A man convicted in the shooting deaths of three people is set to be executed Wednesday in Texas. Meanwhile, another execution that was scheduled for the same time in Georgia has been halted by a judge.
This would be the fifth execution in Texas, while Georgia has yet to put anyone to death this year. The nation's busiest death chamber is in Florida, which accounted for more than half the 25 executions already carried out in the U.S. this year.
LeJames Norman, 40, was sentenced to death in the 2005 fatal shootings of Samuel Roberts, 24, Tiffani Peacock, 18, and Celso Lopez, 38, inside the home they shared in a small, rural town. He is scheduled to die by injection of the sedative pentobarbital at 6 p.m. CDT at the state penitentiary in Huntsville.
Stacey Humphreys, 53, was convicted of malice murder and other crimes in the 2003 killings of 33-year-old Cyndi Williams and 21-year-old Lori Brown. He had been scheduled to die at 7 p.m. EDT at the state prison near Jackson. A judge issued a stay of execution late Tuesday, but it's possible that stay could be lifted in time for it to go forward.
Norman and Ker’Sean Ramey believed there was cocaine in the house in Edna, a small, rural city about 100 miles (161 kilometers) southwest of Houston, and hoped to steal it, according to court records. But they never found any drugs and fatally shot three people in the home. Lopez was shot four times, including three in the back of his head. Peacock was shot twice in the head. Roberts was shot five times to the chest, neck and head.
Norman was arrested about five months after the killings while trying to cross back into the U.S. from Mexico. He pleaded guilty to capital murder, leaving a jury to decide his punishment.
Ramey was also convicted in the shootings and sentenced to death. His execution is set for next week.
The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles on Monday voted against commuting Norman’s sentence to a lesser penalty or recommending a 90-day reprieve of execution. After the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals on Monday denied a motion from Norman’s attorneys for a stay of execution based on claims regarding actions by the prosecution, his attorneys have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review the decision.
In 2017 the U.S. Supreme Court refused to review Norman’s appeal raising questions about the competence of his trial attorneys.
The two women who Humphreys killed were working as real estate agents for a new subdivision in the Atlanta suburb of Powder Springs. He entered the sales office in a model home around midday on Nov. 3, 2003, and forced them to strip naked and give him their bank PINs before fatally shooting them, according to evidence presented at trial.
Humphreys withdrew more than $3,000 from the women's bank accounts, according to court filings. He told police after his arrest that he had recently taken out some high-interest payday loans and needed money for a payment on his truck.
Witnesses told police they saw a man fitting Humphreys’ description at the sales office and a vehicle in the parking lot that matched his black Dodge Durango. Police zeroed in on Humphreys and tried to question him at his Dunwoody home days later. He fled and was arrested in Wisconsin after leading police on a high-speed chase.
A judge halted Humphreys' execution late Tuesday after his lawyers filed a petition seeking a resentencing under a new state law that allows victims of abuse to have their sentences reconsidered and reduced if they can tie their crimes to abuse they suffered.
A lawyer for the state told the judge that if he ordered a stay they would immediately appeal in hopes of keeping the execution on track for Wednesday evening. The judge wrote that if an appellate court rules before the scheduled execution time on Wednesday that Humphreys is not entitled to a hearing on his petition for a reduced sentence, he will consider lifting the stay so the execution can proceed as scheduled.
Humphreys’ lawyers have also argued that he should be resentenced because his death sentence was tainted by a biased juror who lied during jury selection and bullied other jurors into voting for a death sentence. Courts have repeatedly rejected those arguments for procedural reasons, though U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, joined by the other two liberal justices, argued last year that the issue should be further explored rather than leaving it “caught in a web of procedural barriers.”
Additionally, Humphreys' lawyers have argued that it was not fair that his clemency application was heard by only four members of the five-person State Board of Pardons and Paroles. A judge had ordered one member of the board to recuse herself, agreeing with Humphreys’ legal team that there was a conflict of interest because she previously worked as a victim advocate with the Cobb County district attorney’s office and had worked with the victims in his case. The parole board on Tuesday denied clemency for Humphreys.
Brumback reported from Atlanta and Stengle reported from Dallas.
This combination of photos provided by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice and Georgia Department of Corrections shows LeJames Norman, left, and Stacey Humphreys, right. (Texas Department of Criminal Justice/Georgia Department of Corrections via AP)
This photo provided by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice shows LeJames Norman on Feb. 28, 2024. (Texas Department of Criminal Justice via AP)
The clock is ticking toward an unusual deadline in the NHL, and teams with players relevant to it are rushing to beat the final horn.
The new collective bargaining agreement goes into effect at midnight, at which time a seven-year contract will be the longest a player can re-sign with his own team — and six years in free agency. The final eight-year deals are getting done Tuesday.
Washington locked up Ryan Leonard for $84 million starting with the 2027-28 season. Making an average of $10.5 million a year through 2035, he will match new Capitals teammate Alex Tuch, who also got eight years in a sign-and-trade with Buffalo, for the highest-paid player on the team when Leonard's new deal kicks in.
“Ryan is a young and talented player who is still years away from entering his prime, and we believe he has tremendous potential to continue growing into an important player for our organization,” general manager Chris Patrick said in announcing Leonard's contract. “While reaching his full potential will take time, we have been impressed with his work ethic and the way he continues to develop his game. We are confident in Ryan’s ability to continue improving as a hockey player, and we believe this agreement provides him with the opportunity to grow and develop within our organization, while giving us the ability to keep a talented young player in our lineup for years to come.”
Leonard, a 21-year-old winger, is going into his second full NHL season after breaking in during the spring of 2025. This contract cements his place as part of the Capitals' young, post-Alex Ovechkin core, which is expected to also include brothers Ilya and Aliaksei Protas.
Washington forward Justin Sourdif also got an eight-year extension before the deadline: $50.8 million, for an annual cap hit of $6.35 million. Sourdif will be 25 when it goes into effect.
“Justin is a good young forward who has continued to develop steadily throughout his career,” Patrick said. “He is versatile and demonstrated his ability to play an important forward role for our team whenever the opportunity arose last season. ... We believe he has a bright future ahead of him and are confident that he will continue to make valuable contributions to our organization in the coming years.”
Ottawa signed Drake Batherson for $86 million, which is the most lucrative contract in Senators history. The previous record was Tim Stützle's eight-year, $66.8 million extension from September 2022.
Batherson will count $10.75 million against the salary cap starting in 2027, surpassing Stützle’s $8.35 million. He'll be 29 at that point.
“He was drafted and developed by our organization and has shown a commitment to wanting to be in Ottawa long term,” GM Steve Staios said of Batherson. “We view him as a key part of our core group.”
Batherson has set career highs in scoring each of the past seven seasons, topping out at 71 last year. He is just the second player in league history to do that seven times in a row, joining Vic Stasiuk from 1953-54 to '59-60 with Detroit.
Since the NHL and the NHL Players' Association came to an agreement on this CBA in late June 2025, 34 players have signed eight-year contracts. Thirteen of those have come in the past three months, including Colorado's Cale Makar setting the record for the most money at $163.2 million.
After being flat or nearly flat coming out of the pandemic, the salary cap is the middle of a series of record increases, now that revenues have caught up and are skyrocketing. The cap went from $95.5 million last season to $104 million this season and will be $113.5 million in 2027-28, when most of these new contracts will go into effect.
Philadelphia signing Anaheim’s Leo Carlsson to an offer sheet in July that made him the highest-paid player in the sport at $18 million a year — which the Ducks matched to keep him — led to a spike in salaries this summer.
Vegas center Jack Eichel, who is now making $13.5 million on his long-term contract signed last October, said agent Pat Brisson told him about what was coming and they had talks with NHLPA executive director Marty Walsh and others at the union and decided to go the full eight years anyway.
“It’s an incredible deal for me and my family, and we’re super grateful for the organization and the city believing in us,” Eichel said last week. “There’s no signer's remorse. Yeah, I'm a happy guy.”
Eichel led the Golden Knights to the Stanley Cup in 2023. He and fellow standouts such as Makar, Minnesota's Kirill Kaprizov, and Florida teammates Sam Bennett and Aaron Ekblad are proven commodities.
Many of the young players getting eight-year deals this offseason are team gambles of varying degrees.
As recently as Monday, Buffalo signed 22-year-old center Noah Ostlund for $52.8 million, banking on his potential. Ostlund has played in just 71 games in the league thus far.
Pittsburgh signed Ville Koivunen for $32 million over eight years in August. He has 14 points in 42 career games.
Beginning Wednesday, no contract can have more than 60% paid in signing bonuses. New Jersey and defending champion Carolina each got a deal done just in time.
The Hurricanes signed captain and Conn Smythe Trophy winner as playoff MVP Jordan Staal to a one-year extension, while the Devils extended recently acquired forward Luke Evangelista for five years and $36.25 million. Staal's contract is worth $900,000 in salary, with a $4 million signing bonus and up to $5.1 million in additional performance incentives.
“Jordan is not only our captain, he’s the bedrock of the culture we’ve established in this organization,” GM Eric Tulsky said. “His leadership and on-ice performance throughout last season and especially in the playoffs was a primary factor in bringing the Stanley Cup back to Raleigh.”
See AP’s full NHL coverage here
FILE - Ottawa Senators' Drake Batherson (19) celebrates his goal against the Carolina Hurricanes with teammate Nick Cousins (21) during the second period of an NHL hockey playoff game in Ottawa, Ontario, April 23, 2026. (Justin Tang/The Canadian Press via AP, File)
FILE - Washington Capitals right wing Ryan Leonard (9) in action during the third period of an NHL hockey game against the Utah Mammoth, March 3, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Nick Wass, File)
