Texas death-row inmate sues for pastor's touch during execution

A Texas death-row inmate has sued state prison officials to allow his pastor to lay hands on him as he dies from a lethal injection.

John Henry Ramirez, 37, is scheduled to be put to death in the Texas death chamber on September 8, but his attorneys said in a federal lawsuit filed Tuesday in Corpus Christi that state prison officials had denied his request to have his pastor lay hands on him as he dies. The lawsuit asked a federal judge to allow Dana Moore, pastor of the Second Baptist Church, a Corpus Christi congregation of about 200 worshippers, to be present in the death chamber at his execution and lay hands on him as Ramirez dies. The lawsuit states that Moore has ministered to Ramirez for five years.