Some were minutes away from execution. Race plays a role in the vast majority of executions. Race is an important factor in determining who is sentenced to die. The death penalty is applied at random. Politics, quality of legal counsel and the jurisdiction where a crime is committed are more often the determining factors in a death penalty case than the facts of the crime itself.
Capital punishment goes against almost every religion.
Although isolated passages of the Bible have been quoted in support of the death penalty, almost all religious groups in the United States regard executions as immoral. The USA is keeping company with notorious human rights abusers. The United States remains in the same company as Iraq, Iran and China as one of the major advocates and users of capital punishment. Executions are carried out at staggering cost to taxpayers. It costs more to execute a person than to keep him or her in prison for life.