*Nields was granted clemency by the governor of Ohio, meaning his death sentence has been changed to life in prison, without possibility of parole (release). He was found guilty of strangling his girlfriend which would not be eligible for a death penalty sentence unless it was pre-meditated, so the medical examiner testified that the bruises on her neck could only have been caused if Nields started choking her but then left the scene for as little as 15 minutes up to 2 hours and then returned and choked her again, killing her. This medical examiner has since been fired. There is no way to date bruises to such a precise timeframe.

**Gardner has chosen to be executed by firing squad (Utah is the last state to allow death row prisoners this option - it was repealed in 2004 but was not made retroactive, so those condemned to death before 2004 still have this option). The last person in America to be executed by firing squad was another prisoner from Utah, John Albert Taylor in 1996. The procedure involves 5 law enforcement officers with rifles. The prisoner is restrained in a chair, hooded, with a target placed over his heart. One of the rifles is left unloaded, so each officer may feel that he may not have been responsible for the death.

***Green had his execution stayed to further evaluate his competency. The mentally ill are no longer allowed to be executed.

For more info on any of these cases, just search Google News with the inmate's name in quotation marks, example: "John Johnson."

*Ford's execution has been rescheduled for June 9.

**Holland, 72 years old, had been the oldest inmate on death row in the United States.

***Smith was granted clemency by the governor of Oklahoma, meaning his death sentence has been changed to life in prison, without possibility of parole (release). He was found guilty of killing a man during a drug deal.

For more info on any of these cases, just search Google News with the inmate's name in quotation marks, example: "John Johnson."

*Reynolds had his execution delayed after a suicide attempt. 2 nights before his March 9th execution date, he overdosed in prison on medication prescribed to him. The state of Ohio had him recover in the prison infirmary for a week before executing him on March 16th.

**Johnston had his execution stayed while the courts decide which IQ test is relevent - the one he took in 2005 which listed him as above the threshold for mental retardation (a score of 70) or the more recent test which listed him at 61. The mentally retarded are no longer executed.

***Skinner was spared by the U.S. Supreme Court which wants more time for a decision to be made in regard to DNA testing. Skinner has always maintained his innocence in the murder of his girlfriend and her 2 sons and has pleaded with the state of Texas for them to do DNA testing on ALL the blood samples from the crime. So far, the state has refused. UPDATE: The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear the case in late 2010, and its decision will affect whether or not states must do DNA testing when a prisoner whose trial did not include complete DNA testing requests it. Many prisoners were convicted before DNA testing was available, or before the sophisticated DNA tests presently used were available. The Court will decide if this falls under the prisoner's civil rights. 17 other Death Row prisoners have been found innocent after DNA testing was done.

For more info on any of these cases, just search Google News with the inmate's name in quotation marks, example: "John Johnson."

*Skinner has wanted new DNA testing done on crime scene evidence from the 1993 triple-murder he was found guilty of, but so far the courts have not allowed this to be done. (Once your trial is over, the case is basically closed and it's been very difficult for anyone to get approval from the court system to allow new evidence, or better testing of old evidence, to be taken into consideration.)

For more info on any of these cases, just search Google News with the inmate's name in quotation marks, example: "John Johnson."

*Smith is the second execution in Ohio to use the state's new 1-drug procedure. The drug is called Sodium Pentathol (it's generic name is sodium thiopental) and is both a barbituate and a general anesthetic. It has been used to euthanize animals. It induces a coma. Usually, a human will be pronounced dead in about 10 minutes.

For more info on any of these cases, just search Google News with the inmate's name in quotation marks, example: "John Johnson."