A medical study out today casts new doubt on whether lethal injection causes the painless death we've all been told.

The study analyzed executions in two states, California and North Carolina. The findings:

We were able to analyze only a limited number of executions. However, our findings suggest that current lethal injection protocols may not reliably effect death through the mechanisms intended, indicating a failure of design and implementation. If thiopental and potassium chloride fail to cause anesthesia and cardiac arrest, potentially aware inmates could die through pancuronium-induced asphyxiation. Thus the conventional view of lethal injection leading to an invariably peaceful and painless death is questionable.

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Image from the Innocent Project.

Jerry Miller has been ordered released from jail after serving 25 years for a rape DNA has shown he didn't commit.

Miller is the 200th person shown by DNA evidence to have been wrongfully convicted.

The Innocence Project says,

The 100th exoneration occurred in January 2002, 13 years after the first exoneration. It took just more than five years for the number to double.

"Five years ago, people said that the number (of exonerations) was going to dry up because there just weren't many wrongful convictions," said lawyer Barry Scheck, who co-founded the Innocence Project in 1992 to help prisoners prove their innocence through DNA evidence. "But clearly, there are plenty of innocent persons still in prison. There's no way you can look at this data without believing that."

David Lazer, a Harvard University public policy professor who specializes in DNA issues, says improved testing technology and an increase in the number of lawyers who are taking on DNA cases should result in a continued increase in the number of wrongful convictions that are set aside.

JOE McLAUGHLIN/Staff photographer, Home News Tribune

Nurse Melanie McGuire was convicted today of murdering her husband, dismembering him and dumping his body in the Chesapeake Bay.

You can watch the verdict here.

It was an entirely circumstantial case. TalkLeft pal Joe Tacopina was lead counsel. He and co-counsel Stephen Turano challenged every piece of evidence. They tried a great case. But the jury convicted.

Her $1.2 million bail was revoked, she was taken into custody and now faces a mandatory minimum 30 year sentence -- and up to life.

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Former Russian leader and the country's first elected President Boris Yeltsin has died of heart failure at age 76.

Britain's Tony Blair has this tribute.

Here's a timeline of his life, accomplishments and failures.

Here are some reactions from world leaders.

What will they think of next?

A Transportation Security Administration effort to screen air travelers for suspicious behavior is on track to come to Denver International Airport this year, subjecting passengers to observation and small talk from agents looking for signs of deception.

The SPOT program - short for "screening passengers by observation technique" - is modeled after Israeli security measures that pick up on facial expressions, body language and other involuntary reactions that occur when people lie. TSA officials won't list which behaviors raise concerns or say how many screeners are involved, citing security concerns.

What are they looking for?

"We're not just looking for people who seem suspicious, TSA spokeswoman Ann Davis said. "We're looking for behaviors that have been proven by scientific research to indicate that an individual is suppressing high levels of stress or fear or deception. People who are up to something, basically."

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Remember when the LeftBlogs were focused on the Iraq Supplemental?

Surprisingly, after yesterday's victory in the Senate, it now seems that Democrats are both capable and ready to send a supplemental funding bill that requires withdrawal from Iraq to Bush's desk. While there are still other battles to be fought before that point, such as the conference report on the funding bill and a vote today on the Webb amendment requiring congressional approval before an attack on Iran [whatever happened to that?], the next major step in this fight will clearly come when Bush vetoes the supplemental.

(Emphasis supplied.) Well, it now seems that Dems are NOT capable of sending a supplemental funding bill that requires withdrawal from Iraq to Bush's desk. Apparently, there will be no fight on the conference report. 0 for 2 there. So what if it becomes 0 for 3? What happens if Bush does not veto? Where does this ingenious strategy go from here? Can't Bush ask for the same language for the regular Iraq appropriations bill this summer? I mean, he will have "caved in" already. How "reasonable" can a guy be? I think it becomes increasingly clear that the Dems' Iraq supplemental funding strategy has been a big mistake. The Reid-Feingold proposal, which can work without becoming legislation, is the only approach that can end the Debacle.

But not to worry, Progressives are fully engaged with the 2008 Presidential election. And aren't we happy about that? I mean who wants to focus on the Iraq Debacle anyway? It's a lot more fun to beat up on Hillary Clinton every day no? What harm can Bush and Iraq do in the next 20 months? A few of us are worried:

Confronting Mr. Bush on Iraq has become a patriotic duty. . . . If nothing is done to wind down this war during the 21 months — 21 months! — Mr. Bush has left, the damage may be irreparable.

As Barry Boss says in the Washington Post, regarding Victims' rights week which began yesterday,

Victims deserve the recognition that this week provides, and they deserve sympathy and compensation for their losses. But I am increasingly concerned about what I believe they do not deserve, which is the right to serve as de facto prosecutors, a practice that is quietly insinuating itself into the legal system.

I have long opposed the Victims' Rights Amendment and in the 90's, spent a great deal of my time lobbying Congress against it. Here's what I wrote about it back in 1997. As Boss notes, the danger now is this:

The latest manifestation of our "tough on crime" policy comes in the proposed amendments to the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, which will implement the 2004 Crime Victims' Rights Act. One U.S. district judge ruled that the statute renders victims "independent participant[s] in the proceedings" and "commands that victims should be treated equally with the defendant, defense counsel, and the prosecutor."

The judge's position is absurd. The Bill of Rights was designed to protect persons accused of crime.

Any rights provided to the victim must come at the expense of the rights provided to a defendant. Indeed, providing the victim with a role in the prosecution assumes a crime has been committed, despite the bedrock constitutional proposition that the accused is presumed innocent.

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I've finally found something I agree with New York Governor Eliot Spitzer about. Keeping a campaign promise, he will be introducing a bill to legalize gay marriage.

“The governor made a commitment to advance a program bill, and he will fulfill that commitment during this legislative session,” Ms. Anderson said, using the term that refers to legislation introduced directly by the governor rather than through a state agency or by the Legislature.

Is it all for show? He didn't include it in his legislative prioritybudget for the year.

Explaining why he did not include the gay-marriage bill among his post-budget legislative priorities, Mr. Spitzer said last week that he “was listing bills that I think we can and should get passed by the Legislature in the next few weeks. And so I am focusing now on politics as the art of the possible. “I think most who are close to the issue would agree with me that it’s not likely to be passed in the next nine and a half weeks,” Mr. Spitzer added.

Is he just going through the motions? Does that count? When is he going to introduce a bill to repeal the odious and draconian Rockefeller sentencing laws?

New York clearly has a zero tolerance policy for Don Imus comments:

Two police supervisors are being investigated after officers accused them of referring to them as “hos” or a “nappy-headed ho,” the police said. One instance took place in the 70th Precinct in Brooklyn on April 15. The supervisor in that case has been transferred and stripped of supervisory duties, said Chief Michael Collins, a police spokesman. Chief Collins said the supervisor was accused of having addressed a group of officers jokingly as “hos.”

The supervisor was identified by Bonita Zelman, a lawyer for the accusers, as Sgt. Carlos Mateo. In the second case, a Queens narcotics detective, Aretha Williams, said yesterday at a news conference that a sergeant recently told her, “Don’t give me no lip, or I’ll have to call you a nappy-headed ho.”

As to zero-tolerance:

Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly said in a statement yesterday, “This language is unacceptable under any circumstances and even more egregious when it comes from individuals in a position of authority.”

I have to agree. There's no place for such comments in the workplace.

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I am like, so glad I stayed home in Denver. Not only was the Washington Correspondents Dinner a total bore, but the after parties were even worse.

Libby Copeland and Dana Milbank explain, in an article I assume was written by Libby, with assists from Milbank, copying the tone of a Valley Girl.

Could anything be more last year -- either the dinner, the parties or their recounting? It's almost as bad as this one by Libby.

[sarcasm intended.]

Brad Plumer points us to a terrific article in the National Journal that discusses the politics and policy of withdrawal from Iraq. As Plumer and the article note, President Bush's myopic refusal to allow planning for withdrawal is another harmful act by the worst President in history. But a serious flaw in the article remains the assumption that, in terms of American interest, the situation in Iraq will worsen as a result of troop withdrawal. One of the usual "expert" suspects, Ken Pollack, who strongly supported the Iraq Debacle, now predictably warns about the dangers of withdrawal:

"I think the Baker-Hamilton proposal that we yank combat forces from Iraq but retain the missions of training Iraqi forces and hunting for terrorists was always unrealistic," said Kenneth Pollack, a Brookings Institution senior fellow and former Middle East analyst for the CIA. Given the likely size of the forward operating bases, rapid-reaction forces, and logistical footprint required to adequately conduct those missions, Pollack estimates that the United States would still need many tens of thousands of troops in Iraq. "Because I think things are going to get ugly very fast as the bad actors see a major reduction in U.S. forces, I also fear that the rapid-reaction forces we leave behind in Iraq will begin to look like a fire brigade at an arsonists' convention."

Coming from Debacle supporter Ken Pollock, who has been wrong on EVERYTHING about Iraq, this means next to nothing. But let's assume this is true, in what way would that be worse than if we keep US troops executing whatever the heck strategy Bush is supposed to be doing now or will be doing 12 months from now? Tell me Mr. Pollock, from the perspective of American interests, what could be worse than what we have now? If Ken Pollock had been in charge of Vietnam, we would still be there.

Episode 80 is tonight: "Remember When."

This week, with the heat turned up in Jersey, Tony and Paulie head south to cool off. Meanwhile, Junior rekindles some of his old fire in a poker game.

I'm wondering if someone will be killed tonight. Three weeks without a whacking is a long time.

After the Sopranos is the final episode of Apprentice: LA. Donald Trump chooses his apprentice tonight. My money's on Frank. This was definitely not a great season for the show, I usually tuned in to the last 15 minutes to see the boardroom action and who got fired, but the finales are fun to watch because they are live and the contestants presumably don't know who will be chosen.

Update: Trump chose Stephanie, a very L.A. civil lawyer who defends construction companies against defect claims and employers against workman comp claims. She was a mouse the whole season, but she showed her mettle tonight. A fitting choice for Trump.

If you watch and have some thoughts, here's the place to leave them.

Update: Ann Althouse and her commenters review the Soprano's episode. I agree with one of the commenters who said it seems like the show is going to go out with a whimper, not a bang.