Judge Stays Execution, Citing Case Under Review
By KIRK SEMPLE
MIAMI, Nov. 14 — Citing a pending Supreme Court ruling on the constitutionality of lethal injection methods, a federal judge granted a stay of execution on Wednesday for a man who had been scheduled to die on Thursday evening for the rape and murder of an 11-year-old boy.
The judge, Anne C. Conway of Federal District Court in Orlando, said she felt compelled to delay execution of the man, Mark D. Schwab, because some of the questions in his case were also pending before the higher court.
“Simply put, the court would not issue this stay absent the Supreme Court’s” decision to review a Kentucky case challenging lethal injection methods as cruel and unusual, Judge Conway said.
Oral arguments in the Kentucky case are set for January.
Florida’s governor, Charlie Crist, a Republican, said, “I am disappointed that the family of the victim, Junny Rios-Martinez, will have to continue to wait to see justice done.”
Mr. Schwab was sentenced to death in 1992 for the kidnapping, rape and first-degree murder of the boy a year earlier.
The Florida attorney general, Bill McCollum, filed a motion in the United States Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit to vacate the stay, but several legal experts said they did not expect the appeals court to rule in his favor.
At issue in the Schwab case, as in the Kentucky case, are the constitutionality of the methods used for carrying out lethal injection and the standard by which courts should evaluate the evidence that lethal injection is constitutional.
Mr. Schwab’s lawyers argued that Florida’s methods of administering lethal injection violate the Constitution’s prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment because the drugs the state uses do not offer enough protection from undue pain.
On Nov. 1, the Florida Supreme Court ruled unanimously that the state’s newest lethal injection methods, which were developed after a botched execution in December, did not violate the Constitution.
By KIRK SEMPLE
MIAMI, Nov. 14 — Citing a pending Supreme Court ruling on the constitutionality of lethal injection methods, a federal judge granted a stay of execution on Wednesday for a man who had been scheduled to die on Thursday evening for the rape and murder of an 11-year-old boy.
The judge, Anne C. Conway of Federal District Court in Orlando, said she felt compelled to delay execution of the man, Mark D. Schwab, because some of the questions in his case were also pending before the higher court.
“Simply put, the court would not issue this stay absent the Supreme Court’s” decision to review a Kentucky case challenging lethal injection methods as cruel and unusual, Judge Conway said.
Oral arguments in the Kentucky case are set for January.
Florida’s governor, Charlie Crist, a Republican, said, “I am disappointed that the family of the victim, Junny Rios-Martinez, will have to continue to wait to see justice done.”
Mr. Schwab was sentenced to death in 1992 for the kidnapping, rape and first-degree murder of the boy a year earlier.
The Florida attorney general, Bill McCollum, filed a motion in the United States Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit to vacate the stay, but several legal experts said they did not expect the appeals court to rule in his favor.
At issue in the Schwab case, as in the Kentucky case, are the constitutionality of the methods used for carrying out lethal injection and the standard by which courts should evaluate the evidence that lethal injection is constitutional.
Mr. Schwab’s lawyers argued that Florida’s methods of administering lethal injection violate the Constitution’s prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment because the drugs the state uses do not offer enough protection from undue pain.
On Nov. 1, the Florida Supreme Court ruled unanimously that the state’s newest lethal injection methods, which were developed after a botched execution in December, did not violate the Constitution.
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