Death Penalty News

VIERA, Fla. (Court TV) — A Florida man will not face a potential death sentence for the death of a child after pleading no contest to multiple charges as part of a deal with prosecutors. Joshua Manns, 30, pleaded no contest to first-degree felony murder, aggravated manslaughter of a child, aggravated child abuse, and felony child abuse on Wednesday, court records show. Manns had initially denied any responsibility for the death of 3-year-old Jameson Nance, who had been left in his care when he died. On June 11, 2021, Nance’s mother, Erica Dotson, called 911 after Manns called her and said something was wrong with her son. She said that when she arrived home, Manns was nowhere in sight, but Jameson was “lying on the bathroom floor with his arm stuck in the upward position.”

A man charged with the targeted killing of a Minnesota lawmaker and her husband in what prosecutors described as an act of political violence has pleaded guilty, avoiding a potential death penalty under a plea deal. Vance Boelter said he shot and killed Democrat Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, at their Minnesota home last June. Boelter also admitted to shooting state lawmaker John Hoffman and his wife Yvette, in their home. The couple survived the attack. Boetler, 58, pleaded guilty to six counts, which include murder and stalking, and is expected to spend the rest of his life in prison.

Adam Sheafe, the California man who admitted to killing a New River, Arizona, pastor in a crucifixion-style attack, has asked prosecutors to offer him a plea deal that would result in a natural life sentence rather than the death penalty he had previously sought. Advisory council attorneys representing Sheafe sent a formal plea offer to prosecutors this week, about two weeks after his father and stepmother died in a plane crash at Marana Airport on April 8, according to 12 News. Sheafe, 51, is charged with first-degree murder in the death of William Schonemann, 76, pastor of New River Bible Church, who was found dead inside his home last April.

A Lincoln County man pleaded guilty Wednesday to two counts of murder in the killings of his father and uncle, forgoing a trial where he planned to argue that years of childhood sexual abuse by the victims contributed to his actions. Brandon Mullins, 27, of Eubank, Ky., entered the plea in Lincoln Circuit Court as part of an agreement with prosecutors. He will serve 40 years in prison. He is scheduled to be sentenced in April. The bodies of Mullins' father, Dennis “Ed” Mullins, 57, and uncle, Anthony Mullins, 55, were discovered inside a trailer on Sandidge Spur Road in Eubank in what authorities described as a double homicide. Mullins faced additional charges including tampering with physical evidence.

MALÉ, Maldives (DPN) — The Maldives has officially brought into force an amendment to its Narcotics Act that introduces the death penalty for large-scale drug trafficking, marking a significant and controversial shift in the island nation’s criminal justice policy. The amended law, which took effect Saturday, March 7, 2026, allows for capital punishment in cases involving the smuggling and importation of specific quantities of illicit substances. The move fulfills a key pledge by President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu’s administration to crack down on the country’s growing narcotics crisis and protect what he has termed the nation’s “100 percent Islamic society.” Thresholds for Capital Punishment Under the new provisions, the death penalty is not a mandatory sentence but an available option for the judiciary when specific criteria are met. The law establishes clear weight thresholds for substances brought into the country: Cannabis: More than 350 grams. Diamorphine (Heroin): More than 250 grams....

HENDERSON, Nev. (DPN) — A Henderson woman will spend the rest of her life behind bars after admitting to the drowning deaths of her two young children, according to court records and local authorities. Jovan Trevino, 33, reached a plea agreement with Clark County prosecutors to avoid a potential death sentence. Under the terms of the deal, Trevino pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree murder and waived her right to a trial.  A judge subsequently sentenced her to two consecutive life terms without the possibility of parole.

In the high-stakes theater of the American legal system, the trial is often sold as a quest for truth. We imagine a defendant standing before a jury of their peers, a fair fight where the burden of proof rests entirely with the state. But for those facing the ultimate punishment, the reality is far darker. The death penalty transforms the legal process into a high-pressure extraction, where the right to a jury trial is often a trap that leads straight to a coercive plea bargain.

A broad coalition of voices, including the victim’s daughter and a majority of the still-living jurors, are urging Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey to grant clemency to 75-year-old death row inmate Charles “Sonny” Burton before his scheduled March 12 execution.  According to a news release from Burton’s attorneys and advocates, Burton — who has been on death row since 1992 — faces execution despite what the State of Alabama has long acknowledged: he did not kill anyone.  In 1991, Burton and 5 other men robbed an auto parts store in Talladega, Alabama. After Burton left the building, his co-defendant, Derrick DeBruce, shot and killed customer Doug Battle.

Attorneys for former death row inmate Richard Glossip are again asking an Oklahoma County judge to release him on bond while he awaits a third trial in a high-profile murder case that has stretched nearly three decades. District Judge Natalie Mai heard arguments for and against Glossip’s release in her courtroom Thursday, Feb. 12. Glossip, 63, has been twice convicted and sentenced to death for the 1997 killing of Oklahoma City hotel owner Barry Van Treese. Prosecutors claim Glossip paid another employee, Justin Sneed, to kill Van Treese, and helped cover up the murder.

No physical evidence connected Anthony Boyd to a 1993 murder. He was sent to death row on the word of a co-defendant who testified under the threat of capital punishment. On the afternoon of August 1, 1993, the Talladega County Sheriff’s Department got a call to check out the ballfields in Munford, Alabama. When they arrived, they discovered a man’s badly burned body lying underneath an oak tree where spectators would sit to watch softball games. A pair of cinderblocks were nearby, and a charred wooden board was next to him.  Unable to identify the body, the state’s forensic pathologist cut off a hand during the autopsy in order to take fingerprints. They came back as a match for Gregory “New York” Huguley, 32, who lived in Anniston, about 20 minutes north of Munford. 

Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond is fac­ing accu­sa­tions that he broke a writ­ten agree­ment that would have freed for­mer death row pris­on­er Richard Glossip from prison more than two years ago, accord­ing to court doc­u­ments filed in mid-July 2025.  The rev­e­la­tion cen­ters on email exchanges from April 2023, where AG Drummond, in a thread with Don Knight, coun­sel for Mr. Glossip, agreed to a plea deal that would have result­ed in Mr. Glossip’s imme­di­ate release after more than two decades on death row. AG Drummond has reversed course and is now seek­ing anoth­er first-degree mur­der con­vic­tion against Mr. Glossip.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A divided federal appeals court on Friday threw out an agreement that would have allowed accused Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed to plead guilty in a deal sparing him the risk of execution for al-Qaida’s 2001 attacks. The decision by a panel of the federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., undoes an attempt to wrap up more than two decades of military prosecution beset by legal and logistical troubles. It signals there will be no quick end to the long struggle by the U.S. military and successive administrations to bring to justice the man charged with planning one of the deadliest attacks ever on the United States.

Bryan Kohberger, the 30-year-old accused of fatally stabbing 4 University of Idaho students in their apartment in 2022, has agreed to a plea deal to avoid the death penalty in his quadruple murder case.   The plea deal consisted of pleading guilty to 4 counts of murder in exchange for the government not pursuing the death penalty, a person familiar with the deal confirmed to CNN. Shannon Gray, attorney for family of victim Kaylee Goncalves, also confirmed the deal to CNN.  A hearing is scheduled for Wednesday. Kohberger was slated to go on trial in August, and prosecutors indicated they would pursue the death penalty.

El Paso County taxpayers paid almost $4 million for the defense and $1.9 million for the prosecution of the man who gunned down 23 people and wounded 22 others at an El Paso Walmart in 2019, county records show. More than $2 million of that went to experts hired since 2019 by the defense team representing Patrick Crusius, now 26, who pleaded guilty to capital murder and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon last month after District Attorney James Montoya decided not to seek the death penalty . The gunman, who said he attacked the Cielo Vista Walmart in August 2019 to stop “the Hispanic invasion of Texas,” was sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole.

Patrick Crusius had acknowledged he targeted Hispanics on Aug. 3, 2019, when he opened fire in the store crowded with weekend shoppers from the U.S. and Mexico in the border city of El Paso. The Texas gunman who killed 23 people in a racist attack targeting “Mexican” shoppers at a Walmart in El Paso in 2019, was sentenced to 23 consecutive life sentences, after he pleaded guilty in state court Monday morning. Patrick Crusius accepted a plea deal offered by the El Paso District Attorney’s office in return for not pursuing the death penalty. District Attorney James Montoya said he offered the deal after a request from the majority of the families of those killed, in trying to bring this case to a close.

The El Paso County district attorney announced Tuesday that Patrick Crusius, who killed 23 people in a 2019 racist attack at a Walmart near the U.S.-Mexico border, would avoid the death penalty under a new plea offer . The decision marks the end of a yearslong legal battle, but the victims’ families are divided by the decision. District Attorney James Montoya, who took office in January, said the decision was primarily driven by victims’ families seeking closure. “This is about allowing the families of the 23 victims who lost their lives on that horrific day — and the 22 wounded — to finally have resolution in our court system,” Montoya stated.

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — South Carolina put a third inmate to death in four months Friday as it goes through a backlog of prisoners who exhausted their appeals while the state couldn’t find lethal injection drugs. Marion Bowman Jr. was executed at 6:27 p.m. Bowman, 44, was convicted of murder in the shooting death of a friend whose burned body was found in the trunk of a car. Bowman maintained his innocence since his arrest and started his final statement with “I did not kill Kandee Martin.”

WASHINGTON — An appeals court in Washington on Thursday temporarily halted a deal between the alleged mastermind of the Sept 11, 2001, attacks, as well as other co-defendants, and the US Department of Justice at the request of the Biden administration, reported German news agency dpa. The court issued a temporary stay – a provisional suspension of the proceedings – which pauses all steps related to the proposed agreement until a final decision is made.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Defense Department will appeal a military judge's ruling that plea agreements struck by Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, and two of his co-defendants are valid, a defense official said Saturday. The ruling this past week voided Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin's order to throw out the deals and concluded that the plea agreements were valid. The judge granted the three motions to enter guilty pleas and said he would schedule them for a future date to be determined by the military commission.

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — An inmate set to be executed in South Carolina in three weeks wants the state Supreme Court to delay the execution so his lawyers can argue his co-defendant who testified against him lied about having no plea deal in exchange for his testimony. Attorneys for Freddie Owens also said in court papers filed late Friday that a juror saw an electronic stun device Owens had to wear in court to assure good behavior and a judge never talked about why he had to wear it.