High Court Hears Lethal Injection Arguments
Supreme Court justices indicated they are deeply divided after hearing arguments Monday on the constitutionality of lethal injections for executions.
In a case from Kentucky, a lawyer for Ralph Baze, a death-row inmate, argued that the three-drug protocol used in the state's executions poses too much risk that a prisoner will die in great pain.
"The risk here is real. That is why it is unlawful to euthanize animals the way Kentucky executes inmates," said Donald Verrilli, Baze's lawyer, according to The Associated Press.
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The argument against the three-drug procedure is that it may cause suffering that amounts to cruel and unusual punishment, thus violating the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution. In the procedure, an anesthetic is injected first. A second drug paralyzes the prisoner and then a third drug stops the heart.
Verrilli argued that too many things can go wrong in the execution, such as the anesthetic not taking hold and the third drug causing great pain while the paralyzing drug prevents the prisoner from expressing discomfort.
Some justices on the court said they are troubled by the three-drug method.
"I'm terribly troubled by the fact that the second drug seems to cause all risk of excruciating pain," Justice John Paul Stevens said, according to AP.
Attorneys for The Rutherford Institute, a civil liberties organization that defends those whose constitutional and human rights have been threatened or violated, has declared Kentucky's lethal injection protocol unconstitutional and noted that 37 of the 38 states that have the death penalty have protocols similar to Kentucky's.
Many states have placed a moratorium on executions until the Kentucky case, Baze v. Rees, is resolved. John D. Rees is the Kentucky corrections commissioner. Executions in the United States halted since September.
The Kentucky case is among the most closely watched in the Supreme Court's current term.
Arguing on behalf of Kentucky, Roy Englert said the state has "excellent safeguards in place" and that there is very little risk of the execution procedure going wrong. Backed by the Bush administration, Kentucky says it works hard to execute inmates humanely.
Conservative Justice Antonin Scalia said that states have to adopt procedures that do not seek to inflict pain but also stated that "there is no painless requirement" in the Constitution.
"This is an execution - not surgery," Scalia said.
In a recent execution in Florida, the initial anesthetic drug was not properly injected and the execution took longer than usual. Opponents worry that such incidents happen more often.
In December, New Jersey abolished the death penalty, becoming the 14th in the country to ban the practice. That same week, the United Nations General Assembly unanimously approved a resolution calling for a moratorium on executions "with a view to abolishing the death penalty."
