Today in Supreme Court History: July 18

Hamblen v. Dugger, 492 U.S. 929 (decided July 18, 1989): staying execution pending decision on certiorari, with the stay to dissolve if cert was denied. Cert was denied on 6/28/90, 497 U.S. 1031, with Brennan and Marshall as usual dissenting, “adhering to our views that the death penalty is in all circumstances cruel and unusual punishment prohibited by the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendmentes”. For some reason execution did not happen then; it happened the day after another application for a stay was denied on 9/21/90, 497 U.S. 1054, with only Marshall dissenting (Brennan had retired by then). According to the AP report of Hamblen’s electrocution, “During his last minutes, he smiled, winked and stuck his tongue out at witnesses in the death chamber. In his final statement, Hamblen made a play on President Bush’s campaign promise not to raise taxes. ‘You know that I had trouble with that four-letter L-word, so like George, read my lips,’ Hamblen said to Judith Dougherty, one of his state-funded attorneys. He then mouthed the words, ‘I love you.’” He had at one point asked his appeals to be dropped and said he was depressed that his execution had been postponed so long. His crime: in the process of robbing a lingerie store, shooting the owner in the back of the head when she pressed a silent alarm button.