US Supreme Court upholds Oklahoma man’s death sentence
The U.S. Supreme Court has upheld the death sentence of an Oklahoma man convicted in the fatal shooting of his lover’s estranged husband.
Death Penalty
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Suit over federal executions likely headed back to SCOTUS
Death penalty experts say they expect justices of the United States Supreme Court ultimately will decide whether federal executions will resume at the United States Penitentiary in Terre Haute.
Year in Review: Baer death penalty reversal most-read IL story of 2019
A federal appeals court’s reversal of Madison County killer Fredrick Baer’s death sentence was the most-read story on the Indiana Lawyer’s digital edition, www.theindianalawyer.com. Indiana Lawyer readers clicked on stories on our website more than 2.6 million times between Jan. 1 and Dec. 10, 2019, according to Google Analytics. Here are the 50 most-viewed story headlines during that time.
Report: 5th straight year with under 30 executions in US
Fewer than 30 people were executed in the United States and under 50 new death sentences were imposed for the fifth straight year, part of a continuing decline in capital punishment that saw only a few states carry out executions, a new report issued Tuesday said.
7th Circuit order would have allowed federal execution
Though a Supreme Court order ultimately prevented the government from executing an Indiana inmate on Monday, an earlier 7th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling would have allowed the execution to proceed as scheduled.
Indiana judge stays federal execution as death penalty fight proceeds in court
An Indiana federal inmate who was scheduled to be put to death this week received a stay of the death penalty days before his execution date.
Supreme Court keeps federal executions on hold
The US Supreme Court on Friday blocked the Trump administration from restarting federal executions this week after a 16-year break. Executions had been scheduled to resume today at the federal prison in Terre Haute.
US seeks high court permission to resume federal executions
The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court on Monday for permission to begin executing federal inmates as soon as next week. The Justice Department said in a filing late Monday that lower courts were wrong to put the executions on hold.
Defense attorneys feud over who represents death penalty defendant in officer’s shooting
Defense attorneys representing Jason Brown, an Indianapolis man facing the death penalty for allegedly killing a police officer, are feuding with his appointed counsel, raising the question again of when a defendant’s right to counsel ends.
DOJ would take halted executions to high court
Attorney General William Barr told The Associated Press on Thursday that he would take the Trump administration’s bid to restart federal executions after a 16-year hiatus to the Supreme Court if necessary. Barr’s comments came hours after a district court judge temporarily blocked the administration’s plans to start executions next month.
Federal death row inmate denied stay of execution
A man sentenced to die by lethal injection at the federal prison in Terre Haute was denied a stay of execution in federal court Wednesday, narrowing his remaining appeals and potentially setting the stage for his execution scheduled next month to proceed.
Indiana’s Catholic bishops want renewed execution freeze
Indiana’s Roman Catholic bishops are calling for a renewed moratorium on executions at the federal penitentiary in Terre Haute.
Southern District finds ‘immediate need’ to remove, amend death penalty rule
The Indiana Southern District Court determined there was an immediate need to delete Local Criminal Rule 6-1 – Petitions Under 28 U.S.C. Section 2254 or 2255 in Cases Involving a Sentence of Capital Punishment, according to a Monday notice. In response, the rule was replaced with the adoption of Local Criminal Rule 38-2 – Cases Challenging the Conviction and/or Sentence Where a Sentence of Death Has Been Imposed.
Jury selection begins for Clark County man accused of murder, cannibalism
Jury selection began Monday in the trial of a southern Indiana man accused of killing his ex-girlfriend and eating parts of her body nearly five years ago. Prosecutors say Joseph Oberhansley, 38, broke into the Jeffersonville home of his 46-year-old ex-girlfriend, Tammy Jo Blanton, in September 2014, and then raped her, fatally stabbed her and ate parts of her body.
Indiana DOC doesn’t have the drugs to kill death row inmates
The Indiana Department of Correction has confirmed the state doesn’t have the necessary drugs to execute any of the eight men who are on death row.
7th Circuit rules against inmate’s FOIA requests in triple-murder
A Southern District Court judge’s order that the federal government disclose personal information stemming from a triple murder it had previously refused to turn over has been reversed. The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals found that public interest does not support the information’s disclosure, simultaneously affirming that certain documents were protected by an exception of the Freedom of Information Act.
Resuming executions: As DOJ reinstates capital punishment, Southern District unsure what’s next
With federal death row in its jurisdiction, the Southern Indiana District Court is preparing but does not know what to expect as the U.S. Department of Justice moves forward with the resumption of executions after nearly two decades.
Over objection, court appoints public defenders to death penalty case
The Indianapolis man facing a possible death penalty for allegedly killing a Southport police officer is scheduled to appear in court Friday with a new legal team, including the former dean of Valparaiso University Law School.
Five federal death row inmates face executions beginning this year
After the Justice Department announced Thursday that it will resume executing death row prisoners for the first time in nearly two decades, five inmates are facing potential execution dates at the high-security U.S. Penitentiary in Terre Haute.
Justice Department will execute inmates for first time since 2003
The Justice Department said Thursday that it will carry out executions of federal death row inmates for the first time since 2003.