Associated Press
FRANKFORT, Ky. - Less than a month after the Supreme Court ruled lethal injection is constitutional, lawyers for two death row inmates are asking for another hearing.
This time it would be to determine whether the public should have input in deciding how lethal injections are performed.
Kentucky Death Row inmates Thomas Clyde Bowling, 52, and Ralph Baze, 49, challenged the lethal injection method in Franklin County Circuit Court in April, saying the Kentucky Department of Corrections did not follow state-mandated administrative procedures before instituting it.
The two inmates also challenged the method of executing condemned prisoners in 2004, saying the drug formula used amounts to cruel and unusual punishment.
After that suit was filed, the state changed the mixture of drugs used in giving a lethal injection as well as procedures for how it is administered.
Franklin County Circuit Judge Sam McNamara ruled in November that state officials must hold public hearings on Kentucky's change in execution protocol, but he reversed his ruling in December, saying the public hearings weren't necessary.
The state has not declared a moratorium on executions but had not scheduled any since 2004, after a judge stopped Bowling's execution because the lawsuit was pending.
Meanwhile, state Rep. Tom Burch, D-Louisville, filed legislation on Friday seeking to abolish the death penalty in Kentucky. Burch, flanked by other lawmakers, said at a press conference that it was the third time he had filed such legislation.
Kentucky has 40 death-row inmates. The state has executed two men since reinstating the death penalty in 1976.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment