Official account of the Death Penalty Information Center, serving the media and public with analysis & information concerning capital punishment
Steven Lynch, whose children, Alyssa and Caleb Lynch, were killed in a house fire set by Jeffrey Weisheit, is asking Indiana Governor Mike Braun to stop…
On October 20, 2026, Alabama Governor Kay Ivey granted clemency to death row prisoner Toforest Johnson (pictured, center), commuting his sentence to life…
On October 7, 2026, Judge Colonel Michael Schrama ruled Walid bin Attash’s statements to the FBI inadmissible at trial due to the agency’s failure to…
DPI’s “What to Know” series examines capital punishment from multiple angles, one topic at a time. Each installment provides essential facts and data on…
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has scheduled the execution of William Reaves, a 77-year-old Vietnam veteran, for October 20. Mr. Reaves was sentenced to…
On October 7, 2026, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced in a media interview that Nidal Hasan’s execution would be publicly live-streamed. The…
In the October 2026 episode of 12:01: The Death Penalty in Context, DPI Managing Director Anne Holsinger speaks with Amy Bergquist, a member of the…
On October 7, 2026, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced that the execution of Nidal Hasan—a man of Middle Eastern descent sentenced to death for…
On October 7, a Tennessee judge issued a broadly worded order requiring the state to preserve all evidence from the failed September 30 execution attempt…
The U.S. Army has set an execution date of December 3 for Nidal Hasan, who was convicted of killing 13 people in a mass shooting on the Fort Hood military…
Justin Wolfe (pictured, center, with his mother and uncle) was released from prison on September 28, 2026 after pleading guilty to marijuana distribution…
The attempted execution of Christa Pike in Tennessee has drawn national and international attention after Tennessee Department of Correction officials…
Robin Maher, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, discusses the growing questions surrounding Christa Pike's failed execution.
Christa Pike remained alive more than an hour after the state of Tennessee began its attempt to execute her on September 30, 2026. It was the latest in a…
During a local news conference on September 21, 2026, family members of homicide victims whose cases remain unsolved in Arizona called for sustained…
For updates on the botched execution attempt of Christa Pike on September 30, please see our full story here. On September 28, 2026, Governor Bill Lee…
Nearly two years after District Judge Arturo Nelson declared Texas death-sentenced prisoner Melissa Lucio “actually innocent,” the Texas Court of Criminal…
As Christa Pike’s execution approaches, her lawyers make an 11th-hour push for clemency while the mother of her 1995 murder victim prepares to witness the end.