Inmates argue lethal njection violates constitution

Inmates argue lethal injection violates Constitution
BY ERIC HORNBECK | ENQUIRER STAFF WRITER
A three-judge panel of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati heard arguments Thursday in a case questioning the constitutionality of how Ohio executes convicts through lethal injection.

A group of death row inmates argue that the mixture of drugs used by the state is cruel and unusual punishment and violates the Eighth Amendment.

Ohio uses a three-drug cocktail in its executions: sodium pentothal to induce a coma, pancuronium bromide to induce paralysis and potassium chloride to stop the heart.


This combination amounts to cruel and unusual punishment because there is evidence the drugs crystallize when mixed, effectively neutralizing the pain-killer component, said Greg Meyers, an Ohio public defender in his arguments before the court in the case of Cooey v. Taft.

"Why are we paralyzing these people?" Meyers asked the court, referring to one of the drugs used in the lethal injection cocktail.

After the paralyzing drug takes effect, inmates are unable to respond when the other drugs induce great pain before eventually killing the inmate, Meyers said.

The two-year statute of limitations to bring cruel and unusual punishment appeals in the case also was questioned.

Richard Cooey, a death-row convict involved in the case, was convicted of raping and killing two University of Akron students in 1986, according to the Associated Press. At that time, electrocution was Ohio's method of execution. Lethal injection was introduced in 1993. Cooey is still awaiting execution.

Lethal injection was made the sole method of execution in 2001, and in May 2002 the state changed its protocols for executions, Assistant Attorney General Michael Collyer said in court.

Whether the two-year statute of limitations begins immediately after conviction or after every change the state makes in its execution protocol is unclear.

Judges Richard Suhrheinrich, Eugene Siler Jr. and Ronald Gilman heard the case.

The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals granted a stay of execution to Jerome Henderson on Dec. 1. Henderson's lawyers said that his case probably won't be resolved until the Cooey case is settled.
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