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It's the central question of the current U.S. death penalty debate, highlighted by the latest execution involving a disputed sedative that appeared to involve discomfort to the inmate. States struggling to find lethal drugs believe they've got the answer in midazolam, a sedative that's taking the place of barbiturates and anesthetics no longer available because drug manufacturers don't want them used in executions.
Arkansas will reach the end of an aggressive execution schedule Thursday as it prepares for a fourth lethal injection in a week after initially planning twice as many over an 11-day period. Kenneth Williams, 38, is set to die for killing a former deputy warden following an escape.
Eric Frein, the would-be revolutionary who shot two Pennsylvania troopers, one fatally, in a late-night attack at their barracks, was sentenced to death late Wednesday. The jury's decision that Frein should die by lethal injection brought a shouted "yes!" from a gallery that included high-ranking state police brass, the slain officer's mother and the trooper who suffered debilitating injuries after Frein shot him with a high-powered rifle.
The rate at which minorities are subjected to stops, searches and frisks by police doesn't appear to be improving in Boston. A federal judge in San Francisco has blocked a Trump administration order to withhold funding from communities that limit cooperation with U.S. immigration authorities.
The rate at which minorities are subjected to stops, searches and frisks by police doesn't appear to be improving in Boston. The rate at which minorities are subjected to stops, searches and frisks by police doesn't appear to be improving in Boston.
Internet companies are readying for a showdown with a Republican-controlled government over threats to net neutrality, a key issue for them and their users. Internet companies are readying for a showdown with a Republican-controlled government over threats to net neutrality, a key issue for them and their users.
This combination of file photos shows one of the three drugs that the Arkansas Department of Correction purchased to perform several executions. The top photo, provided by the ADC, shows a bottle of Midazolam, with the manufacturer's information blacked out by the ADC.
After going nearly 12 years without executing an inmate, Arkansas now has executed three in a few days -- including two in one night. Jack Jones and Marcel Williams received lethal injections on the same gurney Monday night, just about three hours apart.
Two inmates received lethal injections on the same gurney Monday night about three hours apart as Arkansas completed the nation's first double execution since 2000, just days after the state ended a nearly 12-year hiatus on administering capital punishment. While the first inmate, Jack Jones, 52, was executed on schedule, shortly after 7 p.m., attorneys for the second, Marcel Williams, 46, convinced a federal judge minutes later to briefly delay his execution over concerns about how the earlier one was carried out.
This undated file photo provided by the Arkansas Department of Correction shows death-row inmate Jack Jones, who is one of two Arkansas killers set to die Monday, April 24, 2017, in the nation's first double execution in more than 16 years.
Two condemned Arkansas killers who admit they're guilty but fear their poor health could lead to extreme pain during lethal injections set for Monday might become the first inmates put to death in a double execution in the U.S. in more than 16 years. Jack Jones and Marcel Williams are set to die in what would be the second and third executions in Arkansas this month.
California has long been what one expert calls a "symbolic death penalty state," one of 12 that has capital punishment on the books but has not executed anyone in more than a decade. Prodded by voters and lawsuits, the nation's most populous state may now be easing back toward allowing executions, though observers are split on how quickly they will resume, if at all.
The State had planned to execute eight inmates over 10 days starting April 17, but four of the men have received stays for various reasons. Before Lee's death, all executions were put on hold in the state after a judge issued a restraining order on a key lethal injection drug.
After a protracted legal battle, Arkansas carried out its first execution since 2005 using the controversial drug, Midazolam. Ledell Lee, who was convicted of murder in 1995, died on Thursday night at 11:56 p.m., twelve minutes after receiving the lethal drug cocktail.
Arkansas has overcome a flurry of court challenges which derailed three other executions and put to death an inmate for the first time in nearly 12 years. Ledell Lee's execution was among eight originally scheduled before a lethal injection drug expires on April 30 - a plan which would have been the country's most ambitious since the death penalty was restored in 1976.
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Arkansas was able to conduct its first execution in nearly a dozen years despite a flurry of legal challenges that had spared three convicted killers, but courts still could scuttle the remainder the nation's most ambitious death penalty schedule since capital punishment was restored in 1976. Ledell Lee was pronounced dead at 11:56 p.m. Thursday, four minutes before his death warrant was due to expire at midnight, capping a chaotic week of legal wrangling.
In this Monday evening, April 17, 2017 photo, the sun sets behind clouds over an Arkansas State Police command post outside the Varner Unit of the Arkansas Department of Correction near Varner, Ark. As state officials prepare to carry out a double execution Thursday ahead of a drug expiration deadline and despite the setback the U.S. Supreme Court delivered late Monday, lawyers for those condemned men look to be taking a different approach: claiming the prisoners are actually innocent.
In this Monday evening, April 17, 2017 photo, the sun sets behind clouds over an Arkansas State Police command post outside the Varner Unit of the Arkansas Department of Correction near Varner, Ark. As state officials prepare to carry out a double execution Thursday ahead of a drug expiration deadline and despite the setback the U.S. Supreme Court delivered late Monday, lawyers for those condemned men look to be taking a different approach: claiming the prisoners are actually innocent.
A survivalist who shot and killed a Pennsylvania State Police trooper and injured another in an ambush at their barracks will now fight for his own life following his conviction on capital murder charges. Eric Frein, 33, was convicted Wednesday of all 12 charges he faced more than two years after targeting the state police in a late-night sniper attack.