Supreme Court Justices Debate Method of Execution

Supreme Court Justices are heatedly debating over the method in which states execute criminals, as one court member argues that current lethal injection drugs aren’t even allowed on animals and a second member asks why executions have to be pain free.

This debate stems from the recent last-minute blocking of Florida convicted murderer, Clarence Hill’s execution in January. Hill’s attorney D. Todd Doss said that his client accepts the fact that he killed a police officer, but doesn’t want to suffer pain during his execution.

The court ruling, expected to be announced before July, will decide whether or not death row inmates will be able to file last-minute civil rights challenges claiming their executions would be cruel and unusual punishment even if they have exhausted all other appeals.

A 2005 study published in the Lancet medical journal found that a painkiller injected into a prisoner at the start of an execution wears off before the inmate dies, which indicates the prisoner will suffer from gratuitous pain.

The lethal injection drug combination used in Florida is similar to that used in other states. The painkiller sodium pentothal is injected first followed by a paralyzing chemical, pancuronium bromide. The final injection is potassium chloride, which causes a fatal heart attack.

Flordia along with 30 other states have banned the use of chemicals like pancuronium bromide in euthanizing animals. Three veterinarians brought in to testify in front of the justices said, “it’s only effect is to mask any suffering endured by the patient.” The veterinarians added that Florida guidelines for lethal injection do not meet the standards for animals.

A few justices seemed bewildered that the State of Florida has laws guiding animal euthanization, but doesn’t have protocols for how prisoners should be executed. “Your procedure would be prohibited if applied to dogs and cats,” said Justice John Paul Stevens.

However, Justice Antonin Scalia argued that the Constitution does not require painless executions. “Hanging was not a quick and easy way to go,” he said referring to one of the nation’s oldest method of execution.

“Doesn’t the state have a minimal obligation on its own” to examine whether its execution method causes unreasonable pain, asked Justice Anthony M. Kennedy.

Justice Stephen G. Breyer added that it “doesn’t seem too difficult” to modify the drugs used in lethal injection because of spreading concerns and that the state should never “have any interest in causing pain.”

The Supreme Court’s decision to hear Hill’s case has bolstered other legal efforts around the nation on behalf of death row inmates. Executions have been blocked in Maryland, Missouri, and California.