A child killer has been executed in Alabama after the Supreme Court voted 5-4 to threw out his request for an imam to be present in the execution chamber.
Domineque Ray’s lawyers had argued that the southern state’s execution policy favoured Christian inmates because a chaplain is allowed in the room, often kneeling next to the death row prisoner and praying with the inmate if requested.
Ray had converted to Islam in prison.
The 42-year-old was put to death by lethal injection at 10.12pm last night (4.12am GMT). His imam, Yusef Maisonet, reportedly watched the execution from an adjoining witness room.
The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals yesterday agreed to stay the planned execution to consider Ray’s arguments. However but the state appealed that decision to the Supreme Court - which ruled against a postponement.
Ray was sentenced to death in 1999 for the killing of Tiffany Harville, 15, who disappeared from her home in Selma in July 1995.
