US executes 1,000th person since death penalty reinstatement 28 years ago News
US executes 1,000th person since death penalty reinstatement 28 years ago

[JURIST] Kenneth Lee Boyd became the 1,000th person executed Friday since the US Supreme Court [official website] reinstated [DPIC backgrounder] the country's capital punishment [Wikipedia backgrounder] program in 1977 after a 10-year moratorium. Boyd, who was convicted of fatally shooting his wife and father-in-law 17 years ago, did not deny the killings but said he thought he should receive a life jail sentence rather than death. Boyd said he would "hate to be remembered" as a number. Convicted killer Robin Lovitt would have been the 1,000th executed [JURIST report], but Virginia Governor Mark Warner [official website] commuted his death sentence [JURIST report] earlier this week. Both North Carolina Governor Mike Easley [official website] and the US Supreme Court refused to intervene and consider Boyd's clemency pleas. AP has more.

THIS DAY @ LAW

38 Santee Sioux hanged by US for rebellion

On December 26, 1862, 38 Santee Sioux men were hanged in a mass execution for their roles in a rebellion against US authorities in Minnesota which left hundreds dead and made refugees of some 40,000 white settlers. Government annuities promised under a treaty with the Sioux had failed to arrive on schedule and credit for purchases was not advanced in the meantime, threatening the tribe with starvation. The Santee Sioux Tribe's members were deported first to South Dakota and ultimately to Nebraska, where they remain today. Learn more about the 1862 Minnesota Sioux Rebellion.

Louis XVI put on trial during French Revolution

On December 26, 1792, Romain de Sèze, a defense attorney for deposed King Louis XVI, presented a defense of his client. The former King was on trial before a French Revolutionary court on thirty-three charges, including treason and other crimes against the state. He was convicted on January 15, 1793 executed by guillotine on the following January 21.