Posted on 02/07/2019 11:49:22 AM PST by Oldeconomybuyer
A federal appeals court on Wednesday blocked the execution of a Muslim inmate in Alabama after the state refused to allow his imam to be at his death instead of a Christian prison chaplain.
The United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit granted an emergency stay of execution for 42-year-old Domineque Ray one day before he was scheduled to be put to death for the rape and murder of 15-year-old Tiffany Harville more than two decades ago in Selma, Alabama.
Ray has been held at the Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore, Alabama, since he was convicted and sentenced to death in 1999. He has been a devout Muslim since at least 2006 and has been meeting with his current imam who has provided religious ministry to Muslim inmates like Ray since 2015, according to court documents.
The three-judge panel wrote in their decision that it was "exceedingly loath to substitute our judgment on prison procedures," but that "it looks substantially likely to us that Alabama has run afoul of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment."
"What is central to Establishment Clause jurisprudence is the fundamental principle that at a minimum neither the states nor the federal government may pass laws or adopt policies that aid one religion or prefer one religion over another," the judges wrote. "And that, it appears to us, is what the Alabama Department of Corrections has done here."
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
Yep, that’s some “spiritual advisor” you got there, Dominique. He must have forgotten to preach about rape and murder of teenagers being wrong.
Fine with me. If he wants a representative of satan present at his execution, the imam will do just fine.
He converted to Islam once he was on death row. No spiritual adviser of any sect likely had a impact on him before he wound up where he is.
If that's the case, I understand the problem for Alabama: Moslems don't officially believe it's wrong to lie, if you're lying to non-Moslems. The state needs a witness to the fact that the criminal was executed.
Well that’s convenient...There won’t be a muzlim anywhere that will show up...That’ll guarantee the guy lives...
The SCOTUS has ruled that capital punishment cannot be administered to individuals suffering from "mental retardation." I think an IQ of 80 is right on the borderline.
IQ 80 might pass for retarded for a white person. Based on the graph above, he is just below average for his racial group. It would be a difficult position to take the absolute definition of 80.
Twenty one years on death row.
Just shoot, shovel and shut up. Tell his lawyer he escaped.
Have they issued similar rulings regarding Christians and other faiths, that they must let your minister or priest be present?
So kill them both
Agreed. This was not a hill to die on; just looks stupid.
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