Posted on 03/20/2020 8:25:14 AM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer
Two executions have been postponed in Texas this month, and it's possible the coronavirus pandemic could disrupt several more, which one expert says could reduce the dwindling support for the death penalty in the United States.
With many non-essential public spaces shut down to try to contain the virus' spread, lawyers for two condemned men sought and received 60-day stays of execution.
The Court of Criminal Appeals approved the stays for John Hummel on Monday and Tracy Beatty on Thursday. They were on the schedule to be executed March 18 and March 25, respectively.
Robert Dunham, director of the Washington, D.C.-based Death Penalty Information Center, which provides resources on capital punishment, told UPI he expects more upcoming executions to receive stays.
At least one other death row inmate -- Oscar Smith in Tennessee -- has requested a stay and is awaiting a response from the state's Supreme Court. He's scheduled to be put to death June 4.
Smith's lawyers said efforts to limit people from transmitting the virus have made it difficult for them to work on their client's case.
"It would be irresponsible and against the public's interest to conduct the necessary investigation during this pandemic," the motion for a stay reads. "Mr. Smith's team cannot conduct the work necessary to fulfill their obligation to him without putting themselves and others at risk."
Dunham said there's a lot of legal work that happens once a death row inmate is put on the calendar for execution. In some cases, witnesses don't come forward to provide evidence or testimony until there's a date.
(Excerpt) Read more at upi.com ...
Why not give all the monsters on death row the option of being injected with live Chinese Virus — to be studied for science?
The repro men and process server will be the only getting rich during the period and the Middle Class will die just that much more..Many will lose much because of bumbling of the Government...
The lib insanity continues....
Libs are a virus...the demavirus.
A bullet is speedy.
It might just do a hostile takeover of executions too.
Does anyone care? Please...
Executions are not at the top of my list right now.
Some poor and ill young fellow called into Brian Kilmeade’s radio show this morning about having to go to traffic court for a $35 ticket, with coughers milling all over the place.
What’s a couple of months these scumbags have been on death row and the tax payers dime for decades
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