Domineque Ray, convicted of murder of teenage girl in 1995, had been told only a Christian prison chaplain is allowed in the chamber

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

A federal judge in Alabama dismissed the appeal of a Muslim death row prisoner for a stay of execution because he was being denied the presence of an imam while he is administered a lethal injection.

US district judge Keith Watkins denied the stay on Friday but ruled Alabama must keep a Christian prison chaplain out of the execution chamber.

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Domineque Ray, who is due to be executed in Alabama Thursday for the murder of teenage girl in 1995, had been told that only the prison chaplain, a Christian, is allowed to be present in the execution chamber.

In papers filed at a district court in Alabama earlier this week, Ray’s lawyers argued that the prisoner’s right to free exercise of religion was being violated.

The papers said the prison warden refused Ray’s request for an imam to take the place of the chaplain and subsequently refused a request for the chaplain not to be present at the time of execution.

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Ray, who is described as a “devout Muslim” in the court papers, was convicted in 1999 of the murder of Tiffany Harville, 15, four years earlier. Her decomposing body was found in a field a month after she disappeared.

Ray’s co-defendant in the trial testified that Ray had cut the girl’s throat after the pair raped her, although there was no physical evidence linking Ray to the crime scene.

In September 2017, medical records of Ray’s co-defendant were released, showing he had schizophrenia and was suffering from misperceptions of reality, auditory hallucinations and religious delusions at the time of his interrogation and testimony.

Death row prisoners in Alabama are permitted to have “contact visits”, without barriers, with pre-approved family, friends, attorneys and spiritual advisers in the days running up to their scheduled execution. But only the prison chaplain is permitted to be present in the chamber while the execution is carried out.

Ray’s lawyers argued that the prisoner would be executed under “conditions that substantially burden the exercise of his religious belief” and violate the first amendment.

“There is no compelling governmental interest in preventing a condemned inmate from having his or her spiritual adviser – who has been approved to have a contact visit with the condemned inmate in the death watch cell steps away from the execution chamber and moments before the execution begins – from taking the place of the prison chaplain in the execution chamber,” the court documents said.

The chaplain’s “mandatory presence in the execution chamber can serve only one interest – an unconstitutional one – safeguarding the soul or spiritual health of the condemned inmate in the Christian belief system”.

The chaplain’s presence has “the principle or primary effect of advancing Christian religion and inhibiting all other religions”.

A spokesperson for the department of corrections, said a security protocol “only allows approved correctional officials, that includes the prison’s chaplain, to be inside the chamber where executions are lawfully carried out.

“The inmate is given the right to visit with his spiritual advisor beforehand and the advisor may witness the execution from a designated witness room that has a two-way window. As a concession, the [department] will waive the presence of the prison chaplain in the chamber during the execution.”

Ray is scheduled to be killed by lethal injection at Holman correctional facility near Atmore, Alabama, at 6pm on Thursday.