Media Issues
Second US federal execution set for Tuesday morning
By Kate Randall, June 19, 2001
Juan Raul Garza, a 44-year-old Mexican-American, will die by lethal injection at the federal penitentiary in Terre Haute, Indiana at 7 a.m. Central Daylight Time on June 19. Garza was convicted of three drug-related murders in 1993. His execution is to follow by only eight days the state killing of Oklahoma
Ohio executes schizophrenic death row inmate
By Kate Randall, June 16, 2001
Despite widespread protests both internationally and in the US, the state of Ohio executed 48-year-old Jay D. Scott on Thursday, June 14. Scott was a diagnosed schizophrenic with a low IQ who suffered an abusive childhood and spent all but 28 months in prison since the age of 13. He was only the second inma
Executions continue as US rejects worldwide moratorium on the death penalty
By Kate Randall, April 27, 2001
The United Nations Human Rights Commission called on Wednesday for a worldwide suspension of the death penalty. Twenty-seven members of the 53-state commission approved a European Union motion asking countries for a moratorium on executions as a move towards the eventual abolition of capital punishment. The
Nineteen US death row inmates executed so far this year
By Kate Randall, March 16, 2001
Nineteen people have been put to death in the US since the beginning of the year, bringing to 702 the number of executions since the US Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976. Another five men are scheduled to be executed before the end of the month. The executions of two other men were halted b
US set to execute 13 death row inmates this month
By Kate Randall, January 10, 2001
After a pause in executions in the US since before the Christmas holidays, 13 people are scheduled to be put to death between now and the end of the month. Seven of these executions are set to take place in Oklahoma, which executed 11 men last year. The state was second only to Texas, which carried out a re
Detroit police gun down another mentally ill man
By Debra Watson, December 21, 2000
A mentally ill Detroit resident, 22-year-old Sharrone Mathews, was shot dead by police early on the morning of December 13. Nearly a dozen officers fired 80 rounds of ammunition at the young man who had retreated into his home after being questioned by police about a car theft. Mathews died in the doorway o
Police fatally shoot eleven-year old boy in California drug raid
By Andrea Cappannari, September 20, 2000
Police fatally shot an eleven-year old boy on September 13 in Modesto, California, during a narcotics raid on the boy's home. Alberto Sepulveda, a seventh grader, died from a single gunshot wound through the back.
Workers speak out against police killings at Detroit town meeting
By Shannon Jones, September 19, 2000
A standing-room only audience of well over 500 people attended a September 14 meeting in Detroit called in response to mounting criticism of the city's police department, which has been involved in a spate of recent fatal shootings. The town hall meeting, called by the Board of Police Commissioners ostensib
Detroit police kill again
By Larry Roberts, September 15, 2000
In the early morning hours of September 8 another Detroit citizen was shot and killed by a police officer—the second fatal police shooting in the space of 10 days. The victim of the latest shooting was 49-year-old Dwight Turner, an autoworker at Ford Motor Company for over 20 years.
Michigan judge drops charges against security guard in choking death of Detroit man
By Kate Randall, September 8, 2000
A Michigan judge has dismissed charges against a security guard charged with involuntary manslaughter in the June 22 death of a man outside a Lord & Taylor department store in suburban Detroit. Dennis Richardson, 29, was indicted in the choking death of 32-year-old black worker Frederick Finley. He faced up
Detroit police kill deaf mute
By Jerry White, August 31, 2000
Detroit police officers on Tuesday shot and killed a deaf and mute man whom they say was “menacing” them with a garden rake. Relatives and neighbors who witnessed the shooting of 39-year-old Errol Shaw Sr. said police ignored their shouts that the man could not hear or speak and their pleas not
One thousand protest death penalty near Pennsylvania's death row
By Eula Holmes, August 23, 2000
On Sunday, August 13, close to 1,000 opponents of the death penalty attended a rally near the gates of the state prison that houses Pennsylvania's death row inmates and death chamber. The prison is located in Waynesburg, 45 miles south of Pittsburgh.
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