*There will be NO EXECUTIONS this month while we await the decision of the U.S. Supreme Court on whether the lethal injections used to execute these prisoners cause a painful and difficult death. If so, it may be ruled as violating the constitutional right to not be subjected to cruel and unusual punishment.

*This is the first time since I have been doing this website that there will be NO EXECUTIONS this month! Currently, the U.S. Supreme Court is waiting to hear the case Baze v. Rees which questions whether the lethal injections used to execute these prisoners cause a painful and difficult death. If so, it may be ruled as violating the constitutional right to not be subjected to cruel and unusual punishment. The Court should get the case in January of 2008 and rule sometime in the spring. The justices have been issuing last-minute stays of execution for all prisoners about to be put to death, so the states have stopped scheduling executions.

*The U.S. Supreme Court has issued a stay of execution for Emmett because it is scheduled to hear the court case Baze v. Rees about whether or not lethal injections are cruel and unusual punishment, in violation of the U.S. Constitution. The justices will rule on this issue in 2008. Ohio State University law school sentencing expert Doug Berman calls this "a de facto moratorium." A moratorium is when all executions are put off until further notice. The drug cocktails used in lethal injections may cause the prisoner to be aware that he/she is struggling to breathe, or may be causing intense muscle pain which he/she is unable to express because of the paralyzing agent.

**The U.S. Supreme Court issued a stay for Alderman for the same reason as above.

***Osborne was spared for the same reason - the questions currently surrounding lethal injections.

****Siebert and Berry spared for same reason.

*Ruiz got a last minute stay of execution from the Court of Appeals who decided that his jury should have been given more information as "mitigating circumstances" such as childhood abuse, drug/alcohol addiction which might have made the jury empathize with him and not give him the death penalty. Ruiz got paid $2,000 to shoot a friend's wife so that her husband and his brother could collect $250,000 in life insurance.

**Page will be the first person executed in South Dakota in 60 years.

***Davis' execution has been opposed by many groups, including the Pope, because there was no evidence against him except for witness testimony, of which 7 of the 9 people have since said their testimony was untrue. Read a good editorial in a British newspaper about the case by clicking here.

*Emmett's execution has been stayed by the governor of Virginia, only 2 hours before his scheduled execution time! The governor felt Emmett had not completed all his appeals, which he has a legal right to.

**Henderson is one of the very few women scheduled for execution. Her execution has been stayed because a coroner has now said the 3-month-old baby who died while she was babysitting could have been injured in an accidental fall.

***Bland had terminal lung cancer that had spread to his brain and was expected to die within 6 months due to the disease, but was executed anyways. This was his 2nd murder conviction; he had served 20 years in prison for the first and was released.

Texas executed 2 men in 2 days, with Rodriguez on the 20th and Reyes on the 21st. Texas consistently executes the most prisoners per year.

*Moreno got a stay of execution. The courts want to see if his jury got correct instructions at his trial. They should have been told to consider mitigating circumstances, like his difficult childhood, while deciding whether he deserved life in prison or the death sentence.

*Clark's execution was protested by a silent vigil including an exhibit featuring the piano John Lennon composed music on. The piano is a traveling exhibit and is placed wherever a violent act has occurred, such as the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., in Memphis. Lennon focused his free-time on promoting peace.

**Webster is one of the very few people under a Federal sentence of death meaning he is not being executed by a state but rather by the U.S. government. His crime of rape and murder following a botched drug deal was eligible as a Federal crime under the Federal Death Penalty Act (1994). He awaits execution at the Federal Correctional Complex in Terre Haute, Indiana. The last Federal executions were in 2001, with Timothy McVeigh who bombed a Federal building in Oklahoma City and Juan Raul Garza who killed people in connection with his Mexican drug ring (violates new Federal law called Anti-Drug Abuse Act meaning murders committed in connection with drug trafficking).

***Henderson is one of the few women on death row. She was convicted of killing a child she was babysitting. She buried the child and fled the state, but says the child's death was an accident caused by rough-housing. She has gotten a 60-day stay to give her lawyers more time to prepare. Her next execution date is June 13, 2007. There are many websites devoted to her cause; if you are interested in reading more about her case just Google her name.

*Nichols is the 5th person executed in Texas over the last 30 days. Texas routinely leads the nation in number of executions per year.
**Biros' execution was stayed because he is taking part in an appeal in the state of Ohio saying lethal injections are cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the U.S. Constitution.

*Harbison and Holton have had their executions stayed by the governor of Tennessee. All executions in the state are on hold while the lethal injection procedures and instructions are reviewed. This is in response to the current debate over lethal injections and whether they constitute cruel and unusual punishment (inmates may be feeling more pain than they are able to express because of the drugs given to them in the IV).
**Thomas and Cambell got stays of execution while North Carolina debates whether to change a law recquiring doctors to oversee the executions. The state's medical board has decided doctors are violating their code of ethics by participating in the deaths.

*Biros got a stay of execution to give the state of Ohio time to review whether their lethal injection procedures are cruel or unusual punishment in violation of the U.S. constitution.
**Swearingen got a stay of execution so that evidence from his trial can be reviewed. The evidence involves insects found on the body and also in a national forest.
***Chambers got a stay of execution, apparently to wait while the state debates 3 death penalty cases in which juries may not have gotten proper instructions for weighing mitigating circumstances. Chambers was convicted of murder in 1975 and has lived on Death Row in Texas for over 30 years.
****Robinson got a stay of execution while North Carolina debates whether to change a law recquiring doctors to oversee the executions. The state's medical board has decided doctors are violating their code of ethics by participating in the deaths.