The pace of the death machine

 

JEFFREY ST, CLAIR

+ On World Against the Death Penalty Day, the State of Texas executed Jedidiah Murphy, shortly after the Supreme Court revoked an appeals court order granting him a reprieve. Murphy had spent 22 years on death row for the 2000 murder of 79-year-old Bertie Lee Cunningham. As he was strapped to a gurney, Murphy, a halachic Jew, started to recite Psalm 24, ending with the words “The Lord redeems the soul of his servants, and none of those who trust in him shall be condemned.” He then shouted, “Bella is my wife!” His body seized and he lost consciousness and, then, his life. Murphy, who suffered extreme abuse as a child, was executed despite his history of severe mental illness, which included blackouts, hearing voices and hallucinating snakes. Murphy had been diagnosed as psychotic with multiple personality disorder at the time of the murder. In order to secure a death sentence, prosecutors told the jury that Murphy would present a “continuing threat to society” if sentenced to life imprisonment, instead of being put to death.  As evidence, they presented false testimony that he had been involved in a carjacking that took place three years before Cunningham was shot, even though Murphy had never been charged or even investigated for the crime. On Monday, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals stayed his execution after being presented with evidence that  Murphy had an alibi for the carjacking, that his fingerprints didn’t match those left on the stolen vehicle, and that DNA samples left by the perpetrator had never been tested. The stay was quickly quashed by the Supreme Court, which is becoming increasingly reluctant to allow new evidence to slow the pace of the death machine. Here’s the Huntsville Prison’s Death Watch summary of how Murphy spent his last three-and-a-half days…