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Four executions are scheduled in four states over four days this week. Here's what we know

Four executions are scheduled in four states over four days this week. Here's what we know

CNNa day ago

Over the next four days, four inmates in four different states are scheduled to be put to death – a cluster that, while not abnormal, comes amid a national uptick in executions while President Donald Trump calls for the death penalty's expansion.
A cluster of executions is 'not that unusual,' according to Robert Dunham, director of the Death Penalty Policy Project. 'But it's become increasingly rare as use of the death penalty has diminished.'
Indeed, the number of executions each year remains far lower than its peak in 1999, when nearly 100 people were put to death nationwide. That figure steadily decreased until the Covid-19 pandemic, when it reached historic lows, Dunham said.
But executions are up in the first half of 2025 compared to recent years. In addition to this week's, two more are scheduled later in June. If all six proceed as planned, it would mark 25 executions this year to date, matching the total number of executions carried out in 2024, according to data from the Death Penalty Information Center. That would be the highest number of executions carried out through June since 2011.
One reason for the rise is the renewed interest in executions in states that have not carried them out for years, experts said. Arizona, Louisiana and Tennessee have all resumed executions in 2025 after hiatuses. South Carolina and Indiana did the same in 2024.
The states are acting independently. But their moves come as Trump has signaled a desire to see capital punishment used more often at the federal level, saying he wants to deter criminals and protect the American people. While his day one executive order, 'Restoring the Death Penalty and Protecting Public Safety,' does not apply to the states, experts said the message it sends could encourage state officials who want to align themselves with the president.
'If a state is inclined to conduct executions anyway, Trump's rhetoric would be the wind behind them pushing them to do that,' said Corinna Lain, a University of Richmond law professor and author of 'Secrets of the Killing State: The Untold Story of Lethal Injection.'
The executive order also has an overt connection to a case this week: an Oklahoma execution is moving forward because Attorney General Pam Bondi, citing Trump's executive order, approved a transfer of the inmate from federal custody to the state – a request the Biden administration previously denied.
CNN has reached out to the White House for comment.
Matt Wells, deputy director of Reprieve US, an organization that opposes the death penalty, called this a 'dark time in US capital punishment.' Aside from the resumption of executions in some states, he pointed to states' issues with lethal injection and the advent of alternative execution methods, like nitrogen gas, and the resumption of executions in states that have not put anyone to death in years.
'Yet through his executive order on the death penalty,' Wells said, 'President Trump has sent a strong signal to states to push forward with executions.'
Here's what we know about the four inmates facing execution this week:
Alabama inmate Gregory Hunt has been on death row for more than 30 years. On Tuesday, he is expected to be executed via nitrogen hypoxia.
Alabama became the first state to ever use the method in the execution of Kenneth Smith, which took about 15 minutes to complete. Hunt's execution would be the fifth by nitrogen hypoxia in the state, and the second execution by nitrogen hypoxia this year, according to a spokesperson for Gov. Kay Ivey's office.
Hunt – one of the 156 people on death row in the state – killed Karen Lane in the early hours of August 2, 1988, according to court documents. The two had been dating for about a month prior to her death.
Lane was found with 60 injuries to her body, including lacerations and bruises to her head, body and organs, documents say. She also had a dozen fractured ribs, a fractured breastbone and evidence suggested she had been sexually assaulted.
Hunt is representing himself in court, according to a spokesperson with the Alabama Attorney General's office.
Florida inmate Anthony Wainwright has been on death row for roughly 30 years for killing a woman after he and another man escaped from prison in 1994 in Newport, North Carolina.
The two escapees stole a green Cadillac and burglarized weapons from a home before driving to Lake City, Florida, according to court documents. While in Lake City, the pair stole another car because the Cadillac was starting to overheat, documents say.
The pair drove into a supermarket parking lot and spotted Carmen Gayheart, who was loading groceries into a Ford Bronco. They decided to take her car – first forcing her to get inside it at gunpoint – and drove to a wooded area where they 'raped, strangled, and executed' her with one of the stolen guns, court documents say.
CNN has reached out to an attorney for Wainwright for comment. Wainwright's co-conspirator died in 2023, according to The Florida Department of Corrections.
Wainwright is expected to be executed via lethal injection Tuesday.
Gayheart's sister, Maria David, who attended every day of Wainwright's original trial, said the victim was a devoted mother of two who was beautiful inside and out.
'She loved those kids like nothing else, devoted wife. She was going to be an incredible nurse had she been left to live for the rest of her life,' David said.
David, who also runs a Facebook page in her sister's honor, said she will be in attendance for Wainwright's execution, as will other family members.
'This is just going to be closure for the legal aspect of Carmen's case,' David said. 'It doesn't bring closure for me, and I don't think any member of my family, by any means, because we're always going to live with the loss of Carmen.'
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has signed seven death warrants in the first half of 2025, according to his office – if the two executions scheduled for June go forward, that would be just one short of the state's record of eight executions in a single year since the reinstatement of the death penalty in 1976.
John Hanson faces execution Thursday for the fatal shooting of Mary Bowles in August 1999, according to an Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals opinion outlining the case.
According to prosecutors, Hanson and his co-defendant, Victor Miller, carjacked and kidnapped Bowles at a Tulsa mall, then drove her to a 'dirt pit' outside the city. There, prosecutors say, Hanson's co-defendant shot the man who owned the pit, Jerald Thurman, and Hanson fatally shot the 77-year-old woman.
Hanson's attorneys contest this: They say there is evidence Miller was Bowles' true killer, having confessed to pulling the trigger while in prison. Additionally, Miller is now serving a life sentence after his death sentence was overturned – a glaring sentencing disparity given he is, according to Hanson's attorneys, more culpable than their client.
They also argue that federal law was misinterpreted to facilitate Hanson's execution.
While he has a death sentence in Oklahoma, Hanson has also been serving a federal life sentence for a robbery. Three years ago, Oklahoma officials asked the Bureau of Prisons to transfer Hanson to state custody so his execution could be carried out. The agency – then under the stewardship of the Biden administration – said no; it would not be in the 'public interest' because he hadn't completed his federal sentence.
Oklahoma officials made the request again earlier this year, three days after Trump took office. This time, the administration – specifically Attorney General Pam Bondi – said yes, court records show. The transfer, she found, would comply with the executive order Trump signed on his first day in office, 'Restoring the Death Penalty and Protecting Public Safety,' and promote 'state and federal cooperation on capital crimes.'
Hanson is scheduled to be put to death by lethal injection, a spokesperson for the Oklahoma Department of Corrections told CNN.
Bowles' family has voiced support for the execution to move forward. Her niece, Sara Parker Mooney, remembered her aunt, a lifelong Tulsa resident, as an active member of her community and a mentor to professional women: 'She was the matriarch of our family. She was truly beloved.'
'Mary's murder was indescribably difficult then, and it still is now,' she wrote. 'We have been worn out by the multiple trials, re-trials, and appeals. We find ourselves disappointed and angry with the machinations of the judicial system and the political aspects of the last years. We are ready to be done with this matter.'
Stephen Stanko faces execution Friday for the 2005 murder of Henry Lee Turner, though he also has a second death sentence for the murder of Laura Ling.
Stanko's execution warrant is tied to Turner's murder, because the inmate had exhausted his appeals in that case, the South Carolina Department of Corrections said in a notice announcing his execution date.
On April 7, 2005, Stanko murdered Ling, his girlfriend, the notice says. He also raped her daughter, who was at a minor at the time, and slit her throat – though she survived. Afterwards, Stanko went to Turner's home, where he shot and killed the 74-year-old before stealing his truck and fleeing. Stanko was arrested days later.
Henry Turner's son remembered his father as a 'helper,' who was willing to lend a hand to anyone, including the man who killed him. 'He was my best friend,' said Roger Turner.
While Roger supports Stanko's execution, he told CNN he had forgiven the inmate for murdering his father. But he wishes the execution had taken place sooner, lamenting the two-decade cycle of appeals that would periodically reignite interest in Stanko's case – and force him to revisit his father's killing time and again.
'Here it is, 20 years later, and I'm still reliving it. I'm still hearing the guy's name,' said Roger Turner. He intends to attend the execution.
Should it move ahead, Stanko will be executed by lethal injection, a spokesperson for the South Carolina Department of Corrections told CNN. South Carolina inmates can choose their method of execution, with the electric chair and the firing squad as the other available options.
CNN has reached out to Ling's daughter and Stanko's attorney for comment.

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How viral images are shaping views of L.A.'s immigration showdown
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Yahoo

time34 minutes ago

  • Yahoo

How viral images are shaping views of L.A.'s immigration showdown

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Donald Trump is front and center for Army's big DC birthday parade
Donald Trump is front and center for Army's big DC birthday parade

USA Today

time38 minutes ago

  • USA Today

Donald Trump is front and center for Army's big DC birthday parade

Donald Trump is front and center for Army's big DC birthday parade Trump is poised to be president during the 250th anniversary of the nation's founding, the FIFA World Cup in 2026 and the LA Summer Olympics in 2028. Show Caption Hide Caption Military equipment headed to DC ahead of Trump's birthday parade Battle tanks, fighting vehicles and infantry carriers departed Texas for D.C. for President Trump's military parade. The June 14 parade reflects the president's vision of his role and of the nation's power. Some predict an inspiring moment of patriotism; others see an alarming echo of authoritarianism. WASHINGTON − Donald Trump loves a parade. Also palace-in-the-sky planes, gold decor in the Oval Office, the adulation of huge rallies, the company of kings (British, Saudi), and the general aura that surrounds power, wealth and royalty. The president's determination to stage a procession of America's troops and its military hardware, with 28 Abrams tanks thundering up Constitution Avenue in the nation's capital and 50 military helicopters thumping overhead, reflects his vision of his role and the nation he leads. Asserting sweeping and sometimes unprecedented powers for the presidency, he is commanding a go-it-alone United States, ready and willing to flex its muscle in the world. The last big national event, Trump's inauguration on Jan. 20, was a demonstration of tradition and shared powers: The incoming president stood on the Capitol steps, the chief justice gave the oath, members of Congress and former presidents witnessed the peaceful transition of authority. Five months later, the celebration on June 14 marking the 250th anniversary of the founding of the U.S. Army will put Trump alone front and center. Also: The parade just happens to be taking place on his 79th birthday. Trump is the happy beneficiary of the calendar. He is poised to be president not only during the 250th anniversary of the nation's founding but also the FIFA World Cup in 2026 (co-hosted with Canada and Mexico) and the Summer Olympics in Los Angeles in 2028. The confluence of events is no coincidence, he suggests. "I have everything," he boasted at a Memorial Day event at Arlington Cemetery. "Amazing the way things work out. God did that." The good fortune of Trump's 2020 defeat Whether or not it was a case of divine intervention, Trump's electoral defeat in 2020 has, with the benefit of hindsight, turned out to be serendipitous for him. The four-year interregnum not only put him in a position to preside during historic and high-profile celebrations, but it also gave him a Democratic predecessor as a whipping boy when things go wrong. It also provided the opportunity for him to solidify control of the Republican Party and for supporters to create ambitious blueprints like Project 2025 to tap when he landed a second term. It even opened the door for the parade he had set his heart on when he watched French tanks roll down the Champs-Élysées in Paris on Bastille Day in 2017. "One of the greatest parades I've ever seen," he marveled, telling French President Emmanuel Macron he wanted to "top" it. During Trump's first term, though, the Pentagon resisted. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, a retired Marine Corps four-star general, objected to the idea as a politicization of the military. In 2020, when Trump pushed again despite concerns about the coronavirus pandemic, Mattis' successor, Mark Esper, arranged instead for an array of warplanes to fly down the East Coast in an "air parade." Now, Pete Hegseth, a Trump loyalist and former Fox News host, is leading the Defense Department. The Army's plans for a low-key birthday celebration of festivals, fun runs and a commemorative stamp have now been dramatically expanded to include what the White House might call a big, beautiful parade. The sight of more than 100 combat vehicles on the ground and dozens of vintage and modern warplanes in the air should be staggering. The troops plus 34 horses, two mules, a dog named Doc Holliday and some of the vehicles will start at the Pentagon in Virginia, cross Arlington Memorial Bridge, then head to the parade route along the National Mall, joined there by the tanks. Trump will be watching from a reviewing stand just south of the White House that is now being constructed for the occasion. Paratroopers from the Army's Golden Knights are set to parachute in, land on the Eclipse and present Trump with an American flag. The president will then preside over the enlistment and reenlistment of 250 soldiers. There will be fireworks. Is it inspiring or alarming? The United States has staged military parades before, of course. At the end of the Civil War, the bloodiest conflict in American history, the Grand Review of the Armies lasted two days and featured 145,000 soldiers from the victorious Union forces marching through Washington and sometimes breaking into song. President Andrew Johnson, who had been sworn in after Abraham Lincoln's assassination a month earlier, presided. During the Cold War, President Dwight D. Eisenhower, a retired five-star general and hero of World War II, had troops, tanks and warplanes in his inaugural parade. His successor, John F. Kennedy, included troops in his inaugural parade in 1961. The last major military parade in the capital was in 1991 to mark the end of the first Gulf War, when George H.W. Bush was president. But there is not much precedent in the United States for such a massive military parade in peacetime. Like many things involving Trump, reactions clash between those who predict a stirring moment of patriotism and those who see it as an alarming echo of authoritarianism. The ritualized display of armaments and troops is more routine in places like Russia, China and North Korea, where strongmen show their force to their own citizens and the world. In the USA, liberal and pro-democracy groups have declared a "No Kings" day of protests on June 14, with anti-Trump demonstrations planned in more than 1,500 communities across the country. Trump has never been shy about demanding attention and claiming credit for his presidential record, putting himself in the top rank of the 45 men who have held the job. In his State of the Union address in March, he said that "many" believed he had just recorded the most successful first month of any presidency − with George Washington in second place. Last month, on the facade of the Agriculture Department that faces the Mall, a huge banner of Trump's face was draped between the columns alongside one of Lincoln. By the way, that's the building where thousands of the troops who will be marching in the parade will bivouac, sleeping on cots and bringing their own sleeping bags. Agriculture employees have been directed to work from home for the first three weeks of the month to clear the way for them. $45 million? 'Peanuts,' Trump says The parade's price tag? The Army has estimated the cost at $30 million to $45 million, in addition to the promise to help the D.C. government deal with the aftermath. Huge steel plates are being embedded at some intersections to protect the asphalt, but at 140,000 pounds each, the Abrams battle tanks are expected to, well, leave an impression. That could add as much as an estimated $16 million. "Peanuts," Trump said of the cost on NBC's "Meet the Press" last month, "compared to the value of doing it."

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