"Concerns aside, executions persist in some states," is the AP report by Jim Salter, with input from AP writers in other states. It's via the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette.
Austin Sarat, professor of jurisprudence and political science at Amherst College, said there has been a regional divide when it comes to how quickly states are returning to the business of putting prisoners to death.
“I think what you’re going to see is kind of a division where some areas, some states, predominantly in the South, are going to dig in their heels,” Sarat said. “Other states are going to proceed more cautiously and impose, if not an official moratorium, more of a de facto moratorium until things get sorted out.”
The executions in Georgia and Missouri were the first since April 29, when Oklahoma prison officials halted the process because drugs weren’t being administered properly into the veins of inmate Clayton Lockett. He died of a heart attack 43 minutes after the process began.
Lawyers for death row inmates have cited concerns that what happened in Oklahoma could be repeated, and they’ve challenged the secretive ways many states obtain lethal injection drugs from loosely regulated compounding pharmacies.
AP also distributes this sidebar, "A glance at how the Supreme Court handles last-minute appeals by inmates about to be executed," by Mark Sherman. It's via the Prince George Citizen.
Supreme Court decisions to allow inmates to be put to death or to grant a rare reprieve often come at the last minute, and sometimes after the appointed hour of execution has come and gone.
CNN posts, "Executions resume amid lingering questions over drugs, methods," by Michael Pearson. There is video at the link.
After a seven-week lull following the botched execution of an Oklahoma man, executions resumed in the United States this week with three men put to death over 24 hours -- one in Missouri, one in Georgia and one in Florida.
Three more are scheduled to die by lethal injection in the next five weeks, and more than 3,000 men and women await execution in the 32 states where it's currently legal and in three others where it's no longer used for new crimes but still on the books for existing convictions.
But major legal and technical considerations will continue to surround the issue for the foreseeable future. Here's an update on the most important issues.
Earlier coverage of this week's executions begins at the link.
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