Washington – The Supreme Court ruled in favor on Thursday Sentenced to death in Texas whose request for his pastor to lay his hands on him and pray audibly during his execution was denied, a decision in support of the rights of inmates seeking to have their spiritual counselors with them in the execution chamber when they are murdered .
The court ruled 8-1 that inmate John Henry Ramirez is likely to succeed on the merits of his claims that Texas restrictions on religious touch and audible prayer in the House of Commons violate federal law . Judge Clarence Thomas was the sole dissident, writing that he would have dismissed Ramirez’s claim because he did not exhaust the available administrative remedies before filing his lawsuit.
Chief Justice John Roberts issued the opinion for the majority, writing that Ramirez is likely to suffer irreparable harm without precautionary measures “because he will not be able to participate in protected religious practice in the last moments of his life” and “it is possible to accommodate.” Ramirez’s sincere religious beliefs do not delay or impede his execution. “Texas, the court said, must accept Ramirez’s request for his pastor to lay his hands on him and pray aloud during his execution.
But Thomas said that with his decision, the majority offered the inmate “another chance to delay his execution.”
The case filed by Ramirez against Texas Department of Criminal Justice officials reached the Supreme Court through an urgent request he filed in late September, in which he asked the court to suspend his execution and consider your case on the merits. The higher court he agreed to do so and quickly programmed the oral arguments in the case, which they heard in early November.
Ramirez was sentenced to death by a Texas jury after being convicted of the murder of Pablo Castro, a father of nine, in Nueces County, Texas, in 2004. Ramirez beat and stabbed Castro 29 times. and he took off with the $ 1.25 Castro had on him. , according to Texas officials.
Following the proceedings related to his conviction and aspects of his execution, Texas officials scheduled Ramirez’s execution for early September 2021, for which he asked the state to allow his longtime pastor Dana Moore accompanied him to the execution chamber.
Texas Department of Criminal Justice through AP
Moore has served Ramirez in his Texas prison since 2016, when he became a member of the Second Baptist Church, the congregation led by Moore, according to court briefs.
Texas denied the request because it banned all spiritual counselors from entering the execution chamber, but later overturned its decision and changed its enforcement protocol to allow the spiritual counselor. of an inmate was in the execution chamber. Ramirez then filed a complaint with the prison asking his pastor to pray audibly and lay his hands on him during the execution.
Texas rejected that request in July 2021, claiming that spiritual counselors are not allowed to touch an inmate in the execution chamber.
Ramirez finally challenged the refusal of Texas officials in federal district court in August, alleging that the refusal of prison officials to get Moore’s hands and pray in an audible manner violated his rights in under the Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act 2000. It does not challenge. his conviction or sentence.
The lower courts ruled against Ramirez and refused to stop his execution, after which the Supreme Court intervened and heard the arguments expeditiously.
Ramirez’s case was the last to be filed by other death row inmates and state officials who in recent years have asked the Supreme Court to enter into disputes over the presence of personal spiritual advisers in the execution room.
In February 2019, a divided high court allowed Alabama to execute a Muslim whose application to have an imam with him was rejected by the state. But a month later, the Supreme Court stopped the execution of a Texas inmate who asked for a Buddhist spiritual advisor in the execution chamber, but his request was denied because the state had no Buddhist chaplains.
Most recently, in February 2021, the Supreme Court blocked the execution of Alabama inmate Willie Smith after a lower court required the state to honor his request to have his pastor with him when he died. . Smith was executed in October for a 1991 murder, with his pastor in the execution chamber, praying with him.
Texas previously allowed spiritual advisers in the enforcement chamber, according to court documents, but in April 2019, the state Department of Criminal Justice changed its policy to ban them altogether. Then, in April 2021, the state revised its procedure to allow an inmate to request the presence of a chaplain or personal spiritual advisor in the execution chamber.
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- United States Supreme Court
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