A former Houston police officer was executed on Tuesday for hiring two people to murder his estranged wife over 30 years ago. Robert Fratta, 65, was executed by lethal injection at the state jail in Huntsville for the fatal shooting of his 33-year-old wife, Farah Fratta, in November 1994, during a contentious divorce and custody…

After announcing last week that leadership changes would be made at the Tennessee Department of Correction (TDOC) following major problems with lethal injection protocols, Gov. Bill Lee announced the appointment of a new commissioner to lead the department. Lee, a Republican, announced Frank Strada will take over the role effective Jan. 9. Interim Commissioner Lisa Helton…

Tennessee Department of Corrections (TDOC) officials failed to follow their own protocols in several executions and planned executions via lethal injection in the state since 2018, according to a third-party investigation and report released by Governor Bill Lee on Wednesday. An investigation into protocols for lethal injections in Tennessee was ordered by the Republican governor…

Mississippi is set to execute only the second person in the past decade on Dec. 14, a date recently set by the Mississippi Supreme Court. A federal judge rejected an appeal to halt the execution, as the inmate is currently suing the state over its use of three lethal injection drugs. Thomas Edwin Loden Jr., 58,…

Oregon Gov.Kate Brown announced on Dec. 13 that 17 inmates awaiting execution will instead have their death sentences changed to life in prison without the possibility of parole. “I have long believed that justice is not advanced by taking a life, and the state should not be in the business of executing people—even if a terrible…

PHOENIX—An Arizona prisoner who is scheduled to be executed in three weeks for two 1980 killings will be put to death by lethal injection. Attorneys for Murray Hooper said Wednesday that he declined to pick a method of execution when corrections officials asked him if he wanted to die by lethal injection or the gas…

The story is without a happy ending for most prisoners sitting on death row in the United States. But the fact remains that most of the 2,450 men and women awaiting execution committed brutal crimes. Some feel remorse, while others do not. The victims’ families demand closure, but the gears of justice grind slowly. The months drag…

McALESTER, Okla.—Oklahoma executed a man Thursday for a 1997 killing. James Coddington, 50, received a lethal injection at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester and was pronounced dead at 10:16 a.m. Gov. Kevin Stitt declined to commute Coddington’s sentence to life in prison without parole and rejected his petition for clemency. Coddington was the fifth…

An Arizona man convicted of killing a college student in 1978 was put to death Wednesday after a nearly eight-year hiatus in the state’s use of the death penalty brought on by an execution that critics say was botched—and the difficulty state officials faced in finding lethal injection drugs. Clarence Dixon, 66, died by lethal…

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals on Monday granted a stay of execution for a woman who was set to be judicially killed on Wednesday for the 2007 death of one of her 14 children, ordering a lower court to review new evidence in the case. Lawyers for Mexican-American Melissa Lucio, 52, say new evidence…