Executions
FILE - This file photo released April 19, 2013, by the Federal Bureau of Investigation shows Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, convicted for carrying out the April 15, 2013, Boston Marathon bombing attack that killed three people and injured more than 260. The most prominent step on the death penalty by an administration led by a president who pledged during campaigning to eradicate capital punishment came this week when it asked the Supreme Court to reinstate the Boston Marathon bomber’s death sentence. (FBI via AP, File)
Biden's silence on executions adds to death penalty disarray

By Michael Tarm Jun. 18, 2021 06:00 AM EDT

This photo provided by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice shows Raymond Riles. Riles, the longest serving death row inmate in the U.S. was resentenced to life in prison on Wednesday, June 9, 2021 after prosecutors in Texas concluded the 71-year-old man is ineligible for execution and incompetent for retrial due to his long history of mental illness. (Texas Department of Criminal Justice via AP, File)
Longest serving death row inmate in US resentenced to life

By Juan A. Lozano Jun. 09, 2021 04:53 PM EDT

Pastor DiArron M. speaks during a vigil for Pervis Payne outside of the Shelby County Criminal Justice Center on Friday, June 4, 2021 in Memphis. A hearing is scheduled Friday in the case of Payne, a Tennessee death row inmate who has long maintained his innocence and whose lawyers filed a petition saying he is intellectually disabled and should not be executed. (Patrick Lantrip/Daily Memphian via AP)
Expert to study mental disabilty claim of death row inmate

By Adrian Sainz Jun. 04, 2021 12:44 PM EDT

Oklahoma death row inmate dies after contracting COVID-19

May. 27, 2021 04:21 PM EDT
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — An Oklahoma death row inmate awaiting execution for a 2004 slaying in Oklahoma City died of COVID-19, the Office of the Chief Medical...

FILE - This file photo provided by Tennessee Department of Correction shows Tennessee death row inmate Pervis Payne. Payne is asking a Memphis court to declare that he cannot be executed because he is intellectually disabled. The petition was filed in Criminal Court on Wednesday, May 12, 2021. (Tennessee Department of Correction via AP, File)
Tennessee inmate asks court to declare he can't be executed

By Travis Loller May. 12, 2021 01:59 PM EDT

Editorial Roundup: Texas

By The Associated Press May. 10, 2021 10:00 AM EDT
Austin American-Statesman. May 7, 2021. Editorial: Texas GOP lawmakers trust you with a gun — but not with the vote ...

FILE - In this Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2020, file photo, New Mexico Supreme Court Justice Barbara Vigil listens to arguments in a case about the state's Energy Transition Act during a hearing in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Vigil is retiring from the New Mexico Supreme Court at the end of June 2021 after more than eight years at the high court. (AP Photo/Susan Montoya Bryan, File)
High court justice, who authored end to execution, to retire

By Morgan Lee Apr. 27, 2021 09:12 PM EDT

Bill passes to stop executions of intellectually disabled

By Jonathan Mattise Apr. 26, 2021 07:52 PM EDT
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee lawmakers on Monday passed legislation designed to prevent death row inmates with an intellectual disability from being...

This March 2021 photo provided by the Nevada Department of Corrections shows convicted mass murderer Zane Floyd, 45, an inmate at Ely State Prison. Floyd is mounting a range of legal challenges to a bid to schedule his execution in early June, including questioning whether the district attorney in Las Vegas really wants the lethal injection carried out at a decommissioned prison in Carson City. (Nevada Department of Corrections via AP)
Nevada inmate fighting on several fronts to avoid execution

By Ken Ritter Apr. 23, 2021 03:09 PM EDT

FILE - In this file photo released by Iraq's Ministry of Justice on June 29, 2018, blindfolded prisoners await their executions in Iraq. A report released by Amnesty International on Wednesday, April 21, 2021, said the number of executions worldwide in 2020 plummeted to its lowest level in at least a decade. But the report said four states in the Middle East — Iran, Egypt, Iraq and Saudi Arabia respectively — topped the global list and pressed on with shootings, beheadings and hangings, ignoring pleas by rights groups to halt executions during the pandemic. (Iraq Ministry of Justice via AP, File)
Report: Mideast countries top 2020 global executioners list

By Isabel Debre Apr. 20, 2021 09:42 PM EDT

FILE - This Aug. 26, 2020 file photo shows the federal prison complex in Terre Haute, Ind. Inmates on federal death row tell The Associated Press that a leading topic of conversation through airducts they use to communicate is whether President Joe Biden will keep a campaign pledge to halt federal executions. Biden hasn’t spoken publicly to that question since taking office four days after the Trump administration executed the last of 13 inmates at the Terre Haute prison where federal death row is located. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy, File)
On federal death row, inmates talk about Biden, executions

By Michael Tarm Mar. 22, 2021 06:04 AM EDT

FILE-This undated file photo provided by the Alabama Department of Corrections shows Willie B. Smith III. The Alabama Supreme Court on Tuesday, Dec. 1, 2020 ordered that Smith III be put to death on Feb. 11, 2021 for the shotgun slaying of Sharma Ruth Johnson. The lethal injection of Willie B. Smith III was called off Thursday, Feb. 11, 2021, when the U.S. Supreme Court maintained an injunction. The state prison system said the execution would not proceed given the ruling.(Alabama Department of Corrections via AP)
No execution: Courts side with inmate wanting pastor present

By Kim Chandler Feb. 12, 2021 12:40 AM EST

This undated photo provided by the Alabama Department of Corrections shows Willie B. Smith III. The Alabama Supreme Court on Tuesday, Dec. 1, 2020 ordered that 51-year-old Willie B. Smith III be put to death on Feb. 11 for the shotgun slaying of Sharma Ruth Johnson. (Alabama Department of Corrections via AP)
Alabama seeks to be 1st state to execute an inmate this year

By Kim Chandler Feb. 11, 2021 12:49 AM EST

This undated photo provided by the Alabama Department of Corrections shows Willie B. Smith III. The Alabama Supreme Court on Tuesday, Dec. 1, 2020 ordered that 51-year-old Willie B. Smith III be put to death on Feb. 11 for the shotgun slaying of Sharma Ruth Johnson. (Alabama Department of Corrections via AP)
Court stays execution of Alabama inmate

By Kim Chandler Feb. 10, 2021 09:18 AM EST

FILE - In this Aug. 26, 2020 file photo, the federal prison complex in Terre Haute, Ind., is shown Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2020. Dozens of civil rights and advocacy organizations are calling on the Biden administration to immediately halt federal executions after an unprecedented run of capital punishment under President Donald Trump. They want President Joe Biden to commute the sentences of inmates on federal death row. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)
82 advocacy groups call on Biden to end federal executions

By Michael Tarm And Michael Balsamo Feb. 09, 2021 08:00 AM EST

FILE - In this May 10, 2011 file photo, Anthony Sowell appears in court in Cleveland. Sowell, an Ohio man sentenced to death for killing 11 women and hiding their remains in and around his home has died in prison. The state Corrections Department says the 61-year-old convicted serial killer was receiving end-of-life care at Franklin Medical Center for a terminal illness when he died Monday, Feb. 8, 2021. (AP Photo/Amy Sancetta, File)
Anthony Sowell, Ohio man who killed 11 women, dies in prison

By Andrew Welsh-Huggins Feb. 09, 2021 05:38 AM EST

Abe Bonowitz, co-director of Death Penalty Action, talks about the efforts to stop the death penalty during the protest of the execution of Corey Johnson, Thursday, Jan. 14, 2021, near the Federal Correctional Complex in Terre Haute, Ind. (Joseph C. Garza/The Tribune-Star via AP)
AP analysis: Federal executions likely a COVID superspreader

By Michael Tarm, Michael Balsamo And Michael R. Sisak Feb. 06, 2021 12:53 AM EST

In this Aug. 28, 2020, file photo, a no trespassing sign is displayed outside the federal prison complex in Terre Haute, Ind. A newly released report says the U.S. government for the first time has carried out more civil executions in a year than all states combined as President Donald Trump oversaw a resumption of federal executions after a 17-year pause. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy, File)
AP analysis: Federal executions likely a COVID superspreader

By Michael Tarm, Michael Balsamo And Michael R. Sisak Feb. 06, 2021 12:51 AM EST

Christina Bollo of Urbana, Illinois, holds a sign as she protests the execution of Corey Johnson, near the Federal Correctional Complex, Thursday, Jan. 14, 2021, in Terre Haute, Ind. (Joseph C. Garza/The Tribune-Star via AP)
AP analysis: Federal executions likely a COVID superspreader

By Michael Tarm, Michael Balsamo And Michael R. Sisak Feb. 05, 2021 05:53 PM EST

Abe Bonowitz, co-director of Death Penalty Action, talks about the efforts to stop the death penalty during the protest of the execution of Corey Johnson, Thursday, Jan. 14, 2021, near the Federal Correctional Complex in Terre Haute, Ind. (Joseph C. Garza/The Tribune-Star via AP)
AP analysis: Federal executions likely a COVID superspreader

By Michael Tarm, Michael Balsamo And Michael R. Sisak Feb. 05, 2021 05:43 PM EST