Texas is scheduled to conduct its 22nd execution of 2009, tonight in Huntsville. It would be the 445th Texas execution since 1982. Texas has far and away the most active death chamber in America, accounting for more than 37% of the nation's post-Furman executions.
"Texas man set to die for 1993 double slaying," is the title of Michael Graczyk's AP report via the Houston Chronicle.
Forty-five-year-old Gerald Eldridge is set for lethal injection Tuesday evening for a shooting spree that also left his son and another man wounded.
Eldridge's lawyers argue in appeals to courts that Eldridge is delusional and clueless about his punishment. The U.S. Supreme Court has held that prisoners must be aware of their punishment to be eligible for execution.
More on the Supreme Court's 1986 ruling, Ford v. Wainwright, concerning competency to be executed is via Oyez. The Court revisited the topic in 2007 to address the 5th Circuit's application of the law in Panetti v. Quarterman.
Eldridge's execution would be the 112th ordered from Harris County. That is more executions than any other state has conducted. Virginia has now executed 104; Oklahoma, 91.
To date, there have been 45 executions in the nation this year; 1,181 since 1977.
According to TDCJ, three additional executions are scheduled in Texas during 2009, including two more on consecutive nights this week. Five execution dates have already been set for 2010 in Texas.
Houston's KPFT-FM will host Execution Watch on the web and it's HD radio broadcast signal beginning at 6:00 p.m. (CDT), tonight.
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