JAMES WARRANT: SCOTUS petition filed
Edward James has filed a petition for writ of certiorari and application for stay of execution at the U.S. Supreme Court ahead of his execution scheduled this Thursday at 6:00 p.m.
Edward James’ execution is scheduled for 6:00 p.m. on Thursday. If completed, it will be the second execution in the State this year. Last week, the Florida Supreme Court and U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit denied James’ claims for relief ahead of his execution.
James has now filed a petition for writ of certiorari and application for stay of execution at the U.S. Supreme Court.
The petition presents the following questions:
1. Whether a state law that prohibits Florida courts from considering evolving standards of decency may preclude Mr. James from raising a claim that his execution would violate the Eighth Amendment because his death sentences were non-unanimous?
2. Whether the Florida Courts’ failure to reconsider Mr. James’ timeliness rulings and the competency of his 2003 waiver treated Mr. James differently from other similar individuals and denied him his rights under the Sixth, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendments?
In the Application for Stay, James requests that the Court stay his execution pending review of his petition. He argues that “[t]he questions raised in Mr. James’ petition are sufficiently meritorious for a grant of a writ of certiorari. The underlying issues present significant, compelling questions of constitutional law and a stay is necessary to avoid Mr. James being executed in violation of the Sixth, Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution.”
Full copies of the filings can be downloaded from the online docket available here.
TFDP Prior Coverage of the James Warrant
My thoughts are with everyone involved in the warrant- and execution-related process.