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A new kind of legal attack on lethal injection drug in Arizona

By Douglas A. Berman

As detailed in this New York Times article, which is headlined "Use of Drug Challenged in Death Penalty Case," lawyers for a condemned inmate in Arizona are trying a new legal attack on the state's lethal injection plans. Here are the details: Arizona plans to execute Jeffrey Landrigan next week, but his lawyers are arguing that one of the drugs that the state intends to use to end his life may not be good enough.  The planned execution of Mr. Landrigan, convicted of murder in 1990, coincides with a shortage of the anesthetic used in the state?s execution protocol, sodium thiopental.  The thiopental shortage has already caused delays in executions around the country. Arizona officials have the drug, but defense lawyers for Mr. Landrigan are asking to stay the execution until the state reveals where it got its supply...continue to full post

Full post as published by Sentencing Law and Policy on October 23, 2010 (boomark / email).