Supreme Court upholds man’s death sentence
The Indiana Supreme Court affirmed a man’s death sentence Tuesday after he pleaded guilty to brutally murdering a woman.
Death Penalty
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Man on death row loses habeas petition before 7th Circuit
The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld rulings lifting a stay on a man’s habeas corpus petition and dismissing his claims after the appellate court held his claims could be decided based on the state-court record.
Jury selection scheduled in killing of Gary police officer
Jury selection has been scheduled to begin in January in the trial of a man accused of killing of a Gary police officer.
Supreme Court denies hearing Indiana death penalty case
The United States Supreme Court denied a writ of certiorari filed in the case of Tommy Pruitt, meaning the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals decision that reversed the death penalty for Pruitt will stand.
SCOTUS rejects Evansville SWAT raid, death penalty appeals
A 7th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling against the city of Evansville for a bungled SWAT raid will stand, as will the death sentence of a Gary man convicted in the 2007 shooting deaths of his wife and two stepchildren. The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear those appeals Monday.
Justices: Kentucky death sentence wrongly overturned
Justices ruled Monday that a federal appeals court was wrong to overturn Roger Wheeler’s sentence based on the exclusion of a juror who expressed reservations about the death penalty.
New Albany man challenges death sentence in 2012 murder
An attorney for a southern Indiana man convicted of killing three women argued Thursday that his death sentence in one of the slayings should be thrown out because the judge didn't sufficiently consider the importance of his confession.
Suspected killer cancels request to represent himself
A northwest Indiana man charged with strangling two women has decided not to represent himself during his upcoming trial.
Gary man charged with killing 2 seeks to represent himself
A northwest Indiana man charged with strangling two women and who could face the death penalty if convicted is asking a judge to allow him to represent himself during the trial.
Murder exonoree to speak at IU McKinney
An Ohio man sentenced to death for the 1975 murder of a money-order salesman in Cleveland and later declared innocent in 2015 will speak at Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law Friday.
Supreme Court troubled by DA’s rejection of black jurors
The Supreme Court of the United States appears troubled by the actions of a Georgia prosecutor in disqualifying all the black prospective jurors from the death penalty trial of a black teenager who was accused of killing an elderly white woman.
Attorney general wants SCOTUS to reinstate death penalty
Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller announced Tuesday that he is asking the Supreme Court of the United States to reinstate the death penalty for Tommy R. Pruitt, who was convicted in the 2001 murder of a Morgan County sheriff’s deputy.
Supreme Court affirms death sentence for Floyd County man
Finding the trial court did not err or abuse its discretion during the selection of jurors for the murder trial of William Clyde Gibson II, the Indiana Supreme Court affirmed his death penalty sentence.
7th Circuit divided over appeal from death row inmate
A split 7th Circuit Court of Appeals denied an inmate on Indiana’s death row a chance for a new trial, finding the exclusion of a witness’s videotaped interview which could have possibly exonerated him was inadmissible as hearsay.
Justices allow new hearings in North Carolina capital cases
The Supreme Court of the United States has left in place lower court rulings ordering hearings over jurors in two North Carolina death penalty trials who reached beyond the jury room for biblical references to help their deliberations.
AG may appeal death penalty reversal in deputy’s slaying
The state is considering whether it will appeal a federal court ruling Tuesday that reversed the death penalty imposed on a man convicted of killing a Morgan County deputy sheriff nearly 14 years ago.
Death sentence reversed in 2001 slaying of Morgan deputy
The death sentence imposed on a man for the killing Morgan County Deputy Sheriff Daniel Starnes in 2001 has been reversed by the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals.
Boston Marathon bomber to be sentenced June 24
Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev will be formally sentenced to death on June 24.
Justices find nature of murders supports death penalty
A Gary man who shot and killed his wife and her two children at close range will remain on death row, the Indiana Supreme Court concluded Wednesday.
Boston Marathon bomber sentenced to death
A jury sentenced Dzhokhar Tsarnaev to death Friday for the Boston Marathon bombing, sweeping aside pleas that he was just a "kid" who fell under the influence of his fanatical older brother.