Death Penalty News

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.

Victims and family members condemned Boelter in court while honoring Mark and Melissa Hortman as brilliant, dedicated public servants. MINNEAPOLIS (CN) — A federal judge sentenced Vance Boelter to two consecutive life terms plus 40 years on Thursday for the targeted shootings and killings of Minnesota lawmakers last summer. Senior U.S. District Judge John Tunheim presided over the hearing in Minnesota federal court, where Boelter, 58, of Green Isle, Minnesota, faced final sentencing following his June guilty plea. The charges stem from last year’s killings of former House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, and the shootings of state Senator John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette.

Federal prosecutors say Clarence A. Frazier Jr. barricaded himself inside his home before allegedly opening fire on federal officers A Louisiana man has been charged with murder after allegedly killing a deputy U.S. marshal who was shot while serving an arrest warrant, federal officials announced Tuesday. Multiple law enforcement officers were attempting to serve an arrest warrant related to a prior sexual battery charge when Clarence A. Frazier Jr., 48, of Alexandria, allegedly barricaded himself inside his home and opened fire, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Louisiana.

Correction officials confirmed Westville can accommodate firing squad executions as lawmakers, the governor, and the U.S. Justice Department push for changes to protocols. As Indiana inches toward what could be its fourth state execution since resuming capital punishment, prison officials confirmed the state’s next correctional complex is already equipped for an execution method Hoosier lawmakers have yet to authorize. The Indiana Department of Correction confirmed to the Indiana Capital Chronicle that the new Westville Correctional Facility, now nearing completion, is designed to accommodate both lethal injection and firing squad executions. Indiana law currently allows only lethal injection.

WASHINGTON — Federal prosecutors have secured a superseding indictment against the Afghan national accused of fatally shooting a West Virginia National Guard soldier and seriously wounding another Guardsman near the White House last year, adding charges that could make him eligible for the death penalty. A federal grand jury returned a 17-count superseding indictment Tuesday against Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 30, in connection with the Nov. 26, 2025, attack that killed Spc. Sarah Beckstrom and seriously injured Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe of Martinsburg.

Jury selection is set to begin Monday in the federal death penalty trial of Payton Gendron, who is already serving a life sentence after pleading guilty in state court to carrying out the racially motivated mass shooting at a Buffalo, New York, supermarket in 2022 that killed 10 Black people and injured three others. The upcoming proceedings relate to separate federal charges, where prosecutors are seeking the death penalty, and jurors could ultimately decide whether Gendron is executed or remains in prison for life. Here are three key takeaways as the next phase of proceedings gets underway:

ATLANTA, Ga. — The man accused of stabbing and killing a 66-year-old woman on a MARTA train last Saturday has caught the attention of federal prosecutors. John Elijah Matthews, 25, faces a federal charge of committing an act of violence causing death on a mass transportation station, the District Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia said on Tuesday. He was also charged with murder in Fulton County.

Prosecutors said Friday that they will seek the death penalty for a Chicago man charged with fatally shooting two Israeli embassy staffers in the US capital last year. Elias Rodriguez was arrested immediately after the May 21 shooting of Yaron Lischinsky, 30, and his fiancee, Sarah Milgrim, 26, outside the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington. US Attorney Jeanine Pirro said in a court filing that prosecutors will seek the death penalty for Rodriguez, who faces murder, firearms and hate crime charges.  "Rodriguez's actions were motivated by political, ideological, national, and religious bias, contempt, and hatred," Pirro said.

A 24-year-old man faces the possibility of life in prison after a federal grand jury indicted him for the murder of a U.S. Postal Service letter carrier in Decatur. A federal grand jury has returned a two-count indictment against 24-year-old Nahjel Malik Williams in connection with the February shooting death of a United States Postal Service employee.  Williams, a resident of Decatur, faces charges of first-degree murder of a federal employee and discharging a firearm during a crime of violence resulting in death. The indictment follows an investigation into the Feb. 12 killing of Dequavious Graves. Graves was performing his official duties as a letter carrier in Decatur when the incident occurred. Premeditation Graves, 31, was shot and killed in the 2700 block of Oxford Drive near Flat Shoals Road just before 7 p.m. while performing his job. Federal prosecutors allege the killing of the letter carrier was planned in advance. At the time Graves was killed, Williams was already wan...

The Department of Justice (DOJ) announced on Friday that it will resume the federal use of capital punishment and that it is seeking death sentences against 44 defendants. DOJ also said that it will use firing squads, electrocution, or nitrogen asphyxiation if the drug used in lethal injection is unavailable. The announcement follows the Restoring and Strengthening the Federal Death Penalty report, published on April 24. The report is especially critical of the moratorium on federal executions, ordered by Attorney General Merrick Garland in July 2021, to remain until the death penalty could be conducted “fairly and humanely.” Garland was concerned about the federal lethal injection protocol, which uses only one drug, pentobarbital, and the possibility that it causes “unnecessary pain and suffering.” In response to Garland’s moratorium and concerns, President Biden commuted the sentences of 37 prisoners on federal death row, leaving only three prisoners.

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) has directed federal prisons to expand the range of methods used for executions to include firing squads, gas asphyxiation and electrocution. In a 48-page memo released on Friday, the department says this will "strengthen" the death penalty, "deterring the most barbaric crimes, delivering justice for victims, and providing long-overdue closure to surviving loved ones". The previous administration had placed a moratorium on most federal executions. Before leaving office, former president Joe Biden gave clemency to 37 of the 40 federal death row prisoners. President Donald Trump directed the DOJ to resume seeking executions on his first day in office last year.

The US Justice Department is moving to accelerate federal death penalty cases, introducing significant changes that include expanding execution methods to allow death by firing squad. The shift signals a broader effort to revive and reinforce policies aimed at speeding up capital punishment proceedings after a period of rollback under the previous administration. At the core of the changes is a renewed emphasis on enforcement. Officials say the updated framework is designed to reduce delays in the legal process and ensure that sentences — particularly in the most serious criminal cases — are carried out more efficiently.

Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche has directed federal prosecutors in Los Angeles to seek the death penalty against three members of a transnational street gang charged with murdering a former gang member who was cooperating with law enforcement on a racketeering and methamphetamine trafficking case, officials announced Thursday. In a letter to First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli on Wednesday, Blanche told prosecutors in the Central District of California they are “authorized and directed” to seek the death penalty against Dennis Anaya Urias, 27, Grevil Zelaya Santiago, 26, and Roberto Carlos Aguilar, 31. All are from South Los Angeles.

DeCarlos Brown, accused of stabbing Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska on a Charlotte train, has been found mentally unfit for trial, stalling death penalty proceedings. DeCarlos Brown Jr., accused of fatally stabbing 23-year-old Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska on a Charlotte light rail train in August 2025, has been found mentally incapable of standing trial, according to a court motion filed 7 April in Mecklenburg Superior Court. A 29 December 2025 report from Central Regional Hospital, a state psychiatric facility in Granville County, concluded that Brown was "incapable to proceed to trial," according to the motion filed by his attorney, Daniel Roberts. The evaluation was ordered after Brown's defense raised concerns about his mental state.

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.

In a prison in Arizona, a tiny vial is kept in a refrigerator. Or there was—the precise state of what’s inside is still up for debate. The contents may have expired, according to a retired judge looking into the state’s execution procedures. They would not expire, according to prison officials. This could not be independently verified by anyone outside the prison. Pentobarbital sodium is the drug in question, and the fact that its storage conditions in a correctional facility are now the focus of legal investigation indicates how far this specific compound has deviated from its intended use.

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.

BUFFALO, N.Y. — The fate of the man who shot and killed 10 Black people at a Buffalo supermarket in May 2022 will be determined in the city where the tragedy occurred. U.S. District Judge Lawrence Vilardo on Tuesday denied a motion to move the federal death penalty trial for Payton Gendron to Rochester.  Attorneys for Gendron had sought the change of venue, arguing the court would be unable to seat a fair and impartial jury due to "pervasive news coverage" in the Buffalo area.

Federal prosecutors will seek capital punishment for the kidnapping, carjacking and killing of Florence County Paramedic Phonesia Machado-Fore FLORENCE, S.C. — Federal prosecutors will seek the death penalty against a South Carolina man charged in the 2024 kidnapping, carjacking and killing of a Florence County paramedic, according to a statement from the Department of Justice. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of South Carolina filed a notice of intent to seek capital punishment against Jaremy Alexander Smith, 35, of Marion. A federal grand jury returned a superseding indictment on Feb. 24.