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National Coverage of Baze

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Linda Greenhouse writes, "Justices Uphold Lethal Injection in Kentucky Case," in the New York Times.The legal question was what standard to apply in evaluating the risk. The appeal, brought by two men on Kentucky?s death row, Ralph Baze and Thomas C. Bowling, each convicted of double murders, asked the court to find the Kentucky protocol unconstitutional if it imposed an ?unnecessary risk? of error in light of potential alternatives. Chief Justice Roberts, applying the more rigorous standard he outlined, said that the risks identified by the inmates were not ?so substantial or imminent as to amount to an Eighth Amendment violation.? While most states use a method similar to Kentucky?s, a number of them have adopted additional safeguards to ensure that an inmate is properly anesthetized by the initial drug in the sequence, a barbiturate, before administration of the second two, which paralyze the muscles and stop the heart...continue to full post

Full post as published by StandDown Texas Project on April 17, 2008 (boomark / email).