By Reuters
A Muslim man was executed in Alabama on Thursday, as initially scheduled, after the U.S. Supreme Court docket voted 5-Four to permit the execution, denying his request for an imam to witness the demise.
Attorneys for Domineque Ray, 42, had argued that Alabama’s execution coverage favored Christian inmates as a result of a chaplain is allowed within the room, typically kneeling subsequent to the demise row prisoner, and praying with the inmate if requested.
Ray was executed at 10:12 p.m., a spokesman of the Division of Corrections advised Reuters in an e-mail. No different data was instantly out there.
Ray’s execution was to have been quickly delayed as a result of he requested his imam to interchange the chaplain within the demise chamber.
On Wednesday, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court docket of Appeals agreed to remain the deliberate execution to weigh Ray’s arguments, however the state of Alabama rapidly appealed that call to the Supreme Court docket, which overturned the Circuit Court docket.
Ray was sentenced to demise in 1999 for the killing of Tiffany Harville, 15, who disappeared from her Selma, Alabama, dwelling in July 1995.
It was not instantly clear if the state of Alabama allowed Ray’s imam to be current.
Reporting by Invoice Tarrant; enhancing by Lisa Shumaker and Clarence Fernandez.
