Death Penalty News

Alabama executes Michael Samra, convicted of killing 4 in 1997 An Alabama death row inmate was executed by lethal injection Thursday night, more than 22 years after the quadruple slaying of a family in Pelham. Michael Brandon Samra, 42, was executed at William C. Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore. The Alabama Supreme Court set his execution date in April. Samra was 19 when he and his co-defendant, then 16-year-old Mark Anthony Duke, were charged with killing Mark Duke’s father Randy Duke, his fiancée Dedra Mims Hunt, and her 2 daughters, 6-year-old Chelisa Nicole Hunt and 7-year-old Chelsea Marie Hunt. Samra was convicted of capital murder in 1998 after confessing, and was sentenced to death for his role in the killings. The curtains opened to the execution chamber at approximately 7:09 p.m. When approached by the warden, Samra smiled. His last words were a prayer. “I would like to thank Jesus for everything he’s done for me,” he said. “I want to thank Jesus...

MONTGOMERY, Ala. – A man convicted of murder in a quadruple killing after a dispute over a pickup truck is set to be executed in Alabama. Forty-one-year-old Michael Brandon Samra is scheduled to receive a lethal injection Thursday evening at the state prison in Atmore. Samra and friend Mark Duke were convicted of killing Duke's father, the father's girlfriend and the woman's two elementary-age daughters in March 1997.  Evidence showed Duke planned the killings because his father wouldn't let him use his pickup. Duke and Samra both were originally sentenced to death, but Duke's sentence was overturned because he was 16 at the time of the killings.  Samra was 19 at the time. Another execution is scheduled Thursday in Tennessee . Source: Associated Press, Staff, May 16, 2019 ⚑ | Report an error, an omission, a typo; suggest a story or a new angle to an existing story; submit a piece, a comment; recommend a resource; contact the webmast...

The inmate's attorney asked to halt the execution while a court weighs the appropriateness of the death penalty for people under 21 at the time of the crime An Alabama inmate's attorney has asked the governor to halt his Thursday lethal injection while a Kentucky court weighs the appropriateness of the death penalty for people who were under 21 at the time of their crimes. Michael Brandon Samra was 19 when he participated in the 1997 slayings in Shelby County of 4 people, including 2 children. Samra was convicted of helping friend Mark Duke kill Duke's father, the father's girlfriend Dedra Mims Hunt, and her 2 daughters, 6-year-old Chelisa Hunt and 7-year-old Chelsea Hunt. Prosecutors said the teens plotted the slayings after Duke became angry when his father wouldn't let him use his truck. Duke's death sentence was overturned because he was 16 at the time of the crime. Samra's attorney, Steven R. Sears, sent a letter to Alabama Gov. K...

The Alabama Supreme Court set a May 16 execution date for Michael Brandon Samra, 41. As a teenager, Samra was convicted of helping his friend Mark Duke kill his father Randy Duke, his father's girlfriend Debra Hunt and her 6 and 7-year-old daughters. Prosecutors said the Shelby County slayings happened after Duke became angry when his father wouldn't let him use his truck. They said the teens executed a plan to kill Duke's father and then killed the others to cover up his death. Authorities say Mark Duke killed his father, Hunt and one of the girls, and that Samra slit the throat of the other child at Duke's direction while the girl pleaded for her life. "The murders which were committed with a gun and kitchen knife were as brutal as they come," lawyers for the state wrote in the motion to set an execution date. Duke was 16 at the time of the slayings. Samra was 19. Both were sentenced to the death penalty. However, Duke's death sent...