lethal injection

For decades, states have claimed that lethal injection is quick, peaceful and painless. An NPR investigation — and legal battles across the country — tell a different story.

"Nearly three decades after [Dustin Lee] Honken coldly ended the lives of five people, including two young girls ... he has finally faced justice," a spokeswoman said in a statement.

Wesley Purkey was executed by lethal injection on Thursday, the second federal execution this week after a 17-year hiatus. The high court's 5-4 decision allowed the execution to proceed.

Daniel Lee, 47, was put to death on Tuesday morning in the federal death chamber in the first federal execution since 2003. Other inmates are scheduled for death this week.

A federal judge in Washington, D.C., has barred the lethal injections that were scheduled to commence on Monday, citing the likelihood of "extreme pain and suffering." A legal conflict is likely.

Authorities are preparing the federal death chamber in Terre Haute, Ind., for three executions next week. They'll be the first federal executions in a long time.

Four men are scheduled to be executed in the coming weeks, which would be the first use of the federal death penalty since 2003.

Only three federal executions have taken place since 1988. Four prisoners are scheduled to be executed over the next two months.

This Week in Oklahoma Politics, KOSU's Michael Cross talks with Republican Political Consultant Neva Hill and ACLU Oklahoma Executive Director Ryan Kiesel…

A federal judge on Tuesday ruled against death row prisoners who complained the state gave them incomplete rules for how it would carry out executions in…