Today in Supreme Court History: September 6

Shamburger v. Cockrell, 536 U.S. 986 (decided September 6, 2002): Denies stay of execution and also denies cert. Stevens and Ginsburg would grant the stay (probably because both had come to believe that the death penalty, as practiced, is always a violation of Due Process). Shamberger was executed by lethal injection five days later. A student at Texas A & M, he had shot another A & M student during an off-campus burglary. This was one of many burglaries he had committed. The gun was a 9mm pistol he had bought with a stolen credit card he had already stolen from the victim (whom he had been stalking). He tied the victim up and gagged her with duct tape, and then shot her when he heard her roommate coming home. He confessed to the crime within hours after the attack and apologized to the family over and over, including on the day of execution. On appeal he had contested only the sentence (death as opposed to life imprisonment).