Court blocks Alabama from executing Muslim inmate without his imam present

[stymiegreen]

https://abcnews.go.com/US/court-blocks- ... d=60905497

Court blocks Alabama from executing Muslim inmate without his imam present


By MORGAN WINSOR Feb 7, 2019, 11:40 AM ET

A federal appeals court on Wednesday blocked the execution of a Muslim inmate in Alabama after the state refused to allow his imam to be at his death instead of a Christian prison chaplain.

The United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit granted an emergency stay of execution for 42-year-old Domineque Ray one day before he was scheduled to be put to death for the rape and murder of 15-year-old Tiffany Harville more than two decades ago in Selma, Alabama. The Alabama attorney general's office has asked the United States Supreme Court to vacate the stay and let it proceed with the execution scheduled for Thursday evening, according to court documents.

"The central constitutional problem here is that the state has regularly placed a Christian cleric in the execution room to minister to the needs of Christian inmates, but has refused to provide the same benefit to a devout Muslim and all other non-Christians," a panel of three district judges wrote in their decision Wednesday.

Ray has been held at the Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore, Alabama, since he was convicted and sentenced to death in 1999. He has been a devout Muslim since at least 2006 and has been meeting with his current imam who has provided religious ministry to Muslim inmates like Ray since 2015, according to court documents.

On Jan. 23, two weeks before his scheduled execution, Ray met with the prison warden who, apparently for the first time, explained the practices and policies that the Alabama Department of Corrections adheres to during executions. Among other things, the warden told Ray that a Christian chaplain employed by the department would be in the death chamber as a lethal cocktail of drugs is administered. The inmate's designated witnesses, along with any spiritual adviser other than the prison chaplain, may be seated in a witness room, separated from the execution chamber by a large window, according to court documents.

Ray asked if he could bring in his imam in place of the prison chaplain, but was told his request couldn't be honored due to the department's policy. Ray and his attorneys filed a civil rights complaint and an emergency motion for stay of execution on Jan. 28, claiming the policy violated his constitutional rights.

The Alabama Department of Corrections has agreed to exclude the prison chaplain from the death chamber, but a district judge on Friday denied Ray's initial request for a stay of execution. The judge wrote that Ray waited "until the eleventh hour" to make his legal claim, it's a matter of safety and security, and Ray's imam, who is not a department of corrections employee, is "untrained, inexperienced and outside the state's control."

Ray filed an appeal and the court overturned the denial.

"We welcome this decision and hope Mr. Ray will ultimately be provided equal access to spiritual guidance," Ali Massoud, the government affairs coordinator for the Alabama chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), said in a statement Wednesday.

The three-judge panel wrote in their decision that it was "exceedingly loath to substitute our judgment on prison procedures," but that "it looks substantially likely to us that Alabama has run afoul of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment."

"What is central to Establishment Clause jurisprudence is the fundamental principle that at a minimum neither the states nor the federal government may pass laws or adopt policies that aid one religion or prefer one religion over another," the judges wrote. "And that, it appears to us, is what the Alabama Department of Corrections has done here."

[CaptQuint]

untrained, inexperienced and outside the state's control

Praying to Allah or whatever spook magic he's gonna do should be outside the states control. I don't think the Chaplain assists with the actual procedure so what's the difference

[Stapes]

I'm going to put in my Dali Lama request ahead of time.

[CaptQuint]

I'm going to put in my Dali Lama request ahead of time.

Carl Spackler: So I jump ship in Hong Kong and I make my way over to Tibet, and I get on as a looper at a course over in the Himalayas.

Angie D’Annunzio: A looper?

Carl Spackler: A looper, you know, a caddy, a looper, a jock. So, I tell them I’m a pro jock, and who do you think they give me? The Dalai Lama, himself. Twelfth son of the Lama. The flowing robes, the grace, bald… striking. So, I’m on the first tee with him. I give him the driver. He hauls off and whacks one – big hitter, the Lama – long, into a ten-thousand foot crevasse, right at the base of this glacier. Do you know what the Lama says? Gunga galunga… gunga, gunga-lagunga. So we finish the eighteenth and he’s gonna stiff me. And I say, “Hey, Lama, hey, how about a little something, you know, for the effort, you know.” And he says, “Oh, uh, there won’t be any money, but when you die, on your deathbed, you will receive total consciousness.” So I got that goin’ for me, which is nice.

[CaptQuint]

[Antknot]

As long as he is executed.

This.

[CaptQuint]

untrained, inexperienced and outside the state's control

Praying to Allah or whatever spook magic he's gonna do should be outside the states control. I don't think the Chaplain assists with the actual procedure so what's the difference

If we're at least going to pretend disguise state sponsored executions as humane, then at the very least they can honor the condemned's request to have their own religious figure there

The condemned last meal request should be fulfilled (within reason) as well. I heard one state stopped after a prisoner requested a bunch of shit and didn't eat it.

[stymiegreen]

I just thought it was some low rent shit to tell the guy they'd provide him with a Christian Chaplain and figured that would be cool with someone who adheres to a different religion. I'm also surprised this is the first time this issue has come up if they have never provided anything other than a Christian Chaplain before.

[AnalHamster]

Bit of a no brainer on the constitutional question, all religions or none. I had a quick look at the case, him and a buddy robbed, raped and killed a 15 year old girl, doesn't seem to be any question over guilt or innocence, they both did it. The buddy confessed first and got life for cooperating, leaving this guy to take the death side.

Personally I'm opposed to the death penalty in all cases no matter what the circumstances, but this is at least not one where there is any doubt.

[Wut]

untrained, inexperienced and outside the state's control

Praying to Allah or whatever spook magic he's gonna do should be outside the states control. I don't think the Chaplain assists with the actual procedure so what's the difference

If we're at least going to pretend disguise state sponsored executions as humane, then at the very least they can honor the condemned's request to have their own religious figure there

I agree, though if they want to fuck with him they can send in a Rabbi.

[stymiegreen]

untrained, inexperienced and outside the state's control

Praying to Allah or whatever spook magic he's gonna do should be outside the states control. I don't think the Chaplain assists with the actual procedure so what's the difference

If we're at least going to pretend disguise state sponsored executions as humane, then at the very least they can honor the condemned's request to have their own religious figure there

I agree, though if they want to fuck with him they can send in a Rabbi.

Oh wait, NPCgreen cant think outside the box so I need to revise my reply.....




He's a muzzie scumbag, fuck him!!! And let him die!!! Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

I guess that ointment hasn't kicked in yet. Apply liberally every 4 hours.

[AnalHamster]

Biker only supports the execution of innocent full term babies. He's a democrat.

[Who]

Get a politician from Virginia, I’m sure they can fake their way through it

[PimpDaddy]

I thought Dems were OK killing babies after they were born, because of mental stress?

[VinceBordenIII]

Executions are a waste of resources. Leave him in prison to die an old man.

[CaptQuint]

I thought Dems were OK killing babies after they were born, because of mental stress?

nope

[AnalHamster]

Biker only supports the execution of innocent full term babies. He's a democrat.

If only I could be as conservative on abortion as UK policy is

You can be, just support the VA policy you were arguing against until you tried to pretend it was conservative because you're too much of a baby to admit error. Just like you did.

[CHEEZY17]

And he's dead.

[AnalHamster]

5-4 party lines vote. Pretty sad that the con court isn't a fan of the first amendment.

[Who]

I thought Dems were OK killing babies after they were born, because of mental stress?

as are Republican Congressmen

[Wut]

So they should exclude chaplains for Christians then.

[QillerDaemon]

It was a state execution. There is also a thing called separation of church and state. The correct decision was made.

I'm still trying to parse this bit from the article:

The judge wrote that Ray waited "until the eleventh hour" to make his legal claim, it's a matter of safety and security, and Ray's imam, who is not a department of corrections employee, is "untrained, inexperienced and outside the state's control."

And just how does one become a "trained and experienced" death chamber minister? And get made "inside" the state's control, maybe become a certified religious vendor? Seems kinda chicken 'n egg:
"I want to be a death chamber minister."
"Do you have any experience as one?"
"No."
"Well you have to have experience and training to become one."
"And how do I get that?"
"Er, well, you have to have attended an execution as a minister and taken our training course."
"... So how did your current death chamber minister get his qualifications?"

And plenty of condemned have gotten eleventh hour stays on lesser issues.If it's going to get the guy to go willingly (enough) into the chamber and allow a needle to get stuck in his arm, let him have his damn hoodoo priest present to help out the whole process. Otherwise, the Alabama DOC is just acting like a sack of dicks on a fairly minor point in finishing up the whole job.

[AnalHamster]

There was really only one conclusion possible on the constitutional question, providing a christian but not any other faith was a clear violation of the first amendment. The con court knew that, so they wriggled out of it by not hearing the constitutional question. They dismissed based on the application being made too late, despite the fact that the inmate was only told about the rule five days before the application for a stay was filed. The republican party supports the death penalty so the republican party judges ignored the law. Pretty fucked up situation y'all are in with the judicial branch.

[Stapes]

We love are killin' in this country. Just don't try to show a boob.....'cause Jesus and the children

[AnalHamster]

No religion at all allowed wouldn't be a constitutional problem, but preference for one religion over others is.