Mark Schwab, picture from the FL Dept. of Corrections image:35176:0::0

The murder was committed 16 years ago and the family of this boy, (who would now be 28 years old if he had been allowed to live) still wait for the final outcome.

Is it not cruel and unusual for a family to be told their son's murderer will be executed, finally, after a long and traumatic 16 years have passed since the original sentence was handed down?

They had gathered together to go witness the execution when the phone rang, they were told a stay of execution had been signed only a matter of hours before it was to take place.

Why was a stay signed in this case?

The Supreme Court is reviewing whether executions by injection violate the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution, which prohibits cruel and unusual punishment. At issue is whether the drug mix used in more than 35 states can cause pain that can't be detected.

Is there any mention made to the pain the son of this family was put through? Is it noted anywhere of the pain this family is still being put through?

Not only was the boy a victim of a cruel a horrible crime but for 16 years his family has also been made victims, not only by the perpetrator but also by our court system who handed down the death penalty in this case and has yet again failed to follow through.

If the law was so unclear, the option of the death penalty should never have been submitted to the jurors in the first place. By giving the jurors this option, which they voted for, it left the family with the thought that they would one day see the execution of the man that killed their son if they wished to witness it.

Rios-Martinez said the delay gives him just one more reason to be fed up with a criminal justice system he feels has let him down.

"People tell me I'm full of anger. Why shouldn't I be? My son was my life. He was the light of my eyes. I loved him more than anything," said Rios-Martinez.

Why should this family have confidence in this system?

Rios-Martinez tried to remain positive and upbeat, but he was seething. He was counting on seeing Schwab again in person, this time strapped to a gurney.

He remembered an encounter with his son's killer years earlier after his conviction. Rios-Martinez went to the jail where Schwab was being held and said he asked a jailer to allow him to see Schwab. Junny's father said a clear Plexiglas partition separated the men.

Schwab was lying down with a piece of paper hiding his face. Junny's father said Schwab then stood up. Rios-Martinez said he found himself staring into the eyes of the man who took his son's life. "I asked the officer to open the door, but he wouldn't, Rios-Martinez said.

If he had, Rios-Martinez said, he would have "grabbed Schwab by the throat and made him visualize the last moments of my son's life...his bewilderment and anguish." The boy's father said he often imagines how his son must have suffered.

He said he told Schwab: "I'm looking at a dead man. I told him I would be the first and last face he saw before he died."

"I promised him [Schwab] I would be there in the front seat."

See this video for the parents heartbreaking statement to CNN.

Here are a few excerpts from the video: The father states, "Murder is against the law, and sooner or later even if it's not tomorrow, it's his turn...he's next and he's not going to walk away from it...everyone seems to forget who the victim is here...

So whether you're for or against the death penalty, you tell me who do you see as being put through cruel and unusual punishment?

For further background on this case see this article.