Prisoner Executions in the U.S. Increased in 2017
Source: Associated Press
Prisoner Executions in the U.S. Increased in 2017
By Michael Graczyk / AP 3:03 PM EST
(HUNTSVILLE, Texas) — A court reprieve that halted the scheduled December lethal injection of a Texas prisoner means 2017 will end with 23 inmates executed in the U.S., a figure that although up slightly from the previous year is half of what it was a decade ago.
The year-end numbers also show that Texas will regain its standing as the nation’s most active state in carrying out capital punishment.
Texas inmate Juan Castillo, who had an August death date postponed because of Hurricane Harvey, was set for lethal injection Dec. 14 for a December 2003 robbery and fatal shooting in San Antonio. However, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, the state’s highest criminal court, this past week sent the 36-year-old Castillo’s appeal back to his trial court to review arguments from defense attorneys that a witness presented false testimony at Castillo’s 2005 trial.
Castillo’s was the last execution scheduled for 2017 in the 31 states that impose the death penalty, according to statistics kept by the Death Penalty Information Center, a Washington-based group that opposes capital punishment.
Read more: http://time.com/5046559/us-executions-2017/
