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How might state-law-based challenges to lethal injection fare after Baze?

By Douglas A. Berman

One of many interesting aspects of all the lethal injection litigation over the last few years has been the tendency of some state courts to take up challenges to modern execution protocols based primarily on state statutory or constitutional law.  It is hard to predict how state-law-based challenges may fare in the wake of last month's Supreme Court decision in Baze finding no federal constitutional problems with Kentucky's lethal injection protocol. Interestingly, as detailed in this media round-up at the blog StandDown Texas Project, a state court hearing about the Ohio's lethal injection protocol this week produced some notable fireworks.  Here is an excerpt from this AP report on the Ohio court hearing:A prosecutor accused a judge Tuesday of making arguments on behalf of two men challenging the state's method of executing prisoners...continue to full post

Full post as published by Sentencing Law and Policy on May 08, 2008 (boomark / email).