Category: death penalty

Murderer on Death Row Commuted Under LA DA, Family Shocked and Seeking Justice

SANTA CLARA, Calif.—Thirty years ago, a Los Angeles man was sentenced to death for killing a father of three. Now the district attorney is planning to drop the murderer’s death sentence. In January 1992, 21-year-old Scott Forrest Collins was sentenced to death for robbing and shooting 41-year-old Fred Rose. However, in February this year, the…


California and the Death Penalty

Commentary The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation announced this week it was dismantling its Death Row at San Quentin prison. The 695 convicted murderers currently awaiting their date with eternity will be transferred to other sections. The department announced the area would be “repurposed” into a “positive, healing environment.” Only in California. The last execution…


Death Penalty Trial for Florida School Gunman Cruz Delayed Until April

A judge on Wednesday delayed until April proceedings to determine the sentencing of the gunman who has pleaded guilty to murdering 17 people at a Parkland, Florida, high school in 2018. Jurors during the phase that had earlier been scheduled to start later this month will hear testimony from scores of witnesses to help them…


Judge Keeps Death Penalty Chance for Man Accused in 8 Deaths

An Ohio man charged with killing eight people from a single family lost his attempt Wednesday to have the most serious charges and the possibility of a death penalty thrown out. Lawyers for George Wagner IV told a judge that the aggravated murder charges should be dismissed after Wagner’s brother, who pleaded guilty this year…


Texas Man Who Allegedly Murdered 18 Elderly Women Over Two-Year Period Begins Trial

A man who allegedly murdered and burglarized 18 elderly women over a two-year period in the Dallas, Texas area began trial on Monday, the Associated Press reported. Billy Chemirmir, 48, faces life in prison without the possibility of parole if he’s convicted of murdering Lu Thi Harris, 81, according to the AP. Chemirmir pleaded not…


Convicted Murderer Who Insists on Pastoral Touch During Execution Is Stalling, Texas Tells Supreme Court

A Texas death row inmate’s demand for his personal pastor to be present, praying, and in physical contact with his body during the execution process is a delaying tactic, the state’s top lawyer told the Supreme Court today. The case, Ramirez v. Collier, court file 21-5592, was filed with the Supreme Court on Sept. 7,…


Supreme Court May Reinstate Death Sentence Against Boston Marathon Bomber

Supreme Court justices seemed generally sympathetic to Biden administration arguments Oct. 13 that the  death sentence of Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev should be reinstated. The hearing centered largely around potential juror bias and evidence that Tsarnaev’s late older brother, Tamerlan, was involved in a jihad-related triple murder two years before the 2013 marathon bombing….


State Seeks Death Penalty for Former Marine in Family’s Deaths

LAKELAND, Fla.—Prosecutors will seek the death penalty for a 33-year-old former Marine accused of massacring a Florida family under the delusion that they were child sex traffickers. In a news release sent Friday, the state attorney’s office said the killings of a Lakeland man, his girlfriend, their baby, and the child’s grandmother were “committed on…


Supreme Court Sides with State, Stays Retrial Order in Death-Penalty Case

The Supreme Court sided with Ohio in putting on hold an appeals court ruling from June that threw out a conviction and death sentence imposed on prisoner August Cassano, who complained that a trial court denied him his Sixth Amendment right to represent himself. An execution date had not yet been scheduled. Late on Sept….


Oklahoma Court Reverses McGirt Rulings in 4 Death Cases

OKLAHOMA CITY—An Oklahoma appeals court on Tuesday reversed four of its previous rulings that overturned death penalty cases based on a U.S. Supreme Court ruling limiting state jurisdiction for crimes committed on tribal reservations. The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals vacated rulings in the cases of death row inmates Shaun Bosse, James Ryder, Miles Bench…