Death Penalty News

It has been nearly 40 years since my mother, Marguerite, was murdered in a small town near Houston. It has been almost 19 years since the man who murdered her was executed. His death did not heal my pain — I still miss my mother every day — and it did not feel like “justice.” Instead, my personal experience with the death penalty left me firmly convinced that it is both a false promise to the families of murder victims and a failed public policy. That is why, as a current Kansas resident, I urge Gov. Laura Kelly to commute the death sentences of the nine men on Kansas’ death row to life without parole.

A 14-year-old in Yunnan province has been convicted of intentional homicide and rape, and sentenced to life in prison. The victim's family argue he deserves the death penalty. In late April, an unusual court trial in China's southwestern Yunnan province led to a landmark ruling, where a local court found a minor guilty of intentional homicide and rape, and sentenced him to life imprisonment.    At the time of the crime, the defendant was 14 years old. It marked the first time such a severe sentence was handed down to a minor in China.

The capital murder trial of Tanner Horner is over, but for Athena Strand's family, the grief and trauma are far from done. After weeks of emotional testimony and graphic evidence, Horner was sentenced to death this week for the murder of 7‑year‑old Athena Strand. The case that shook North Texas now moves into a new phase, one legal experts say could last for years. Christy Jack, a partner at Varghese Summersett who has handled multiple death penalty cases, said cases involving children carry a weight unlike almost any other.

During the last 10 years, the number of death row inmates from Brevard county dropped from 12 down to three and soon it will likely be two. Chadwick Willacy, formerly of Palm Bay and who has spent 36 years on death row for the murder of his 58-year-old neighbor Marlys Sather, is set to be executed by lethal injection on April 21. Willacy is 56. Gov. Ron DeSantis has been setting records trying to clear as much of the death row roster as possible ― in 2025, Florida executed 19 inmates, more than twice the number of the previous high of eight in 2014. But the dwindling roster of Brevard death row inmates can also be traced to a misinterpretation by the Florida Supreme Court of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in 2016 requiring unanimous jury recommendations regarding the death penalty.

AMERICAN FORK, Utah (DPN) — Law enforcement officials confirmed Wednesday that forensic evidence has linked serial killer Ted Bundy to the remains of a teenager discovered more than 50 years ago in American Fork Canyon. The breakthrough, finalized in April 2026, concludes one of Utah’s oldest unidentified persons cases. The victim, whose identity is being withheld pending full family notification, was a teenager reported missing from the Wasatch Front in 1974.

Killer of stay-at-home mom whose death led to 911 reform is executed Michael King kidnapped Denise Amber Lee from her Florida home in broad daylight in 2008. If it weren't for a botched 911 call, Lee may have survived the ordeal.  Florida has executed a death row inmate for the rape and murder of a stay-at-home mom whose death exposed the vulnerabilities of the 911 system nationwide and led to reform within the industry.  Michael King, 54, was executed by lethal injection on Tuesday, March 17, for the kidnapping, rape and murder of 21-year-old Denise Amber Lee. King abducted the married mother of 2 young sons from her home in broad daylight on Jan. 17, 2008, less than an hour before Lee's husband returned from work. 

Senate bill would replace capital punishment with life without parole  Two Kentucky state senators have introduced legislation that would eliminate the death penalty in the commonwealth, replacing it with mandatory life sentences without the possibility of parole or probation.  Senate Bill 350 was introduced by Senators Gerald Neal and Stephen Meredith. Neal, a Louisville Democrat, said he has been advocating for the measure since 2012. “Basically, it substitutes life without parole as opposed to the death penalty itself,” Neal said.

Florida executes man who killed Fort Pierce police officer during 1991 traffic stop Moments before receiving a lethal injection, Billy Kearse asked for forgiveness from the family of Danny Parrish, whose widow said she found peace after a "long, long 35 years.” A man convicted of fatally shooting a police officer with his own service weapon during a traffic stop was executed Tuesday evening, becoming the third person put to death by Florida this year after a record 19 executions in 2025.

By day, Harold Wayne Nichols appeared to be a loving husband who was adored by his wife. By night, he was a serial predator who attacked women at their most vulnerable and raped them. Tennessee is set to execute a serial rapist, dubbed the "red-headed stranger," for the brutal murder of one of his victims, a promising young college student attacked in her bed. RELATED  |  Tennessee governor won't intervene to stop latest execution by lethal injection Harold Wayne Nichols, 64, is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection on Thursday, Dec. 11, for the 1988 rape and murder of 20-year-old Karen Pulley, who was bludgeoned, raped, and left for dead.

Florida executes Plant City’s ‘Deacon of Death’ for murders of 2 women  The state on Tuesday executed a Plant City man known as the “Deacon of Death” for the murders of 2 women in 1996.  Samuel Lee Smithers, 72, was pronounced dead at 6:15 p.m. following a lethal injection at Florida State Prison, near the city of Starke in northeast Florida. He did not have a final statement.  Smithers was the 14th person executed by the state this year as Gov. Ron DeSantis signs a record number of death warrants. Smithers was also the second convicted killer from Hillsborough County put to death this year following the execution of Glen Rogers in May. 

Murder vic­tims’ fam­i­ly mem­bers hold a wide range of views about what jus­tice means. For some, the death penal­ty holds the promise of clo­sure, while for oth­ers, it is a source of con­tin­ued trau­ma and uncer­tain­ty. In two recent cas­es, vic­tims’ fam­i­ly mem­bers have pub­licly expressed their oppo­si­tion to the death penal­ty, cit­ing their reli­gious views and need to forgive.

Jennifer Herron is the daughter of Maurine Hunsaker, who was murdered by Utah death row inmate Ralph Menzies. I am the oldest daughter born to Maurine Hunsaker, who was murdered by Ralph Menzies in 1986. She was 17 years old at the time of my birth. She was on welfare and barely getting by having one child before me, and for that and other reasons I was placed for adoption. Unlike my older brother, I don’t recall meeting my birth mother, but it is possible that I did. My grandmother was a friend of the family that adopted me, which is how the adoption was arranged.

There is a com­mon­ly held belief that use of the death penal­ty is always sup­port­ed by the friends and fam­i­lies who have lost loved ones to vio­lence. Prosecutors and elect­ed offi­cials often argue that only the death penal­ty will bring them the clo­sure and jus­tice they deserve. Family mem­bers are invit­ed to wit­ness exe­cu­tions in cap­i­tal cas­es on the the­o­ry that doing so will help meet their needs for ret­ri­bu­tion and closure.  While this feel­ing may be true for some , oth­ers feel dif­fer­ent­ly, includ­ing some who oppose the death penal­ty in all circumstances.

Man executed for raping, killing Florida woman outside bar  A man convicted of raping and killing a woman near a central Florida bar was executed Tuesday evening.  Thomas Lee Gudinas, 51, received a lethal injection at Florida State Prison near Starke, following decades on death row for the 1994 killing of Michelle McGrath. His execution proceeded as scheduled after last-day appeals were denied. DOC spokesperson Ted Veerman reported that Gudinas woke up at 4:45 a.m. His last meal was a pepperoni pizza, fries, and a soda. He had one visitor today—his mother. When asked about how the DOC staff is handling the pace of executions, Veerman said the “professional” staff is doing a “fantastic job.” When the curtain to the execution room opened at 6.00pm, Gudinas was already strapped to a gurney with an IV in his left arm. Then, after the warden got off the phone with the governor’s office, he asked Gudinas whether he wanted to make a last statement. Although Gudinas’s words were inau...

Journalist Liz Bruening recently wrote of her experience being present for an execution and her own family’s ties to tragedy in Arlington. Editor’s note: This story contains descriptions of violence towards children and the process of an execution that some readers may find disturbing. In 2004, Alfred Bourgeois was convicted of torturing and murdering his toddler daughter at the Naval Air Station in Corpus Christi.  According to the prosecution in the case, Bourgeois had abused and neglected her before finally smashing her head against the inside of his truck. 

McALESTER, Okla. (AP) — Oklahoma executed a man Thursday whose transfer to state custody was expedited by the Trump administration. John Fitzgerald Hanson, 61, received a three-drug lethal injection at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester and was pronounced dead at 10:11 a.m., prison officials said. Hanson was sentenced to die after he was convicted of carjacking, kidnapping and killing a Tulsa woman in 1999. “Peace to everyone,” Hanson said while strapped to a gurney inside the prison’s death chamber.

Texas man is executed 13 years to the day of a store robbery in which he set a clerk on fire  A Texas man was executed Tuesday evening, 13 years to the day of a convenience store robbery in which he set a clerk on fire in a Dallas suburb.  Matthew Lee Johnson, 49, received a lethal injection at the state penitentiary in Huntsville. He was condemned for the May 20, 2012, attack on 76-year-old Nancy Harris, a great-grandmother he splashed with lighter fluid and set ablaze in the suburb of Garland. Badly burned, she died days afterward.

Matthew Lee Johnson is set to be executed in Texas on Tuesday for the death of an elderly woman he set on fire during a convenience store robbery. Johnson, 49, is scheduled to receive a lethal injection after 6 p.m. CDT at the state penitentiary in Huntsville. The Context Johnson was condemned for the 2012 death of 76-year-old Nancy Harris. He poured a bottle of lighter fluid over the great-grandmother, who was working as a cashier, before setting her on fire at a store in Garland, a northeast suburb of Dallas, on May 20, 2012. She was able to describe the suspect before she was taken off life support and died five days later. What To Know Johnson admitted to setting Harris on fire during his 2013 trial. "I hurt an innocent woman. I took a human being's life. I was the cause of that. It was not my intentions to—to kill her or to hurt her, but I did," he said. Johnson said he had not been aware of what he had done because he had been high after smoking $100 worth of crack....

As the state resumes executions of death row prisoners, a bill in the legislature aims to cut back on the time people convicted of crimes can spend trying to reduce or overturn their sentences, and it would vest more power over the process with the attorney general's office. The move also comes seven months after state lawmakers took action against Orleans Parish District Attorney Jason Williams over deals he made through the post-conviction relief process to reduce the sentences of long-serving inmates.

The El Paso County district attorney announced Tuesday that Patrick Crusius, who killed 23 people in a 2019 racist attack at a Walmart near the U.S.-Mexico border, would avoid the death penalty under a new plea offer . The decision marks the end of a yearslong legal battle, but the victims’ families are divided by the decision. District Attorney James Montoya, who took office in January, said the decision was primarily driven by victims’ families seeking closure. “This is about allowing the families of the 23 victims who lost their lives on that horrific day — and the 22 wounded — to finally have resolution in our court system,” Montoya stated.