Death Penalty News

Alabama executes Michael Samra, convicted of killing 4 in 1997 An Alabama death row inmate was executed by lethal injection Thursday night, more than 22 years after the quadruple slaying of a family in Pelham. Michael Brandon Samra, 42, was executed at William C. Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore. The Alabama Supreme Court set his execution date in April. Samra was 19 when he and his co-defendant, then 16-year-old Mark Anthony Duke, were charged with killing Mark Duke’s father Randy Duke, his fiancée Dedra Mims Hunt, and her 2 daughters, 6-year-old Chelisa Nicole Hunt and 7-year-old Chelsea Marie Hunt. Samra was convicted of capital murder in 1998 after confessing, and was sentenced to death for his role in the killings. The curtains opened to the execution chamber at approximately 7:09 p.m. When approached by the warden, Samra smiled. His last words were a prayer. “I would like to thank Jesus for everything he’s done for me,” he said. “I want to thank Jesus...

MONTGOMERY, Ala. – A man convicted of murder in a quadruple killing after a dispute over a pickup truck is set to be executed in Alabama. Forty-one-year-old Michael Brandon Samra is scheduled to receive a lethal injection Thursday evening at the state prison in Atmore. Samra and friend Mark Duke were convicted of killing Duke's father, the father's girlfriend and the woman's two elementary-age daughters in March 1997.  Evidence showed Duke planned the killings because his father wouldn't let him use his pickup. Duke and Samra both were originally sentenced to death, but Duke's sentence was overturned because he was 16 at the time of the killings.  Samra was 19 at the time. Another execution is scheduled Thursday in Tennessee . Source: Associated Press, Staff, May 16, 2019 ⚑ | Report an error, an omission, a typo; suggest a story or a new angle to an existing story; submit a piece, a comment; recommend a resource; contact the webmast...

The inmate's attorney asked to halt the execution while a court weighs the appropriateness of the death penalty for people under 21 at the time of the crime An Alabama inmate's attorney has asked the governor to halt his Thursday lethal injection while a Kentucky court weighs the appropriateness of the death penalty for people who were under 21 at the time of their crimes. Michael Brandon Samra was 19 when he participated in the 1997 slayings in Shelby County of 4 people, including 2 children. Samra was convicted of helping friend Mark Duke kill Duke's father, the father's girlfriend Dedra Mims Hunt, and her 2 daughters, 6-year-old Chelisa Hunt and 7-year-old Chelsea Hunt. Prosecutors said the teens plotted the slayings after Duke became angry when his father wouldn't let him use his truck. Duke's death sentence was overturned because he was 16 at the time of the crime. Samra's attorney, Steven R. Sears, sent a letter to Alabama Gov. K...

The Alabama Supreme Court set a May 16 execution date for Michael Brandon Samra, 41. As a teenager, Samra was convicted of helping his friend Mark Duke kill his father Randy Duke, his father's girlfriend Debra Hunt and her 6 and 7-year-old daughters. Prosecutors said the Shelby County slayings happened after Duke became angry when his father wouldn't let him use his truck. They said the teens executed a plan to kill Duke's father and then killed the others to cover up his death. Authorities say Mark Duke killed his father, Hunt and one of the girls, and that Samra slit the throat of the other child at Duke's direction while the girl pleaded for her life. "The murders which were committed with a gun and kitchen knife were as brutal as they come," lawyers for the state wrote in the motion to set an execution date. Duke was 16 at the time of the slayings. Samra was 19. Both were sentenced to the death penalty. However, Duke's death sent...

The ABA House of Delegates on Monday asked all death penalty jurisdictions to ban capital punishment for any offender who committed their crime at the age of 21 or younger. In the report accompanying the resolution, the chairs of the Death Penalty Due Process Review Project and the Section of Civil Rights and Social Justice wrote: “In light of this evolution of both the scientific and legal understanding surrounding young criminal defendants and broader changes to the death penalty landscape, it is now time for the ABA to revise its dated position and support the exclusion of individuals who were 21 years old or younger at the time of their crime.” The language of Resolution 111 makes clear that the ABA is not taking a position “supporting or opposing the death penalty.” In a motion to amend, Robert L. Weinberg, a past president of the District of Columbia Bar and the Bar Association of the District of Columbia, proposed removing that language. He brought up a CLE ses...

The trial for the alleged murderers of the former Kernel photo editor is delayed while a decision is made about the constitutionality of the death penalty for those under 21. Efrain Diaz, Justin Smith and Roman Gonzalez allegedly killed Jonathan Krueger in April of 2015. Gonzalez was 17 at the time of the crime and was automatically ineligible for the death penalty, but the other 2 men were over 18. In September, however, Judge Ernesto Scorsone took the death penalty off the table for Diaz and Smith as well, said prosecutor Andrea Mattingly Williams. Scorsone made the decision related to the case of Travis Bredhold, who is now 21 but was just over 18 when he was charged with murder and robbery, according to the Herald-Leader. Fayette County Commonwealth's Attorney Lou Anna Red Corn, who is the prosecutor in the Krueger trial along with Williams, made a statement after the judge's decision in August. She said she will appeal Scorsone's order "beca...