Posted on 03/27/2022 6:42:16 PM PDT by marshmallow
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of an inmate who requested that his pastor pray aloud and “lay hands” on him during his execution. The justices decided the case, Ramirez v. Collier, in an 8-to-1 ruling on Thursday.
Becket, a law firm dedicated to religious liberty that filed an amicus brief in the case, celebrated the decision.
“Even the condemned have a right to get right with God,” Eric Rassbach, vice president and senior counsel at Becket, said in a prepared statement. “The Supreme Court correctly recognized that allowing clergy to minister to the condemned in their last moments stands squarely within a history stretching back to George Washington and before. That tradition matters.”
Chief Justice John Roberts delivered the opinion of the court, with Justices Stephen Breyer, Samuel Alito, Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett joining.
Sotomayor and Kavanaugh filed additional, concurring opinions, while Justice Clarence Thomas dissented.
The justices, especially Thomas, took care to detail the context of the case. A Texas jury sentenced John Ramirez to death after he murdered a convenience store worker, Pablo Castro, in 2004. Ramirez stabbed Castro 29 times during a robbery during which he and his accomplices stole $1.25 from the pockets of the victim. He then left Castro, a father of nine, to bleed to death in a parking lot.
Ramirez, who identifies as Christian, asked for his pastor to be present during his execution, originally scheduled for September 2021. Texas initially denied his request, but then changed its protocol and allowed the pastor — Pastor Dana Moore from the Second Baptist Church in Corpus Christi — to be present.
(Excerpt) Read more at catholicnewsagency.com ...
i can’t wait to see how this works out for firing squads, gas chambers, and electrocution ...
Thomas surprises me on this. The punishment is the punishment. Denying a condemed man the equivalent of last rites seems like an extra judicial punishment type of thing. Dont like that because then you get situations like what is happening to the Jan 6th prisoners.
Good thing he’s not getting old sparky. Probably wouldn’t get many volunteers.
Me too. Seems odd.
Last rites have always been given, and given BEFORE the execution, not DURING it!
But that’s a Catholic thing. This is a Protestant thing.
If he was originally scheduled for execution in September, then did this legal battle delay the sentence?
A Texas jury sentenced John Ramirez to death after he murdered a convenience store worker, Pablo Castro, in 2004. Ramirez stabbed Castro 29 times during a robbery during which he and his accomplices stole $1.25 from the pockets of the victim. He then left Castro, a father of nine, to bleed to death in a parking lot.
The prisoner seems to have moved the goalposts on Texas.
Smooth move.
Ask for pastor to be present.
Texas eventually accepts
But wait, there’s more..
Now the pastor has to touch..
Texas says no.
Texas willing to feed and house the prisoner for 6+months after scheduled execution.
That doesn’t sound like the Texas death penalty Ron White talked about
We need to bring back the gas chamber.
We need to bring back the gas chamber.
—
Or the condemned could be forced to listen to Fuaci talk. No wait. That’s cruel and unusual.
Why? What good could THAT possibly do?
The pastor has no powers.
““Even the condemned have a right to get right with God,””
Not quite correct. They have NO SUCH “RIGHT”.
What everyone has is the CHANCE to get right with God.
At some point (BEFORE DEATH), you have the chance to “get right with God”.
God decides who is worthy.
Best to get right with God TODAY!
The preacher will need hearing protection in some states.
In which century does the man think he is living? 9th???
It’s a precedent. Maybe in future situations the victims family will get to lay hands on the condemned.
# We need to bring back the gas chamber.
Any attempt to do that will simply generate more delays because our legal system is broken.
If you want a ‘gas chamber’, the gas that needs to be used is nitrogen. It is reasonably quick, easy to administer, and doesn’t require any toxic/poisonous materials to be handled. When the execution is completed, you vent the nitrogen to the roof, and go on with your day.
That's why they used to be called "penetentiaries", when the main objective (besides protection of the innocent) was penitence.
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