A report in the Salt Lake City Tribune takes a different view of the suggestion that there have been no botched executions by firing squad. From Hal Schindler, “Taylor’s Death Was Quick … But Some ...

Having failed to kill Smith on its first attempt, Alabama has selected him as its ‘guinea pig’ to test a method of execution never attempted before. The world is watching… With deep sadness, but ...

Eighteenth Century B.C. — first established death penalty laws. Eleventh Century A.D. — William the Conqueror will not allow persons to be hanged except in cases of murder. 1608 — Captain George ...

All executions were carried out by hanging until 1947, when George Sitts was executed by electrocution. Executions since 1976 have used lethal injection. 1877 — Jack McCall becomes the first person ...

Christa Pike remained alive more than an hour after the state of Tennessee began its attempt to execute her on September 30, 2026. It was the latest in a series of troubled executions by the Tennessee ...

On September 28, 2026, Governor Bill Lee denied a clemency request from death-sentenced prisoner Christa Pike, who is scheduled to be executed on September 30. Gov. Lee announced, “[a]fter deliberate ...

Prior to 1899, executions in West Virginia were public and were carried out at the county level with minimal state involvement. Starting in 1899, all executions were carried out privately in the West ...

An excerpt from: “A Matter of Life and Death: Examining the Military Death Penalty’s Fairness” by Dwight Sullivan (The Federal Lawyer, June 1998) (reprinted with permssion of author) Under the Uniform ...

On March 30, 2026, the Supreme Court of Florida denied the state’s motion to lift the stay, explaining that the “circuit court continues to have concurrent jurisdiction to rule on motions related to ...

Christa Pike, the only woman on Tennessee’s death row, has filed a lawsuit in the Davidson County Chancery Court challenging the state’s lethal injection protocol, asserting it violates her ...

Some states carry out executions with a three-drug lethal-injection protocol. Others use a single drug. The three-drug protocol typically begins with an anesthetic or sedative, followed by a second ...