Lethal Injection Round-Up

There are news reports on the lethal injection today from Texas, Arkansas, and Nevada.  The Fort Worth Star-Telegram carries Mike Graczyk's AP dispatch, "Aug. 14 execution date for Texas 7 member."

One of the infamous "Texas 7" convicts who escaped from a state prison more than seven years ago and killed a Dallas-area police officer while on the lam now has an execution date.

Michael Rodriguez has been set for lethal injection Aug. 14, Kim Schaefer, a Dallas County assistant district attorney who handles capital cases, said Wednesday.

Rodriguez, 45, ordered his appeals dropped and had been asking the courts for nearly two years to give him a death date.

A federal judge signed off on Rodriguez's request Sept. 27, two days after the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to consider a Kentucky challenge to lethal injection as a means of capital punishment. That case stalled executions around the nation. But in a decision last month, the high court ruled lethal injection was not unconstitutionally cruel, clearing the way for capital punishment to resume.

The Pine Bluff Commercial carries the AP report, "Death-row inmate challenges lethal injection plans."

A death-row inmate who may be the next person scheduled to die in Arkansas after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling upheld lethal injection has challenged the state's plans to carry out the death penalty under a revised protocol.

Frank Williams Jr. filed a lawsuit in Pulaski County Circuit Court, saying state officials violated state law by adopting new regulations without giving the public notice and an opportunity to comment on proposed revisions.

Williams is seeking a court ruling that the revised Arkansas plan is invalid and should not be enforced.

And:

Chief Deputy Attorney General Justin Allen would not describe the changes but said they would not involve the three drugs used, their amounts or the order in which they are administered. State prison spokeswoman Dina Tyler described the changes as minor.

Tyler said last week that the changes included requiring at least two years of medical experience for those on the team inserting the intravenous lines and administering the drugs to the condemned inmate. Tyler said the policy also would be reworded to say the drugs would be "mixed according to manufacturer's directions."

Earlier coverage of the issue in Arkansas is in this post.

The Nevada Appeal has an AP dispatch, "Inmate joins legal challenge to execution procedure."

Condemned inmate William Castillo, who until now has declined to file appeals that could keep him alive, joined Wednesday in a state Supreme Court challenge of Nevada's lethal injection execution procedure.

The move by Castillo, represented by federal public defenders Mike Pescetta and Gary Taylor, was welcomed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada, which had filed the challenge in October when Castillo was scheduled to die.

"This is a total surprise to us," said Lee Rowland of the Nevada ACLU, adding, "We're very glad that our lawsuit gave Mr. Castillo the time to reconsider and decide not to volunteer for the death penalty."

The state Supreme Court stayed Castillo's execution pending the U.S. Supreme Court's decision on lethal injections in Kentucky. Last month, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld Kentucky's execution method, which is similar to Nevada's. Since then, the Nevada stay has remained in effect.

The lethal injection index, with full coverage of Baze v. Rees, is here.