Lethal Injection Round-Up

There is news today of developments in North Carolina and Kentucky.

The Raleigh News & Observer reports, "N.C. court to rule on executions," by Dan Kane.

The state's highest court will hear legal arguments today that could break the two-year stalemate on executions in North Carolina -- or extend the de facto moratorium.

The N.C. Medical Board has effectively shut down the executions, which are done by lethal injection, by prohibiting doctors from taking part. The board contends such participation violates the profession's mission to preserve life.

But state law requires a doctor to be on hand, and botched injections in other states in recent years have emphasized that need.

The state Department of Correction filed suit in March 2007, after doctors said they could not risk their licenses by participating. State Superior Court Judge Donald Stephens sided with correction officials, prompting the medical board to appeal.

Noelle Talley, a spokeswoman for the state Attorney General's Office, which is representing the Department of Correction, said the N.C. Supreme Court could settle the matter. She said there is no federal question for U.S. courts to pursue.

"N.C. Supreme Court to hear execution case," is the AP report, via the Greensboro News-Record.

Justices are being asked to untangle legal questions about a doctor's role when the state carries out capital punishment. Executions have been on hold in North Carolina since August 2006 because of the case and another legal challenge.

A Wake County judge ruled last year that the North Carolina Medical Board overstepped its authority when it threatened to punish doctors who were present during executions. North Carolina executes condemned prisoners by lethal injection.

Lawyers for the state have said that a doctor monitors an execution to prevent cruel or unusual punishment, a requirement established in a separate case by a federal judge.

The hearing comes on a lawsuit filed last year by the state Department of Correction after doctors said they couldn't participate because the Medical Board would discipline them. The board can revoke doctors' licenses.

Wake Superior Court Judge Donald Stephens sided with the Department of Corrections in the lawsuit and the board appealed to the high court. Stephens has said it could be a year before the matter is settled.

Death row at Central Prison in Raleigh currently houses 163 prisoners.

Lawyers for several death row inmates also have a legal challenge in a lower court over the method used in lethal injection.

Attorneys for the inmates have argued that the Council of State, which is made up of elected state officials, shouldn't have approved a revised protocol for lethal injection that required a doctor to be present without hearing from inmates.

Kentucky's Lexington Herald-Leader has an AP report, "Ruling Tuesday on injunction that seeks to halt executions."

A judge says he will issue a ruling Tuesday on whether to grant an injunction that could halt the execution of a confessed child killer.

Meanwhile, Gov. Steve Beshear said he has met with church leaders regarding the scheduled execution Friday of Marco Allen Chapman but said he believes capital punishment is justified in what he called a "vicious and almost indescribable crime."

On Monday, Franklin County Circuit Judge Phillip Shepherd heard arguments dealing with whether the Kentucky Department of Corrections followed proper protocol in developing regulations regarding lethal injections.

Attorney Philip Longmeyer argued that the state agency didn't, because it held no public hearings before adopting them.

David Smith, an attorney for the state attorney general's office, said public hearings weren't necessary because state law specifies lethal injection protocol.

Longmeyer has asked for a halt to executions until the issue is decided.

Death penalty opponents met with Beshear on Monday morning. Clergy members from the Kentucky Council of Churches urged the governor to commute Chapman's death sentence to life without parole.

Beshear said he believes capital punishment is appropriate in "particularly heinous crimes" unless some extenuating circumstances exist.

"I do not find any such strong extenuating circumstances in this case," he said.

Earlier coverage of the issue in North Carolina is here.  Baze v. Rees, this year's Supreme Court ruling on the constitutionality of lethal injection, originated from Kentucky.  National coverage of the April 2008 ruling is noted in this post.