Supreme Court to block Florida execution

[Muscletang]

SOURCE

WASHINGTON - Florida death row inmate Clarence Hill won a last-minute Supreme Court stay Tuesday night about an hour after he was scheduled to be executed for killing a police officer.

It was not clear if the court's intervention would only briefly delay Hill's execution, which had been scheduled for 6 p.m. EST, to give justices additional time to review three separate stay requests.

Witnesses had gathered at the Florida State Prison for the execution, which was put off for more than an hour before word came from the court.

The witnesses were sent home after Justice Anthony M. Kennedy filed paperwork that said Hill's death sentence would "be stayed pending further order" of the justices.

"The court will not rule until tomorrow," said Robby Cunningham, spokesman for the Florida Department of Corrections.

Earlier, Hill had lost appeals at the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta. He was scheduled to die for the Oct. 19, 1982, slaying of a Pensacola police officer and the wounding of his partner.

Hill was to be the 61st inmate executed in Florida since 1976, when executions resumed after a 12-year moratorium, and the 257th since 1924, when the state took that duty from individual counties.

Hill first asked the court for a stay last week. In one of his appeals, Hill asked for a delay to give him time to contest the chemicals that will be used. Kennedy cited that case in granting the stay.

Hill's lawyers argue that the three chemicals used in Florida's lethal injection method of execution cause pain, making his execution cruel and unusual punishment. He also contends that he is mentally retarded.

Now this is what I find funny...

"the three chemicals used in Florida's lethal injection method of execution cause pain, making his execution cruel and unusual punishment"

Boo fucking who. Oh yes, you caused pain to the policeman you injured and yet you're bitching about the pain that's going to happen to you, shut the fuck up.

"He also contends that he is mentally retarded."

If he's able to stand up and complain about the chemicals being used, I don't think this is an issue.

[03cavPA]

Originally Posted by Muscletang

SOURCE

"He also contends that he is mentally retarded."

If he's able to stand up and complain about the chemicals being used, I don't think this is an issue.

Yeah, he can't be that retarded, if he's considering how much pain the lethal injections will cause.

Damn, who dreams this shit up? Pain, my ass. Dope the guy up with opiates, then slam him with the big drugs.

[MagicRat]

Originally Posted by Muscletang

"He also contends that he is mentally retarded."

If he's able to stand up and complain about the chemicals being used, I don't think this is an issue.

Well, it depends on how you read the article.

I read the last paragraph in the article as the lawyers are making the statement about the cruelty and the state of his mind, not the prisioner himself.

So the prisioner may be as dumb as a tree stump.

Sure, this is nit picking, but that's my job.

Still, the notion of a humane execution is an oxymoron.

[carrrnuttt]

If he is that dumb, to kill an Officer, maybe we need to thin out the idiot quota in this country?

I have NO fucking sympathy for this asshole. As a matter of fact, his pain will NEVER equal those of the families of the slain and hurt Officers.

I don't want injections. I want a hacksaw.

[Raz_Kaz]

Here's my notion. Ask a family member of the victim decide whether or not they want to kill him...then do it up the same way the murderer did or maybe a little improv and kill him how the person involved sees fit. And before anyone says how killing someone won't bring the other person to life and that it won't ease the pain...then that person has never had the satisfaction that comes with revenge.