New Hampshire Poll: Support For Death Penalty In Cop Killing: An article from the Boston News reports that a new poll shows more than half of New Hampshire residents believe the death penalty is an appropriate punishment for someone who murders a police officer. The poll comes as the state prosecutes two capital murder trials, including one that involves a police officer's death. Death penalty experts say polls taken during the course of high profile prosecutions tend to show greater support for the death penalty than those taken at other times. But the numbers represent a shift since the last time public opinion on the death penalty was measured.

Conyers Calls For Death Penalty For Child Murderers: Scott Ryan reports from WWJ Newsradio that Detroit city council president Monica Conyers is calling for Michigan to reinstate the death penalty, following the weekend murder of a four-month old baby. Conyers told WWJ that she wants to see justice and feels that child murderers in Michigan should be put to death. Sunday's shooting death occurred at the Premier Apartments on Lahser. The baby was shot in the head after gunmen sprayed bullets into the picture window of his mother's apartment.

Calif. Laws Crack Down On Sex-Offender Teachers: AP writer, Juliet Williams, reports that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has signed two bills making it tougher for teachers who commit sex crimes to remain in California's public schools. The new laws close loopholes in California's teacher licensing system that had allowed some teachers accused or even convicted of serious crimes to remain in the classroom. It will allow the state to revoke licenses from teachers who plead no contest to certain sex crimes or drug offenses without waiting for a discretionary review that can sometimes take two or three years. The results of investigations into teacher misconduct will be available for five years instead of being sealed after one year, as they currently are.

Testimony Ends In 25-year-old KFC Murders In Texas: According to a story by AP writer, Michael Graczyk, a witness testified Monday about the night of September of 1983 when five people were abducted from a Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant in a van driven by a white man and carrying three people wearing KFC uniforms. The five victims - four KFC employees and a friend - were found shot to death along a rural road about 15 miles from the restaurant the next day. James Rowe testified as defense attorneys began their case in the capital murder trial of Darnell Hartsfield. It was long one of Texas' oldest unresolved mass murder cases. Hartsfield faces life in prison if convicted of the five capital murder counts. Prosecutors chose not to seek the death penalty.

A High Court ruling in the Troy Davis case is expected on October 6, according to a story by Atlanta Journal Constitution reporter Bill Rankin. The Court stayed Davis' execution on September 23, two hours before it was to be carried out. Davis was sentenced to die for the 1989 murder of a 27-year-old police officer who came to the aid of a homeless man Davis was pistol-whipping in a Burger King parking lot. The father of two did not have time to draw his gun and was shot three times. The Court could lift the stay on Monday, October 6th, or agree to reconsider Davis' claims questioning his guilt which had been reviewed and rejected by the Georgia Supreme Court and the lower federal courts.