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CHICAGO (AFP) - A death row inmate who was denied the chance to donate his liver to his ailing sister was put to death after the governor of Indiana rejected his last-minute clemency request. Gregory Scott Johnson, 40, died by lethal injection shortly after midnight (0500 GMT), said Indiana corrections spokeswoman Java Ahmed. Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels said he denied the request on the advice of doctors who said Johnson was not a suitable donor because he is overweight and has Hepatitis B. Johnson was convicted in 1986 of beating an 82-year-old woman to death during a burglary and setting...

The lethal injection that peacefully dispatched Michael Ross did far more violence to New England's sense of self than to the serial killer. The region hadn't witnessed an execution in four decades. The sight of harsh Southern customs creeping into their blue-state bastion deeply unnerved many New Englanders. Twelve states currently do not have the death penalty. They are mostly in New England and the upper Midwest. Many others, including Connecticut, have it on the books but generally don't execute people. Capital punishment has become a major source of anti-U.S. feelings in Europe and elsewhere. But most Europeans don't understand...

The lethal injection that peacefully dispatched Michael Ross did far more violence to New England's sense of self than to the serial killer. The region hadn't witnessed an execution in four decades. The sight of harsh Southern customs creeping into their blue-state bastion deeply unnerved many New Englanders.

BONNE TERRE, Mo. -- A twice-convicted murderer who strangled a 9-year-old girl in St. Louis in 1986 was executed early Wednesday after a split vote by the U.S. Supreme Court. Vernon Brown, 51, was pronounced dead at 2:25 a.m. at the Eastern Reception Diagnostic and Correctional Center, nearly 2 1/2 hours after his execution was scheduled. The execution was delayed when U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas issued a temporary stay shortly after midnight. But on a 5-4 vote, the court later lifted that stay and denied the stay. Lawyers for Brown had argued that the drugs used in lethal...

SOMERS, Conn., May 12 - Demonstrators Thursday protested Connecticut's plans to execute a convicted serial killer early Friday morning, after two decades of legal efforts to prevent his death appeared to have failed and he declared his desire to die. Death penalty opponents held vigil outside the rural complex of state prisons where the killer, Michael Bruce Ross, was waiting for a warden to lead him to the execution chamber and an unidentified executioner was to administer a lethal injection into his arm at 2:01 a.m.. Mr. Ross, 45, had sought that fatal moment for nearly a year. In defiance...

(Somers-AP, May 12, 2005 Update 11:28 PM ) _ A serial killer who struggled to hasten his own death -- and was forced to prove he wasn't out of his mind -- awaited lethal injection early Friday in New England's first execution in 45 years. Michael Ross, 45, was scheduled to be put to death at 2:01 a.m. after fighting off attempts by public defenders, death penalty foes and his own family to save his life. The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York rejected two last-minute appeals from Ross' relatives late Thursday afternoon, and the U.S. Supreme...

Serial Killer Michael Ross Executed in Connecticut

Connecticut Carries Out Its First Execution in 45 Years By WILLIAM YARDLEY and STACEY STOWE SOMERS, Conn., May 13 - Connecticut carried out its first execution in 45 years early today, administering a lethal injection to Michael Bruce Ross, a convicted serial killer who abandoned his appeals and died willingly after 18 years on death row. About 300 death penalty opponents held vigil in the cold and dark outside the rural complex of state prisons where a warden led Mr. Ross to the execution chamber and an unidentified executioner began administering a lethal injection into his arm shortly after the...

(Somers-WTNH/AP, May 13, 2005 Updated 5:30 AM) _ A serial killer who fought to hasten his own execution and was forced to prove he wasn't out of his mind was put to death early Friday in New England's first execution in 45 years. Michael Ross, 45, died by injection at 2:25 a.m. after fighting off attempts by public defenders, death penalty foes and his own family to spare his life. "Today is a day no one truly looked forward to, but then no one looked forward to the brutal, heinous deaths of those eight young girls," Gov. M. Jodi Rell...

Capano's execution date delayed Another delay for the execution of Tom Capano. Superior Court Judge Henley Graves today stayed the June seventh execution date he set nearly two months ago. The stay will allow Capano's appeal to the Delaware Supreme Court to be considered. Capano was sentenced to death for the murder of Anne Marie Fahey in 1996. Prosecutors said Capano killed Fahey, the scheduling secretary for then-governor Tom Carper, because she was breaking off an affair with him. The Delaware Supreme Court is still also considering a motion by Capano's attorney, Joseph Bernstein, to appoint a lawyer to represent...

RALEIGH, N.C. -- The killer of two women and a pair of young children was executed by injection early Friday after failed attempts by lawyers to reduce his sentence to life in prison. Earl Richmond Jr., 43, was pronounced dead at 2:19 a.m. at the state's Central Prison in Raleigh, said Pamela Walker, spokeswoman for the state Corrections Department. Richmond spent Thursday meeting with family members and his lawyers, Walker said. One of Richmond's attorneys, Jonathan Broun, said Richmond transformed himself in prison. Richmond had discovered religion and felt sorrow for his victims. "The old Earl Richmond that did these...

RALEIGH, N.C. — Relatives of those killed in Sgt. Hasan Akbar's grenade attack on his comrades said yesterday that he deserved a jury's death sentence, but experts in military law say it's hardly certain the execution will ever happen. The military hasn't executed one of its own since 1961, while states have put scores of civilian killers to death. Experts say the key difference in military justice is the role of the president, who, unlike a governor, must take an active role when a service member gets the ultimate punishment. ''It is unique to the military justice system that there...

HUNTSVILLE — Lonnie Wayne Pursley kept going to prison for longer and longer terms but also kept getting paroled thanks to a shortage of prison space in Texas in the 1990s.A jury in Polk County ensured he wouldn't get out again when they convicted him in 1999 of capital murder and sentenced him to death for the fatal beating and robbery of a 47-year-old East Texas man.Pursley, 43, was scheduled to receive lethal injection Tuesday evening. He would be the sixth Texas prisoner executed this year.The U.S. Supreme Court last month refused to review his case. Attorneys trying to halt...

Gay blackmailer hanged in Iran 30/04/2005 13:36 - (SA) Tehran - An Iranian convicted of blackmailing his gay partners with videotapes of their sex acts has been hanged, reports said on Saturday. Hadi Safdari was executed in Bojnourd in the eastern province of South Khorasan, the Qods newspaper said citing the local judiciary. In Safadari's case, the death sentence appears to have been handed down for rape, as the blackmail was deemed to have removed any element of consent. But Iran's Islamic regime also imposes the death penalty for consensual "sodomy" where the offence is repeated and the convict is...

I got a few emails from some Christians after my last column, “A Time to Kill,” ran. They found my easiness with executing confessed and convicted child molesters, rapists and murderers to be offensive and un-Christ like. They stated that I showed a “lack of love” for these culprits whom Christ “cares for,” and that I should “err on the side of mercy” towards these marauders and “love my enemies,” as this would be “the Christian thing to do.” Yes, I was electronically told by this, merciful-to-the-molester-minority, who thinks they’re siding with God when they support sustaining killers who forcefully...

The military has not executed one of its own since 1961, while states have put scores of civilian killers to their deaths. Specialists say the key difference in military justice is the role of the president, who unlike a governor, must take an active role in signing off when a service member gets the ultimate punishment.

ATMORE - Mario Giovanni Centobie, a killer and escape artist, smiled slightly and gave a thumbs-up before he was executed Thursday night for the 1998 murder of Moody police Officer Keith Turner. Centobie, strapped to a gurney, stared at the ceiling, fidgeted nervously, repeatedly broke into a grin and sometimes nodded his head. He said nothing. He didn't acknowledge his mother or brother sitting in a witness room to his right, or the relatives and co-workers of Turner in a separate witness room straight ahead. Divorced for 10 years, Centobie wore his wedding ring. He was pronounced dead at 6:22...

CLOUDCROFT, N.M. -- The man who shot and killed an Otero County sheriff's deputy in December already had been wounded and subdued when he was shot, a prosecutor said. District Attorney Scott Key has been tightlipped about the investigation and voluntary manslaughter indictment against Otero County sheriff's Sgt. Billy Anders in the death of Earl Flippen. But Key told the Albuquerque Journal that Flippen was wounded and handcuffed and was not a threat when he was shot again. A medical examiner's report released this week says Flippen's body arrived for an autopsy with his hands cuffed behind his back. The...

BONNE TERRE, Mo. (AP) - An inmate who fatally stabbed his grandmother more than 30 times to get cash for crack cocaine was executed early Wednesday in Missouri's new death chamber. Donald Jones, 38, died by injection at 12:07 a.m. at the Eastern Reception, Diagnostic and Correctional Center. Jones' relatives had asked Gov. Matt Blunt to spare his life, arguing the 68-year-old victim would not have sought vengeance against her grandson. Blunt declined to intervene Tuesday, for the second time in a little more than a month refusing to grant clemency to a condemned inmate despite a recommendation to do...

Facing execution shortly after midnight for murdering his grandmother 12 years ago, Donald Jones met with relatives Tuesday evening and hoped for a reprieve from the U.S. Supreme Court. Jones, 38, was to die by lethal injection shortly after 12:01 a.m. at the new state prison in Bonne Terre, Mo. He visited with his family in a waiting room that is next to the death chamber. This morning, Gov. Matt Blunt denied a request by Jones’ family that he reduce the sentence to life in prison. Shortly after 6 p.m., the Eighth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis...