The US Supreme Court has postponed at the last minute the execution of a man who had appealed to the court asking for his pastor to be allowed to touch him at the time of execution.
John Ramirez, 37, was to be executed by lethal injection at Huntsville Jail in Texas 17 years after he stabbed a store clerk during a robbery.
A few months earlier, Ramirez, a devout Christian and a member of the Baptist church, had gone to court asking his pastor to be present at his execution so that he could have his hands on his body and pray aloud.
The pastor explained that this process “is an integral part of the ritual provided by his faith”, as stated by the lawyers of the death row inmate. But, according to them, according to the rules in force in Texas, “he is obliged to stay in a corner of the room, like a flowerpot”.
Texas Penitentiary authorities allow a spiritual counselor to be present in the room where the executions take place, but he must remain silent and keep his distance from the death row inmate for “security reasons.”
After his appeal was rejected by a court of first instance and the court of appeals, Ramirez appealed to the US Supreme Court on Monday.
He agreed at the last minute to postpone his execution, adding that he would look into the matter in October or November. However, he did not publish the reasoning of his decision, as usual.
The Supreme Court is expected to use the case to clarify its jurisdiction over the religious freedoms of those sentenced to death, an issue that has arisen several times in recent years.
In 2018, he refused to prevent the execution of a Muslim prisoner who asked for an imam to be present in the execution room.
Due to the reactions, a few weeks later the Supreme Court suspended the execution by lethal injection of another prisoner who had asked to be accompanied by a Buddhist monk.
Emphasizing that Christians have the right to have a priest present during their execution, the Court had then asked the penitentiary authorities not to discriminate against other religions.
Many states then decided to ban any spiritual counselor from attending the execution.
In 2021, the Supreme Court ruled that this extreme solution prevented the right to freedom of religion for those sentenced to death, which is guaranteed by the US Constitution, and therefore suspended two executions.
