Jedidiah Murphy, a Jewish man who was fighting for his life on Texas’ death row and who had support from well-known Jewish activists in his effort, was put to death today.
For fatally shooting Bertie Lee Cunningham, 80, in Dallas County in 2000 during a carjacking, Murphy, 48, received a death sentence. “I want to genuinely apologise to the victim’s family for what I did. Before reciting a psalm thanking God,
Murphy remarked in his closing remarks, “I hope this permits you to conclude. The fatal injection execution took place late on Tuesday following a series of last-minute attempts to save Murphy. He had received a stay of execution on Friday from a federal district court, but the Attorney General’s Office appealed the decision.
The medications he was due to be injected with, according to his attorneys’ Tuesday appeal for a stay of the execution, were harmed by smoke and intense heat during a recent fire at a state jail, but that request was denied.
An emergency petition to the US Supreme Court was turned down. “I wish I could say it was a shock,” said Cantor Michael Zoosman, a former prison chaplain and the head of L’Chaim, a Jewish organisation opposed to the death penalty, at a vigil held on Zoom during the last moments of Murphy’s life and shortly before he was put to death, minutes before his death sentence was to expire. The execution occurred on World Day Against the Death Penalty, when opponents of the death penalty make their argument. May the soul rest in peace.
