Today's Baton Rouge Advocate reports, "Attorneys argue death policy," by Joe Gyan Jr.
Attorneys for many of Louisiana’s 84 death-row inmates argued Thursday it would be premature for a judge to validate the state’s current lethal injection procedure for future executions because the rules governing executions have changed numerous times over the last 20 years.
Lawyers representing the the Department of Public Safety and Corrections countered there is no evidence the rules will be altered again, and they said a judicial finding that the current rules are appropriate would save time and money.
Michael Rubenstein, who represents condemned killer Jimmy Ray Williams, told state District Judge Mike Caldwell there is no need for such a judicial declaration now because there are no scheduled execution dates in Louisiana.
And:
Thursday’s arguments came during a hearing in a lawsuit that condemned killer Nathaniel Code filed against DPSC in December, less than a month before fellow convicted murderer Gerald Bordelon was put to death.
Code, who claims Louisiana failed to follow proper administrative procedures before putting its lethal injection procedure in place, sought to halt all executions in the state until DPSC changed its procedures.
Caldwell ruled Jan. 8 — the day after Bordelon’s execution — that Code failed to exhaust his administrative remedies before filing suit.
Then, on Jan. 25, DPSC essentially filed a countersuit against every Louisiana death-row inmate, asking the judge to declare that the state’s lethal injection rules and regulations meet statutory and constitutional muster.
Rubenstein said it is “truly improper’’ for the state to attempt to “flush out’’ the objections that death-row inmates might raise to the lethal injection protocol.
Also:
Caldwell found the state’s request for a declaratory judgment to be vague, and gave the state’s attorneys three weeks to amend it.
Earlier coverage of the Louisiana challenge begins here; related posts are in the lethal injection index.
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