The application for stay has been denied by the US SC as well as the
petition for writ of cert. Read it here:
That is to be expected. It's Texas. Milestones being what they are, this one is just a small bump on the road to Abolition - a road that gets shorter with each and every unnecessary and wasteful execution. But still we must pause to consider the numbers. If it goes forward this will be the 1092nd prisoner killing in the US under current death penalty laws, and the 400th in Texas. More than one third from one state. and 25% of those from one county - Harris County.
If there is a point to be made, it is in those numbers. Texas continues to have one of the highest rates of violent crime per capita. BUT, I'm just pausing to note a milestone....
Thanks to all who are out in protest tonight in Texas and to those who continue to weigh in against executions everywhere....
--abe@abolition.org
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August 22
TEXAS----state's 400th execution
Texas Carries Out 400th Execution Wednesday
Convicted killer Johnny Ray Conner, 32, became the 400th condemned inmate
Texas has put to death since executions resumed in 1982, 10 years after
the US Supreme Court voided every state death penalty.
The total is by far the highest among states with the death penalty.
Conner received a lethal injection just after 6 p.m. Wednesday in the
Texas death chamber in Huntsville.
Earlier Wednesday the US Supreme Court refused to block the execution.
Conner was sentenced to die for the 1998 shooting death of Houston
convenience store clerk Kathyanna Nguyen.
She was murdered during a robbery.
A customer also was shot, but survived, and helped identify Conner.
The Shreveport, La. native, had a history of assaults and drug offenses,
including cocaine possession when he was 12.
The execution came just days after the European Union asked Gov. Rick
Perry to halt executions and declare a moratorium on capital punishment in
the state.
Perry didnt heed the request.
Perrys spokesman Robert Black said while Texas "respects our friends in
Europe" the state would decline the call for a moratorium.
A US Supreme Court ruling in 1972 voided every state death penalty in the
US because it was unfairly and arbitrarily applied.
States including Texas went back to the drawing board and drafted new
statutes that ensured consistent application of capital punishment.
The Texas Legislature passed a new law in 1973, and 4 years later Texas
adopted lethal injection as the states means of execution.
Texas resumed executing inmatesusing lethal injectionon Dec. 7, 1982, when
Charlie Brooks, 40, was executed for the murder of a mechanic who was
kidnapped from a car lot, placed in the trunk of a car, driven to a motel
room and then shot in the head.
Conner becomes the 21st condemned inmate to be put to death this year in
Texas; there are 3 more executions set for this month and 5 more in
September in Texas.
Conner becomes the 161st condemned inmate to be put to death since Rick
Perry became Governor of Texas in 2001. The figure represents the most
executions carried out during the tenure of any single state governor in
American history.
Conner becomes the 35th condemned inmate to be put to death this year in
the USA and the 1092nd overall since the nation resumed executions on
January 17, 1977.
(sources: KWTX News & Rick Halperin)
Last night, Texans blocked the street in front of the Texas governor's mansion to protest the upcoming scheduled execution of Kenneth Foster, as well as the 400th execution.
Read more and see the video here:
And here is a video of the 400th execution protest in Houston tonight.
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