The federal court filing in Price v. Thomas is available in Adobe .pdf format.
"Death row inmate sues to stop new execution protocol," is by Brian Lyman of the Montgomery Advertiser.
An Alabama death row inmate wants a federal court to declare the state's new execution protocol cruel and unusual punishment.
In a lawsuit filed in the U.S. Southern District for Alabama Wednesday, Christopher Lee Price, sentenced to death for the brutal 1991 murder of Bill Lynn, a Tuscaloosa minister, argues that the three-drug protocol adopted by the Alabama Department of Corrections last month would cause excruciating pain and violate the Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
The Alabama Attorney General's Office had no comment on the lawsuit Thursday.
The state long used sodium thiopental as its anesthetic in execution procedures, but switched to pentobarbital in 2011 after manufacturer Hospira stopped making sodium thiopental in the United States. The state acknowledged it was out of the drug earlier this year.
On September 10, the Alabama Department of Corrections adopted a new execution protocol, revealing it in filings with the Alabama Supreme Court later that week. Under the procedure, the condemned would first be administered 500 milligrams of midazolam hydrochloride, a sedative; 600 milligrams of rocuronium bromide, a paralyzing drug and 240 milligram equivalents of potassium chloride, to stop the heart.
AL.com posts, "Alabama death row inmate says new lethal injection mix would cause cruel and unusual punishment," by Mike Cason.
An Alabama death row inmate has filed a federal lawsuit to block the state's use of a new lethal injection mix.
Christopher Lee Price filed the lawsuit Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Mobile.
Price's lawyers also filed a motion with the Alabama Supreme Court today asking it to deny the state's request to set his execution date until after his federal lawsuit is resolved.
Price's federal lawsuit says the state wants to use a new three-drug protocol never used on any prisoner in the United States.
"Federal suit seeks to block Alabama execution using new combination of drugs," is AP coverage filed by Phillip Rawls.
Boston attorney Aaron Katz filed the suit Wednesday night in Mobile on behalf of inmate Christopher Lee Price.
The suit asks a federal judge to block the state from using a new, three-drug combination to execute Price.
The state prison system developed the combination after running out of one of the drugs in its old execution protocol. Alabama has not had an execution since 2013 because of the shortage, but state Attorney General Luther Strange asked the Alabama Supreme Court last month to set execution dates for Price and eight other inmates using the new drug combination.
Earlier coverage of Alabama lethal injection issues begins at the link.
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