Guest Tim Report post Posted March 13, 2003 HUNTSVILLE, Texas - The Supreme Court blocked Texas from executing its 300th inmate since the state resumed capital punishment in 1982, granting a stay just minutes before the condemned man was to be put to death. Delma Banks' claims that he was wrongly convicted of a murder 23 years ago had been backed by three former federal judges. His lawyers told justices he was poorly represented at trial, prosecutors improperly kept blacks off the jury and testimony from two prosecution witnesses was shaky. Banks is black, his victim was white and the jury was all-white. "I just thank the Lord," Banks said Wednesday after being told of the court's decision. "Give Jesus all the credit." Relatives of Banks who were waiting outside the prison jumped joyously and hugged as word spread. Prosecutors said they would continue to seek Banks' execution. "I wish we could have brought it to a conclusion today," said James Elliott, who helped win Banks' conviction in 1980. "But I've been here 23 years and I'm prepared to stay here to see it through. "The Supreme Court needs more time. You really can't draw any conclusion from the granting of a stay." The court issued the stay without comment about 10 minutes before Banks, 44, was to be put to death for the 1980 murder of 16-year-old Richard Wayne Whitehead, a co-worker at a restaurant. Banks shot Whitehead "for the hell of it" after a night of drinking, according to a witness at Banks' trial. Banks has been on death row 22 years. With the reprieve, condemned murderer Keith Clay now becomes the potential No. 300 with his scheduled March 20 execution. One of the three former federal judges supporting Supreme Court intervention was former FBI (news - web sites) Director William Sessions, who submitted a brief to the high court in which he cited "uncured constitutional errors" in the case. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals this week refused to block Banks' execution, and the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles would not hear his plea because it was filed too late. The majority of last-minute death row appeals are rejected by the Supreme Court, although justices have stopped a handful of executions in the past few years. The stay in Banks' case will remain in effect until the court decides whether to review his case. Prosecutors and the victim's family have insisted Banks received a fair trial. "All these articles about poor Delma, poor Delma and how much of a raw deal he got," said Larry Whitehead, the victim's father. "Stopping a youngster's life at 16 years old is a raw deal." Sessions and others had told the court in a filing that the claims raised in the appeal "go to the very heart of the effective functioning of the capital punishment system." Texas accounts for more than one-third of the 835 executions in the United States since the Supreme Court in 1976 allowed capital punishment to resume. Virginia has the second-highest total, with 87. On Tuesday, murderer Bobby Glen Cook became No. 299 since Texas resumed capital punishment in 1982. It was the 10th execution this year in Texas, which is on a pace to top the record 40 lethal injections carried out in 2000. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Ozymandias Report post Posted March 14, 2003 Took the Supreme Court long enough to get off their sorry asses and take a gander at the attrocities going down in Texas. Too bad the court is too stacked with conservatives to have the guts to ban the murder penalty outright again. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
