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EU urges Texas to end executions Texas rejects EU executions plea
(about 3 hours later)
The European Union has urged the governor of Texas to stop all executions as the state prepares to carry out its 400th death penalty. Texas has told the European Union to mind its own business after the bloc called on the state's governor to get rid of the death penalty.
Johnny Ray Conner, 32, will be executed on Wednesday in America's busiest death penalty state for the 1998 fatal shooting of a grocery store clerk. The EU expressed "great regret" at Texas' preparations to carry out its 400th death penalty and renewed its call to the US to halt executions.
The EU expressed "great regret" at the impending sentence and renewed its call to the US to halt judicial killings. Johnny Ray Conner, 32, will be executed on Wednesday for the 1998 fatal shooting of a grocery store clerk.
The punishment was "cruel and inhumane", said the EU. But Governor Rick Perry insisted it was a "just and appropriate" punishment.
The statement from the Portuguese presidency of the 27-nation bloc said: "The European Union strongly urges Governor Rick Perry to exercise all powers vested in his office to halt all upcoming executions and to consider the introduction of a moratorium in the State of Texas." He was responding robustly to the EU's denunciation of judicial killings as "cruel and inhumane".
The statement from the Portuguese presidency of the 27-nation bloc said: "The European Union strongly urges Governor Rick Perry to exercise all powers vested in his office to halt all upcoming executions and to consider the introduction of a moratorium in the state of Texas."
Texans long ago decided the death penalty is a just and appropriate punishment for the most horrible crimes committed against our citizens Governor's spokesman
It continued: "There is no evidence to suggest that the use of the death penalty serves as a deterrent against violent crime and the irreversibility of the punishment means that miscarriages of justice, which are inevitable in all legal systems, cannot be redressed."It continued: "There is no evidence to suggest that the use of the death penalty serves as a deterrent against violent crime and the irreversibility of the punishment means that miscarriages of justice, which are inevitable in all legal systems, cannot be redressed."
The EU was unreservedly opposed to the use of capital punishment "under all circumstances" and had consistently called for the universal abolition of the punishment, it added. But Robert Black, a spokesman for the Texas governor, said: "Two hundred and thirty years ago, our forefathers fought a war to throw off the yoke of a European monarch and gain the freedom of self-determination.
A spokesman for the Texas governor's office said it would respond to the EU declaration. "Texans long ago decided the death penalty is a just and appropriate punishment for the most horrible crimes committed against our citizens.
"While we respect our friends in Europe ... Texans are doing just fine governing Texas."
According to the Washington-based Death Penalty Information Center, 1,090 executions have taken place in the US since the Supreme Court lifted a ban on capital punishment in 1976.According to the Washington-based Death Penalty Information Center, 1,090 executions have taken place in the US since the Supreme Court lifted a ban on capital punishment in 1976.
Texas has carried out more than a third of those.Texas has carried out more than a third of those.