Executions up in 2017, but down by half from decade ago

Texas regains standing as most active death penalty state

In this Nov. 2005 file photo, Larry Greene, public information director of the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility, demonstrates how a curtain is pulled between the death chamber and witness room at the prison in Lucasville, Ohio. More than three dozen inmates, one-third of them from Ohio, avoided scheduled trips to the death chamber this year after winning reprieves from courts. A court reprieve that halted the scheduled December lethal injection of a Texas prisoner means 2017 will end with 23 inmates executed in the U.S, a slight rise from a year ago, and Texas regaining its standing as the nation's most active state in carrying out capital punishment. - photo by Associated Press

W USexecutions — In this Nov. 2005 file photo, Larry Greene, public information director of the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility, demonstrates how a curtain is pulled between the death chamber and witness room at the prison in Lucasville, Ohio. More than three dozen inmates, one-third of them from Ohio, avoided scheduled trips to the death chamber this year after winning reprieves from courts. A court reprieve that halted the scheduled December lethal injection of a Texas prisoner means 2017 will end with 23 inmates executed in the U.S, a slight rise from a year ago, and Texas regaining its standing as the nation's most active state in carrying out capital punishment. - photo by Associated Press

HUNTSVILLE, Texas (AP) — A court reprieve that halted the scheduled December lethal injection of a Texas prisoner means 2017 will end with 23 inmates executed in the U.S., a figure that although up slightly from the previous year is half of what it was a decade ago.The year-end numbers also show that Texas will regain its standing as the nation's most active state in carrying out capital punishment.Texas inmate Juan Castillo, who had an August death date postponed because of Hurricane Harvey, was set for lethal injection Dec. 14 for a December 2003 robbery and fatal shooting in San Antonio. However, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, the state's highest criminal court, this past week sent the 36-year-old Castillo's appeal back to his trial court to review arguments from defense attorneys that a witness presented false testimony at Castillo's 2005 trial.Castillo's was the last execution scheduled for 2017 in the 31 states that impose the death penalty, according to statistics kept by the Death Penalty Information Center, a Washington-based group that opposes capital punishment.Texas put to death seven prisoners this year, matching the state total from 2016. They were among the 23 inmates — up from 20 last year — put to death in eight states in 2017.

Associated Press

Associated Press