Death row News

Angola - A black man convicted by an all-white jury of a murder he did not commit walked out of a Louisiana state prison a free man on Tuesday after spending 30 years on death row.

After spending three-and-a-half years on death row in Alabama for a murder he did not commit, a former death row inmate writes an eye-opening letter about solitary confinement and the death penalty. "It is a completely broken system!" he said.

An Indiana woman, Paula Cooper, who was sentenced to death at age 16 after she confessed to the murder of a 78-year-old Bible studies teacher Ruth Pelke, was released from an Indiana prison Monday after spending 28 years in prison.

Greenbrae - Serial killer and devoted satanist Richard Ramirez has died, he was convicted 24 years ago of over a dozen homicides and suspected of many more.

Annapolis - Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley yesterday signed abolition of capital punishment into law in Maryland in a move welcomed by campaigners Amnesty International. Maryland becomes part of a worldwide trend away from state-sanctioned execution.

Huntsville - Kimberly McCarthy was convicted of the murder of an elderly woman on compelling evidence, and is known to have murdered two more. Yesterday her execution was delayed for the most specious of reasons.

Rodney Alcala, a one-time contestant on the popular show "The Dating Game" has been sentenced to 25 years to life in prison for murdering two 23-year-old women in New York in the 1970s. The judge cried as she handed down the sentence.

Sacramento - Wes Shermantine was half of the "Speed Freak Killer" duo, he was released from death row, briefly, last week to assist in locating more of the victims. Claims of many more victims still unresolved.

Mississippi executed Gary Carl Simmons Jr. Wednesday night, after he got a last meal request estimated at 29,000 calories. Simmons was convicted of murdering and dismembering a 21-year-old man with carving knives in 1996, and raping his girlfriend.

Beijing - A reality TV show featuring prisoners on death row confessing crimes and asking for forgiveness shortly before being led to execution has become a hit on a Chinese TV channel. The Saturday night TV show has a following of over 40 million viewers.