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THE US SUPREME Court last night denied a last-minute request from Arkansas state authorities for permission to carry out its first execution in more than a decade.
The US high court decision is the latest in a flurry of legal setbacks to the southeastern state’s original plan to carry out eight executions between April 17 and 27, an unprecedented pace.
Justices declined an appeal from the state’s attorney general to lift a stay barring the execution of Don Davis, who was slated to be the first of several inmates to die this month.
The Arkansas Supreme Court had blocked the executions of Davis and one other inmate, after lawyers had requested the executions be delayed until the US Supreme Court hears a separate case concerning prisoners’ access to mental health experts who are independent of the prosecution.
But Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge swiftly filed an application with the US Supreme Court to obtain permission to proceed with the execution of just Davis.
As he awaited the court to decide his fate Davis ate fried chicken, mashed potatoes and strawberry cake – what could have been his last meal.
The US Supreme court’s denial of the state’s request came minutes before Davis’s execution warrant expired at midnight local time , wrapping up a day of legal wrangling among state and federal courts over the state’s accelerated execution plan.
‘An exhausting day’
The legal roadblock constitutes yet another setback for Arkansas’s Republican governor, Asa Hutchinson, who had pushed for the accelerated executions as the expiration of the state’s supply of midazolam drew near.
“While this has been an exhausting day for all involved, tomorrow we will continue to fight back on last minute appeals and efforts to block justice for the victims’ families,” Hutchinson said in a statement.
He said the state would continue towards carrying out the executions of the other inmates.
Hours prior to the US Supreme Court decision, state courts had lifted obstacles to continuing those plans.
The US Court of Appeals for the eighth Circuit reversed a federal judge’s broader stay on the executions, clearing the path for deaths scheduled to take place later this month to proceed.
The state’s Supreme Court also vacated an order blocking the use of the drug vecuronium bromide as part of a lethal-injection protocol.
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Why is there no mention of why the criminal was sentenced to death?
@Banana Rama: Here is one of those persons that is “waiting” to be executed…
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/apr/13/arkansas-executions-death-penalty-bruce-earl-ward
@Banana Rama: Hope the same people who campaign against this form of death penalty also campaign against abortion.
@Tom Molloy- the only ‘pro aborts’ or ‘pro death’ people in the US, would be the “pro life” people ..These ‘pro aborts’ also take away funding from Planned Parenthood.True story!
@Banana Rama: there’s seven of them which one are you referring to ?
@Banana Rama: Are you confident that the US justice system is 100% infallible and no possibility exists that even one of these men is innocent.
Not like malicious prosecutions or over relied upon circumstantial evidence could sully the proceedings?
If a margin of error of only 1% exists that means 25,000 people are wrongly imprisoned and sonce 1976 13 innocent people have been executed.
Only a conservative dope supports the death penalty.
As for a womans choice, the two things arent comparable to anyone except conservative dopes.
@Cillín Ó hEadhra: In reference to Don Davis, well he has admitted his guilt, and he was first up for execution. He shot a woman in the head, and robbed her. He could have just robbed her. So are you saying he shouldn’t be executed because you disagree with the death penalty, or because you’re trying to equate his case with some other statistic regarding wrongful imprisonment? Which is it?
@Who’s Yer Man: Will his execution bring his victim back to life? No. So the state would just commit judicial approved murder, does the guy deserve to die? Maybe, but a democratic state should be held to higher standards
Some states have also legalised abortion.
@Tom Molloy: “some states have also legalised abortion” Wow! When did you get to find this out ? Also-can you also provide the states that don’t ?
@Francis Mc Carthy: Wow, wow, are you saying that all the states have both forms of death penalty?
@Tom Molloy:
1) A woman in America has a legal right to an abortion in the first trimester..
2) In America,the anti -choice (pro aborts) peeps want to protect the silly belief that -> everybody should have the “right to life” ,yet you have 17 states that have passed the most restrictive abortion measures (which have dismally failed in the house/courts) have yet to abolish the death penalty ..YIKES!
So instead of executing them, they will just be locked up in a dingy cell until they die. #LeftyLogic
You do know that there is thing called ‘due process’ in the USA,yes?
And that the death penalty is nearly four times more costlier than giving that person a ‘dingy cell’
#YikesAltrightLogic
@George Orwell: it’s cheaper to keep them in jail, $25k per year, than execute them, $25 million per execution.
@Boganity: That $25 million figure per execution is questionable enough, I believe that’s in California only. It’s about $2m per execution in Texas, for instance.
Still, the point stands – it’s more expensive to execute people than keep them in a supermax for life.
@Malachi: I can’t see how a publicly funded legal process lasting decades can cost just $2 million, even without factoring that the best legal minds, and therefore the most costly, are involved in the process.
@Boganity: Nah, most studies that have been done on other states apart from California have come up with a figure of around $2m per execution – California seems to be an outlier.
So instead of excepting
@George Orwell: can’t believe that nonsensical typo of yours got so many thumbs up.
It’s crazy how much they spend on killing people. You can buy a round of ammunition for a hand gun for about 25 cent, or you can reload your own rounds for about 5c per bullet. Other cost effective ways of killing people, drowning, burning, hanging etc.
@SuzukaYuiMoa: Not sure if you’re trolling or just an idiot but the price of putting someone to death isn’t in the method of execution, it’s the legal fees.
“The only people the state should have a hand in killing are unborn babies. Leave those poor murderers alone!” – the left
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