DEATH WATCH

Governors in California and Florida have temporarily suspended capital punishment amid a flurry of legal challenges claiming that the most common method of execution, lethal injection, is cruel and unusual. The issue is now before the U.S. Supreme Court.

NCR last reported the names of the people executed in the United States in December. Since then, 19 more people have been put to death.

John Nixon, 77, was executed in Texas Dec. 14; Clarence Ray Allen, 76, was executed in California Jan. 19; Perrie Dyon Simpson, 43, was executed in North Carolina Jan. 20; Marion Dudley, 33, was executed in Texas Jan. 25; Marvin Bieghler, 58, was executed in Indiana Jan. 27; Jaime Elizalde, 34, was executed in Texas Jan. 31; Glenn Benner, 43, was executed in Ohio Feb. 7; Robert Neville Jr., 31, was executed in Texas Feb. 8; Clyde Smith Jr., 32, was executed in Texas Feb. 15.

Tommie Hughes, 31, was executed in Texas March 15; Patrick Moody, 39, was executed in North Carolina March 17; Robert Salazar Jr., 27, was executed in Texas March 22; Kevin Kincy, 38, was executed in Texas March 29; Richard Alford Thornburg Jr., 40, was executed in Oklahoma April 18; Willie Brown, 61, was executed in North Carolina April 20; Daryl Mack, 47, was executed in Nevada April 26; Dexter Vinson, 43, was executed in Virginia April 27; Joseph Clark, 57, was executed in Ohio May 2; Jackie Wilson, 40, was executed in Texas May 4.

Since the Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976, a total of 1,022 persons have been executed in the United States, with Wilson the most recent.

We ask prayers for the victims of the crimes that may have been committed by those listed here, for those executed and for those participating in the execution done in our names.

-- Compiled by NCR staff

National Catholic Reporter, May 19, 2006