Commentary Bowing to intense political pressure, Oklahoma’s Kevin Stitt, the Republican governor of one of the nation’s reddest states, commuted on Thursday the death sentence of convicted murderer Julius Jones. Stitt’s commutation of Jones, who was convicted for a first-degree carjacking murder in one of the most reliably pro-death penalty states, is but the latest…

The Supreme Court late on Sept. 8 granted a last-minute reprieve to a convicted murderer in Texas who wants his pastor physically by his side, touching him, and praying aloud for him at the time of his execution. The case, Ramirez v. Collier, was filed with the Supreme Court on Sept. 7. The condemned man…

An Ohio mother who was charged with murder in the death of her young daughter will be eligible for the death penalty after she had her charges upgraded to capital murder.

SANTA ANA—A 45-year-old Lake Forest man is behind bars on a murder charge for allegedly beating his longtime spouse to death with a tire iron as she was arriving for work as a family’s nanny in Irvine, prosecutors said March 23. Omar Velazquezhuar is charged with murder a special circumstances allegation of lying in wait,…

Commentary The death penalty in the United States is on the verge of being snuffed out. The commonwealth of Virginia, which has executed more convicts than any other state in U.S. history, is now poised to abolish capital punishment. This is a big deal, as Virginia would become the first Southern state to eliminate the…