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A black and white photo shows a black chair draped with a hood which Gilmore wore during the execution. The upper right part of the chair back has bullet holes. The chair is surrounded with sandbags.
Death Sentences April 8, 2022
The Return of the Firing Squad?
With a scarcity of lethal injection drugs, South Carolina has brought back an archaic execution method. In other states, men on death row are asking for it.
By Maurice Chammah
Melissa Lucio, who has long brown hair and is wearing a white prison uniform, sits behind glass at a prison.
Death Sentences February 24, 2022
How Melissa Lucio Went From Abuse Survivor to Death Row
Why some trauma victims are more likely to take responsibility for crimes, even when they may be innocent.
By Maurice Chammah
Gerald Pizzuto Jr., circa 2000.
Death Sentences May 6, 2021
They Are Terminally Ill. States Want To Execute Them Anyway.
“I don’t understand trying to kill somebody who is already dying,” says the sister of Idaho death-row prisoner Gerald Pizzuto.
By Maurice Chammah and Keri Blakinger
From left, Oklahoma state Rep. Kevin McDugle, Texas state Rep. Jeff Leach and South Dakota state Sen. Arthur Rusch have filed bills to reform the death penalty in their states.
Death Sentences April 15, 2021
Can The Death Penalty Be Fixed? These Republicans Think So
A growing number of conservative lawmakers want to overhaul capital punishment, or end it.
By Maurice Chammah and Keri Blakinger
Death Sentences February 10, 2021
What 120 Executions Tell Us About Criminal Justice in America
The Marshall Project tracked every execution in America for more than five years. For condemned people, the path to death grew longer, more winding and erratic.
By Tom Meagher
An officer outside the the Federal Correctional Complex in Terre Haute, Indiana, where the federal government was preparing to execute Daniel Lewis Lee in July 2020.
Death Sentences January 14, 2021
A $6,300 Bus. A $33 Last Meal. What New Documents Tell Us About Trump’s Execution Spree
Feds spent millions to restart the death penalty and in the process revealed much about how they do it.
By Keri Blakinger and Maurice Chammah
Lisa Montgomery, scheduled to be executed on Jan. 12, endured repeated abuse and trauma as a child, much like many of the people who have been executed in the United States.
Death Sentences January 8, 2021
What Lisa Montgomery Has In Common With Many On Death Row: Extensive Trauma.
Mental illness, childhood abuse and brain injuries affect a large share of those who face the death penalty.
By Maurice Chammah and Keri Blakinger
Life Inside July 16, 2020
A Dispatch From Federal Death Row
Days before Daniel Lewis Lee became the first federal prisoner executed in 17 years, fellow death row resident Billie J. Allen wrote about the shared terror of wondering who’s next.
By Billie J. Allen
The Justice Department plans to execute Lezmond Mitchell at Terre Haute Penitentiary in Terre Haute, Indiana.
Case in Point September 17, 2019
The Navajo Nation Opposed His Execution. The U.S. Plans to Do It Anyway.
How Lezmond Mitchell became the only Native American on federal death row.
By Christie Thompson
Life Inside April 25, 2019
The Death Chamber Next Door
“It was as though a small part of me died with each execution.”
By Jeremy Busby
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