Texas Ruling Signals Indefinite Halt of Executions

[babylonsister]

Texas Ruling Signals Indefinite Halt of Executions


By RALPH BLUMENTHAL
Published: October 3, 2007

HOUSTON, Oct. 2 — Signaling an indefinite halt to executions in Texas, the state’s highest criminal appeals court late Tuesday stayed the lethal injection of a 28-year-old Honduran man who was scheduled to be put to death Wednesday.

The reprieve by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals was granted a week after the United States Supreme Court agreed to consider whether a form of lethal injection constituted cruel and unusual punishment barred under the Eighth Amendment. On Thursday, the Supreme Court stepped in to halt a planned execution in Texas at the last minute, and though many legal experts interpreted that as a signal for all states to wait for a final ruling on lethal injection before any further executions, Texas officials said they planned to move ahead with more.

As a result, Tuesday’s ruling by the Texas court was seen as a sign that judges in the nation’s leading death penalty state were taking guidance from the Supreme Court and putting off imminent executions.

The Texas court order gave state authorities up to 30 days to explain in legal papers why the execution of the inmate, Heliberto Chi, should proceed. With responses then certain from defense lawyers, the effect of the order was to put off the execution for months, lawyers said.

more...

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/03/us/03texas.html?ei=5088&en=ff736a7222c16dec&ex=1349064000&adxnnl=1&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&adxnnlx=1191409524-vxn3yXoG3QAWnwq2hWAVlw

[Demeter]

1. Any sightings of angels with swords?

It must be the end of the world!

[flashl]

2. This state has thumbed its nose at the Supreme Court

on DP for years. I recall learning about one person on Texas' death row that Texas and the SCOTUS played ping pong with at least 20 times. Meaning, this soul was strapped to the gurney 20 times when the SCOTUS stepped in.