Death Penalty News

OKLAHOMA CITY — The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals has scheduled the execution of Air Force veteran and longtime death row prisoner Jim Pavatt for Nov. 12, as his attorneys continue to challenge his conviction and contend that prosecutors relied on false arguments, disputed forensic evidence and an alleged confession they later described as bogus. Pavatt, who served nearly 22 years in the Air Force and rose to the rank of master sergeant, was convicted and sentenced to death for the 2001 killing of Rob Andrew in Oklahoma City. His execution is scheduled for the day after Veterans Day.

Dusty Ray Spencerʼs crime “merits a severe punishment,” but the state should “exercise mercy,” the state bishops' conference said. Florida’s Catholic bishops are urging state Gov. Ron DeSantis to spare the life of a convicted murderer set to be executed for killing his wife more than three decades ago. DeSantis should “grant a stay of the execution of Dusty Ray Spencer and … commute his sentence to life without parole,” the Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops said in a letter to DeSantis dated June 18.

Executions in the U.S. nearly doubled in 2025 over the previous year as Florida executed more prisoners in a 12-month span than ever before, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. The organization, which tracks capital punishment, released its year-end report on Monday. It showed a complicated picture: although public support for the death penalty remained at a low point, executions ticked upward. "These trends show there is a real disconnect between what the American public wants and what elected officials are doing with the death penalty," said Robin Maher, the executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center (DPI). The group does not take a position on the death penalty itself but is critical of how it has been applied.

A new report finds that five of the 15 people executed in Florida this year were military veterans. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is defending his modern-era record for executions this year, saying he is bringing justice to the families of victims. But a new report reveals some troubling data: Five of the 15 convicted murderers executed this year in Florida were military veterans.

On Veterans Day, the Death Penalty Information Center will release a new report about vet­er­ans and the death penal­ty, explor­ing the last­ing effects of mil­i­tary ser­vice and explain­ing why mil­i­tary expe­ri­ences mat­ter when vet­er­ans inter­act with the legal sys­tem. This arti­cle tells the sto­ry of Navy vet­er­an David Hosier who was sen­tenced to death with­out a jury ever learn­ing about his men­tal health strug­gles, hon­or­able mil­i­tary ser­vice, and childhood tragedy.

State is set to execute 4th U.S. vet during record-breaking year for number of executions in the Sunshine State. Aug. 11 (UPI) -- As Florida preps to execute its fourth U.S. veteran this year, more than 130 U.S. veterans in nearly every branch of service have requested for Gov. Ron DeSantis to end the state's executions of convicted vets. A coalition of American veterans will gather Wednesday morning in the state's capital of Tallahassee to issue a plea in a signed letter to DeSantis, imploring the two-term Republican to stop Florida's executions of American military service veterans.

A man convicted of the 1994 killings of his wife and their two children became the ninth person put to death in Florida this year, his death Thursday marking a state record for a single-year execution total since the U.S. Supreme Court restored the death penalty decades ago. Edward Zakrzewski, 60, was pronounced dead at 6:12 p.m. following a three-drug injection at Florida State Prison near Starke. After the return of the U.S. death penalty in 1976, Florida carried out a high of eight executions in 2014, a one-year total only matched this year with a mid-July execution and now exceeded.

STARKE, Fla. (AP) — A Florida man convicted of killing his wife and two children with a machete in 1994 is set for execution Thursday, which would be the ninth death sentence carried out in 2025 to set a new state record for a single year. A 10th execution is scheduled for Aug. 19 and an 11th on Aug. 28. A death warrant signed by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis directs that 60-year-old Edward Zakrzewski be executed by lethal injection at 6 p.m. Thursday at Florida State Prison near Starke. Zakrzewski’s final appeal for a stay was rejected Wednesday by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Mississippi executes inmate who’s been on death row almost half a century Richard Gerald Jordan, 79, received a lethal injection at the Mississippi State Penitentiary after being on death row since 1976  Mississippi has executed Richard Gerald Jordan, the state’s longest-serving death row inmate.  Jordan, 79, was put to death by lethal injection at the Mississippi State Penitentiary in Parchman Wednesday evening, nearly 50 years on from when he kidnapped and killed a bank loan officer’s wife in a violent ransom scheme.

JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) - Mississippi’s longest-serving death row inmate is seeking clemency from Gov. Tate Reeves. On Monday, attorneys for Richard Gerald Jordan filed the petition, asking the governor to commute his sentence to life in prison without parole. Jordan’s attorneys are also requesting a 15-minute in-person or virtual interview with the state’s top elected leader. “It is the long-standing practice of the Office of the Governor in Mississippi to allow a 15 to 20-minute meeting with a death-sentenced inmate’s representatives,” Frank Rosenblatt, a representative for Jordan wrote.

On May 1, Jeffrey Hutchinson, a Gulf War vet­er­an, was exe­cut­ed in Florida for the mur­ders of his girl­friend and her three young chil­dren. As he fought behind ene­my lines in some of the most dan­ger­ous regions on earth, bombs rat­tled and nerve gas cor­rod­ed his brain, caus­ing per­ma­nent dam­age that would con­tribute to the tragedy just a few years lat­er. ​“His mind was a casu­al­ty, just like any limb lost in com­bat,” a group of 129 mil­i­tary vet­er­ans wrote in a let­ter urg­ing Gov. Ron DeSantis to halt the exe­cu­tion. But no fed­er­al court ever con­sid­ered whether Mr. Hutchinson’s life should be spared because of the phys­i­cal and men­tal trau­ma he suf­fered in the mil­i­tary. His fed­er­al appeals were dis­missed not because they did not have mer­it, but because his attor­neys mis­cal­cu­lat­ed a filing deadline.

Jordan, a 79-year-old Vietnam War veteran, is scheduled for execution on June 25th for a 1976 kidnapping and murder. Advocates argue that the death penalty is inhumane and does not deter crime, citing Jordan's remorse and exemplary prison record. Jordan has been sentenced to death four times, with his initial sentence reduced to life imprisonment before being reinstated. Executions may be legal in Mississippi but that doesn't make them right, a group of advocates for abolishing the death penalty said during a news conference Wednesday, May 28, on the steps of the state Supreme Court.

The Mississippi Supreme Court set an execution date for Richard Jordan, the state's oldest and longest-serving prisoner on death row. The execution date is set for June 25, exactly one month after his 79th birthday. Jordan has been on death row in Mississippi since 1977 for the 1976 kidnapping and murder of Edwina Marter, the wife of a Gulfport bank executive. "After due consideration, the Court finds Jordan has exhausted all state and federal remedies for purposes of setting an execution date," the court wrote in its decision. "Accordingly, the Court finds the State's Motion to Set Execution Date should be granted and a date should be set for execution of the death sentence imposed upon Jordan."

Florida executes a man for the shotgun killings of his girlfriend and her 3 young children  An Army combat veteran whose Gulf War experience triggered severe mental problems was executed Thursday evening in Florida for the 1998 shotgun slayings of his girlfriend and her 3 young children. Jeffrey Hutchinson, 62, was pronounced dead at 8:15 p.m. following a lethal injection at Florida State Prison near Starke. He was the 4th person executed this year in the state under death warrants signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis, with a 5th execution set for May 15.

Jeffrey Hutchinson is sched­uled to be exe­cut­ed in Florida on May 1, 2025, despite a long­stand­ing men­tal ill­ness and his attorney’s claim that he is men­tal­ly incom­pe­tent.  On April 24, 2025, attor­neys for the Gulf War vet­er­an filed a motion in Bradford County Circuit Court seek­ing a stay of his sched­uled exe­cu­tion and request­ing an evi­den­tiary hear­ing to assess their client’s com­pe­ten­cy. Mr. Hutchinson has suf­fered from a delu­sion­al dis­or­der for decades, with a per­sis­tent delu­sion that his exe­cu­tion is meant to silence his expo­sure of gov­ern­ment secrets, includ­ing the iden­ti­ty of the actu­al per­pe­tra­tors in his case. 

This would be Florida's 4th execution of 2025, following a pause in 2020-2022.  The Florida Supreme Court on Monday, April 21, unanimously denied Jeffrey G. Hutchinson's latest appeal, according to an order posted on the state court's website.  Pending any other moves in state or federal courts by his attorneys, the war veteran convicted of murdering his girlfriend and her 3 young children in Crestview nearly 3 decades ago is scheduled to be put to death at 6 p.m. ET on Thursday, May 1, 2025. 

On Wednesday, December 13, the U.S. Supreme Court granted certiorari in Thornell v. Jones , its first death penalty case to be heard at oral argument in the 2023 term. Unlike most death penalty cases that seek Supreme Court review, the petitioner here is the state of Arizona, which asks the Court to reverse the Ninth Circuit’s grant of relief for death-sentenced prisoner Danny Lee Jones. The Ninth Circuit held that Mr. Jones demonstrated ineffective assistance of counsel at his sentencing phase under Strickland v. Washington (1984). 

30 people have been exonerated from the death penalty in Florida since it was reinstated in 1976 TAMPA, Fla. — When it comes to death penalty exonerations, Florida leads the nation. Now, people are debating whether or not the state should continue to put people to death. In-depth reporter Anthony Hill spoke with people on both sides of the issue. Including a local man sentenced to death but was exonerated, a death penalty proponent, and a state senator pushing a bill to ban the death penalty for certain people. "I kept wondering what made them think I did this. I wasn't there. Nowhere near there. They know where I was. Why do they think I'm the one who did this," said Ralph Wright. In 2007, Wright was accused of killing his girlfriend and 15-month-old son in St. Petersburg. He's one of the 30 people exonerated from the death penalty in Florida since its reinstatement in 1976. "Upon hearing the jury say the verdict was guilty, I sat there thinking, did I just ...

Two Tallahassee murderers will remain on Florida’s Death Row after the state Supreme Court upheld their convictions and sentences in separate opinions released Thursday. Both Gary Michael Hilton and Joe Elton Nixon face the death penalty in their cases, decades apart, in which they were both convicted of first-degree murder. Gary Michael Hilton Hilton, a serial killer, was convicted of the December 2007 kidnapping and beheading of 46-year-old Crawfordville nurse Cheryl Dunlap.  He was found guilty of first-degree murder in 2011 and a jury unanimously sentenced him to death. The Supreme Court has previously upheld the 74-year-old's conviction and sentence, the last time in 2019.  Justices did so again this week in a 6-1 opinion with Justice Jamie R. Grosshans not participating.  Most of the claims in his most recent appeal focus on ineffective assistance of counsel. That case was argued in front of the Supreme Court last fall. Among other issues, Hilton’s appellate attorne...

Texas intends to execute John Hummel on June 30, 2021, an honorably discharged former Marine with service-related trauma whose trial lawyer now works for the prosecutor who is trying to execute him. Hummel came within two days of execution in March 2020, when the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals issued a stay because of health concerns related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Hummel’s current lawyer, Michael Mowla, has indicated that no appeals will be filed to try to halt the execution. Hummel would become only the second person put to death by any state in 2021 — both in Texas. Plans for his execution have sparked controversy because of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice’s failure to allow media witnesses at the May 19 execution of Quintin Jones and the department’s lack of transparency in addressing that failure. Hummel is a former Marine who experienced trauma as a result of his service. At the sentencing phase of his trial, a psychologist testified that Hummel likely had several p...