States start to schedule execution dates

HUNTSVILLE, Texas, May 3 (UPI) -- Texas and other states are starting to schedule a wave of executions following the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that approved lethal injections, officials said.

The Lone Star State is one of 36 states with capital punishment.

The New York Times cites experts who say the resumption of executions after a seven-month court moratorium might ignite a new debate on the death penalty.

"When people confront a new wave of executions, they'll be questioning not only how people are executed but whether people should be executed," James R. Acker, a historian of the death penalty and a criminal justice professor at the State University at Albany, told the Times.

The newspaper said Texas leads the list of states with pending executions, with five inmates scheduled to die in the state's death house in Huntsville, between June and Aug. 20. Next in line is Virginia with four. Louisiana, Oklahoma and South Dakota also are scheduling executions, the Times said.

Texas executed 26 inmates last year, part of the 42 executions nationwide.