Death Penalty News

Death penalty abolitionist and social justice activist Kokila Annamalai Parvathi was charged on April 23, over her refusal two-and-a-half years ago to comply with a government censorship order. As previously reported by Green Left, Annamalai defied a directive under the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA), to issue a “correction” to an online post she and the Transformative Justice Collective (TJC) made about the 2024 execution of Azwan bin Bohari. The post explained that Azwan had been on death row since 2019 after being arrested under the Misuse of Drugs Act four years earlier. It pointed out many inconsistencies and injustices in the way his execution had been handled by the state.

The U.S. Supreme Court had denied Broadnax’s final appeal to temporarily stop his execution and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott did not grant a last minute reprieve. James Broadnax died by lethal injection Thursday evening for the 2008 robbery and murders of two Christian music producers — after his cousin confessed to being the shooter earlier this year. Broadnax was executed minutes before 7 p.m. Thursday, April 30 in Huntsville, Texas. Broadnax’s legal team shared in a statement his words from earlier in the day.

STARKE, Fla. (AP) — A Florida man convicted of beating and choking his brother’s 13-year-old stepdaughter to death nearly 50 years ago was executed Thursday evening. James Ernest Hitchcock, 70, was pronounced dead at 6:12 p.m. following a lethal injection at Florida State Prison near Starke. He was convicted of the July 1976 killing of Cynthia Driggers. The curtain to the death chamber opened promptly at the 6 p.m. execution time. Hitchcock’s entire body was covered in a sheet up to his head. He stared at the ceiling as the team warden made a call, then gave his final statement.