Un Con Troll Able
06-12-2006, 10:35 AM
By GINA HOLLAND, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 35 minutes ago
WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court opened the door Monday to constitutional challenges to lethal injection, the method used by most states and the federal government to execute death row inmates.
In an unanimous decision, the court allowed those condemned to die to make last-minute claims that the chemicals used are too painful — and therefore amount to cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Constitution's Eighth Amendment.
The court's ruling leaves unanswered broader questions about the chemicals used in lethal injections around the country and whether they cause excruciating pain.
In a second death penalty case, the court ruled 5-3 that a Tennessee death-row inmate can use DNA evidence to attempt to show his innocence 20 years after he was convicted of murdering a neighbor.
The lethal injection ruling sets the stage for a nationwide legal battle over that subject, with the country's 3,300 death row inmates armed with a new tool to contest how they are put to death.
Justices have never ruled on the constitutionality of a specific type of execution. A constitutional showdown over lethal injection might be the next big death penalty case.
The winner in Monday's decision was Florida death row inmate Clarence Hill, who was strapped to a gurney with lines running into his arms to deliver the drugs when the Supreme Court in January intervened and blocked the execution.
Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, writing for the court, said that while Hill and other inmates can file special appeals, they will not be always entitled to delays in their executions.
"Both the state and the victims of crime have an important interest in the timely enforcement of a sentence," he wrote.
Hill, convicted of killing a police officer, had run out of regular appeals so he went to court using a civil rights law claiming that his constitutional rights would be violated by Florida's lethal injection drug protocol. The court's decision renews his bid to have Florida change its chemical combination.
The rest of the story:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060612/ap_on_go_su_co/scotus_lethal_injection
WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court opened the door Monday to constitutional challenges to lethal injection, the method used by most states and the federal government to execute death row inmates.
In an unanimous decision, the court allowed those condemned to die to make last-minute claims that the chemicals used are too painful — and therefore amount to cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Constitution's Eighth Amendment.
The court's ruling leaves unanswered broader questions about the chemicals used in lethal injections around the country and whether they cause excruciating pain.
In a second death penalty case, the court ruled 5-3 that a Tennessee death-row inmate can use DNA evidence to attempt to show his innocence 20 years after he was convicted of murdering a neighbor.
The lethal injection ruling sets the stage for a nationwide legal battle over that subject, with the country's 3,300 death row inmates armed with a new tool to contest how they are put to death.
Justices have never ruled on the constitutionality of a specific type of execution. A constitutional showdown over lethal injection might be the next big death penalty case.
The winner in Monday's decision was Florida death row inmate Clarence Hill, who was strapped to a gurney with lines running into his arms to deliver the drugs when the Supreme Court in January intervened and blocked the execution.
Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, writing for the court, said that while Hill and other inmates can file special appeals, they will not be always entitled to delays in their executions.
"Both the state and the victims of crime have an important interest in the timely enforcement of a sentence," he wrote.
Hill, convicted of killing a police officer, had run out of regular appeals so he went to court using a civil rights law claiming that his constitutional rights would be violated by Florida's lethal injection drug protocol. The court's decision renews his bid to have Florida change its chemical combination.
The rest of the story:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060612/ap_on_go_su_co/scotus_lethal_injection