John Downes (regicide) being found guilty of regicide, John Downes was condemned to death in October 1660 but the sentence was commuted to life imprisonment because he had tried to intervene on the King's behalf and only signed the death warrant after being intimidated by the other commissioners. Downes spent the rest of his life a prisoner in the Tower of London. John Downes (regicide) Colonel John Downes (1609 – c. 1666) was a commissioner who signed the death warrant of Charles I of England. After the English Restoration he was found guilty of regicide and was imprisoned until he died. John Downes;
Lisbon Regicide of the administrative dictatorship. Initially hesitant, the republicans proposed a pact between them and the regime; later, at their national congress in Setúbal (24–25 April 1909) they decided to forcibly seize power. The initial hesitation was due to the party's structure; the Republican Party was a collection of disenfranchised interests, political movements and dissident groups. Some Republicans were sincerely shocked by the regicide, even if it meant regime change. Rural conservatives were afraid of the effects of such actions on their British allies. However, the Republican Party could not turn its back on its supporters: the youth of Lisbon, already