Death Penalty News

A Kentucky death row prisoner died in custody 29 years to the day after he was sentenced to death for a fatal stabbing and sexual assault in Floyd County. Donald Johnson, 59, died Oct. 1, inside the state’s sole maximum security prison, Kentucky State Penitentiary, in Eddyville. The Department of Corrections confirmed Johnson’s death Monday night and said the cause of death “does not appear to involve any criminal activity.”  “As with any death of an inmate while in prison, law enforcement has been notified,” department spokesperson Morgan Hall said in an emailed statement. 

Death row inmate Lin Wang-jen (林旺仁), who was convicted of setting fire to a karaoke bar in 2004, killing five people, yesterday died of an illness, authorities confirmed. The number of inmates on death row has fallen to 34, correctional authorities said late yesterday, after local media reported that Lin had died in hospital. Lin, a Yilan County resident, was sentenced to death for murder in 2004. In 2011, the Supreme Court upheld his sentence. Lin set fire to a karaoke bar in Keelung on June 16, 2004, because he was upset with his wife for accepting a job there, court rulings said.

Francis Clifford Smith was given his last meal eight times. But after being spared execution each time, he went on to be regarded as the longest-serving prisoner in the US before dying in June at 101 years old. Convicted of murder in 1950 when he was 25, he always maintained his innocence, those who knew him told the BBC. Andrius Banevicius, the public information officer for Connecticut's Department of Correction, recounted how Smith used to feed the birds while in Osborn Prison, earning him the nickname The Birdman of Osborn.

Richard R. Ramirez, who was sentenced to death for the 1983 rape and murder of a 22-year-old bank teller in Garden Grove, died in prison at age 66 on Sunday, May 24, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said. He died at a medical facility, authorities said, with his cause of death to be determined by the San Joaquin County coroner’s office. He was not the Night Stalker, who shared the same first and last names and was convicted of 13 murders and 30 other crimes committed up and down the state in the mid-1980s. That Richard Ramirez, also condemned to death, died in 2013 of natural causes.

A capital punishment case costs $1 to $3 million more than if the state sought a life sentence. COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — The 2025 Capital Crimes report from the Ohio Attorney General is out, and even though a state execution hasn’t been carried out in Ohio in nearly a decade, it has still cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars.   The state hasn’t executed anyone since 2018, meaning the more than 100 people on death row are essentially serving life sentences. In an interview with NBC4 Investigates, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost called the state’s capital punishment system “paralyzed.” The latest report from Yost’s office said that if the trend continues, it could lead to the number of those on death row who die from natural causes or suicide to surpass those who have been executed. 

Utah families should not have to wait three or four decades for justice after unthinkable tragedies, a state lawmaker told colleagues Wednesday. She pitched a plan she said would shorten the timeline on death penalty cases while still respecting the rights of Utahns on death row.  Rep. Candice Pierruci reminded colleagues in the Utah House of Representatives that Ralph Menzies died of natural causes rather than an execution in December after 37 years on death row for the murder of Maureen Hunsaker. He exhausted appeals but was later diagnosed with dementia, and questions about his mental capacity were still being sorted out in court when he died.

SALT LAKE CITY — Utah death row inmates routinely spend three decades or more awaiting execution, with some dying of natural causes before their sentences can be carried out. One Republican lawmaker says the system is broken and is pushing legislation to accelerate the appeals process. Rep. Candice Pierucci, R-Herriman, sponsor of  House Bill 495, told a House committee on Feb. 19, 2026, that prolonged delays undermine the death penalty's purpose and burden taxpayers with indefinite appeals. She cited the case of Ralph Menzies, who spent 36 years on death row before dying of natural causes last year after his scheduled firing squad execution was halted over competency concerns.

Idaho – Erick Hall, a long-time death row inmate convicted of the rapes and murders of two women in separate incidents in the Boise area, has died at the age of 54. The Idaho Department of Correction (IDOC) announced on February 10, 2026, that Hall passed away from natural causes at approximately 9:58 p.m. on February 9, 2026, while receiving care at a local hospital in the Boise region. Hall had been serving two death sentences for first-degree murder convictions stemming from crimes committed in the early 2000s. He was housed at the Idaho Maximum Security Institution (IMSI) in Kuna, where Idaho's death row is located. The first conviction came in October 2004 for the kidnapping, rape, and murder of 38-year-old Lynn Henneman. Henneman, a flight attendant, disappeared in October 2000 after leaving a Boise restaurant. Her body was later discovered, and the case went cold for several years until DNA evidence linked Hall to the crime.  A jury sentenced him to death following a trial t...

OSAKA, Japan — Ryuji Kobayashi, a death row inmate convicted of leading a brutal 2006 double murder that involved burying victims alive, has died in custody, prison officials said. He was 41. Officers at the Osaka Detention House discovered Kobayashi unresponsive in his cell during a routine morning patrol, with a futon cover wrapped around his neck. He was pronounced dead shortly after being transported to a hospital. While an autopsy is pending to determine the exact cause of death, the Justice Ministry indicated there were no immediate signs of a struggle or self-inflicted injury.

Texas prison officials will attempt to execute their 1st death row inmate of 2026 next week. Charles Thompson, who was convicted of killing his former girlfriend, Glenda Dennise Hayslip, and her companion, Darren Cain, in April of 1998, is scheduled to die on Jan. 28.  An attorney representing Thompson has not replied to questions from the Chronicle about the efforts he will make to try to save Thompson’s life. As of press time, no appeal on the inmate’s behalf has been filed with the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. 

Among the cases that are headed back to court is that of Robert Roberson, who argues he was wrongfully convicted of killing his daughter based on now-debunked science. Several appeals in some of Texas’ highest-profile capital punishment cases are set for 2026 as the state continues to maintain a historically low number of executions.  2025 marked the second year Texas was not the leading state in executions in a single year, but the state is still the overall leader nationally in the death penalty. Harris County alone, which handed down its 300th death sentence last year, accounts for more executions than any other state. 

A man sentenced to death for the 1980 rape and murder of a Seal Beach woman died in prison on Monday, Dec. 22 at the age of 80, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation announced Wednesday.  Benjamin W. Watta, formerly of Long Beach, was found unresponsive in his cell at Pelican Bay State Prison in Crescent City around 11 a.m. on Monday during a count and pronounced dead by paramedics just after 11:30 a.m., the corrections agency said. The Del Norte County Coroner will determine his cause of death. 

Judge was set to consider arguments in December about Menzies’ mental fitness  Ralph Menzies, who spent more than 3 decades on Utah’s death row for the 1986 murder of Maurine Hunsaker, has died.  Menzies, 67, died of “presumed natural causes at a local hospital” Wednesday afternoon, according to the Utah Department of Corrections.  Matt Hunsaker, Maurine Hunsaker’s son, said Menzies’ death “was a complete surprise.”  “First off, I’d say that I’m numb. And second off, I would say, grateful,” Hunsaker told Utah News Dispatch. “I’m grateful that my family does not have to endure this for the holidays.” 

Banks, 83, died Sunday afternoon at Phoenix state prison in Pennsylvania, the state Department of Corrections said. Banks died of complications from renal neoplasm, or kidney cancer, said Montgomery County Coroner Dr. Janine Darby. Banks had been in prison since 1982 after shooting 14 people, and killing 13, including his own children, during a rampage in Wilkes-Barre. At time, it was considered one of the worst mass murders in American history. He was convicted of 12 counts of first-degree murder and one count of third-degree murder. Banks had been drinking at a party late at night before using an AR-15 rifle to start the rampage at his home.

Fred Singleton couldn’t receive a death warrant because he was considered mentally incompetent COLUMBIA — South Carolina ’s longest-serving death row inmate died this week in a prison infirmary of natural causes, the Department of Corrections said Friday. Fred Singleton, 81, died Monday, according to an online post by the agency that oversees the state’s prisons. He was one of 25 inmates on death row at the Broad River Correctional Institution in Columbia after executions resumed in September 2024.

Scotty Gardner wants out of “his cave” at the Varner SuperMax Prison south of Grady, Arkansas. In messages with USA TODAY, he described the conditions of his cell as, “a walk-in closet with a shower, toilet, a sink and drain in the floor that bugs crawl in and out constantly.” He also mentioned recurring issues with black mold and toilets that constantly overflow. To get out, Gardner is asking the state to be the first inmate executed since 2017. 

(UPI) -- An octogenarian who spent some four decades on Florida's death row has died, according to court records, making him at least the seventh death row inmate to die while waiting for their sentence to be carried out this year. Robert Peede, 81, died Monday, according to Florida Department of Corrections records. No cause of death was mentioned. The Florida Department of Corrections told UPI in an emailed statement that the cause of death is to be determined by the district medical examiner.

A Houston-area man convicted of killing his wife died this week after more than 3 decades on death row, marking the 2nd condemned prisoner to die behind bars in the past month.  Prison officials confirmed that William "Billy the Kid" Mason was taken to the hospital on Wednesday and died of cardiac arrest Friday morning.  The 71-year-old was originally sent to death row in 1992, after prosecutors said he'd kidnapped his wife and beaten her to death under a bridge because she was playing the radio too loudly. According to court records, her body was found several days later under some logs near the San Jacinto River.

His hands never trembled, not even as he slipped the noose around the necks of several condemned men. But now, years later, their faces return to him -- uninvited, every day. Currently in his 70s, a Japanese man who worked as a prison guard for many years at a detention center in eastern Japan, remains anonymous for privacy reasons. One morning in the 1990s, he was informed he was to be that day's "noose handler," assisted by four other prison officers and several staff in the task of hanging death row inmates. "I knew this was a road I'd have to go down eventually if I worked at a detention center," the man said in an interview with Kyodo News. "You don't have any power to veto the decision."

Scott Panetti died on Texas’ death row at the end of May 2025 after 30 years in prison. He became well-known for the role his case played in clar­i­fy­ing the legal stan­dard for deter­min­ing when defen­dants are com­pe­tent to face exe­cu­tion — prece­dent that con­tin­ues to shape court decisions nationwide. Mr. Panetti’s severe men­tal ill­ness man­i­fest­ed in his late teens, lead­ing to more than a dozen psy­chi­atric hos­pi­tal­iza­tions through the 1980s and ear­ly 1990s. His doc­u­ment­ed con­di­tions includ­ed schiz­o­phre­nia, para­noid delu­sions, and audi­to­ry hal­lu­ci­na­tions. Medical records from mul­ti­ple facil­i­ties, includ­ing Kerrville State Hospital, detailed his elab­o­rate delu­sion­al beliefs, includ­ing con­spir­a­cy the­o­ries and the devel­op­ment of multiple personalities.