"Judge denies appeal over injection drug," is the Omaha World-Herald report by Joe Duggan. It appeared in the Saturday edition.
Condemned inmate Michael Ryan failed to persuade a judge to overturn his death sentence by alleging that Nebraska had acquired a stolen lethal injection drug.
District Court Judge Daniel Bryan dismissed Ryan’s appeal late Thursday in Richardson County District Court in Falls City, Neb. The judge also rejected Ryan’s request for an evidentiary hearing.
“We’re pleased with this ruling,” Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning said Friday. “It’s time for defense counsel to stop wasting the court’s time and money with frivolous, meritless motions.”
Ryan, 63, had been scheduled Tuesday to be Nebraska’s first death-row inmate to die of lethal injection. Last week, however, the Nebraska Supreme Court stayed the execution.
The lower court ruling paves the way for the attorney general to request a new execution warrant for Ryan.
Jerry Soucie, an attorney with the Nebraska Commission on Public Advocacy who represents Ryan, said he will meet with his client next week and they will plan their next step. They could appeal the ruling or perhaps file a motion in federal court.
And:
Ryan filed an appeal Feb. 13 asking the judge to replace his death sentence with life in prison without parole. His 116-page motion alleged that Nebraska did business with an Indian drug broker who deceptively obtained a lethal injection drug from a Swiss manufacturer.
An executive for the Swiss company has since asked Nebraska to return the sodium thiopental because he never intended it to be used in an execution.
"Judge rejects appeal by death-row inmate Ryan," by Kevin O'Hanlon for the Lincoln Journal Star.
In his order, Judge Bryan said courts have jurisdiction in such cases only if "a prisoner under sentence asserts facts that claim a right to be released on grounds that there was a denial or infringement of state or federal constitutional rights that would render the judgment or conviction void or voidable.
"Here, Ryan … is asking that his death sentence be vacated for constitutional infringements and that he be sentenced to life in prison without parole. The grounds he alleges occurred well after the final judgment in the criminal matter and do not deal with the judgments of the death sentence ordered by the court, but deal with the method of inflicting the death penalty."
That issue, the judge said, already has been decided by the Nebraska Supreme Court in death-row cases in 2006 and 2008.
Soucie said Friday he has to consult with Ryan on what their next course of action might be. They can ask Judge Bryan to reconsider his ruling, or they can appeal the decision to the Nebraska Supreme Court.
Bryan did not specifically address Soucie's challenge of how the state got one of three lethal-injection drugs it has on hand.
Late last year, Nebraska prison officials said they bought sodium thiopental made by Naari, a pharmaceutical company headquartered in Switzerland. In fact, they bought the drug from a middleman named Chris Harris, who bought it from Naari and then sold it to the state.
Soucie said Harris and his company, Harris Pharma LLP, were not authorized to sell the drug. The shipping manifest from Naari to Harris Pharma, dated Sept. 30, 2011, says: "Samples have no commercial value. Samples not for sale. Free trade sample." Further, it says the drug is "for test and evaluation purpose." That, Soucie contends, means Harris misappropriated the thiopental from Naari, and Nebraska prison officials are in possession of stolen property.
Earlier coverage of Nebraska lethal injection issues begins at the link. Related posts are in the lethal injection index.
Comments