[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, PENN., N.C., ALA., ARK.

[Rick Halperin]

Oct. 8



TEXAS----impending execution

Death Watch: Relief Denied, Inmate to Be Executed----Escamilla to be 12th Texan 
executed this year


Texas will execute its 12th Texan this year when it sends Licho Escamilla to 
the gurney on Wed., Oct. 14. He was convicted of capital murder in the Nov. 25, 
2001, shooting death of 34-year-old Christopher Kevin James, an off-duty 
policeman carrying out secondary employment as a security guard at Dallas' Club 
DMX.

Escamilla, 33, shot James at 2:45am after a fight broke out on the sidewalk of 
the northwest Dallas club. (Evidence has also been presented to implicate that 
Escamilla fatally shot another man, Michael Torres, days before James' murder.) 
Considered indigent, he was represented by underprepared attorneys who brought 
only 10 pages of handwritten investigatory notes to trial and attempted to sway 
jurors into convicting Escamilla of murder charges rather than capital murder 
(an admission of guilt for Escamilla) because at the time of the murder, James 
wasn't technically working as a Dallas police officer.

His counsel's admission and altogether ineffective assistance throughout 
proceedings have led the arguments Escamilla and his current set of attorneys 
have used in attempts to stave off his execution. (Escamilla has also brought 
up his abusive upbringing, and suggested that Texas' lethal injection protocols 
violate the Eighth Amendment.) Thus far, he hasn't had much luck. Petitions for 
relief at the state and federal levels have both been unsuccessful, as was an 
April 2012 motion for a new trial (on many of the same grounds). In February, 
Escamilla learned that the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals did not see enough 
mitigating evidence in earlier requests for relief to reverse the decision on 
his execution.

Escamilla had a final petition with the U.S. Supreme Court denied Monday 
morning. He stands to be the 530th Texan executed since 1976.

(source: Austin Chronicle)

****************** new death sentence

Gabriel Hall sentenced to death by lethal injection


After more than 7 hours of deliberation, a Brazos County jury has sentenced 
Gabriel Hall to die by lethal injection.

Hall was convicted Sept. 11 in the 2011 slaying of Edwin Shaar, who was shot 
and stabbed. Hall also seriously injured Shaar's wife, Linda.

The jury began deliberations shortly after 12:30 p.m.

Jurors did not vote on life in prison or the death penalty, instead, they were 
instructed to answer 2 questions presented by the court in its instruction.

First, they had to decide if there was a probability that Hall would commit 
criminal acts of violence that would constitute a continuing threat to society.

10 votes were needed for a "no" answer, 12 votes are needed for a "yes."

Because the jury answered yes, it moved on to question 2: whether there was 
anything in the defendant's character, background or moral culpability that 
bears a specific mitigating circumstance to warrant life in prison over the 
death penalty.

Jurors found nothing significantly mitigating to warrant life in prison.

Many of the jurors cried as Judge Travis Bryan III delivered the sentence. 
Gabriel Hall showed no emotion.

District Attorney Jarvis Parsons said he felt mixed emotions after the sentence 
was delivered. He said anyone who is human realizes the magnitude of what 
happened.

"It's not something you feel joy about, because it's a tragedy on both sides," 
Parsons said. "We don't take any pleasure in what happened, we just hope it 
gives some sense of peace to the Shaar family."

Linda Shaar and her son were present for closing arguments, but didn???t stay 
for the verdict.

Defense attorneys declined to comment.

Death sentences are automatically sent to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals 
for review.

(source: The Eagle)

****************

Death penalty sought for man in girlfriend's beating death


Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for a man accused of beating his 
girlfriend to death.

Ronald Taylor Jackson, 45, was arrested on suspicion of murder last year after 
his girlfriend, Jennifer Herrera, was found dead in his father's house in the 
Molina neighborhood. In July, prosecutors presented evidence to a grand jury of 
a kidnapping, an accompanying felony that could make it a capital murder case. 
Capital murder is punishable by either life in prison without parole or death 
by lethal injection.

Prosecutors on Wednesday announced in 347th District Judge Missy Medary's court 
the decision to pursue death.

Herrera, 38, died of blunt force head trauma. Jackson has pleaded not guilty. 
According to the arrest affidavit, Jackson told three friends he killed his 
girlfriend.

Ronald Jackson was on probation when Herrera was killed. Court documents show 
he has a history of violence against Herrera and police have said they were 
called multiple times to the house in the 4600 block of Jose Drive for domestic 
disputes before Herrera's Sept. 27, 2014, death.

Jackson is being held in the Nueces County Jail without bail.

The killing was 1 of several domestic violence-related homicides in Corpus 
Christi last year.

Roughly half of Corpus Christi's criminal homicides in 2014 were directly 
linked to domestic violence, and officers reported they handled more family 
violence cases per 1,000 residents between 2009-13 than departments in Dallas, 
Houston, Austin, Arlington, El Paso, Fort Worth and San Antonio, according to 
statewide crime statistics.

The Caller-Times' continuing series Behind Broken Doors explores domestic 
violence, including how law enforcement investigates the attacks, how 
prosecutors pursue offenders in court, how advocates heal victims, and what the 
community needs to do to curb the deadly trend.

(source: Corpus Christi Caller-Times)

*****************

IACHR hears out Argentine facing death penalty in US

The ongoing case of convicted Argentine Victor Saldano, who faces the death 
penalty in the US, took a further turn yesterday as the Inter-American 
Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) discussed a clemency plea at its 
headquarters in Washington DC, Saldano's lawyer, Juan Carlos Vega, confirmed.

Saldano, 44, is currently the only Argentine on death row as capital punishment 
is illegal throughout most of Latin America, including Argentina.

In 1996, he was convicted and given death penalty but the sentence was declared 
null and void and he had to face a new trial in 2004, when was found guilty 
again of deliberately killing Paul Ray King in Dallas, Texas in 1995.

Saldano reportedly shot King 5 times after he had resisted an attempted 
kidnapping at the hands of Saldano and a Mexican friend, Jorge Chavez.

"A special hearing was granted by the Commission at a request we made with the 
Argentina Foreign Ministry," Vega said.

Saldano was sentenced to death in 1996 under an outdated Texas law that was 
later modified because it discriminated against Hispanics.

However, the retrial, secured by his family and defence lawyers in 2002 on the 
grounds of the discriminatory nature of the Texas law, sentenced him to capital 
punishment again in 2004.

Yesterday's hearing came just 2 weeks after Pope Francis, a fierce opponent of 
capital punishment who met with Saldano's mother Lidia Guerrero in 2013, called 
on the US Congress to abolish the death penalty nationwide. Capital punishment 
is already illegal in 19 states of the US.

Last month, Foreign Minister Hector Timerman brought Salda???o's case before 
the United Nations, condemning the death penalty.

Defence cities discrimination

Saldano's lawyer, Vega, said that the case taken to the IACHR had never 
defended Saldano's actions or insisted on his innocence in any way. Rather, it 
was a plea for clemency on grounds of racial discrimination.

"We have never maintained his innocence, nor have legally attacked the death 
penalty. Victor Saldano participated in a heinous crime. We have never denied 
this," Vega said, adding that the clemency plea was based on the discriminatory 
nature of the US legal system which meant he was more likely to receive the 
death penalty as a Hispanic than he would be if he was caucasian.

Vega added that the filing before the IACHR would advocate clemency for "the 
right of Victor, the right of a man from a racial minority, to be tried as if 
he were a white, blue-eyed and English-speaking man. Racial discrimination in 
the US creates a system that operates with double standards," the attorney 
noted.

(source: Buenos Aires Herald)






PENNSYLVANIA:

Gov. Wolf delays execution of mass murderer Michael Ballard


Gov. Tom Wolf on Wednesday halted the scheduled execution of Lehigh Valley mass 
murderer Michael Eric Ballard under a moratorium the governor has declared on 
capital punishment in the state.

Wolf granted a reprieve for Ballard, a 5-time killer, as he has also done with 
three other convicted murders who were slated this year to face the death 
chamber. Wolf did so under a temporary freeze on executions he declared in 
February, when he called the death penalty "error prone, expensive and anything 
but infallible."

Ballard was sent to death row for slaughtering 4 people inside a Northampton 
home in 2010 while on parole for a prior killing. He was scheduled to die by 
lethal injection Oct. 19, after he waived his rights to further appeals of his 
sentence.

Wolf intends to delay any imminent execution until after a Senate task force 
studying capital punishment releases its recommendations and they are 
"satisfactorily addressed," said spokesman Jeffrey Sheridan, who offered no 
comment on Ballard's case specifically.

Northampton County District Attorney John Morganelli, who has called Ballard a 
"poster boy" for the death penalty, said Wolf's decision was not a surprise.

"The governor has made his position very clear," said Morganelli, a Democrat, 
like Wolf. "I respect the governor's position very much, but I disagree with 
it."

Mass murderer Michael Eric Ballard casts his decision to abandon his 
Pennsylvania appeals and seek his own execution as a simple one.

Morganelli has argued that Wolf is overstepping his authority in issuing 
reprieves, an issue that is before the state Supreme Court under a legal 
challenge by the Philadelphia district attorney's office. Morganelli has raised 
the possibility of suing Wolf in Ballard's case, though he said Wednesday he 
has yet to decide whether to do so.

One of Ballard's attorneys, James Connell, said the reprieve was unsurprising. 
Connell said he hopes the state repeals its death penalty without another 
execution in Pennsylvania, spurred by the moratorium and the Senate committee 
studying capital punishment.

"Every life is important," Connell said. "What I'd like to see happen is that 
the governor's commission comes back and the politicians have the guts to say, 
'We're not going to execute anyone anymore.'"

By Ballard's own account, he savagely knifed to death his former girlfriend, 
Denise Merhi, 39; her father, Dennis Marsh, 62; her grandfather, Alvin Marsh 
Jr., 87; and Steven Zernhelt, 53, a neighbor who heard screams and tried to 
help.

At the time of the June 26, 2010 massacre, Ballard had recently been released 
from prison, where he served 17 years for murdering an Allentown man nearly 2 
decades earlier. The state Supreme Court upheld Ballard's death sentence in 
2013, citing overwhelming evidence in support of it.

That Ballard allowed his appellate rights to expire was no surprise. He'd 
instructed his lawyers not to file any more appeals on his behalf, and he 
called them pointless in a death-row interview last year with The Morning Call.

But Ballard later decided to join 2 lawsuits challenging the state's lethal 
injection method, telling the newspaper he had no faith that Pennsylvania could 
competently carry out an execution. One of those suits, filed in Commonwealth 
Court, is unresolved, though Northampton County Judge Emil Giordano concluded 
in July that it wasn't a basis for continuing to delay Ballard's sentence.

Ballard, now 42, is jailed at Greene State Prison in southwestern Pennsylvania, 
which houses the state's largest death row.

(source: Morning Call)

**********

District attorney mulling lawsuit over death-penalty moratorium


Northampton County District Attorney John Morganelli is considering his own 
lawsuit against Pennsylvania, if that's what it takes to see 5-time killer 
Michael Ballard executed.

Standing in the way of Ballard's execution is Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf and 
the death-penalty moratorium he put in place while a state Senate commission 
examines capital punishment.

The governor is applying the moratorium via individual reprieves like the one 
announced Wednesday for Ballard, sentenced to die in May 2011 by a Northampton 
County jury. Ballard, who is 42, had pleaded guilty to fatally stabbing 4 
people in June 2010 in Northampton.

Morganelli said he learned of the reprieve in a fax Wednesday morning from the 
office of the governor, who the district attorney thinks is doing a great job.

"But on this issue, I have to respectfully disagree," said Morganelli, who 
wants to see the jury's decision carried out.

Lawsuits against Wolf's moratorium are already pending before the Pennsylvania 
Supreme Court from Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane and Philadelphia 
District Attorney Seth Williams.

Morganelli said he doesn't believe the governor has the authority to grant 
reprieves from execution for death-row inmates like Ballard who have exhausted 
all appeals of their punishment.

Central to Morganelli's decision on whether to sue is the timing of when the 
Supreme Court might rule on Williams' suit, in particular, he said.

I'm going to evaluate this over the next couple of weeks."

"I'm going to evaluate this over the next couple of weeks," Morganelli said, 
adding later: "Then I'll make a decision on what's the next course of action 
for the victims and their families in this particular case."

Shortly after his release from state prison for an Allentown murder, Ballard 
killed Denise Merhi, his ex-girlfriend; Dennis Marsh, her father; Alvin Marsh, 
her grandfather; and Steven Zernhelt, a neighbor.

Though his legal appeals are exhausted, as Morganelli maintains, Ballard 
remains party to a class-action lawsuit for death row inmates that says the 
death penalty shouldn't be carried out in Pennsylvania.

(source: lehighvalleylive.com)






NORTH CAROLINA:

Most NC residents favor the death penalty


Almost 3 out of 4 North Carolinians support the death penalty for certain 
crimes, and a majority of that group believe lethal injection is the most 
humane form of execution, a News & Record/High Point University Poll found.

The poll, conducted in late September, revealed 72 % of residents believe there 
are crimes that should be punished by the death penalty. The poll did not 
specify any crime, asking respondents to think in general about their views. In 
that same poll question, 24 % of respondents said they did not support the 
death penalty. 4 % didn't know or refused to answer.

Only 11 % of those who oppose the death penalty said they felt strongly about 
that decision, and 17 % said they just opposed it. Only 30 % strongly favored 
using the death penalty. 9 % of respondents said they were unsure or refused to 
answer.

"It means a lot more if you're the one making the actual decision," Guilford 
County Chief Assistant District Attorney Howard Neumann said. "72 % might 
support the death penalty, but if the next question you ask is, 'If your son is 
convicted of murder, should he get the death penalty?' I bet their answer would 
be no."

Neumann said 28 % of potential jury members are dismissed from death-penalty 
cases in Guilford County because they admit they don't believe in capital 
punishment.

The poll sampled 446 people in live telephone interviews. The margin of error 
was 4.6 % points.

There are currently 148 people on death row in North Carolina, 4 were convicted 
in Guilford County.

Guilford County's death-row inmates include Leslie Eugene Warren, convicted in 
a 1990 felony murder case; Walic Christopher Thomas, convicted in a 1995 felony 
1st-degree murder case; John Henry Thompson, convicted in a 2001 felony 
1st-degree murder case; and Tony Savalis Summers, convicted in a 2006 felony 
1st-degree murder case.

Neumann said different employees in the district attorney's office hold 
different views about the death penalty.

Prosecutors must meet 1 of 11 statutory aggravating circumstances before they 
can seek the death penalty and not every murder case falls under one of the 
categories.

Neumann said top officials in the district attorney's office consider different 
factors like the nature of the killing, past convictions, the strength of 
evidence or the feelings of the victim's family before pursuing the death 
penalty.

"It's been 3 1/2 years since we've had a death-penalty case," Neumann said.

The death penalty was reinstated in North Carolina in 1977 but is currently on 
hold. People can be sentenced to death, but death sentences aren't being 
carried out because of the Racial Justice Act and the debate about using lethal 
injection.

The poll found that 64 % of respondents believe lethal injection is the most 
humane form of punishment. That's followed by 9 % who believe the firing squad 
is most humane, 6 percent who prefer hanging a person, 4 % who prefer the gas 
chamber and 2 % who think the electric chair is most humane. 7 % didn't have an 
answer, and 2 % refused.

(source: Greensboro News & Record)






ALABAMA:

Jury recommends death for man found guilty of teacher's murder


A Calhoun County jury Wednesday recommended that Jovon Gaston be put to death 
for his part in the 2011 stabbing death of Kevin Thompson, a Wellborn teacher.

Calhoun County Circuit Judge Bud Turner will hold a sentencing hearing Nov. 12 
where he will hear the findings of a pre-sentence investigation and determine 
if the jury's recommendation is appropriate or if he will sentence Gaston to 
life in prison.

Gaston's capital murder trial began Sept. 28 and ended with a conviction 
Tuesday after the jury deliberated for less than 2 hours. During the trial, 
prosecutors alleged that Gaston aided Tyrone Thompson and Nick Smith in the 
kidnapping, robbery, and stabbing death of the teacher. The jury split 10-2 in 
favor of the death penalty during deliberation. Thompson's sister and mother 
hugged each juror as they exited the courtroom upon announcing the verdict.

Prosecutors say the 3 men kidnapped the teacher and drove him to ATMs, forcing 
him to withdraw money at gunpoint and taking him to a secluded section of U.S. 
278 near Piedmont. Authorities found Kevin Thompson's body near the highway 
early on the morning of April 23, 2011, stabbed to death.

Smith was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death in a 2013 trial. 
Thompson, who is seeking money for a mental health expert, is still awaiting 
trial.

'You are the monster'

Prior to sentencing, prosecutors and the defense presented witnesses in an 
effort to sway the jurors' decisions. Prosecutors asked the victim's mother and 
sister to take the stand. Thompson's sister, Rena Curry, spoke through tears on 
the impact her brother's death had and will continue to have on her life. 
Audience members sniffled throughout her testimony.

"I now have a future husband who I met after my brother was killed," Curry 
testified. "I feel like I'm not the same Rena I was before I lost Kevin. He 
will never know the Rena I was before. My children will never know the mother I 
would have been before I lost Kevin. I don't know how to enjoy moments anymore 
because he's not here."

Frances Curry, Thompson's mother, refused to break down while addressing Gaston 
from the stand.

"This was a killing against someone you didn't even know," Curry stated. "You 
are the monster that kids are afraid of in the night. You walk on 2 feet, you 
have 2 arms, 2 eyes, and a brain to make a decision. Nothing will change the 
monster that you are. I will never put your name in my mouth with my son."

Despite asking for the death penalty for Gaston, Curry showed compassion.

"I forgive you with all my heart, but I will never like you," Curry said 
looking straight at Gaston.

Asking for mercy

Gaston's defense attorneys, David Johnston and Tom Harmon, questioned 
Gaston???s family members about his childhood, his mother???s alcoholism and 
his father's absenteeism.

"He had to make too many adult decisions at a young age," John Foster II, 
Gaston's half-brother, testified. "When I was working, I was trying to help in 
the best way I could because he didn't have the structure he needed. I always 
felt like I was big brother and dad. Sometimes he resented what I was telling 
him, but I always tried to make him do the right thing."

Keyara Pulliam, the daughter of Gaston's girlfriend, Taesha Pulliam, also 
testified Wednesday. The 16-year-old told jurors that Gaston provides a 
positive role model for her.

"He made sure my grades are good. He didn't want me to fail. He told me to not 
focus on boys and do my work," Pulliam testified. "He writes me letters and on 
my birthday he sends me pictures that he draws. He still tells me if I need 
help with math to write him, and he'll help me."

Pulliam emphasized that Gaston acted as more of a father to her than her 
biological father.

"It meant a lot that someone could put the time and effort into someone who 
wasn't even their own child," Pulliam said while on the stand. "To be able to 
take several kids that aren't his own and take care of them is a big 
responsibility."

The defense's last line was from a mitigation specialist, Joanne Terrell, who 
works with cases that are eligible for the death penalty. During her work, 
Terrell interviewed Gaston's family members and developed a list of mitigating 
factors that the jury might want to consider. Mitigating factors are events or 
characteristics the jury might need to know while deciding to assign life in 
prison or the death penalty.

"I would like to point out that these factors do not excuse what the defendant 
has done, but it helps the jury to understand how this person may have 
developed to this," Terrell testified.

She added that because Gaston's mother was an alcoholic and his father worked 
constantly. He grew up without a stable emotional bond to a caregiver that all 
children require.

"At the age of 10, 3 things happened that really changed him," Terrell 
testified. "His grandmother, who offered the best bond he had, passed away. His 
older brother, Kenneth, left home to join the Navy and has not had anything to 
do with the family since. Lastly, his father and mother split up. His father 
came home to find belongings on the front lawn, and she had moved her boyfriend 
in."

Johnston addressed the jury before they began deliberations on a sentence.

"When I think of the death penalty I think it is for the worst of the worst, 
those that are beyond help," Johnston stated. "Life without the possibility of 
parole is the appropriate punishment in this case."

(source: Anniston Star)






ARKANSAS:

Judge to Rule on Inmates' Death Penalty Lawsuit


8 people on death row in Arkansas are suing the state over its death penalty 
law. They're asking the judge to hold off on executions while the lawsuit plays 
out.

Inside the courtroom, lawyers representing the state have asked the judge to 
throw out the inmates' lawsuit and let executions resume for the 1st time in 
nearly 10 years.

Time is running out for 2 inmates set to face lethal injection on October 21.

In stark terms, a lawyer representing the inmates laid out the demise he said 
they face.

Attorney Josh Lee challenged the state's recently passed death penalty law, 
saying the drugs used could cause cruel and unusual punishment.

He also said a clause keeping secret the suppliers of lethal injection drugs 
violates a previous agreement between inmates and the state.

Representing the state, Jennifer Merrit, with the Arkansas Attorney General's 
office, urged the judge to toss the inmates' lawsuit.

She pointed to a June ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court upholding use of the 
3-drug cocktail the state plans to employ.

After the hearing, Judge Wendell Griffen said he would take the arguments into 
consideration and issue a written ruling next week.

(source: nwahomepage.com)

***************

Judge to Rule Next Week on Death Penalty Lawsuit


Inside the courtroom, lawyers representing the state have asked the judge to 
throw out the inmates' lawsuit and let executions resume for the 1st time in 
nearly 10 years.

Time is running out for 2 inmates set to face lethal injection on October 21.

In stark terms, a lawyer representing the inmates laid out the demise he said 
they face.

Attorney Josh Lee challenged the state's recently passed death penalty law, 
saying the drugs used could cause cruel and unusual punishment.

He also said a clause keeping secret suppliers of lethal injection drugs 
violates a previous agreement between inmates and the state.

Representing the state, Jennifer Merrit, with the Arkansas Attorney General's 
office, urged the judge to toss the inmate's lawsuit.

She pointed to a June ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court upholding use of the 
3-drug cocktail the state plans to employ.

After the hearing, Judge Wendell Griffen said he would take the arguments into 
consideration and issue a written ruling next week.

(source: arkansasmatters.com)

***************

Papal nuncio asks Hutchinson to commute sentences


The pope's personal representative in the United States has asked Gov. Asa 
Hutchinson to commute the death sentences of 8 men scheduled for execution.

Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, apostolic nuncio to the United States, sent the 
letter dated Oct. 4 and released Oct. 7 in light of the execution dates set by 
the governor. Pope Francis and Bishop Anthony B. Taylor have recently spoken 
about the Church's teaching against capital punishment. It has been nearly 10 
years since Arkansas held an execution.

The letter stated:

"As the personal representative of His Holiness Pope Francis to the United 
States of America, I write to you concerning the scheduled executions in the 
State of Arkansas of 8 men: Mr. Bruce Earl Ward, Mr. Don William Davis, Mr. 
Terrick Terrell Nooner, Mr. Stacey Eugene Johnson, Mr. Marcel Wayne Williams, 
Mr. Jack Harold Jones Jr., Mr. Jason McGehee and Mr. Kenneth Williams.

"As part of the Church's ancient teaching on the dignity of the human person, 
the Holy Father has advocated for 'the establishment of the universal 
moratorium on executions throughout the world, in order to abolish capital 
punishment' (Letter to the President of the International Commission Against 
the Death Penalty, 20 March 2015). While never wishing to minimize the pain 
suffered by victims and their families, His Holiness nonetheless, recognizes:

"'Today capital punishment is unacceptable, however serious the condemned's 
crimes may have been. It is an offense to the inviolability of life and to the 
dignity of the human person which contradicts God???s plan for man and for 
society and the merciful justice, and it fails to conform to any just purpose 
of punishment. It does not render justice to the victim, but rather foments 
revenge.' (ibid)

"On behalf of the Holy Father, in solidarity with the bishops of the United 
States and in support of last month's statement by the bishop of Little Rock, 
Most Rev. Anthony B. Taylor, I earnestly request that you commute the sentences 
of those men who have been scheduled to be executed in the State of Arkansas."

Pope Francis told a joint meeting of Congress Sept. 24 that he backs the 
abolishment of the death penalty.

The archbishop appealed in the past 2 weeks in 2 other death penalty cases.

On Sept. 29, he unsuccessfully appealed on the pope's behalf to Georgia 
officials to commute the death sentence of Kelly Gissendaner, who was executed 
shortly after midnight the next day.

Within hours of receiving the letter on the pope's behalf, the Georgia State 
Board of Pardons and Paroles rejected Gissendaner's request for clemency and 
her execution proceeded.

Earlier, speaking for Pope Francis, the nuncio weighed in Sept. 19 on another 
highly publicized execution scheduled in Oklahoma for Sept. 30, that of Richard 
Glossip, whose challenge to the state's lethal injection protocol was rejected 
by the Supreme Court in June.

In the letter to Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin, Archbishop Vigano cited both Pope 
Francis and St. John Paul II as well as Oklahoma City Archbishop Paul S. 
Coakley. At mid-afternoon Sept. 30, Fallin issued a last-minute stay, prompted 
by confusion over Oklahoma's supply of lethal injection drugs. Her action was 
followed by a statement from the state's attorney general, E. Scott Pruitt, 
asking that three scheduled executions in the state be stayed indefinitely.

(source: arkansas-catholic.org)