Washington--The US Supreme Court is on Wednesday set to consider the constitutionality of a controversial lethal injection technique, in a key case that could have broader implications for capital punishment in America.
The court is considering the issue just seven years after "Baze vs. Rees," in which it ruled that lethal injection did not violate the Eighth Amendment's protection against "cruel and unusual" punishment.
But a lot has changed in the meantime. The companies that produce the drugs most commonly used in lethal injections, many of them European, now refuse to supply them if they are to be used in executions.
Shortages have prompted officials in 32 states where the death penalty is in force to come up with new lethal "cocktails" suspected of causing pain and suffering during some recent executions.
"Given the lack of transparency, it's not surprising we saw three badly botched executions just in 2014," lethal injection expert Megan McCracken said.
The case now before the Supreme Court is being brought by three death-row inmates in Oklahoma, who are challenging an untested triple combination of drugs -- known as a "three-drug protocol" -- used in earlier botched executions.
Last April, Oklahoma death row inmate Clayton Lockett took an agonizing 43 minutes to die and could be seen writhing in pain during the prologed execution.
On January 16, 2014, Ohio inmate Dennis McGuire took 26 minutes to die, and Arizona death row convict Joseph Wood took 117 minutes to die on July 23.
Lethal injection executions are expected to take 10 minutes, and in all three cases, the men could be seen gasping for air.
Executioners had used midazolam, a sedating drug that is sometimes used before surgery.
The court must now decide whether the drug fully sedates inmates to ensure they do not feel pain from the other drugs used to paralyze and kill them.
AFP
