The StandDown Texas Project

Arkansas Rewriting LI Protocol Due to Drug Availability

"Department of Correction to rewrite execution protocol," is the Arkansas News Bureau report.

The state Department of Correction will rewrite its execution protocol because the drugs it intended to use for lethal-injection procedures have become unavailable, a spokeswoman said Monday.

New Jersey-based West-Ward Pharmaceuticals closed its account with the agency last month because its London-based parent company, Hikma Pharmaceuticals, did not want its products used in executions. The state had purchased phenobarbital, a barbiturate, and lorazepam, a sedative, from West-Ward Pharmaceuticals with plans to use the drugs in executions.

“That pharmaceutical company closed our account; we’re not going to be able to acquire those any longer. So that’s the reason for the rewriting of the protocol,” said Department of Correction spokeswoman Shea Wilson.

Wilson said the new protocol likely would change the specific drugs to be used but would still comply with Act 139 of this year. The law directs the Department of Correction to carry out executions using a benzodiazepene, or a drug that slows the central nervous system and calms the prisoner, and “a barbiturate in an amount sufficient to cause death.”

"Arkansas to Look at Other Execution Drugs," is AP coverage, via Arkansas Business.

Officials say Arkansas plans to consider using different drugs in lethal injections after the state lost its account with a pharmaceutical company that supplied it with drugs earlier this year.

State Department of Correction spokeswoman Shea Wilson told The Associated Press Monday that the agency no longer has a supplier for the drugs listed in its current lethal injection protocol. So, Wilson says the department plans to look at other drugs and to rewrite its protocol.

The AP first reported in April that Arkansas planned to use an anti-seizure drug called phenobarbital in executions, even though that chemical has never been used in a lethal injection in the United States.

Associated Press also reports, "Ark. death row inmates amend execution lawsuit," via KTHV-TV.

Nine death row inmates challenging Arkansas' new lethal injection law have amended their lawsuit against the state.

The inmates filed a modified complaint on Friday that asks a judge to declare that the Arkansas Department of Correction can't use a 2013 execution law to put them to death, but instead must follow a 1983 law.

The amended complaint says the nine prisoners involved in the lawsuit were convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death when the 1983 law was in effect.

The laws differ on the drugs to be used in lethal injections.

No execution dates are currently set in Arkansas.  The state's last execution occurred in 2005.

Earlier coverage of Arkansas lethal injection issues begins at the link.

Related posts are in the lethal injection category index,  A recent recap by ProPublica reports on current lehtal injection issues.

From Madrid: Fifth World Congress Against the Death Penalty

The Swiss Broadcasting Corporation posts, "Minister calls for ‘world without death penalty’."

Foreign Minister Didier Burkhalter has highlighted Switzerland’s commitment to the abolition of capital punishment at the opening of the Fifth World Congress against the Death Penalty in Madrid.

“Switzerland aims to ensure that those countries which have not as yet abolished the death penalty at least place a moratorium on its use,” he said in a statement released by the foreign ministry.
 
In it, he added that capital punishment was incompatible with the values represented by Switzerland and had an impact on the country’s other obligations such as the prohibition of discrimination.
 
The death penalty was abolished from Swiss federal criminal law in 1942, but remained available in military criminal law until 1992.

Together with Spain, France and Norway, Switzerland is patron of the Fifth World Congress against the Death Penalty which is hosting around 1,500 delegates from over 90 states in Madrid until Saturday.

"Former death row inmates fight capital punishment," is the AFP report, via the Sun of Malaysia.

Twelve years after leaving death row in Florida, Joaquin Martinez still cannot abide traditional lightbulbs.

"At the time we still had the electric chair and just like in the movies, the bulbs flickered and went out when they executed someone," said Martinez, who is visiting Madrid to join the fifth World Congress against the Death Penalty.

"I don't have any normal lightbulbs at home, just halogens," he said.

His hair impeccably brushed back, the well-dressed 41-year-old Spaniard was arrested in 1996 in Florida on suspicion of double murder before being found not guilty by the US justice system and freed in 2001.

"I still dream sometimes that I am a prisoner. I wake up with a shudder," he said in a presentation event ahead of the June 12-15 congress, organised by the French lobby group Ensemble Contre La Peine de Mort (Together Against the Death Penalty).

Organisers say they expect 1,500 people from 90 countries, including high-profile politicians such as French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, to gather for the congress.

The debate will be punctuated by testimony from people who were once condemned to death or the relatives of those now living on death row.

Related posts are in the international category index.

Pennsylvania Roundup

Today's Allentown Morning Call publishes the OpEd, "Pennsylvania should abolish the death penalty.  It's by Karen N. Berry, Judith A. Dexter, Alwyn Eades, and Sarah Snider; Amnesty International members.

Are you in favor of the death penalty? Why? Many people say we need it because the death penalty deters crime, but that is not true. In 2012, the National Research Council evaluated statistical studies only to conclude "that the studies do not provide evidence for or against the proposition that the death penalty affects homicide rates."

So if it does not deter crime, if it doesn't make us safer, why do we have the death penalty and why are we asking now? We ask now because the Pennsylvania Senate has created a task force to study the death penalty and to recommend changes to our judicial system.

In March, Maryland's legislature voted out the death penalty, substituting life in prison without the possibility of parole. Gov. Martin O'Malley cited both costs and deterrence after the vote. "Capital punishment is expensive and the overwhelming evidence tells us that it does not work as a deterrent," he said. Thus Maryland joined 17 other states to abolish the death penalty, and its world did not collapse.

We believe that if citizens of Pennsylvania knew the facts about capital punishment — that it does not deter crime and that it costs more than keeping offenders in jail for the rest of their lives — they would join us in opposing the death penalty. They would no longer wish to be part of the list of countries that actively use the death penalty; China, Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, North Korea are the only countries that use the death penalty at a rate comparable with the USA. Is our moral sense at the level of these countries?

Related posts are in the abolition and OpEd category index.

Also from Pennsylvania, there is a new federal death sentence.  "Jury: Death penalty for dealer," is the AP report, via the Cherry Hill Courier-Post.

A federal jury on Friday recommended the death penalty for a drug dealer convicted of murdering 12 people, including four children and two women who were relatives of an informant and were killed in a firebombing.

Kaboni Savage, 38, already was serving 30 years in prison for a drug trafficking conviction.

Jurors took less than two days to unanimously return 13 death sentences against Savage — one for each of the 12 murders and one for retaliating against witnesses.

Related posts are in the federal death penalty category index.

Kansas City Star Editorial Calls for Repeal

"End the death penalty in Kansas and Missouri," is the title of the Kansas City Star editorial.

Earlier this month Maryland did away with the death penalty, which now is banned in 18 states and the District of Columbia.

Sadly, Missouri and Kansas are not among the states whose lawmakers have understood what an unjust and costly system capital punishment is. Measures to abolish or even temporarily halt the death penalty have gone nowhere over the years in both legislatures.

So it’s time for citizens and enlightened lawmakers to plan ways to make this matter of life and death a top priority in these two states for the next legislative sessions.

And:

There’s a compelling argument that the death penalty is cruel and unusual punishment. What’s incontestable is that by permitting the death penalty the United States is keeping company with such countries as Iran, Iraq, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Cuba and Uganda. By contrast, all 47 members of the Council of Europe have either established a moratorium on the death penalty or abolished it altogether.

Surely it’s time for the U.S. to join the abolition movement. Kansas and Missouri should follow Maryland’s recent example and become the 19th and 20th states to adopt a sane and civilized approach to this matter.

Earlier coverage from Kansas and Missouri, at the links.  Related posts are in the abolition and editorial category indexes.

ProPublica on the State of Lethal Injection

ProPublica posts, "A Prolonged Stay: The Reasons Behind the Slow Pace of Executions," by Raymond Bonner. He's the author of the 2012 book, Anatomy of Injustice: A Murder Case Gone Wrong.  This extensive report is a must-read.  Here's the beginning:

States that impose the death penalty have been facing a crisis in recent years: They are short on the drugs used in executions.

In California, which has the country's largest death row population, the chief justice of the state supreme court has said there are unlikely to be any executions for three years, in part due to the shortage of appropriate lethal drugs. As a result, state prosecutors are calling for a return of the gas chamber.

Ohio, which is second only to Texas in the number of executions carried out since 2010, said it will run out of the drug it uses in executions, pentobarbital, on Sept. 30. The state has two men scheduled for execution in November, and eight more set to be killed after that. Every state's supply of pentotbarbital, which has been the principal execution drug, expires at the end of November.

The shortage has forced death penalty states to scramble on two fronts: They are hunting for new suppliers or different drugs to use, and enacting changes to public records laws to keep the names of suppliers and manufacturers of those alternative drugs secret.

The lack of lethal drugs, and the fight over keeping new ones secret, are partly the result of a remarkably effective campaign by opponents of the death penalty, who have, in effect, taken their efforts from the court room to the boardroom.

Earlier coverage of the availability of lethal injection drugs begins at the link.  Related posts are in the lethal injection and international category indexes.

 Notable posts include:

• The Arkansas Lethal Injection Drugs
• Scott Christianson on a California Legislator's Push to Bring Back Gas
• Nebraska Lethal Injection Drug News
• Georgia Lethal Injection Drug Legislation
• News Coverage of DC Court of Appeals Oral Arguments
• Drugmaker to Block Sales of Propofol for Use in Executions
• Ohio Executes & Steps Up Search for Pentobarbital
• More on the Georgia Lethal Injection Drug Supply
• European Concerns Over Drugs Used in Lethal Injection Executions

The Arkansas Lethal Injection Drugs

BBC News reports, "UK-based firm stops selling phenobarbital drug to Arkansas."

A UK-based pharmaceutical company has stopped selling a drug to Arkansas because the US state planned to use it to execute prisoners on death row.

Drug company Hikma, based in London, said phenobarbital is prescribed to prevent convulsions.

A spokesman said the drug is widely used and that the company did not condone its use on death row.

It acted to withdraw the drug on information from the legal rights charity Reprieve.

A spokesman said its subsidiary West-Ward Pharmaceuticals had not sold phenobarbital to the Arkansas Department of Correction (DoC) since mid-April when they were made aware it could be used for capital punishment.

"British maker of death penalty drugs adds new restrictions for US buyers," is by Ed Pilkington for the Guardian.

Ironically, Arkansas turned to the Hikma subsidiary, West-Ward Pharmaceuticals in Memphis, Tennessee, as a possible way of skirting the drug boycott. Since 2011 execution drugs have been in increasingly short supply after the European commission banned exports of listed chemicals to all US corrections departments.

With other options closed down, Arkansas decided to pioneer a new death penalty protocol untested by any other state: the use of phenobarbital, a barbiturate widely used medically as an anticonvulsant. This year the state adopted a new protocol that involves executing prisoners by injecting them with a relaxant, Lorazepam, followed by 12 grams of phenobarbital hydrochloride.

In April, West-Ward Pharmaceuticals shipped two batches of Phenobarbital to Arkansas department of corrections in Pine Bluff amounting to a total of almost 100 grams of the chemical – sufficient to kill eight prisoners. A spokesman for Hikma said the order had been made as part of the regular automated request for drugs for the general prison hospital services and given that phenobarbital has never been used in executions before in the US, it raised no red flags with the company.

Hikma added that the quantity of the drug was small, though a spokeswoman for the Arkansas department of corrections said it was "enough to perform several executions".

Maya Foa, a death penalty expert with Reprieve, welcomed Hikma's pledge to cut off the supply route to US corrections departments in capital punishment states. "This shows that the pharmaceutical industry is not willing to have its products used in executions. The industry now understands that it can stop its drugs reaching death chambers."

Arkansas confirmed to the Guardian that it had been contacted by West-Ward and told that it was closing the account. That presents the state with a long-term problem, but in the short term it still has plenty of phenobarbital with a shelf life that will last until October 2015.

Earlier coverage of Arkansas lethal injection issues begins at the link.  Related posts are in the lethal injection and international category indexes.

Nebraska Lethal Injection Drug News

"Portion of Nebraska's supply of lethal injection drug set to expire," is the Lincoln Journal Star report by Kevin O'Hanlon.

As a federal appeals court considers whether Nebraska and other states must surrender their foreign-made supplies of a lethal injection drug that is becoming increasingly difficult to obtain, part of Nebraska's supply is set to expire.

Nebraska has two batches of sodium thiopental, one of which expires in May and the other in December. It's highly unlikely the state will be able to replace the drug if the appeals court orders its surrender.

"No state has used sodium thiopental for two years," said Richard Dieter, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center. "Because of a stoppage by the manufacturer, the U.S. supply has reportedly dried up, and existing supplies are almost all expired. A federal court has banned its importation from overseas without FDA approval, and that is not happening."

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals District of Columbia Circuit recently heard arguments in a case stemming from a ruling last year by U.S. District Judge Richard Leon, who said the U.S. Food and Drug Administration must notify immediately state prison officials in possession of any foreign-manufactured sodium thiopental that using such drugs is against the law and the drugs must be returned to the FDA.

Nebraska and several other states in which the drug is part of the execution protocol were forced to buy it overseas when the last U.S. manufacturer quit making it in 2010 because of death penalty opposition from overseas customers. Nebraska's sodium thiopental was made by a Swiss company and came in two batches.

Leon sided with lawyers for death row inmates in Tennessee, Arizona and California who say the foreign-made sodium thiopental is an unapproved drug. But FDA lawyers point to a 1985 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in the case Heckler v. Chaney that said the FDA's decision to not take enforcement action in a lethal injection drug case was not subject to judicial review.

And:

Nebraska's execution protocol could be changed, but not without considerable effort. It was formulated by prison officials and vetted through a series of public hearings. The final rules were reviewed by the attorney general and approved by the governor.

Earlier coverage of Nebraska leathal injection issues, repeal legislation in the state legislature, and the FDA litigation, at the links.  Related posts are in the lethal injection category index.

Additional Coverage of the AI Annual Report

The Washington Post WorldViews blog posts, "An eye-opening map of which countries execute the most prisoners," by Caitlin Dewey.

Amnesty International’s latest report on capital punishment indicates that the world still executed roughly the same number of people, from roughly the same number of countries, as it did in 2011.

New in 2012, though, is a dramatic doubling of executions in Iraq and reversals of long-standing death penalty moratoriums in countries such as Japan and India.

First, the numbers: Twenty-one countries carried out executions in 2012, the same as 2011. Those countries — of which China, Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and the U.S. are the biggest offenders — executed at least 682 people, or two more than in 2011. That’s not including China, which is thought to execute far more prisoners than any other country. Some 58 countries also imposed 1,722 death sentences – just the sentence, not the actual execution – versus 63 countries and 1,923 sentences the year before.

To put those numbers in context, they’re all down from a decade ago, when more than 30 countries carried out executions. But in the short term, it’s hard to see a global trend in either direction — the number of executions and imposed sentences have both swung unpredictably, especially since 2005.

Earlier coverage of the 2012 Amnesty report is at the link.

Amnesty International Issues Annual Death Sentences & Executions Report

The AI report, Death Sentences and Executions 2012, is at the link; a news release is also available.

The New York Times reports, "Amnesty International Reports on Death Penalty Trends," by Rick Gladstone.

At least four countries that had not used the death penalty in some time — India, Japan, Pakistan and Gambia — resumed doing so last year, the rights organization Amnesty International says in its annual compilation of capital punishment trends.

Amnesty, the London-based group that has made abolition of the death penalty one of its signature causes, also says the number of executions in Iraq nearly doubled in 2012 compared with a year earlier, which it characterized as “an alarming escalation.”

Nonetheless, its yearly review, released early Wednesday in London, said the overall shift away from death sentences and executions continued in 2012.

“In many parts of the world, executions are becoming a thing of the past, ” Salil Shetty, secretary general of the organization, said in a statement. Amnesty said only 21 countries were recorded as having carried out executions in 2012, the same as in 2011, but down from 28 countries a decade earlier.

"Amnesty: Progress in ending global death penalty," is the AP filing, via the Boston Herald.

Iraq executed almost twice as many people last year compared to the year before, while India and Pakistan resumed executions after abandoning the practice for years, global human rights group Amnesty International said Tuesday.

China still led the top five countries carrying out executions, the organization said, followed by Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and the United States.

Despite setbacks in several countries, the group said it was encouraged by overall signs of progress in the global trend toward ending the death penalty. In the U.S., nine states carried out executions in 2012, compared to 13 in the previous year.

"The 2012 figures on the use of the death penalty confirm that the overall trend globally is towards abolition: Only one in 10 countries worldwide carried out death sentences," the report said.

"Report: China, U.S. in top 5 for executions worldwide," is by Laura Smith-Spark at CNN.

China, the United States and three Middle Eastern nations carried out the most executions last year, rights group Amnesty International said Wednesday, but a global trend toward ending the death penalty persisted.

There were at least 682 confirmed executions worldwide last year, two more than in 2011, according to the group.

China is believed to have executed several thousand people last year, Amnesty said, but government secrecy makes it impossible to confirm exact numbers.

"The lack of reliable data does not allow Amnesty International to publish credible figures for the use of the death penalty in the country," the rights group said. "However, available information strongly indicates that China carries out more executions than the rest of the world put together."

Iran carried out at least 314 executions last year, Iraq at least 129 and Saudi Arabia at least 79. In the United States, 43 people were executed across nine states. Sixth on the list was Yemen, with at least 28 executions.

And:

According to the 60-page report, "Death Sentences and Executions in 2012," there were at least 1,722 newly-imposed death sentences in 58 countries last year, compared with 1,923 in 63 countries in 2011.

This meant that at least 23,386 people were under sentence of death worldwide at the end of 2012, it said.

AFP posts, "Execution-free world getting closer: Amnesty."

A total of 21 countries were recorded as carrying out executions in 2012 -- the same number as in 2011, but a sharp drop from 28 countries in 2003.

In 2012, at least 682 executions were known to have been carried out worldwide, two more than in 2011. At least 1,722 newly imposed death sentences in 58 countries could be confirmed, compared to 1,923 in 63 countries the year before.

But Amnesty stressed that its figures do not include the thousands of executions that it believes were carried out in China, where details are shrouded in secrecy.

And:

The United States remains the only country in the Americas to carry out executions -- the total number, 43, was the same as in 2011, but only nine states executed in 2012, compared to 13 in 2011. Connecticut became the 17th abolitionist state in April, while a referendum on the abolition of the death penalty was narrowly defeated in California in November.

"Amnesty International report claims death penalty is declining worldwide," by Saeed Kamali Dehghan for the Guardian.

In 2012, only 21 countries were known to have carried out executions, the same as the year before. More than two-thirds of the world's countries –140 – are classified as nations that have either abandoned the death penalty or are no longer implementing it.

Amnesty's Salil Shetty writes, "Time to drop 'high-cost revenge'," at CNN.  Here's the beginning:

“If the death penalty is not a deterrent, and it is not, and if the death penalty does not make us safer, and it does not, then it is only high-cost revenge.”

These words could easily have come from me or one of my colleagues at Amnesty International. We have after all been campaigning for abolition since the 1970s because we view capital punishment as the ultimate cruel and inhuman form of punishment.

But the quote actually comes from Charles M. Harris – a senior judge in Florida, one of only nine states in the United States to carry out death sentences in 2012.

Thankfully, Harris’s view is far from unique. Today, Amnesty International is releasing its annual report on death penalty statistics across the globe. Once again, we have seen the world move, slowly but surely, closer to becoming death penalty-free. Only 21 countries were recorded as having carried out executions last year, down from 28 a decade ago.

A longer perspective makes the change even more striking. When we first started campaigning for abolition of the death penalty 35 years ago, the world’s 16 abolitionist countries were a clear minority. Now, 97 countries have completely abolished the death penalty in law, while 140 in total are de facto death penalty free.

Coverage of AI's 2011 report is at the link.  Related posts are in the report categoy index.

News Coverage of DC Court of Appeals Oral Arguments

The BLT, Blog of Legal Times, posts, "DOJ Urges D.C. Circuit to Allow Import of Lethal Injection Drug," written by Mike Scarcella.

A U.S. Justice Department lawyer today urged a federal appeals court in Washington to overrule a judge who blocked the import of a drug used in lethal injections.

U.S. District Judge Richard Leon ruled last year that food and drug regulators had a mandatory duty to disallow the entry of the drug, sodium thiopental, because it fails to meet certain requirements under federal law. The plaintiffs, represented by a team from Sidley Austin, are a group of death row inmates in Arizona, California and Tennessee.

The closely watched case before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit tests the scope of FDA's discretion to decline to enforce its own regulations. The appellate panel—senior judges David Sentelle and Douglas Ginsburg, sitting with Judge Judith Rogers—didn't immediately rule following an hour-long hearing.

The prisoners' lawyers contend the FDA lacks discretion to pass up enforcement. The federal law in question, the challengers argue, mandates that the agency "shall" refuse the admission of a foreign drug that is unapproved in the United States. "Normally, that's a mandatory expression," Sentelle said in court today.

A Justice Department lawyer, Daniel Tenny, arguing for the FDA, said that "shall" only comes into play if the agency concludes that the foreign drug violates U.S. requirements. The law, Tenny said, doesn't force the FDA to block the import of every foreign drug that hasn't received regulatory approval.

And:

Sidley appellate litigation partner Eric Shumsky in Washington said there's no wiggle room in the law: Congress intentionally used the word "shall" in describing the action FDA must take when confronted with an unapproved, misbranded foreign drug.

"There is no approved sodium thiopental—period," Shumsky told the D.C. Circuit panel.

Leon ruled in March 2012 that the government's "actions also create a slippery slope that other unapproved foreign drugs may be allowed to enter into the United States to the detriment of the general public."

The FDA, Leon wrote, "appears to be simply wrapping itself in the flag of law enforcement discretion to justify its authority and masquerade an otherwise seemingly callous indifference to the health consequences of those imminently facing the executioner's needle. How utterly disappointing!"

Earlier coverage of the issue begins with a preview of yesterday's oral arguments.

FDA & Lethal Injection Drugs - Appeal Being Heard Today

"Appeals court to hear arguments against lethal-injection drug," is by Michael Doyle for McClatchy News Service.  It's via the Washington Post.  The case is being heard by a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.

Daniel Wayne Cook sexually assaulted, tortured and killed two men, a jury agreed. He’s dead now, executed this past August in an Arizona prison.

But Cook’s name lives on, as part of a lawsuit challenging the Food and Drug Administration’s allowing importation of a drug used in executions by injection.

Death-row inmates in several states are carrying on the challenge first filed under Cook’s name, though of course none will be present Monday when a top appellate court debates the case that’s one of many attacking lethal injection.

And:

The inmates argue that the FDA acted improperly in 2010 when it allowed some state prison systems to import foreign-made sodium thiopental for use in executing prisoners. Though states have since been substituting other drugs for the fast-acting sedative, the legal challenge continues, with the potential to reach even beyond the death-penalty realm.

“This case is not about halting executions, but about ensuring that illegal drugs are not used in carrying out otherwise legal executions,” attorney Eric A. Shumsky, who represents the death-row inmates, said Friday.

Also:

Last year, a Washington-based federal judge ruled that the FDA should not have permitted importation of a drug not approved for domestic use. In response, California officials denounced the ruling as “contrary to law,” and federal officials contended that they were acting with appropriate administrative leeway.

“FDA exercises enforcement discretion in the context of drug importation in a range of circumstances, a practice that has repeatedly been brought to Congress’s attention,” Justice Department attorneys said in a legal brief.

Earlier coverage of the FDA's involvement in the importation of lethal injection drugs begins at the link; also available, coverage of the 2012 federal district court ruling in Beaty v. FDA.

Drugmaker to Block Sales of Propofol for Use in Executions

Bloomberg Businessweek reports, "Teva to Block Drug for U.S. Execution Use as Hospira Pressured."  It's written by Makiko Kitamura.

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (TEVA) said it plans to control distribution of the anesthetic propofol to prevent the drug from being used in executions of U.S. prisoners.

The world’s largest maker of generic drugs has said it plans to restart production of the medicine, which is lethal in large doses and contributed to the death of singer Michael Jackson. A shortage of other execution drugs prompted Missouri’s department of corrections to say in May it will use propofol in any upcoming lethal injections.

While it plans to supply propofol to hospitals and health- care providers, Teva will establish procedures to prevent the drug from being sold to correctional facilities, spokeswoman Denise Bradley said. Petach Tikva, Israel-based Teva joins other drugmakers, including Denmark’s H. Lundbeck A/S (LUN) and Fresenius Kabi, a U.S. unit of Germany’s Fresenius SE (FRE), which have taken similar steps.

“Teva has shown that -- like any responsible pharmaceutical company -- it wishes to be in the business of saving lives, not ending them in executions,” said Maya Foa, head of the Stop the Lethal Injection Project at Reprieve, a London-based human rights group.

"Teva Will Try To Prevent Sedative From Being Used in U.S. Executions," by Peter Loftus is from Dow Jones Newswires, via Capital.gr.

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (TEVA) said it will try to keep the sedative propofol out of the hands of U.S. executioners when it relaunches the product.

"In accordance with the request made by our manufacturer, Teva is limiting the sale and distribution of this product to customers who agree to use best efforts not to sell or distribute to correctional facilities," said Teva spokeswoman Denise Bradley.

Corden Pharma manufactures propofol at a plant in Italy on behalf of Teva, according to the product prescribing label. A Corden spokesman couldn't immediately be reached.

Propofol is approved for sedation or anesthesia during medical procedures or surgeries. The drug gained notoriety for its role in the overdose death of pop star Michael Jackson in 2009.

And:

Last year, Missouri adopted the use of propofol to carry out executions, but the state's Supreme Court subsequently ruled it was premature to carry out executions under the new procedure while death-row inmates challenge it.

In August 2012, another supplier of propofol, Fresenius Kabi, said it wouldn't accept orders for the sedative from any U.S. departments of corrections, and would tighten its distribution controls to try to prevent the drug from being used in executions.

The UK site Ekklesia posts, "Top pharmaceutical company moves to stop flow of execution drugs."

One of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies has taken steps to ensure its drugs cannot be used to carry out executions by lethal injection.

UK company Teva, which describes itself as a “top 10 global pharmaceutical company [with] $20.3bn in sales in 2012,” will put in place distribution controls to ensure its products cannot be used to kill prisoners on America’s death rows.

Teva is recommencing production of an anaesthetic called propofol, which in large enough doses can be used to kill. As supplies of other execution drugs run out, US prisons are starting to turn to propofol to carry out capital punishment.

The move brings the firm, which has its headquarters in Israel, into line with other pharmaceutical companies including Lundbeck and Fresenius Kabi, who have taken effective steps to block the use of their products for executions.

Teva has stated that they too will establish procedures "to help prevent propofol from being sold to correctional institutions for use in executions and sell only to acute care hospitals, clinics and healthcare facilities where the product's use is medically necessary."

Earlier coverage of European actions to stop drugs from being used in executions begins at the link.

Related posts are in the international and lethal injection category indexes.

Sunday - The Diversions

I hear from readers who appreciate the left-column webrolls.  Some even make it to the last group, Diversions.

I'm adding a new site today; Travels with Sam.  My long-time friend, Austin attorney-mediator Sam Graham is a Fulbright Scholar this year, teaching at the Academy of Law, Odessa in the Ukraine.  He's been teaching there and in Russia for several years, and the stories he brings back are fascinating.  I'm looking forward to hearing them in real-time on his brand new blog.

Ohio Executes & Steps Up Search for Pentobarbital

"Focus returns to next source of Ohio lethal drug after execution of security guard's killer," is the AP report by Legal Affairs Writer Andrew Welsh-Huggins.  It's via the Republic.

Attention is back on Ohio's search for a new execution drug after the state put to death a security guard's killer and the deadline for finding a new drug approaches rapidly.

Frederick Treesh received a dose of the powerful sedative pentobarbital and was pronounced dead Wednesday morning at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville.

And:

The Department of Rehabilitation and Correction runs out of its pentobarbital supply in September, and the agency is seeking an alternative. One option floated by authorities is obtaining the drug from compounding pharmacies, which are licensed to create small batches of drugs for specific clients.

Regular pentobarbital is no longer available because its manufacturer has put it off limits to states for executions.

It was Ohio's first execution of the year, and the fourth execution in American death penalty states this year; a total of 1,324 post-Furman executions since 1977.

France has issued a diplomatic communique on the Ohio execution.

France condemns the execution by lethal injection of Frederick Treesh in the state of Ohio on March 6, 2013. This is the 4th execution in the United States in 2013 and the 50th prisoner to be put to death in Ohio since the moratorium ended in 1999.

France reaffirms its constant opposition to the death penalty everywhere and under all circumstances. This is the thrust of the campaign for the universal abolition of the death penalty, launched on October 9, 2012. Our diplomatic network is fully committed to this priority, wherever the death penalty continues to be applied. France urges the Ohio authorities to put an end to the executions, to re-establish a moratorium and to initiate a debate on the abolition of the death penalty.

Earlier coverage from Ohio begins at the link. Related posts are in the lethal injection index.

UN Chief Reaffirms Call for Moratorium on Death Penalty

That's the title of a news release issued by the UN News Service.  Here's the full text:

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today reiterated his call for a global moratorium on applying the death penalty, stressing the United Nations’ long history of opposing the practice and the growing momentum among the international community to permanently end it.

“A global moratorium is a crucial stepping stone towards full worldwide abolition,” Mr. Ban said in a message delivered by the Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights, Kyung-wha Kang.

“Capital punishment is inconsistent with the mission of the United Nations to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights and the dignity and worth of the human person,” Ms. Kang read, during an event at the Human Rights Council in Geneva organized by the International Commission against the Death Penalty, an independent body opposed to capital punishment.

The UN General Assembly first voted on a moratorium in 2007, and again in December 2012 with the support of 111 countries, 41 against and 34 abstentions. The resolution called for a progressive restriction on the use of capital punishment and eliminating it entirely for felons below the age of 18 and pregnant women.

Although not legally binding, the UN moratorium on executions carries moral and political weight.

“The United Nations system has long advocated the abolition of the death penalty. International and hybrid tribunals supported by the UN do not provide for capital punishment, nor does the International Criminal Court,” Mr. Ban’s message noted.

Approximately150 countries have either abolished the death penalty or do not practice it, but Mr. Ban noted that some recently reinstated the practice.

Thousands of people are executed each year, “often in violation of international standards, such as the right to fair trial and due process,” Mr. Ban said.

He added that the death penalty is still used for a wide range of crimes that do not meet the threshold of “most serious crimes” and based on information that is not transparent.

In addition, sometimes “wrongful convictions and miscarriages of justice” can occur in well-functioning legal systems that sentence and execute persons who have been ultimately proven innocent, Mr. Ban said.

Earlier coverage from the United Nations begins at the link.  Related posts are in the international category index.

More on the Georgia Lethal Injection Drug Supply

"Georgia rushes through executions before lethal injection drugs expire," is by Ed Pilkington in the Guardian.

Georgia confirmed to the Guardian that its entire supply of pentobarbital expires on 1 March. The expiration date leaves the state in a quandary: it still has 93 men and one woman on death row, including Hill, but with no obvious means by which to execute them.

A spokeswoman for the department of corrections insisted that it anticipated "it will be able to obtain sufficient supplies of the drugs necessary to carry out the court ordered lethal injection process." But just how that could be done is not obvious.

Anti-death penalty campaigners are scathing about the unseemly haste with which Georgia appears to rushing to beat the deadline. "This highlights the nastiness of the process that the AG should be racing to kill prisoners ahead of an expiration date," said Sara Totonchi, director of the Southern Center for Human Rights.

Georgia's difficulties procuring execution drugs is a reflection of the gradual stranglehold that is being put on the US death penalty by authorities and companies around the world refusing to act as accomplices in the death sentence. The European commission, following unilateral action by the UK, has imposed restrictions on the export of medicines to all US corrections departments.

As a result of the European squeeze, Hospira, the only US manufacturer of sodium thiopental, an anaesthetic that was used widely in the triple cocktail of lethal injections, ceased production in 2011. That, in turn, forced states including Georgia to revise their death protocols, shifting to a single injection of pentobarbital.

But now supplies of pentobarbital are also running out. One of the leading manufacturers of the drug, the Danish firm Lundbeck, has introduced tough restrictions on the distribution of the drug to prevent it falling into the hands of US executioners.

Earlier coverage of Georgia's stock of pentobarbital begins at the link.

Texas & Georgia Execute - Updated

Texas carried out its first execution of 2013, last night in Huntsville.  It was the 493rd post-Furman Texas execution since 1982, and the 254th execution conducted under the administration of Governor Rick Perry.  Texas has the nation's most active death chamber and accounts for more than 37% of the  executions in America's death penalty states.

Reuters posts, "Georgia, Texas execute inmates for 1990s' murders," by Corrie MacLaggan and David Beasley.  It's via the Chicago Tribune.

A man convicted of killing his former girlfriend by dousing her with gasoline and setting her on fire was put to death by lethal injection in Texas on Thursday, the state's first execution of the year.

In Georgia, a man convicted of fatally shooting two university students in 1995 was executed after the U.S. Supreme Court denied his last-minute appeal.

Carl Henry Blue, 48, was pronounced dead at 6:56 p.m. local time at the state penitentiary at Huntsville, said the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.

France has issued a diplomatic communique on the execution of Blue:

France condemns the execution of Carl Blue in the state of Texas, in the United States, on February 21. With 15 prisoners executed in 2012 and 493 executions since the reinstatement of the death penalty in 1976, Texas is responsible for more than a third of executions in the United States.

France reaffirms its constant opposition to the death penalty everywhere and under all circumstances. This is the thrust of the campaign for the universal abolition of the death penalty, launched on October 9, 2012. Our diplomatic network is fully committed to this priority, wherever the death penalty continues to be applied. France urges the Texas authorities to put an end to the executions, to observe a moratorium and to initiate a debate on the abolition of the death penalty.

"Georgia executes Andrew Cook," is by Rhonda Cook in today's Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Andrew Cook was executed Thursday, 18 years after he randomly shot two Mercer University students who were parked at Lake Juliette in Monroe County as they were enjoying the view.

He was pronounced dead at 11:22 p.m. Cook’s final words were apologies to his family and the families of the victims.

Cook was the first person Georgia has executed using a single massive dose of a sedative instead of a series of three drugs that had been used to execute 29 other men.

His death came after the U.S. Supreme Court had considered his plea for mercy for almost five hours. The appeal was sent to the high court before 6 p.m., an hour before his scheduled execution.

To date, there have been three executions in American death penalty states this year; a total of 1,323 post-Furman executions since 1977.

According to TDCJ, 11 additional execution dates have been set for 2013, including six in March. More will be added.

An International Perspective

"Stepping Back From Capital Punishment," is the title of an OpEd published in the New York Times.  It's written by Mohammed Bedjaoui, Ruth Dreifuss, and Federico Mayor.  Bedjaoui is a former judge at the International Court of Justice; Dreifuss, a former president of the Swiss Confederation; and, Mayor a former minister of education and science of Spain. They are members of the International Commission against the Death Penalty.

In December, the United Nations General Assembly voted overwhelmingly for a global moratorium on the death penalty. This fourth such vote in five years was supported by a record 111 nations.

Yet in the first month of 2013, Saudi Arabia beheaded nine people. In recent weeks, Yemen has sentenced a juvenile offender to death, fueling hunger strikes by scores of imprisoned children. Iran has reportedly begun imposing death sentences for petty criminals accused of robbery.

And:

Such developments make for grim reading. However, we at the International Commission against the Death Penalty — an independent body opposed to capital punishment in all cases — remain hopeful. It is clear that the world is becoming an increasingly lonely place for states that practice executions.

The United Nations call for a moratorium on executions is underpinned by a global trend toward abolition that has dramatically gathered pace in recent years. One hundred and five countries have repealed capital punishment in their laws and others no longer carry out executions.

According to the United Nations, over 150 countries have abolished the death penalty in law or practice.

Related posts are in the international index.

 

European Concerns Over Drugs Used in Lethal Injection Executions

Bloomberg Businessweek reports, "Europe Pushes to Keep Lethal Injection Drugs From U.S. Prisons."  It's written by Makiko Kitamura and Adi Narayan.  Here's the beginning of the report:

Pharmaceutical makers have long promoted their products as a means to enhance or prolong life. Now some have been enmeshed in a transatlantic battle over whether their drugs can also be used to end it. Europe is escalating its war on the U.S. practice of executing inmates with prescription drugs, and they’re making it harder for prisons in the 33 states where lethal injection is legal to acquire their weapons of choice.

The U.S. is one of only two developed democracies to use capital punishment. The other, Japan, executes by hanging. “Not only is capital punishment outlawed across Europe, but European policy is also to work actively for abolition of the death penalty worldwide,” says Sarah Ludford, a member of the European Parliament. “By persuading responsible pharmaceutical companies to supervise their distribution chain and by getting controls on exports from Europe tightened, U.S. prisons’ ability to procure their death machine supplies has been thwarted.”

And:

The bottom line: European regulators are pressing drugmakers to restrict sales of compounds used in lethal injections, which are legal in 33 U.S. states.

Related posts are in the international and lethal injection category indexes.  Notable posts include:

• Lethal Injection Drugs and the FDA - Returning to the Spotlight
• Death Penalty: Another Step Towards Abolition
• FDA & Imported Lethal Injection Drugs
• Another Hurdle for Propofol's Use in Executions
• Lethal Injection Drug Access Could Put Executions on Hold

Lethal Injection Drugs and the FDA - Returning to the Spotlight

"Court to hear lethal-injection appeal," is the title of Kevin O'Hanlon's report in the Lincoln Journal Star.

A federal appeals court will hear arguments in March in a case that could force Nebraska to surrender a lethal-injection drug that is becoming increasingly difficult to obtain.

The case stems from a ruling last March by U.S. District Judge Richard Leon, who said the U.S. Food and Drug Administration must immediately notify state correctional departments in possession of any foreign-manufactured sodium thiopental that using such drugs is against the law and the drugs must be returned immediately to the FDA.

The FDA says the judge overstepped his bounds in a ruling. A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Washington, D.C., circuit, will hear the appeal March 25.

Nebraska and several other states in which sodium thiopental is part of the execution protocol were forced to buy it overseas when the last U.S. manufacturer quit making it in 2010 because of death-penalty opposition from overseas customers.

Nebraska's sodium thiopental came in two batches, most of which will expire in May. The rest will expire in December.

Leon sided with lawyers for death row inmates in Tennessee, Arizona and California who say the foreign-made sodium thiopental is an unapproved drug.

And:

Sodium thiopental has become increasingly difficult to obtain. The European Union recently banned the export of some barbituric acids, including sodium thiopental, further diminishing the drug's availability for use in lethal injections.

The Swiss firm Naari AG, which made the batches of sodium thiopental held by Nebraska, has said it no longer will ship the drug if it is to be used in executions. Most of the remaining manufacturers of sodium thiopental are in India and China -- and American defense lawyers have questioned the quality of the drugs they make.

The problems with obtaining sodium thiopental have prompted several states to switch to one drug -- the barbiturate pentobarbital -- for their executions.

Omaha Sen. Scott Lautenbaugh, a member of the Legislature's Judiciary Committee, has said he thinks lawmakers need to step in and possibly change Nebraska's protocol.

Earlier coverage of the Nebraska lethal injection drug dispute and the FDA involvement begins at the links; related posts are in the lethal injection category index..

Reasearching the Origins of Maryland's Death Penalty

"18th-century Italian nobleman makes waves in death penalty case," is Ian Duncan's report in today's Baltimore Sun.

Attorneys challenging a death sentence before the state's highest court last week dug deeply into online historical documents to divine the intention behind what they think is a never-before-interpreted part of the state's constitution.

Public defender Brian Saccenti and a team of lawyers rested their argument in part on a once-famous 18th century book by a young Italian nobleman named Cesare Beccaria, who suggested that capital punishment should be reserved for treasonous criminals.

Charles Carroll of Carrollton, who helped draft the Maryland constitution, wrote to a friend that he approved of Beccaria's "Just & Judicious observations", Saccenti's team wrote in a brief. Carroll was also a signer of the U.S. Declaration of Independence.

And a version of Beccaria's argument appears in the state's Declaration of Rights in an often-overlooked clause which reads, "sanguinary Laws ought to be avoided as far as it is consistent with the safety of the State."

Saccenti rolled out the argument on Thursday before the Court of Appeals on behalf of Jody Lee Miles, who was convicted of a 1997 Wicomico County murder.

Imposing sanguinary laws, that is the death penalty, on murderers is illegal, Saccenti said, because people like Miles do not threaten the stability of the state if they are imprisoned.

Saccenti said in an interview that appeals against capital punishment since the 1960s have tended to focus on the federal constitution. He began to poke around in obscure parts of Maryland's founding documents in search of new approaches.

Striking on the sanguinary laws wording, which Saccenti said is unique to Maryland, his team turned to Google Books and other historical databases to see what it meant to 18th century Americans and bolster their case.

"Lawyer taps Google Books, finds 18th century argument against death penalty," by Michael S. Rosenwald for the Washington Post.

Lawyers for convicted murderer Jody Lee Miles scoured Google’s wayback book machine and other Internet archives, stumbling upon an Italian nobleman named Cesare Beccaria, who according to The Sun suggested in a very old book “that capital punishment should be reserved for treasonous criminals.”

"Maryland Court of Appeals hears death penalty arguments," by Matt Connolly for the Washington Examiner.

Maryland's highest court heard oral arguments Thursday in a case that could decide the future of the state's death penalty.

The challenge comes from attorneys for Jody Lee Miles, who was convicted of robbery and murder in 1997. He was sentenced to death the next year, and his continued appeals have failed to get him off death row.

The latest appeal, however, aims high -- Miles' lawyers are arguing that Maryland's death penalty should be illegal under the state Constitution. The reading is based on Article 16 of the state's Declaration of Rights, adopted in 1776, which says that "sanguinary laws ought to be avoided as far as it is consistent with the safety of the State."

"We don't use the term 'sanguinary laws' much today, but at the time of its enactment, its meaning was clear and unambiguous," argued Brian Saccenti, an attorney for Miles. "It meant a law authorizing the imposition of the death penalty."

Saccenti told the Maryland Court of Appeals that the framers of Maryland's constitution meant "the safety of the State" to mean "the safety of the state government."

"There was a need for the death penalty possibly in times of insurrection," he said. "Safety of the state is not synonymous with public safety."

At the United Nations

"Record backing expected for UN anti-death penalty vote," is the AFP report.

A record number of countries are expected to back a UN General Assembly call for a moratorium on capital punishment on Thursday, diplomats said.

The vote held every two years now sees the likes of the United States, Japan, China, Iran and Iraq stuck in a shrinking minority as pressure grows for an end to executions.

About 150 countries now have at least a moratorium on capital punishment and just 21 were reported to have carried out executions in 2011, according to rights groups.

European nations have pressed hard for votes backing a moratorium at the UN vote. Norway's ambassador Geir Pedersen said there could be 112 or 113 countries in favor this year, up from 107 in 2010.

But Pedersen said the growing numbers supporting a moratorium show "this is no longer dominated by western countries. This is a global campaign."

"The importance of the vote is that it sends a very strong message to the international community across the board," Pedersen told AFP. "The General Assembly is the one place where all nations are represented and you have a strong majority in favor of a moratorium."

"There is a global trend toward fewer countries executing people and for us, it is an important issue of principle," the ambassador added.

And:

The General Assembly will also have votes Thursday on human rights in Syria, Iran and North Korea where western nations hope that big majorities will put increased political pressure on the governments.

Earlier coverage from the United Nations begins at the link.  Related posts are in the international category index.

Death Penalty: Another Step Towards Abolition

That's the title of Elisabetta Zamparutti's commentary posted at Inter Press Service.  She is a member of the Italian parliament and treasurer ofthe international abolition organization Hands Off Cain.  Here's the beginning:

On Dec. 18, 2007, the approval of a resolution for a moratorium on executions by the United Nations General Assembly was hailed as a milestone in the struggle to abolish the death penalty worldwide. It is true that the United Nations may not impose the abolition of the death penalty, but the moral and political value of the resolution is undeniable.

Since the founding of the abolitionist organisation Hands Off Cain in 1993, 56 of the 97 retentionist States that were members of the U.N. at that time have abandoned the practice of the death penalty. Fifteen of them have done so since 2006, the year following the re-launching of the initiative at the U.N. General Assembly. Three more countries (Palau, East-Timor and Tuvalu) that became members of the U.N. after 1993 are also abolitionist.

On the eve of the fourth U.N. General Assembly vote on the death penalty resolution, expected later this year, it is important to review the current situation.

There are 154 countries and territories that, to varying degrees, have decided to renounce the death penalty. Of these: 100 are totally abolitionist, seven are abolitionist for ordinary crimes, five have a moratorium on executions in place and 42 are de facto abolitionist (i.e. countries that have not carried out any executions for at least 10 years or countries that have binding obligations not to use the death penalty). On the other hand, there are 44 retentionist countries.

There were 19 countries that carried out executions in 2011, compared to 27 countries in 2006.

Related posts are in the aboltion and international category indexes.

More From Rome

You can watch live-streaming video of the lighting of Rome's Colosseum in honor of Connecticut's repeal of capital punishment earlier this year.  Here's part of the announcement from the Community of Sant’Egidio.

Starting 19:00 at the Colosseum of Rome, there will be exceptional personalities, from Shujaa Graham and Fernando Bermudez, innocent people sentenced to death for crimes they did not commit in the United States, to David Atwood, founder of the Texas Coalition against the Death Penalty, Tamara Chikunova, founder of Mothers against the Death Penalty, responsible for the abolition of capital punishment in many countries of Central Asia, justice ministers from several countries in the world and leading figures in the recent struggle for abolition of the death penalty in Connecticut will take part, along with the Community of Sant’Egidio, in a special evening for life.     

Follow the event in live streming on www.santegidio.org

It will be the official inauguration of the International Day of Cities for Life, started ten years ago in Rome with the Community of Sant’Egidio and supported by the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty. Special illumination of the Colosseum, “Testimonial for Life”, this year celebrates the abolition of the death penalty in Connecticut: the fifth American state to abolish capital punishment in the United States in the past five years (2007 New Jersey 2008, New Mexico 2010 New York, 2011,Illinois, 2012 Connecticut).

The event in front of the Colosseum, which will inaugurate the World Day of Cities against the Death Penalty, will be hosted by Max Giusti.

Thanks to Abe Bonowitz for circulating.

Catholic Culture posts, "Italian lay movement continues push for abolition of death penalty," written by Catholic World News.

The Community of Sant’Egidio, one of the most prominent new ecclesial movements, has continued its efforts to abolish the death penalty worldwide by hosting a conference of justice ministers from 20 nations.

“We have started a method that is not just lobbying,” spokesman Mario Marazziti told Vatican Radio. “It is putting together people from civil societies, NGOs, statesmen and women, and people who can make decisions to make a synergy and to cross-impollinate the good things that each one can give to the other one. So we listen with great respect to the difficulties of the ministers of justice that come from retentionist countries, and we can accompany them to overcome the difficulties they face in their nations, to create this tremendous difference that is made by abolishing the death penalty.”

Andrea Riccardi founded the Community of Sant’Egidio as a high school student in 1968; the community has become known for its service to the needy and work on behalf of peace. Approved by the Pontifical Council for the Laity as an international association of the faithful in 1986, the community over the next two decades grew to 50,000 members in 72 nations.

CWN also reports, "Sant’Egidio’s Riccardi named Italian cabinet minister."

Andrea Riccardi, the founder of one of the leading new ecclesial movements, has been named Italy’s minister for international cooperation and integration policies.

Earlier coverage from Rome begins at the link.

Meeting of the International Congress of Ministers of Justice in Rome

Connecticut's Danbury News-Times reports, "Professor speaks at anti-death penalty congress in Rome."  It's written by John Pirro.

As one of the hundreds of Connecticut residents who worked for years to get rid of the death penalty, George Kain, of Ridgefield, said he was proud to attend the seventh International Congress of Ministers of Justice in Rome this week, an organization dedicated to abolishing capital punishment worldwide.

Then, late Monday, the Western Connecticut State University professor learned he had been chosen to address the group about the successful battle that made Connecticut the 17th state in the country to end the practice.

"We knew that we'd be asked to speak, but this did come as a bit of a surprise on such short notice," he said.

Early Tuesday morning, Kain, who teaches criminal justice at Western and serves on the Police Commission in Ridgefield, was putting the finishing touches on the speech he would deliver a few hours later.

According to an excerpt of the speech he emailed to The News-Times, Kain planned to tell his audience, "I am honored to be with you this morning as a representative of the state of Connecticut and proud to celebrate that we are the fifth state in the United States in the last five years to have abolished the barbaric practice of capital punishment."

Kain went on to quote former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, who 40 years ago spoke of "a terribly flawed system which has put innocent men behind bars for the better part of their short lives" and has seen "surviving family members of those murdered dragged through a system that promises them closure but actually only adds to the pain and misery of having lost their loved one."

Kain, a member of the board of directors of the Connecticut Network to Abolish the Death Penalty, was accompanied to Rome by another board member, Fernando Bermudez, a Danbury resident and criminal justice student at Western who spent 18 years in prison in New York for a murder he didn't commit.

Both men will have front-row seats for the lighting of Rome's Colosseum later this week celebrating Connecticut's abolition of capital punishment.

"Former death row inmate drawn to faith by Catholic activism," is the National Catholic Reporter article written by John L. Allen Jr. Here's part of the introduction before the interview:

During the October Synod of Bishops on New Evangelization, Bishop Gerald Kicanas of Tucson argued that the church’s social teaching is a powerful missionary tool, with the capacity to draw people to the faith.

If you need proof of the point, look no further than Curtis McCarty, who spent nineteen years on death row in Oklahoma before eventually being exonerated, and who now seems to be making a journey of faith toward the Catholic church because of the anti-death penalty activism of the Rome-based Community of Sant’Egidio.

Sant’Egidio hosted an international meeting of ministers of justice in Rome to discuss global abolition of the death penalty on Nov. 27, where the soft-spoken McCarty was on hand to share his experience.

Sant’Egidio is a Catholic movement founded in Rome in 1968 and dedicated to conflict resolution, ecumenism and inter-faith dialogue, and promotion of the other elements of Catholic social teaching. Of his encounter with the group, McCarty says bluntly: “They saved me.”

Related posts are in the international category index.

FDA & Imported Lethal Injection Drugs

"FDA appeals lethal-injection drug ruling" is by Kevin O'Hanlon for the November 8 edition of the Lincoln Journal Star.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration says a federal judge overstepped his bounds in a ruling that could force Nebraska to surrender one of its lethal-injection drugs.

In a brief filed this week with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Washington, D.C., Circuit, the FDA appeals a March ruling by U.S. District Judge Richard Leon, who said the agency must immediately notify state correctional departments in possession of any foreign-manufactured sodium thiopental "that the use of such drug is prohibited by law and ... that thiopental must be returned immediately to the FDA.”

Nebraska and several other states in which sodium thoipental is part of the execution protocol were forced to buy it overseas when the last U.S. manufacturer quit making it in 2010 because of death-penalty opposition from overseas customers.

Leon sided with lawyers for death row inmates in Tennessee, Arizona and California who say the foreign-made sodium thiopental is an unapproved drug.

FDA lawyers point to a 1985 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Heckler v. Chaney that said the FDA's decision to not take enforcement action in a lethal-injection drug case was not subject to judicial review. That case involved a challenge by death-row inmates in Texas and Oklahoma who argued that U.S.-manufactured lethal injection drugs in the possession of prison officials had not been certified by the FDA as "safe and effective" for human executions, and thus should be barred from being distributed via interstate commerce.

The FDA argues that Leon "expressly rejected FDA’s explanations that it does not want to expend resources on an area it considers distant from its public health mission, and that it has historically deferred to law enforcement."

"As the Supreme Court recognized in Heckler, overriding an agency’s discretion to decide whether to engage in enforcement proceedings interferes with the agency’s determinations about whether particular enforcement actions are counterproductive or unduly tax agency resources in relation to other responsibilities that the agency may regard as more pressing," the brief says.

And:

Lawyers for the inmates have until Jan. 11 to reply with their brief.

The FDA letter to Nebraska officials is available in Adobe .pdf format.

The FDA Law Blog of Hyman, Phelps & McNamara posts, "FDA Presses “Heckler Defense” in Appeal of Unapproved Thiopental Sodium Death Row Inmate Case.  It's written by Kurt R. Karst.

FDA’s opening brief in the Agency’s appeal of a March 27, 2012 Memorandum Opinion and accompanying Order issued by Judge Richard J. Leon of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia (as modified by a June 22, 2012 Order) in Beaty v. FDA, 853 F. Supp. 2d 30 (D.D.C. 2012) (now Cook v. FDA) concerning FDA’s exercise of enforcement discretion with regard to the importation of unapproved sodium thiopental for use by state Departments of Corrections to carry out death sentences by lethal injection is all about the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Heckler v. Chaney, 470 U.S. 821 (1985).  In Heckler, the Court rejected a challenge to FDA’s determination that the Agency would not take enforcement action in the lethal injection context, and held that FDA’s determinations about the circumstances in which the Agency would take enforcement action were not subject to judicial review, because “agency refusals to institute investigative or enforcement proceedings are committed to agency discretion.”  In Beaty, the outcome was different.  

As we previously reported (here and here), Judge Leon’s decision to grant summary judgment to Plaintiffs stems from a February 2011 lawsuit (amended in July 2011) brought against FDA by death row inmates alleging violations of the Administrative Procedure Act (“APA”) and the FDC Act.  Specifically, the Plaintiffs alleged that FDA violated the APA (5 U.S.C. § 706(2)(A)) by improperly allowing shipments of a misbranded and unapproved new drug to enter the U.S. contrary to the FDC Act, and violated the APA (5 U.S.C. § 706(2)(A)) by departing from longstanding Agency policies and undermining the purpose of the FDC Act. 

At issue in the case is FDC Act § 801(a), which concerns imports.

Earlier coverage of Judge Leon's ruling on the FDA and the importation of lethal injection drugs begins at the link.

At the United Nations

"US sides with Iran and N. Korea in record UN vote over the death penalty," is the AFP post, via the UK's Telegraph.

A record 110 countries on Monday backed a resolution voted every two years at a UN General Assembly committee calling for the abolition of the death penalty.

The vote tears apart traditional alliances at the United Nations. The United States, Japan, China, Iran, India, North Korea, Syria and Zimbabwe were among 39 countries to oppose the non-binding resolution in the assembly's rights committee. Thirty-six countries abstained.

Israel voted against its strong US-ally to join European Union nations, Australia, Brazil and South Africa among major countries backing the motion

Norway, which played a leading role campaigning for the resolution, said on its Twitter account that the increased support was a "great result".

At the last vote in 2010, 107 countries backed the resolution.

France's new Socialist government has launched a campaign with other abolitionist states to get the full General Assembly to pass a resolution in December calling for a death penalty moratorium. Though such a resolution would be non-binding, diplomats say it would increase moral pressure.

A world congress against the death penalty is to be held in Madrid in June.

According to the United Nations, about 150 countries have either abolished capital punishment or have instituted a moratorium.

Earlier coverage from the United Nations begins at the link.  Related posts are in the international category index.

From the United Nations

"Executions increasingly viewed as torture: U.N. investigator," is the Reuters report written by Louis Charbonneau, via the Chicago Tribune.

Countries around the world are increasingly viewing capital punishment as a form of torture because it inflicts severe mental and physical pain on those sentenced to death, a U.N. torture investigator said on Tuesday.

Traditionally, countries have considered the legality of capital punishment with respect to the right to life guaranteed under international law, U.N. special rapporteur on torture Juan Mendez told the U.N. General Assembly's human rights committee.

"My analysis of regional and national jurisprudence identifies a momentum towards redefining the legality of capital punishment," Mendez said.

"States need to re-examine their procedures under international law because the ability of states to impose and carry out the death penalty is diminishing as these practices are increasingly viewed to constitute torture," he said.

He said that there was no such thing as a pain-free form of execution, which makes it difficult to reject the idea that it is a form of torture.

"Methods of execution cannot be discounted as being completely painless," he told reporters after addressing the General Assembly's Third Committee.

In his report to the 193-nation General Assembly, Mendez said that several U.N. expert panels have urged the United States to review its execution methods, including lethal injection, to prevent extreme pain and suffering.

"Following a number of executions in the United States, it has recently become apparent that the (lethal injection) regimen, as currently administered, does not work as efficiently as intended," Mendez's report said.

"Some prisoners take many minutes to die and others become very distressed," he said. "New studies conclude that even if lethal injection is administered without technical error, those executed may experience suffocation, and therefore the conventional view of lethal injection as a peaceful and painless death is questionable."

Earlier coverage of the UN begins at the link.  Related posts are in the international category index.

Today is European and World Day Against the Death Penalty

"European and World Day against the Death Penalty – EU underlines commitment to universal abolition," is the European Union news release:

Today is World and European Day against the Death Penalty. The European Union is opposed to the use of capital punishment in all cases and under any circumstances. Its universal abolition is one of the key objectives of EU human rights policy.

Catherine Ashton, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy/Vice-President of the Commission, said: "Capital punishment is a cruel, inhumane and irreversible action that violates the basic human right to life and dignity. In the case of any miscarriage of justice, from which no legal system is immune, it represents a terrible and irreversible loss of human life. The death penalty can neither reverse the crime it seeks to punish nor mitigate a victim's loss. It should be a relic of the past."

The European Union regularly reaffirms its opposition to the death penalty and uses the various diplomatic tools at its disposal – including statements, demarches and Human Rights Dialogues with its partners – to advance the cause of worldwide abolition. The movement towards abolition is one of the top priorities in its recently adopted Strategic Framework and Action Plan on Human Rights and Democracy, as well as under the European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights (EIDHR).

While global momentum continues to build toward abolition, 20 of the 58 retentionist countries around the world continue to carry out executions at an alarming rate. Where the death penalty still exists, the EU calls for its use to be progressively restricted and to respect internationally-agreed minimum standards.

The EU's campaign against the death penalty is equally active in multilateral fora such as the United Nations and is contributing to the adoption of the 67th United Nations General Assembly resolution on a moratorium on use of the death penalty. The EU continues to encourage all States to accede to the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the most fundamental UN international instrument for the abolition of death penalty.

As well as leading contributions to the efforts of civil society organisations aimed at the abolition of the death penalty, the EU is the first regional body to have adopted rules prohibiting trade in goods used for capital punishment (or torture and ill-treatment), as well as on the supply of technical assistance related to such goods.

The EU also notes, "EU Policy on the Death Penalty."

The European Union holds a strong and principled position against the death penalty; its abolition is a key objective for the Union’s human rights policy. Abolition is, of course, also a pre-condition for entry into the Union.

Indeed, the EU is the leading institutional actor and largest donor to the fight against the death penalty. This commitment is outlined clearly in the EU Guidelines on the death penalty, the first ever human rights guidelines adopted by Council, in 1998. The EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice President of the European Commission Catherine Ashton has also indicated that abolishing capital punishment worldwide is a ‘personal priority’.

The death penalty is cruel and inhuman, and has not been shown in any way to act as a deterrent to crime. The European Union regards abolition as essential for the protection of human dignity, as well as for the progressive development of human rights.

If necessary, the EU advocates a moratorium as a first step towards abolition. The adoption of a resolution on this issue by the UN General Assembly in 2007 was a major breakthrough, while growing support for subsequent resolutions adopted in 2008 and 2010 has served to illustrate the worldwide trend in this direction.

Where the capital punishment is still used, the EU calls for it to be progressively restricted and insists that it be carried out according to international minimum standards.

The EU intervenes both on individual cases and at a general policy level when a country's policy on the death penalty is in flux. In 2009 alone, the EU issued statements on over 30 individual cases and carried out more than 30 other actions in favour of individuals at risk of execution.

EU funding also allows non-governmental organisations to campaign for the abolition of the death penalty. Projects may range from the monitoring of the use of the death penalty to assistance to prisoners, support for constitutional reform, training, advocacy and awareness-raising campaigns.

RTT News posts, "EU Calls For Universal Moratorium On Death Penalty."

The European Union and the Council of Europe have urged all countries which still retain the death penalty to immediately declare a moratorium on executions as a first step towards its abolition.

They also called on all countries to support the resolution on a global moratorium on death penalty, which will be put to a vote at the 67th session of the United Nations General Assembly in December.

"Capital punishment is inhumane and unnecessary. Experience has also shown that it does not serve as a deterrent to crime. No legal system is flawless; any miscarriage of justice could lead to the tragic loss of an innocent life," Thorbjørn Jagland, Secretary-General of the Council of Europe, and European Union Foreign Policy Chief Catherine Ashton said in a Joint declaration issued on Wednesday on the occasion of the European and World Day against the Death Penalty.

They recalled that "abolition of the death penalty throughout Europe, and beyond, is an objective common to all our member states," noting that "no execution has taken place in our member-states in the last 15 years."

"Swiss leads call to abolish death penalty," is by AFP.

Six countries joined forces on Wednesday to call for the “complete abolition” of the death penalty worldwide.

Launched at Switzerland's initiative on the 10th World Day against the Death Penalty, foreign minister Didier Burkhalter signed the appeal along with his counterparts from Germany, France, Liechtenstein, Austria and Italy.

“We intend to work together ... to ensure that the number of executions continues to decline, that judicial proceedings are made more transparent, and that further countries renounce the death penalty until this inhumane form of punishment has disappeared entirely,” read the appeal, published in numerous European dailies.

More than 130 countries have abolished or put a moratorium on the death penalty but 50 nations continued to condone it, the statement said.

And:

In 2010, the UN General Assembly adopted, by 109 votes to 41, a third resolution on the moratorium on the death penalty.

This resolution - coming after earlier proposals adopted in 2007 and 2008 - was introduced by the six nations involved in Wednesday's appeal along with the European Union and numerous other countries around the world.

This is the 10th annual World Day Against the Death Penalty.  Related posts are in the international category index.

Another Hurdle for Propofol's Use in Executions

The Associated Press reports, "Another manufacturer blocks drug for execution use, clouding Missouri’s plans."  It's by Alan Scher Zagier, via the Kansas City Star.

A manufacturer of the anesthetic blamed for Michael Jackson’s overdose death says it won’t allow the drug to be sold for use in executions.

Drugmaker Fresenius Kabi USA is one of two domestic suppliers of propofol, which has been singled out as a lethal injection alternative amid a drug shortage that has forced several states to revise their execution protocols.

Missouri this year said it would become the first state to use propofol as an execution drug.

Fresenius Kabi confirmed to The Associated Press on Thursday that it has told distributors it will not accept orders from U.S. corrections departments.

Hospira is the only other company that has distributed propofol in the U.S., but it has exhausted its current supply and has come out with strong opposition to the drug’s use in executions.

Fresenius Kabi spokesman Matt Kuhn said the company told its distributors in late August that such usage contradicts the drug’s medical purpose and is “inconsistent” with the company’s mission. It is also forbidden under European Union laws to export drugs that could be used in executions.

“Fresenius Kabi objects to the use of its products in any manner that is not in full accordance with the medical indications for which they have been approved by health authorities,” a company statement reads. “Consequently, the company does not accept orders for propofol from any departments of correction in the United States. Nor will it do so.”

And:

Officials with the Missouri attorney general’s office and the Department of Corrections didn’t immediately respond Thursday to requests seeking comment about the propofol maker’s stance. In August, the Missouri Supreme Court declined Attorney General Chris Koster’s request to set execution dates for six death row inmates, calling it “premature” pending the uncertainty over propofol’s availability.

"Supplier of drug Missouri wants to use for executions blocks sale to prisons," by Robert Patrick for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

The only domestic supplier of the powerful painkiller that Missouri hopes to use to execute prisoners has moved to prevent its use for that purpose.

Late last month, Fresenius Kabi sent a letter to healthcare providers that informed them that the company would only sell the drug propofol to approved wholesalers and distributors. Those wholesalers and distributors would only be approved if they refused to sell to prisons and retail pharmacies and only agreed to sell it to hospitals, clinics, and health care facilities that will use it for medically necessary purposes within those facilities, according to the letter.

The company told the Post-Dispatch earlier in August that they would not sell to prisons and were examining whether to “more tightly control access” to the drug in the U.S.

It was not immediately clear how the company’s actions would affect the ability of Missouri and other states to use the drug, including whether Missouri had already obtained a supply of propofol or whether members of the execution team could obtain it themselves.

A spokeswoman for the Missouri attorney general’s office declined to comment Thursday and a spokesman for the Department of Corrections could not be reached for comment.

And:

Fresenius said that use of propofol for executions would be inconsistent with the company’s mission, “caring for life.”

The company also said that a European Union Council regulation prevents “products that may reasonably be expected to be used in executions from being exported.” Propofol is manufactured in Europe, and its use for executions could cut off the supply for therapeutic use, the company said.

The German company has U.S. offices in Schaumburg, Ill.

"Fresenius Restricts Propofol Use For Executions," by Ed Silverman at Pharmalot.

Late last month, the German drugmaker wrote a letter to healthcare providers to say that using Propofol for executions is “contrary to the FDA approved indications” and “inconsistent” with its “mission” and “objects to the use of its products in any manner that is not in full accordance with approved indications.” The August 28 letter, which was posted last month on the company website but hard to find, was signed by Scott Meacham, the chief commercial officer for Fresenius Kabi USA.

As part of its plan to restrict Propofol for use in executions, the drugmaker will only ship the drug to select wholesalers and distributors that agree to resell the medication to acute care hospitals, clinics and health care facilities where its use is medically necessary. These customers must also agree not to resell Propofol to any correctional facilities and exclude shipment to retail pharmacies, according to the letter.

The Fresenius Kabi letter is available in Adobe .pdf format.

Propfol has not been used in any lethal injection executions, and - to date - Missouri is the only state that has proposed to use the drug for executions.

Earlier coverage of Missouri lethal injection issues begins at the link.

Ohio's Execution Drug Supply Will Expire in Sept. 2013

That's the title of an Ohio AP report by Andrew Welsh-Huggins, via the Coschocton Tribune.

Ohio has enough of its now-off-limits execution drug to complete seven of its 10 scheduled lethal injections, meaning that over the next year it must somehow acquire new batches or again switch to a different drug, according to a review of state pharmacy documents by The Associated Press.

The state's supply of pentobarbital expires next September, and the sedative's manufacturer has agreed to prevent its sale to prisons for executions. Ohio and other states stockpiled supplies before that went into effect.

The state plans to put a killer of two men to death Thursday and has executions scheduled through March 2014. Those include three executions after the drug expires at the end of September 2013.

Prisons agency spokeswoman JoEllen Smith told the AP on Tuesday that the department will be working with state pharmacists and the attorney general's office to address the issue. She declined further comment.

It's unclear what Ohio would do once the supply runs out. Prisons director Gary Mohr testified in federal court in March that an altered version of pentobarbital or a supply imported from overseas would not necessarily violate the prison's execution policies. Expired batches of the drug would violate the policies, he said.

Other states also are facing possible pentobarbital shortages, and Missouri switched to another drug altogether earlier this year.

That drug, propofol, is perhaps best known as the drug that killed pop star Michael Jackson in 2009. It has never been used in a U.S. execution.

The Missouri Supreme Court has declined to set execution dates for six condemned killers, saying doing so is "premature" until the courts decide if Missouri's new method is constitutional.

And:

Several states, including Florida, Georgia, Ohio, Oklahoma and Texas, had switched to pentobarbital after supplies of a previous execution drug dried up.

Earlier coverage from Ohio begins at the link.  Related posts are in the lethal injection index.

Recent relevant posts include:

• Missouri Supreme Court Refuses to Set Execution Dates Citing LI Challenge
• The Georgia Execution Drugs
• Raymond Bonner on Lethal Injection Drugs
• Oklahoma Obtains More Pentobarbital
• Britain to Ban Propofol Exports for US Executions
• Texas Stockpiled Lethal Injection Drugs
• Capital Punishment’s Latest Folly
• St. Louis Post-Dispatch Editorial on Missouri Drug Shortage
• Lethal Injection Drug Access Could Put Executions on Hold

Continued Support for Clemency for Terry Williams in Pennsylvania

 

Today's New York Times publishes the editorial, "Pennsylvania’s Broken Machinery of Death."

Pennsylvania is scheduled to execute Terrance Williams on Oct. 3. The state has sentenced more than 400 people to death since the Supreme Court reinstated capital punishment in 1976 and has executed three who gave up on their appeals. But he would be the first person in 50 years to be put to death there while still fighting his sentence.

That should not happen. On Friday in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas, Mr. Williams’s lawyers are scheduled to explain why a state trial judge should stay his execution and why the Philadelphia district attorney should agree that his sentence be commuted to life without parole. There is compelling evidence for both.

And:

The case is a shocking illustration of how Pennsylvania’s machinery of death is irreparably broken. A state commission is studying capital punishment and whether its high cost and manifest unfairness make it time for the state to abolish the penalty. The answer is yes.

"A victim's plea for mercy," is Vicki Schieber's OpEd in the Philadelphia Inquirer.  She's a crime victims' advocate and a member of the Pennsylvania Advisory Committee on Capital Punishment.

Many have come forward with concerns about the execution of Terrance Williams, which is to take place Oct. 3 unless his sentence is commuted. One objection in particular should be given great weight: that of Mamie Norwood, the widow of the man Williams killed in 1984.

I know what it means to lose someone you love to violence. In 1998, my beautiful daughter, Shannon, was murdered in Philadelphia. Shannon was a brilliant young woman and a student at the Wharton School. Every year that passes is full of reminders of what she might have become if not for an act of brutal, senseless violence.

Losing a loved one to murder is a tragedy of unimaginable proportions. At first, my husband and I didn't know how we could go on with our lives. In the years since, working as an advocate for others affected by violent crime, I have learned that this is not unusual among victims' families. Many experience a similar cycle of emotions, from confusion and despair to anger and, for the lucky ones, some kind of peace, acceptance, and ability to continue living productive lives.

And:

Our justice system exists to ensure the safety of citizens and to provide some measure of fairness for those affected by crime. Terrance Williams is not a threat to the public if he serves a life sentence without the possibility of parole.

After public safety concerns, Mamie Norwood's well-being should be the next priority. The governor and others must respect her wishes for the man who killed her husband and allow her to retain the peace she has found.

Today's Inquirer also reports, "Pa. legislative panel asks for moratorium on executions."  It's  by Joseph A. Slobodzian.

With three weeks left before Pennsylvania's first execution in 13 years, a bipartisan legislative task force studying the death penalty's efficacy asked Gov. Corbett on Thursday to halt executions until the panel files its report in December 2013.

Calling the delay "particularly prudent," the task force, in a letter to Corbett, noted that Pennsylvania has not executed anyone in 50 years.

The letter on state Senate stationery was signed by the task force's two ranking members - State Sen. Daylin Leach, a Montgomery County Democrat, and State Sen. Stewart Greenleaf, a Montgomery County Republican - and all 12 members of its advisory committee.

Corbett spokeswoman Janet Kelley said Corbett had not seen the letter and had no immediate comment.

The moratorium request came amid efforts by death-penalty opponents to stop the Oct. 3 execution of Terrance "Terry" Williams, 46, for the 1984 murder of Amos Norwood, 56, in the city's West Oak Lane section.

Williams was privately interviewed Thursday by the state Pardons Board on his request for a recommendation of clemency asking the governor to commute his sentence to life in prison without parole.

The board will hold a public hearing Monday in Harrisburg. The five-member board must unanimously vote for clemency in order for Corbett to consider the nonbinding recommendation.

"Co-defendant joins opposition to Philly man's Oct. 3 execution; condemned man claims abuse," is the AP report filed by Maryclaire Dale.

A judge may rule Friday on a motion to stay the scheduled Oct. 3 execution of a Philadelphia man who now claims his victims had sexually abused him.

Terrance Williams is on death row for killing Amos Norwood at age 18, months after killing another man.

Co-defendant Marc Draper says they told him not to mention it at trial, but to only discuss the robbery motive.

Draper is serving life for his role in the slaying.

The Financial Channel posts, "EU calls for halting Pennsylvania man's execution."

The European Union made an appeal Thursday to stay the execution of a Pennsylvania man subjected to childhood abuse who is due to be put to death next month for killing two of his abusers. 

Through its delegation in the United States, the EU launched an "urgent humanitarian appeal" on behalf of Terry Williams, who has been on death row for 24 years.

The consequences of the trauma Williams endured during his childhood "have arguably had a significant and destructive effect on his life," the EU delegation said in a letter to Pennsylvania Governor Thomas Corbett.

The EU, which is opposed to capital punishment in all circumstances and is seeking a global moratorium against the death penalty, said executing Williams as scheduled on October 3 would break a "de facto moratorium" in the northeastern state, which last executed a convict on July 6, 1999.

Earlier coverage of Terry Williams' clemency request begins at the link.

Advocates for Terry Williams have posted an online petition calling for clemency.  You can find out more about the case and read the entire clemency petition filed with Pennsylvania Board of Pardons.

Related posts are in the clemency and victims' issues index.

France Calls Abolition a Diplomatic Priority

"France’s Fabius says push for universal ban on death penalty will be top diplomatic priority," is the AP report via the Washington Post.

France’s foreign minister says that a push for a universal ban on the death penalty will be a top priority for the country’s diplomats around the world.

Laurent Fabius said Thursday he will tell France’s ambassadors next week to “wage a campaign in favor of” such a ban.

Fabius says he expects resistance from countries where the death penalty is practiced. The United States, China, Japan, Iran and Saudi Arabia are among the countries that use the capital punishment, according to Amnesty International.

France banned the practice in 1981, under the last Socialist president Francois Mitterand. It inscribed the ban in the country’s constitution in 2007.

Related posts are in the international index.

Missouri Supreme Court Refuses to Set Execution Dates Citing LI Challenge

"Missouri Supreme Court declines to set execution dates for 6 killers," is the AP report, via KMOV-TV.

The Missouri Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to set execution dates for six condemned killers, saying doing so is “premature” until the courts decide if Missouri’s new execution method is constitutional.

Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster asked the court to set the execution dates May, the same month the Missouri Department of Corrections adopted a new execution protocol that uses a single drug, propofol.

“Until the parties promptly resolve the issue of the use of propofol as contemplated by the department of corrections’ protocol, ruling on the motion to set execution date is premature,” the court ruling stated Tuesday. A spokeswoman for the Supreme Court declined to elaborate.

Koster called it disappointing.

And:

States have scrambled to find substitutes. Other states have gone to single-drug methods, but Missouri is the first to turn to propofol, an anesthetic.

Cheryl Pilate, an attorney for Smulls, wrote in a filing to the Supreme Court this spring that propofol has been known to cause extreme pain in some patients, even in normal doses. She wrote that the Missouri plan calls for a dose 15 times greater than normal, potentially increasing the risk of pain and suffering. St. Louis attorney Richard Sindel made a similar argument on behalf of Barnett.

Missouri executed 66 men between 1989 and 2005, but has executed just two since, as courts have weighed constitutional challenges to the death penalty. There are 46 men on death row.

Today's St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports, "Missouri execution dates postponed because of suit over new drug."  It's by Robert Patrick.  Here's an extended excerpt's from the Post-Dispatch's extensive coverage:

Twenty-one men on death row — including six who may be next in line to die — say in a lawsuit that Missouri’s new lethal injection drug is unconstitutionally cruel and could force them to spend their final moments screaming in pain.

The latest challenge to the state’s long-troubled injection protocol caused the Missouri Supreme Court on Tuesday to postpone the setting of execution dates for the six, saying it would be premature with the case pending. Four of them were convicted in the St. Louis area.

At issue is Missouri’s plan to replace its three-drug execution cocktail of the past with just propofol, an anesthetic made famous when an overdose of it killed superstar Michael Jackson. The propofol would follow a non-lethal dose of lidocaine, a local anesthetic, intended to buffer potential pain.

Some others states with the death penalty also have switched to using a single drug, but none uses propofol. Illinois administered the traditional cocktail of three separately lethal drugs until it abolished capital punishment last year.

The suit was filed in June after news leaked out the month before about the Department of Corrections’ change.

"It’s an excuse to delay and, from their perspective, someday hopefully abolish the death penalty," St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Robert McCulloch told the Post-Dispatch in an interview Monday, before the Supreme Court announcement. "And its a specious argument."

But Rick Sindel, a lawyer representing four of the plaintiffs, said the state’s own expert admitted in court that propofol could cause "excruciating pain."

"That’s probably why propofol has never been used in any other country or any other state to induce death," Sindel said in an interview.

He complained that the Department of Corrections and attorney general’s office "surreptitiously" hatched the plan without regard for pain.

The lawsuit, filed in Cole County Circuit Court and moved this month on the state’s motion to federal court in Jefferson City, asks that a judge halt lethal injections. State lawyers asked last week for a dismissal, saying the case raises no new issues.

And:

It’s also not clear whether propofol will be available for that purpose. In response to questions from the Post-Dispatch, one manufacturer, Fresenius Kabi, said it will not accept orders from prison systems and is "currently examining whether there may be possibilities to more tightly control access to Propofol in the United States, in order to effectively prevent it from being used for purposes other than the approved medical indications."

The inmates’ chief argument is that propofol would cause the "unprecedented, substantial likelihood of foreseeable infliction of excruciating pain," violating their rights with cruel and unusual suffering.

Sindel said that 60 to 70 percent of medical patients receiving propofol report pain. For some, "pain is excruciating, causing them to cry out and struggle vigorously," or "scream at the top of their lungs," the suit alleges.

"Missouri Supreme Court won’t set execution dates," by Jason Hancock for the Kansas City Star.

The Missouri Supreme Court declined Tuesday to set execution dates for six inmates currently sitting on death row until a legal dispute over the state's execution method can be resolved.

Earlier this year Missouri stopped using its longstanding three-drug method for executions in favor of a single-dose drug called propofol.

Propofol has never previously been used as an execution drug, prompting concerns that it could result in pain and suffering for the condemned. A lawsuit currently pending in Cole County court contends the use of propofol violates the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment.

Until the legal questions are answered, "ruling on the motion to set execution date is premature," the court ruled Tuesday.

Only two men have been executed in Missouri since 2005. Earlier this year, Attorney General Chris Koster asked the state Supreme Court to set execution dates for 19 death row inmates. The request came shortly after the state changed its lethal injection protocol due to a national shortage of sodium thiopental, the first part of the three-drug execution method.

KWMU-FM, St. Louis Public Radio, reports, "Mo. Supreme Court will wait to set execution dates for six inmates, by Rachel Lippmann and Maria Altman.

The Missouri Supreme Court will not set execution dates for six death row inmates until a court case over the state's new execution protocol is resolved.

The state Department of Corrections announced on May 15 that it was switching from the standard three-drug cocktail to a protocol that used just one drug - the anesthetic propofol. Two days later, attorney general Chris Koster asked the state to set execution dates for 19 inmates. In June, that new protocol was challenged on 8th Amendment grounds.

The state high court today ordered the Department of Corrections to wait until that case is decided before scheduling any executions. Here is the full text of the order:

"The Court has received notice of Zink v. Lombardi, Case No. 12AC-CC00396, currently pending in the Cole County circuit court,which contests the execution protocol adopted by the department of corrections on May 15, 2012. The petition in that case raises issues, among others, concerning whether the newly adopted protocol violates the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment, particularly in light of the protocol's requirement that propofol be administered to cause the death of the offender. Until the parties promptly resolve the issue of the use of propofol as contemplated by the department of corrections' protocol, ruling on the motion to set execution date is premature."

Attorney John William Simon represents 19 inmates who filed suit, including the six men whose execution dates were the subject of today’s ruling.

Simon says the drug is known to cause pain when administered.

“Historically the United States has moved from more painful forms of execution to less painful forms,” Simon said. “The new protocol that we are challenging is a backward step. It is going from the electric chair to burning at the stake.”

Earlier coverage of Missouri's lethal injection drug switch begins at the link.  Related posts are in the lethal injection index.

International Condemnation of Marvin Wilson Execution

Today's The Irish Times publishes the editorial, "A death in Texas."

A DECADE AGO the US supreme court ruled that the mentally impaired “should be categorically excluded from execution” because of “their disabilities in areas of reasoning, judgment and control of their impulses.” On Tuesday the state of Texas decided for the tenth time to exercise the discretion allowed by the Atkins v Virginia ruling to examine claims of mental impairment to determine for itself a death row inmate’s degree of capacity, and it executed Marvin Wilson. The supreme court declined to intervene.

And:

He was executed under a new state procedure using a single dose of the sedative pentobarbital following shortages arising from the refusal of a European supplier under pressure from death penalty opponents to supply another drug, sodium thiopental, that had previously been used as part of a three-drug cocktail. Danish suppliers of pentobarbital now say they will not supply the drug for execution use, a refusal which the EU, strongly opposed to the death penalty, should enshrine in community law as an export ban.

Unfortunately, Texas has enough in stock for another 22 executions. Four other states – Arizona, Idaho, Ohio and Washington – have also used a single drug to carry out executions, but death penalty opponents claim single-drug executions may be less humane. They point to an April execution in Arizona, where an inmate shook for several seconds after receiving a lethal dose of pentobarbital. Europe should act quickly to cut off the executioners’ supply of the drug.

The government of France has issued the statement, "United States - Execution of Marvin Wilson."

France condemns yesterday’s execution, in Texas, of Marvin Wilson, who was mentally impaired.

His execution runs counter to internationally established guarantees protecting the rights of people who are eligible for the death penalty, including the principle of not executing individuals who are mentally impaired.

France reaffirms its opposition to the death penalty throughout the world and in all circumstances. Abolishing the death penalty is crucial to the protection of human dignity.

France continues to strive for the universal abolition of capital punishment by seeking a worldwide moratorium on executions, the first step toward accomplishing this objective.

"The Parliament posts, "EU's Ashton voices concern over Texan execution," by Martin Banks.

EU foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton has voiced concern at the execution in Texas of a disabled man.

A spokesman for Ashton, EU high representative for foreign affairs and security policy and a commission vice president, said she "deeply regrets the execution" of Marvin Wilson.

And:

In a statement, Ashton's spokesman said, "The high representative recognises the serious nature of the crime involved and expresses her sincere sympathy to the surviving family and friends of the victim.

"However, she does not believe that their loss has been mitigated by Wilson's death.

"The EU opposes the use of capital punishment in all cases and under all circumstances and calls for a global moratorium as a first step towards its universal abolition. With capital punishment any miscarriage of justice, from which no legal system is immune, represents an irreversible loss of human life.''

"Texas Execution Prompts EU To Call For Moratorium On Death Penalty," is from RTT News.

European Union Foreign Policy chief Catherine Ashton has expressed deep regret at the execution of a US citizen who has significant intellectual disabilities, and called for a global moratorium on capital punishment.

The US state of Texas on Tuesday executed Marvin Lee Wilson, a man who has significant intellectual disabilities, ignoring calls by human rights organizations.

And:

A statement issued by the spokesperson of Catherine Ashton on Wednesday said "The High Representative recognizes the serious nature of the crime involved and expresses her sincere sympathy to the surviving family and friends of the victim. However, she does not believe that their loss has been mitigated by Wilson's death."

Ashton said "The EU opposes the use of capital punishment in all cases and under all circumstances," and called for "a global moratorium as a first step towards its universal abolition.

"With capital punishment any miscarriage of justice, from which no legal system is immune, represents an irreversible loss of human life,'' she added.

"The law of executions," is at Al Jazeera English.  There is video at the link.

To discuss this Inside Story Americas, with presenter Shihab Rattansi, speaks to: Jim Ellis, a lawyer who argued the 2002 case in which the Supreme Court ruled that executing intellectually disabled individuals is cruel and unusual punishment; Laura Moye, the Death Penalty Abolition Campaign director at Amnesty International USA; and Margaret Nygren, the executive director of the American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities.

Earlier coverage of the execution of Marvin Wilson begins with the preceding post.

The State of Lethal Injection Procedures

"States Transition to One-Drug Executions," is the PBS NewsHour report.

Both Yokamon Hearn and Warren Hill were scheduled to die on Wednesday.

While Texas put to death Hearn as planned, in the state's first execution using a new process for lethal injection -- with one drug instead of a three-drug mix -- Georgia Department of Corrections postponed Hill's execution until Monday at 7 p.m. to also make the switch to the single sedative pentobarbital.

Both states followed the same procedural change as other state criminal justice departments -- including Ohio, Arizona and Idaho -- that have run into problems finding the supply of the three-drug mix. While the change revives the capital punishment issue, it's not one causing much controversy.

Experts Richard Dieter and Kent Scheidegger both explained what the change means in phone interviews with the NewsHour on Thursday.

The Wall Street Journal reports, "Texas Alters Execution Procedure."  It's by Steve Eder.

States in recent years have been looking for other drug options in response to a shortage of thiopental sodium, a drug used for almost three decades to render inmates unconscious before other drugs were used. Last year, the sole U.S. maker of thiopental sodium halted production amid a campaign by death-penalty opponents, and makers of other drugs used in executions have come under similar pressure.

The shortages have prompted some states to modify their procedures, with Arizona, Idaho, Ohio, Washington—and now Texas—switching to a single-drug option. On Tuesday, Georgia announced it was delaying an execution as it moves to a single-drug process, and that drug supplies were a factor in the change.

In March, 2011, Texas announced it was switching from using thiopental sodium to the sedative pentobarbital in its three-drug cocktail. Then, last week, Texas again changed its protocol, this time switching from the three-drug sequence to a single-dose of pentobarbital.

The latest change came after the expiration of Texas' stockpile of another drug used in executions, pancuronium bromide, said Jason Clark, a spokesman for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. The state wasn't able to obtain replacements for that drug, he said.

Texas has administered six lethal injections this year and has eight more scheduled.

"By switching to a single-drug protocol, we are able to fulfill our statutory responsibility to carry out all executions currently scheduled," Mr. Clark said.

Earlier coverage of Hearn's execution begins at the link.  Coverage is also available on Texas' and Georgia's switch to single-drug lethal injection executions is also available.

UN Speaks Out on Hearn & Hill Cases

"UN expert urges US authorities to stop execution of two persons with disabilities," is the news release from the UN News Centre.  Here's the complete text.

An independent United Nations human rights expert has urged United States authorities to stop the execution of two people with psychosocial disabilities who are scheduled to be put to death tomorrow in the states of Georgia and Texas.

“It is a violation of death penalty safeguards to impose capital punishment on individuals suffering from psychosocial disabilities,” said the UN Special Rapporteur on arbitrary executions, Christof Heyns.

“It is also contrary to the United States Supreme Court ruling Atkins v Virginia, which held that such executions are unconstitutional,” added the expert, who reports in an independent and unpaid capacity to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.

Warren Hill and Yokamon Laneal Hearn were convicted of murder in separate incidents, and the convictions have been the subject of a number of legal appeals based on the defendants’ mental health, according to a news release issued by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).

However, their death sentences were upheld despite claims that the defendants had psychosocial disabilities, and the existence of a federal ban on such executions. On Monday, the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles rejected clemency for Mr. Hill.

Mr. Heyns called on the state authorities “to demonstrate the moral and legal leadership expected of the strong democracy that the United States is by commuting the death sentences of Hill and Hearn, and show the importance it gives to the fundamental right to life.”

In relation to Mr. Hill’s case, the Special Rapporteur voiced particular concern that Georgia is now the only US state that requires proof of what it calls ‘mental retardation beyond a reasonable doubt,’ rather than a preponderance of the evidence as in other jurisdictions, although Georgia was the first state in the US to recognize that such defendants should not be executed.

“This higher standard of proof, making it very difficult to demonstrate that one actually suffers from a psychosocial disability may, I fear, mean that Mr. Hill, scheduled for execution tomorrow, would be a fatality in violation of international as well as domestic law,” Mr. Heyns said.

Regarding Mr. Hearn’s scheduled execution in Texas, the expert noted that “there is evidence to suggest that he also suffers from psychosocial disabilities. This includes an expert opinion that he is affected by structural brain dysfunction likely to have been caused by his mother’s alcohol abuse during pregnancy.”

According to the OHCHR news release, information received by the expert raises issues of a lack of a proper investigation, including mitigating factors, arbitrariness and non-compliance with fair trial safeguards that potentially constitute violations of international standards applicable to the death penalty.

"U.N. expert: Ga., Texas executions illegal," is the UPI report.

A U.N. rights specialist appealed to Georgia and Texas not to execute two men, arguing they're mentally disabled and killing them would be unconstitutional.

"It is a violation of death penalty safeguards to impose capital punishment on individuals suffering from psychosocial disabilities," said Christof Heyns, U.N. special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions.

"It is also contrary to the United States Supreme Court ruling Atkins vs. Virginia, which held that such executions are unconstitutional," he said.

A rapporteur is a person responsible for compiling reports and presenting them to a governing body.

The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 June 30, 2002, that executing mentally retarded individuals violates the Eighth Amendment's ban on cruel and unusual punishment.

Warren Hill was convicted of murder in Georgia and Yokamon Hearn was convicted of murder in Texas.

Their convictions have been the subject of a number of legal appeals based on the defendants' mental health.

Reuters posts, "U.N. expert says U.S. executions, due Wednesday, unconstitutional," by Stephanie Nebehay.

A United Nations human rights investigator called on the U.S. states of Georgia and Texas to halt the execution of two men, scheduled for Wednesday, saying that the prisoners were mentally disabled and killing them would breach the U.S. constitution.

Christof Heyns, U.N. special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, said that it was a "violation of death penalty safeguards" to execute someone suffering from "psychosocial disabilities" and said their death sentences should be commuted.

"It is also contrary to the U.S. Supreme Court ruling Atkins v. Virginia which held that such executions are unconstitutional," Heyns said in a statement, referring to a 2002 ruling that bans executing mentally retarded defendants.

Warren Hill and Yokamon Laneal Hearn were found guilty of murder in Georgia and Texas, respectively, and their convictions have been the subject of a number of legal appeals based on the defendants' mental health, he said.

Earlier coverage of the Yokamon Hearn and Warren Hill cases at the links; related posts in the international category index.

Witness to Innocence at the United Nations

David Love posts, "Moving Towards a Worldwide Moratorium on the Death Penalty," at Huffington Post.  He's the Executive Director of  Witness to Innocence.  Here's an extended excerpt from the beginning:

It was a good day at the United Nations. On July 3, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called on member states to abolish the death penalty. And he called for a universal moratorium on the death penalty by 2015.

"The taking of life is too absolute, too irreversible, for one human being to inflict on another, even when backed by legal process," he said. "Where the death penalty persists, conditions for those awaiting execution are often horrifying, leading to aggravated suffering."

Mr. Ban gave the introductory remarks at a panel called "Moving away from the death penalty -- Lessons from national experiences" at U.N. Headquarters in New York. The event, a gathering of diplomats, legal practitioners and civil society, focused on those U.N. member states that have made positive steps towards abolition, and the human rights implications of the death penalty in those states that execute. Also present were Assistant Secretary-General Navi Pillay, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, and Christof Heyns, Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions.

Speaking at the forum was Federico Mayor, president of the International Commission Against the Death Penalty, an initiative of the Spanish government that is supported by 15 countries. Mayor noted that one of the first steps taken by Spain after the Franco regime was the abolition of the death penalty.

A highlight of the forum was Witness to innocence member Kirk Bloodsworth, who spent eight years in prison, including two on Maryland's death row, for a murder that someone else committed. He was convicted of the murder and rape of a little girl. In 1993, Bloodsworth was the first death row prisoner to be exonerated through DNA testing. And he was released just months after his mother died.

Bloodsworth shared with an international audience the inherent problem of executing innocent people, of his experiences living in the hell that is death row, and the pain of being released from prison just a few months after his mother died.

Barry Scheck of the Innocence Project noted that only 5-10 percent of serious felonies have biological evidence for the purposes of DNA testing and proving one's innocence. Innocent people are sentenced to death for a number of reasons, including police and prosecutorial misconduct, incompetent lawyering, racism in the jury selection process, eyewitness misidentification, and others.

Reasonable people can differ about the death penalty, Scheck said, but no one can differ about the risk of executing innocent people.

Earlier coverage of United Nations activities begins at the link.

Britain to Ban Propofol Exports for US Executions

 The Guardian reports, "UK to ban export of drug approved for use in US executions."  It's by Juliette Jowit.

A bar on exports from the UK of a drug approved for use to execute prisoners in America is to be announced on on Wednesday - a move which could put pressure on the US's already strained death row prisons.

The business secretary, Vince Cable, will publish details of a export control on overseas sales of the drug propofol, which is more usually used as an anaesthetic in hospitals.

The move is being made after Missouri became the first US state to allow propofol to be used in lethal injections, with other states expected to follow suit as they struggle to make up for a shortfall in a key ingredient of the traditional cocktail of chemicals.

"This country opposes the death penalty," said a statement from Cable. "We are clear that the state should never be complicit in judiciary executions through the use of British drugs in lethal injections."

The government's move follows a long campaign by the Lib Dem MP Alistair Carmichael, now deputy chief whip, who led anger about the use of a British-made drug called sodium thiopental in executions in the US, where it has been one of the three key ingredients in lethal injections for three decades.

The coalition announced its first export control on sodium thiopental in November 2010, followed by controls on three further drugs used in lethal injections last year – decisions which prompted other European states to advise their pharmaceutical companies to avoid exports for lethal injection, and later an EU-wide ban.

Following those bans, and controls imposed by manufacturers in the US, some US states have struggled to access supplies of the drugs and there have been reports of delays to planned executions. The total number of executions – all by lethal injection – has dropped slightly in the last few years.

"Lethal injection drug exports to be banned in UK," in the Telegraph.

The Business Secretary Vince Cable is expected to introduce new legislative controls over the sale of Propofol, which will be used to prepare the injection that puts prisoners to death in America. It was also the drug used by Michael Jackson to treat his insomnia.

The move was announced after Missouri became the first state to confirm it would begin using the drug in its executions, with others expected to follow, according to the Times.

Mr Cable said: "This country opposes the death penalty. We are clear that the state should never be complicit in judiciary executions through the use of British drugs in lethal injections."

He added a ban would not stop anaesthetics being sold the US for medical purposes.

Since Missouri outlined its intention to use Propofol, campaigners have set out a legal challenge, arguing the drug causes pain before death, and humane administration of a fatal dose was unlikely.

Maya Foa, the head of Reprieve's Stop the Lethal Injection Project, said: "Propofol is a dangerous drug. Anaesthetists have 15 years’ training, a warden may have a few hours or days."

"Propofol Export Ban: Vince Cable Introduces Legislative Controls Over Drug Used For Lethal Injection," is by Paul Vale for Huffington Post UK.

The UK is to ban the export of the drug propofol, a heavy-duty anaesthetic, which was due to be used in the United States for the lethal injection of inmates.

Legislative controls, which were announced by business secretary Vince Cable on Wednesday, follow an announcement in May from the Missouri Department of Corrections that the state is to switch to propofol, the anaesthetic blamed for the death of Michael Jackson, as a single-drug solution for state executions.

Until recently most US states used sodium thiopental alongside two other drugs to kill inmates.

And:

Following Cable's announcement, other European countries are expected to follow with similar bans.

"This country opposes the death penalty,” said the business secretary on Wednesday.

“We are clear that the state should never be complicit in judiciary executions through the use of British drugs in lethal injections."

Earlier coverage of Missouri's announced drug switch and an earlier British block on selling another drug used in lethal injections, at the link.  Related posts are in the lethal injection index.

TDCJ Switches to Single-Drug Lethal Injection Protocol

"Texas switches to 1-drug execution due to shortage," is the AP filing written by Nomaan Merchant.  It's also available via the Austin American-Statesman.

Texas, the nation's most active death penalty state, announced Tuesday that it would become the latest to switch to single-drug executions amid a drug shortage that has left states scrambling for acceptable alternatives.

The Texas Department of Criminal Justice said it will begin using a single dose of the sedative pentobarbital to carry out death sentences. It had been using that drug in combination with two others, but its supply of one of the other drugs expired.

Texas began using pentobarbital last year after another drug, sodium thiopental, became unavailable when its European supplier bowed to pressure from death penalty opponents and stopped making it. But pentobarbital is now in short supply after its Danish manufacturer said it would try to prevent its use in executions.

An Oklahoma inmate asked a federal court on Tuesday to halt his upcoming execution because that state has only one dose of pentobarbital left. A lawyer for Michael Hooper said Oklahoma has no backup plan if the drug fails to render Hooper unconscious, and that creates a risk of cruel and unusual punishment.

Texas officials said in May that they have enough doses of pentobarbital to carry out 23 executions. No one has been executed in the state since.

In the three-drug cocktail, Texas officials administered 5 grams of the drug - about 3.4 ounces - to render the inmate unconscious, followed by the muscle relaxant pancuronium bromide and potassium chloride to stop the heart. Pancuronium bromide is the drug that expired.

Department of Criminal Justice spokesman Jason Clark said officials didn't expect the dose of pentobarbital needed to change with the new procedure.

Four other states - Arizona, Idaho, Ohio and Washington - have used a single drug to carry out executions, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. Ohio was the first to use just pentobarbital, during a March 2011 execution.

Other states, such as Missouri, plan to use propofol, the anesthetic blamed for Michael Jackson's death, to do single-drug executions.

"Texas Will Change Its Lethal Injection Protocol," is Brandi Grissom's post at the Texas Tribune.

Texas will join a handful of states that use a single drug in lethal injections, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice announced Tuesday. 

"Implementing the change in protocol at this time will ensure that the agency is able to fulfill its statutory responsibility for all executions currently scheduled," TDCJ spokesman Jason Clark said in an email.

For Yokamon Hearn's scheduled execution on July 18, officials plan to administer a lethal dose of pentobarbital instead of the three-drug cocktail that has been used since Texas reinstated the death penalty in 1982. Clark said the decision to change the protocol came because the state's supply of one of the other drugs that had been used in the protocol — pancuronium bromide — had expired and TDCJ was unable to obtain more.

"The agency currently has an adequate supply of pentobarbital to carry out all scheduled executions," Clark said. Currently, nine inmates are scheduled to be executed between July 18 and Nov. 14. Clark said that courts have upheld the use of the single-drug protocol as constitutional.

Pentobarbital is a barbiturate that is often used in animal euthanasia, but states began using it more widely in lethal injections last year. Ohio was the first state to switch to the single-drug protocol using pentobarbital in March 2011.

Earlier coverage of Texas lethal injection issues begins at the link.

U.N. Chief Calls for End of Death Penalty

That's the title of an AP report, via USA Today.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon has called for the death penalty to be abolished.

Ban told a panel on the issue convened Tuesday by the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights: "The taking of life is too absolute, too irreversible, for one human being to inflict on another, even when backed by legal process."

Since the General Assembly endorsed a call for a death penalty moratorium in 2007, several nations have abolished the death penalty, including Argentina, Burundi, Gabon, Latvia, Togo and Uzbekistan. The U.N. says 150 nations have either abolished the death penalty or do not practice it.

Ban said he was especially concerned that the death penalty is still used for juvenile offenders, and 32 nations use it for drug-related offenses.

The U.N. News Centre issued, "Secretary-General calls on States to abolish death penalty."

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today called on Member States which use the death penalty to abolish this practice, stressing that the right to life lies at the heart of international human rights law.

“The taking of life is too absolute, too irreversible, for one human being to inflict on another, even when backed by legal process,” Mr. Ban told a panel organized by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) on ‘Moving away from the death penalty – Lessons from national experiences’ at UN Headquarters in New York.

“Where the death penalty persists, conditions for those awaiting execution are often horrifying, leading to aggravated suffering,” he added.

In 2007, the General Assembly endorsed a call for a worldwide moratorium of the death penalty. Since then, the practice has been abolished by countries like Argentina, Burundi, Gabon, Latvia, Togo and Uzbekistan. More than 150 States have either abolished the death penalty or do not practice it.

However, Mr. Ban noted, the death penalty is still used for a wide range of crimes in various countries. In particular, he expressed concern that 32 States retain the death penalty for drug-related offences, and its use on juvenile offenders.

“I am also very concerned that some countries still allow juvenile offenders under the age of 18 at the time of the alleged offence to be sentenced to death and executed,” Mr. Ban said. “The call by the General Assembly for a global moratorium is a crucial stepping stone in the natural progression towards a full worldwide abolition of the death penalty.”

The High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, has also repeatedly called for the universal abolition of the death penalty, citing a host of reasons ranging from the fundamental right to life to the possibility of judicial errors.

In addition, Mr. Ban’s Guidance Note of 2008 on the UN Approach to Rule of Law Assistance stated that the UN will not establish or directly participate in any tribunal that allows for capital punishment.

Texas Stockpiled Lethal Injection Drugs

Today's Austin American-Statesman reports, "Records: Texas bought execution drugs before supply dwindled."  It's by Mike Ward.

Turned down in their request for secrecy by state Attorney General Greg Abbott for the second time in as many months, Texas prison officials have revealed that their large stockpile of lethal injection drugs — probably the largest in the country — came from a South Carolina pharmaceutical supplier.

In releasing invoices and other records about its supply chain, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice shed new light on how it obtained the stockpile of a key drug used in executions last year, at a time when other states were unable to purchase any and some were being forced to switch to other drugs.

The information confirmed that Texas purchased its lethal drugs in spring 2011 through a U.S.-based supplier, not through a shadowy overseas network that several other states had used last year — actions that drew federal agents to seize illegally imported drugs.

Texas appeared to get a head start on other states by buying the drugs when supplies were still available. By the summer of 2011, the domestic supplies had mostly dried up — and the other states were left hunting for pentobarbital in places such as England and Pakistan.

Last month, the Texas agency, which operates the busiest death chamber in the United States, confirmed that it had enough lethal drugs on hand to carry out as many as 23 executions — and that it does not prepare backup doses of the three drugs, as officials previously had said state policy requires.

And:

Invoices made public by the agency Wednesday show that more than $51,000 worth of the powerful sedative Nembutal, a brand name for pentobarbital, was purchased in March and April 2011 through Physician Sales and Service in Houston.

Other forms disclosed Wednesday show it was shipped from company offices in West Columbia, S.C.

Calls to the company in both locations were not returned. Company officials previously had not commented about the sales.

The newly disclosed documents reveal that in one shipment, three of 39 vials of Nembutal were broken in transit. The state received a credit for the breakage, according to the records.

Earlier coverage of Texas' lethal injection drugs and TDCJ's resistance to releasing public information begins at the link.

Nebraska, South Dakota Reaction to FDA Appeal

"FDA appeals lethal injection ruling," is Kevin O'Hanlon's report for the Lincoln Journal Star.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is appealing a federal judge’s ruling that could force Nebraska to surrender one of its lethal-injection drugs.

U.S. District Judge Richard Leon of Washington, D.C., told the FDA in March “to immediately notify any and all state correctional departments which it has reason to believe are still in possession of any foreign manufactured thiopental that the use of such drug is prohibited by law and that, that thiopental must be returned immediately to the FDA.”

In April, the FDA ordered Nebraska prison officials to turn over any foreign-manufactured thiopental in their possession. The letter followed Leon's ruling that said the FDA ignored the law in allowing foreign-made sodium thiopental into the country.

Leon sided with lawyers for death row inmates in Tennessee, Arizona and California who want to keep out sodium thiopental because it is an unapproved drug manufactured overseas.

Shannon Kingery, spokeswoman for the Nebraska attorney general's office, has said Leon's ruling does not apply here because the supply of the drug in that case was made by a different company from the one that made Nebraska's.

But with the appeal, it is likely defense lawyers will be able to convince the Nebraska Supreme Court to delay scheduling any executions until it's determined whether Leon's ruling applies to Nebraska. And while no one knows how long that appeal could take, Nebraska's two batches of sodium thiopental expire in May and December of next year.

And:

Omaha Sen. Scott Lautenbaugh, a member of the Legislature's Judiciary Committee, recently said he thinks lawmakers need to step in and possibly change Nebraska's protocol.

"FDA appeals ruling to surrender death drug," is the Omaha World-Herald report.

The federal Food and Drug Administration has appealed a judge's ruling that might force Nebraska to surrender its supply of a key drug used to carry out lethal-injection executions.

The recent action comes after Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning had joined other state attorneys general in urging the FDA to challenge the ruling prohibiting the use of sodium thiopental obtained overseas.

U.S. District Court Judge Richard Leon also ordered states, like Nebraska, that had obtained the drug from a foreign manufacturer to turn in their supply to the FDA.

The Swiss manufacturer of Nebraska's sodium thiopental also asked the state to voluntarily return its supply, saying it was obtained by the state under false pretenses.

Nebraska prison officials have refused the requests, stating the state's supply was legitimately obtained.

FDA officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment Monday afternoon. The Attorney General's Office said it would have no comment.

In South Dakota, the Sioux Falls Argus Leader reports, "FDA appeals court ruling on lethal-injection drug."

The Food and Drug Administration is appealing a federal judge’s ruling against importing a lethal injection drug that could affect South Dakota and Nebraska.

News of the appeal came on the same day that the U.S. Supreme Court said it would refuse to hear Donald Moeller’s appeal of his conviction for the 1990 rape and murder of a 9-year-old Sioux Falls girl.

And:

In March, a judge sided with death row inmates in Tennessee, Arizona and California who want to keep the drug out. The judge found the FDA had wrongly allowed states to import the drug and ordered the agency to get it back. Nebraska, South Dakota and other states refused.

Earlier coverage of the FDA litigation begins at the link.

California & the FDA Litigation

"Calif. defies order to turn over execution drug," is the AP report, via the Stockton Record.

California on Friday joined other states in defying a federal government order to turn over a key execution drug.

At issue is the drug sodium thiopental, one of three drugs California and dozens of other states use in lethal injections. It puts the inmate to sleep before fatal doses of two other drugs are delivered. California and others have been purchasing the drug oversees since the United States' sole manufacturer ceased production of the anesthetic in 2011.

U.S. District Judge Richard Leon in March ruled that the Food and Drug Administration erred in allowing the prisons to import the foreign-made drug. The judge ordered the FDA to confiscate all foreign-made sodium thiopental and to warn prisons that it was now illegal to use the drug. The FDA followed the Washington D.C.-based judge's order and sent demand letters to prisons. But beginning with Nebraska on April 20, more than a dozen states have refused to comply with the FDA order.

On Friday, California joined the protest in a letter sent to the FDA. With 725 Death Row inmates, California has the highest number of condemned prisoners.

California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation lawyer Benjamin Rice and the other states with foreign-bought sodium thiopental contend they aren't bound by the ruling made by a federal judge in Washington D.C.

Earlier coverage of Judge Leon's ruling and the FDA litigation begins with the preceding post.

Capital Punishment’s Latest Folly

That's the title of a New York Times editorial.  It appeared in the Saturday edition.

The history of capital punishment in this country has had many horrifying turnings, few more macabre than a warning from states employing lethal injection that a federal court ruling has left them facing a shortage of the imported drug they rely on to kill death-row felons.

The scarcity arose after the one domestic manufacturer stopped making sodium thiopental in 2010. In March, Judge Richard Leon of Federal District Court in Washington blocked the importation of the drug, ruling the Food and Drug Administration had not approved it for “safety and effectiveness,” as required for imports. The F.D.A.’s position was that reviewing such a drug designed for death “clearly falls outside of F.D.A.’s explicit public health role.”

Thirty-three states use lethal injection, and 15 of them have asked the Department of Justice to appeal Judge Leon’s ruling. The judge’s decision is a wise and welcome one that the Justice Department should accept. Capital punishment should be outlawed in all its forms, as it is in most advanced societies.

The lethal-injection quandary is playing out in a second lawsuit brought by The Associated Press and other news organizations to challenge five states that are violating a 2002 federal court mandate that the law requires every step of execution to be witnessed in behalf of the public. When the death chamber curtains have been drawn lately in Idaho, Washington, Montana, Arizona and Nevada, the main insertion of the lethal injection has already occurred. Some subjects have been seen to barely move, with suspicions arising about some inhumane trauma taking place out of sight.

"DOJ appeals injunction on import of death penalty drug," is the Friday afternoon post by Alison Frankel for ReutersLegal.

On Friday, the U.S. Department of Justice filed notice that it is appealing an injunction barring the Food and Drug Administration from permitting states to import the anesthetic thiopental as a death penalty drug. U.S. District Judge Richard Leon of federal court in Washington, D.C., entered the injunction on March 27, after concluding that the FDA was violating the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act when it permitted an unapproved drug to be brought into the country from a London wholesaler. (A U.S. supplier stopped making the drug in 2009.) The judge said the FDA had to abide by the same rules it imposes on everyone else.

"The FDA has acted inconsistently with FDA regulations, acted inconsistently with its longstanding practices, and acted in a manner contrary to the purpose of the FDCA, thereby threatening the public health," Leon wrote.

The death penalty prisoners who brought the thiopental case are represented by Sidley Austin, which is handling the suit pro bono. But Sidley also has a roster of pharmaceutical clients who want their regulator to adhere to limits on its discretion. It turns out that Sidley is developing a microniche business of demanding government accountability for clients who allege they're the victims of agency overreaching.

"FDA Is Appealing Court Bar to Drug Used in Executions," is the Bloomberg report by Tom Schoenberg.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is appealing a federal judge’s order that banned the importation of sodium thiopental and its use in executions.

The FDA, which filed a notice of appeal today in the federal court in Washington, is seeking to overturn a ruling in March favoring 21 death row inmates who challenged the agency’s use of sodium thiopental, an imported drug given as anesthesia before a lethal injection is administered.

U.S. District Judge Richard Leon held that the agency violated its own rules by allowing the drug into the country without first ensuring its effectiveness. Leon said the agency created “an unnecessary risk” that prisoners “will not be anesthetized properly prior to execution.”

Leon said the agency had created a “slippery slope” for the entry of other unapproved drugs.

The judge banned the import of thiopental, calling it a misbranded and unapproved drug, and directed Arizona, California, Georgia, South Carolina and Tennessee and any others with stocks of the barbiturate to send them to the FDA.

On May 21, 15 state attorneys general sent U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder a letter urging the department to appeal Leon’s ruling. The legal officers said the case was wrongly decided and might impair states’ ability to execute prisoners.

In a lawsuit filed in February 2011, the inmates said the FDA allowed states to import “bulk amounts” of thiopental. The drug hasn’t been sold in the U.S. since 2009, when the sole U.S. manufacturer, Hospira Inc. (HSP), stopped producing it.

The Memorandum Opinion in Beaty v. FDA and the District Court's Order are available in Adobe .pdf format.

Coverage of Jude Leon's ruling begins at the link.  Related posts are in the lethal injection category index; notable posts include:

• 15 State Attorneys General Seek DoJ Help on LI Drugs
• The Idaho Lawsuit
• FDA Orders Nebraska to Surrender Foreign Thiopental; Letters to Other States
• South Dakota AG Defiant Over FDA Order to Hand Over LI Drugs

The Virginia Lethal Injection Challenge

"Virginia officials ask for dismissal of legal challenge to executions," is the title of Frank Green's Richmond Times-Dispatch report.

Virginia officials have asked that a challenge to lethal injection alleging executioners are engaging in the unlicensed practice of medicine be dismissed as frivolous.

"Lethal injection is not the practice of medicine, pharmacy or anesthesiology because (the executioners are) not preventing, diagnosing or treating any ailment," asserts a brief from the Virginia Attorney General's Office.

Instead, the brief, filed in Richmond Circuit Court last week, argues that "in carrying out a court's criminal sentence of death, (executioners are) committing a judicially authorized homicide with the specific intent to end, not save, a life."

Last month, two Northern Virginia lawyers filed a complaint in Richmond Circuit Court against prison officials.

The defendants, the complaint states, are not authorized under state law to request, dispense, distribute, give and/or obtain or intravenously administer as a general anesthetic controlled prescription substances to condemned inmates.

In response to the attorney general's brief, the lawyers wrote that they do not contend the executioners are practicing medicine, but rather the methods they use illegally incorporate the practices of medicine, pharmacy and anesthesiology.

Earlier coverage of Virginia lethal injection issues begins at the link.

15 State Attorneys General Seek DoJ Help on LI Drugs

CNN posts, "States urge feds to help import lethal injection drugs."  It's by Bill Mears.

A nationwide shortage of a commonly used imported drug used in capital punishment has prompted 15 states on Monday to urge the U.S. Justice Department to intervene.

Led by Oklahoma officials, the move comes as the 33 states with the death penalty -- all of whom use lethal injection as the primary execution method -- struggle to preserve existing stock or search for legally acceptable chemical alternatives.

A federal judge in March had blocked the importation of thiopental into states like Arizona, South Carolina, and Georgia saying it was a "misbranded drug and an unapproved drug." Judge Richard Leon in Washington ordered state corrections departments to return suspected foreign-made thiopental to the Food and Drug Administration.

The states called that a "flawed decision" and now want the FDA to appeal that judge's decision, saying upcoming executions are being undermined. Attorneys General Scott Pruitt in Oklahoma and Marty Jackley in South Dakota are leading the legal effort.

"At the very core of the states' police powers are their powers to enact laws to protect their citizens against violent crimes. As state attorneys general, we are tasked with enforcing those laws, including in instances where capital punishment is authorized for the most heinous of crimes," according to attorneys general from the 15 states.

States argued the federal agency had routinely released the imported drug for executions, a practice suspended after the judge's ruling.

"If the (court) decision is not overturned, we as state attorneys general will be forced to take actions to ensure execution by lethal injection remains a viable option."

This comes after Texas officials disclosed Monday they only have enough drugs on hand for 23 more executions. The next scheduled execution in the U.S. is Bobby Hines in Texas on June 6.

Missouri earlier this month announced new protocols, and will use an entirely new drug. Propofol is a surgical anesthetic that in large doses can be administered fatally, but has never been used in the U.S. to put prisoners to death.

"Pruitt, other attorneys general seek Justice Department help as supply of execution drug runs low," is the Tulsa World report written by Cary Aspinwall.  Pruitt's letter to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder is available in Adobe .pdf format.

Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt and attorneys general of 14 other states have asked the Justice Department to appeal a court decision that blocks supplies of a key lethal injection drug.

Pruitt and the other state attorneys general are asking U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to appeal the district court ruling known as the "Beaty decision," which blocks U.S. states from using foreign-manufactured sodium thiopental in executions.

The state attorneys general who signed the letter argue the Beaty decision violates federal policy and impairs states' ability to carry out capital punishment.

In March, a federal judge ruled in favor of death-row inmates in Tennessee, Arizona and California who argued that foreign-manufactured sodium thiopental should be banned because it has not been FDA-approved for importation.

Sodium thiopental is used by several states as the first part of a lethal injection cocktail; it renders prisoners unconscious. Foreign suppliers became the only source to obtain sodium thiopental after the sole domestic manufacturer announced in January 2011 it no longer would produce it.

Oklahoma switched to pentobarbital in 2010 after sodium thiopental supplies ran scarce, but now pentobarbital is also in short supply nationally.

In the letter, Pruitt and the other attorneys general argue the Beaty decision reversed what was the routine Food and Drug Administration practice to release imported thiopental to state departments of correction for use in executions, undermining the ability of states to properly enforce capital punishment laws.

"At the very core of the states' police powers are their powers to enact laws to protect their citizens against violent crimes. As state attorneys general, we are tasked with enforcing those laws, including in instances where capital punishment is authorized for the most heinous of crimes," the letter states.

"SD, other states seek review of execution drug," is the AP report from South Dakota's Aberdeen News.

South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley has joined colleagues in 14 other states in asking U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to review federal policy on a drug used in carrying out death sentences.

The letter sent by the attorneys general says recent federal policy could impair the ability of the states to use lethal injection.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration last month asked South Dakota to turn over its supply of sodium thiopental, a drug used to put inmates to sleep before other lethal drugs are administered.

Jackley told the agency South Dakota has no plans to turn over the drug.

Earlier coverage of Oklahoma's drug shortage and the Beaty v. FDA ruling begins at the links.  Related posts are in the lethal injection index.

The Texas Lethal Injection Drug Stock

"Texas has enough lethal drugs for 23 executions, officials say," is the Austin American-Statesman report by Mike Ward.

Forced to go public by an order from Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott, state prison officials late Friday disclosed that they have enough lethal drugs on hand to carry out as many as 23 executions.

The agency also said Friday that it does not prepare backup doses of the lethal drugs for each execution, as state officials have long said policy requires.

In a brief statement issued without elaboration, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice said it has 46 2.5-gram vials of Nembutal on hand and similar amounts of two other drugs included in a three-drug cocktail used in executions at the Huntsville Unit.

That could mean that Texas has the largest stockpile of the lethal drugs in the country, at a time when other states are scrambling to find suppliers for the same drugs.

Death penalty critics have long suspected that Texas has not been following state policy on backup doses, but until Friday there was no official confirmation.

For years, state officials have said agency policy calls for them to prepare double doses of the three-drug cocktail in case the initial round fails. If the backups were prepared, each execution would use twice the amount of lethal drugs as is needed if the first dose executes the prisoner.

Prison officials have previously refused to comment on whether the backup doses were being prepared. But on Friday, officials said that they interpret the policy to require the drugs to be on hand but not in syringes.

"The backup set of lethal injection drugs is not actually prepared, but an additional dose is available if needed," the brief statement said Friday.

Abbott's opinion Monday was prompted by requests under the Texas Public Information Act filed by the American-Statesman and a reporter for The Guardian, a British newspaper.

"After Texas AG ruling, prison officials air lethal injection drug information," is Allan Turner's report for the Houston Chronicle.

The issue is a particularly sensitive one at TDCJ, which has faced significant problems in obtaining ingredients for its three-drug "lethal cocktail" used in executions. Scarcity of the drugs has propelled the cost of an execution from about $83 to $1,286 in only a year, the Austin newspaper reported.

On Friday, TDCJ reported that it has 46 2.5-gram vials of pentobarbital, a drug administered to sedate the condemned inmate; 290 10-mg vials of pancuronium bromide, a muscle relaxant used to halt breathing; and 737 20-milliequivalent vials of potassium chloride, a drug injected to stop the heart.

The agency, which has executed five killers this year, did not indicate how many individuals could be put to death with the existing stock.

The AP filing is, "Texas prison officials say they have enough drugs for 23 executions," by Michael Graczyk.  It's via the Longview News-Journal.

Texas prison officials disclosed Friday they have enough lethal drugs to execute as many as 23 people.

In response to this week’s opinion from the state attorney general’s office that said the Texas Department of Criminal Justice could not withhold information about the drug supply, the department said it currently has 46 2.5-gram vials of pentobarbital. A 5-gram dose — about 3.4 ounces — is the first lethal drug used during each execution in Huntsville, according to Texas execution procedures.

The prison agency said it had similar supplies of two other drugs also administered to condemned inmates. It did not, though, identify suppliers of the lethal drugs, which the opinion also had addressed.

Executions also involve 100 milligrams of pancuronium bromide and 140 milliequivalents of potassium chloride. Texas has 290 10-milligram vials of the pancuronium bromide — 10 are required per execution — and 737 20-milliequivalent vials of potassium chloride — seven per punishment.

The department’s written procedures call for a matching set of drugs and syringes “in case unforeseen events make their use necessary.” But in a brief statement emailrd to reporters late Friday, the agency said a backup set of lethal drugs for executions “is not actually prepared, but an additional dose is available if needed.”

The attorney general’s opinion, dated Monday, was an answer to public information requests filed earlier this year by the Austin American-Statesman and British newspaper The Guardian.

Prison officials had argued that releasing the information could be harmful to employees and provide death penalty opponents a way to harass the drug suppliers with the hope firms would refuse to do business with the state.

“We find your arguments as to how disclosure of the requested drug quantities would result in the disruption of the execution process or otherwise interfere with law enforcement to be too speculative,” Sean Opperman, an assistant attorney general, wrote in the opinion.

Earlier coverage of Texas lethal injection issues begins at the link.  The Attorney General's Open Record Decision OR2012-07088 is available in Adobe .pdf format.

According to TDCJ, six Texas executions are currently scheduled; the next is set for June 6.

Related posts are in the lethal injeciton index.

More LI News From Missouri

"Shortage of key drug puts executions in limbo," is the title of Tony Rizzo's report for the Kansas City Star.

Years of complex legal wrangling could not derail the death penalty in Missouri.

But a nationwide shortage of a key drug used to execute prisoners has left the state unable to carry out executions now or in the foreseeable future.

Missouri is not alone.

Shortages of the drug, or others like it, are affecting every state that uses lethal injection to carry out its capital punishment sentences.

“It will reach the crisis point by the end of the year,” said Richard Dieter, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, based in Washington, D.C. “Maybe we’ll see a new drug emerge, but I’m not sure what that might be.”

Officials with the Missouri Department of Corrections did not respond to requests for comment on the department’s death penalty protocol.

But details about the state’s inability to procure new supplies of the drug in question were revealed in a ruling earlier this week by the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals in a challenge to Missouri’s execution protocol brought on behalf of 16 men sentenced to death.

“The DOC is unable to carry out the challenged protocol as written, and it appears unlikely it ever will,” the court noted in its opinion.

Because of that inability, the court ruled that the prisoners’ challenge was moot. The court ruled that if Missouri has to adopt a new protocol using a different drug, then ruling on the old protocol was pointless.

Earlier coverage of Missouri lethal injection issues begins at the link.

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2012/05/11/3607127/shortage-of-key-drug-puts-executions.html#storylink=cpy

Nebraska Lawmakers Speak Up in Lethal Injection Debate

"Lawmakers call for lethal injection review," is the Lincoln Journal Star report by Kevin O'Hanlon.

As Nebraska faces mounting problems with one of its lethal injection drugs, some key lawmakers say it is time to re-examine the state's execution protocol.

"That's something we are going to have to look at," said Omaha Sen. Brad Ashford, chairman of the Judiciary Committee.

At issue is Nebraska's three-drug protocol, which was set by the Department of Correctional Services after lawmakers switched to lethal injection from the electric chair in 2009.

And:

Nebraska's protocol could be changed, but not without some effort. It was formulated by prison officials and vetted through a series of public hearings. The final rules were reviewed by the attorney general and approved by the governor.

Omaha Sen. Steve Lathrop, vice chairman of the Judiciary Committee, said he worries that changing the protocol would only open the door to more legal challenges.

"You can be sure that a new protocol will start the litigation all over again and cause further delays while the victim’s families sit and wait and we continue to spend tax dollars on attorneys who do this type of litigation," Lathrop said.

"The big issue with the protocol is whether it is a humane way to kill someone. The current protocol essentially puts someone to sleep, then the other drugs stop their breathing and heart. A one-drug shot in the arm may not work the same way."

Meanwhile, Berger said, Nebraska's lethal injection woes might present a good opportunity for the state to reconsider capital punishment altogether.

"It has been far more difficult and expensive for Nebraska to design and implement a viable lethal injection procedure than the state anticipated when it predicted adopting lethal injection would have 'no fiscal impact.'" Berger said. "At the very least, the state should be honest to its citizens that capital punishment is expensive for taxpayers and that its advantages are highly speculative."

Because of legal challenges, only three men have been put to death since Nebraska resumed executions in 1994 after a 35-year hiatus: Harold Otey, Robert Williams and John Joubert.

"Neb. lawmakers want fresh look at execution method," is the AP filing, via the Beatrice Daily Sun.

Omaha Sen. Brad Ashford told the Lincoln Journal Star that if there are problems with Nebraska's method of execution, then lawmakers are obligated to re-examine it.

"If any system was this dysfunctional anywhere else in state government, we would have a committee, we would have a commission, we would have subpoena power and we'd do all sorts of things," said Ashford, who chairs the Judiciary Committee, which considers measures related to the courts. "But because it's the death penalty, there is a reticence to look closely at it. I think we should. I think it's our obligation."

Omaha Sen. Scott Lautenbaugh, another committee member, agreed. He told the newspaper he'd be willing to take another look at the protocol approved in 2010, after the state changed its method of execution from electrocution to lethal injection.

Earlier coverage of Nebraska lethal injection issues begins at the link.