The Supreme Court on Thursday boosted the religious rights of death row inmates, ruling 8 to 1 in favor of a Texas murderer who wants his Baptist pastor to touch him and pray aloud at the time of his execution.
Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. wrote for the majority that the rights of John Henry Ramirez were protected by federal law and that Texas could accommodate his requests without compromising the lethal injection process. The lone dissenter was Justice Clarence Thomas, who wrote a lengthy description of Ramirez’s crime in his opinion.
Lower courts had ruled against Ramirez, 37, who was convicted of stabbing to death Pablo Castro in a 2004 robbery in Corpus Christi, Tex., that netted pocket change. His guilt was not an issue in the case.
In an extraordinary move on the night of Sept. 8, the Supreme Court stopped Ramirez’s planned execution as the inmate waited in a holding room next to the death chamber. It set an expedited hearing in the case for Nov. 9.
Roberts said the issue in the case was the requirements of the federal Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000. It covers both Ramirez’s request for prayer and touch, the court concluded.
“There is a rich history of clerical prayer at the time of a prisoner’s execution, dating back well before the founding of our Nation,” Roberts wrote. He added that Texas could accommodate the request for touch without unduly complicating the lethal injection process.
The court returned the case to lowers courts for additional work.
Ramirez says he has given his life to God since the killing. He wants the man who has been his spiritual adviser for several years, Pastor Dana Moore of Second Baptist Church in Corpus Christi, to be in the death chamber with him, to touch him and pray aloud for his soul.
In an interview with The Washington Post last year, Ramirez admitted to the murder and agreed he would like to prolong his time on what he prefers to call “life row,” spreading the word of God and working on an application for clemency.
But he also acknowledged it is more likely he will be executed, and said his vision of the moment is that “Pastor Dana would touch me while I was still alive and breathing. I’d want him to feel my heart and feel when I transition.”
Texas contended Moore could attend the execution only if he stayed quiet and away from Ramirez. It said its restrictions protected the “security, integrity and solemnity” of executions.
Lower courts ruled against Ramirez, accepting his religious sincerity but questioning whether the timing of his request was simply a delaying tactic.
That resonated with Thomas. “Ramirez has manufactured more than a decade of delay to evade the capital sentence lawfully imposed by the State of Texas,” the justice wrote. “This Court now affords yet another chance for him to delay his execution.”