Courtroom declines to block execution of Texas male who argued that jurors engaged in anti-Hispanic bias

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The Supreme Court on Wednesday declined to block the execution of a Texas male who contended that jurors relied on racist stereotypes and anti-Hispanic prejudices in sentencing him to loss of life.

In a transient, unsigned order, the justices turned down a request from Wesley Ruiz, who was convicted and sentenced to demise for the deadly 2007 taking pictures of Mark Nix, a Dallas police officer. There were being no community dissents from Wednesday’s get.

Ruiz was scheduled to be executed on Wednesday evening.

Ruiz’s original endeavours to overturn his death sentence ended up unsuccessful. But Ruiz returned to courtroom past month with signed affidavits from two jurors. 1 juror, the foreman at his demo, explained Ruiz as “like an animal,” “a mad doggy,” and “a thug & punk.” An additional juror attributed an increase in crime to the rising range of Hispanic people in her individual community, and she disclosed that her sister experienced been violently assaulted by a person whom she considered to be Hispanic. The jurors relied on these stereotypes, Ruiz argued, to conclude that Ruiz was most likely to be violent in prison and consequently really should be sentenced to demise.

After he failed to get hold of relief in each the condition courts and a federal district court docket, Ruiz sought emergency aid at the Supreme Courtroom on Tuesday. He requested the justices to place his execution on hold and come to a decision no matter if the court’s 2017 determination in Pena-Rodriguez v. Colorado, carving out an exception for evidence that a juror was racially biased to a condition rule that generally bars jurors from testifying about statements that could phone the verdict into issue, applies to sentencing proceedings in loss of life-penalty conditions.

Attorneys for Texas urged the justices to make it possible for the execution to go forward as scheduled, dismissing Ruiz’s charm as as well small, as well late. “Corporal Nix’s spouse and children,” the condition concluded, “has waited for justice for sixteen many years.”

This post was initially released at Howe on the Courtroom.