Ivan Teleguz - an innocent man on Virginia death row

Ivan Teleguz

An innocent man, Ivan Teleguz, is sitting on Virginia’s death row for a crime he did not commit. The man who confessed to the murder of Stephanie Sipe is serving a life sentence, but the Commonwealth still plans to execute Ivan unless Governor McAuliffe intervenes to stop it.

False evidence, coerced witnesses, and a murder that never happened

On July 22, 2001, Michael Hetrick killed young mother Stephanie Sipe in her Harrisonburg, Virginia, apartment. Even though DNA evidence at the scene showed early in the investigation that Ivan could not have been the killer, investigators quickly focused on him—Stephanie’s former boyfriend and the father of her young son—as their primary suspect. Even though DNA evidence at the scene showed early in the investigation that Ivan could not have been the killer, the Commonwealth built a case against Ivan based on the word of three men: Hetrick, Edwin Gilkes, and Aleksey Safanov.

These men told jurors that Ivan had hired Hetrick and Gilkes to kill Stephanie. Now, years after the trial, Gilkes and Safanov have come forward to admit they lied when they claimed that Ivan was involved in the murder. Ivan is innocent. Despite these admissions, Virginia plans to execute Ivan.

How the Commonwealth’s Case Fell Apart

Now, both Gilkes and Safanov have come forward to admit that testimony was a lie. In sworn statements and over and over again, both Gilkes and Safanov have confessed that their testimony against Ivan was false.

Gilkes admitted that he initially agreed to give the evidence investigators and the prosecutor asked for because he was scared of ending up on death row himself. In return for providing information against Ivan, he received 15 years in prison for his role in the murder. Now, he only wants the truth to be known so that Ivan, an innocent man, is not executed.

Safanov also has come forward and admitted his trial testimony is a lie. After testifying at Teleguz’s trial, Safanov was deported to his native Kyrgyzstan. Although this was not revealed by the prosecutor, Safanov has now explained why he testified falsely against Ivan—prosecutor Garst told him that she would get him a visa to remain in the country, despite his federal gun convictions, if he helped make sure that Ivan received the death penalty.

The only evidence remaining against Ivan is the testimony of Hetrick, Stephanie’s confessed killer. Hetrick has stuck to the story first fed to him by police in the face of additional threats from the Commonwealth that he could face the death penalty if his story changes.

The prosecution tried to influence the jury by saying Ivan was involved in a made-up murder. At trial, the prosecutor argued that Ivan should be sentenced to death because he was involved in another murder in Pennsylvania, and was highly dangerous. It was later revealed that the testimony about the murder and the prosecutor’s argument were completely made up—the murder never even happened.

About Ivan

As a young boy, Ivan fled with his family to the United States from the persecution they faced for their Christian beliefs. Ivan’s family comes from a small, rural town in Ukraine, a part of the former U.S.S.R., where the family was harassed and threatened by the Communist government because they were Christians.

After trying for years to escape so that they could worship in freedom, the Teleguz family was finally able to reach the United States. They eventually settled in a small farming town called Ephrata, Pennsylvania.

In prison, Ivan’s record has been exemplary, and he has been chosen as one of the few death row inmates allowed out of his cell to have a prison job.

Click here to read more about Ivan’s case and the prejudiced investigation that led to an innocent man being sentenced to death

IMPORTANT UPDATE: A panel of judges of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit unanimously agreed to grant a stay of Ivan’s execution scheduled for April 13th, to give the Supreme Court sufficient time to address and resolve the important issues presented in his case. The execution will NOT be carried out on April 13th.

Click here to take action (online petition)

Source: ivansprayerforjustice.com, April 2016

- Report an error, an omission: deathpenaltynews@gmail.com - Follow us on Facebook and Twitter

Israel builds execution chamber for Palestinians convicted of murder

In March, the Knesset approved legislation that calls for the execution of Palestinians convicted by a military court of killing Israelis Israeli authorities are preparing a prison wing—replete with an execution chamber—designated specifically for Palestinian prisoners convicted of murder, Israel’s i24NEWS channel reported Tuesday. The move comes after the Knesset (Israel’s parliament) approved legislation in March that calls for the execution of Palestinian prisoners convicted by a military court of murdering Israelis.

Florida executes William Frances Silvia

Florida executed its 13th death row prisoner of the year Tuesday evening amid the state’s aggressive use of the death penalty championed by Governor Ron DeSantis. William Frances Silvia, 61, who was convicted of fatally shooting his estranged wife and injuring his mother-in-law in 2006, was pronounced dead at 6:11 p.m. after receiving the lethal three-drug injection at Florida State Prison. At 6 p.m. Tuesday, Silvia was already strapped to a gurney with an IV in his arm when the curtain to the death chamber went up. He remained relatively motionless with his eyes and mouth open throughout most of the execution while a priest sat at his feet and prayed.

Alabama executes Jeremy Williams

Tennessee and Oklahoma have put inmates to death within 30 minutes of each other, and Alabama followed suit hours later as U.S. states executed three men in one day. Tennessee and Oklahoma put inmates to death within 30 minutes of each other Thursday, and Alabama followed suit hours later as U.S. states executed three men by lethal injection in one day for the first time since 2010. The Tennessee man was executed for killing a maid at a motel in 1985, and the Oklahoma man for killing his girlfriend in 2003. In Alabama, a man was put to death Thursday evening for killing a 5-year-old girl he had paid her mother to abuse.

Tennessee | The doctor who helps put prisoners to death

Dr. Mark Fowler assisted in the failed execution of a Tennessee prisoner. Physicians are meant to heal patients—why is he working in the death chamber? Mark Fowler, a physician with 25 years’ experience, stepped beneath the bright lights and approached the middle-aged man lying on a gurney. Around him, people in medical gowns prepared needles and sterile tubing. It had all the appearances of a hospital setting. Fowler had been called in to help establish an IV line through which the 57-year-old man, Tony Carruthers, would be injected with pharmaceutical drugs. The team had struggled to find a vein, so Fowler was summoned to set a central line—an intravenous catheter inserted into the major vein below the collarbone.

Spared execution eight times, oldest inmate in US dies at 101 after 76 years behind bars

Francis Clifford Smith was given his last meal eight times. But after being spared execution each time, he went on to be regarded as the longest-serving prisoner in the US before dying in June at 101 years old. Convicted of murder in 1950 when he was 25, he always maintained his innocence, those who knew him told the BBC. Andrius Banevicius, the public information officer for Connecticut's Department of Correction, recounted how Smith used to feed the birds while in Osborn Prison, earning him the nickname The Birdman of Osborn.

Cartoons about Capital Punishment

More cartoons about capital punishment HERE

Alabama is trying a death penalty bait-and-switch

For a decade, Alabama death row inmate Jeffrey Lee has been clear that he does not want to be executed by lethal injection . But that is what awaits him on September 17 . He faces that prospect because the state has been enjoined from using nitrogen hypoxia , the alternative execution method he preferred, to put him to death. Having failed to show that its nitrogen hypoxia protocol is constitutionally acceptable, Alabama wants a do-over to force Lee to die by lethal injection as a result of its own failure. It should not get one. Alabama should only be able to put Lee to death if it can fix nitrogen hypoxia’s constitutional defects.

Oklahoma executes Carlos Cuesta-Rodriguez

Oklahoma has carried out 1 of 3 executions set for the same day in the United States in another sign of the resurgence of the death penalty in the country. Carlos Cuesta-Rodriguez was pronounced dead at 10:13 a.m. on Thursday, Aug. 13, at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester. He was put to death by lethal injection for the murder of his common-law wife in 2003 at their Oklahoma City home. He admitted to police he shot her twice during an argument. Cuesta-Rodriguez, 70, did not fight for his life, stunning his attorneys in July when he told the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board that he didn't want clemency. "It's time for me to pay for what I did," he said.

Tennessee executes Darrell Hines

The state has spent millions of dollars over decades to execute a seriously ill man who was already incarcerated. The state of Tennessee executed death row inmate Darrell Hines Thursday morning, according to an advocacy group. No formal announcement of the execution has been issued by state leaders yet. The execution was slated for 10 a.m. Thursday at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville. [DPN update] Hines was pronounced dead at 10:43 a.m. CDT. His last meal was fried chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, coleslaw, corn, fries, biscuits, a chicken sandwich, chocolate chip cake, and sweet tea.

The 'Black Widow' shakes Iran: 10 death sentences for a serial killer who killed 12 men

Kolthum Akbari, an Iranian woman widely dubbed the “Black Widow,” was convicted of serial murders of elderly men she married, often temporarily. Official accounts generally center on 11 murders (plus one attempted murder), though Akbari herself gave varying figures and investigations suggested she had many more marriages. The sentencing occurred primarily in September 2025 in Mazandaran Province, with ongoing reporting and updates into 2026. The 56- to 59-year-old killer confessed to killing at least 11 elderly men after temporarily or officially marrying them; Iranian authorities have linked her to additional marriages and possible further victims.

Death Penalty News

Search This Blog