"Judge rules in favor of Florida’s new lethal-injection drug," is the title of the Miami Herald report by Patricia Mazzei.
Lawyers for a man who shot and killed a Coral Gables cop 33 years ago failed to prove that the new use of a drug in Florida’s lethal injections would cause inmates serious pain, a Miami-Dade judge ruled Wednesday.
Circuit Judge Jacqueline Hogan Scola rejected the argument by lawyers for Manuel Valle that the state’s switch to pentobarbital, a barbiturate, in its three-drug lethal injection could constitute cruel and unusual punishment.
The matter now heads to the Florida Supreme Court for review. The execution of Valle, who fatally shot Officer Louis Pena in 1978, is scheduled for Sept. 1.
Valle, 61, would be the first inmate executed using pentobarbital. The state changed its lethal-injection protocol in June, after production of the anesthetic sodium thiopental was discontinued.
Pentobarbital is intended to knock out inmates before a second drug paralyzes them and a third stops their heart.
Valle’s defense had argued that the use of pentobarbital as an anesthetic has not been extensively studied and that the drug is ineffective at rendering inmates unconscious.
In her 21-page decision, Scola ruled that it was not enough for the defense’s expert witness, Dr. David Waisel, an anesthesiologist with Children’s Hospital of Boston, to testify that the consequences of using pentobarbital are unknown. Instead, the defense needed to prove that the drug caused substantial risk of serious harm. The defense did not do so, she ruled.
“[T]his court finds that usage of pentobarbital does not create an objectively unreasonable risk of suffering,” Scola wrote.
And:
The high court has already set a timeline for lawyers on both sides to file an appeal. Oral arguments are tentatively scheduled for Aug. 24.
The AP filing is, "Judge denies Florida inmate’s challenge to replacement drug in execution cocktail." It's via the Washington Post.
A judge has denied a Florida death row inmate’s challenge to a replacement drug in lethal injections.
Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Jacqueline Hogan Scola ruled Wednesday that using pentobarbital in the execution cocktail is unlikely to expose an inmate to pain and suffering. Scola says the state’s medical expert established that pentobarbital alone would be fatal in the planned doses.
Today's Palm Beach Post carries, "Miami judge OKs lethal injection drug," by Dara Kam.
The Danish manufacturer of pentobarbital, also known as Nembutal, twice asked Gov. Rick Scott not to use the drug for lethal injections and has stopped selling it to distributors who resell it for that use.
Valle's lawyers argued that the drug had not been tested and that its use may cause prisoners pain during executions, in violation of the cruel or unusual punishment threshold.
On Wednesday, Miami-Dade County Circuit Judge Jacqueline Hogan Scola agreed with three federal courts that already ruled the drug does not raise a substantial risk of harm.
Briefs are due to the Florida Supreme Court by Aug. 19, and the court has slated oral arguments for Aug. 24 if necessary.
Earlier coverage of the Florida hearing on the use of pentobarbital begins at the link.
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