[BibChr]

I don't understand why some outlets call this an "execution." By what state entity? After what trial? For what crime?

It was just a cowardly, detestable murder.

Dan

[Numbers Guy]

I just hope that we don't put panties on their heads.

I'm sure that they were picked up a while ago and we're pumping them for information. I just hope that we aren't humiliating them to get this information [/sarcasm].

[atomicpossum]

I don't understand why some outlets call this an "execution."

I think it's the same reason some people call the shooting of John Lennon an 'assassination.' Sloppy language, and a desire to make it something more than it is.

[Ichneumon]

I don't understand why some outlets call this an "execution." By what state entity? After what trial? For what crime?

Capital killings as sentence for a criminal conviction is *one* meaning of the word "execution", sure, but not the *only* one. In the broader sense the word "execution" is used for killings which are done in a ritualized fashion in some manner, like mob-related "executions".

[Burkeman1]

Correct- it should be termed murder.