07-18-2013, 08:39 PM
(07-16-2013, 01:31 AM)Cynical Ninja Wrote: They say it can take up to half an hour to die from a lethal injection.
Wouldn't that be classed as cruel and unusual punishment?
No, lethal injection isn't legally considered cruel and unusual punishment.
But, Warren Hill just had his execution stayed again because a Fulton court judge ruled that the secrecy surrounding the drugs that would be used to kill him was unconstitutional.
Snip
The judge ruled that by withholding from Warren Hill crucial details about the source and nature of the drugs that were to be used to execute him, the state was causing him "irreparable harm". According to an Atlanta-based reporter Max Blau who tweeted from court, the judge added that the new law "unconstitutionally limits" the condemned man's access to legal redress as it prevented him from acquiring the information needed to mount an appeal under the Eighth Amendment ban on cruel and unusual punishment.
Though the ruling from a George state court will not create a federal precedent, the legal challenge to the new law will be closely watched by other states that have gone down a similar secrecy path in an effort to circumvent the drugs boycott. Arkansas, Florida, Oklahoma, South Dakota and Tennessee have all adopted secrecy provisions that keep the identity of compounding pharmacies hidden.
If the state appeals the decision and wins, Hill could be executed on Friday.
Meanwhile, Texas apparently has a sufficient stock pile of approved drugs to keep on rolling with its scheduled executions...