Post by Anja Nieser on Oct 1, 2006 6:51:17 GMT -5
Judge says lethal injection ruling due in Nov
The judge who effectively shut down California's death row in February
said on Friday his ruling on whether the state's use of lethal injection
is legal would hinge on evidence of how alert an inmate is as the toxic
drugs take effect.
U.S. District Judge Jeremy Fogel said he would issue his ruling in early
November -- a decision that could have national consequences, as 37 U.S.
states use lethal injection to carry out death sentences.
Fogel said at the end of a 3-1/2-day hearing on California's lethal
injection procedure that he was concerned only with the narrow question of
whether a modified three-drug thingytail that would be used to execute
condemned inmates violated the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual
punishment.
At issue in the court challenge is whether condemned inmates would fee
excruciating pain from the drugs if they were not fully unconscious.
Fogel stopped the execution of Michael Morales in February to take up
claims by lawyers that California's death row inmates faced the
possibility of painful executions by lethal injection, instead of a swift
death the state claimed.
"There are a lot of issues that swirl around this case -- how people feel
about the death penalty, the rights of victims, victims' families -- all
of which are important, but the court has a very specific job to do,"
Fogel said.
"The critical question that the court has to look at is what evidence is
there that there's a problem with consciousness," Fogel said, adding he
aimed to issue a decision as soon as possible after November 1.
CONSCIOUSNESS AN ISSUE
Dane Gillette, a senior assistant California attorney general, told the
hearing the state's use of a 3-drug combination to execute condemned
inmates would result in "swift, constitutional execution."
But lawyers for Morales, on death row for the 1981 rape and murder of a
17-year-old girl, criticized the training of California's execution team.
Attorney John Grele said San Quentin State Prison's maintenance man was
responsible for controlling the rate at which lethal drugs were
administered to condemned inmates and that no member of the prison's
execution team had read its capital punishment procedures.
Guards at the prison typically attach 2 intravenous lines to condemned
inmates, one as a backup to assure a continuous flow of chemicals to
anesthetize, paralyze and then kill. California has 655 people on its
condemned inmate list, some there since the late 1970s.
Anesthesiologist Robert Singler, an expert witness for the state,
testified there was a "possibility" inmate Robert Massie was not fully
unconscious during his March 2001 execution.
Other states have grappled with the lethal injection issue since U.S.
Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy in January ordered a hearing into a
Florida inmate's claim the method was so painful it violated the
Constitution.
In August, South Dakota's governor postponed the state's 1st execution in
59 years, ordering prison officials to review the state's lethal injection
protocol.
Earlier this month, a federal judge in Missouri ruled officials there had
yet to convince the court the procedure was not cruel and unusual. Federal
courts in Arkansas, Delaware and Ohio have also postponed executions until
lethal injection procedures are reviewed.
(source: Reuters)
The judge who effectively shut down California's death row in February
said on Friday his ruling on whether the state's use of lethal injection
is legal would hinge on evidence of how alert an inmate is as the toxic
drugs take effect.
U.S. District Judge Jeremy Fogel said he would issue his ruling in early
November -- a decision that could have national consequences, as 37 U.S.
states use lethal injection to carry out death sentences.
Fogel said at the end of a 3-1/2-day hearing on California's lethal
injection procedure that he was concerned only with the narrow question of
whether a modified three-drug thingytail that would be used to execute
condemned inmates violated the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual
punishment.
At issue in the court challenge is whether condemned inmates would fee
excruciating pain from the drugs if they were not fully unconscious.
Fogel stopped the execution of Michael Morales in February to take up
claims by lawyers that California's death row inmates faced the
possibility of painful executions by lethal injection, instead of a swift
death the state claimed.
"There are a lot of issues that swirl around this case -- how people feel
about the death penalty, the rights of victims, victims' families -- all
of which are important, but the court has a very specific job to do,"
Fogel said.
"The critical question that the court has to look at is what evidence is
there that there's a problem with consciousness," Fogel said, adding he
aimed to issue a decision as soon as possible after November 1.
CONSCIOUSNESS AN ISSUE
Dane Gillette, a senior assistant California attorney general, told the
hearing the state's use of a 3-drug combination to execute condemned
inmates would result in "swift, constitutional execution."
But lawyers for Morales, on death row for the 1981 rape and murder of a
17-year-old girl, criticized the training of California's execution team.
Attorney John Grele said San Quentin State Prison's maintenance man was
responsible for controlling the rate at which lethal drugs were
administered to condemned inmates and that no member of the prison's
execution team had read its capital punishment procedures.
Guards at the prison typically attach 2 intravenous lines to condemned
inmates, one as a backup to assure a continuous flow of chemicals to
anesthetize, paralyze and then kill. California has 655 people on its
condemned inmate list, some there since the late 1970s.
Anesthesiologist Robert Singler, an expert witness for the state,
testified there was a "possibility" inmate Robert Massie was not fully
unconscious during his March 2001 execution.
Other states have grappled with the lethal injection issue since U.S.
Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy in January ordered a hearing into a
Florida inmate's claim the method was so painful it violated the
Constitution.
In August, South Dakota's governor postponed the state's 1st execution in
59 years, ordering prison officials to review the state's lethal injection
protocol.
Earlier this month, a federal judge in Missouri ruled officials there had
yet to convince the court the procedure was not cruel and unusual. Federal
courts in Arkansas, Delaware and Ohio have also postponed executions until
lethal injection procedures are reviewed.
(source: Reuters)