Death Penalty News

Rafael Caro Quintero, extradited from Mexico in 2022, appeared in Brooklyn court as feds weigh capital charges for the torture and murder of Agent Enrique Camarena NEW YORK — The death penalty is on the table for notorious drug lord Rafael Caro Quintero, the so-called “narco of narcos” who orchestrated the torture and murder of a DEA agent in 1985, according to federal prosecutors. “It is a possibility. The decision has not yet been made, but it is going through the process,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Saritha Komatireddy said in Brooklyn Federal Court Wednesday.

In 90% of of all death penalty sentences in 2024, trial courts imposed sentences in the absence of adequate information about the accused, finds a recent report Bengaluru: Following the uproar and the widespread protests after the August 2024 rape and murder of a medical professional in Kolkata’s RG Kar hospital, there were demands for death penalty for the accused. The state government passed the Aparajita Woman and Child (West Bengal Criminal Laws Amendment) Bill 2024 (awaiting presidential assent) which included mandatory death sentence for rape which results in death of the victim or if the victim is left in a vegetative state, despite such a mandatory sentence being unconstitutional.

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); March 27, 2025: Ahmad Yarmohammadi, man on death row for murder, was executed in Doroud Prison. According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, a man was hanged in Doroud Prison on 12 March. His identity has been established as Ahmad Yarmohammadi from Doroud. He was arrested for murder four years ago and sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) by the Criminal Court.

Columbia, S.C. — A South Carolina death row inmate on Friday chose execution by firing squad, just five weeks after the state carried out its first death by bullets. Mikal Mahdi, who pleaded guilty to murder for killing a police officer in 2004, is scheduled to be executed April 11. Mahdi, 41, had the choice of dying by firing squad, lethal injection or the electric chair. He will be the first inmate to be executed in the state since Brad Sigmon chose to be shot to death on March 7. A doctor pronounced Sigmon dead less than three minutes after three bullets tore into his heart.

Widely supported in the Idaho Legislature, the bill is likely to face a constitutional challenge, lawmakers acknowledge. But they are hopeful law will prevail. Idaho Gov. Brad Little signed into law a bill to make people who sexually abuse young children in Idaho eligible for the death penalty.  House Bill 380 will allow the death penalty in a new criminal charge the bill creates: aggravated lewd conduct with children age 12 and younger. The bill also would add mandatory minimum prison sentences for cases of aggravated lewd conduct with minors that don’t meet the bill’s proposed criteria for death penalty eligibility. The new crime would only apply to abuse of children age 16 and below. 

Stakes for wrongful convictions are high in Japan, where the death penalty has broad public support despite criticism over how it is carried out. Tokyo: Capital punishment in Japan is under scrutiny again after the world's longest-serving death row prisoner, Iwao Hakamada, was awarded $1.4 million in compensation this week following his acquittal last year in a retrial. Stakes for wrongful convictions are high in Japan, where the death penalty has broad public support despite international criticism over how it is carried out.

(RNS) — When 67-year-old Brad Sigmon was put to death on March 7 in South Carolina for the murder of his then-girlfriend's parents, it was the first time in 15 years that an execution in the United States had been carried out by a firing squad. United Methodist minister Hillary Taylor, Sigmon's spiritual adviser since 2020, said the multifaceted, months long effort to save Sigmon's life, and to provide emotional and spiritual support for his legal team, and the aftermath of his execution has been a "whirlwind" said Taylor, the director of South Carolinians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty.

LAHORE, Pakistan — Federal agents in Pakistan arrested a young Christian man under a blasphemy law mandating the death penalty for comments posted in Facebook chat groups under his name by unknown persons, his family said.  Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) officials took 24-year-old Arsalan Gill of Railway Quarters in Mughalpura, Lahore, into custody on March 17 as he returned home from his work as a sweeper, said his brother, Suleman Gill.

The Indiana Department of Correction (DOC) offered a new but tiny glimpse into Indiana’s efforts to resume executions, revealing the state paid $900,000 to acquire the drug used to carry out the death penalty for convicted killer Joseph Corcoran. But the new document does not make clear when or how much pentobarbital was purchased, which would provide context for the cost. The Indiana Capital Chronicle sued the corrections department Jan. 21 amid a months-long battle to seek taxpayer dollars spent on the execution drug.

⚠️  Some readers may find the following content disturbing A jury has recommended the death penalty for a previously convicted felon who killed his 1-year-old daughter and stabbed his pregnant wife during a child custody exchange in Indian Wells. Following more than two days of deliberations, jurors weighing the fate of 53-year-old Adam Slater of Palm Desert returned Tuesday with a unanimous decision in his penalty trial — capital punishment — for the 2020 slaying of baby Madalyn. Riverside County Superior Court Judge Otis Sterling scheduled a sentencing hearing for May 30 at the Larson Justice Center in Indio. The defendant is being held without bail at the Benoit Detention Center.

The El Paso County district attorney announced Tuesday that Patrick Crusius, who killed 23 people in a 2019 racist attack at a Walmart near the U.S.-Mexico border, would avoid the death penalty under a new plea offer . The decision marks the end of a yearslong legal battle, but the victims’ families are divided by the decision. District Attorney James Montoya, who took office in January, said the decision was primarily driven by victims’ families seeking closure. “This is about allowing the families of the 23 victims who lost their lives on that horrific day — and the 22 wounded — to finally have resolution in our court system,” Montoya stated.

The Canadian government now advises travellers to exercise "a high degree of caution." The Government of Canada has updated its China travel advisory due to the risk of arbitrary enforcement of local laws, often with severe punishments.  Global Affairs Canada announced changes to the advisory on March 17, following the execution of four Canadians in China in recent months. All four of the individuals were "dual citizens" and were all "facing charges linked to criminal activities according to China, linked to drugs."

In a three-day span from March 18 to March 20, four men were exe­cut­ed in four dif­fer­ent states. Two of the men put to death, in Louisiana and Arizona, were the first exe­cut­ed in their state in years. While the close tim­ing of the exe­cu­tions result­ed from inde­pen­dent state-lev­el deci­sions and indi­vid­u­al­ized legal devel­op­ments rather than any coor­di­nat­ed nation­al effort, all four exe­cu­tions raised seri­ous constitutional concerns.

LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan J. Hochman has implemented important changes to the current and historic policies of the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office regarding its prosecution of special circumstance murder cases. Effective immediately, the prior administration’s extreme and categorical policy forbidding prosecutors from seeking the death penalty in any case is rescinded. In its place, the new murder with special circumstances policy will consider pursuing the death penalty only after an extensive and comprehensive review and only in exceedingly rare cases. This new policy recognizes an evolving determination that the death penalty should be restricted to the most egregious sets of circumstances.

According to records request­ed by The Tennessean, between 2017 and 2025 the Tennessee Department of Correction (TDOC spent near­ly $600,000 of tax­pay­er funds obtain­ing drugs for lethal injec­tion exe­cu­tions. Specific infor­ma­tion about the drugs’ sources and ori­gins remains unknown because of the state’s secre­cy pro­vi­sions. During this time peri­od sev­en exe­cu­tions were car­ried out: five by elec­tro­cu­tion, two by lethal injection. The TDOC ini­tial­ly refused to respond to The Tennessean’s February 2025 records request for drug invoic­es, cit­ing state secre­cy law that shields infor­ma­tion about the drugs, the drug sup­pli­er and the indi­vid­u­als involved in exe­cu­tions. 

Patrick Crusius, who has admitted to killing 23 people and wounding 22 others in a racist mass shooting at an El Paso Walmart in 2019, will no longer face the death penalty, El Paso Matters has learned. District Attorney James Montoya, who took office on Jan. 1, called family members of those killed on Monday to inform them he wouldn’t seek the death penalty in the Aug. 3, 2019, mass shooting, multiple family members told El Paso Matters. The family members asked not to be identified because of a gag order in place since 2022 that prohibited lawyers and potential witnesses from discussing the case with the media.

A Japanese man wrongly convicted of murder who was the world's longest-serving death row inmate has been awarded more than 217 million yen in compensation, an official said Tuesday. The payout represents 12,500 yen for each day of the more than four decades that Iwao Hakamada spent in detention, most of it on death row when each day could have been his last. It is a record for compensation of this kind, Japanese media said. The former boxer, now 89, was exonerated last year of a 1966 quadruple murder after a tireless campaign by his sister and others.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Monday rejected an appeal from a Texas death row inmate whose bid for a new trial drew the support of the prosecutor’s office that originally put him on death row. The justices left in place a Texas appeals court ruling that upheld the murder conviction and death sentence for Areli Escobar, even though Escobar’s case is similar to that of an Oklahoma man, Richard Glossip, whose murder conviction the high court recently overturned.

Kevin Burns is the pastor of the Church of Life, a congregation for the men on Tennessee's death row. Burns was convicted of felony murder and sentenced to death, but he maintains he was at the scene but did not kill. Every day, Kevin Burns says it is the best day of his life. He preaches with urgency. He trusts God in the face of misfortune. He tells his congregation to have faith. No one, no matter their past, is beyond God’s love, he says. During a two-hour service, he sings hymns with his church. He shares communion. From his well-worn King James Version of the Bible he reads aloud verse after verse.

The Louisiana Department of Public Safety & Corrections may have used compressed gas from a Pennsylvania company in the March 18 state execution of Jessie Hoffman, despite the fact that the company prohibits the use of its products for the purpose of killing people.  The office of Gov. Jeff Landry, an avid supporter of the death penalty, directed a request for comment by Gambit to the Department Public Safety & Corrections. Under a public records law passed last year, the department does not reveal information which could identify people or companies involved in executions. The department did not respond to a request for information about its procurement process.

The governor dismissed an ex-judge studying the death penalty in the state and failed to heed a leading voice on the matter. It’s no surprise n Wednesday, 19 March, Arizona executed Aaron Gunches by lethal injection . As ABC News reports , he was put to death for “kidnapping and killing 40-year-old Ted Price by shooting him four times in the Arizona desert”. Gunches’s case was unusual in many ways, not least that he stopped his legal appeals and volunteered to be executed, then changed his mind before changing it again. His execution was scheduled to be carried out almost two years ago. It was put on hold when the Arizona governor, Katie Hobbs, commissioned an independent review of the state’s death penalty procedures after a series of botched executions .

Dhaka, Bangladesh – Lesedi Molapisi, a Botswana national convicted of drug trafficking, was executed in Bangladesh on Friday, 21 March 2025. The 31-year-old was hanged at Dhaka Central Jail after exhausting all legal avenues to appeal her death sentence. Molapisi was arrested in January 2023 upon arrival at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka, where customs officials discovered 3.1 kilograms of heroin hidden in her luggage. Following a trial under Bangladesh’s Narcotics Control Act, she was sentenced to death in May 2024. Her execution was initially delayed due to political unrest in the country but was carried out last week.

Facing imminent execution by lethal gas earlier this week, Jessie Hoffman Jr. — a Louisiana man convicted of abducting, raping and murdering a 28-year-old woman in 1996 — went to court with a request: Please allow me to be shot instead. In a petition filed with the U.S. Supreme Court on March 16 seeking a stay of his execution by nitrogen hypoxia, a protocol that had yet to be tested in the state, Hoffman requested execution by firing squad as an alternative.

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); March 19, 2025: Ezatollah Arab, Moein Arab and Abdolbari Jahani, three Afghan nationals on death row for drug-related offences, were executed in Bandar Abbas Central Prison. According to Haalvsh, an Afghan man was hanged in Bandar Abbas Central Prison on 25 February 2025. His identity has been reported as Abdolbari Jahani who was on death row for drug-related offences.

The trio, all of whom have experience in the shipping industry in Singapore, were arrested in July 2024 after Indonesian authorities intercepted their vessel in the Karimun district, near Singapore. Three Indian nationals from Tamil Nadu identified as Raju Muthukumaran (38), Selvadurai Dinakaran (34), and Govindhasamy Vimalkandhan (45), face the death penalty in Indonesia for allegedly smuggling 106 kg of crystal meth aboard the Singapore-flagged vessel Legend Aquarius.

Grissom used some of his last words on Earth to apologize to everyone he hurt and said that he prays they can find forgiveness for their own sake. As for his execution, he said it was a mercy. Oklahoma executed Wendell Arden Grissom on Thursday for the murder of 23-year-old Amber Matthews in front of her best friend’s two young daughters in 2005.  Grissom, 56, was executed by lethal injection at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester and pronounced dead at 10:13 a.m. local time, becoming the first inmate to be put to death by the state in 2025 and the ninth in the United States this year. 

Among the Japanese, public support for the death penalty remains rock solid. More than 80% of respondents have expressed approval for it. The Cabinet Office has released the results of a public opinion survey on the death penalty. Of the respondents, 83.1% said that having the death penalty is "unavoidable," while 16.5% said that it should be abolished. The Cabinet Office cautioned that simple comparisons cannot be made because the survey method has changed from in-person interviews to questionnaires sent by mail. Nonetheless, the new survey showed that support for the death penalty increased by 2.3% since the previous opinion poll in 2020.

Edward James received 3-drug lethal injection under death warrant signed in February by governor Ron DeSantis  A Florida man who killed an 8-year-old girl and her grandmother on a night in which he drank heavily and used drugs was executed on Thursday.  Edward James, 63, was pronounced dead at 8.15pm after receiving a 3-drug injection at Florida state prison outside Starke under a death warrant signed in February by Governor Ron DeSantis. The execution was the 2nd this year in Florida, which is planning a 3rd in April. 

Mohammad Abdullah al-Faraj is originally from al-Awamiyah, in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia. He lived in Dammam and was working as an employee in the private sector. In 2011 and 2012, he allegedly participated in demonstrations and funerals that took place in al-Qatif district in Saudi Arabia protesting the treatment of Shi’a citizens. He was abducted from his workplace on February 28, 2017, by officials from the Mabahith (General Investigation Directorate or GID). Mohammad Abdullah al-Faraj was never informed that he was accused of any crime.

Four Canadians were executed in China on drug-related charges earlier this year, Canadian authorities have confirmed. All of them were dual citizens and their identities have been withheld, Canada's foreign minister Mélanie Joly said. A spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in Canada reportedly urged Ottawa to "stop making irresponsible remarks", as pundits feared a further downturn in relations between the countries after years of strain. China's foreign ministry said on Thursday that it had acted "in accordance with the law", while the embassy said there was "solid and sufficient" evidence for their crimes.

FLORENCE, Ariz. (AP) — An Arizona man who kidnapped and murdered his girlfriend’s ex-husband was executed Wednesday, the second of four prisoners scheduled to be put to death this week in the U.S. Aaron Brian Gunches, 53, was lethally injected with pentobarbital at the Arizona State Prison Complex in the town of Florence, John Barcello, deputy director of Arizona’s department of corrections, told news outlets. He was pronounced dead at 10:33 a.m. Gunches fatally shot Ted Price in the desert outside the Phoenix suburb of Mesa in 2002. He pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in 2007.

PHOENIX (AP) — An Arizona man who pleaded guilty to first-degree murder was scheduled to be executed Wednesday in the state’s first use of the death penalty in more than two years. Aaron Brian Gunches, 53, was slated to be lethally injected with pentobarbital at the Arizona State Prison Complex in Florence. Gunches fatally shot Ted Price, his girlfriend’s ex-husband, in the desert outside the Phoenix suburb of Mesa in 2002. Gunches is the second of four death row prisoners in the United States set to be executed this week. Louisiana executed a man on Tuesday and two more executions were scheduled in Florida and Oklahoma on Thursday. Gunches will be the first person executed in a state with a Democrat serving as governor since Virginia did so in 2017, when Terry McAuliffe was in charge.

BEIJING: A former Chinese engineer has been sentenced to death for leaking state secrets to a foreign power, Beijing's spy agency said Wednesday. The man, surnamed Liu, "secretly copied, duplicated, and sold a large volume of state secrets to a foreign espionage and intelligence agency", China's Ministry of State Security said in a post to its official WeChat account. Liu had worked as an assistant engineer at a research institute and had resigned after believing he had been treated unfairly, the ministry said.

Louisiana used nitrogen gas Tuesday evening to execute a man convicted of murdering a woman in 1996, the 1st time the state has used the method, a lawyer for the condemned man said.  Jessie Hoffman Jr., 46, was put to death at the Louisiana State Penitentiary, defense lawyer Cecelia Kappel said in a statement. He was the 1st person executed in the state in 15 years, and his death marked the 5th use of the nitrogen gas method in the US, with all the rest in Alabama.  Hoffman was convicted of the murder of Mary "Molly" Elliott, a 28-year-old advertising executive. At the time of the crime, Hoffman was 18.

On March 14, 2025, a group of nine death row pris­on­ers in Tennessee filed a law­suit chal­leng­ing the state’s sole use of pen­to­bar­bi­tal in its revised lethal injec­tion pro­to­col, argu­ing it cre­ates a ​“high risk of a tor­tur­ous death.” In December 2024 , the Tennessee Department of Correction (TDOC) com­plet­ed a mul­ti-year lethal injec­tion pro­to­col review and announced that instead of the pre­vi­ous three-drug pro­to­col, the state would shift to rely on just one drug: pen­to­bar­bi­tal.  Earlier this month, the Tennessee Supreme Court sched­uled exe­cu­tion dates for four indi­vid­u­als begin­ning in May 2025: Oscar Smith (May 22), Byron Black (August 5), Donald Middlebrooks (September 24), and Harold Nichols (December 11).

On March 12, 2025, Idaho Governor Brad Little signed House Bill 37 into law, mak­ing the fir­ing squad the state’s pri­ma­ry method of exe­cu­tion. In a state­ment to Catholic News Agency, Gov. Little said, ​“I have long made clear my sup­port of cap­i­tal punishment…My sign­ing of [this bill] is con­sis­tent with my sup­port of the Idaho Legislature’s actions in set­ting the poli­cies around meth­ods of exe­cu­tion in the state of Idaho.” The bill, which takes effect on July 1, 2026, passed both cham­bers of the Idaho Legislature by wide mar­gins, with a vote of 28 – 7 in the Senate and 58 – 11 in the House. Just three Republican law­mak­ers joined all 15 of their Democratic col­leagues in vot­ing against the bill. 

Dr. Joseph Antognini travels across the nation, being paid over $500 an hour by government officials who rely on him to vouch for their execution protocols. This [article] is part of “ Operating Capital ,” an ongoing Lens discussion about Louisiana’s resumption of executions. Earlier this month, Dr. Joseph Antognini, a California-based retired anesthesiologist, walked into the execution chamber at Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola. He tried on the air-tight mask that prison staff plan to use to execute Death Row prisoner Jessie Hoffman , using nitrogen hypoxia, a method that Louisiana executioners have never before used.

Louisiana is preparing this week to execute a man by nitrogen gas, the first execution in the state in 15 years HOUSTON (AP) — Louisiana is set this week to execute a man by nitrogen gas, the first execution in the state in 15 years. Jessie Hoffman Jr., 46, is scheduled to die on Tuesday in Louisiana. He was convicted of the 1996 murder of a woman in New Orleans. If Louisiana carries out the execution, it would join Alabama as the only two states to use nitrogen gas to put a prisoner to death.

Jessie Hoffman's attorneys race against time to halt the historic execution, raising questions about justice and human rights BATON ROUGE, La. -- Attorneys for Louisiana death row inmate Jessie Hoffman Jr. are mounting last-minute efforts to halt his scheduled execution using nitrogen gas, set to occur on Tuesday evening, March 18, 2025. This execution would mark both Louisiana's first nitrogen gas execution and the fifth such execution in the United States, raising significant legal and ethical questions surrounding this controversial method.

OSAKA—The Osaka High Court on March 17 rejected a lower court’s dismissal of a lawsuit filed by death-row inmates over the constitutionality of executing prisoners hours after they are notified they will die. The case was sent back to the Osaka District Court, which had rejected the lawsuit in April 2024. In Japan, condemned inmates are executed on the day they are notified that their death sentences will be carried out. Two death-row inmates sued the government over this same-day process, saying it violates Article 31 of the Constitution.

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); March 17, 2025: Mehdi Faraji, a man on death row for murder, was executed in Urmia Central Prison. Two women including his wife, and a man were previously reported to have been executed at the prison that day. According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, a man was hanged in Urmia Central Prison on 16 March. His identity has been established as Hamed Faraji who was sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) for murder. IHRNGO previously reported the executions of Mojgan Azarpisheh, Kosar Bagherzadeh and Arshad Farzadband at the prison that day.

Taipei, March 17 (CNA) Opposition Kuomintang (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) on Monday said his party will launch a campaign to hold referendums opposing the abolition of the death penalty and what he alleged was a push toward martial law and war by the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). Chu announced the referendum campaigns at a press conference held with KMT lawmakers in front of the Legislative Yuan, saying Taiwan's democracy had reached a "critical moment" due to "destructive" actions by President Lai Ching-te (賴清德) and the DPP. On the issue of the death penalty, Chu slammed a ruling issued by the Constitutional Court last year, which found the death penalty constitutional only for the "most serious" premeditated murders and crimes leading to death.

A British drugs mule grandmother on Indonesia's death row is so convinced she will be freed from prison that she has started given her clothes away to other inmates.  Lindsay Sandiford, 67, has been incarcerated in a cramped cell inside Bali's hellish Kerobokan prison since 2013 where she is facing execution by firing squad.  The grandmother-of-two was sentenced to death for attempting to smuggle £1.6million worth of cocaine into Indonesia's capital by stuffing it into the lining of her suitcase.  But her pals say she has now 'slumped into depression' as she thought she would have been released by now due to a change in the country's law. 

Somali government is working to overturn death sentences imposed on nearly 40 Somali nationals currently imprisoned in Saudi Arabia as part of an effort to secure legal protections for its citizens abroad.  Somali Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs Hassan Moalim announced on Friday that he had discussed the matter with the Saudi Ambassador to Somalia.  Their talks focused on ensuring Somali nationals have access to justice, as well as establishing judicial cooperation between the 2 countries.

The Federal Court on Friday reinstated the death penalty for a former lorry driver convicted of murdering his wife and 7-month-old daughter in 2016.  Notably, the decision coincided with Satvender Singh’s 39th birthday.  A 3-judge panel comprising Justices Datuk Rhodzariah Bujang, Datuk Abu Bakar Jais, and Datuk Abdul Karim Abdul Jalil allowed the prosecution’s appeal to reinstate the High Court’s initial conviction and sentence.  Justice Rhodzariah, delivering the unanimous decision, stated that the death penalty was the appropriate sentence given the gravity of the crime. 

An advisory panel will start discussions later this month to review the country's retrial system for criminal cases, Justice Minister Keisuke Suzuki said Friday. Suzuki told a news conference that he will ask the Legislative Council, which advises the minister, to review the system on March 28. Critics say that the retrial system needs to be changed because it prolongs trials as many rules are not clearly stated in the law.  Related provisions in the Code of Criminal Procedure have not been revised since it was established in 1948.

Brian Price would earn the title after 11 years cooking for the condemned In the unlikely scenario that you ever find yourself on Death Row, approaching your final days as a condemned man, what would you request for your final meal? Would you push the boat out and request a full steal dinner or play it safe and opt for a classic dish such as pizza or a burger? For most of us it's something that we'll never have to think about, but for one man who spent over a decade working as a 'Death Row chef' encountering prisoner's final requests wasn't anything out of the ordinary.

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); March 14, 2025: Saber Fathollahi and Zaki Zakeri, an Afghan national, were executed for drug-related offences in Shiraz Central Prison. According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, two men were hanged in Shiraz (Adel Abad) Central Prison on 9 March. Their identities have been established as 30-year-old Saber Fathollahi from Rasht and 27-year-old Zaki Zakeri from Jalal Abad in Afghanistan. They were sentenced to death on drug-related charges by the Revolutionary Court.

A group of nine men on Tennessee’s death row filed suit in Davidson County Chancery Court on Friday, challenging the use of pentobarbital in the state’s lethal injection protocol, citing the “risk of tortuous death.”  The Tennessee Department of Correction announced in December that it adopted a new lethal injection protocol using the barbiturate pentobarbital, and after a five-year reprieve from executions after errors were revealed in the previous protocol, on March 3 the Tennessee Supreme Court ordered the execution of four death row inmates beginning in May. However, according to the suit, multiple studies show that the use of pentobarbital in executions is a breach of the inmates’ constitutional rights prohibiting cruel and unusual punishment. 

NEW ORLEANS – A federal appeals court Friday overturned a district judge’s order that had blocked Louisiana’s first planned execution using nitrogen gas, allowing the state to carry out the death sentence Tuesday barring a last-minute reversal.  An attorney for convicted killer Jessie Hoffman said she will take the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals’ decision to the U.S. Supreme Court.  Louisiana last put a condemned person to death in 2010 using lethal injection, and 56 people currently await execution.