AUSTIN, Texas: Texas Governor Greg Abbott commuted the death sentence of a convicted murderer less than an hour before he was set to be executed on Thursday, after the death row inmate’s family begged for mercy and won a rare clemency recommendation.
Florida executed a man convicted of the 1993 rape and murder of a college student, its Department of Corrections said, while Alabama plans to execute a convicted murderer later in the evening.
In Texas, Thomas Whitaker, 38, was convicted of masterminding a 2003 plot against his family in which his mother Tricia, 51, and brother Kevin, 19, were killed. His father, Kent, was shot in the chest and survived.
A devout Christian and retired executive, Kent Whitaker said he had forgiven his son and that his family did not want him to be executed. In a clemency petition, the father said it was his right as a victim to seek mercy and if the death penalty were implemented, it would make his pain worse.
On Tuesday, the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles in a unanimous decision recommended clemency based largely on his father’s request.
Abbott, a Republican, commuted the sentence to life in prison without the possibility of parole, saying various factors influenced his decision, including the father’s wishes and the board’s recommendation.
“I’m thankful for this decision, not for me but for my dad. Whatever punishment I might have received or will receive will be just. I deserve any punishment for my crimes, but my dad did nothing wrong,” Thomas Whitaker was quoted as saying by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.
Florida executed Eric Branch, 47, by lethal injection for the 1993 murder of University of West Florida student Susan Morris, the Department of Corrections said. His execution was the fourth this year in the United States, with the previous three in Texas.
Alabama planned to execute Doyle Hamm, 61, at 6 p.m. (0000 GMT) for the 1987 murder of motel clerk Patrick Cunningham. Hamm’s lawyers have said the death row inmate was too ill to be executed and the proceedings were delayed as the US Supreme Court pondered their appeal.
Hamm has terminal cancer, adding that years of intravenous drug use and untreated lymphoma had made his veins unstable for a lethal injection, his lawyers said.
A court-appointed doctor examined Hamm on Feb. 15 and found he had usable veins, according to court filings.
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Texas commutes death sentence, Florida executes murderer
Texas commutes death sentence, Florida executes murderer
Trump has ‘productive’ talks with Putin before Zelensky meet
- Trump’s upbeat tone on peace deal comes after Russia carried out another massive bombardment of Kyiv
- US president due to meet Zelensky at his Mar-a-Lago estate today
PALM BEACH: Donald Trump said Sunday he had “productive” talks with Russian leader Vladimir Putin hours before the US president meets Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky, in a year-end sprint to seal a deal to end the war.
Trump’s renewed upbeat tone comes despite wide skepticism in Europe about Putin’s intentions after Russia carried out another massive bombardment of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv just as Zelensky was heading to Trump’s Florida estate.
“I just had a very good and productive telephone call with President Putin of Russia,” Trump announced on his Truth Social platform.
The Kremlin gave a more pointed readout, saying that Trump agreed that a mere ceasefire “would only prolong the conflict” as it demanded Ukraine compromise on territory.
Trump is meeting Zelensky in the dining room of his Mar-a-Lago estate, where he frequently brings both foreign guests and domestic supporters.
Trump has made ending the Ukraine war a centerpiece of his second term as a self-proclaimed “president of peace,” and he has repeatedly blamed both Kyiv and Moscow for the failure to secure a ceasefire.
Zelensky, who has faced verbal attacks from Trump, has sought to show willingness to work with the contours of the US leader’s plans, but Putin has offered no sign that he will accept it.
Sunday’s meeting will be Trump’s first in-person encounter with Zelensky since October, when the US president refused to grant his request for long-range Tomahawk missiles.
And the Ukrainian leader could face another hard sell this time around, with Trump insisting that he “doesn’t have anything until I approve it.”
- European allies -
The talks are expected to last an hour, after which the two presidents are scheduled to hold a joint call with the leaders of key European allies.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who will join the call, wrote on X that the Russian attacks on Kyiv were “contrary to President Trump’s expectations and despite the readiness to make compromises” by Zelensky.
The revised peace plan, which emerged from weeks of intense US-Ukraine negotiations, would stop the war along its current front lines and could require Ukraine to pull troops back from the east, allowing the creation of demilitarized buffer zones.
As such, it contains Kyiv’s most explicit acknowledgement yet of possible territorial concessions.
It does not, however, envisage Ukraine withdrawing from the 20 percent of the eastern Donetsk region that it still controls — Russia’s main territorial demand.
The Ukrainian leader said he hoped the talks in Florida would be “very constructive” but stressed that Putin had shown his hand with a deadly drone and missile assault on Kyiv that temporarily knocked out power and heating to hundreds of thousands of residents during freezing temperatures.
“This attack is again Russia’s answer on our peace efforts. And this really showed that Putin doesn’t want peace,” he said as he visited Canada.
He also told reporters that he would press Trump on the importance of providing security guarantees that would prevent any renewed Russian aggression if a ceasefire were secured.
“We need strong security guarantees. We will discuss this and we will discuss the terms,” he said.
Ukraine insists it needs more European and US funding and weapons — especially drones.
- Russian opposition -
Russia has accused Ukraine and its European backers of trying to “torpedo” a previous US-brokered plan to stop the fighting, and recent battlefield gains — Russia announced on Saturday it had captured two more towns in eastern Ukraine — are seen as strengthening Moscow’s hand when it comes to peace talks.
“If the authorities in Kyiv don’t want to settle this business peacefully, we’ll resolve all the problems before us by military means,” Putin said on Saturday.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told state news agency TASS that Moscow would continue its engagement with US negotiators but criticized European governments as the “main obstacle” to peace.
“They are making no secret of their plans to prepare for war with Russia,” Lavrov said, adding that the ambitions of European politicians are “literally blinding them.”
Trump’s renewed upbeat tone comes despite wide skepticism in Europe about Putin’s intentions after Russia carried out another massive bombardment of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv just as Zelensky was heading to Trump’s Florida estate.
“I just had a very good and productive telephone call with President Putin of Russia,” Trump announced on his Truth Social platform.
The Kremlin gave a more pointed readout, saying that Trump agreed that a mere ceasefire “would only prolong the conflict” as it demanded Ukraine compromise on territory.
Trump is meeting Zelensky in the dining room of his Mar-a-Lago estate, where he frequently brings both foreign guests and domestic supporters.
Trump has made ending the Ukraine war a centerpiece of his second term as a self-proclaimed “president of peace,” and he has repeatedly blamed both Kyiv and Moscow for the failure to secure a ceasefire.
Zelensky, who has faced verbal attacks from Trump, has sought to show willingness to work with the contours of the US leader’s plans, but Putin has offered no sign that he will accept it.
Sunday’s meeting will be Trump’s first in-person encounter with Zelensky since October, when the US president refused to grant his request for long-range Tomahawk missiles.
And the Ukrainian leader could face another hard sell this time around, with Trump insisting that he “doesn’t have anything until I approve it.”
- European allies -
The talks are expected to last an hour, after which the two presidents are scheduled to hold a joint call with the leaders of key European allies.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who will join the call, wrote on X that the Russian attacks on Kyiv were “contrary to President Trump’s expectations and despite the readiness to make compromises” by Zelensky.
The revised peace plan, which emerged from weeks of intense US-Ukraine negotiations, would stop the war along its current front lines and could require Ukraine to pull troops back from the east, allowing the creation of demilitarized buffer zones.
As such, it contains Kyiv’s most explicit acknowledgement yet of possible territorial concessions.
It does not, however, envisage Ukraine withdrawing from the 20 percent of the eastern Donetsk region that it still controls — Russia’s main territorial demand.
The Ukrainian leader said he hoped the talks in Florida would be “very constructive” but stressed that Putin had shown his hand with a deadly drone and missile assault on Kyiv that temporarily knocked out power and heating to hundreds of thousands of residents during freezing temperatures.
“This attack is again Russia’s answer on our peace efforts. And this really showed that Putin doesn’t want peace,” he said as he visited Canada.
He also told reporters that he would press Trump on the importance of providing security guarantees that would prevent any renewed Russian aggression if a ceasefire were secured.
“We need strong security guarantees. We will discuss this and we will discuss the terms,” he said.
Ukraine insists it needs more European and US funding and weapons — especially drones.
- Russian opposition -
Russia has accused Ukraine and its European backers of trying to “torpedo” a previous US-brokered plan to stop the fighting, and recent battlefield gains — Russia announced on Saturday it had captured two more towns in eastern Ukraine — are seen as strengthening Moscow’s hand when it comes to peace talks.
“If the authorities in Kyiv don’t want to settle this business peacefully, we’ll resolve all the problems before us by military means,” Putin said on Saturday.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told state news agency TASS that Moscow would continue its engagement with US negotiators but criticized European governments as the “main obstacle” to peace.
“They are making no secret of their plans to prepare for war with Russia,” Lavrov said, adding that the ambitions of European politicians are “literally blinding them.”
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