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Virginia's Lethal Injection Protocol Upheld

By Kent Scheidegger et al.

Hattip to Doug Berman at Sentencing Law and Policy for pointing us to, and providing a link to the Fourth Circuit's decision in Emmett v. Johnson, No. 07-18 (4th Cir. July 10, 2008). As Berman reports, a split panel affirmed Virginia's lethal injection protocol. The decision allows Emmett's execution, scheduled for July 24, 2008, to go forward. In Emmett, the Fourth Circuit reviewed a "nearly identical challenge" to the lethal injection protocol upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in Baze v. Rees. The prisoner, Christopher Scott Emmett, challenged the constitutionality of Virginia's lethal injection protocol. Today's Fourth Circuit decision rejected Emmett's claim that Virginia's protocol created a "significant and unnecessary risk that the thiopental would not be properly administered...continue to full post

Full post as published by Crime and Consequences on July 10, 2008 (boomark / email).