Texas death penalty set to resume soon!

[dla4079]

AUSTIN — The U.S. Supreme Court decision upholding lethal injection sent a shudder through death row Wednesday, and prosecutors and governors around the country said they would move forward with carrying out death sentences as quickly as the courts can set execution dates.

"It's just terrible," said Paris Powell, a convicted killer at the Oklahoma State Prison in McAlester.

He added: "It's like the air has just been let out of a balloon. There's disbelief that the ruling came so quickly, but it goes further than just right now. It's now official that the death penalty is here to stay forever, really."

The 7-2 decision came after what amounted to a seven-month moratorium on executions in the U.S., as states awaited a ruling from the high court. In the case from Kentucky, death penalty foes argued unsuccessfully that the widely used three-drug cocktail can cause excruciating pain in violation of the Constitution's ban on cruel and unusual punishment.

In Texas, easily the No. 1 death penalty state, 40 condemned convicts who had all but exhausted their appeals had been awaiting the outcome of the case, said University of Houston law professor David Dow, who represents death row inmates. Texas has 357 inmates on death row.

In Texas, judges set execution dates. By law, execution dates must be set at least a month in advance, so no execution could take place before mid-May at the earliest.

The chief prosecutor in Houston, Kenneth Magidson, whose surrounding Harris County sends more inmates to death row than any other, said he would seek execution dates for the six inmates awaiting execution "in due course."

Twenty-six condemned killers were executed in Texas last year before the Supreme Court agreed to hear the Kentucky case.

In Oklahoma, where 84 people are on death row, Attorney General Drew Edmondson said he will request an execution date for two condemned inmates who have run out of appeals. The executions could be held as early as June, allowing 60 days for each inmate to receive a final clemency hearing.

Virginia Gov. Timothy Kaine promptly lifted a moratorium on capital punishment that he imposed April 1 when he stayed the execution of a man who killed a police officer.

In Florida, where a botched execution in 2006 may have caused an inmate extreme pain, Gov. Charlie Crist said he asked one of his lawyers to put together "a very short list" of death warrants to consider signing. Florida has 338 inmates on death row.

"Justice delayed is justice denied, and an awful lot of families of the victims have been waiting for justice to be done, and so that's certainly an important factor," he said.


Harris County killer Michael Wayne Richard, 48, condemned for the 1986 rape-murder of Hockley nurse Marguerite Dixon, was the last prisoner executed in the nation before scheduled executions were put on hold.

Richard was executed on Sept. 25, the day the high court agreed to hear the Kentucky case. Richard's lawyers attempted to obtain a stay for their client after the court signaled that it would hear the Kentucky case, but experienced computer problems that delayed submitting their petition.

The attorneys asked the state court of appeals clerks office to extend its hours to accept the appeal, but court of appeals presiding Justice Sharon Keller ordered the office to close at its usual time.

The action prompted a national outcry against Keller and resulted in a written policy governing such situations in the future.


Since capital punishment was reinstated in 1976, Texas has executed 405 inmates, more than any other state. Virginia is second with 99.

It was in Oklahoma that the three-drug lethal cocktail was invented 31 years ago. Death row inmates in the bunker-like H-unit at the 100-year-old Oklahoma State Prison talk about the possibility of a painfully botched execution, Powell said.

"Everybody has heard horror stories. I've heard them myself, but how can you confirm them?" he asked. "I've never seen anybody walk through that door upstairs ever come back."


A divided court

The Kentucky case splintered the Supreme Court into five factions and no single opinion garnered a majority.

Chief Justice John Roberts wrote that Kentucky's form of execution is "believed to be the most humane available."

Roberts wrote that throughout history, challenges to executions as "cruel and unusual" have consistently failed. However, he wrote that "society has nonetheless steadily moved to more humane methods of carrying out of capital punishments. The firing squad, hanging, the electric chair and the gas chamber have in turn given way to more humane methods, culminating in today's consensus on lethal injection."

Those seeking to strike down lethal injection as a violation of the 8th Amendment's prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment "have not carried their burden of showing that the risk of pain from maladministration of a concededly humane lethal injection protocol, and the failure to adopt untried and untested alternatives, constitute cruel and unusual punishment," Roberts wrote.

He was joined by Justices Samuel Alito and Anthony Kennedy.

Justices John Paul Stevens and Stephen Breyer, who normally vote with the more liberal bloc, concurred in the Roberts' judgment but not his reasoning.

Justice Antonin Scalia, joined by Clarence Thomas, filed a separate opinion largely consisting of a rebuttal to Stevens' complaints about capital punishment.

Justices David Souter and Ruth Bader Ginsburg filed a strong dissent. Ginsburg said it is "undisputed" that the second and third drugs used by Kentucky "would cause a conscious inmate to suffer excrutiating pain."

She asked Kentucky courts to consider safeguards to prevent condemned killers from suffering severe discomfort in the moments in their final moments of life. She asked the state to ensure a prisoner is unconscious when injected with the death-inducing drug.

The fractured court's findings left open future challenges to lethal injection practices if a state refuses to adopt an alternative method that significantly reduces the risk of severe pain.

In Houston Wednesday, David Atwood, director of the Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, expressed disappointment in the court's decision.

"I don't know that it would have had a big impact on Texas anyway," he said, "because we are so determined to go forward with executions in this state. I personally think there are serious problems with how the death penalty is administered in Texas that should cause us to stop executions. These are problems with the legal system that we have seen again and again."

Dianne Clements, director of Justice for All, a crime-victims' advocacy group, said the court's ruling "settles the issue once and for all.

"Another obstacle is down and execution is still in place," she said. "Lethal injection is not cruel and unusual."

[all4114all]

True to criminal thinking, offenders believe they should be treated much more humanely than their victims. I wish I could say that I hope the lethal injection process is not painful, but gosh, I just can't. And really, how will we know? Should we call the Medium or the Ghost Whisperer? (I like both shows just don't believe EVERYTHING I see on TV lol)

While I believe in reentry efforts for offenders going to be released, I feel that the death penalty sentence should be enforced quickly upon conclusion of the appeals.

[jafish]

YEEEHAAWWWW!!! FIRE UP THE LETHAL INJECTION CHAMBER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[lxlaw]

Proud to say boys, already did 2, time to get back on track!!

[LTABM]

Texas takes it a lil further when they say "Don't mess with Texas!"

That's why I love this state !

[COIII]

Originally Posted by LTABM

Texas takes it a lil further when they say "Don't mess with Texas!"

That's why I love this state !

Texases view on the death penalty is one of few things I can say I like about Texas.

[santipecos]

Just like they say in Stark, Fl (I got the t- shirt)...


You try them, we fry them