|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
By Category |
 |
|
|
| |
|
| |
| |
India On Media |
|
|
|
| |
|
| |
|
|
| Politics
News |
|
| Missouri moving too quickly on exec |
| Missouri moving too quickly on executions: Lawyers
|
| UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
, 31-January-2014
2:34:2 AM |
| By the time the U.S. Supreme Court refused a last-minute request to stay the execution of Herbert Smulls, the Missouri death-row inmate was already dead. His attorneys said Thursday that it was the third straight case in which Missouri has moved ahead with an execution while the case was still in court.
While Missouri says it's perfectly legal to carry out executions before all appeals are exhausted, legal experts say the practice is rare. And the concerns from defense attorneys come as the death penalty in general is getting increased scrutiny amid separate questions about the drugs states are using to execute inmates.
Smulls, 56, was put to death late on Wednesday after a protracted legal battle that lasted more than two decades, a legal fight that extended to his final day of life. Smulls was scheduled to die at 12:01 am on Wednesday, but various appeals pushed the case deep into the evening.
Attorneys for Smulls made one final push just before 10 p.m. for a stay from the U.S. Supreme Court, which had already ruled on other appeals that the execution could proceed. Timing was becoming a factor because the death warrant expired at 11:59 p.m. A new execution date would be required if Smulls was still alive at midnight.
He wasn't. The execution began at 10:11 pm, and Smulls was pronounced dead at 10:20 pm.
Joseph Luby, an attorney for Smulls, said he received an email at 10:30 pm from the Supreme Court, saying the stay application was denied at 10:24 pm - four minutes after Smulls was pronounced dead.
"It's just troubling and fundamentally lawless," Luby said.
Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster, in an emailed statement, said the state did nothing wrong.
"The United States Supreme Court has ruled that pending litigation is not sufficient to stop an execution," Koster wrote. "The legal mechanism for a federal court to stop an execution is a court-ordered stay."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
ADVERTISEMENTS
Free offer!!! Become an administrator for your zip home page, "Post" local news (local to your postcode)& pictures, "Post" advertisement banners from local companies. Make Extra money.
|
 |
 |
|
|
| |
|
