California Judge Declares State Executions Unlawful
By Jeralyn, Section Death Penalty
Posted on Fri Dec 15, 2006 at 05:28:29 PM EST
Tags: lethal injection (all tags)
Posted on Fri Dec 15, 2006 at 05:28:29 PM EST
Tags: lethal injection (all tags)
A federal judge in San Jose has declared Calfornia's lethal injection system to be in violation of the 8th Amendment ban on cruel and unusual punishment.
[Judge] Fogel said that "substantial questions" had been raised by the records of previous executions in the state and that the California Department of Corrections' "actions and failure to act have resulted in an undue and unnecessary risk of an 8th Amendment violation."
The opinion is here (pdf). Check out Footnote 8 on how the execution of Stanley Tookie Williams:
Indeed, the execution team members’ reaction to the problem at the Williams execution was
described by one member as nothing more than “sh*t does happen, so.”
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