Oklahoma Court Sets Brown Execution Date: According to an AP article, on Monday the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals set January 22 for the execution of Darwin Demond Brown, convicted for a 1995 slaying in Tulsa. Attorney General Drew Edmondson requested the execution date last month after the U.S. Supreme Court denied Brown's final appeal of his first-degree murder conviction and death sentence for the killing of Richard Kevin Yost during a 1995 robbery of a convenience store.

Supreme Court Reinstates Death Penalty For Deputy Killer Brannan: An article by a Macon staff writer reports that the Georgia Supreme Court has reinstated the death penalty for Andrew Howard Brannan, who was convicted of killing Laurens County deputy Kyle Dinkheller. In a unanimous decision, the high court reversed a Butts County judge’s ruling that threw out Brannan’s death sentence, and may have vacated Brannan’s conviction. Justice Hugh Thompson wrote "For the reasons set below, we reinstate Brannan’s death sentence and, to the extent that it is necessary to do so, we also reinstate his conviction."

Oakland Sued Over Flawed Search Warrants: Henry K. Lee, Chronicle staff writer, reports that the Oakland Police Department faces a second federal civil rights lawsuit filed by drug suspects who said their homes were searched under search warrants obtained from judges on false information. The complaint on behalf of two men whose East Oakland homes were searched earlier this year. They filed their complaint on Friday, two days after a class-action suit accused Oakland police of similar misconduct. The suit, which seeks unspecified damages, named the city of Oakland and Officers Karla Rush and Alan Leal.

Idaho Killer Duncan Gets 6 Additional Life Terms: AP writer Todd Dvorak reports that confessed child-killer Joseph Edward Duncan III received his final sentences Monday for the torture and slayings of an Idaho family, with a judge telling him that his cruel rampage "exceeds the bounds of human understanding." Six life prison terms in federal and state court were added to the death sentences a federal jury handed down in August. He is already serving three life sentences handed to him by a state judge in 2006 on kidnapping counts. Duncan was convicted for the 2005 kidnapping of 9-year-old Dylan Groene, and his sister Shasta, then 8. He tortured and sexually abused both children, eventually killing Dylan. He had targeted both children, and killed their older brother, as well as their mother and her fiance, so that he could kidnap Dylan and Shasta. Yesterday, the state court sentenced Duncan to three life terms for the murders. Shortly after that hearing, a U.S. District sentenced Duncan to three federal life terms, one for kidnapping Shasta, and one each for sexually abusing Shasta and her brother.