Death Penalty News

Thomas Creech, 73, was sentenced to death for fatally beating prisoner David Jensen back in 1981, but when he was wheeled into the execution chamber at Idaho Maximum Security prison in February, things didn't go to plan A death row inmate who was part of a botched execution has opened up on the harrowing ordeal.

An Australian man sentenced to death in Thailand this week for the murder of a former Hells Angels member, found beaten and naked in a shallow grave, plans to appeal his conviction.  Wayne Schneider, a 38-year-old Australian, was kidnapped in December 2015 by a gang of masked men from an apartment in Pattaya, an eastern Thai city known for its seedy nightlife and links to organised crime. His body was found days later after investigators tracked a GPS device in a hired van, used to carry out the kidnapping. Fellow Australian Antonio Bagnato, 28, was convicted by a court in Pattaya on Tuesday and handed down a death sentence, a punishment that remains on the statute books in Thailand but is rarely carried out.  American national Tyler Gerard, 22, was convicted of being involved in the kidnapping and given a reduced 2-year sentence for cooperating with authorities. Australia, which opposes the death penalty, said Bagnato now plans to appeal. “An Australian man...

Two Australian men could face the death penalty in Thailand after they were among a group arrested during a drug raid. Steven Brett Hovi, 58, and Jamie Robert Hansom, 46 were arrested after heavily armed officers entered a home in Oattaya at 5.30pm on Thursday. The two men could face the death penalty if convicted, The Herald Sun reported.  Thai police said at a press conference they were pursuing a network of drug dealers from the Hells Angels outlaw motorcycle gang suspected of selling drugs to foreign tourists, local media reported. Police said they seized 1.2 kilograms of crystal methamphetamine, known as ice, in clear plastic bags, ice-taking devices and guns including a Smith & Wesson revolver. They also found six mobile phones, 12 debit cards spanning seven bank accounts, bank books, transfer slips, 12 cash tablets and a gray Toyota Vios sedan, local media reported.  Thai police said the arrests were a significant move against a global dru...

An Australian kickboxer convicted of the murder of a Hells Angels drug trafficker is expected to be released from jail today, despite an ongoing appeal. Antonio Bagnato was convicted of the 2015 murder of Hells Angels boss Wayne Schneider and sentenced in February last year to the death penalty. The former kickboxer was the bodyguard of Mr Schneider, who was kidnapped and bludgeoned to death near the resort town of Pattaya. A staff member at Bangkwang Prison, where Bagnato is being held, told the ABC that he would be released on Friday. "Yes, there is [a] court order to release him," said the official, who did not give his name. The prison official said Thai police planned to re-arrest Bagnato immediately on separate charges. "He has a pending charge and will not walk out — police will come to take him from prison to police station," the prison official told the ABC. The brutal murder of the bikie boss is believed to be linked to a wi...

Antonio Bagnato How far does your compassion go? Do your moral principles apply to everyone, or only those you think are "good" or "on your side"? Australia's morality is likely to be sorely tested with the news that another citizen has been sentenced to death overseas. Antonio Bagnato is 28, and has been sentenced to death by lethal injection in Thailand for the murder of another Australian, Wayne Schneider. After the tragic deaths of Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran in Indonesia, many Australians said "never again". They believed that despite the wrong done by the pair – attempted drug importation – rehabilitation was possible. Importantly, they came to the conclusion that murder is murder, barbaric and cruel, no matter whether it is ordered by a court or at the hands of a hitman. The Bagnato case will ask us to put our money where our mouth is. Because, by all accounts, Bagnato is not a good guy. In fact, he's up there ...

Antonio Bagnato A Thai court has sentenced an Australian man to death for the kidnapping and murder of a Hells Angels member alleged to have been a major drug trafficker. Antonio Bagnato, 28, was found guilty of murder, deprivation of liberty and disposing of a body. In December 2015, former Hells Angels member Wayne Schneider was abducted from outside his home by 5 men and later found buried with a broken neck and facial injuries consistent with a severe beating. The judge said the killing was premeditated, with GPS from the getaway car, DNA from the crime scene and witness testimonies all connecting Bagnato to the crimes. "The first defendant [Bagnato] is found guilty of all charges and according to the criminal code, the penalty is execution for the murder and deprivation of liberty, plus a year in prison for hiding the body," Judge Sirichai Polkarn at the Pattaya Provincial Court said. The court room was packed with representatives of all parties....

Waco , Texas. Deadly biker gang violence at Twin Peaks restaurant The unprecedented, deadly biker gang violence on display Sunday at the Twin Peaks restaurant in Waco, Texas, has led to mass arrests, massive bail figures, the specter of numerous death penalty cases, the likely shuttering of a business, and an irate police force who said they did everything they could to stop it. About 170 motorcycle gang members charged with engaging in organized crime are each being held on a $1 million bond in the wake of the shootout in Waco that left at least nine dead and 18 injured, and authorities say capital murder charges are expected. By early afternoon about 1/3 of the suspects had been booked into the McLennan County Jail, reports CBS affiliate KWTX in Waco. While they haven't been filed yet, capital murder charges open the possibility that prosecutors will seek the death penalty for some of the suspects, in a state that puts far more inmates to death annually than all othe...