High Court Halts Texas Execution

Review Of Lethal Injection Procedures Stops Planned Execution Of Man Convicted Of Killing His Parents

(AP)  The U.S. Supreme Court halted the execution of a man convicted of killing his parents in the nation's busiest death penalty state after already agreeing to review another state's lethal injection procedures.

The high court, which refused a similar appeal earlier this week from another Texas inmate, blocked state corrections officials Thursday night from executing 28-year-old Carlton Turner Jr. The order came less than two hours before the death warrant would have expired at midnight.

Turner's lawyers had linked his case with an appeal from two Kentucky inmates who argued that lethal injection is unconstitutionally cruel. Both states use similar injection procedures employing three drugs.

The justices on Tuesday agreed to consider the Kentucky appeal, and Turner's case was viewed as a barometer of whether capital punishment in Texas could be placed on hold while the Supreme Court considers that case.

"All I can say is all glory to God," Turner said when prison officials told him of the reprieve.

The brief order made no mention of the court's reasons for stopping the punishment.

It followed a decision earlier Thursday by Alabama Gov. Bob Riley to stay the execution of a contract killer hours before it was to have been carried out so the inmate could be put to death using a new lethal injection formula the governor had ordered just a day before.

Turner would have been the 27th Texas inmate to be executed this year and the second this week.

After state courts refused to halt the punishment earlier Thursday, Turner's lawyers went to the Supreme Court.

In their appeal, his lawyers said that if the first of the three drugs failed to knock Turner unconscious "the inmate will experience excruciating pain and torture as the second and third drugs are administered."

The Supreme Court isn't expected to rule on the Kentucky case until some time next year.

Another Texas execution is scheduled for next week, one of at least three more set for this year. The status of that case was uncertain in light of Thursday's developments.

In their response to Turner's appeal, the Texas attorney general's office said that unlike the Kentucky case, Turner had a pending execution and the appeal questioning lethal injection was filed the day he was to die.

Only two days earlier, another Texas inmate was executed just hours after the justices announced their intention to review the Kentucky case. Lawyers attributed that execution to the short period they had to prepare appeals for convicted killer Michael Richard. The justices did consider an appeal before turning it down, and Richard was executed after about a two-hour delay.

Turner was 19 when he shot Carlton Turner Sr., 43, and Tonya Turner, 40, several times in the head. Prosecutors said Turner had dragged the bodies through the house before dumping them in the garage, then had friends over that weekend for a party.

In Alabama, Riley said he issued the 45-day stay of Tommy Arthur's execution only to allow time for the new lethal-injection procedures to be put in place. The changes are designed to make sure the inmate is unconscious when given drugs to stop the heart and lungs.

Riley said evidence is "overwhelming" that Arthur is guilty "and he will be executed for his crime." The governor encouraged the attorney general's office to ask the Alabama Supreme Court to set another execution date "as soon as possible."

Assistant Attorney General Clay Crenshaw said the request would be filed with the court Friday.

Before Riley issued his stay, state officials had said they intended to execute Arthur at 6 p.m. Thursday, even though the changes Riley ordered could not be implemented by then.

They said the procedures already in place were constitutional, though Arthur's attorney, Suhana Han, contended that Riley's order to change the protocol amounted to the state conceding that its execution procedure was deficient. Han did not immediately return a phone message seeking comment Thursday.

Arthur, 65, was sentenced to death for the Feb. 1, 1982, killing of Troy Wicker, 35, of Muscle Shoals. The victim's wife, Judy Wicker, testified she had sex with Arthur and paid him $10,000 to kill her husband, who was shot in the face as he lay in bed.

Arthur was visiting with his daughter when he learned of the stay in a call from his attorney, prison system spokesman Brian Corbett said.

Like Turner, Arthur had asked the U.S. Supreme Court for a stay pending its ruling on the Kentucky case. The Alabama Supreme Court had declined to grant a stay Wednesday.

The wife of Arthur's victim was given a life sentence for her part in the murder and paroled after 10 years behind bars.

In a statement, Peter Neufeld, co-director of the Innocence Project, urged Riley to use the next 45 days to allow DNA testing on evidence from Arthur's trial.

Another lethal-injection lawsuit, filed by a convicted ax murderer on death row on Delaware's death row, had been scheduled for trial Oct. 9. A federal judge postponed the trial Wednesday, citing the pending Supreme Court case.

[michellem99-2009]

Gramma yer right in yer post. So is my Maine friend. I said hung them in public in front of all as to send the message. They don''t have any rights. They killed and didn''t care or be merciful to the dead they did with their paws. Do to them as they did to the persons they killed. Stop pandering to them. I AM A KIND LADY..

[skoohat]

Yes causing pain is against what we stand for. But guess what, so is murder. Both are against the law. Why do we care more about what pain a person feels on death row more than the pain and suffering the families that were murdered feel. Also we show more concern for the murder than that of our brave men and women that are in war loosing their lives and having body parts blown off. But that is okay. As long as a murder does not feel pain then I guess everything else is okay. Get over it people. Let them burn, let the IV flow, let them hang, or whatever else needs to be done. I am tired of everyone complaining about the poor convicted murderers. I know some are innocent. Let the system work in those cases. Otherwise, let them go!

[grammawhamma]

I am against the death penalty (kind of)...but it is legal in some states. However, I am really sick and tired of convicted criminals complaining about their "rights" being violated. **** them....they lost their rights once they decided to engage in criminal activity. Whine all you want you losers....you did the crime now face the circumstances of your actions. If you committed a horrid crime in a state that has the death penalty...oh well if you don''t like it and I guess I don''t care if it hurts a little bit. Most of you on death row are men...you are spoiled little brats to complain of the discomfort of a lethal injection. Did your victims feel the sting of the needle being injected??? Doubt it...bet they hurt and suffered alot worse then that little needle prick you are whining about!! Get Real!!

[Krazcarl]

I''m pro death penaity not for vengence{well in some cases} but isn''t it better than than spending the rest of your days in a cage. But on the other hand is there a noncruel way to kill someone didn''t Kervorkian have the best plan lets pull him out of retirement.

[iceman_1960]

"Iceman_1960, spouting off again without research. Pick up a copy of "Faces of Death, Executions"..."
- Posted by mitch0927 at 12:30 PM : Sep 28, 2007

You call that research ?

"Anatomists and other scientists in several countries have tried to perform more definitive experiments on severed human heads as recently as 1956. Inevitably the evidence is only anecdotal. What appears to be a head responding to the sound of its name, or to the pain of a pinprick, may be only random muscle twitching or automatic reflex action, with no awareness involved.

At worst, it seems that the massive drop in cerebral blood pressure would cause a victim to lose consciousness in several seconds."

Source:

http://tafkac.org/medical/decapitated_head_blinking_more.html

[grammawhamma]

Maybe we should execute those on death row by drilling a hole in the base of the skull and sucking the brains out since it is claimed that late term abortions are not cruel or painful.

[mitch0927]

candy-apple, I concur. You can blame the ACLU for that...

[candy-apple]

I say "do unto others!" It''s time to start executing people in the manner in which they killed their victims. Why should they be spared any pain and suffering when their victims aren''t spared.
This country is going to s**t when it spends more time and money worrying about the feelings of rapist, child molesters and murderers instead of their victims. What happened to the rights of the victims family and friends? They don''t seem to exist anymore!!

[mitch0927]

Iceman_1960, spouting off again without research. Pick up a copy of "Faces of Death, Executions" It shows just how much you know about cutting the head off. Which is nothing. The eyes still blink, and mouth still moves and you can see the pain in their face and eyes.

[mitch0927]

The only way to execute someone without having cruel and unusual punishment is to say, "You''re forgiven and free to leave%u201D as the person smiles and goes to leave, take out a colt 45, and put a bullet through the back of their head. End of story.