Clinton Delays Federal Execution
W A S H I N G T O N, Aug. 2 -- President Clinton today delayed the first federalexecution since 1963 for at least another four months so a convicted killer can use new government procedures to appealfor presidential clemency.
The execution of Juan Raul Garza had been set by a court forAug. 5, but Clinton signed an order postponing the administrationof lethal chemicals at the U.S. Penitentiary in Terre Haute, Ind.,until Dec. 12.
The Justice Department said Clinton was “thereby providing anopportunity for Mr. Garza to petition under the new regulations.”
The 43-year-old inmate was convicted in August 1993 inBrownsville, Texas, for killing three men between April 1990 andJanuary 1991. A 10-count indictment named him as the boss of a drugring that imported tons of marijuana into the United States between1983 and 1993.
He has lost appeals all the way up to the SupremeCourt.
New Clemency RulesTen pages of new rules on clemency in death penalty cases wereissued today by the Justice Department.
The rules provide that inmates under death sentence will begiven 120 days notice of their date of execution and give theinmates 30 days from that notice to ask the president to reduce orcommute the sentence.
The rules provide an opportunity for the inmate’s attorney tomake an oral presentation to the Justice Department’s pardonattorney. They also provide a chance for families of the victims,with the assistance of prosecutors in the case, to make their ownoral presentation to the pardon attorney.
Politically Charged Issue
Debate over the death penalty has entered this year’spresidential campaign. Garza’s imminent execution has swung thespotlight on the issue to the Democrats after the issue dogged thelikely Republican candidate, Texas Gov. George W. Bush, earlier inthe summer.
Gary Graham, who pleaded guilty to 10 aggravated robberiesduring a crime spree in 1981, was executed in Texas in June after aseries of unsuccessful appeals. Bush’s state has put more people todeath in the past two decades than any other. This year, 23inmates, including Graham, were executed.
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