Post by MXB on Dec 13, 2007 23:45:21 GMT -5
Dayton Daily News
December 13, 2007
ELYRIA, Ohio — A 700-page binder on how the state executes death row inmates has been turned over a judge who is considering whether the lethal injection procedure is legal.
The materials were turned over to Lorain County Common Pleas Judge James Burge on Wednesday in the challenge filed by two murder suspects facing death penalty trials.
The judge gave a copy to defense attorneys involved in the challenge but agreed with a state request to withhold the materials from attorneys handling other death penalty cases.
The binder has records on past executions and details on drug concoctions, supplies and materials used to carry out executions. The binder also lists qualifications and training of the 16-member execution team, but does not identify those individuals.
The judge plans a hearing next month with expert testimony on whether lethal injection is unconstitutionally cruel and unusual punishment. The hearing is unusual in that Burge will rule on the constitutionality of the execution procedure before the trial.
Burge told state prisons Director Terry Collins and attorneys for the defendants awaiting separate murder trials in his court that his intention was to find out "whether this method is painful and if it is, how painful, and whether it is a protracted pain or momentary."
Burge was a former defense attorney who handled capital punishment cases before being elected to the bench in 2006.
December 13, 2007
ELYRIA, Ohio — A 700-page binder on how the state executes death row inmates has been turned over a judge who is considering whether the lethal injection procedure is legal.
The materials were turned over to Lorain County Common Pleas Judge James Burge on Wednesday in the challenge filed by two murder suspects facing death penalty trials.
The judge gave a copy to defense attorneys involved in the challenge but agreed with a state request to withhold the materials from attorneys handling other death penalty cases.
The binder has records on past executions and details on drug concoctions, supplies and materials used to carry out executions. The binder also lists qualifications and training of the 16-member execution team, but does not identify those individuals.
The judge plans a hearing next month with expert testimony on whether lethal injection is unconstitutionally cruel and unusual punishment. The hearing is unusual in that Burge will rule on the constitutionality of the execution procedure before the trial.
Burge told state prisons Director Terry Collins and attorneys for the defendants awaiting separate murder trials in his court that his intention was to find out "whether this method is painful and if it is, how painful, and whether it is a protracted pain or momentary."
Burge was a former defense attorney who handled capital punishment cases before being elected to the bench in 2006.