SCOTUS Stays Second Texas Execution This Month

by: Katherine Haenschen

Tue Sep 20, 2011 at 04:58 PM CDT

From the AP:

A former Army recruiter set to die Tuesday evening for the rape-slaying of a woman in Fort Worth nearly a decade ago looked to the U.S. Supreme Court to stop his scheduled execution for a third time this year.

...

His lawyers returned to the court with similar arguments he was innocent and had previous deficient legal help, specifically asking the court to decide whether prisoners like Foster had a constitutional guarantee for a competent lawyer when he first raised claims in a state appeals court.

...

Rex Barnett, one of Foster's trial lawyers, said he didn't believe the evidence to convict Foster was legally sufficient.

This is the second execution to be stayed by the nation's highest court this month.

Last week, the SCOTUS stayed the execution of Duane Buck, who was on death row (rather than facing life in prison) because the state's "expert" used race as a justification for executing him.

This comes at a time when Rick Perry's record number of executions as governor is facing increased media scrutiny. It's somewhat of a silver lining to his candidacy if increased scrutiny on Perry's record has helped prevent two executions with questionable due process.

Most importantly, it's yet another indication that all is not well with Perry's judicial system in Texas, and that maybe he shouldn't sleep so soundly at night, untroubled by the notion that he might have wrongfully executed any of his fellow human beings.