Karl Chamberlain of Dallas is scheduled today to be the first Texas inmate executed by lethal injection in the past eight months, since the U.S. Supreme Court issued a moratorium on the death penalty.
Chamberlain's attorneys filed a motion with the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals Thursday to delay his execution. On Monday, the court denied the motion in a 7-to-2 ruling.
Chamberlain's attorney, John Jasuta, said there is a motion before the U.S. Supreme Court to postpone his client's execution.
Unless taken up by the Supreme Court, these measures will not postpone Chamberlain's execution, said Ed Marty, general counsel for the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.
Chamberlain's execution is not the first to be scheduled since the nationwide moratorium ended in April.
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals granted a reprieve on June 3 to Derrick Sonnier 90 minutes before his execution. His attorneys filed a motion to stay his execution on the basis that the state's lethal injection procedure violated the Eighth Amendment against cruel and unusual punishment.
Sonnier's attorneys pointed out that the court had not yet ruled on the case of Heliberto Chi, who was granted a stay of execution in October 2007, so the court could consider the constitutionality of the lethal injection procedure.
The court on Monday rejected Chi's challenge to the procedure overturned Sonnier's stay.
Maurie Levin, attorney for Sonnier and adjunct professor at the UT Law School, said the state must set an execution date for his client within 30 days of Monday's ruling.
"We are not sure what will happen from here," Levin said.
Marty said it is possible that attorneys for other death row inmates would file cases questioning the legality of the state's lethal injection procedure.
"In the right form, in the right claim, it's still possible," he said. "Whether it will be successful is an entirely different issue."
Charles Hood of Collin County is scheduled for execution on June 17.
