"Bruning: Advance lethal injection," is the title of Paul Hammel's report in today's Omaha World-Herald.
Nebraska should not be deterred by a recently botched execution in Ohio and ought to move forward with a proposed three-drug protocol to carry out executions by lethal injection, State Attorney General Jon Bruning said Monday.
Bruning said he hoped the proposed protocol would avoid the problems experienced in Ohio in September. That's when an execution was called off after an inmate was stuck 18 times with a needle in an unsuccessful attempt to find a suitable vein for injecting the three drugs.
Bruning rejected a call issued Monday by some death-penalty opponents for Nebraska to seek a one-drug protocol, as Ohio adopted last week, to avoid the possibility of tortuous pain for the condemned.
Said Bruning, “I'm confident that Nebraska is not only in the mainstream, but it's law, and protocol will be found to be constitutional.”
He said Nebraska could carry out an execution under the new rules as soon as the first quarter of next year.
The attorney general commented after a public hearing Monday at which death-penalty opponents predicted that the botched execution in Ohio and Ohio's switch to a one-drug protocol would bottle up Nebraska's proposal in litigation.
“If we didn't think the litigation would be long and expensive before Ohio, I think we can guarantee it now,” said Jill Francke, statewide coordinator for the organization Nebraskans Against the Death Penalty.
Nebraska is joining 35 other states and the federal government in using lethal injection to carry out its death penalty.
Only two people testified during the public hearing held by the Corrections Department on its proposed execution protocol. Both were opposed to the death penalty.
About 15 people and organizations — also opponents of capital punishment — submitted written testimony.
New execution rules are needed because the Nebraska Legislature voted last spring to shift the state's method of execution to lethal injection. The action was taken in response to a State Supreme Court ruling in 2008 that said the state's former method, electrocution, constituted cruel and unusual punishment.
Most of the testimony and letters against adopting the new protocol centered on the added expense of lethal injection and capital punishment during rough economic times, the lack of specifics on training executioners and the potential for “torturous pain” with the three-drug protocol.
And:
“They've been sentenced to death. They weren't sentenced to torture,” said Ty Alper, associate director of the Death Penalty Clinic at the University of California at Berkeley.
Alper, who had a speaking engagement at the University of Nebraska College of Law scheduled to coincide with Monday's hearing, said Nebraska's proposed three-drug protocol would be illegal to use on animals in 42 states.
Nebraska TV's report, "Reconsidering Lethal Injection in Nebraska," is by Stacia Kalinoski.
Legislation was passed last year to change Nebraska's death penalty to lethal injection. But the details, like training EMS for lethal injection, cost, or what to do if the person is still alive after injection, have not yet been determined.
Before they are, opponents Monday got one more chance to voice their concerns in Lincoln. This follows a recent mess-up in Ohio, where executioners couldn't find a good vein during an injection. That caught the attention of Nebraska attorneys, who want the three-drug, lethal injection procedure reconsidered in Nebraska.
Marco Torres finds out in January if he gets the death penalty for double homicide. Monday, advocates against the death sentence make one last plea to the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services before lethal injection protocol is finalized. Jill Francke points to Ohio, saying there's been three botched executions in the last four years.
"They were unable to complete it, stopped in the middle of it, unable to find a vein. I mean they've been having problems in other states, and Ohio actually came out and said, 'this protocol isn't working for us, we're going to try something different," said the statewide chair of Nebraskans Against the Death Penalty.
Francke joined about 30 others in Lincoln, hoping to sway the NDSC on lethal injection's inefficiency, and more than ever, its financial burden.
"Mainly, the death penalty is very expensive for the state and comes at a time where we see senators being called back to Lincoln to deal with a budget shortfall."
Earlier coverage from Nebraska begins with this post.
Comments