Two Georgia men, William and Zachary Zulock, were sentenced to 100 years in prison without the possibility of parole for abusing their adopted special needs sons. The sentencing occurred in Walton County after the men pled guilty to multiple charges, including serious sexual offenses and exploitation of children.
Richard Allen, the man convicted of the 2017 murders of Abigail Williams and Liberty German in Delphi, Indiana, has been sentenced to the maximum 130 years in prison.
On Thursday, Oklahoma executed Kevin Ray Underwood, the man convicted of murdering 10-year-old Jamie Rose Bolin in 2006, despite attempts by his defense team to blame the horrific crime on autism and mental health issues. Underwood, who turned 45 on the day of his execution, was pronounced dead after being administered lethal injection at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester.
President Joe Biden’s decision to commute the sentence of Rita Crundwell, the woman behind the largest municipal embezzlement scandal in U.S. history, has ignited outrage in the small community of Dixon, Illinois.
Another tragic death has underscored the consequences of lax immigration enforcement in Harris County, Texas. On December 1, 7-year-old Ivory Smith was killed by a drunk driver in northeast Houston. Her mother sustained serious injuries in the crash. The alleged driver, 41-year-old Venezuelan national Joel Enrique Gonzalez Chacin, was in the country illegally and had a prior criminal record. He now faces charges of intoxicated manslaughter.
President Joe Biden issued 39 pardons and commuted nearly 1,500 sentences on Thursday, marking the largest single-day act of clemency in U.S. history. The move affects Americans convicted of non-violent crimes, with the White House citing rehabilitation and contributions to community safety as reasons for the clemency.
Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) caused a stir on Tuesday by becoming the first Democratic U.S. senator to post on President-elect Donald Trump’s social media platform, Truth Social.
Human rights activists, former corrections officials, and families of crime victims have called on President Biden to commute the sentences of all 40 federal death row inmates before leaving office.