Posted on 08/23/2007 8:41:58 AM PDT by Parmenio
HUNTSVILLE, United States (AFP) - A convicted murderer on Wednesday was put to death by lethal injection, in Texas' 400 execution since the US Supreme Court reinstated capital punishment in 1976.
Johnny Conner was pronounced dead at 1820 pm (2320 GMT), eight minutes after he was injected with the lethal concoction.
"What is happening to me now is unjust and the system is broken," said the 32-year-old African American in his final statement.
"At the same time, I bear witness there is no God but Allah and the Prophet Muhammed. Unto Allah, I belong, unto Allah I return. I love you," were his last words.
Since the 1976 reinstatement, Texas has accounted for more than one-third of the total 1091 executions carried out country-wide. This year, with other states now reticent, it will account for nearly two-thirds.
Ahead of Conner's execution, the southern state had carried out 20 of the 34 US judicial killings in 2007.
By comparison, 12 of the 50 states refused to restore capital punishment in 1976; four did but have not since executed anyone; and 14 have had five or fewer executions.
Conner was sentenced to die for the May 17, 1998 shooting death a gasoline pump grocery store owner during a holdup.
In 2005, a federal judge annulled Conner's death sentence because his defense lawyers' shoddy work -- they failed to summon any witnesses in his favor, but the ruling was overturned by a federal appeals court in January.
Earlier this month, the European Union had urged Texas Governor Rick Perry to consider a moratorium for all executions scheduled by his state.
Perru (sic) rejected the appeal, suggesting it was out of place since the United States asserted its independence from Britain in the 18th century.
The funniest passage is at the end of the article:
"Earlier this month, the European Union had urged Texas Governor Rick Perry to consider a moratorium for all executions scheduled by his state.
Perru (sic) rejected the appeal, suggesting it was out of place since the United States asserted its independence from Britain in the 18th century."
“What is happening to me now is unjust and the system is broken,” said the 32-year-old African American in his final statement.
“At the same time, I bear witness there is no God but Allah and the Prophet Muhammed. Unto Allah, I belong, unto Allah I return. I love you,” were his last words.
Well then, just a big Allah Akbar to you dude....enjoy your place in hell
I hope Texas did this in response to the E.U. yesterday asking them to stop the death penalty.
Fascinating.
If he had chosen to murder a shopowner in Riyadh instead of Texas back in 1998, he would have been executed by beheading back in 1998.
We need to bump the 400 up.
Do you get a prize for being #400? Maybe an extra virgin?
Well maybe there weren’t any.
Oh yeah I witnessed the shooting and by golly that Johnny Conner sure was polite when he plugged that gas station attendant.
“What is happening to me now is unjust and the system is broken,”.....
No way, baby. This system of prevention is 100% effective!We no longer have to worry about your sorry a$$ taking another life!
Militant
100% effective, but a tad bit sllllloooooow.
This is the greatest statement a politician could make given the situation. I love it. And, BTW, 9 years from date of crime to death penalty....This is encouraging.
What do Muslims do on their 73rd day in heaven when all the “virgins” are used up?
I always wondered that.
“Hmmm, a devout Muslim who believes the death penalty is unjust.”
He didn’t say the death penalty was unjust. He meant it was unjustly applied to him. See, the person he killed was not a Muslim. He would say that it is unjust for a Muslim to be put to death for killing an unbeliever.
Further, I’d venture to say that there were no Muslim witnesses against him. Therefore, he would say that his conviction is invalid.
As you can see, US laws are out of compliance with Sharia. Hence, according to Muslims, our laws are unjust.
When will these people learn the sage words of Ron White? “If you kill someone in TX we will kill you back.”
Unless you are here illegally then you get a pardon
“We need to bump the 400 up.”
Why are we counting? I’d rather have a running total of the victims of these dirt bags’ murders. Obviously, the victim count would be higher.
I bet he’s real surprised about now that Allah isn’t who he’s seeing.
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