Two Black men with a mental illness or intellectual disability were executed yesterday after failing to “choose” their own method of death.
In what activists warn could be the first in a spike of executions this year, Matthew Reeves and Donald Anthony Grant were killed via lethal injection by the states of Alabama and Oklahoma respectively on Thursday, just one month before a constitutional challenge to Oklahoma’s lethal injection protocol goes to trial.
The killing of Grant and the dramatic, last-minute fight for Reeves’ survival comes “amidst a relatively new phenomena” of forcing prisoners to choose how they will be killed, according Abe Bonowitz, an organizer with Death Penalty Action. Both men were reportedly given a “decision” about how they would be killed but failed to make it in time.
Had Reeves filled out the form requesting to die by gas “hypoxia” rather than lethal injection, he would not have been executed yesterday.for smothering people with nitrogen gas after lawmakers greenlit executions by gas in 2018, but the system has yet to be tested on a human being in Alabama or the handful of other states that allow gas executions.
Australia Latest News, Australia Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Two Political Operatives, Two Hit Men And A Jersey Cold Case Is SolvedPolitical operative Sean Caddle of Hamburg, N.J., plead guilty in federal court to one count of conspiracy to commit murder for hire. The victim, who worked on several campaigns with Caddle, was stabbed to death and his apartment was set on fire in 2014.
Read more »
National LGBTQ group GLSEN appoints first Black, nonbinary executive directorNational LGBTQ advocacy group GLSEN has appointed Melanie Willingham-Jaggers as its executive director — the first Black and nonbinary person to helm the organization.
Read more »
Femme powers and shades of black enliven Naudline Pierre’s glimpse of a brighter futureHer large-scale paintings transport viewers to an expansive alternate reality.
Read more »
Justice Breyer retiring from Supreme Court; Biden vows to nominate Black womanPresident Joe Biden reasserted a pledge to nominate a Black woman to the Supreme Court, calling it “long overdue.” A decision is expected by the end of February.
Read more »
Biden honors retiring Justice Breyer, promises to nominate Black woman to replace him on Supreme CourtJustice Stephen Breyer's retirement clears the way for Pres. Biden to follow through on his campaign promise to nominate the first Black woman to the high court for his historic first pick.
Read more »