Texas executed Latino inmate who won religious rights case in Supreme Court
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John Henry Ramírez was executed on Wednesday in Texas in the company of his pastor, a religious right that the Supreme Court granted him
A Texas inmate at the center of a legal battle over the religious rights of prisoners on death row in the United States was executed Wednesday for the 2004 stabbing death of a convenience store clerk.
John Henry Ramirez was pronounced dead at 6:41 pm local time in the state death chamber in Huntsville, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice said in a statement.
Ramirez won his lawsuit in the United States Supreme Court for the right to have his Christian pastor lay hands on him and pray audibly as he died by lethal injection.
The case clashed between those who defend the right of those sentenced to death to receive assistance according to their religious belief in their final moments and those who consider these requests an attempt to delay executions.
The Supreme Court ruling led to new guidelines in his case and in similar cases in prisons across the country.
The Rev. Dana Moore of the Second Baptist Church of Corpus Christi, who swore in superior court that she needed to be in physical contact with John Ramirez during the most stressful and difficult time of his life to bring him comfort, was with Ramirez when he died.
“The human touch has meaning and power,” Moore had written in an affidavit in support of Ramirez's request that the pastor “lay hands” on him at his execution.
Texas is among 27 states that still have capital punishment, with five more executions scheduled through March.