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Father executed for setting fire that killed three kids06:58 PM CST on Tuesday, February 17, 2004Associated Press HUNTSVILLE, Texas – Spewing profanities at his ex-wife standing a few feet away, an angry former auto mechanic was executed Tuesday evening for the deaths of his three young children in a fire at their home two days before Christmas 12 years ago. "The only statement I want to make is that I am an innocent man convicted of a crime I did not commit," Cameron Willingham, an Ardmore, Okla., native, said. "I have been persecuted for 12 years for something I did...

<p>BEIJING, China (AP) -- A man convicted of 67 murders was executed Saturday after what Chinese media said might be the country's longest, deadliest killing spree in modern history.</p> <p>Yang Xinhua, 38, was put to death in Luohe, the city where he was convicted February 1 in the central province of Henan, state television and the official Xinhua News Agency reported.</p>

SERIAL KILLER EXECUTED A man convicted of 67 murders has been executed in China following one of the worst crime sprees in the nation's recent history. Yang Xinhua, 38, was convicted of killings in the central province of Henan and three other provinces during a string of attacks over a three-year period. Yang was also convicted of 23 rapes during his crime spree, which began following his release from a labour camp where he served a term for rape and theft. Little is known about his motives, but earlier reports said Yang had been dumped by his girlfriend and "desperately...

Feb. 12, 2004, 8:34PM Convicted killer in two knife slayings executedAssociated Press HUNTSVILLE -- A former bull rider from New Mexico was executed tonight for fatally slashing and stabbing two young women more than 10 years ago while he was on probation for a drug conviction. "Warden, at this time I have no statement, sir," Bobby Ray Hopkins said when asked if he had a final statement. As the lethal drugs began taking effect, he gasped and gurgled. Eight minutes later at 8:19 p.m., he was pronounced dead. Hopkins, 36, was the sixth Texas inmate put to death this...

HUNTSVILLE, Texas (AP) - Maintaining his innocence, a convicted killer was executed Wednesday for a 1991 triple slaying in which one victims was a 10-year-old girl pregnant with his child. "I just want to say I am not sad or bitter with anybody," Edward Lagrone said in a brief final statement. "Like I've said from Day One, I didn't kill them. But I'm no better than the people that did." He concluded by saying: "Jesus is Lord. That's all I have to say." After the lethal injection, Lagrone, 46, sputtered and gasped before he was pronounced dead seven minutes later....

10:06 PM PST on Monday, SAN FRANCISCO - The U.S. Supreme Court declined Monday night to overrule an appellate court's stay of execution for a convicted killer who pleaded that tests on the evidence would prove his innocence. Acting unanimously, the justices denied a request by the state of California to vacate the ruling by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which said earlier Monday that justice demands the execution be delayed. Justices John Paul Stevens and Ruth Bader Ginsburg also said they would have stayed the execution based on a separate appeal from Kevin Cooper himself. Cooper, who...

<p>SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A condemned murderer whose bid for clemency has won support from celebrities including Denzel Washington was set to be executed early today, the first death penalty case for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.</p> <p>Kevin Cooper, who was convicted in the 1983 hacking deaths of four persons, was scheduled to be executed just after midnight at San Quentin Prison after spending 19 years on death row.</p>

SAN FRANCISCO – A federal appeals court on Monday barred convicted killer Kevin Cooper's pending execution, saying evidence in his case should get a fresh look after 18 years of appeals. The decision by an 11-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals came less than eight hours before Cooper was to be executed by lethal injection for hacking four people to death in 1983. California asked the U.S. Supreme Court to overrule the 9th Circuit and allow the execution to take place; as of Monday evening, the nation's highest court had yet to rule. Cooper's death warrant...

<p>A federal appeals court intervened dramatically Monday afternoon to block the execution of Kevin Cooper, less than eight hours before he was to die by lethal injection for the murders of two adults and two children in 1983.</p> <p>The 9-2 ruling by the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals left Cooper's fate up to the U.S. Supreme Court, which had the power to lift the appeals court's stay of execution. Even before the appeals court acted, California Attorney General Bill Lockyer's office asked the high court to undo a temporary stay of execution that the appellate court had imposed Monday morning.</p>

Rev. Jesse Jackson, Celebrities Demonstrate Outside Schwarzenegger's Home LOS ANGELES -- A federal appeals court granted a stay that may block the execution early Tuesday morning of condemned killer Kevin Cooper, who has won support from celebrities including Denzel Washington and the Rev. Jesse Jackson. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday morning granted a request for an 11-judge rehearing of the case. It would be California's first execution in two years. In his first such act as governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger denied clemency for Cooper. It was not immediately clear when the en banc panel would hear the...

<p>Barring a successful last-minute appeal, a convicted murderer who has spent 19 years on death row is set to die this week -- California's first execution in two years.</p> <p>Kevin Cooper, who was convicted in the 1983 hacking deaths of four people and is to be executed at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday at San Quentin Prison, has won support from death penalty opponents including Ruben "Hurricane" Carter, religious leaders and Hollywood actors.</p>

<p>SAN FRANCISCO, California (AP) -- Barring a successful last-minute appeal, a convicted murderer who has spent 19 years on death row is set to die this week -- California's first execution in two years.</p> <p>Kevin Cooper, who was convicted in the 1983 hacking deaths of four people and is to be executed at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday at San Quentin Prison, has won support from death penalty opponents including Ruben "Hurricane" Carter, religious leaders and Hollywood actors.</p>

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has rejected pleas from Hollywood actors to spare the life of a man who chopped up four people with a hatchet. Such Tinseltown "experts" as Sean Penn, Janeane Garofalo, Danny Glover, Mike Farrell, Richard Dreyfuss, Denzel Washington and Anjelica Huston, some of whom have actually graduated from high school, want murderer Kevin Cooper to be freed or to continue getting taxpayer-supplied room and board, as he has for the past 19 years. Oh, and Jesse Jackson, Noam Chomsky, Angela Davis and International Socialist Organization also want to spare him. Instead Cooper is scheduled to die for...

Prison Officials and Protesters Prepare for Cooper Execution Administrators at San Quentin State Prison are preparing for California's first execution in two years. Convicted murderer Kevin Cooper is scheduled to be executed just after midnight Tuesday. Even as officials went about restricting inmates and curbing visitation, Cooper's supporters were making last-ditch efforts to stay the execution until further evidence can be tested. The Rev. Jesse Jackson attended church at Allen Temple Baptist Church in Oakland and made a plea on Cooper's behalf. "We appeal to Gov. Schwarzenegger, to Attorney General Lockyer not to kill Kevin Cooper tomorrow night," said...

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A federal court ruled on Friday that lethal injection does not constitute cruel and unusual punishment, clearing the way for the execution next week of a man convicted of hacking four people to death. Kevin Cooper, 46, is due to be executed on Tuesday for using a hatchet and buck knife to kill two parents, their 10-year-old daughter and her friend in 1983. He says he is innocent. If the execution goes through it will be California's first in just over two years and the 11th since 1976. "There also appear to be questions concerning the...

Human Corpse Exhibit Stirs Outrage POSTED: 3:35 PM EST February 3, 2004 UPDATED: 5:58 PM EST February 3, 2004DALIAN, China -- Hidden in a maze of factories in the heart of this northeastern Chinese port city is the house Gunther von Hagens built -- and, for many, a place where nightmares are created.Inside von Hagens' sprawling, well-guarded compound, behind a leaning metal fence pocked with holes, are more than 800 human beings - 200 of his staffers and 645 dead bodies in steel cases from almost a dozen nations. The anatomist, whose exhibits of preserved human corpses have riled religious...

<p>SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (search) denied clemency Friday to a man convicted of murdering a couple, their 10-year-old daughter and their daughter's friend with a buck knife and a hatchet.</p> <p>It was the first death penalty case for the new Republican governor and the decision cleared the way for Kevin Cooper's (search) execution, scheduled for Feb. 10.</p>

'Hang him': Judge: Noose or needle for killer Sampson By J.M. Lawrence Friday, January 30, 2004 A federal judge yesterday ordered killer Gary Lee Sampson to die by lethal injection ``or hanging'' in New Hampshire where families of three men he murdered can more easily watch his execution for ``despicable, inexplicable and inexcusable crimes.'' ``If anyone deserves the death penalty, you do,'' U.S. District Court Judge Mark Wolf told Sampson, 44, proclaiming a New England death sentence as appropriate ``retribution'' for Sampson's six-day killing spree in 2001. Rejecting the government's plan to execute Sampson in Terre Haute, Ind., the judge...

<p>A death row inmate confessed to over a dozen killings just before he was executed Wednesday night, about a month after his punishment was postponed while courts considered an appeal.</p> <p>After he was strapped to the death chamber gurney, Billy Frank Vickers, 58, admitted for the first time that he shot grocery store owner Phillip Kinslow during a botched robbery in 1993. He was being executed for that crime.</p>

HUNTSVILLE, Texas (AP) - A death row inmate confessed to over a dozen killings just before he was executed Wednesday night, about a month after his punishment was postponed while courts considered an appeal. After he was strapped to the death chamber gurney, Billy Frank Vickers, 58, admitted for the first time that he shot grocery store owner Phillip Kinslow during a botched robbery in 1993. He was being executed for that crime. "It was nothing personal, I was just trying to make a living," Vickers said. Vickers also took credit Wednesday for more than a dozen other killings. He...