U.S. judge again rules lethal injection procedure is unconstitutional

A federal judge has ruled for a 2nd time that Missouri's use of a 3-druglethal injection for executions is unconstitutional, confirming his rulinglast month that the procedure could cause "torturous" pain.

The ruling issued Monday by U.S. District Judge Fernando Gaitan Jr.follows his September ruling that said the death penalty protocol couldsubject inmates to an unreasonable risk of cruel and unusual punishmentand halted all executions in the state.

Gaitan had first ordered in June that the Missouri Department ofCorrections make sweeping changes to its execution protocol. At issue ishow painful lethal injection can be if the three drugs used are not givencorrectly. If the injection is given improperly, an inmate could be inpain but would be paralyzed and unable to show it, Gaitan said in hisSeptember ruling.

In that order, Gaitan gave the state until Oct. 27 to provide a revisedprotocol. But the state resubmitted the same proposal Oct. 6, arguing thatit was constitutional and asking the judge to reconsider his decision.

Read more: http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2006/10/17/america/NA_GEN_US_Execution_Procedure.php

posted by Sachin @ 2:16 PM