News USA

April 26th

NEVADA: Inmate on death row dies

Robert Farmer, 56, who killed 2 men in the early 1980s and spent 3 decades on and off death row died at a Las Vegas hospital of natural causes, the Department of Corrections said.
In 1984, Farmer pleaded guilty to 1st-degree murder of Las Vegas taxicab driver Greg Gelunas, and he was sentenced to death by a 3-judge panel.
But the Nevada Supreme Court vacated his death sentence in 2007.
A new hearing to impose the death penalty was not held before he died.
(source: Sparks Tribune)

TEXAS: Death sentence overturned

The death sentence of Christian Olsen, 24, was overturned after an appeals court ruled that jurors should have heard from an expert who believed the man was a victim of sexual abuse. Olsen had fatally beat and strangled his 68-year-old neighbor.
The 8-to-1 ruling by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals comes more than 4 years after he was convicted of capital murder.
That conviction remains intact, but Olsen may now receive a new punishment trial to determine his sentence. That trial can only end with 2 results: life in prison without parole or another death sentence.
(source: The Eagle)

CONNECTICUT: Death Penalty Abolished

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy quietly signed a new law Wednesday that ends the state's death penalty for future crimes, making Connecticut the 17th state to abolish capital punishment.
The Democrat signed the bill behind closed doors, without fanfare. An aide said Malloy was surrounded by lawmakers, clergy and family members of murder victims.
While he called it "an historic moment," Malloy said in a written statement that it was a moment "for sober reflection, not celebration."
In more than half a century, Connecticut has executed only one person - serial killer Michael Ross, who volunteered for the lethal injection in 2005.
(source: TIME Magazine)

April 21st

GEORGIA: Pardons board spares Daniel Greene

3 days after staying the execution of Daniel Greene, the 5-member panel voted to commute his death sentence to life without parole.
"We want to thank the board so much for their courage in this case," one of Greene's attorneys said in a phone interview.
Greene, who had spent 2 decades on death row and already ordered his last meal, received the news Friday and appeared to be in shock, his attorney said.
Greene, 42, had been sentenced to death for the 1991 fatal stabbing of Bernard Walker.
(source: Columbus Ledger-Enquirer)

April 12th

OKLAHOMA: Stay of execution

A federal judge stayed Garry Allen’s execution, ruling that Allen’s claims that he is insane and ineligible for the death penalty should be reviewed.
Garry Thomas Allen, 56, was previously set for execution on Feb. 16, but Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin granted a 30-day stay of execution for the condemned man. She said the stay was issued so her legal team could have more time to consider a 2005 recommendation by the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board to commute his sentence to life.
‘Having thoroughly reviewed the arguments and evidence presented in this case, I have determined that clemency should be denied in this case, and that the sentence of death be carried out,” Fallin wrote in her decision.
(source: McAleslter News-Capital)

CONNECTICUT: Death Penalty Repeal Goes to Connecticut Governor

After more than nine hours of debate, the Connecticut House of Representatives voted to repeal the state s death penalty, following a similar vote in the State Senate last week. Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, a Democrat, has said he will sign the bill.
Mr. Malloy’s signature will leave New Hampshire and Pennsylvania as the only states in the Northeast that still have the death penalty.
(source: New York Times)

April 10th

ALABAMA: Stay of execution

The scheduled execution of Cary Dale Grayson has been delayed by the Alabama Supreme Court.
Grayson was 1 of 4 teenagers convicted for the 1994 torture and murder of Vicki Lynn DeBlieux, who was hitchhiking on Interstate 59.
(source: AP)

April 6th

OHIO: Judge allows Ohio to resume executions

A federal judge who had blocked two previous executions has cleared the way for Ohio to put to death a condemned murderer, declaring the state had adequately fixed its procedures.
U.S. District Judge Gregory Frost rejected a motion for a temporary restraining order for Mark Wiles, who is scheduled to be put to death April 18 for the murder of 15-year-old Mark Klima during a 1985 burglary.
(source: Reuters)

April 5th

TEXAS: Gran Appeals to UK to Save Her From Execution

The British Government has said it is doing all it can the save the life of Linda Carty a British grandmother who has spent 11 years on Death Row in the United States.
She would become the first British woman to be executed in 50 years.
She was convicted of killing a young mother in Texas a decade ago but has always said she was framed.
Carty spoke to Sky News on death row in Texas and told: "I am 110% innocent.
I know I didn't commit this crime. They took 11 years of my life for something I know I didn't do."
(source: Yahoo News)

CONNECTICUT: Senate votes to repeal death penalty

The Connecticut Senate voted to repeal the state's death penalty, moving it 1 step closer to becoming the 5th U.S. state in 5 years to abandon capital punishment.
The Democratic-controlled Senate voted 20-16 to repeal the death penalty in an early morning vote after 10 hours of debate, and the measure now moves to the state House of Representatives, where it was seen as having strong support.
Democratic Governor Dannel Malloy has promised to sign the bill into law.
(source: Reuters)

April 3rd

SOUTH DAKOTA: State Supreme Court delays Robert Execution

The South Dakota Supreme Court has delayed the execution of 1 of the men sentenced to die for the killing of a State Penitentiary guard.
49-year-old Eric Robert pleaded guilty to killing guard Ronald Johnson on April 12 during a botched escape. A judge sentenced Robert to die by lethal injection. His execution had been set for the week of May 13-19.
(source: AP)