Death Penalty News

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.