Death Penalty News

Judge: Death row inmate's constitutional rights against cruel and unusual punishment may have been violated after officials repeatedly scheduled his execution BOISE, Idaho — A federal judge in Idaho ruled a longtime death row inmate may have a legal claim that the state violated his constitutional rights against cruel and unusual punishment when officials repeatedly scheduled his execution without the means to carry it out. Idaho has sought to execute Gerald Pizzuto by lethal injection five times since his 1986 first-degree murder conviction, including three times in the past two years. U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill for the District of Idaho last week rejected the state’s request to dismiss Pizzuto’s claim that rescheduling his execution several times violated his Eighth Amendment rights, allowing the case to move forward.

On successive days last week, a grand jury indicted Donald Trump and a petit jury sentenced Robert Bowers to die. Something about the immediate juxtaposition of these two events had my head spinning. I can’t really explain it, and unlike my other essays, I don’t have a particular claim I want to establish or argument I want to advance in these 1300 words. It’s more an occasion to reflect on how we use the criminal law and what we hope it will accomplish. I hope readers will excuse the tentativeness in my writing. At one level, the two events seem so different as to make comparisons insulting. Donald Trump has been charged with attempting to subvert the democratic process by interfering with the result of the 2020 presidential election; Robert Bowers was sentenced to die for killing eleven worshippers at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, the deadliest antisemitic attack in U.S. history. I recognize and acknowledge the obvious differences even as I write these words. But there is...

The Supreme Court struck down a New York law Thursday that only lets firearm owners receive a concealed carry license if they have “proper cause,” a blow to gun control advocates that marks the court’s most significant Second Amendment ruling in over a decade and could roll back gun control measures across the country. KEY FACTS The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen that New York’s concealed carry law violates the Fourteenth Amendment, by stopping “law-abiding citizens with ordinary self-defense needs” from practicing their Second Amendment right to bear arms. The challenge, brought by gun owners in the state, argued New York’s law that only gave licenses to firearm owners who have “proper cause” was unlawful under the Second Amendment, because licenses are too often denied and the decisions are left up to the personal discretion of individual licensing officers. Justices agreed that the law was overly burdensome, with Justice Clarence T...

A federal judge will decide if Oklahoma’s lethal injection protocol is likely to cause unconstitutional pain and suffering. The outcome of an upcoming federal trial will have long-lasting implications for the death penalty in Oklahoma. A nearly 8-year-old lawsuit, filed by a group of Oklahoma death row prisoners who claim the state’s lethal injection protocol causes unconstitutional pain and suffering, will proceed to trial on Feb. 28 at the federal courthouse in Oklahoma City. U.S. District Judge Stephen Friot will preside over the hearing, which is expected to last one week. Oklahoma Watch analyzed court documents and interviewed death penalty experts to better understand legal arguments and potential responses depending on the court’s ruling. Here’s background on the lawsuit and what to expect when the trial begins: How We Got Here On June 25, 2014, a group of Oklahoma death row prisoners filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court challenging the state’s execution protocol as unconstitu...

"Sometimes it felt like she was America’s last hope. Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Supreme Court judge since 1993, achieved celebrity status during Trump’s four years. Affectionately given the nickname “Notorious R.B.G” by a slew of online followers, she was the subject of superhero memes and the inspiration for much light-hearted merchandise (Urban Outfitters stocks T-shirts emblazoned with her face and her famously blunt quotes, and I gifted a friend in Brooklyn a cuddly Ginsburg doll for her newborn last year.) Beneath the jokes, the quotes and the well-designed tote bags, however, ran an undercurrent of anxiety and fear. The fact that Supreme Court judges have lifetime appointments meant that many were morbidly obsessed with Ginsburg — who battled cancer on numerous occasions, and died of its complications today — staying alive long enough to get to the election. She herself clearly felt the same way, if NPR’s reports about her dying wishes are to be believed: “My most fervent wish is ...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Hundreds of people gathered Friday night outside the Supreme Court, singing in a candlelight vigil and weeping together as they mourned the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. The large group of mourners packed the high court’s steps and the street across from the U.S. Capitol in a nighttime memorial. Dozens of people sat on the steps quietly reflecting on Ginsburg’s legacy. Scores of memorial candles flickered in the wind along the front steps of the court as people knelt to leave bouquets of flowers, small American flags and handwritten condolence messages for Ginsburg, who died Friday of metastatic pancreatic cancer at age 87 after 27 years on the court. Prayer candles with Ginsburg’s photo on them were also left on the steps. Several times, dozens in the crowd broke out into song, singing “Amazing Grace” and “This Land is Your Land” as others embraced one another and wiped tears from their eyes. At one point, the crowd broke into a thunderous applause — lastin...

The US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit on Tuesday denied Ohio death row inmate Romell Broom’s request for habeas relief and held that a second execution attempt would not constitute cruel and unusual punishment under the Eighth Amendment. Ohio had previously tried to execute Broom by lethal injection in 2009, but officials were unable to maintain a viable IV connection to his veins. Broom was convicted of two counts of kidnapping, two counts of rape (one against a child), two counts of attempted kidnapping, one count of the aggravated murder of a 14-year-old, one count of aggravated robbery and one count of robbery, according to the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections. Broom was sentenced to death, which was affirmed on appeal. The execution was scheduled for September 15th, 2009, but, after two hours and 18 failed attempts, the medical team at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility was unable to deliver the injection. According to Broom’s petition, the...

In a new legal challenge to Tennessee's execution process, death row offenders say using a firing squad would be more humane than the state's current lethal injection method.  The federal lawsuit, filed Tuesday, says the state tortured Billy Ray Irick to death when he was injected with toxic chemicals and argues using the same drugs in another execution would violate constitutional bans on cruel and unusual punishment.  Their argument is a familiar one, which other courts have rejected, but the inmates go one step further in outlining a macabre and required component of such lawsuits.  They suggest several other methods, including a firing squad, are preferable and are constitutional ways to die compared to the state's three-drug execution protocol.  A firing squad can be "implemented because the Big Buck Shooting Range is located on the grounds of Riverbend Maximum (Security) Institution and can easily accommodate the equipment required for an exe...