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A Texas death row inmate was granted a stay of execution on Thursday night by the U.S. Supreme Court. The order came just hours before the execution was to take place.

Kentucky Appeal

Lawyers for Carlton Turner, Jr., 28, linked Turner’s case to an appeal filed by two inmates in Kentucky over the constitutionality of lethal injection. The high court agreed on Tuesday to hear the Kentucky appeal but is not expected to issue a ruling until next year.

Kentucky and Texas use a similar procedure that employs three drugs for lethal injection. The first drug is used to render the inmate unconscious, and the second and third drugs stop the heart and lungs.

Cruel & Unusual Punishment

Turner’s lawyers argued that if the first drug failed, “the inmate will experience excruciating pain and torture as the second and third drugs are administered.”

Lethal injection methods in states across the country have come under scrutiny lately and a number of lawsuits have been filed claiming that lethal injection constitutes a form of cruel and unusual punishment.

Texas Busy with Executions

In Texas, Turner’s case is now being viewed as a gauge to whether or not capital punishment will be put on hold while the Supreme Court decides the Kentucky appeal. Another inmate in scheduled for execution next week and several more are scheduled for later this year.

Texas carries out the most executions in the nation. Had Turner been executed, he would have been the state’s 27th inmate to be put to death this year and the second in less than a week.

(Source: Washington Post online)

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