Questions about Barbee’s religious rights in the death chamber prompted a federal judge to pause the execution Tuesday night, but Texas is considering an appeal. kprc2 click2houston texas tarrantcounty
For the third time in four years, Texas is hoping to execute Stephen Barbee Wednesday evening. But first it must wait for courts to rule once again on the state’s handling of the prisoner’s religious rights in the death chamber.multiple U.S. Supreme Court rulings
Barbee, 55, was convicted in the 2005 murders of his pregnant ex-girlfriend, Lisa Underwood, and her 7-year-old son, Jayden, in Tarrant County. Under police interrogation, Barbee confessed to the killings, saying he feared Underwood would tell his ex-wife he was likely the father of her unborn child and he would have to pay child support. Soon after, he recanted the confession, which his lawyer argued was “the product of fear and coercion,” and he has since maintained his innocence.
After the ruling, Tarrant County officials moved for a new execution date, set for October 2021. That time, it was canceled by U.S. District Judge Kenneth Hoyt of Houston while the U.S. Supreme Court weighed another Texas man’s case inover the Texas prison system’s handling of prisoners’ religious rights in the execution chamber. Barbee had requested that his spiritual adviser pray over him and lay his hand on him as he died, a practice which had recently been barred by prison officials.
“TDCJ is now operating under an unwritten policy where prison officials may unilaterally decide whether to allow an inmate’s requested accommodation … the accommodation may be withdrawn at the will or caprice of any prison official at the last moment,” Hoyt wrote in his ruling. Texas is appealing that ruling to the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals. The U.S. Supreme Court was also still weighing filings from Barbee regarding his religious rights Tuesday evening.
“If someone wants my arms to straighten out in any way, I guess one would have to break my arms, because even forcing them, they won’t straighten,” Barbee said in a written affidavit last year. “It’s been like this for years and it’s getting worse.”
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