"Kentucky must consider single-drug executions, judge says," is the title of Andrew Wolfson's Louisville Courier-Journal report.
In a ruling that could force Kentucky to change the way it carries out executions, a state judge on Wednesday ordered the state to consider using one drug instead of three to put inmates to death.
Ruling in cases brought by six death-row inmates, Franklin Circuit Judge Phillip Shepherd said the three-drug “cocktail” may no longer be needed now that other states have successfully used a single drug for executions.
The inmates have claimed that executions using the three-drug combination violate the Eighth Amendment protection against cruel and unusual punishment, citing evidence that some put to death that way have suffered.
Spokeswomen for Gov. Steve Beshear’s office and the state Justice and Public Safety Cabinet had no immediate comment.
Lawyers for the inmates praised Shepherd’s ruling, which included an order giving the state 90 days to decide whether to adopt a new regulation allowing executions to be carried out with one drug.
He also gave the state the same amount of time to consider adopting another rule that would enhance safeguards against executing offenders who are insane or mentally retarded.
“My clients don’t want to be executed, first and foremost, but if they are, they are entitled to a procedure that would be in conformance with the Eighth Amendment and reduce the risk of pain and suffering,” said David Barron, an assistant public advocate who represents Ralph Baze, Thomas C. Bowling, Robert Foley, Brian Keith Moore and Parramore Sanborn.
The updated and expanded AP report, "Judge: Ky. must consider single drug executions," by Brett Barrouquere is via USA Today.
Kentucky must either switch to a single drug to perform executions within 90 days or prepare to go to trial on the claims of death row inmates challenging the state's three-drug method of carrying out capital punishment, a judge ruled Wednesday.
In a long-awaited order, Franklin Circuit Judge Phillip Shepherd wrote that the state's three-drug method may no longer be necessary now that other states have successfully used a single drug to execute condemned inmates and shown that "well-established alternatives" exist for Kentucky.
The ruling comes about 20 months after Shepherd halted all executions in Kentucky. He imposed the ban after inmates challenged the three-drug method. Their lawsuit asked whether the state's rules for carrying out a lethal injection prohibited the use of a single drug and if there were adequate safeguards against executing a mentally ill inmate.
If Kentucky sticks with a three-drug method, Shepherd wrote, the challenge by the inmates will be allowed to go to trial. If Kentucky adopts a new regulation allowing for a one-drug execution, similar to what is done in Arizona, Ohio and other states, any claims of cruel and unusual punishment by the inmates "will be rendered moot."
Shepherd's ruling comes just months after the American Bar Association issued a report calling for a moratorium on executions in Kentucky, in part, because of the number of cases overturned since the reinstatement of the death penalty in 1976.
And:
At least seven states use a single drug to carry out executions, with three states, Idaho, Washington and South Dakota giving an option to use more than one drug. Kentucky currently uses sodium thiopental, pancurionium bromide and potassium chloride, a combination similar to the one used by Georgia and some other states.
The ruling does not require Kentucky to switch to a single drug for executions. Instead, Shepherd cited the language in the state's lethal injection statute allowing the Department of Corrections to use "a substance or combination of substances" in executing an inmate. Shepherd contrasted the wording the law with administrative regulations that allow only for a three-drug mixture to be used in executions.
"The disjunctive language of this statute makes clear that the use of a single drug was not only contemplated by the legislature, but also expressly permitted," Shepherd wrote.
Initial coverage of the Kentucky lethal injection ruling is at the link.
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