Clock Winding Down Toward Texas Execution

A day before he was scheduled to be executed, Napoleon Beazley spent Tuesday visiting with his parents and friends by telephone from inside a cage in the visiting area of Texas’ death row.

“Two can talk at once on the telephones and the others can watch through the cubicle window,” prison spokesman Larry Todd said.

A divided U.S. Supreme Court has refused to block the execution of the 25-year-old Beazley, who was just 17 when he killed a man during a 1994 carjacking in Tyler, Texas.

The approaching execution has drawn attention because of Beazley’s age at the time of the killing and because his victim, John Luttig, 63, was the father of J. Michael Luttig, a judge on the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals based in Richmond, Va.

Beazley is set for lethal injection tonight. He would be the 12th convicted killer put to death this year in Texas, where a record 40 executions were carried out last year.

Three U.S. Supreme Court justices--Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas and David H. Souter--removed themselves without comment from participating in rulings in the case. All three have ties to J. Michael Luttig.

After they recused themselves, the high court voted 3-3 Monday and refused to grant a reprieve.

Beazley, who does not deny his role in the murder, is still awaiting word from the high court on a request for a broader review of his case, including the question of whether the Constitution bars executing people who were under age 18 when they committed their crimes.

The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles already has refused requests for a reprieve and a commutation of Beazley’s death sentence to life in prison.

Beazley was allowed to meet with the panel’s chairman before the board’s 10-6 vote. Gerald Garrett said he voted with the minority: “I will just say I found some merit, enough merit, that Mr. Beazley put forth.”

Garrett declined to elaborate on his vote, saying he didn’t want to become embroiled in legal or political wrangling.

A failure before the Supreme Court would leave Beazley only the unlikely possibility of a onetime 30-day reprieve by Gov. Rick Perry. Perry has not delayed an execution since taking office late last year from George W. Bush.

The governor’s office generally withholds announcements about reprieves until all legal avenues appear to be exhausted. A reprieve would give defense attorneys a final chance to pursue the case.

In Texas, a capital murder committed at age 17 makes an offender eligible for the death penalty.