Post by DPisBS on Sept 26, 2007 9:07:04 GMT -5
From CNN :
Justices to decide if lethal injection is 'cruel and unusual'
By Bill Mears
CNN Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Supreme Court agreed Tuesday to delve into a divisive controversy over capital punishment -- whether lethal injection causes excruciating pain and violates the Constitution's ban on "cruel and unusual punishment."
The justices have never directly addressed the fundamental question over the use of the chemical "cocktail" of drugs used to execute convicted killers.
All 37 states that perform lethal injections use the three-drug mixture at issue in the case.
Kentucky inmates Ralph Baze and Clyde Bowling Jr. brought suit in federal court three years ago, questioning the state's chemical mixture and the procedures used to administer it.
They claim the first drug -- sodium thiopental -- which renders the prisoner unconscious, wears off too quickly, and some prisoners are actually awake and able to feel pain as the execution continues.
The second drug -- pancuronium bromide -- paralyzes all muscle movement and prevents the condemned person from speaking out and expressing awareness of the pain, according to the men's lawyers.
The third drug -- potassium chloride -- then induces cardiac arrest and is "excruciatingly painful in a conscious person."
Baze, 52, admits killing Powell County Sheriff Steve Bennett and Deputy Arthur Briscoe in 1992 while the lawmen were trying to serve him with arrest warrants.
Kentucky Gov. Ernie Fletcher had signed a warrant for Baze to be put to death Tuesday, but on September 12 the state Supreme Court stayed the execution. The state court said it needed more time to review another appeal by Baze, who also is challenging his conviction on technical grounds.
He told The Associated Press several days ago that he was "tickled" by a state court's decision.
"I prayed about it," he told the wire service. "I just believed if there was any justice in this world at all, I would get an opportunity to show this stuff. It came in God's time."
A spokeswoman for Fletcher said in a September 12 statement that "the governor shares the frustration of the Bennett and Briscoe families, who have waited 15 years for justice."
Bowling was convicted of killing Edward and Tina Earley in Louisville in 1990. Their 2-year-old son was wounded in the attack in the couple's dry cleaning business parking lot. Bowling's lawyers have claimed prosecutorial misconduct in the case, and say their client has a low IQ.
State officials say their procedures are in line with other states, and that a doctor is on site and available to provide any pre-execution medical care to the inmate.
In their legal brief to the high court, Kentucky corrections officials warned against "an endless road of litigation over whether (state) lethal injection protocols could somehow be changed to further reduce the already remote chance that a condemned inmate could be conscious during an execution."
The state further warned, "Condemned inmates will never run out of ideas for changes to the procedures, drugs, or equipment used during lethal injection."
Federal and state judges in a number of jurisdictions have halted executions because of concerns about how lethal injections are administered.
In Tennessee least week, federal Judge Aleta Trauger stopped a planned execution, saying correction officials' new method of execution "presents a substantial risk of unnecessary pain."
In 2005, then-Florida Gov. Jeb Bush issued a moratorium in his state after complaints over the length of time needed to execute prisoner Angel Nieves Diaz. A two-year review is now complete and the state plans to reinstate executions in November. But those plans may be put on hold now that the high court will address the issue.
The Supreme Court has not ruled directly on the "cruel and unusual" aspect of lethal injection, but did conclude last year that prisoners can make last-ditch legal challenges to the method of execution, using claims that they would suffer a painful death.
Arguments in the Baze case will be held early next year, with a ruling by late June.
www.cnn.com/2007/US/law/09/25/lethal.injection/index.html
Justices to decide if lethal injection is 'cruel and unusual'
By Bill Mears
CNN Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Supreme Court agreed Tuesday to delve into a divisive controversy over capital punishment -- whether lethal injection causes excruciating pain and violates the Constitution's ban on "cruel and unusual punishment."
The justices have never directly addressed the fundamental question over the use of the chemical "cocktail" of drugs used to execute convicted killers.
All 37 states that perform lethal injections use the three-drug mixture at issue in the case.
Kentucky inmates Ralph Baze and Clyde Bowling Jr. brought suit in federal court three years ago, questioning the state's chemical mixture and the procedures used to administer it.
They claim the first drug -- sodium thiopental -- which renders the prisoner unconscious, wears off too quickly, and some prisoners are actually awake and able to feel pain as the execution continues.
The second drug -- pancuronium bromide -- paralyzes all muscle movement and prevents the condemned person from speaking out and expressing awareness of the pain, according to the men's lawyers.
The third drug -- potassium chloride -- then induces cardiac arrest and is "excruciatingly painful in a conscious person."
Baze, 52, admits killing Powell County Sheriff Steve Bennett and Deputy Arthur Briscoe in 1992 while the lawmen were trying to serve him with arrest warrants.
Kentucky Gov. Ernie Fletcher had signed a warrant for Baze to be put to death Tuesday, but on September 12 the state Supreme Court stayed the execution. The state court said it needed more time to review another appeal by Baze, who also is challenging his conviction on technical grounds.
He told The Associated Press several days ago that he was "tickled" by a state court's decision.
"I prayed about it," he told the wire service. "I just believed if there was any justice in this world at all, I would get an opportunity to show this stuff. It came in God's time."
A spokeswoman for Fletcher said in a September 12 statement that "the governor shares the frustration of the Bennett and Briscoe families, who have waited 15 years for justice."
Bowling was convicted of killing Edward and Tina Earley in Louisville in 1990. Their 2-year-old son was wounded in the attack in the couple's dry cleaning business parking lot. Bowling's lawyers have claimed prosecutorial misconduct in the case, and say their client has a low IQ.
State officials say their procedures are in line with other states, and that a doctor is on site and available to provide any pre-execution medical care to the inmate.
In their legal brief to the high court, Kentucky corrections officials warned against "an endless road of litigation over whether (state) lethal injection protocols could somehow be changed to further reduce the already remote chance that a condemned inmate could be conscious during an execution."
The state further warned, "Condemned inmates will never run out of ideas for changes to the procedures, drugs, or equipment used during lethal injection."
Federal and state judges in a number of jurisdictions have halted executions because of concerns about how lethal injections are administered.
In Tennessee least week, federal Judge Aleta Trauger stopped a planned execution, saying correction officials' new method of execution "presents a substantial risk of unnecessary pain."
In 2005, then-Florida Gov. Jeb Bush issued a moratorium in his state after complaints over the length of time needed to execute prisoner Angel Nieves Diaz. A two-year review is now complete and the state plans to reinstate executions in November. But those plans may be put on hold now that the high court will address the issue.
The Supreme Court has not ruled directly on the "cruel and unusual" aspect of lethal injection, but did conclude last year that prisoners can make last-ditch legal challenges to the method of execution, using claims that they would suffer a painful death.
Arguments in the Baze case will be held early next year, with a ruling by late June.
www.cnn.com/2007/US/law/09/25/lethal.injection/index.html