LE††UCE PREY
John Henry Ramirez, 37, is scheduled to be put to death in the Texas death chamber on Sept. 8, but his attorneys said in a federal lawsuit filed Tuesday in Corpus Christi that state prison officials had denied his request to have his pastor lay hands on him as he dies.
The lawsuit asked a federal judge to allow Dana Moore, pastor of the Second Baptist Church, a Corpus Christi congregation of about 200 worshippers, to be present in the death chamber at his execution and lay hands on him as Ramirez dies. The lawsuit states that Moore has ministered to Ramirez for five years.
The lawsuit cites a 2019 U.S. Supreme Court order that stayed Patrick Murphy’s execution unless the inmate’s Buddhist spiritual advisor be allowed to accompany Murphy in the Texas execution chamber. Murphy, who is one of the “Texas 7” gang of escaped inmates convicted of killing a suburban Dallas police officer, has not received a new execution date.
IN 2004 Ramirez killed a convenience store worker in a robbery that netted him $1.25.
