Texas to review prayer, touch requests in executions by case

By JUAN A. LOZANO
Associated Press

HOUSTON (AP) — Texas prison officials say they don’t plan to formally update their rules after last week’s Supreme Court ruling that indicated states must accommodate the requests of death row inmates who want to have their spiritual advisers pray aloud and touch them during their executions But the Texas Department of Criminal Justice said Tuesday that such requests by inmates will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis and unless they present a substantial security risk or are “outrageous,” they would work to grant them.  However, an attorney for death row inmate, John Ramirez, whose case the Supreme Court ruled on last week, says leaving it on a case-by-case basis and not outlining specific rules, won’t resolve this issue and will likely result in more lawsuits and execution delays.