NEWS
May 4, 2012 | By Richard A. Serrano
U.S. NAVAL BASE, GUANTANAMO BAY, CUBA -- Cliff Russell lost his brother, a fireman who rushed to the first tower that was hit. Tara Henwood Butzbaugh lost her brother too, a bond trader on the 105thfloor of the same tower. For more than 10 years they have waited for this. “I wish the worst possible death for them,” Russell said, speaking on the eve of the opening in the military commission trial for the five top ringleaders in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Butzbaugh could not agree more.
CALIFORNIA | LOCAL
April 27, 2012 | By Maura Dolan, Los Angeles Times
Gov. Jerry Brown has ordered prison officials to consider a single-drug method of executing condemned inmates as the state appeals a court order that has blocked California from carrying out the death penalty. Mention of the directive came in a notice of appeal filed Thursday by Atty. Gen. Kamala D. Harris seeking to counter a February ruling that halted a revised three-drug lethal injection method. The filing came just three days after certification of a November ballot measure that would offer voters the chance to repeal California's death penalty.
CALIFORNIA | LOCAL
April 24, 2012 | By Maura Dolan, Los Angeles Times
California is set for a major debate on the death penalty following qualification Monday of a November ballot measure that would replace capital punishment with a life term without possibility of parole. If passed, the measure would make California the 18th state in the nation without a death penalty. During the last five years, four states have replaced the death penalty and Connecticut is soon to follow. Growing numbers of conservatives in California have joined the effort to repeal the state's capital punishment law, expressing frustration with its price tag and the rarity of executions.
NATIONAL
April 18, 2012 | By Dalina Castellanos
Does facing the death penalty make would-be killers rethink their actions? The question has long been at the center of arguments for and against the death penalty, but a committee formed by the National Research Council released a report Wednesday saying that previous studies, despite their claims, have not been able to fully answer the question and therefore should not be used in debates over capital punishment. The United States Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976.
NATIONAL
April 14, 2012 | By Dalina Castellanos, Los Angeles Times
The fight against the death penalty is gaining momentum, opponents of the practice say, with Connecticut's decision this month to abolish capital punishment making it the fifth state in five years to so do. "For this to be happening in succession, and coupled with the decline in death penalty convictions, it creates a momentum that other states will at least consider to be a part of," said Richard Dieter, executive director of the independent Death...
NATIONAL
April 12, 2012 | By Tina Susman
Connecticut has become the 17th state to repeal the death penalty, with lawmakers voting 86-62 on the measure after a marathon debate that stretched into the night and revived memories of some of the state's most heinous crimes. Gov. Dannel Malloy has said he will sign the bill, which passed the House on Wednesday night, six days after the Senate approved it . The bill replaces capital punishment with life in prison without the possibility of parole, but it only applies to future cases and has no effect on the 11 men on death row in Connecticut.