All articles tagged with #execution
Japan has executed Sunao Takami, 58, for the 2009 arson attack on a pachinko parlour in Osaka that killed five people, marking the first death sentence carried out in over a year and the first under the Takaichi administration; authorities rejected the defense’s mental illness argument, underscoring Japan’s status as a remaining G7 nation with the death penalty.
Alabama executed Jeremy Tremaine Williams by lethal injection after Gov. Kay Ivey declined clemency in the 2021 murder of 5-year-old Kamarie Holland; Williams allegedly paid the child’s mother to abuse her, subjected the girl to methamphetamine and rape before strangling her, and the execution was carried out within a court-approved window as part of the state’s capital-punishment process.
Jeremy Williams, convicted of kidnapping, raping and killing 5-year-old Kamarie Holland in December 2021 after the girl was trafficked to him, was executed by lethal injection on August 13, 2026. He received four counts of capital murder, with jurors taking about 90 minutes to convict, and the case proceeded under Alabama capital-murder protocols; the family delivered impact statements, and the execution followed the governor's order.
Tennessee carried out the lethal injection of death-row inmate Darrell Hines for the 1985 murder of Catherine Jenkins, at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville, less than three months after the state’s last execution attempt was halted.
Oklahoma carried out the execution of Carlos Cuesta-Rodriguez for the 2003 murder of his common-law wife Olimpia Fisher, a crime prosecutors say followed months of stalking and abuse; the family spoke about the loss and the drive for domestic violence awareness amid clemency debates, while Fisher’s daughters expressed the lasting impact of her death.
Florida carried out two executions in one day—the first back-to-back state executions in nearly a decade—highlighting Gov. Ron DeSantis’s push to accelerate capital punishment. 80-year-old Dominick Anthony Occhicone was executed, making him the oldest Floridian put to death in modern times, hours after former police officer James Aren Duckett was executed for the 1987 rape and murder of 11-year-old Teresa McAbee.
Dr. Mark Walton Fowler, a doctor involved in the failed Tennessee lethal injection of Tony Carruthers, says he did not want the prisoner to suffer, and the 90-minute execution attempt was ultimately halted.
Xu Yao, a Chinese lawyer, was executed in Shanghai for poisoning Lin Qi, the billionaire who helped bring Liu Cixin’s The Three-Body Problem to Netflix. Xu poisoned Lin in 2020 with toxins bought on the dark web, after a dispute over company matters, testing poisons in a Shanghai lab and replacing drinks and pills with deadly substances; Lin died 10 days later at age 39. The execution was reported by state media two years after the murder and follows Lin’s role as executive producer on Netflix’s adaptation.
Tennessee’s governor granted a one-year stay of execution for Tony Carruthers after his lethal injection was halted for more than an hour when officials could not locate a suitable vein; a primary IV line was found but a backup line and a central line could not be secured. Carruthers, 57, was sentenced to death in 1994 for kidnapping and murdering three Memphis residents, a conviction largely based on testimony rather than physical evidence. His lawyers had sought stays in federal court and the Tennessee Supreme Court, arguing the ongoing IV attempts amounted to cruel and unusual punishment. The reprieve comes amid a nationwide spike in executions, including Florida’s 19 in 2025, as Tennessee resumes executions after a pause tied to drug-testing concerns.
Tennessee paused the planned execution of death-row inmate Tony Carruthers after intravenous access problems during lethal injection, delaying the proceeding and signaling that officials will pursue a rescheduled date while attempting to resolve the issue.
Tony Carruthers' scheduled Tennessee execution was halted when corrections could not establish a backup IV line for lethal injection, despite a primary line being in place; the delay prompted emergency stays and ongoing appeals amid concerns about expired drugs and requests for DNA testing, while Carruthers maintains his innocence.
Edward Busby Jr. was executed in Texas for the decades-old killing of a retired college professor.
Texas carried out its 600th modern-era execution, putting Edward Busby to death in Huntsville and highlighting Texas’ long-standing status as the nation’s leading user of the death penalty even as the pace has slowed. The report notes that a small number of counties account for most executions, raises concerns about racial disparities in who is sentenced to die, and references reforms like the 2005 life-without-parole option and the Michael Morton Act that reduced new death sentences, along with past exonerations and ongoing legal battles over eligibility for capital punishment.
Iran’s judiciary says Mehrab Abdollahzadeh, born in 1997, was executed in Urmia prison for alleged “corruption on earth” linked to the killing of a volunteer force member during the Woman, Life, Freedom protests; rights groups allege coerced confessions after 38 days of interrogation without a lawyer, highlighting concerns about due process as executions continue in Iran.
A Texas man, James Broadnax, was executed by lethal injection after insisting he was innocent in the 2008 killings of two men outside a Dallas recording studio; prosecutors say he and his cousin Demarius Cummings carried out the armed robbery. Cummings has recently admitted pulling the trigger, but Broadnax’s defense argued that his trial rights were violated due to jury-selection issues tied to race. A last‑minute appeal was denied by the Supreme Court. Broadnax’s wife witnessed the execution, and in his final statement he asserted that Texas got it wrong while praying for forgiveness.