Federal Judge Visits San Quentin's Death Row
Via the San Francisco Chronicle:
U.S. District Judge Jeremy Fogel spent more than 3 1/2 hours at the prison, accompanied by lawyers for the state and for Michael Morales, the condemned murderer from Stockton whose execution was halted by Fogel last month because of questions about the state's lethal-injection methods....the judge asked numerous questions about how the drugs were administered but gave no indication of his views or any areas of concern.
At one point, Fogel entered the small execution chamber, where prisoners were killed by gas before the state switched to lethal injections in 1996. The judge also examined the small, dimly lit room where the deadly chemicals are put into syringes, then injected into tubes that lead into the chamber, where medical technicians have inserted them into veins in inmates' arms.
Hearings on whether the drug cocktail being used to kill the inmates may leave them conscious begin in federal court on May 2.
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