Judge: Serial Killer Can Decide to Die
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A judge ruled Tuesday that a confessed serial killer &#151; set to become the first inmate executed in New England in 40 years &#151; is mentally competent and can forgo further appeals of his death sentence.
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Coral Eugene Watts, who confessed to the vicious, random slayings of 13 women, could be out of prison and back on the streets in a year and a half &#151; unless the state of Michigan can put him away for good in a murder trial set to begin on Monday. An appeals court ruling in Texas took decades off his sentence.
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NEW LONDON, Conn.  - A Connecticut judge on  Thursday set a new date for the execution of serial killer  Michael Ross, who last month came within 90 minutes of being  put to death when his execution was halted by legal wrangling  over his mental competency.
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The Supreme Court considered Tuesday whether a jury unfairly sentenced a Pennsylvania man to death on a 17-year-old murder conviction in a case expected to clarify death penalty standards for attorney conduct and jury instructions.
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A confessed serial killer was convicted of murder Wednesday in case brought by prosecutors in a desperate bid to keep him from getting out of prison in less than two years.
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A judge decides Stephen Griffiths, who stalked and murdered is ex-girlfriend, should spent at least 15 years in jail.
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A federal judge ruled on Friday that California's present method of execution through lethal injection is unconstitutional but said it could be fixed by changing the procedure.
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A 14-year-old boy accused of fatally slashing a classmate in a school restroom may stand trial despite having a mental illness, a judge ruled Wednesday.
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The Supreme Court is considering whether the United States is out of step with the rest of the world, and with national and global standards of decency, by allowing teenage killers to be put to death.
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Connecticut prosecutors asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday to override a judge's decision that allowed an admitted serial killer's execution to be delayed.
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A confessed serial killer set to become the first inmate executed in New England in 40 years urged a federal judge Friday to dismiss efforts by the inmate's father and a civil liberties group to spare his life.
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A federal judge ruled on Friday that California's method of execution through lethal injection is unconstitutional but said it could be fixed by changing the procedure.
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Â· Accused's DNA found on bodies, defence accepts  Â· Motive for serial murders a mystery, says prosecution
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The same jury that last week found a sex offender guilty of abducting, raping and murdering 9-year-old Jessica Lunsford must now decide whether he should be executed for the crime.
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NEW YORK, Dec. 26 -- A judge's decision to keep a stymied jury deliberating for 12 hours just days before Christmas could be grounds to overturn a manslaughter verdict against a black man convicted of shooting a white teenager, criminal defense lawyers said Wednesday.
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State psychiatrists have determined that a Silver Spring man who fatally shot his two sons in July should not be tried for the slayings because he was mentally unstable when the crime occurred.
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Serial killer Michael Ross has tried for 10 years to speed his own death. On Saturday, little more than an hour before his scheduled execution, Ross' own attorney caused another delay, saying he needed time to examine his own potential conflict of interest.