death penalty Archives - Northwest Public Broadcasting

State of Idaho to pursue death penalty against Kohberger

By Lauren Paterson June 26, 2023

Bryan Kohberger walks into the Latah County Courtroom wearing a dark blue jacket, blue shirt and tie.

Bryan Kohberger enters the courtroom for a motion hearing regarding a gag order, Friday, June 9, 2023, in Moscow, Idaho. Kohberger is accused of killing four University of Idaho students… Continue Reading State of Idaho to pursue death penalty Read More

An Inmate Who Sought Execution By Firing Squad Loses Supreme Court Appeal

By NPR News May 24, 2021

The Supreme Court's three liberal justices strongly dissented Monday when the court's six-member conservative majority refused to hear an appeal brought by a brain-damaged death row inmate who wants to be executed by firing squad. Continue Read More

Democrats Unveil Legislation To Abolish The Federal Death Penalty

By NPR News January 11, 2021

Protesters gather near the federal prison complex in Terre Haute, Ind., in August ahead of the scheduled execution of Keith Dwayne Nelson, who was convicted of kidnapping, raping and murdering at 10-year-old Kansas girl. Democrats are pushing new legislation to outlaw federal executions. CREDIT: Michael Conroy/AP

The Democratic proposal, shared first with NPR, comes as the party will have unified control of Congress after victories in two Georgia Senate races, a change in fortunes for Democratic legislative priorities. The legislation would end capital punishment at the federal level and require the resentencing of all federal inmates on death row. Read More

Federal Execution Can Proceed For Lisa Montgomery, Court Rules

By NPR News January 3, 2021

Lisa Montgomery appears in a 2004 booking photo. Wyandotte County Sheriff's Department

Montgomery was originally scheduled to be executed last month, but that was postponed to January when her attorneys contracted the coronavirus after visiting her in prison and a federal judge granted them more time to file a petition for clemency. Read More

FILM REVIEW: ‘Just Mercy’ Is An Earnest, Effective Legal Drama Of Real History Learned Too Late

By NPR News December 27, 2019

Bryan Stevenson (Michael B. Jordan) defends wrongly condemned Walter McMillan (Jamie Foxx) in Destin Daniel Cretton's film. CREDIT: Jake Giles Netter/Warner Bros.

This adaptation of attorney Bryan Stevenson's book about a wrongly condemned black man dramatizes that case while offering an unflinching look at the death penalty. Continue Reading FILM REVIEW: ‘Just Read More

Where Did Idaho Get Its Execution Drugs? A State Supreme Court Case May Reveal Hidden Records

By NWPB News September 23, 2019

File photo of Idaho Supreme Court chamber. CREDIT: JAMES DAWSON/BSPR

The Idaho Supreme Court is expected to decide next year whether prison officials must reveal the past source of their execution drugs. A University of Idaho professor's public records request is at the center of the case. Read More

Americans Are Divided On Federal Executions. Why Is The Trump Administration Reviving Them?

By PBS Newshour July 26, 2019

The execution chamber at the Arizona State Prison Complex-Florence is shown in a screen grab from a video provided by the Arizona Department of Corrections on March 4, 2015. Courtesy Arizona DOC-REUTERS

The first federal inmate scheduled to be executed under the newly re-opened policy is Danny Lewis Lee, a white supremacist from the Spokane, Wash., area convicted of three murders in Arkansas and bombing Spokane City Hall in 1996. Read More

Federal Government To Resume Capital Punishment After Nearly 20-Year Hiatus

By NPR News July 25, 2019

U.S. Department of Justice - Office of Attorney General sign. CREDIT: Patrick Semansky/AP

"The Justice Department upholds the rule of law — and we owe it to the victims and their families to carry forward the sentence imposed by our justice system," Attorney General William Barr said. Continue Reading Federal Government Read More

Supreme Court Sees 2 Similar Death Penalty Questions Very Differently

By NPR News March 31, 2019

An Alabama man was denied the right to have his Muslim spiritual adviser in the death chamber. But a Texas prisoner's execution was delayed because he was denied his Buddhist minister. Continue Reading Supreme Court Sees 2 Similar Death Read More

Supreme Court Blocks Texas From Executing Mentally Disabled Man

By NPR News February 20, 2019

U.S. Supreme Court has ended a long legal fight by ruling that a Texas death row inmate is intellectually disabled and thus may not be executed.

Justices criticized a state appeals court for using outdated medical standards when it determined that a murderer wasn't intellectually disabled and could therefore be executed. Continue Reading Supreme Court Blocks Texas From Executing Mentally Read More

Washington State Supreme Court Strikes Down Death Penalty

By NWPB News October 11, 2018

Washington State Supreme Court building in Olympia. CREDIT: TONY OVERMAN

The Washington state Supreme Court struck down the state’s death penalty Thursday, Oct. 11, and converted all death sentences to life in prison. Continue Reading Washington State Supreme Court Strikes Down Death PenaltyRead More

Washington Supreme Court Upholds Conviction And Death Sentence For Quadruple Murderer

By NWPB April 12, 2018

Murder defendant Conner Michael Shierman sits in Judge Gregory P. Canova's courtroom on Aug. 29, 2006, in Seattle.

The Washington state Supreme Court on Thursday upheld the conviction and death sentence of a Kirkland man who killed two women and two children in 2006 and then tried to cover up the murders by setting the house on fire. Continue Read More

Washington Supreme Court Could Decide Constitutionality Of Death Penalty

By Austin Jenkins April 9, 2018

File photo of the lethal injection room at California's San Quentin State Prison.

Washington lawmakers tried, but failed this year to repeal the death penalty. Now, the Washington Supreme Court could decide whether it’s constitutional. Continue Reading Washington Supreme Court Could Decide Constitutionality Of Death Read More

Washington Senate Votes To Repeal Death Penalty, House To Consider Next

By Austin Jenkins February 15, 2018

Washington Gov. Inslee speaks with reporters alongside Democratic state Sen. Reuven Carlyle after the Senate voted to abolish the death penalty.

In a vote unprecedented in modern times in the state of Washington, the state Senate voted Wednesday to abolish the death penalty and instead impose life in prison without the possibility of parole for those convicted of aggravated first degree murder. The measure now moves to the House. Read More

King County Prosecutor Calls For Repeal Of Death Penalty In Washington

By Austin Jenkins January 22, 2018

The prosecutor of Washington’s most populous county is calling for the repeal of the death penalty. Dan Satterberg plan testified before legislators January 22 in favor of a proposal to replace capital punishment with life without the possibility of parole.   Read More

Washington Death Row Inmate Loses Court Challenge Over Intellectual Disabilities

By Austin Jenkins May 18, 2017

On January 25, 1997, Cecil Emile Davis, a “violent offender” on state supervision, broke into the Tacoma home of 65-year-old Yoshiko Couch. Continue Reading Washington Death Row Inmate Loses Court Challenge Over Intellectual Read More

Lawmakers Consider Abolishing Death Penalty To Save Money In Wash.

By Sueann Ramella January 26, 2012

OLYMPIA, Wash. – Washington lawmakers are considering a plan to save money by abolishing the death penalty in the state. That idea got a hearing today in Olympia. Karil Klingbeil… Continue Reading Lawmakers Consider Abolishing Death Penalty Read More