After four days of stressful debate, two Republicans members of the Maryland State Senate joined the 25 democrats to vote 27 to 20 to repeal the death penalty. A project of Gov. Martin O'Malley since 2007, the measure was finally able to pass due to new Senators and the changed minds of others.
For all the chest beating and wailing and carrying on about the Obama administration's contraception mandate in the Affordable Care Act, you'd think that this country was embroiled in a coast to coast battle that pits a staunch moral majority against a small, active tide of unstoppable vaginas demanding sexual…
Troy Davis was scheduled to be executed at 7 p.m. today for the 1989 killing of a police officer in Georgia. Many believe he should be granted clemency because there isn't enough physical evidence linking him to the crime and after his trial witnesses recanted and said police threatened them. Davis' attorneys made a…
Yesterday Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn signed legislation abolishing the death penalty in his state. Now the families of victims are angry — and Republicans vow to reinstate executions.
Teresa Lewis was executed yesterday — and interestingly, it's only now that the worst details of her crime are getting mainstream coverage.
The Supreme Court has rejected Virginia death-row inmate Teresa Lewis's bid for a stay of execution, but Sonia Sotomayor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg voted in favor of the stay. So is this a gender issue?
For the first time in a hundred years, a woman is on death row in Virginia. Now Iran is calling the US hypocritical for its objection to the execution of Sakineh Ashtiani. Are they right?
Despite protests from supporters, Virginia Governor Robert McDonnell has denied a stay of execution for Teresa Lewis, who was sentenced to death for planning the murders of her husband and stepson in 2002. She will be executed this week. [Guardian]
Teresa Lewis is scheduled to be executed on September 23 for her role in her husband and stepson's murders. She'll be the first U.S. woman executed since 2005. Two very different takes on the story are here and here.
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has offered asylum to Sakineh Ashtiani, the mother of two initially sentenced to death by stoning in Iran. Unfortunately, her fate still remains uncertain.
• The 16-year-old who brought rape charges against Lawrence Taylor says she didn't recognize the NFL player at the time of the assault, but because she's a "huge Giant fan," she isn't sure she wants him to go to jail.
• Meet Mackenzie, a child prodigy who can type 119 worlds per minute (the average professional adult types 50-70 wpm). "It makes me feel powerful," she said. "I'd like to get to at least 200." •
Uganda has eliminated the death penalty and life imprisonment from its anti-gay bill, in the hopes of pleasing some religious leaders. But the bill now includes counseling to "attract errant people to acceptable sexual orientation." [Bloomberg]
In the video after the jump, the lamp is finally tried for stomping out the letter I in the Pixar intro. As punishment, he's supplied with a little too much electricity. [College Humor via Buzzfeed]
Britain's National Archives is posting online records of crimes from the 18th and 19th centuries. At the beginning of this period, over 200 crimes were punishable by death, including forgery, wearing blackface, and "stealing from a rabbit warren." [TimesOnline]
Colleen Rowley, who in 2002 criticized the FBI on its failure to follow up on would-be 9/11 hijacker Zacarias Moussaoui, now says the Bureau could have prevented George Tiller's assassination if it had investigated Scott Roeder more thoroughly.
Everyone from Keith Olbermann to Sarah Palin has commented on Carrie Prejean, but none have compared her to that other famous Prejean, anti-death penalty advocate and Dead Man Walking inspiration Sister Helen — until now.
Love the sinner, hate the sin? Not if you're Catholic you don't. In 2004, the now-Pope barred pro-choice politicians from accepting Communion, though most of them (like all other pro-choice Catholics) basically ignored him. Now there's a hubbub because some whiny guy from Lancaster saw a priest give Communion to…
