Court to consider lethal injection

[Dos Equis]

I will go out on a limb and say the supreme court decides lethal injection is not cruel and unusual punishment. 

Sep 25, 1:23 PM EDT
Court to consider lethal injection
By PETE YOST
Associated Press Writers
 
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to consider the constitutionality of lethal injections in a case that could affect the way inmates are executed around the country.

The high court will hear a challenge from two inmates on death row in Kentucky - Ralph Baze and Thomas Clyde Bowling Jr. - who sued Kentucky in 2004, claiming lethal injection amounts to cruel and unusual punishment.

Baze has been scheduled for execution Tuesday night, but the Kentucky Supreme Court halted the proceedings earlier this month.

The U.S. Supreme Court has previously made it easier for death row inmates to contest the lethal injections used across the country for executions.

But until Tuesday, the justices had never agreed to consider the fundamental question of whether the mix of drugs used in Kentucky and elsewhere violates the Eighth Amendment's ban on cruel and unusual punishment.

All 37 states that perform lethal injections use the same three-drug cocktail, but at least 10 states suspended its use after opponents alleged it was ineffective and cruel, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.

The three consist of an anesthetic, a muscle paralyzer, and a substance to stop the heart. Death penalty foes have argued that if the condemned prisoner is not given enough anesthetic, he can suffer excruciating pain without being able to cry out.

U.S. District Judge Aleta Trauger ruled last week that Tennessee's method of lethal injection is unconstitutional and ordered the state not to execute a death row inmate using that method. The state is still deciding whether to appeal the judge's ruling, but agreed to stop a pending execution.

A ruling from California in the case of convicted killer Michael Morales resulted in the statewide suspension of executions.

States began using lethal injection in 1978 as an alternative to the historic methods of execution: electrocution, gassing, hanging and shooting. Since the death penalty resumed in 1977, 790 of 958 executions have been by injection.

Baze and Bowling sued in 2004 and a trial was held the following spring. A state judge upheld the use of lethal injection and the Kentucky Supreme Court affirmed that decision. The appeal taken up Tuesday by the U.S. Supreme Court stems from that decision.

"This is probably one of the most important cases in decades as it relates to the death penalty," said David Barron, the public defender who represents Baze and Bowling.

The office of the Kentucky attorney general had no comment Tuesday on the case.

Baze, 52, has been on death row for 14 years. He was sentenced for the 1992 shooting deaths of Powell County Sheriff Steve Bennett and Deputy Arthur Briscoe.

Bennett and Briscoe were serving warrants on Baze when he shot them. Baze has said the shootings were the result of a family dispute that got out of hand and resulted in the sheriff being called.

Bowling was sentenced to death for killing Edward and Tina Earley and shooting their 2-year-old son outside the couple's Lexington, Ky., dry-cleaning business in 1990. Bowling was scheduled to die in November 2004, but a judge stopped it after Bowling and Baze sued over the constitutionality of lethal injection.
 
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/S/SCOTUS_LETHAL_INJECTION?SITE=HIHAD&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

[rockyfortune]

shaky limb there...
 

[Dos Equis]

shaky limb there...
 

I like to live dangerously.   

[Dos Equis]

Florida Prepares for 1st Lethal Injection Since Botched Execution
Sunday, June 29, 2008

STARKE, Fla. —  Florida's new procedure for lethal injections could be tested Tuesday when executioners strap down a condemned inmate for the first time since a botched execution.

Mark Dean Schwab, 39, is scheduled to die exactly 16 years after he was sentenced in the 1991 kidnapping, rape and murder of 11-year-old Junny Rios-Martinez.

Florida officials say they have resolved problems with the December 2006 execution of Angel Diaz when needles were accidentally pushed through his veins, causing the lethal chemicals to go into his muscles instead, delaying his death for 34 minutes -- twice as long as normal. Some experts said that would cause intense pain.

Then-Gov. Jeb Bush stopped all executions after Diaz was killed, but Florida and other states were also held up as they waited for the U.S. Supreme Court to rule the three-drug method of lethal injection used by Kentucky was constitutional. Thirty-four other states, including Florida, use a similar method.

Florida's new procedure requires the warden to make sure the inmate is unconscious following the injection of the first chemical, sodium pentothal. Then the executioner will inject pancuronium bromide to paralyze his muscles and potassium chloride to stop his heart. It also requires people with medical training to be involved in the process.

Schwab and his attorneys aren't so sure the problems are fixed. An analysis done for Schwab's lawyers showed that nine of the 30 mock executions performed by Florida's Department of Corrections between September 2007 and May were failures, said one of his state-paid attorneys, Mark Gruber.

The corrections department said its mock exercises have included preparation for potential problems such as a combative inmate, the incapacity of an execution team member, power failure and finding a vein.

"Training for the unexpected is not a failed mock execution," said Gretl Plessinger, a corrections department spokeswoman. "We're planning for contingencies."

Schwab's legal options are running out. On Friday, the Florida Supreme Court rejected his latest appeal claiming the new procedure still carries the risk of causing intense pain and suffering.

The state has argued successfully in several courts that the procedure meets all constitutional tests against cruel and unusual punishment and that Schwab cannot raise the issue again.

Schwab's attorneys did not return calls after the appeal was rejected Friday, but they are expected to next turn to the federal courts. The U.S. Supreme Court has allowed eight lethal injections to continue since upholding the Kentucky case.

That ruling raised a lot of questions, said D. Todd Doss, an attorney in northern Florida who has handled several death penalty cases but isn't involved in Schwab's appeals.

"I didn't think it cleared the legal landscape," Doss said, because it did not determine whether there was a substantial risk that Schwab would experience intense pain and suffering.

Senior Assistant Attorney General Kenneth S. Nunnelley said Schwab's claims in two previous challenges to lethal injection have also been rejected. "He does not get another bite at the apple," he said.

Family of Schwab's victim are counting down the days to execution with a timer on a Web site devoted to the boy. They've been through years of appeals, and they decided not to comment on the latest.

"The roller coaster has begun, and we don't want to get on," Vickie Rios-Martinez, Junny's mother, said recently.

Schwab raped and killed Junny a month after he was released early from a prison sentence he got for raping a 13-year-old boy, who was from Cocoa, a small town on the Atlantic coast of Florida.

Schwab got close to the boy and his family by posing as a reporter who promised to help the boy with his dream of becoming a professional surfer. On the day of the rape and murder, Schwab called the boy's school posing as his father, then picked him up there.

The case prompted Florida's Junny Rios-Martinez Act of 1992, which prohibits sex offenders from early release from prison or getting credit for good behavior.

"The state is the one who is the biggest victimizer. They let him out. They knew who he was," the boy's mother told The Associated Press in November.

Schwab's execution is to be held at the state's death chamber in Starke, which is about 40 miles southwest of Jacksonville.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,373446,00.html

[240 is Back]

sounds like Bush appointed a panty-wearing liberal in this John Roberts fella

[Dos Equis]

Good riddance.

Florida executes child killer

STARKE, Florida (AP) -- Florida on Tuesday carried out its first execution since a botched lethal injection procedure prompted the state to revamp the way it conducts capital punishment.


Mark Dean Schwab, 39, was executed Tuesday for the 1991 slaying of a child.

Mark Dean Schwab, who was convicted of kidnapping, raping and killing an 11-year-old boy, died at 6:15 p.m.

The execution was the initial test of Florida's new lethal injection procedure, which was instituted after Angel Diaz was executed in December 2006. Needles to inject the deadly chemicals into Diaz missed their mark and he suffered burns and extreme pain, prompting a state investigation and a moratorium.

It took 34 minutes for Diaz to die, more than twice the normal time. Schwab's execution started at 6:03 p.m. and lasted 12 minutes.

Schwab, 39, challenged Florida's new procedure, claiming it could also cause pain and suffering. His latest appeal was denied by the U.S. Supreme Court hours before he was put to death for the 1991 killing of Junny Rios-Martinez of Cocoa, a small town on the central-east coast of Florida.

When authorities opened a curtain to the death chamber, Schwab lay on the table blinking his eyes. He did not make a final statement.

Within two minutes of the first chemical being administered, Schwab's eyes were closed and his mouth slightly opened. A warden shook Schwab, called out his name and ran a finger over his eyelashes at 6:07 p.m. Schwab did not respond.

Among the 40 witnesses were the boy's mother and father, who wore white T-shirts with the his picture on the front and "JUSTICE DELAYED IS JUSTICE DENIED" across the back.  Watch what the slain boy's parents have to say »

Outside the death chamber, the boy's other relatives clapped and cheered when they heard Schwab had died.

About 50 death penalty opponents held a brief prayer vigil, then quietly stood by about 75 yards from the family members.

Schwab was given a stay of execution by the U.S. Supreme Court in November as it considered the constitutionality of Kentucky's lethal injection procedure. When it ruled Kentucky's protocol was acceptable, it opened the door for Florida and other states with similar laws to resume executions.

Schwab's attorneys claimed that during recent rehearsals, the execution team had a 30 percent failure rate. The State Corrections Department, however, said its mock exercises were to test potential problems, and were not failed executions.

In the Diaz execution, the executioner pushed the needle through his veins into his muscles, causing severe chemical burns on his arms. Several times during the process, Diaz could be seen grimacing and asked at one time, "What's going on?"

The Diaz case resulted in an investigation by a committee appointed by then-Gov. Jeb Bush. Changes suggested by the panel were incorporated into new execution procedures.

One change called for the warden to assess whether the inmate is unconscious after sodium pentothal is injected into his body. Then the executioner will inject pancuronium bromide, used to paralyze his muscles, and potassium chloride, used to stop his heart.

Schwab raped and killed Junny a month after he was released early from a prison sentence he got for raping a 13-year-old boy. The case prompted Florida's Junny Rios-Martinez Act of 1992, which prohibits sex offenders from early release from prison or getting credit for good behavior.

Schwab stalked the boy after seeing his photo in a newspaper for winning a kite contest.

Although Schwab claimed another man had made him kidnap and rape the boy, he was able to lead police to a footlocker in rural Brevard County where Junny's nude body was discovered.

Schwab was the 10th person executed in the United States since the Supreme Court's Kentucky ruling and the 65th inmate to be executed since Florida resumed capital punishment in 1979.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/07/01/florida.execution.ap/index.html