The Tennessean

 4/8/02

U.S. Supreme Court halts execution of Abu-Ali Abdur'Rahman

 The U.S. Supreme Court stayed the execution of Tennessee death row inmate Abu-Ali Abdur'Rahman, who had been scheduled for execution on April 10. Although no reasons were given for the stay, Abdur'Rahman had raised the issue of prosecutorial misconduct and ineffectiveness of counsel in his earlier appeals. ()  For more information, see The Case of Abu-Ali Abdur'Rahman.

4/4/02

U.S. Supreme Court Grants Stay of Execution for Alabama Inmate

     Gary Leon Brown was granted a stay of execution by the U.S. Supreme Court just hours before he was scheduled to be executed in Alabama. Brown has raised two issues before the Court:  he claims that (1) Alabama's use of the electric chair violates the Eighth Amendment's ban on cruel and unusual punishment.  Alabama is one of only two states that use electrocution as their sole method of execution.

     (2) Brown also contends that the Court should halt his execution until it decides Ring v. Arizona (see below), a case it will hear later this year to determine the constitutionality of having a judge, rather than a jury, decide sentencing in death penalty cases.  In Alabama, the jury makes a sentencing recommendation, but the judge is not bound by it.