Lindsay Clancy’s lawyer argued this week that the state failed to present enough evidence at trial to prove she killed her three children.

© Pool photo by Greg Derr

Today, 23 states have abolished the death penalty, and a few states carry out the vast majority of executions.

© Tamir Kalifa for The New York Times

In May, the state tried to execute Tony Carruthers using lethal injection drugs but could not find a “suitable vein,” its correction department said.

© Nicole Hester/The Tennessean, via Reuters