Robert James Campbell had, through his lawyers, challenged his execution on additional possibly more farreaching grounds that the drug execution policy is unkonl in light of the botched oklahoma execution. But the same court of appeals, the fifth circuit, rejected the challenge. While the fifth circuit stayed campbells execution based upon issues of mental capacity it is left to the u. S. Supreme court, the key issue whether the Death Penalty as it is currently authorized in 35 states has some form of lethal injection is cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the u. S. Constitution. This issue particularly acute in the wake of its disastrous application in oklahoma. Given the stake it is Supreme Court may want to revisit the issue. It turns out there is precedent. In 20072008 term the Supreme Court stayed a Mississippi Execution and as a practical matter stayed all pending executions nationwide. Tonight it is safe to say that executions in this country, at least those carried out by lethal injection, have been suspended across the country until the u. S. Supreme court can rule on whether or not they are cruel or unusual punishment. Barrys lawyers filed an 11th hour challenge to the most commonly used method lethal injection after the Supreme Court looked at whether the sequence of chemicals causes such intense pain that it is unconstitutional, amounting to cruel and unusual punishment. Six months later the court upheld the constitutionality of the sole called threedrug cocktail being used and executions continued. By the beginning of the decade European Drug manufacturers were beginning to limit or refuse drugs used here for executions. That sent states scrambling to procure drugs. To address the shortage in 2010 and 2011 the state of georgia obtained illegally imported, expired drugs from the back of a pharmacy. The state useded those drugs in two executions for the Drug Enforcement agency raided the drug supply. The Supreme Court has another shot at assessing the constitutionality of the Death Penalty. You would think since it stopped executions for six months seven years ago it would take similar action. Bear in mind both oklahoma and texas shroud their drug connections in secrecy, hoping to protect them from protest and legal hassles and keep supply lines open. Texas attorney general greg abbott had already opposed the request to stop campbells execution. Governor rick perry defended his state system as appropriate. So as oklahoma investigates what went wrong there the Death Penalty as a concept and in its application remains the law of the land for now. Joining me now is the attorney representing mr. Campbell, maurie levin. Your client was convicted of a murder of a woman captured at a gas station. Your claim is not innocence. Is that correct . Thats right. There are two claims. The first is that hes mentally retarded or intellectually disabled which makes him exempt from execution according to the Supreme Court in 2002. The second claim has to do with secrecy with which texas is pursuing execution by lethal injection despite the events in oklahoma two weeks ago. Lets take the first claim. I read the fifth circuits ruling today. As i understand it, the state of texas essentially withheld evidence of the intellectual capacity of your client for more than a decade. Is that correct . Thats right. Not only did they hold that information despite specific requests, they then opposed mr. Campbells assertion that he was ineligible because of his mental disability and actively pursued his execution right until the stay from the fifth circuit. The state of texas contended there was no evidence that they had when requested specifically by attorneys to produce evidence of what his iq was assessed at. They said there was no test. There was a test that was given. That test shows him to be very close to what the Supreme Court essentially identified as a cutoff in the case around 70. What is the next step in pursuing this claim . Well, the fifth circuit action was really unusual. Not only in staying the execution at the last minute but recognizing in this particular procedural posture the second time the claim had been presented to the federal courts the validity of the claim. In recognizing the validity of the claim asking the lower courts to take another look in light of the information that was finally unearthed. Or divulged by the state. How did this happen . My understanding is that the evidence of what actually his assessed cognitive capacity is was not obtained by you and his attorney s until the last 15 days or Something Like that. 12 days ago. His prior counsel over ten years ago asked the District Attorneys Office that prosecuted mr. Campbell for his School Records and also asked the Texas Department of criminal justice, the prison where mr. Campbell was housed if they had administered any iq testing. The d. A. S office said they didnt have School Records and the prison said we dont administer i. Q. Tests. Lo and behold 12 days ago there was a piece of paper discovered in the files which indicated the d. A. s office subpoenaed the School Records. They were again asked to turn them over and they did. There was an i. Q. Score in there of 68. This is an i. Q. Score of your client of 68 below the threshold established by the Supreme Court they had for ten years that wasnt turned over despite a pointed inquiry by attorney for it. Thats right. The prison, in fact, had not told the truth. They had administered an iq test and that also put robert within the range of score s that deems him to be a person with mental retardation. Thank you for your time tonight. Thank you. Joining me now the Senior Editor of slate. Com. Dalia, i am amazed this was granted. This is a circuit you dont normally see stays of executions granted by. Im amazed in the wake of oklahoma the court mind much that they were going to forge ahead with a secret lethal injection protocol. Last time the court had an opportunity to think about these lethal protocols was in april. At that time, only three of the justices wanted to hear a case coming if from louisiana that raised the issues. We dont yet have a fourth justice who thinks this is worth hearing. Its worth pointing out even if we had four, if you dont have a fifth thats really troubled by it, query whether its better to have the Supreme Court take this on. In other words, it may not be the worse thing to see state intervention. For people that dont follow this, i have been horrified the more that i have read into the state of lethal execution in this country in the wake of it being upheld constitutionally and the drugs being unobtainable because of pressures on the drug manufacturers in europe. Its essentially an ad hoc macabre medical experiment being run in states across the country. The one saving grace of the debacle this oklahoma is it drew attention to the fact that since 2011 when states found it harder to get the drugs they needed for until that time what was a standardized threedrug protocol. Everyone was doing the same thing that they were copying from an oklahoma doctor who originated it in 1977. Its not even clear it was a great protocol. Once it fell apart, became impossible for states to procure different drugs the wheels came off. You had states either getting Illegal Drugs from europe as you suggested, holding themselves out as hospitals in order to get Illegal Drugs from europe or going to compounding pharmacies that were unregulated by the fda until this fall. Literally you did have untested amounts, untested drugs, people who are not doctors administer ing drugs on the day of the execution. It was described by a dissenting judge as a chemistry experiment. Patently illegal in georgia where the d. E. A. Had to raid the department. Essentially black market, sec are rhett methods including subterfuge or impersonation to acquire drugs to be kwused in what must be seen by anyone wherever you are on the political spectrum as essentially the most solemn undertaking that a state can undertake. There is a paradox because a lot of the folks who have no problem with executions say, look, if youre killing him and you kill him in a different way, is this really a huge constitutional crisis . In oklahoma, quite literally they accidentally killed him while they were trying to kill him. People make that argument. The thing we have to remember is that we are bound by the 8th amendment ban on cruel and unusual punishment. When people are gasping, wheezing and twitching on a table or it takes hours or they scream as occurred once, i feel like im burning, i feel like im on fire, we have crossed into cruel and unusual. Clearly this is all hell breaking loose in the states. It is compounded by the secrecy that allows the states to say, nobody, not judges, not courts, nobody gets to the look at what we are doing. It feels like the wild west. Someone needs to come in and produce order. Thank you. Thank you. When we come back, the story of a victim of the texas death row inmate who tried to save the man who shot him in the aftermath of 9 11. Avo waves dont care what age you are. Take them on the way you always have. Live healthy and take one a day mens 50 . 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In todays accident the Energy Minister said some workers were 460 yards deep inside the mine. Are rescue efforts are ongoing. I had to do something. I saw my doctor. A blood test showed it was low testosterone, not age. We talked about axiron the only underarm low t treatment that can restore t levels to normal in about two weeks in most men. Axiron is not for use in women or anyone younger than 18 or men with prostate or Breast Cancer. Women, especially those who are or who may become pregnant, and children should avoid contact where axiron is applied as unexpected signs of puberty in children or changes in body hair or increased acne in women may occur. Report these symptoms to your doctor. Tell your doctor about all medical conditions and medications. Serious side effects could include increased risk of prostate cancer, worsening prostate symptoms, decreased sperm count, ankle, feet or body swelling, enlarged or painful breasts, problems breathing while sleeping and blood clots in the legs. Common side effects include skin redness or irritation where applied, increased red blood cell count, headache, diarrhea, vomiting, and increase in psa. Ask your doctor about axiron. Against muslims and people who are mistaken for them. In seattle a man pours gas on an arab americans car and threatens him. He had a gun in his hand. East lansing, michigan, a bullet hits the home of an arab american. I hope every arabic dies. Signs posted offering help for muslims afraid to leave their homes because of hate crimes. Seventh generation american. I love this country. No one can do that to us. No one. They dont deserve to be in our country. They shouldnt be here. Mark strawman of texas who had been in and out of prison and bounced between jobs watched the aftermath of 9 11 unfold. In the month of after 9 11 fuelled by reruns that he was watching, that we were all watching seeing the plane over and over again hit that tower, i think something clicked in him that was this is what im here to do. A journalist came across a story of stroeman and turned it into a book. The true american, murder and mercy in. He was convinced he had to do something. What does he do . He gets into his thunderbird, goes to several gas stations three in the dallas area, walks in to the mini mart in each station. Seeing a brownskinned man in each case behind the counter, shoots him point blank range. He killed two men. Two of them die on the spot. A third man survived. His name, race buyan. He came from bangladesh. He earned a degree in air gnaw ticks but in dallas worked at a convenience score. In 2001 stroe man walked in and pulled out a pistol full of birdshot. To save his own life he played dead and collapsed in a pool of blood. Eventually he called 911 and was take ton a hospital. He didnt have insurance. Turned out being shot in the face was a preexisting condition. So he was let out of the hospital the next day. Hes shot in the face and let go the next day. Right eye caked with blood, not moving. He can barely grown. 39 pellet miss the face. The short ordeal in the American Hospital left him debtridden and homeless. He saw himself as a victim of 9 11, as part of a larger number of things that happened. He called the red cross. He said, im one of the 9 11 victims in texas. They said, there is no 9 11 victims in texas. As for mark stroman he contemplated a counter 9 11 but he was ap reare hended by police. He did not express remorse. It was like i had no control over my body. I acted on instinct. I did what every other american wanted to do but didnt have the nerve. In april 2002 he was sentenced to death. We think of texas as doing this in a fast food way, but its actually a complicateded Legal Process to sentence someone to death. His trial are has two phases. The first is innocence or guilt. The second half of a capital murder trial is sentencing. In a death sentence case they actually end up having a trial about your life and character. Are you worthy of existence . Can you be changed and is there anything in your past that mitigates what you did. Thats a trial about your nature. Your parents, how you were raised. He came from a world in which not to excuse anything he did it was hard to argue that he had a chance to be much different than what he became. Abused from the youngest days. A mother who told him if she had 50 in her pocket when she got pregnant she would have aborted him and wishes she had the 50 bucks. His lone surviving victim rebuilt his life. He worked at a restaurant and got a job at a safety ware company. He paid off his medical debt and made a pilgrimage to mecca. He became an american citizen undeterred by all that happened to him. He felt freer in his country now. He wanted to think about more broadly how do i serve . Wednesday texas plans to execute mark str are oman. He killed two and injured another in a rage over the 9 11 attacks in 2001. What one man is now trying to stop the execution. It is the last person you would expect. Im praying god to spare his life, give him a chance. We all make mistakes as a human being. He decided he wanted to forgive mark stroman but lead a campaign against texas, the governor announcing a run for president that month to save his attackers life from the Death Penalty. He wanted to use the attention to address the broader problem of the world that mark came from. Following years in prison mark stro areman was a changed man. My split second of hate and anger after 9 11 caused many people lifetimes of pain. I are regret that to this day. Despite pleas for clemency from the families of stromans victims he was executed on july 20, 2011, nearly ten years after his killing spree. Forgiveness is not only for the perpetrator. Forgiveness is for the victims. To me, forgiveness is something that you let go of the anger from your heart and the space now becomes available are. You can fill that space with a lot of peace and love. In his reporting on the story, he concluded this is a story of two americas. A first world america and a third world america. It was a first world america that an immigrant from bangladesh accessed and thrived in. The third world america, a man from texas was born into and never left. Once again the book is the true americans. Fantastic read. When we come back, rand paul on voter i felt d. , you know we can hear you, right . I love to eat. I love hanging out with my friends. I have a great fit with my dentures. I love kiwis. Ive always had that issue with the seeds getting under my denture. 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