Judge says state must hold public hearings on execution protocol

Judge Says State Must Hold Public Hearings On Execution Protocol

Nov 29, 2006 11:30 PM


Louisville (AP) -- Kentucky must hold public hearings on its execution protocol after changing how a lethal injection is administered, a state judge ruled Wednesday.

Franklin County Circuit Judge Sam McNamara's ruling could prevent the state from executing any inmates until the issue is resolved. The ruling came a week after the Kentucky Supreme Court upheld the state's lethal injection law, saying it did not amount to cruel and unusual punishment.

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.

Rebecca DiLoreto, post-trial division director for the Kentucky Department of Public Advocacy, said McNamara's ruling simply requires the state to follow its own rules before making administrative changes.

"It isn't too much to ask, particularly in the taking of someone's life, to have the rules and regulations promulgated correctly," DiLoreto said.

Lisa Lamb, a spokeswoman for the Kentucky Department of Corrections, said her agency is studying the ruling.

The lawsuit filed by Bowling and Baze claimed the state law instituting lethal injection allows the state to set the protocol, but does not provide an exemption from the public hearings required when a new law is implemented.

"As legislation may not be adopted in secret, implementation of legislation may not be secret," said David M. Barron, the public defender for the two men.

The state has not declared a moratorium on executions but had not scheduled any since the 2004 lawsuit was filed. Bowling and Baze have received several stays of execution because of the court challenges. DiLoreto said she was unsure if McNamara's ruling would stop the state from executing anyone.

"That will be their decision," DiLoreto said. "I can't speak to that. We'll have to wait and see what they do."

After the Kentucky Supreme Court upheld the use of lethal injection, the governor's office said it was reviewing the cases of Death Row inmates whose appeals were complete.

Bowling was scheduled to be executed last November 2004 for killing Edward and Tina Earley and shooting their 2-year-old son outside the couple's Lexington dry-cleaning business in 1990. His execution was delayed pending the outcome of the challenges.

Baze was convicted of killing Powell County Sheriff Steve Bennett and a deputy Arthur Briscoe during an attempted arrest in 1992.

Several other Death Row inmates are challenging Kentucky's method of lethal injection in federal court. That case is pending.

Kentucky has 40 death-row inmates, including 11 that have been there for more than two decades. The state has executed two men since reinstating the death penalty in 1976, and only one by injection: Eddie Lee Harper, in 1999. Injection is the only method of execution used on inmates who have been condemned since 1998; those sentenced to death earlier can choose electrocution.

Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
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