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Women Being Sent to the Gallows in Alarming Numbers in Iran

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Many Were Child Brides Hanged for Murder of Abusive Husbands From Whom There Was No Protection  December 18, 2024 — Amidst a huge surge in executions in the Islamic Republic— 862 so far in 2024, the highest per capita execution rate globally—the Iranian authorities are now increasingly including women in those it sends to the gallows. Since the start of 2024, Iran has executed at least 29 women. More executions of women may have taken place that are unknown.
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Court Again Denies DNA Tests in Swearingen Case

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Larry Swearingen
Larry Swearingen
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals for the second time Wednesday reversed a state district judge’s order that would have allowed East Texas death row inmate Larry Swearingen to test DNA from evidence in his murder case.

Swearingen, 44, was convicted of kidnapping, raping and killing 19-year-old Melissa Trotter, then a Lone Star College student in 1998. 

He was sentenced to death in 2000. His execution date has been set and stayed multiple times.

The death row inmate has argued that he couldn’t have killed Trotter because he was in jail when she was murdered, and DNA testing would prove that someone else committed the crime. 

State District Judge Kelly Case twice granted Swearingen’s requests for evidence to be tested. 

Montgomery County prosecutors appealed each time, and now, the state’s highest criminal court has sided with the state again.

Each time, the court ultimately has ruled that results from DNA testing would not have overcome the “mountain of evidence” establishing Swearingen's guilt.

Source: Texas Tribune, Jonathan Silver, October 28, 2015

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Location: Texas, USA
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