death warrant

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun Law An official order implementing a jury's sentence of death and setting the date for the execution of the defendant.
• noun Something that destroys hope or expectation; a deathblow.

from The Century Dictionary.

• noun In law, an order from the proper authority for the execution of a criminal.
• noun Figuratively, anything which puts an end to hope or expectation.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• noun A warrant that authorizes capital punishment.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• noun a warrant to execute the death sentence