Arkansas
Death row inmate dies in prison of unknown causes
Arkansas death row inmate Latavious Johnson died of unknown causes at the Varner SuperMax prison on Friday afternoon, according to the state’s department of corrections. He was in his 40s.
The Arkansas Department of Corrections did not provide Johnson’s cause of death and declined to comment further.
Johnson had received a life sentence for the murder of his father, Johnnie Johnson, in 2000.
Johnson was sentenced to death for the 2012 murder of a prison guard, Barbara Ester. Johnson had fatally stabbed Ester with a shank three times and punctured her heart, court records show. She had been investigating whether he had obtained a pair of unauthorized gym shoes in the prison.
Johnson expressed remorse for his actions in a statement his lawyers provided to police, court records show.
“I should have just gave the shoes up, just said to hell with it, asked someone to send me some money and order me some more,” Johnson told a police investigator in an interview after the killing, according to court records. “It’s too late for all that now.”
A corrections facility in Pine Bluff, Arkansas is named after Ester.
Washington
US imposes sanctions on El Chapo’s fugitive sons, offers $10 million reward for their capture
WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States on Monday imposed sanctions on the two fugitive sons of incarcerated Mexican Sinaloa Cartel leader Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman and announced a reward offer of up to $10 million each for information leading to the arrest or conviction of the men.
The U.S. Treasury Department announced sanctions on Archivaldo Ivan Guzman Salazar and Jesus Alfredo Guzman Salazar who are believed to be currently located in Mexico.
Guzman’s other sons — Joaquin Guzman Lopez and Ovidio Guzman Lopez — are currently incarcerated in the United States. In May, federal prosecutors announced they would not seek the death penalty for Joaquin Guzman Lopez if he’s convicted of multiple charges in Chicago.
Sanctions were also imposed on a faction of the Sinaloa cartel known as the “Chapitos,” or little Chapos, which has been identified as a main exporter of fentanyl to the U.S. as well as a regional network of Chapitos associates and businesses based in Mazatlan, Mexico, that allegedly engage in drug trafficking, extortion and money laundering.
According to federal prosecutors, El Chapo smuggled mountains of cocaine and other drugs into the United States over 25 years. He was convicted in 2019 on multiple conspiracy counts and sentenced to life in a U.S. prison.
“At the Department of the Treasury, we are executing on President Trump’s mandate to completely eliminate drug cartels and take on violent leaders like ‘El Chapo’s’ children,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement.
The Sinaloa Cartel, through various incarnations, is Mexico’s oldest criminal group, dating to the 1970s. One of their most lucrative businesses in recent years has been the production of the synthetic opioid fentanyl, blamed for tens of thousands of overdose deaths each year in the U.S. The Trump administration in February labeled the Sinaloa cartel a foreign terrorist organizations.
Oklahoma
Man who was given 3 last meals will stand trial again but won’t face the death penalty
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Oklahoma prosecutors will pursue a murder charge, but not the death penalty, against longtime death row inmate Richard Glossip for his role in the 1997 killing of his former boss, Attorney General Gentner Drummond said Monday.
The decision comes after the U.S. Supreme Court in February tossed Glossip’s conviction and death sentence. The court determined the original prosecutors in the case allowed a key witness to give testimony they knew to be false, violating Glossip’s constitutional right to a fair trial.
Drummond said in a statement that his office does not plan to dismiss the existing first-degree murder charge against Glossip, but that they will not seek the death penalty against him.
“While it was clear to me and to the U.S. Supreme Court that Mr. Glossip did not receive a fair trial, I have never proclaimed his innocence,” said Drummond, who is a Republican candidate for Oklahoma governor. “Unlike past prosecutors who allowed a key witness to lie on the stand, my office will make sure Mr. Glossip receives a fair trial based on hard facts, solid evidence and truthful testimony.”
Glossip, who had long maintained his innocence, was twice convicted and sentenced to death for the killing of Oklahoma City motel owner Barry Van Treese in what prosecutors alleged was a murder-for-hire killing. Another man, Justin Sneed, admitted robbing Van Treese and beating him to death with a baseball bat, but testified that he did so after Glossip promised to pay him $10,000. Sneed was the state’s key witness against Glossip and was sentenced to life in prison.
Messages left Monday with Glossip’s attorneys were not immediately returned.
After the Supreme Court’s decision, Drummond, acknowledged retrying the case more than 25 years later would be difficult, but said Monday that after reviewing the case he was confident sufficient evidence exists to secure a conviction. Drummond had taken the unusual step of asking the court to overturn Glossip’s conviction, arguing that while he believed Glossip had a role in the killing, he did not believe he had received a fair trial.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who wrote for five of the high court’s justices, said additional prosecutorial misconduct, including interfering with Sneed’s testimony, destroying evidence and withholding witness statements, further undermined confidence in the verdict.
During his time on death row, courts in Oklahoma set nine different execution dates for Glossip, and he came so close to being put to death that he ate three separate last meals. In 2015, he was even held in a cell next to Oklahoma’s execution chamber, waiting to be strapped to a gurney and injected with drugs that would kill him.
But the scheduled time for his execution came and went. And behind the walls of the Oklahoma State Penitentiary, prison officials were scrambling after learning one of the lethal drugs they received to carry out the procedure didn’t match the execution protocols. The drug mix-up ultimately led to a nearly seven-year moratorium on executions in Oklahoma.
Death row inmate dies in prison of unknown causes
Arkansas death row inmate Latavious Johnson died of unknown causes at the Varner SuperMax prison on Friday afternoon, according to the state’s department of corrections. He was in his 40s.
The Arkansas Department of Corrections did not provide Johnson’s cause of death and declined to comment further.
Johnson had received a life sentence for the murder of his father, Johnnie Johnson, in 2000.
Johnson was sentenced to death for the 2012 murder of a prison guard, Barbara Ester. Johnson had fatally stabbed Ester with a shank three times and punctured her heart, court records show. She had been investigating whether he had obtained a pair of unauthorized gym shoes in the prison.
Johnson expressed remorse for his actions in a statement his lawyers provided to police, court records show.
“I should have just gave the shoes up, just said to hell with it, asked someone to send me some money and order me some more,” Johnson told a police investigator in an interview after the killing, according to court records. “It’s too late for all that now.”
A corrections facility in Pine Bluff, Arkansas is named after Ester.
Washington
US imposes sanctions on El Chapo’s fugitive sons, offers $10 million reward for their capture
WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States on Monday imposed sanctions on the two fugitive sons of incarcerated Mexican Sinaloa Cartel leader Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman and announced a reward offer of up to $10 million each for information leading to the arrest or conviction of the men.
The U.S. Treasury Department announced sanctions on Archivaldo Ivan Guzman Salazar and Jesus Alfredo Guzman Salazar who are believed to be currently located in Mexico.
Guzman’s other sons — Joaquin Guzman Lopez and Ovidio Guzman Lopez — are currently incarcerated in the United States. In May, federal prosecutors announced they would not seek the death penalty for Joaquin Guzman Lopez if he’s convicted of multiple charges in Chicago.
Sanctions were also imposed on a faction of the Sinaloa cartel known as the “Chapitos,” or little Chapos, which has been identified as a main exporter of fentanyl to the U.S. as well as a regional network of Chapitos associates and businesses based in Mazatlan, Mexico, that allegedly engage in drug trafficking, extortion and money laundering.
According to federal prosecutors, El Chapo smuggled mountains of cocaine and other drugs into the United States over 25 years. He was convicted in 2019 on multiple conspiracy counts and sentenced to life in a U.S. prison.
“At the Department of the Treasury, we are executing on President Trump’s mandate to completely eliminate drug cartels and take on violent leaders like ‘El Chapo’s’ children,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement.
The Sinaloa Cartel, through various incarnations, is Mexico’s oldest criminal group, dating to the 1970s. One of their most lucrative businesses in recent years has been the production of the synthetic opioid fentanyl, blamed for tens of thousands of overdose deaths each year in the U.S. The Trump administration in February labeled the Sinaloa cartel a foreign terrorist organizations.
Oklahoma
Man who was given 3 last meals will stand trial again but won’t face the death penalty
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Oklahoma prosecutors will pursue a murder charge, but not the death penalty, against longtime death row inmate Richard Glossip for his role in the 1997 killing of his former boss, Attorney General Gentner Drummond said Monday.
The decision comes after the U.S. Supreme Court in February tossed Glossip’s conviction and death sentence. The court determined the original prosecutors in the case allowed a key witness to give testimony they knew to be false, violating Glossip’s constitutional right to a fair trial.
Drummond said in a statement that his office does not plan to dismiss the existing first-degree murder charge against Glossip, but that they will not seek the death penalty against him.
“While it was clear to me and to the U.S. Supreme Court that Mr. Glossip did not receive a fair trial, I have never proclaimed his innocence,” said Drummond, who is a Republican candidate for Oklahoma governor. “Unlike past prosecutors who allowed a key witness to lie on the stand, my office will make sure Mr. Glossip receives a fair trial based on hard facts, solid evidence and truthful testimony.”
Glossip, who had long maintained his innocence, was twice convicted and sentenced to death for the killing of Oklahoma City motel owner Barry Van Treese in what prosecutors alleged was a murder-for-hire killing. Another man, Justin Sneed, admitted robbing Van Treese and beating him to death with a baseball bat, but testified that he did so after Glossip promised to pay him $10,000. Sneed was the state’s key witness against Glossip and was sentenced to life in prison.
Messages left Monday with Glossip’s attorneys were not immediately returned.
After the Supreme Court’s decision, Drummond, acknowledged retrying the case more than 25 years later would be difficult, but said Monday that after reviewing the case he was confident sufficient evidence exists to secure a conviction. Drummond had taken the unusual step of asking the court to overturn Glossip’s conviction, arguing that while he believed Glossip had a role in the killing, he did not believe he had received a fair trial.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who wrote for five of the high court’s justices, said additional prosecutorial misconduct, including interfering with Sneed’s testimony, destroying evidence and withholding witness statements, further undermined confidence in the verdict.
During his time on death row, courts in Oklahoma set nine different execution dates for Glossip, and he came so close to being put to death that he ate three separate last meals. In 2015, he was even held in a cell next to Oklahoma’s execution chamber, waiting to be strapped to a gurney and injected with drugs that would kill him.
But the scheduled time for his execution came and went. And behind the walls of the Oklahoma State Penitentiary, prison officials were scrambling after learning one of the lethal drugs they received to carry out the procedure didn’t match the execution protocols. The drug mix-up ultimately led to a nearly seven-year moratorium on executions in Oklahoma.
