Death sentences
Archive theme
A death sentence is not the same thing as an execution: years can pass between the two, and the sentence may be overturned on appeal, commuted, or never carried out. Counting them separately measures two different things: how far a state resorts to capital punishment, and how far it actually applies it.
This page collects the news on death sentences handed down around the world, on the later stages of appeal, and on the sentences upheld or overturned. Executions have a page of their own.
Latest news
SEPTEMBER 14, 2017Sri LankaDEATH PENALTYSRI LANKA: DEATH SENTENCE IMPOSED ON FOUR IN KEGALLA
The Kegalla High Court sentenced to death four accused who stood indicted over a murder and were found guilty.
- SEPTEMBER 14, 2017CaliforniaDEATH PENALTY
USA - California. A jury today recommended the death penalty for Lorraine Hunter
USA - California. A jury today recommended the death penalty for Lorraine Hunter
SEPTEMBER 12, 2017IraqDEATH PENALTYIRAQ: ISIS FOREIGN FIGHTER SENTENCED TO DEATH
A Russian national convicted of being an ISIS fighter has been sentenced to death by a criminal court in Baghdad, Iraq's High Judicial Council announced.
- SEPTEMBER 11, 2017Congo - KinshasaDEATH PENALTY
Benin: one senteced to death
11 September 2017: the operational military Court of North Kivu made a decision in No. RP: 192/2017 and RP: 205/2017.
- SEPTEMBER 6, 2017ArizonaDEATH PENALTY
USA - Arizona. A jury sentenced Alan Champagne to death
USA - Arizona. A jury sentenced Alan Champagne to death
- SEPTEMBER 3, 2017IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN RE-IMPOSES DEATH SENTENCE ON SPIRITUAL FIGURE THAT SUPREME COURT QUASHED
An Iranian court has re-imposed the death penalty on the founder of a spiritual movement after the first sentence was struck down by the supreme court, the judiciary said.
AUGUST 27, 2017IraqDEATH PENALTYIRAQ: ISLAMIC STATE’S ‘CHEMICAL EMIR’ SENTENCED TO DEATH
Baghdad Iraq’s Central Criminal Court sentenced a prominent Islamic State chemical warfare developer to death, convicting him of developing some of the group’s deadliest weapons.
- AUGUST 25, 2017ArkansasDEATH PENALTY
USA - Arkansas. Gov. Hutchinson intends to commute Jason Farrell McGehee's sentence from death to life without parole
USA - Arkansas. Gov. Hutchinson intends to commute Jason Farrell McGehee's sentence from death to life without parole
- AUGUST 24, 2017FloridaDEATH PENALTY
USA - Florida. Mark Asay was put to death, the first time in the state's modern history a white man was executed for killing a black man. The execution was Florida's first with etomidate, never used before in a U.S. lethal injection
USA - Florida. Mark Asay was put to death, the first time in the state's modern history a white man was executed for killing a black man. The execution was Florida's first with etomidate, never used before in a U.S. lethal injection
- AUGUST 24, 2017CaliforniaDEATH PENALTY
USA - California. The California Supreme Court has upheld the constitutionality of Proposition 66
USA - California. The California Supreme Court has upheld the constitutionality of Proposition 66
- AUGUST 21, 2017BangladeshDEATH PENALTY
Bangladesh: 10 sentenced to death in PM Sheikh Hasina's assasination attempt
21 August 2017: Dhaka court has ordered execution of 10 people accussed in the assassination attempt of the current Prime Minister and Awami League chief Sheikh Hasina.
- AUGUST 17, 2017FloridaDEATH PENALTY
USA - Florida. A jury voted to sentence Sean Alonzo Bush to death
USA - Florida. A jury voted to sentence Sean Alonzo Bush to death
- AUGUST 17, 2017FloridaDEATH PENALTY
USA - Florida. A jury sentenced Shawn Rogers to death.
USA - Florida. A jury sentenced Shawn Rogers to death.
- AUGUST 7, 2017DEATH PENALTY
ARIZONA (USA): SAMMANTHA ALLEN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR MURDER OF COUSIN AME DEAL
A Maricopa County jury sentenced Sammantha Allen, 29, White, to death in the July 12, 2011 suffocation death of Ame Deal, 10, at the child's home.
- AUGUST 7, 2017ArizonaDEATH PENALTY
USA - Arizona. A jury sentenced Sammantha Allen, 29, White, to death in the suffocation death of Ame Deal, 10
USA - Arizona. A jury sentenced Sammantha Allen, 29, White, to death in the suffocation death of Ame Deal, 10
- JULY 29, 2017EgyptDEATH PENALTY
EGYPT: 8 SENTENCED TO DEATH OVER 2013 PROTESTS
A criminal court in Egypt sentenced to death eight defendants in a case related to the deadly protests of 2013 that followed the military-led ouster of former President Mohamed Morsi.
- JULY 28, 2017GhanaDEATH PENALTY
Court sentences 24-year woman to death for murder
28 July 2017: a 24-year old woman has been sentenced to death by a Kumasi High Court, presided over by Justice Charles Adjei Wilson, for the murder of a little boy – the only child of his mother.
- JULY 28, 2017ArkansasDEATH PENALTY
USA - Arkansas. A jury sentenced Brad Hunter Smith to death
USA - Arkansas. A jury sentenced Brad Hunter Smith to death
- JULY 27, 2017Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
SAUDI SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR TARGETING SECURITY MEN, CIVILIANS IN QATIF
The Supreme Judicial Council issued an initial death sentence in the case of a Saudi who has targeted security men and civilians in Qatif, east of the kingdom, through shooting them while performing their duties.
- JULY 25, 2017DEATH PENALTY
SOUTH CAROLINA (USA): TAKEN OFF DEATH ROW IN 2014, INTELLECTUALLY DISABLED KENNETH SIMMONS NOW GETS NEW TRIAL
South Carolina prosecutors announced on July 25 that they would not appeal a trial court ruling, granting a new, non-capital trial to former death-row prisoner Simmons.
JULY 25, 2017IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN: TWO PRISONERS HANGED AT ZANJAN CENRAL PRISON
According to close sources, two prisoners were executed on the morning at Zanjan Central Prison on drug related charges.
- JULY 20, 2017KenyaDEATH PENALTY
3 Kenya men sentenced to death for stripping, abusing woman
20 July 2017: a Kenyan court sentenced three men to death for stripping naked and abusing a woman during a wave of attacks by mobs claiming that women were inappropriately dressed.
- JULY 20, 2017LouisianaDEATH PENALTY
USA - Louisiana. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals reinstated Todd Kelvin Wessinger's death sentence
USA - Louisiana. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals reinstated Todd Kelvin Wessinger's death sentence
- JULY 19, 2017BangladeshDEATH PENALTY
BANGLADESH: 5 SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR KILLING GAZIPUR TRADER
A Gazipur court sentenced five people to death for killing a trader in Kaliganj upazila of the district in 2008, reports UNB.
- JULY 19, 2017NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
NIGERIA: MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR STEALING N3,000
An Osun State High Court sitting in Osogbo sentenced a man, Kayode Adedeji to death by hanging for robbing a woman of the sum of N3,420.
JULY 19, 2017EgyptDEATH PENALTYEGYPT: 13 SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR MURDERING FORMER CBE GOVERNOR’S BODYGUARD
Thirteen were sentenced to death by the Giza Criminal Court for the killing of former Central Bank Governor Hisham Ramez’s bodyguard.
- JULY 18, 2017DEATH PENALTY
FLORIDA (USA): RALPH WRIGHT EXONERATED FROM DEATH ROW
Ralph Wright has been freed. He is Florida's 27th Exonerated Death Row Survivor. After 3 years spent on Florida's death row for a crime he did not commit, Wright has been freed.
- JULY 18, 2017FloridaDEATH PENALTY
USA - Florida. Ralph Wright has been freed.
USA - Florida. Ralph Wright has been freed.
- JULY 18, 2017FloridaDEATH PENALTY
USA - Florida. A jury sentenced Larry Perry to death
USA - Florida. A jury sentenced Larry Perry to death
- JULY 17, 2017ZimbabweDEATH PENALTY
ZIMBABWE: DOUBLE KILLER SENTENCED TO DEATH BY HANGING
Robert Chiguma of Hwedza, who killed two people after being confronted over the theft of a kitchen cabinet, has been sentenced to death.