U.S. Supreme Court blocks execution of Texas man after he claimed the state was violating his religious freedom by not letting his pastor lay hands on him at the time of his lethal injection.
Sept. 9, 2021, 2:26 AM UTCHUNTSVILLE, Texas — A Texas death row inmate won a reprieve Wednesday evening from execution for killing a convenience store worker during a 2004 robbery that garnered $1.25 after claiming the state was violating his religious freedom by not letting his pastor lay hands on him at the time of his lethal injection.
Seth Kretzer, Ramirez’s lawyer, had argued the Texas Department of Criminal Justice was violating the death row inmate’s First Amendment rights to practice his religion by denying his request to have his pastor touch him and vocalize prayers when he was executed. He called the ban on vocal prayer a spiritual “gag order.”
In April, the Texas prison system reversed a two-year ban on allowing spiritual advisers in the death chamber. The ban came after the U.S. Supreme Court in 2019 halted the execution of another Texas inmate who had argued his religious freedom was being violated because his Buddhist spiritual adviser wasn’t allowed to accompany him.
Dana Moore, Ramirez’s spiritual adviser the last four years, said the request to let him touch Ramirez was about letting the inmate practice his Christian faith and treating him “with a certain amount of dignity.” But Mark Skurka, the lead prosecutor at Ramirez’s 2008 trial, said while he believes a death row inmate should have a spiritual adviser at the time of execution, there should be limitations based on security concerns.
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