Death-row inmate sues for pastor’s touch during execution

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas (AP) — A Texas death-row inmate has sued state prison officials to allow his pastor to lay hands on him as he dies from a lethal injection. John Henry Ramirez is scheduled to be put to death in the Texas death chamber on Sept. 8. His attorneys filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday in Corpus Christi to ask a judge to compel prison officials to allow his pastor to lay hands on him as he dies. Ramirez has already had two stays of execution, once in 2017 so he could get a new attorney and again last September because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Texas Department of Criminal Justice officials had no comment.