Karl Keys maintains a list of scheduled execution dates. We know that the first, October 15 in Nevada, involves a volunteer who has, at least at this time, waived any appeals. Next is a scheduled execution in Arkansas on the 16th. One day later, a scheduled execution in Virginia, followed by two in Georgia, set for October 19th and 23rd. The final scheduled execution in October is the 25th in Alabama.
All of that is to say that in the coming days a number of state and federal courts will have opportunities to issue stays of execution before the Supreme Court would become involved.
Syndicated columnist Ellen Goodman has, "Death penalty on hold," via the Cincinnati Post.
When the Eighth Amendment was written, the Founders looked to Europe for examples of "cruel and unusual punishment," such as drawing and quartering. For more than a century, most executions in America were by noose or firing squad. But by 1890, we were enthralled by technology and queasy about public executions. The electric chair and the gas chamber became the "advanced" tools of the trade.
Each step toward a more humane standard of state-inflicted death seems to have been followed by horror stories. By the late 1970s, the search for better-dying-through-chemistry led states to adopt the needle as the gold standard.
Forgive me for being graphic, but graphic is the issue. Lethal injection is a cocktail of three drugs. The first is to put the prisoner to sleep. The second is to paralyze him. The third to stop his heart. That neat, medicinal description doesn't say what happens when the procedure is botched. If the first dose doesn't work, is administered improperly or wears off, the inmate dies in a pain he is paralyzed to express.
There's no doubt that executions have been botched. There was the dyslexic doctor from Missouri who admitted that he didn't always calculate the dosages correctly. There was the Lancet study showing that almost half of the inmates were conscious when they received the heart-stopping drug. Then there was the inmate in California, who watched the executioners repeatedly poke him with needles and asked, "You guys doing that right?"
Once again, what looks antiseptic is not. We have seen another failed attempt to find the execution that fits what the court has defined as our "evolving standard of decency." A case about competence may drive another hole in the notion of a death penalty with decency.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports, "Condemned killer asks for execution delay," referring to Jack Alderman, who execution date is the 19th.
Attorneys for condemned murderer Jack Alderman asked the state's highest court Wednesday to delay his planned execution until the U.S. Supreme Court decides a Kentucky case that questions the constitutionality of lethal injection, the method Georgia uses to carry out the death penalty.
Alderman's lawyers did not ask that the Georgia Supreme Court stop his execution; the lawyers only requested a postponement.
"If the United States Supreme Court declares the current lethal injection procedures unconstitutional, then Georgia, and the other death penalty jurisdictions, will have the opportunity to establish procedures that comport with the high court's ruling and proceed with executions," Tom Dunn, one of Alderman's attorneys, wrote in the motion seeking the delay of his client's execution.
The Tallahassee Democrat has, "Justices to hear lethal-injection challenges today."
The Florida Supreme Court today will hear challenges to the state's lethal injection methods in cases brought by Schwab and fellow death-row inmate Ian Deco Lightbourne, a convicted murderer.
Both defendants say the state's three-drug mixture used to carry out executions is unconstitutional and they question the state's procedures and methods as revealed by December's botched execution.
It took 34 minutes for Diaz to die, more than twice the normal amount. Witnesses described Diaz gasping for breath, grimacing and his body jolting more than 25 minutes into the execution. An autopsy revealed that the needles used to deliver the deadly drugs missed his veins and instead went into tissue.
In an interview Wednesday, Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum said lower court rulings in the Lightbourne case included "extensive and exhaustive findings" that the state's lethal injection procedures are acceptable.
"We feel comfortable and confident the Florida Supreme Court will find" the state's protocols constitutional, McCollum said.
In his arguments, Schwab's attorney, Mark Gruber, says lethal injection is not inherently unconstitutional, but that the way Florida goes about it is a problem.
"Lethal injection is a method of committing an inherently violent and deadly act - execution of a condemned prisoner - masquerading as a peaceful and painless medical procedure," Gruber argued in Schwab's appeal.
A further factor in Schwab's appeal is a U.S. Supreme Court stay of execution in a Kentucky death-penalty case. The federal court review will set standards for what constitutes cruel and unusual punishment in lethal injection cases.
The Florida Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to delay today's proceedings because of the federal case, but it did say it would consider holding off on ruling after oral arguments are made.
Nashville Scene has, "A Study in Justice."
The 16-member group will include lawmakers, defense lawyers, prosecutors, victims’ rights advocates and representatives appointed by the governor and the attorney general. The makeup of the group is key, according to Jackson, who says the legislature is more likely to consider recommended statutory changes with diverse viewpoints represented.
The purpose of the study, as outlined in the legislation, is to “make capital punishment in Tennessee uniform in its application and administration so that the capital process is free from bias and error.” Specifically, the bill calls on the committee to study the quality of counsel provided to poor defendants, the risk of wrongful convictions and whether the state provides adequate protections for mentally ill and mentally retarded defendants—and adequate services to murder victims’ families.
But much to the surprise and concern of some local death penalty experts, the first item on the committee’s agenda is none of the above topics.
“One of the early issues we will likely address will be lethal injection,” says Jackson, adding, “I think there is an opportunity to change the protocol we use here in Tennessee.”
Last month, U.S. District Judge Aleta Trauger banned lethal injections in Tennessee until the state revises its protocols to ensure the procedure is humane. In response, Attorney General Robert Cooper last week appealed the ruling to the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. But it’s unlikely the 6th Circuit will consider the matter until the U.S. Supreme Court rules on a case of two Kentucky inmates who claim lethal injection is unconstitutional, a decision that might not come until next summer. In which case, what this committee has to say about the issue is pretty irrelevant.
“In my mind, lethal injection is not what this should be about,” says one local defense attorney. “I would hate for them to get sidetracked and waste too much time on this. What we need here is a meaningful and comprehensive review of the entire system. We don’t need this turning into a sideshow about lethal injection.”
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