The Florida Supreme Court has stayed the execution of Manuel Valle and ordered an evidentiary hearing on the use of pentobarbital. The ruling in Valle v. Florida is available in Adobe .pdf format.
"Florida Supreme Court stays Valle's execution," is the AP filing written by Bill Kaczor. It's via the Miami Herald.
A sharply divided Florida Supreme Court stayed the execution of convicted killer Manuel Valle on Monday so a judge can hear evidence and rule on whether he may feel pain from the use of a new lethal injection drug.
The justices, in a 4-3 decision, delayed Valle's execution for a month, from Aug. 2 until Sept. 1, absent further order of the high court.
And:
Valle's appeal will return to Circuit Judge Jacqueline Hogan Scola in Miami to hear evidence on the new drug and make a ruling. She had previously declined to hold such a hearing. The Supreme Court gave her until 2 p.m. Aug. 5 to issue a decision. Lawyers then will have through Aug. 19 to file written arguments and responses. The justices will hold oral arguments Aug. 24 "if necessary."
"Florida Supreme Court stays execution; drugmaker says anesthetic unsafe," by Dara Kam in the Palm Beach Post.
Department of Corrections officials in June replaced the anesthetic sodium thiopental, the first of the three drugs used in lethal injections, with pentobarbital sodium. Sodium thiopental's manufacturer stopped making the drug early this year, leaving corrections officials in death penalty states like Florida scrambling to find a substitute.
But Lundbeck Inc., the Danish manufacturer of pentobarbital, recently announced that the drug is untested and unsafe for use in lethal injections. Lundbeck stopped selling the drug to distributors who intended to resell it for use in executions.
Pentobarbital has never been FDA-approved as an anesthetic and Valle's lawyers raised questions about how much of the drug needs to be given to prevent the pain caused by the injection of potassium chloride. The drug has been used in at least 15 executions in other states.
"The Court has determined that Valle's claim as to the use of pentobarbital as an anesthetic in the amount prescribed by Florida's protocol warrants an evidentiary hearing," the majority said in the order.
Last month, the execution of Roy Willard Blankenship in Georgia, using the same drug, went awry. Blankenship jerked his head several times, mumbled inaudibly and appeared to gasp for breath for several minutes after he was pumped with pentobarbital. Medical experts are split about what whether Blankenship's movements were a sign that his execution was bungled.
But in the minority dissent, Justice Charles Canady wrote that Valle failed to demonstrate that the new drug will meet the U.S. Supreme Court's threshold of "cruel and unusual punishment."
And:
A spokesman for Gov. Scott said that the governor doesn't have any involvement in the case at this stage, and didn't have a comment on the Department of Corrections' policy for executions. The spokesman, Lane Wright, said that if the stay is lifted, the execution will proceed, either on Aug. 2 or "within the appropriate timetable."
Wright didn't address what the governor would do if the court finds the protocol illegal.
Patricia Mazzei posts, "Fla. Supreme Court stays cop-killer execution," at the Miami Herald.
On June 8, the Florida Department of Corrections approved the use of pentobarbital as a substitute for sodium thiopental, the barbiturate the state had previously been using. Earlier this year, the Illinois pharmaceutical company that sold the state sodium thiopental discontinued its production of the drug.
Valle, who would be the first inmate executed under the new drug protocol, raised questions about whether the use of pentobarbital in the amount prescribed by the state could cause him to suffer pain.
Reuters carries, "Florida execution stayed to allow hearing on drug concerns," written by Colleen Jenkins.
Valle challenged whether the new sedative, often used to euthanize animals, would effectively induce unconsciousness.
The court determined that Valle "has raised a factual dispute, not conclusively refuted, as to whether the use of pentobarbital in Florida's lethal injection protocol will subject him to a 'substantial risk of serious harm.'"
Challenges to pentobarbital elsewhere have generally failed to prevent executions from being carried out. An execution in Georgia last week was filmed under court order after lawyers for a death row inmate raised concerns about the drug.
Related posts are in the lethal injection index.
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