Inmate on death row denied appeal because it was quitting time, was then executed

CptStern

CptStern

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A TEXAS death-row inmate was executed after a local court refused to stay open an extra 20 minutes to hear an appeal.

At 10am on September 25, the US Supreme Court announced it would review in early 2008 an appeal by two Kentucky death row inmates challenging the legality of the lethal injection.

The same day, Michael Richard, 48, was due to receive the deadly cocktail at 6pm in southern Texas for the rape and murder of a woman in 1986.

His attorneys said they rushed to draft an appeal to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, the state's highest court for criminal cases.

At 4.50pm, the lawyers called the court to ask it to remain open 20 more minutes after they were stalled by a computer malfunction.

"We close at five,'' was the response from the court clerk, a quote widely reported by local media.

In a last-ditch effort, Richard's attorneys took their case to the Supreme Court, which remains open for executions.

The legal move delayed the execution by a few hours, but since the convict did not file his appeal with a local court first, his arguments were not accepted in Washington.

The execution went ahead that evening and Richard was declared dead at 8.23pm.
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http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,22528997-5003402,00.html

"And Justice for all" ...unless it happens to be close to Miller time
 
I stopped feeling shocked when I opened the thread and read, "A TEXAS..."
 
Capital Punishment dehumanises society.

Whenever I read about how the death sentence is carried out it urks me to the core of my being. The way everything is processed and done calmly over time. The calm, state sponsored murder of a human being is utterly horrible to me. 15 years later, when all emotions about the criminal are probably faded the state kills him, not out of anger or retaliation but becuase of a distorted sense of justice. It makes monsters out of everybody.
 
...and they didn't think of making an appeal until two hours before the execution?
 
The Monkey said:
...and they didn't think of making an appeal until two hours before the execution?
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not as simple as that:

The Texas death-row inmate's lawyers petitioned for a stay of execution after the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to review the constitutionality of lethal injection. Irving killer Carlton Akee Turner won a last-minute stay from the high court. Mr. Richard's lawyers were working on his petition when their computer crashed. They phoned the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, informed its personnel of the computer problems and asked them to stay open long enough to accept the paperwork.

Forget it, replied the court. Time thus ran out for Mr. Richard, who died on the gurney. A court official later said, "I advised the parties that called that we closed at 5."
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http://texasdeathpenalty.blogspot.com/2007/10/we-close-at-5.html

the constitutionality challenge was recent, they had tried to file based on those grounds
 
rape and murder rape and murder rape and murder rape and murder rape and murder rape and murder rape and murder rape and murder rape and murder rape and murder
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Ahem.
 
Gunner said:
Ahem.
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You might not lose sleep over the fact that the court wouldn't stay open for 20 minutes to help a convicted rapist-murderer's attempt to evade the needle a bit longer. You should think again.

When the state takes the life of a condemned criminal, it must do so with a sense of sobriety commensurate with its grave responsibility. Hastening the death of a man, even a bad one, because office personnel couldn't be bothered to bend bureaucratic procedure was a breathtakingly petty act and evinced a relish for death that makes the blood of decent people run cold.
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sometimes one must fight over principles or else they are comprimised and become meaningless
 
Darkside55 said:
I stopped feeling shocked when I opened the thread and read, "A TEXAS..."
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Couldn't have said it better myself.

I couldn't be more disgusted by this, however. It reaks of Texas-justice...who, not surprisingly have executed 4 times as many people as the next nearest (Virginia).

I'm going to go ahead and assume that Mr. Richard and his attourney were not going to be presenting any additional evidence since this was 21 years after the fact, so it may very well have been delaying the inevitable...you're convicted of rape and murder in Texas...that usually doesn't bode well. BUT, everyone deserves the right to an appeal...even disgusting sacks of crap rapists (the official lowest forms of life). Couldn't imagine if this was an innocent person that was wrongly convicted...that's sickening to me.

Unless proven otherwise (ie ground-breaking evidence that absolves him of said crimes), I still won't lose sleep over the execution of a convicted rapist. Sorry, i just won't. And Monkey does have a valid point, why wasn't this being worked on 12 hours before the execution....or 24 hours before...was it really THAT last second that they had to leave everything up in the air. Computers have a nasty habit of letting you down when you least expect it. It even mentioned another inmate that was granted appeal that same day under the same pretext...perhaps his lawyers were better in tune to what needed to be done. I won't rule out the incompetance of his legal staff as well in this fiasco.
 
I am sickened the fact that those in the court refused to stay open for twenty minutes to hear another human biengs plea, regardless of wether or not they are a criminal or not.
 
Lt. Drebin said:
Couldn't have said it better myself.

I couldn't be more disgusted by this, however. It reaks of Texas-justice...who, not surprisingly have executed 4 times as many people as the next nearest (Virginia).

I'm going to go ahead and assume that Mr. Richard and his attourney were not going to be presenting any additional evidence since this was 21 years after the fact, so it may very well have been delaying the inevitable...you're convicted of rape and murder in Texas...that usually doesn't bode well. BUT, everyone deserves the right to an appeal...even disgusting sacks of crap rapists (the official lowest forms of life). Couldn't imagine if this was an innocent person that was wrongly convicted...that's sickening to me.

Unless proven otherwise (ie ground-breaking evidence that absolves him of said crimes), I still won't lose sleep over the execution of a convicted rapist. Sorry, i just won't. And Monkey does have a valid point, why wasn't this being worked on 12 hours before the execution....or 24 hours before...was it really THAT last second that they had to leave everything up in the air. Computers have a nasty habit of letting you down when you least expect it. It even mentioned another inmate that was granted appeal that same day under the same pretext...perhaps his lawyers were better in tune to what needed to be done. I won't rule out the incompetance of his legal staff as well in this fiasco.
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no, the appeal was due to the recent constitutional challenge on lethal injection ..doctors have said it could fall under the cruel and unusual punishment because they found prisoners still felt pain yet were paralysed during the administration of the lethal drugs ..again it was a constitutional challenge
 
Frankly, I want Britain out of the nanny-state European Union solely so that we can bring back the noose. It's only those Eurogits that are stopping us from doing so.
 
TaoFan said:
Frankly, I want Britain out of the nanny-state European Union solely so that we can bring back the noose. It's only those Eurogits that are stopping us from doing so.
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And y'know, good morals.
 
And then you can vote in the BNP and have all us traitor liberals sent to death camps, right?

-Angry Lawyer
 
It's not the execution of bad people that upsets me, it's the execution of anybody.
 
There is something rather chilling about the finality of it all.
In this case, however, it's really not that big a deal - the guy's been on death row for 21 years, and his appeal was not based on some kind of new evidence absolving him of guilt but on a technicality that should allow him to escape the sentence he's been awaiting for the last two decades. They were probably sick of him taking the piss and decided to go home so that he would finally be executed.
 
its not like they didn't have several appeal cases beforehand.

Death row inmates in Texas are allowed at least 3 appeals in the system before execution.
 
CptStern said:
..doctors have said it could fall under the cruel and unusual punishment because they found prisoners still felt pain yet were paralysed during the administration of the lethal drugs ..again it was a constitutional challenge
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The people who wrote the constitution did a bad job in that respect. The constitution shouldn't have kept words in that are subjective.
 
Solaris said:
Capital Punishment dehumanises society.

Whenever I read about how the death sentence is carried out it urks me to the core of my being. The way everything is processed and done calmly over time. The calm, state sponsored murder of a human being is utterly horrible to me. 15 years later, when all emotions about the criminal are probably faded the state kills him, not out of anger or retaliation but becuase of a distorted sense of justice. It makes monsters out of everybody.
Click to expand...

Exactly how I feel about the death penalty. I mean, when the execution takes place there are spectators for fuck's sake. People calmly watching another man die. PEOPLE THAT SIT AND WATCH AS A MAN IS BEING MURDERED. That's just so fucked up. And it's not that I care about the life of the criminal, I don't, for all I care all violent criminals shiv each other in prison today, I wouldn't lose any sleep over it. It's just how the whole process takes place, this calm and calculated way of killing someone who poses no threat to society, by a government that should only care about protecting society rather than getting petty revenge.
 
TaoFan said:
Frankly, I want Britain out of the nanny-state European Union solely so that we can bring back the noose. It's only those Eurogits that are stopping us from doing so.
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It was Britain who persuaded the European Union to write abolishment of the death penalty into the book. I'm not being a "Eurogit" but it's only us Brits that follow European law as we obligingly follow rules. The other European countries don't seem to bother unless pushed.
 
Humans are sick animals as you can see from the replies in this thread alone. Thanks PvtRyan, you put it the best way.
 
May be they should have been killed in the same way they killed their victims. And also execute them in a week after conviction.
 
how exactly does a rapist murderer illicit sympathy is what i want to know.
 
skarrob said:
May be they should have been killed in the same way they killed their victims. And also execute them in a week after conviction.
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Yes or maybe you'd prefer to live in Iran where they do that.
 
I have a hard time feeling sympathy for a rapist/murderer's death
 
This has nothing to do with sumpathy. What is wrong with you people? It has to do with state sponsored murder. You do realize that we are one of the few industrialized nations left in the world to still have a death penalty? How can you people sit here and say that this is right?
 
The death penalty is awful enough as it is, but when thinks like in the OP happen, well that's ****ed up and is, quite frankly exactly what will happen when you give the American government the power over somebodies life.
 
What's ****ed up about it?

Why is it so important that someone who's been on death row for 21 years and has gone through numerous appeal processes already gets the chance to have a last minute stay of execution based on trying to find a loophole in the law rather than on any kind of innocence?

He was taking the piss. The system played him at his own game. Big deal. Whether or not the death penalty is an appropriate form of justice is utterly irrelevant.
 
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