Death Penalty News

ATLANTA (AP) — Three white men have been indicted on murder charges in the killing of Ahmaud Arbery, a Black man fatally shot while running in a neighborhood near Georgia's coast. Prosecutor Joyette Holmes announced Wednesday that a grand jury has indicted Travis McMichael, Greg McMichael and William “Roddie” Bryan Jr. on charges including malice and felony murder in Arbery's death. “This is another positive step, another great step for finding justice for Ahmaud, for finding justice for this family and the community beyond,” Holmes said at a news conference outside the Glynn County courthouse in Brunswick that was streamed online by news outlets. Arbery's death has often been invoked during protests against racial injustice that have broken out across the nation since George Floyd's death last month under a white Minneapolis police officer’s knee. Arbery's death also fueled a renewed push for a state hate crimes law in Georgia, which state lawmakers ...

When federal agents busted into Anthony Todt's Florida home to arrest him in a fraud case, they found the decomposing bodies of his wife and children. On Tuesday, a grand jury charged him with 4 counts of capital murder and one count of animal cruelty for killing the family dog, Florida State Attorney Aramis Ayala told reporters. He now faces the death penalty, Ayala said. "I can't imagine the pain and agony (the family is) going through, but we are going to absolutely do all that we can to make certain that justice is served. And as we go through this process it is my hope that they're able to find some semblance of peace in this process," she said. Todt was arrested in January after confessing to killing his 42-year-old wife, Megan Todt, and their three children -- ages 4, 11 and 13 -- as well as the family dog, Breezy. Deputies discovered the bodies while serving a federal warrant connected to an investigation into Todt's Connecticut ...

A Georgia man convicted of killing his ex-wife and her boyfriend more than 2 decades ago was put to death Wednesday evening, becoming the state's first inmate to be executed this year. Donnie Cleveland Lance, 66, received a lethal injection at the state prison in Jackson. His time of death was 9:05 p.m., Warden Benjamin Ford told witnesses. Lance said nothing when he was given a chance to make a final statement and declined to have a chaplain say a prayer. Strapped to a gurney, he lay mostly still but wiggled his feet. The warden left the execution chamber at 8:54 p.m. Records from previous executions show that the lethal drug generally begins flowing within a minute or 2 of the warden's exit. Lance took about a dozen deep breaths and then became completely still about 3 minutes after the warden left. Lance was sentenced to death for the killings of Sabrina “Joy” Lance and Dwight “Butch” Wood Jr. The 2 were slain on Nov. 8, 1997, at Wood's home in Jackson...

Condemned killer from Jackson Co set for execution A state court judge has denied a request for a stay of execution in the case of Donnie Lance. The 65 year-old Lance is on Georgia’s death row for 2 murders committed 22 years ago in Jackson County. His 39 year-old ex-wife and her 33 year-old boyfriend were killed in November of 1997.  Lance’s execution is scheduled for next Wednesday at the state prison in Jackson. Lance’s lawyers had asked Butts County Superior Court Judge Thomas Wilson to first decide whether the grand jury that handed up Lance’s indictment was illegally stacked with friends of the district attorney and those the prosecutor knew would be on his side. But Wilson, in a one-sentence order, declined to delay the execution. Lance, 65, sits on death row for the November 1997 murders in Jackson County of his ex-wife, 39-year-old Joy Lance, and her boyfriend, 33-year-old Dwight “Butch” Wood.  Joy Lance was beaten to death and Wood was killed b...

In an orange jumpsuit and shackled in chains, Australian Lisa Cunningham waved and mouthed the words "I love you" to her 21-year-old daughter in the public gallery. Mrs Cunningham 43, was then ushered out of the courtroom, and back to jail in Maricopa County Jail, in Phoenix, Arizona. The mother-of-four is awaiting trial on felony murder and child abuse charges, along with her American husband, former police detective Germayne Cunningham, over the death of seven-year-old Sanaa Cunningham. Sanaa was Germayne's biological daughter, Lisa Cunningham’s step-daughter. The little girl died in February 2017, suffering a head injury, an open wound on her foot and a sepsis infection. The prosecution also alleges Sanaa had injuries to her wrists consistent with being tied up using zip-ties. The alleged crime, committed in Arizona, carries with it the death penalty. The last time a woman was put to death in this state was in 1930; the Maricopa County Attorn...