suburban city north of Tokyo. The prosecution’s closing argument in the lay judge trial of Jun Saito focused on the "malicious and brutal" nature of the attack that claimed the lives of 69-year-old American citizen William Bishop Jr., his wife Izumi Bishop, 68, and their daughter Sophianna, 32. The victims were found dead on the grounds of their residence in Saitama Prefecture on Dec. 25, 2022, after neighbors reported hearing screams. Authorities said the family was bludgeoned with blunt, hammer-like objects.

Chinese courts have concluded the trials of 2 major criminal groups based in northern Myanmar involved in telecom and online fraud, the Supreme People's Court (SPC) said Thursday.  At a press conference held by the SPC, it was revealed that by the end of 2025, courts across the country had concluded first-instance trials of over 27,000 cases related to telecom fraud operations in northern Myanmar, with more than 41,000 returned suspects sentenced.  Notably, among the trials of the so-called "4 major families" criminal gangs -- which had drawn widespread domestic and international attention -- those of the Ming and Bai groups have completed all judicial proceedings.

A confessed killer is set to be executed May 14 for murdering his former girlfriend and her infant daughter at their home in Tulsa in 2007 after a breakup.  Raymond Eugene Johnson, 51, has said in interviews from prison that he is remorseful.  "I try to wake up every day and better myself," he said in a 2023 interview posted online by Death Penalty Action, a not-for-profit organization that opposes executions.  "The thing that I committed ... was bad, and I don't want it to be in vain," he said. "I recognize it and I have to be better." 

Senate bill would reinstate death penalty in West Virginia  A bill moving in the West Virginia Senate would reinstate the death penalty for people convicted of 1t-degree murder and 1t-degree sexual abuse of children in the same proceeding.  The Senate Judiciary Committee approved Senate Bill 1037 Thursday afternoon.  The committee heard the testimony of Jackson County Sheriff Ross Mellinger about the 2016 sexual assault and murder of nine-month-old Emmaleigh Barringer. 

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — A Sri Lankan appeals court has upheld the death sentence for a man convicted of trafficking just over two grams of heroin, reaffirming the island nation’s strict—though currently symbolic—stance on narcotics offenses. The Court of Appeal dismissed an appeal filed by Jayasingam Rajeev, known by the alias "Sudakaran," who was sentenced to death by the Colombo High Court for the possession and trafficking of 2.53 grams of heroin. Under Sri Lankan law, possessing more than 2 grams of heroin can trigger a death sentence. This is why the case of "Sudakaran" (2.53 grams) resulted in such a heavy penalty. In a ruling delivered by Justices Shashi Mahendran and P. Kumararatnam, the court found that the original trial judge had correctly evaluated the evidence and that the prosecution had proven the charges beyond a reasonable doubt.

A broad coalition of voices, including the victim’s daughter and a majority of the still-living jurors, are urging Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey to grant clemency to 75-year-old death row inmate Charles “Sonny” Burton before his scheduled March 12 execution.  According to a news release from Burton’s attorneys and advocates, Burton — who has been on death row since 1992 — faces execution despite what the State of Alabama has long acknowledged: he did not kill anyone.  In 1991, Burton and 5 other men robbed an auto parts store in Talladega, Alabama. After Burton left the building, his co-defendant, Derrick DeBruce, shot and killed customer Doug Battle.

An execution date has been set for a former Mascotte police officer who, in May 1987, assaulted and murdered an 11-year-old girl.  Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a death warrant for James Aren Duckett on Friday. He’s scheduled to be executed on March 31. It’ll be the state’s 5th execution this year, following a record 19 executions in 2025.  Duckett was convicted in the murder of 11-year-old Teresa McAbee about a year after her death. According to officials, Duckett took the 11-year-old to a lake, where he sexually battered, strangled and drowned her. 

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); 23 February 2025: Mehrdad Ghaeni, a man on death row for drug-related offences, was executed in Qom Central Prison. According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, a man was hanged in Qom Central Prison on 21 February 2026. His identity has been established as 30-year-old Mehrdad Ghaeni from Malard. He was arrested less than two years ago and sentenced to death on drug-related charges by the Revolutionary Court.

Utah families should not have to wait three or four decades for justice after unthinkable tragedies, a state lawmaker told colleagues Wednesday. She pitched a plan she said would shorten the timeline on death penalty cases while still respecting the rights of Utahns on death row.  Rep. Candice Pierruci reminded colleagues in the Utah House of Representatives that Ralph Menzies died of natural causes rather than an execution in December after 37 years on death row for the murder of Maureen Hunsaker. He exhausted appeals but was later diagnosed with dementia, and questions about his mental capacity were still being sorted out in court when he died.

HENDERSONVILLE, N.C. (DPN) — Prosecutors will not seek the death penalty against a Western North Carolina entrepreneur accused of poisoning her family during a Thanksgiving dinner and killing a man nearly two decades ago. During a mandatory Rule 24 hearing Thursday in Henderson County Superior Court, Assistant District Attorney John Douglas Mundy announced that the state will proceed with the case against Gudrun Linda Jean Casper-Leinenkugel, 52, as a non-capital matter. The decision removes the possibility of an execution, meaning the maximum penalty Casper-Leinenkugel now faces is life in prison without parole.

A Hungarian national accused in the murders of two elderly, disabled men in South Florida faces second-degree murder charges. While some reports have discussed the potential for capital punishment, Florida law currently restricts the death penalty to first-degree murder convictions, and federal constitutional law prohibits automatic death sentences for any class of person, including undocumented immigrants. Zsolt Zsolyomi, 26, a native of Hungary, entered the United States on a 90-day visa waiver in 2022 but overstayed, rendering him an undocumented immigrant according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). In the summer of 2024, he was arrested in Miami Beach on charges including petit theft and strong-armed robbery. ICE issued a detainer for his deportation, but he was released under supervision with an ankle monitor instead of immediate removal. He subsequently disabled the monitoring device and became a fugitive. Elderly gay men Zsolyomi allegedly altered his appearance...

A Faulkner County judge has scheduled an August hearing to determine whether a death row inmate can bypass his attorney’s advice, drop his remaining appeals, and hasten his execution.  Scotty Ray Gardner, 65, is facing the death penalty for the 2016 killing of his girlfriend, Susan Heather Stubbs, in Conway.  In letters sent to Circuit Judge Chuck Clawson and the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Gardner said he wants to end his legal battles, writing that he is tired of prison life and skeptical he will receive a fair hearing.  “It’s simple,” Gardner wrote in a September letter. “Come on with it.” 

Arizona State Sen. Kevin Payne has a very bad idea . Earlier this month, Payne introduced a proposal in the Arizona Senate to ask voters to amend the state constitution in order to allow the use of the firing squad as a method of execution. Payne, an ardent death penalty supporter, has been frustrated by Arizona’s inability to pick up the pace of executions. The state resumed executing people in 2022 after an eight-year pause caused by difficulties in obtaining drugs needed for lethal injection. Between then and now, it has put five people to death . It has only one execution on the docket for 2026.