j u s t c r i m

FDA Dragged Into Execution-Drug Controversy - Law Blog - WSJ

As state prisons in recent months have searched overseas for supplies of thiopental sodium, a question has lurked in the background: Will the Food and Drug Administration permit thiopental imports, even though there are no FDA-approved, foreign suppliers of the drugs?

Last month, the FDA announced that it would permit prison officials to import thiopental to their hearts’ content. But the agency said it also would not vouch for the safety and purity of imported thiopental.

Today, six death-row inmates from Arizona, California and Tennessee sued the FDA in federal court, claiming the agency has violated federal law by allowing states to import thiopental that has not been reviewed for safety and purity. (Click here for the complaint.)

via blogs.wsj.com

Lethal Injection and the F.D.A. - NYTimes.com

A shortage of the drug used in executions has widened the gap between the reality of carrying out capital punishment and its support in American law.

Sodium thiopental is at the heart of this story. A fast- and short-acting general anesthetic, it has been used to put convicts under and make executions methodical. For more than a year, however, a shortage of the drug has widened the gap between the reality of carrying out executions and support for them in American law. In October, a majority of the Supreme Court wrongly insisted there was no evidence that the shortage had any bearing on whether an execution can be done constitutionally. Now the evidence is impossible to ignore.

We strongly oppose capital punishment on many grounds. Even with judicial blessing, the conduct of executions in this country is a shambles. In Arizona and Georgia, the sodium thiopental used in executions has possibly been ineffective and almost certainly been illegal. It came from Dream Pharma, an unlicensed British supplier, run from a driving school. The batches carried a date of 2006. They were likely made by a company in Austria that went out of business. The drug is said to be effective for only a year. As a foreign-made drug without approval by the Food and Drug Administration, it is prohibited by federal statute.

via www.nytimes.com

Oklahoma's lethal injection process not fit for animals | NewsOK.com

But one key point is getting lost in the shuffle: Even with this change, Oklahoma's lethal injection process is nothing like animal euthanasia. In fact, it would be illegal to euthanize an animal in Oklahoma the way the state intends to execute John Duty on Dec. 16.

Keep in mind the proposed switch is to the first drug in Oklahoma's three-drug lethal injection procedure. The first drug is an anesthetic, intended to ensure that the inmate does not experience the effects of the second drug, which paralyzes him, and the third drug, which stops the heart.

The decision to paralyze inmates before executing them with the third drug presents a fundamental problem. If the anesthetic is not delivered properly (and ample evidence suggests the danger of maladministration is real), the inmate will likely experience excruciating pain and suffering.

via newsok.com

last words: "boomer sooner"

"[S]peculation cannot substitute for evidence that the use of the drug is “‘sure or very likely to cause serious illness and needless suffering.’” Baze v. Rees, 553 U. S. 35, 50 (2008) (quoting Helling v. McKinney, 509 U. S. 25, 33 (1993)) @ http://bit.ly/9nQ7jf

________________________

[And as a result ... CNN

" ... The state of Arizona executed convicted killer Jeffrey Landrigan late Tuesday after the U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way for the lethal injection, a corrections official said.

The execution was carried out at 10:26 p.m. (12:26 a.m. ET), said Barrett Marson, a spokesman for the Arizona Department of Corrections.

"I'd like to say 'thank you' to my family for being here and all of my friends," were Landrigan's final words, according to Marson. He concluded with "Boomer Sooner," a cheer often used by University of Oklahoma fans. ..." ]

shoot me now utah shoot me now utah shoot me now utah

Shoot Me Now - Are firing squads a better means of execution than lethal injection? SLATE - By Margot Sanger-Katz. Posted Wednesday, June 16, 2010):

"Ronnie Lee Gardner, on death row in Utah for the murder of a defense attorney in 1985, is scheduled to be executed this week. At one time, he had selected to die by lethal injection, but in a court hearing in April, he expressed a different preference: "I would like the firing squad, please." Utah is the only state in the country that still executes inmates by firing squad. Did Gardner make a foolish choice?" [RESTOFSTORY@SLATE]

 

ohio

"Prison officials were concerned in the past week that they might not be able to procure enough thiopental sodium, the single drug used in Ohio executions, because of a worldwide shortage. However, the state was able to find enough of the drug to kill Beuke..." [Columbus Dispatch]

lethal injections and the american board of anesthesiologists

Group to censure physicians who play role in lethal injections (By Rob Stein. Sunday, May 2, 2010  Washington Post):

"A national physicians organization has quietly decided to revoke the certification of any member who participates in executing a prisoner by lethal injection.  The mandate from the American Board of Anesthesiologists reflects its leaders' belief that "we are healers, not executioners," board secretary Mark A. Rockoff said. Although the American Medical Association has long opposed doctor involvement, the anesthesiologists' group is the first to say it will harshly penalize a health-care worker for abetting lethal injections. The loss of certification would prevent an anesthesiologist from working in most hospitals. ..."

cdcr: lethal injection regs to the office of administrative law

CDCR PRESS RELEASE:  "The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) completed its rulemaking activities and submitted its lethal injection regulations to the Office of Administrative Law (OAL) today.  The rulemaking documents include the final regulation text, final statement of reasons, public comments and other required documents..." California's OAL is at http://www.oal.ca.gov/.

 

changing california's lethal injection procedure | s.b. 1018

On Senate Bill 1018 ...  Introduced by Senator Harman. February 10, 2010. An act to amend, repeal, and add Section 3604 of the Penal Code, relating to the death penalty.  legislative counsel’s digest. SB 1018, as amended, Harman. Death penalty: sodium thiopental. lethal injection protocol.

Via KPCC's ... "Bill to change California's lethal injection procedure moves forward [April 20, 2010 | KPCC]

A Senate bill that would change California's lethal injection procedure unanimously passed a committee vote today.  Senate Bill 1018, authored by Senator Tom Harman (R-Huntington Beach), was passed by the Senate Public Safety Committee today.

"Capital punishment is the law in California. The de-facto moratorium imposed on it the last few years is unacceptable," said Harman. "I am very pleased to be joined by my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to address this problem."

Under the text of the bill, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation would be required to develop and implement a one-drug lethal injection of an appropriate anesthetic. Supporters say such a move should eliminate concerns that lethal injection causes inmates to suffer.

Chairman Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) noted the death penalty bill was supported by both Republicans and Democrats.

"Both proponents and opponents of the death penalty can agree on one thing," Leno remarked. "The death penalty should be administered humanely and painlessly."

In 2006, a federal judge in Morales v. Tilton found California's death penalty system created an unconstitutional risk of cruel and unusual punishment.

The judge also found that the state could remove any constitutional concerns by having the execution solely use an anesthetic.

Ohio recently changed its lethal injection method to a sole dosage of thiopental in response to litigation.

SB 1018 goes next to the Senate Appropriations committee. In support of the bill are the Criminal Justice Legal Foundation; Crime Victims United; the Klaas Kids Foundation; the Three Strikes Initiative; and Crime Victims Action Alliance."

look back @ baze - decided april 14, 2008 | stevens' concurrence

BAZE V. REES, 553 U.S. ___ (2008) - Decided: Monday, April 14, 2008:  JUSTICE STEVENS, concurring in the judgment. 

When we granted certiorari in this case, I assumed that our decision would bring the debate about lethal injection as a method of execution to a close. It now seems clear that it will not. The question whether a similar three drug protocol may be used in other States remains open, and may well be answered differently in a future case on the basis of a more complete record. Instead of ending the controversy, I am now convinced that this case will generate debate not only about the constitutionality of the three-drug protocol, and specifically about the justification for the use of the paralytic agent, pancuronium bromide, but also about the justification for the death penalty itself.

Because it masks any outward sign of distress, pancuronium bromide creates a risk that the inmate will suffer excruciating pain before death occurs. There is a general understanding among veterinarians that the risk of pain is sufficiently serious that the use of the drug should be proscribed when an animal’s life is being terminated.

As a result of this understanding among knowledgeable professionals, several States—including Kentucky— have enacted legislation prohibiting use of the drug in animal euthanasia. See 2 Ky. Admin. Regs., tit. 201, ch. 16:090, §5(1) (2004).2 It is unseemly—to say the least— that Kentucky may well kill petitioners using a drug that it would not permit to be used on their pets..."  [MORE]

cali proposes new lethal injection procedures...

California proposes new lethal injection procedures... [Carol J. Williams.  January 6, 2010, LATIMES.COM]

"The changes mark a first step toward resuming executions after a four-year moratorium. A federal judge had deemed the previous three-drug method unconstitutional..."