California Execution Team Said to Lack Training

http://standdown.typepad.com/weblog/2006/11/california_exec.html

Tuesday, November 28, 2006

California Execution Team Said to Lack Training

The San Jose Mercury News reports on additional material filed in the challenge to California's lethal injection procedure. Federal District Judge Jeremy Fogel is expected to rule soon. LINK

By their own account, current and former members of San Quentin's execution team have little training or understanding of the rules or mixture of drugs used to put condemned murderers to death, documents released Monday show.

The documents, filed by lawyers for death-row inmate Michael Morales in a federal court challenge to California's lethal-injection procedure, reveal testimony given by execution team members who were questioned privately earlier this year in the legal battle over the state's execution method. Morales has challenged California's lethal-injection protocol, arguing that it risks causing inmates undue pain during an execution and amounts to cruel and unusual punishment.

Morales' lawyers maintain the testimony from execution team members demonstrates a lack of training and safeguards in the state's lethal-injection method.

Asked what kind of training they get before an execution, one former execution team member who has participated in seven executions, replied: ``Training? We don't have training really.''

More on lethal injection is here, including reports of the four-day hearing Judge Fogel held earlier this year.

Tuesday, November 28, 2006 at 09:39 AM in Lethal Injection Permalink