US Supreme Court To Debate Restriction On Religious Advisors At Executions
NDTV
The US Supreme Court will consider a death row prisoner's request that his pastor be allowed to touch him during his execution, a case that could determine the role of religious advisors in death chambers.
The US Supreme Court will consider Tuesday a death row prisoner's request that his pastor be allowed to touch him during his execution, a case that could determine the role of religious advisors in death chambers.
John Ramirez, 37, was scheduled to be executed on September 8 for stabbing a convenience store clerk to death during a 2004 robbery.
Seth Kretzer, Ramirez's lawyer, petitioned the Supreme Court to halt the execution because the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) will not allow Ramirez' Baptist pastor, the Reverend Dana Moore, to have physical contact with him as he is executed or to pray aloud in the chamber.
The high court granted Ramirez a last-minute stay of execution and scheduled a hearing to consider the merits of the case.
