by Cactus Jack » Wed Jan 30, 2019 9:00 pm
MONTGOMERY, Ala. — A Muslim inmate scheduled to be executed next week in Alabama said the state is violating his rights by requiring a Christian prison chaplain to stand near him as he is put to death, according to a lawsuit filed this week.
Dominique Ray is scheduled to be executed Feb. 7 for the fatal stabbing of 15-year-old Tiffany Harville in 1995. Attorneys for the 42-year-old inmate have asked a federal judge in the suit filed Monday to stay his execution while the court considers his claim.
Attorneys for Ray said the prison warden refused Ray's request to have a Muslim imam stand in the execution chamber instead of the prison chaplain during the planned lethal injection. They said the warden also refused his request to not have the chaplain present during his execution.
While condemned Alabama inmates can visit with their own spiritual adviser before an execution — and have that person witness the execution from an adjoining room— only a correctional officer and the prison chaplain have been in the death chamber with the inmate during recent executions in Alabama.
Ray's attorneys said the chaplain's "mandatory presence in the execution chamber can serve only one interest — an unconstitutional one — safeguarding the soul or spiritual health of the condemned inmate in the Christian belief system."
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/mu ... is-n964386For context I am an opponent of the death penalty - but I don't think that's relevant here.
If, as some are, you are an advocate of the death penalty surely there is no reason to deny a perfectly reasonable request to have a spiritual adviser appropriate to your religion and denomination. OK that may result in some Christian Fundamentalist Neo-Nazi having a White Supremacist pastor at his side or a Muslim terrorist having a Jihadi preacher but if you believe that putting people to death is a deterrent surely that's just all the better?
Certainly an advocate of the death penalty would just allow the condemned to have whoever the hell they wanted in the room just so long as the deed is done in a timely fashion.
I don't see the problem with letting this man have his way in either case.
[quote]MONTGOMERY, Ala. — A Muslim inmate scheduled to be executed next week in Alabama said the state is violating his rights by requiring a Christian prison chaplain to stand near him as he is put to death, according to a lawsuit filed this week.
Dominique Ray is scheduled to be executed Feb. 7 for the fatal stabbing of 15-year-old Tiffany Harville in 1995. Attorneys for the 42-year-old inmate have asked a federal judge in the suit filed Monday to stay his execution while the court considers his claim.
Attorneys for Ray said the prison warden refused Ray's request to have a Muslim imam stand in the execution chamber instead of the prison chaplain during the planned lethal injection. They said the warden also refused his request to not have the chaplain present during his execution.
While condemned Alabama inmates can visit with their own spiritual adviser before an execution — and have that person witness the execution from an adjoining room— only a correctional officer and the prison chaplain have been in the death chamber with the inmate during recent executions in Alabama.
Ray's attorneys said the chaplain's "mandatory presence in the execution chamber can serve only one interest — an unconstitutional one — safeguarding the soul or spiritual health of the condemned inmate in the Christian belief system."[/quote]
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/muslim-inmate-scheduled-execution-next-week-says-alabama-violating-his-n964386
For context I am an opponent of the death penalty - but I don't think that's relevant here.
If, as some are, you are an advocate of the death penalty surely there is no reason to deny a perfectly reasonable request to have a spiritual adviser appropriate to your religion and denomination. OK that may result in some Christian Fundamentalist Neo-Nazi having a White Supremacist pastor at his side or a Muslim terrorist having a Jihadi preacher but if you believe that putting people to death is a deterrent surely that's just all the better?
Certainly an advocate of the death penalty would just allow the condemned to have whoever the hell they wanted in the room just so long as the deed is done in a timely fashion.
I don't see the problem with letting this man have his way in either case.