The Latest: Arkansas appeals decision blocking executions

The Latest on Arkansas' efforts to execute six men by the end of April : The state of Arkansas has appealed a federal judge's decision preventing it from executing several inmates before its supply of an execution drug expires at the end of the month. The attorney general filed paperwork saying the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis should overturn stays of execution granted earlier Saturday by U.S. District Judge Kristine Baker.

Arkansas’ multiple execution plan in limbo after rulings

Arkansas' push to resume executions after nearly 12 years with an already compromised plan to put eight men to death over 11 days is in limbo after a judge blocked the use of a lethal injection drug a supplier says officials misleadingly obtained and the state's highest court halted the execution of one of the first inmates who had been scheduled to die. A federal judge could further upend the plans, with a possible ruling on Saturday on whether to halt the executions over the inmates' complaints about the compressed timetable and the use of a controversial sedative in the lethal injections.

Arkansasa multiple execution plan appearing to unravel

Arkansas' already compromised plan to execute eight men by the end of the month appeared to unravel Friday, with a judge blocking the use of a lethal injection drug and the state's highest court granting a stay to one of the first inmates who had been scheduled to die. This undated file photo provided by the Arkansas Department of Correction shows Bruce Earl Ward, who has been scheduled for execution April 17, 2017.

AP News in Brief at 11:04 p.m. EDT

The U.S. commander in Afghanistan who ordered use of the "mother of all bombs" to attack an Islamic State stronghold near the Pakistani border didn't need and didn't request President Donald Trump's approval, Pentagon officials said Friday. The officials said that even before Trump took office in January, Gen.

Accelerated executions: Arkansas plans 8 over 10-day period

After nearly a dozen years without an execution, Arkansas is racing to put eight men to death next month over a 10-day period - an unprecedented timetable the state says is necessary because one of the three ingredients in the lethal injection will soon expire. If carried out, the executions beginning April 17 would make Arkansas the first state to execute that many inmates in such a short time since the death penalty was reinstated by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1976.

Arkansas obtains lethal injection drug ahead of eight executions

Arkansas has acquired a new supply of a drug needed for its lethal injections ahead of next month's scheduled executions of eight men over four nights, a state corrections spokesman said on Monday. Arkansas, which has not put an inmate to death since 2005, is one of several states where executions have been on hold because of legal battles and problems in procuring lethal injection drugs after a sales ban by major pharmaceutical makers.

Federal court to consider constitutionality of Ohio death penalty

In this November 2005 file photo, Larry Greene, public information director of the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility, demonstrates how a curtain is pulled between the death chamber and witness room at an Ohio prison. COLUMBUS, Ohio - A federal appeals court will hear arguments Tuesday over the constitutionality of Ohio's lethal injection process as the state tries to start carrying out executions once again.

Death penalty repeal bill not expected to advance

In this Jan. 16, 2017, file photo, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, second from left, speaks during a news conference at the Capitol in Olympia, Wash., to announce that he and Attorney General Bob Ferguson, third from left, have proposed legislation to abolish the death penalty in Washington state. Despite the backing from Inslee and Ferguson, it appears the measure still won't see a vote in either chamber of the Legislature, leaving it to suffer the same fate as repeal bills introduced in previous years.

Here are Trump Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsucha s most interesting decisions

Neil Gorsuch, who was nominated by President Donald Trump Tuesday night to fill the late Justice Antonin Scalia's seat on the Supreme Court, has earned a reputation for his incisive writing and and textual reading of the Constitution. But his deftly penned decisions and originalist stance are not the only characteristics he shares with Scalia.

Federal court allows appeal for killer of TCU professor

A federal appeals court is allowing attorneys for a 44-year-old convicted killer to move forward with an appeal that questions whether he's eligible for the death penalty for the 2004 suffocation of retired college professor abducted in Fort Worth. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled Edward Lee Busby may pursue arguments that he's mentally impaired, making him ineligible for execution, and that he's had deficient legal help at his trial and in earlier stages of his appeals.

Ohio seeks drug reversing lethal injection process if needed

Ohio's prisons agency is trying to obtain a drug that could reverse the lethal injection process if needed by stopping the effects of another drug previously used in problematic executions. The request to use the drug would come if executioners weren't confident the first of three lethal drugs would render a prisoner unconscious, Gary Mohr, director of the Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, said in federal court testimony Jan. 6. "Governor, I am not confident that we, in fact, can achieve a successful execution.

Ohio Supreme Court delays serial killer’s execution date

12, 2011 file photo, Anthony Sowell sits in a courtroom for rape and kidnapping charges in Cleveland. On Friday, Dec. 30, 2016, the Ohio Supreme Court it won't reconsider the death penalty appea... The Latest on accusations that Russia meddled in America's presidential election to help Donald Trump win : Chicago police say charges are expected against four people who police say beat a man in an assault that was broadcast live on Facebook.

Death penalty falls to new low as voters seek resurgence

Use of the death penalty in the United States fell to a historic low in 2016, even as voters in three states passed ballot initiatives in support of capital punishment, according to a year-end report from the Death Penalty Information Center . Thirty death sentences are expected to be imposed by the end of the year - a 39 percent decrease from 2015 - marking the lowest number of executions in a single year since 1972, the beginning of a four-year moratorium on capital punishment.