Death Penalty News

Group of eight wants hold on death penalty until problems solved A group of Tennessee Republican senators is urging the governor to commission an independent review of a failed execution and correct any problems before the state attempts another execution. In a demand for “full transparency and accountability” from the Department of Correction, eight GOP senators sent a letter Monday to Gov. Bill Lee requesting that he initiate a review of the botched execution of Tony Von Carruthers on May 21. The letter obtained by the Lookout is signed by Senator Majority Leader Jack Johnson of Franklin, Sen. Ferrell Haile of Gallatin, Sen. Joey Hensley of Hohenwald, Sen. Becky Massey of Knoxville, Sen. Richard Briggs of Knoxville, Sen. Tom Hatcher of Maryville, Sen. Dawn White of Murfreesboro and Sen. Ken Yager of Kingston.

June 24 (Reuters) - A conservative federal judge on Wednesday took the position that despite a 2008 U.S. Supreme Court ruling barring the death penalty for child rape, prosecutors today may be free to seek capital punishment in cases involving sexual offenses against children. St. Louis-based U.S. District Judge Joshua ​Divine, who was appointed to the bench only last year by Republican President Donald Trump, delivered his views in an unusual ‌court opinion issued on the same day he was set to sentence a Missouri man who faced a maximum prison term of 20 years.

  Florida Governor Ron DeSantis will leave office in January 2027 after the 2026 gubernatorial election. Florida's constitution limits governors to two consecutive four-year terms. DeSantis was first elected in 2018 and re-elected in 2022, so he is term-limited and cannot run for a third consecutive term in the November 3, 2026 election. TALLAHASSEE — As Gov. Ron DeSantis exits office, one of the legacies he‘ll leave behind is a record-shattering embrace of the death penalty.

COLUMBUS, Ohio (Statehouse News Bureau) — Ohio has not gone through with an execution since July 2018, closing in on eight years, and extending the entirety of Gov. Mike DeWine’s tenure. DeWine has postponed every one since January 2019, some more than once. In his last year as governor, the longtime Republican elected official is hinting at coming out against the death penalty in practice. If he does, it won’t be an easy sell among lawmakers, at least in the Ohio House. A slow-growing contingent of Republican lawmakers are for abolishing executions, but House Speaker Matt Huffman (R-Lima) said it’s not a majority of the caucus.

Executions would be reserved for those convicted of certain sexual assaults against children under 13 A pair of Republican state lawmakers wants to bring the death penalty back to Wisconsin for the first time in more than 170 years. It would be reserved for those convicted of certain sexual assaults against children under 13 years old. The bill being introduced by state Sen. Chris Kapenga, R-Delafield, and state Rep. Elija Behnke, R-Town of Chase, would give prosecutors and judges the option of seeking the death penalty for people convicted of having sexual contact or intercourse with a person under 13 years old and causing great bodily harm. It would also be an option for all people convicted of having sex with a child under the age of 12.

HOUSTON - A new act is aiming for the federal government to pursue the death penalty in all 50 states, even where it's banned, for undocumented murderers. Texas lawmakers push for the death penalty nationwide  Republican lawmakers in the House and Senate have introduced legislation that would allow the federal government to seek the death penalty for undocumented immigrants convicted of murdering American citizens, codifying an executive order signed by President Donald Trump in January. The two bills— The Justice for Victims of Illegal Alien Murders Act in the House and The Justice for American Victims of Illegal Aliens Act in the Senate—aim to expand federal jurisdiction in murder cases involving undocumented suspects and mandate capital punishment as a sentencing option.

Montana is a deep red state. In 2024, President Trump received 58% of the state’s vote, and Republicans swept contests for statewide office. Yet Big Sky Country is no death penalty hotbed . While capital punishment is legal there, it is rarely used. Late last month, the state legislature rejected a proposal that would have changed that. Montana has never been a place with frequent executions . Before 1976, when the death penalty was revived in this country, Montana had executed 71 people by hanging , the last one in 1943 .

Rep Anna Paulina Luna says President-elect Donald Trump backs her effort Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., is unveiling a new set of bills that could have child sexual predators facing the death penalty. "If you are raping someone, if you're molesting someone, you are essentially murdering their soul. Those people never actually fully recover. I've actually sat on a committee with a very prominent [female House Democrat] who actually talked about the fact that she was molested as a child. And so you can see that it impacts and really hurts people," Luna said.

Judicial appointments and the death penalty are among areas where a lame-duck administration can still leave a mark. Donald Trump’s second presidential term will begin on Jan. 20, bringing with it promises to dramatically reshape many aspects of the criminal justice system. The U.S. Senate — with its authority over confirming judicial nominees — will also shift from Democratic to Republican control.

Less than half of millennials, Gen Z are in favor of it for convicted murderers WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Younger generations of U.S. adults are far less likely than older generations to favor the death penalty for convicted murderers. As a result, overall support for the death penalty in the U.S. has fallen to 53% today, a level not seen since the early 1970s.

Kamala Harris, once openly opposed to the death penalty despite political costs, now avoids the topic as a candidate. Meanwhile, Donald Trump advocates tougher criminal policies, though presidential authority in this area is limited. A few blocks from downtown Richmond, Virginia, the intersection of Spring Street and Belvidere Street now presents a completely different view. Where once stood a grim, old brick building, there is now a modern building with a glass facade reflecting the sun shining on Virginia’s capital. Trees along the wide Belvidere Street give the neighborhood a promenade-like feel, with the James River flowing nearby along the memorial for American war dead.

Former President Donald Trump has signaled he will continue his administration’s aggressive pursuit of the death penalty if he is elected, while Vice President Kamala Harris has gone mum on the issue.  Trump made his most detailed comments yet on capital punishment since launching his campaign during remarks at the Arizona border on Thursday, at the same time that Harris has come under scrutiny for her silence on the matter.

The system is a pointless drain on state finances. Meanwhile, we keep discovering that innocent men have been wrongly sentenced to execution.  Imagine that well-meaning politicians created a government program that was supposed to help people. Now, imagine that same program getting 30 years of tax dollars and helping precisely nobody. Worse yet, imagine that the program’s mere existence actually hurts people in ways that no one originally considered. 

Hours after Taberon Honie was executed by lethal injection, a former Utah lawmaker who tried but failed to repeal the death penalty said an eventual repeal is "not if, but when." Lowry Snow, an attorney who served as a Republican state representative from Washington County, introduced HB 147 two years ago to hike prison time for aggravated murder, but get rid of the death penalty.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee has approved legislation allowing the death penalty in child rape convictions, a change the Republican-controlled Statehouse championed amid concerns that the U.S. Supreme Court has banned capital punishment in such cases. Lee, a Republican, quietly signed off on the legislation last week without issuing a statement.

The governor also signed bills that eliminate parole for adults who commit crimes after Aug. 1 and dramatically cut the availability of good behavior credits in prison NEW ORLEANS — Gov. Jeff Landry signed into law Tuesday a bill allowing executions by nitrogen gas and electrocution, opening the door for Louisiana to revive capital punishment 14 years after it last used its death chamber.

Debate centered around competing visions: whether to provide imprisoned people more second chances or to toughen their penalties. Family members of murder victims wept, lawmakers’ voices broke and advocates packed into committee rooms as the state Legislature advanced over a dozen bills backed by Gov. Jeff Landry that aim to toughen penalties for a slew of crimes. Those bills — which passed out of legislative committees Tuesday — seek to expand execution methods in the state to include by nitrogen gas and electrocution, toughen penalties for carjacking, put 17-year-olds in the adult justice system and let people carry concealed handguns without permits, among over a dozen others.

BATON ROUGE - The Louisiana legislature convened for it's second special session Monday, with crime solutions at the forefront for lawmakers. Legislators are days away from deciding if the new execution methods will be legal with a bill filed by Republican state Rep. Nicholas Muscarello. One of the governor's top priorities is to add new methods for capital punishment. It's one of the issues Governor Jeff Landry campaigned on. 

Inside the Oklahoma State Penitentiary, Phillip Hancock has eaten his final meal. Fried chicken from KFC, no sides. It’s the last day of November. He’s due to be executed at 10 a.m.  Outside the prison known as Big Mac, 11 anti-death penalty protesters in puffy coats huddle in a circle to sing a hymn. Intermittent drizzle has snuffed out the early morning sun. A pair of cars pulls up near the penitentiary, which looks like a cross between a warehouse and a castle. The latecomers to the vigil are unlikely allies: two Republicans who favor tough law and order policies. 

The former director of the state’s prison system is concerned about a Republican-sponsored bill that would add nitrogen gas to the law requiring lethal injection to carry out executions in Ohio. And he also now has questions about the death penalty itself. Gary Mohr supervised 15 executions as director of the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction under Republican former Gov. John Kasich, including the most recent one in July 2018. Mohr said the way a person ends life is important, even if that person is sentenced to die for his crimes.