A Florida man will soon learn whether he will be sentenced to death or life in prison for fatally shooting five women in a bank in 2019. Jury selection starts Monday in the penalty trial of 27-year-old Zephen Xaver, who pleaded guilty last year to murder. The trial only will determine his sentence. Security video from Sebring's SunTrust bank shows Xaver shot the four bank employees and a customer in their heads after making them lie on the floor. Prosecutors are expected to argue the killings were planned and cruel, deserving of death. Xaver’s attorneys are expected to cite his years-long mental health problems as they seek leniency.
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A Missouri inmate who is weeks away from execution is in a hospital after suffering what a Missouri Department of Corrections spokeswoman described as a “medical emergency." David Hosier is scheduled to be put to death June 11 for killing a Jefferson City couple, Angela and Rodney Gilpin, in 2009. His attorney, Jeremy Weis, says a prison doctor diagnosed Hosier with heart failure this week. Hosier’s sister, Barbara Morrill, says he has atrial fibrillation, which causes an irregular heartbeat. It wasn’t immediately clear if the condition could postpone the execution. Hosier, who says he is innocent, is 69 years old. Morrill says her brother first became ill about a week and ago.
Iran’s official IRNA news agency reported that a tycoon's death sentence has been commuted to 20 years in prison after he returned around $2.1 billion in assets from illegally selling oil abroad. IRNA cited a spokesman for the judiciary in its report on Tuesday. The 48-year-old Babak Zanjani was sentenced to death in 2016 over a number of charges. They included money laundering, forgery and fraud that disrupted the country’s economy. IRNA quoted judiciary spokesman Asghar Jahangir as saying that an appeal for amnesty by Zanjani was reviewed and his death sentence was “commuted to 20 years of prison term after approval by the Supreme Leader.“ Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has the final say on all state matters and occasionally issues pardons.
A rapper in Iran who came to fame over his lyrics about the 2022 death of Mahsa Amini and criticizing the Islamic Republic has been reportedly sentenced to death. That's according to his lawyer and rights activists Thursday. Confusion surrounds the death sentence purportedly issued against 33-year-old metal shop worker Toomaj Salehi, as even Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency and its judiciary did not formally confirm it. But the order quickly drew international criticism from the United States and United Nations experts, who pointed to it as a sign of Tehran’s continuing crackdown against all dissent following years of mass protests in the country.
A unique book club at one of the nation's largest jails brings together college students and inmates. The student-led volunteer effort started years ago as an offshoot of a DePaul University program offering college credit classes at the jail for students and detainees. Their recent meeting at Cook County Jail included anti-death penalty activist Sister Helen Prejean, whose book “Dead Man Walking,” they were discussing. The members of the book club say the Louisiana nun's special appearance this week was particularly meaningful. At the weekly meetings, one club rule is clear: Discussions about personal lives are encouraged, but no questions are permitted about why other members are in jail. College senior Nana Ampofo says the idea is have an open mind and learn from one another.
Attorneys for two brothers who were sentenced to die in a quadruple killing known as the “Wichita massacre” will argue for a formal resentencing hearing in the latest in a long series of appeals. How the sentencing was handled has long been a point of contention because brothers Jonathan and Reginald Carr had a joint hearing when jurors considered their punishments. Prosecutors plan to oppose the latest effort Monday. Kansas has nine men on death row, but the state has not executed anyone since the murderous duo James Latham and George York were hanged on the same day in June 1965.
Gov. Ralph Northam signed legislation making Virginia the 23rd state to abolish the death penalty, a dramatic shift for the commonwealth, which had the second-highest number of executions in the U.S.
