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Biden Commuted Their Death Sentences. Now What?

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As three men challenge their commutations, others brace for imminent prison transfers and the finality of a life sentence with no chance of release. In the days after President Joe Biden commuted his death sentence, 40-year-old Rejon Taylor felt like he’d been reborn. After facing execution for virtually his entire adult life for a crime he committed at 18, he was fueled by a new sense of purpose. He was “a man on a mission,” he told me in an email on Christmas Day. “I will not squander this opportunity of mercy, of life.”
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"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted." -- Oscar Wilde

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Oklahoma wants federal inmate transferred so he can be put to death

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The Oklahoma attorney general requested the transfer after President Donald Trump directed the DOJ to ensure states have enough lethal injection drugs to carry out executions OKLAHOMA CITY — Oklahoma’s top prosecutor asked the federal Bureau of Prisons to transfer an inmate to state custody so that he could be executed for his role in the kidnapping and killing of a 77-year-old woman in 1999. Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond requested the transfer Thursday of inmate George John Hanson, citing President Donald Trump’s sweeping executive order this week that directs the U.S. Department of Justice to more actively support the death penalty.
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Biden Commuted Their Death Sentences. Now What?

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As three men challenge their commutations, others brace for imminent prison transfers and the finality of a life sentence with no chance of release. In the days after President Joe Biden commuted his death sentence, 40-year-old Rejon Taylor felt like he’d been reborn. After facing execution for virtually his entire adult life for a crime he committed at 18, he was fueled by a new sense of purpose. He was “a man on a mission,” he told me in an email on Christmas Day. “I will not squander this opportunity of mercy, of life.”
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China hands death sentence to man who killed Japanese boy

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The sentence for the knife attack in the southern city of Shenzhen in September was handed down on Friday, according to Japanese media reports A Chinese man has been sentenced to death for fatally stabbing a 10-year-old Japanese schoolboy, in a case that sparked concern among Japanese expats living in China. The sentence for the knife attack in the southern city of Shenzhen in September was handed down on Friday, according to Japanese media reports.
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Trump suggests state death penalty for those commuted by Biden. Is that possible?

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Among the slew of executive orders signed by President Donald Trump on his first day in office, one called to reinstate the death penalty for federal death row inmates. However, only three individuals remain on federal death row after former President Joe Biden commuted the death sentences of 37 people on Dec. 23, sentencing them to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Trump criticized Biden’s decision in his executive order on the death penalty, signed on Jan. 20, and instructed the attorney general to “further evaluate whether these offenders can be charged with state capital crimes and shall recommend appropriate action to state and local authorities.”
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Indonesia to Transfer Death Row Inmate Serge Atlaoui to France in February

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Jakarta. The Indonesian government has agreed to transfer French citizen Serge Areski Atlaoui, who is on death row for a drug conviction, back to his home country on compassionate grounds, a senior official announced on Friday. Atlaoui, who has been diagnosed with cancer, requested to undergo medical treatment in France. The transfer is scheduled for February 4. "He is now in poor health and requires serious medical treatment," said Yusril Ihza Mahendra, Coordinating Minister for Legal, Immigration, Human Rights, and Correctional Affairs.
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Idaho moves to make firing squad primary execution method

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BOISE, Idaho (CBS2) — Representative Skaug presented legislation in the judiciary committee on Tuesday that would turn the firing squad into Idaho's primary form of execution. The firing squad is currently the secondary method when lethal injection drugs are not available. The Idaho Department of Corrections is slated to begin construction on a firing squad location, meaning the bill would not go into effect until mid-2026.
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Pakistani court sentences 4 people to death for blasphemy

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A Pakistani court Saturday sentenced four people to death for blasphemy, allegedly because they posted sacrilegious material on social media about Islamic religious figures and the Quran. Their lawyer said appeal preparations are underway. Under the country’s blasphemy laws, anyone found guilty of insulting Islam or its religious figures can be sentenced to death. Authorities have yet to carry out such a penalty, although the accusation of blasphemy and opposition to the law can incite mob violence or reprisals.
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Texas executes Vaughn Ross

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Vaughn Ross HUNTSVILLE, TX -- A former Texas Tech graduate student convicted of a double slaying a dozen years ago has been executed. Vaughn Ross received lethal injection Thursday evening for the January 2001 fatal shootings of an 18-year-old woman with whom he had been feuding and an associate dean at the university in Lubbock who was with her. He was pronounced dead at 6:38 p.m. CT. Ross, from St. Louis, came to Texas Tech for graduate work in architecture. Ross was found guilty in the January 2001 fatal shootings of an 18-year-old woman with whom he had been feuding an associate dean at the university who was with her at the time. In his appeal to the high court, Ross argued his previous appeals attorneys neglected to note that his trial lawyers didn't present evidence that may have convinced jurors to sentence him to life in prison. A bicyclist spotted the bodies of Douglas Birdsall, 53, the associate dean of libraries at Texas Tech University, and Viola Ross ...
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Iran: juvenile offender hanged

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On 26 August, Behnam Zare’ was hanged in Adelabad prison, in the south-western city of Shiraz. Neither his parents nor his lawyer were notified prior to his execution being implemented, as required under Iranian law. Behnam Zare’ was convicted of a murder that took place on 21 April 2005. During an argument with a man named Mehrdad he swung a knife, wounding Mehrdad in the neck. Mehrdad later died in hospital. At the time of the murder Behnam Zare’ was 15 years old. Behnam Zare’ was detained on 13 November 2005; Branch 5 of Fars Criminal Court sentenced him to qesas (retribution) for premeditated murder. The case went to appeal before the Supreme Court where the sentence was upheld. The verdict was then passed to the Office for Implementation of Sentences. On 5 February 2008, the order for the implementation of his sentence was approved by Ayatollah Shahroudi, the Head of the Judiciary. On or around 11 February 2008, the Head of the Judiciary ordered a second attempt to negotiate p...
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Virginia | 7 Black men executed in 1951 rape granted posthumous pardons

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Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam has granted posthumous pardons to seven Black men executed in 1951 for the rape of a white woman RICHMOND, Va. -- Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam granted posthumous pardons Tuesday to seven Black men who were executed in 1951 for the rape of a white woman, in a case that attracted pleas for mercy from around the world and in recent years has been denounced as an example of racial disparity in the use of the death penalty. Northam announced the pardons after meeting with about a dozen descendants of the men and their advocates. Cries and sobs could be heard from some of the descendants after Northam's announcement. The “Martinsville Seven," as the men became known, were all convicted of raping 32-year-old Ruby Stroud Floyd, a white woman who had gone to a predominantly black neighborhood in Martinsville, Virginia, on Jan. 8, 1949, to collect money for clothes she had sold. Four of the men were executed in Virginia's electric chair on Feb. 2, 1951. Th...
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