U.S. Supreme Court grants stay of execution to Georgia killer

[Calista241]

Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The U.S. Supreme Court granted a stay of execution tonight to condemned killer Keith Tharpe, three and a half hours after he was scheduled to be put to death by lethal injection.

In a 6-3 decision, the court’s justices were apparently concerned about claims that one of Tharpe’s jurors was racist and sentenced Tharpe to death because he was African-American.

Three justices — Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch — dissented.

The high court will now decide whether to hear Tharpe’s appeal, and, if it doesn’t, the court said the stay of execution shall terminate automatically. But that will not happen tonight.

Read more: http://www.ajc.com/news/supreme-court-grants-stay-execution-georgia-killer/gV7r2RtzmLz3udW8dsGL7K/

[oasis]

1. "I was never helped by Affirmative Action", Clarence Thomas, dissented.

No surprise there.

[rpannier]

2. Keeping Scalia's Legacy Alive

Gorsuch, Alito and Thomas

[George II]

3. 6-3 is big! We need to stop killing anyone in the name of "justice".

[chelsea0011]

4. So, those three just don't care? Majority decision to execute is OK by them.

[Calista241]

5. The defense argued that one of the jurors was racist.

And voted to convict simply because of that. That juror is deceased now, but denied being racist at the time, to police investigators.

[melm00se]

6. It'd be nice to see,

in writing, why Thomas, Alito and Gorsuch dissented.

the text of the stay is wholly useless:

The application for stay of execution of sentence of death
presented to Justice Thomas and by him referred to the Court is
granted pending the disposition of the petition for a writ of
certiorari. Should the petition for a writ of certiorari be
denied, this stay shall terminate automatically. In the event
the petition for a writ of certiorari is granted, the stay shall
terminate upon the sending down of the judgment of this Court.
Justice Thomas, Justice Alito, and Justice Gorsuch would
deny the application.