Tenth Refuses Habeas Relief in Lethal Injection Case

Tenth Refuses Habeas Relief in Lethal Injection Case

Hamilton v. Jones, 06-6318 (10th Cir., Jan. 4, 2007)

You might think that courts would be a bit wary of allowing inmates to die by lethal injection after last month’s fiasco in Florida. But you’d be wrong.

Today, in a per curiam decision, the Tenth Circuit rejects a death row inmate’s request for a stay of execution to allow him to litigate his claim that Oklahoma’s lethal injection procedures violate the Eighth Amendment.

The Court concludes that the inmate should not have waited until the eve of his execution to bring his Eighth Amendment claim. Although the petitioner pointed to the botched Florida injection as new evidence, the district court found that Oklahoma’s lethal injection procedure is far superior to Florida’s, so that mistake is unlikely to be repeated. The Tenth sees no reason to disturb that finding.

// posted by Robert Loblaw @ Thursday, January 04, 2007