In the "wee hours" this a.m., the U.S. Supreme Court vacated stays issued by U.S. District Court in Alabama and the Eleventh Circuit to give the green light for the green mile for murderer Christopher Price. Price's well-deserved sentence of death was imposed for the savage and treacherous murder of Alabama minister Bill Lynn. Alabama has approved nitrogen hypoxia as an alternate method of execution, but it is not yet operational. Although the deadline to elect that method lapsed last June, at a time when Price was represented by counsel and could have easily made the election, his lawyers successfully exploited the situation to get a further delay in justice that is already long overdue.
Unfortunately, Alabama death warrants expire at midnight, and early a.m. of April 12 was too late. Ivana Hrynkiw has this story for al.com.
Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall released a statement after the announcement was made. "Tonight, in the middle of National Crime Victims' Rights Week, the family of Pastor Bill Lynn was deprived of justice. They were, in effect, re-victimized by a killer trying to evade his just punishment. This 11th-hour stay for death row inmate Christopher Price will do nothing to serve the ends of justice. Indeed, it has inflicted the opposite--injustice, in the form of justice delayed."
The vote was 5-4.
A last-minute stay and the delay of the courts. What a joke. If federal courts botch this sort of thing, what else are they botching?