From Delaware, the AP report is, "Lawyers for condemned Delaware inmate try to halt execution scheduled for early Friday." It's written by Jessica Gresko, and is via the Republic.
A man convicted of killing a woman with an ax was scheduled to die by lethal injection in Delaware later this week, but lawyers for the man were expected in court Wednesday trying to halt the execution.
Robert Jackson III is set to die early Friday in what would be Delaware's first execution since 2005, but Jackson's lawyers had a number of legal challenges still up in the air. Two hearings scheduled for Wednesday could result in a stay of execution for Jackson, who was convicted of killing woman during a botched burglary in 1992.
In the first hearing planned for Wednesday, a federal judge in Wilmington was to hear arguments over whether Jackson should he be allowed to re-open a lawsuit challenging the state's execution practices, which were recently changed to allow for the use of a new drug. At an afternoon hearing some 50 miles away in Dover, lawyers were to argue before the Delaware Supreme Court that Jackson's execution should be stayed while the U.S. Supreme Court decides whether to take his case.
And:
In the Wednesday morning hearing, Jackson's lawyers were expected to be before U.S. District Judge Sue Robinson to argue Jackson should be allowed to challenge Delaware's execution procedures, which were changed in May because of a nationwide shortage of the first of three drugs the state used to carry out executions. The only U.S. manufacturer of the drug, sodium thiopental, discontinued production in 2009, and its last batch of the drug expired earlier this year.
New guidelines allow Delaware corrections officials to use another sedative called pentobarbital as the first drug administered during an execution. If Jackson's execution goes forward, he would be the first person to be executed in the state with the drug. Eight other states have already carried out executions using pentobarbital and a number of other states have also announced they will switch, according to the Washington-based Death Penalty Information Center.
Jackson's lawyers argue in papers filed with the court, however, that using pentobarbital creates an unconstitutional risk of pain and suffering during an execution. They say pentobarbital has not yet been thoroughly vetted as an alternative to sodium thiopental and cite two recent executions, one in Alabama and one in Georgia, where they say prisoners showed signs of pain including jerking and opening their eyes after pentobarbital was administered. As a result, Jackson's lawyers are asking that he be allowed to re-open an earlier, unsuccessful lawsuit over Delaware's execution procedures to challenge the use of pentobarbital.
At Philadelphia public radio station WHYY-FM, John Mussoni reports, "Three appeals heading to court Wednesday in Delaware execution case."
The three appeals put together to stop the execution of Bobby Jackson will be heard in two courts on Wednesday.
The first appeal will be in Federal District Court in Wilmington. Judge Sue Lewis Robinson will hear an appeal that Pentobarbital is not as good as Sodium thiopental for an execution. That was the previous drug used to anesthetize prisoners in the execution. Sodium thiopental is in short supply as the American manufacturer, Hospira, stopped making it earlier this year.
That case happens in the morning. In the afternoon, the second and third appeals will be heard before the Delaware Supreme Court in Dover. In those cases, the Atlantic Center for Capital Representation plan an appeal based on actions taken in Judge Vincent Bifferato's court room during the time of the trial 20 years ago.
Marc Bookman, Executive Director, says there is evidence available now that was withheld during the Jackson trial. He charges Jackson's first attorney Joe Hurley with telling Judge Bifferato that "Jackson was guilty and ought to die". Bookman calls Hurley "unprofessional and unbecoming of the Delaware bar."
In Florida, "US justice asked to lift Fla. stay of execution," is the AP post via the Westport News.
Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi has asked U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas to lift a stay of execution ordered by the state's highest court.
Bondi filed the request after the Florida Supreme Court on Monday ordered a month-long stay for Manuel Valle.
And:
The state justices, in a 4-3 ruling, ordered the stay so a trial judge can hold a fact-finding hearing on whether Valle would feel pain from a new drug Florida plans to use for lethal injection.
Bondi's filing says that issue already has been decided in cases from other states.
Earlier coverage from Delaware and Florida begins at the links.
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