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October 2, 2007
Another Texas execution halted ... is moratorium now official?
As detailed in this new AP article, the "Texas Court of Criminal Appeals on Tuesday stopped this week's scheduled execution of a Honduran man." This is the second straight Texas execution to be stayed since the Supreme Court took the Baze lethal injection case. And if Texas can't or won't be able to go forward with executions, I will be surprised if any other states try to conduct a lethal injection until the Supreme Court eventually (in June?) rules in Baze.
Some recent related posts:
- SCOTUS to review lethal injection protocols with Kentucky case
- What will be the ripples of Baze in the states?
- Top-notch Baze-ian analysis
- SCOTUS stops Texas execution: is a national Baze moratorium now a given?
- The impact of Baze in Alabama and Delaware
- A Texas companion? A lengthy de facto moratorium? What the Baze f@%$, SCOTUS?
- Everyone trying to figure out if there is now an execution moratorium
UPDATE: Howard Bashman has collected here the major media coverage of this latest Texas stay.
October 2, 2007 at 08:29 PM | Permalink
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Comments
Question: Can Texas move to vacate in the Supreme Court?
Observation: Arkansas is still planning to go forward with its execution scheduled this month.
Posted by: anonymouse | Oct 2, 2007 9:09:47 PM
They can move. It won't do much good.
Some state AGs do this, and I have no idea why, since they usually lose when trying to get the Supreme Court to vacate some sort of stay issued by a state court. If the Supremes were to grant it, they would be saying, "The state court improperly held that we have not decided an issue that we just said that we were going to decide." Or "It is unconstitutional not to kill him."
Posted by: S.cotus | Oct 2, 2007 9:15:41 PM
any bets on how long before federalist ways in saying kill'em all?
Posted by: anon | Oct 2, 2007 9:28:25 PM
ummm, weighs in too
Posted by: anon | Oct 2, 2007 9:29:11 PM
Arkansas plans to force the courts to stay things on a case-by-case basis. See http://www.pbcommercial.com/articles/2007/10/02/ap-state-ar/d8s1a4bo0.txt
Posted by: anonymouse | Oct 2, 2007 9:35:13 PM
Wouldn't federalist want *more* people to be executed, because the states could avoid further proceedings by killing the people now?
Moreover, he might argue that people in criminal states like Texas will want to commit more crimes because although Texans are criminals they follow Supreme Court proceedings very closely.
Posted by: S.cotus | Oct 3, 2007 7:11:45 AM
Judge Cynthia Kent in Tyler set another execution after the Chi stay, but only because she was required to procedurally. From everything I hear and read the de facto moratorium is fully on after the Court of Criminal Appeals flipped.
Texas Board of Pardons and Parole, btw, voted to defy the Supreme Court on Chi, which was also the position of the Texas Attorney General. But the CCA has endured too many SCOTUS bench slappings, knew when it was whipped, and acquiesced.
Posted by: Gritsforbreakfast | Oct 4, 2007 1:24:18 PM
Grits: Speaking of federal Judges named Kent, didja see they reprimanded that madman down on the island?
Posted by: dweedle | Oct 4, 2007 4:58:52 PM
I've only seen a little about the Sam Kent saga, but haven't watched it closely. The old saying though is that a scandal can't take out a gerrymandered Congressman or a lifetime appointed judge unless it involves a "dead girl or a live boy." Since Judge Kent was only reprimanded for groping a live girl, I think he'll get through it. In the end, it's just a 4-month paid vacation. Man, doesn't that lifetime appointment thing sound sweeeeet?!?
Judge Cynthia Kent in Tyler, btw, is not a federal judge but a state District Judge who's been on the bench 23 years. I've no reason to think they're related. Ironically (or perhaps just coincidentally), when I was 17 I blockwalked and distributed door hangers for the Smith County GOP candidate slate all those years ago that promoted Cynthia Kent's freshman candidacy. Today she's doing pretty groundbreaking stuff on incarceration alternatives in what's arguably the most conservative city in Texas, see e.g.:
http://gritsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2007/09/tylers-jail-alternative-saves-1-million.html
Posted by: Gritsforbreakfast | Oct 6, 2007 9:17:10 AM
