Death Penalty News

The election of Donald Trump as president and the tumultuous transition of power have dominated headlines for the last few weeks. One issue, however, has not received much coverage: What is going to happen to the death penalty? Before the election, some observers predicted that the end was near for capital punishment in this country. A Pew Research Center poll released in September suggested that public support for the death penalty has declined in recent years. According to Pew, which has measured public opinion on this issue since 1936, only 49 % of Americans now say they support execution as the punishment for murder - down from a high of 80 % in 1995. While there are still more supporters of the death penalty than opponents, this is the lowest level of support since 1971. But in November, voters in three states chose to keep or strengthen the death penalty. In California, opponents rejected a referendum that would have abolished it entirely. In Nebraska, where the legisl...

FORT HOOD, Texas (KWTX) President Barack Obama has commuted the death sentence of a former Ft. Hood soldier who was convicted in 1989 of the shooting deaths of two Killeen taxi drivers. Then Army Pfc. Class Dwight Jeffrey Loving was sentenced to death in a 1989 court martial for robbing and killing Pvt. Christopher Fay, who was moonlighting as a cab driver to earn extra pay, and Master Sgt. Bobby Sharbino, also a cabbie. Fay, 20, was assigned to the 13th Corps Support Command and Sharbino was retired. Testimony at court martial showed Loving asked Fay to drive him to a remote location on post where he shot and robbed him. Loving then used the same tactic to rob and kill Sharbino. Both men’s bodies were found on Dec. 12 and Dec. 13, 1988 in their cabs. Unhappy with the amount of money he took in the first two robberies, Loving tried the tactic again when cab driver Howard Harrison, of Kempner, encountered Loving. Harrison, however, was injured in a struggl...