Friday, September 28, 2007
Texas Death Row Inmate Wins Reprieve
The U.S. Supreme Court stepped in on Thursday and blocked the execution of a 28-year old man scheduled to die for killing his adopted parents.
The Houston Chronicle reports that "[t]he high court stopped the execution more than four hours after [Carlton Turner Jr] could have been put to death and less than two hours before his execution warrant would have expired."
Although the Court did not explain their decision, only a day earlier it had "agreed to review a case in Kentucky which uses the same method of execution."
The Houston Chronicle reports that "[t]he high court stopped the execution more than four hours after [Carlton Turner Jr] could have been put to death and less than two hours before his execution warrant would have expired."
Although the Court did not explain their decision, only a day earlier it had "agreed to review a case in Kentucky which uses the same method of execution."
Texas uses a cocktail of three drugs that sedate and paralyze an inmate before stopping the heart. Critics say the method could inflict great pain while rendering an inmate unable to alert others to their condition.
Well, it's beginning to look more and more like states with death penalty statutes on their books are going to have to figure out a way to execute without pain; something that strikes Howling Latina as mutually exclusive in light of the U.S. constitution.
Distubingly, the Supreme Court ruling was too late to save Michael Richard ofTexas; he was executed in Huntsville last Tuesday -- the very same day the Court agreed to rule on whether lethal injection was cruel and unusual punishment.
Distubingly, the Supreme Court ruling was too late to save Michael Richard ofTexas; he was executed in Huntsville last Tuesday -- the very same day the Court agreed to rule on whether lethal injection was cruel and unusual punishment.
// posted by Howling Latina @ 2:13 AM 
