Death Penalty News

Iran allegedly plotted to assassinate Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s eldest son, Yair, while he was living in South Florida, Newsmax reported on Wednesday, citing a US law enforcement source familiar with the matter. Israeli intelligence learned of the alleged plot in December and alerted US authorities, according to the source. Iranian operatives were believed to be in the Miami area and to have conducted surveillance of Yair Netanyahu’s home and movements. The 35-year-old, who lived in Hallandale Beach and was accompanied by an Israeli security detail, was reportedly instructed to leave immediately. He departed without collecting his belongings and returned to Israel, where he now lives.

"It is a humanitarian crisis of epic proportions, and must be stopped, NOW," U.S. President Donald Trump said  U.S. President Donald Trump expressed outrage on Tuesday (August 25, 2026) at the mounting number of executions in Iran of people allegedly involved in mass protests earlier this year before the West Asia war began.  "The failing Islamic Republic of Iran is not paying large segments of their military, while at the same time killing protesters, even when they are not protesting, at levels not seen before," he wrote on Truth Social. 

Oklahoma has carried out 1 of 3 executions set for the same day in the United States in another sign of the resurgence of the death penalty in the country.  Carlos Cuesta-Rodriguez was pronounced dead at 10:13 a.m. on Thursday, Aug. 13, at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester.  He was put to death by lethal injection for the murder of his common-law wife in 2003 at their Oklahoma City home. He admitted to police he shot her twice during an argument.  Cuesta-Rodriguez, 70, did not fight for his life, stunning his attorneys in July when he told the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board that he didn't want clemency. "It's time for me to pay for what I did," he said. 

Though many said they supported capital punishment, an almost equal number of people conceded they don't think it deters crime. (CN) — An eye for an eye, say the two-thirds of Americans who support punishing murderers with death, according to research published by Pew on Thursday. A little less than a third of Americans, 32%, oppose capital punishment entirely, standing in line with Gandhi's spin on the age-old aphorism, “an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.” “As the Trump administration and some states seek to expand the application of the death penalty, about two-thirds of Americans (66%) now favor the death penalty for people convicted of murder, while nearly a third (32%) oppose it,” researchers wrote in the report.

The Supreme Court these days is generally in the business of helping executions go forward. But on Thursday night, the court did something notable: It told Alabama no. Even then, the court wasn't unanimous. Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch dissented from the refusal to let the nitrogen gas execution of Jeffery Lee proceed. What prompted the rare rejection? In line with the typical shadow docket practice, the court didn't explain itself. Nor did the dissenters, who merely noted their disagreement. But a deeper look at the case helps us understand why a majority of the court was unwilling to help the state this time.

The Army is preparing to carry out the executions of the military's four death-row inmates if ordered to do so by the president, according to an internal planning document reviewed by ABC News. If carried out, it would mark the first time the military executed convicted American inmates in more than a half-century The plan, dubbed "Operation Resolute Justice" and issued internally in February, directs Army officials to coordinate with the Federal Bureau of Prisons to transfer condemned prisoners from the U.S. Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, to the federal execution facility in Terre Haute, Indiana, where the Justice Department carried out a series of non-military federal executions during President Donald Trump's first term.

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump removed U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi from her post Thursday, ending a 14-month tenure defined by a sweeping overhaul of the Justice Department and a hard-line approach to federal law enforcement. The president announced the decision on social media, naming Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche as acting attorney general.

The proposal, aligned with President Trump’s executive order, would ease certification requirements and make approvals permanent for qualifying states WASHINGTON — The Department of Justice is proposing a rule aimed at speeding up the federal review process in state death penalty cases — a move officials say could significantly shorten the time between conviction and execution. Attorney General Pamela Bondi announced the proposal on March 17 , describing it as part of a broader effort to streamline capital case proceedings and reduce delays that can stretch on for years.

The use of the death penalty has risen sharply in the United States, with more executions in 2025 than any year since 2009. It is a cruel and unjust development. In theory, the death penalty is reserved for “the worst of the worst.” In practice, it is very different. People who are executed for their crimes are disproportionately poor or intellectually disabled and often lacked good lawyers. They are also more likely to be sentenced to death if they have been convicted of killing a white person. Anthony Boyd, who maintained his innocence until Alabama executed him last year at age 54, had an inexperienced court-appointed lawyer and was convicted on disputed eyewitness testimony. Charles Flores, 56, has spent 27 years on death row in Texas for a murder conviction based solely on unreliable testimony from a hypnotized witness. Robert Roberson, who has autism, remains on death row there despite having been convicted on now-debunked evidence that he had shaken his daughter to death.

A Hungarian national accused in the murders of two elderly, disabled men in South Florida faces second-degree murder charges. While some reports have discussed the potential for capital punishment, Florida law currently restricts the death penalty to first-degree murder convictions, and federal constitutional law prohibits automatic death sentences for any class of person, including undocumented immigrants. Zsolt Zsolyomi, 26, a native of Hungary, entered the United States on a 90-day visa waiver in 2022 but overstayed, rendering him an undocumented immigrant according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). In the summer of 2024, he was arrested in Miami Beach on charges including petit theft and strong-armed robbery. ICE issued a detainer for his deportation, but he was released under supervision with an ankle monitor instead of immediate removal. He subsequently disabled the monitoring device and became a fugitive. Elderly gay men Zsolyomi allegedly altered his appearance...

A federal judge has temporarily blocked the Trump administration from transferring 20 ex-death row inmates, granted clemency by former President Biden, to the most restrictive “supermax” prison in the nation. U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly, an appointee of President Trump, ruled Wednesday that the men were likely to succeed in showing their due process rights were skirted by the administration in its bid to send them to the Administrative Maximum Facility (ADX) in Florence, Colo.

The U.S. Justice Department has indicated its intent to pursue the death penalty against Rahmanullah Lakanwal, the Afghan national accused of fatally shooting one West Virginia National Guard member and seriously wounding another near the White House in late November 2025. WASHINGTON — Federal prosecutors said Wednesday they intend to seek the death penalty against Rahmanullah Lakanwal, the 29-year-old Afghan national accused of ambushing two West Virginia National Guard members near the White House, killing one and gravely injuring the other. Lakanwal pleaded not guilty in U.S. District Court in Washington to nine federal charges, including first-degree murder, assault with intent to kill and illegal possession of a firearm. The arraignment before Judge Amit Mehta came amid indications from prosecutors that they are working toward "death-eligible charges" — potentially through additional or amended counts — as the case advances.

Some 30,000 people are already thought to have been killed and many more detained. Families say they have little information about their loved ones  Two weeks after Ali Rahbar was arrested in anti-regime protests in the northeastern Iranian city of Mashhad, his cousin heard from relatives that he had been executed. He was 33. “I was shocked,” his cousin, who lives in Europe, told The Sunday Times. “Everything went dark before my eyes.”  Rahbar’s family had no idea where he had been held or what the charge was, he said, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of repercussions against his family in Iran. 

TEHRAN, Iran (DPN) — An Iranian protester who drew international alarm over reports of an impending death sentence has been released on bail, but he remains ensnared in the country's judicial system without a pardon or dismissal of charges, according to human rights organizations and state media. Erfan Soltani, a 26-year-old resident of Fardis, a suburb west of Tehran, was freed Saturday after his family posted bail equivalent to about $12,600. His detention stemmed from participation in anti-government protests that erupted nationwide in late 2025 and intensified into early 2026, challenging the Islamic Republic's clerical leadership amid economic woes and demands for political reforms. Soltani's case spotlighted the harsh crackdown on dissenters.

Iran’s top prosecutor has called US President Donald Trump’s claims about halting the hangings of 800 detained protesters “completely false.” DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Iran’s top prosecutor on Friday called U.S. President Donald Trump’s repeated claims that he halted the hangings of 800 detained protesters there “completely false.” Meanwhile, the overall death toll from a bloody crackdown on nationwide demonstrations rose to at least 5,002, activists said. Activists fear many more are dead. They struggle to confirm information as the most comprehensive internet blackout in Iran’s history has crossed the two-week mark.

Overall, 37 people have been taken to the United States Mexico announced the extradition of dozens more cartel operatives to the United States, the third such operation under the presidency of Claudia Sheinbaum. Mexican Security Secretary Omar Garcia Harfuch announced in a social media publication that 37 people have been sent to the United States. He noted that the people "represented a real threat to the country's security" and the extraditions were carried "in accordance with the National Security Law and under mechanisms of bilateral cooperation with full respect for national sovereignty."

Recent statements by Iranian officials and their apparent acceptance by some foreign leaders have created a misleading sense of reassurance about the state’s response to the latest protests.  Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told Fox News on Wednesday that Tehran had “no plan to execute protesters.” President Donald Trump told reporters he had it “on good authority” that the killing of protesters had stopped.  White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters on Thursday that Tehran had halted 800 executions slated for the previous day following warnings by Trump. 

Tehran’s Friday prayer leader Ahmad Khatami called for the execution of detained protesters and the arrest of anyone who supported the protests, delivering the remarks during his Friday sermon. Khatami, a hardline cleric appointed by Iran's Supreme Leader, accused protesters of acting on behalf of foreign powers, calling them “servants" of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and "soldiers of Trump." “They should await a harsh retaliation from the government. Americans and Zionists should not expect peace,” Khatami said. “The demonstrators were servants of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and soldiers of Trump.”

DUBAI/WASHINGTON, Jan 15 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said he had been told that killings in Iran’s crackdown on protests were easing and that he believed there was no current plan for large-scale executions, adopting a wait‑and‑see posture after earlier threatening intervention. After Iran's foreign minister said Iran had "no plan" to hang people, Iranian state media on Thursday reported that a 26-year-old man arrested during protests in the city of Karaj would not be given the death sentence. Earlier this week, rights organisation Hengaw reported that 26-year-old Erfan Soltani , arrested in connection with protests in the city of Karaj, was due to be executed on Wednesday.

Iran’s judiciary chief has vowed to fast-track the “trial and punishment” of detainees alleged to have taken part in the protests spanning all of the country’s 31 provinces. In comments broadcast via state television, Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei, during a visit to prison in Tehran, said that the authorities must “work quickly.” According to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-linked Fars news agency's Telegram, Mohseni-Ejei also expressed a desire for the trials to be held “in public.”