Death Penalty News

A Fort Myers man on death row for nearly five decades learned his execution date as Gov. Ron DeSantis signed his order Thursday, July 30. Harold Gene Lucas, then 24, shot and killed his 16-year-old girlfriend, Anthia Jill Piper in Bonita Springs on August 14, 1976. Lucas was 24 when he was charged in Piper's shooting death at her parents' home on Aug. 14, 1976. The execution is set for Sept. 1 in a state that has accelerated its pace under DeSantis the past two years, with a record of 19 executions in 2025. Piper was shot seven times by Lucas, who claimed to be intoxicated.

Tehran's prosecutor has launched legal action against an unspecified number of people for opposing the execution of detainees arrested during the January protests and defendants convicted in cases linked to the recent war, Iran's judiciary news outlet Mizan reported on Thursday. Mizan said the cases were opened after referrals from security and intelligence agencies and reviews of social media posts. It did not identify those targeted, specify the charges, or disclose how many people were under investigation. According to Mizan , the cases have been referred to court.

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); 29 July 2026: Branch 23 of the Tehran Islamic Revolutionary Court has sentenced 43-year-old Ali Esmaili to death on charges of intelligence cooperation with Israel in a case marred by due process violations. His wife and brother have also been sentenced to imprisonment and heavy fines in the same case. According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, Branch 23 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court sentenced Ali Esmaili to death on charges of “intelligence cooperation in favour of the hostile Zionist regime” which amounted to moharebeh (enmity against God) and esfsad-fil-arz (corruption on earth). In addition to the death penalty, the court sentenced Ali to three years of imprisonment for allegedly photographing military sites and ordered him to pay a fine equal to three times the value of a seized Starlink receiver.

The former doctoral student pled guilty in 2025 to the murders of four University of Idaho students. A legal expert has called Bryan Kohberger’s attempt to abandon his guilty plea “highly unlikely” to succeed after the convicted killer filed a petition for post-conviction relief in an Idaho court. Kohberger pleaded guilty in 2025 to killing four University of Idaho students, waiving his right to a trial and avoiding a possible death penalty conviction. He received four life sentences in prison. On July 27, Kohberger filed a petition for post-conviction relief in the Ada County District Court. He looks to withdraw his guilty plea and conviction and seeks a trial on the murder charges.

If Bryan Kohberger successfully withdraws his guilty plea and goes to trial for the murders of four University of Idaho students, it could lead to him being sentenced to death, experts told Newsweek . Kohberger, 31, filed a handwritten petition on Monday from the Idaho Maximum Security Penitentiary, where he is serving four consecutive life sentences for the murders of Kaylee Goncalves, Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle and Madison Mogen in a rental home near the university's campus in Moscow, Idaho, in 2022. Kohberger pleaded guilty to the fatal stabbings just over a year ago, a month before jury selection was set to start.

At least four prisoners, Ali Rasouli, Eshaq Marrei, Shamseddin Afshari, and Faraj Yahyaei, were executed in recent days in Hamadan Central Prison, Vakilabad Prison in Mashhad, and Zanjan Central Prison on separate convictions related to "premeditated murder," drug-related offenses, and rape. The execution of the Baloch prisoner in Mashhad was carried out in secret.

At Least 17 Executed for Non-Lethal Drug-Related Offenses in 2026 (Beirut) – Saudi authorities executed five Ethiopian migrants for nonlethal drug-related offenses on July 27, 2026, without due process, Human Rights Watch said today. Saudi authorities have executed at least 17 Ethiopian nationals since the beginning of 2026 on drug-related charges. At least 79 more remain at imminent risk of execution on similar charges. Saudi authorities have executed at least 116 people in 2026 as of July 27, according to the European Saudi Organization for Human Rights.

Florida executes 2 men in a day. Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis has made Florida's death chamber the nation’s busiest at the end of his final term.   STARKE, Fla. — Florida on Tuesday became the first state in nearly a decade to carry out two executions in a single day, the last an 80-year-old man who was the second-oldest inmate known to receive a lethal injection in modern U.S. history. Hours earlier, the state executed a former police officer convicted of killing a young girl.

Double execution: 1st of 2 inmates is put to death in Florida Florida has executed James Duckett, a 68-year-old former cop convicted of killing an 11-year-old girl in 1987. The state is set to execute an 80-year-old man 6 hours later for a 1986 murder.  Florida carried out the 1st double execution in more than 60 years, executing former police officer James Duckett and later scheduling the execution of 80‑year‑old Dominick Occhicone, amid Governor Ron DeSantis’s aggressive push to increase death penalties in the state.  Florida has put to death the 1st of 2 inmates in the state's 1st double execution in more than 60 years amid an aggressive death penalty push by Gov. Ron DeSantis. 

Hengaw – Tuesday, July 28, 2026—Iranian authorities publicly executed Abolfazl Sepahi Badjani, 23, and Amirhossein Safari Hosseinabadi, 29, two men arrested during the January 2026 protests, early Tuesday in Alikhani Square in Isfahan. Their executions were carried out in connection with the so-called “Alikhani Square case.” The whereabouts and condition of a third defendant, Alireza Sepahi, remain unknown. According to information obtained by the Hengaw Organization for Human Rights, the two men were executed at dawn on July 28, 2026, under heavy security measures in Alikhani Square, Isfahan.

An iron gallows has been erected in an Isfahan square where protests erupted in January. Families of several of the 10 remaining prisoners sentenced to death have been summoned for farewell visits. An iron gallows erected in Ali-Khani Square in the central Iranian city of Isfahan has raised fears that the regime is preparing to publicly execute protesters arrested during nationwide demonstrations in January. Sources who spoke with Iran International said large numbers of security forces had been deployed in the area, while the families of several prisoners sentenced to death had been summoned to the prison for farewell visits.

Judge finds sufficient evidence for jury to hear case LOS ANGELES — Prosecutors have presented sufficient evidence for the indie pop vocalist known as D4vd to stand trial on charges he fatally stabbed and dismembered a 14-year-old girl who threatened to expose their clandestine relationship, a Los Angeles judge ruled on Monday. Judge Charlaine Olmedo found there was probable cause for a jury to decide the fate of David Anthony Burke, 21, whose breakout major-label music success as a recording artist named D4vd (pronounced “David”) was cut short by his arrest last year. He spent five days in a packed downtown courtroom shackled to his seat as prosecutors presented graphic testimony and crime-scene photos in support of their case.

⚠️ Some readers may find the following content distressing LOS ANGELES — A preliminary hearing could wrap up Monday in the case of singer D4vd, who is charged in the killing of a 14-year-old girl whose dismembered remains were found last year in the trunk of his Tesla at a Hollywood tow yard. The first four days of testimony in the hearing have featured sometimes-graphic images and testimony in which prosecutors have contended that the now-21-year-old singer, whose real name is David Anthony Burke, killed Celeste Rivas Hernandez to prevent her from going public about his sexual relationship with the underage girl, potentially damaging or destroying his burgeoning music career. On Friday, Los Angeles Police Department Robbery-Homicide Detective Corey Farell testified that Burke had a series of sexually explicit photos on his cellphone of Celeste, with some images depicting him and the teen engaged in sexual activity. Farell also said he reviewed a series of text messages between the two...

Barring a last-hour intervention by the U.S. Supreme Court, two Florida death row inmates will be executed within hours of each other Tuesday at Florida State Prison near Starke. James Aren Duckett, 68, is scheduled to be executed at noon. He has spent more than three decades on death row after being convicted of murdering 11-year-old Teresa McAbee in 1987. Six hours later, Dominick Occhicone is scheduled to be executed after being convicted of a double murder in 1987 of his girlfriend’s parents, Martha and Raymond Artzner. At 80, Occhicone would be the second-oldest man executed since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976.

HOLMES COUNTY, Fla. (WMBB) – In just three minutes, Johnny Mack “Sketo” Calhoun was sentenced to death for a second time Friday morning. “It is the order of this court that Johnny Sketo Mack Calhoun be sentenced to death in a manner prescribed by the state of Florida for the first-degree murder of Mia Chay Brown,” said Chief Judge Christopher Patterson. After the eight-day resentencing hearing in April, a jury recommended that Calhoun receive the death penalty for the 2010 murder of Mia Chay Brown.

Iranian authorities executed three prisoners at Gonbad-e Kavus Prison and Ardabil Central Prison after convicting them in separate cases of "premeditated murder." Two of those executed were Turkmen. According to information received by the Hengaw Organization for Human Rights, the death sentences of Javad Mirhasani, 33, and Amirabbas Hatami, approximately 40, were carried out in the early hours of Saturday, July 25, 2026, at Gonbad-e Kavus Prison in Golestan Province. Sources familiar with the case said the two Turkmen prisoners, who were both held in Ward 3 of the prison, had been transferred to solitary confinement one day earlier in preparation for their executions.

The case of Rafael Andrés , a 61-year-old Cuban American sentenced to death for the second time on Friday by the judge of the Miami-Dade Circuit Court has brought attention to Cubans on death row in the United States. According to data from the Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC), an organization based in Washington specializing in the analysis of this measure, there are five Cubans facing the death penalty in the United States, all of them in Florida. In the Sunshine State, there are a total of 12 foreign prisoners sentenced to death.

Florida is preparing to execute two death row inmates on Tuesday, July 28, in an action that would mark the state’s first double execution in more than 60 years. Former police officer James Duckett, 68, is scheduled to die by lethal injection at 12 p.m., followed six hours later by 80-year-old Dominick Occhicone at 6 p.m. If carried out, these will mark the 39th and 40th executions under Gov. Ron DeSantis and the 11th and 12th in the state since the beginning of 2026. In response, Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty (FADP) has launched petition and letter-writing efforts asking DeSantis to halt both procedures. The group has organized two public vigils outside Florida State Prison in Raiford, set for 11 a.m. and 5 p.m., contingent on whether stays are issued.

A Miami-Dade judge sentenced Rafael Andres, a 61-year-old Cuban, to death this Friday for the murder of Ivette Fariñas, a 31-year-old waitress, also Cuban, who worked at the La Carreta restaurant at Miami International Airport, a crime committed two decades ago. According to Telemundo 51, Judge Zachary James of the Miami-Dade Circuit Court followed the jury's recommendation, which voted 9 to 3 in favor of the death penalty last November after reviewing all the evidence in the case. The jury classified the crime as "atrocious, horrifying, or cruel," although they did not conclude that it was committed in a cold, calculated, and premeditated manner.

Ron McAndrew anticipated it would be just another standard execution. He had been assigned to carry out the death of Cuban refugee Pedro Medina via electric chair within the confines of Florida State Prison. Fifteen years had passed since Medina's conviction for the murder of 52-year-old Dorothy James, and McAndrew's responsibility was to oversee the administration of lethal electrical currents to his brain. Having already supervised two previous executions using the identical procedure and raised in a community that strongly supported capital punishment, he expected a swift conclusion with justice delivered.

As public hearings gather pace in the trials of former officials from Syria’s ousted regime, families of victims and survivors of torture are anxiously awaiting the verdicts, with many calling for the defendants to receive the death penalty. Proceedings before the Fourth Criminal Court at Damascus’ Palace of Justice have accelerated since April 25, when the court opened the in-absentia trial of deposed President Bashar al-Assad, his brother Maher al-Assad, and several senior figures from the former regime. Former security chief Atef Najib also appeared before the court in handcuffs.

The teenage girl allegedly killed and dismembered by American singer D4vd had an abortion after their sexual encounter, according to text messages revealed Friday in a Los Angeles court. On the fourth day of a hearing to determine whether there is sufficient evidence to prosecute the singer, the prosecution reviewed dozens of messages between him and Celeste Rivas Hernandez, a year before her death. D4vd, whose real name is David Anthony Burke, asks her, among other things, when she is going to have an abortion, before asking, "It is mine right," according to the texts.

⚠️ Some readers may find the following content distressing LOS ANGELES (CNS) -- A police criminalist testified Thursday that testing on evidence seized from singer D4vd's rented Hollywood Hills home showed a DNA profile consistent with that of a 14-year-old girl whose dismembered remains were found in the front trunk of the entertainer's Tesla. In the third day of a hearing to determine whether there is sufficient evidence to require the 21-year-old singer to stand trial on murder and other charges, Los Angeles Police Department criminalist Samantha Tosch told Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Charlaine Olmedo that DNA collected from apparent blood stains on evidence, including a rowing machine, a green tarp, and a Tesla charger plug discovered in the home's garage were one septillion times—meaning one followed by 24 zeroes—more likely to occur if the DNA was from Celeste Rivas Hernandez than an unknown individual.

Iranian authorities have executed 18-year-old Baloch child offender Meysam Irandegani at Iranshahr Central Prison in Sistan and Baluchestan Province. Irandegani was 14 years old at the time of the alleged offense. According to information received by the Hengaw Organization for Human Rights, the execution was carried out at dawn on Tuesday, July 21, 2026, at Iranshahr Central Prison. Irandegani was arrested approximately four years and two months ago, at the age of 14, following an altercation at the auto repair shop where he worked in Khash.

Victims and family members condemned Boelter in court while honoring Mark and Melissa Hortman as brilliant, dedicated public servants. MINNEAPOLIS (CN) — A federal judge sentenced Vance Boelter to two consecutive life terms plus 40 years on Thursday for the targeted shootings and killings of Minnesota lawmakers last summer. Senior U.S. District Judge John Tunheim presided over the hearing in Minnesota federal court, where Boelter, 58, of Green Isle, Minnesota, faced final sentencing following his June guilty plea. The charges stem from last year’s killings of former House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, and the shootings of state Senator John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette.

US federal prosecutors said the man convicted of stabbing author Salman Rushdie contacted a person in Iran before the 2022 attack to confirm that the fatwa calling for Rushdie's death remained valid, the New York Times reported, as his federal terrorism trial opened on Wednesday. The trial in federal court in Buffalo will determine whether Hadi Matar acted independently out of religious anger or carried out the attack in response to the fatwa issued by Iran’s first Supreme Leader Ruhollah Khomeini and in service of Lebanon's Hezbollah, according to the New York Times.

A Tehran court has sentenced protester Ahad Shokouhian to death three times over his involvement in January demonstrations, the Hengaw Organization for Human Rights reported on Thursday. Shokouhian, 38, was arrested in Pakdasht on Jan. 15 and tried before Judge Iman Afshari in Branch 26 of Tehran’s Revolutionary Court.

Billboard is tracking developments in the singer's criminal case for allegedly killing the 14-year-old and dismembering her body. D4vd, the 21-year-old pop singer made famous by his 2022 hit “Romantic Homicide,” is facing first-degree murder charges for allegedly killing and dismembering the body of 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez. Prosecutors claim the musician, born David Anthony Burke, was having an illegal sexual relationship with the teenager and murdered her after she “threatened to expose his criminal conduct and devastate his musical career.”

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — Questions surrounding Tennessee’s failed execution of death row inmate Tony Carruthers remain unanswered after the Tennessee Department of Correction declined to respond to a lawmaker’s request for details about what went wrong. Carruthers’ execution was stopped in May after medical staff spent more than an hour attempting to establish IV access for the lethal injection but were not able to find a vein. Following the failed execution, State Rep. Jody Barrett (R-Dickson) requested answers from TDOC about what changes, if any, have been made to prevent a similar incident from happening again. Barrett gave the department until Monday, July 20, to respond.

Iranian authorities have executed Iraj Ebrahimizadeh, a 37-year-old Kurdish prisoner from Ilam, at the city's Central Prison. He had previously been sentenced to death under the principle of qisas (retribution in kind) after being convicted of "premeditated murder." According to information received by the Hengaw Organization for Human Rights, the execution was carried out during the early hours of Wednesday, July 22, 2026. Ebrahimizadeh had been transferred to solitary confinement one day earlier in preparation for the execution. Informed sources told Hengaw that Ebrahimizadeh was arrested on October 23, 2023, on charges of "premeditated murder" and was subsequently sentenced to death by the Ilam Province Criminal Court.

The defense argues that extensive media coverage prevented Horner from receiving a fair trial Defense attorneys for Tanner Horner, the former FedEx contract delivery driver sentenced to death for the 2022 kidnapping and murder of 7-year-old Athena Strand, are asking a judge to grant him a new trial. The motion argues that extensive media coverage surrounding the case prevented Horner from receiving a fair trial. Defense attorneys said some potential witnesses declined to testify because of the publicity. Horner's trial was moved from Wise County to Tarrant County because of widespread attention the case received, including on social media.

The journalists behind ‘The Last 12 Weeks’ earned extraordinary access to a death penalty defense team—and faced difficult ethical choices Many defense lawyers are naturally cagey. They work in a pressure cooker, protecting their clients’ rights while fighting for the best possible outcome. And arguably, the stakes can’t get any higher than trying to save a client’s life. So no, defense lawyers don’t usually invite journalists into strategy meetings. But that’s what happened when Marshall Project reporter Maurice Chammah and Serial Productions senior producer Alvin Melathe spent the final few months before a Texas execution embedded with a capital defense team.

The two men had brought several injured protesters into a shop to provide them with medical treatment. Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); 20 July 2026: Mojtaba Dehbandi and Kianush Hamzezadeh-Kazerouni have been sentenced to death by the Shiraz Revolutionary Court for providing medical help to injured protesters during the January nationwide protests. According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, Mojtaba Dehbandi, 23, and Kianush Hamzezadeh-Kazerouni, 27, were sentenced to death by Branch One of the Shiraz Revolutionary Court on charges of moharebeh (enmity against God) through the arson of public buildings and burning a Quran, and action against national security by harbouring protesters. Their preliminary sentence was issued over two months ago. Both men are Shiraz natives and detained in Shiraz (Adel Abad) Central Prison.

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); 21 July 2026: More than 70 protesters arrested in connection with the January 2026 protests are facing execution at Isfahan Central Prison, with 26 held in pre-execution solitary confinement cells or isolation suites. Of the 31 individuals identified by IHRNGO, at least one was under 18 at the time of the alleged offence and three are Afghan nationals. Three other protesters are suspected to have been under 18 at the time of their alleged offences, which IHRNGO is working to verify.

A death row inmate is asking the Tennessee Supreme Court to replace the physician in charge of a botched execution in May or appoint a special master to consider his claim that a scheduled Aug. 13 execution could be unconstitutional. In a Monday Chancery Court filing, attorneys for inmate Darrell Hines cited the risk of extreme pain and suffering if the state uses the same doctor who was in charge when the state tried and failed to execute Tony Carruthers in May. The move comes after a Davidson County judge required the Department of Correction to reveal whether the same physician will perform Hines’ lethal injection.

Kim Eun-joo was 9 years old when her teacher stopped their lesson and told the class to follow her outside. The children were marched to a public execution ground in North Korea. “I would cry even when our family dog died,” Kim said in a recent interview with The Korea Times. “But the first time I watched humans killing a human, I had no words for what I was feeling. It was the most brutal scene I have ever seen, in any movie or in real life.” The memory has stayed with her ever since. Now a human rights advocate after defecting from North Korea, Kim recently brought that childhood scene to the 9th World Congress Against the Death Penalty in Paris, where North Korea’s use of public executions and capital punishment was officially placed on the agenda for the first time.

Hengaw – Monday, July 20, 2026 Iranian authorities have executed at least five Turkish prisoners at Tabriz Central Prison in recent days. They had been sentenced to death in separate cases on charges of drug-related offenses and "premeditated murder."  One of the prisoners, Sohrab Nourmohammadi, was hanged after attempting suicide. According to information received by the Hengaw Organization for Human Rights, the executions of Sohrab Nourmohammadi, 40, from Jolfa, Sajjad Alizadeh, 31, from Varzaqan County, and Fardin Bernal, 31, from Tabriz, were carried out on Tuesday, July 14, 2026.

William Silvia, convicted of the 2006 shooting murder of his wife, Patricia, is scheduled to die by lethal injection in August, according to a death warrant filed by Gov. Ron DeSantis on July 17. If all previously scheduled executions go as planned, Silvia will be the 13th person put to death in Florida this year, following a record-breaking 19 executions in 2025. Silvia, now 61, went to his estranged wife's mother's house in Seminole County to attempt to reconcile with her, but first he calmly bought a 12-gauge shotgun and ammunition, prosecutors said. After talking to Patricia Silvia, Silvia got the shotgun from his truck, shot her mother, Betty Woodard, in the face, and fatally shot Patricia in the head, court records show. Woodard, who was standing in front of her daughter, lost her left eye and the top portion of her nose.

TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — The state will seek the death penalty against a Tampa man charged with first-degree murder and accused of stabbing his girlfriend 65 times, the Hillsborough County State Attorney’s Office said. State Attorney for the 13th Judicial Circuit Court Suzy Lopez told 8 On Your Side the aggravating factors that are necessary for the death penalty are present in this case. “The state legislature gives us enumerated aggravators. And here in this case, this crime was perpetrated in a very heinous, atrocious, and cruel way. Those are actually the words the legislature has given us,” she said.

(NewsNation) — Prosecutors say they will consider several factors before determining whether they will seek the death penalty for singer D4vd, who is charged with killing 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez.  The singer, whose real name is David Burke, is charged with first-degree murder with special circumstances, lewd and lascivious acts with an individual under 14 and mutilating a body. Burke has pleaded not guilty to all charges. 

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); 19 July 2026: State media reported the execution of protesters Erfan Esfandiari and Gol Mohammad Mohammadi, an Afghan national, in connection to the 8 January protests in Isfahan.  Their executions bring the total number of protesters executed in connection with the January 2026 protests to at least 23. Another January protester, Mohammad Amini Dehaghani, was hanged in Isfahan Central Prison six days ago.  

Earlier, while convicting Chenthamara, the court had asked whether he wished to say anything before sentencing. He initially replied that he had "nothing to say." PALAKKAD: In a significant judgment, the Additional District and Sessions Court-IV, Palakkad, on Monday sentenced Chenthamara (62) to death for the brutal double murder of his neighbours Sudhakaran and his 75-year-old mother Lakshmi at Boyan Unnathi in Pothundy, Nenmara in 2025. In addition to the death penalty, the court imposed a fine of Rs 20 lakh and ordered that this amount be paid as compensation to the victims' family.

OSWIECIM, Poland — The SS carried out the largest public hanging in Auschwitz history on July 19, 1943, executing 12 Polish prisoners before other inmates as collective punishment for escapes and civilian contacts. The victims, all from the camp’s surveyors’ labor unit, were hanged on gallows built in front of the camp kitchen during an Auschwitz I roll call. The SS orchestrated this reprisal following prisoner escapes from the surveyors’ detail and unauthorized communication between inmates and civilians. Camp authorities used the recent escapes as a pretext to impose collective punishment.

HOLLYWOOD HILLS—David Anthony Burke, known by his stage name D4VD, is eligible to receive both life in prison and the death penalty for his alleged involvement in the murder of 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez.  Burke is facing first-degree murder with special circumstances, lewd and lascivious acts with an individual under 14, and mutilating a body. The special circumstances include lying in wait for the victim, committing the crime for financial gain, and murdering a witness in an investigation.

The number of death sentences handed out by juries has plunged by more than 90% since the 1990s. On July 8, the Death Penalty Information Center, or DPIC, released its midyear update on capital punishment in the United States. Many of the findings were sadly, disturbingly familiar. For example, racial bias still plays a large role in who gets executed, and the Supreme Court continues to allow executions to proceed even when those being put to death have strong claims of innocence. But there was also encouraging news.