September 25, 2007

SCOTUS To Take Up Lethal Injections

The Supreme Court has agreed to review the constitutionality of executions performed by lethal injection, in a challenge stemming from two death row cases in Kentucky. Lawyers for convicted murderers Ralph Baze and Thomas Clyde Bowling claim that lethal injection amounts to cruel and unusual punishment prohibited in the Bill of Rights.

Baze's execution was originally scheduled for tonight. Earlier this month, however, the Kentucky Supreme Court stepped in and halted it for reasons unrelated to the constitutionality of lethal injections. Baze was convicted of murdering a sheriff and his deputy in 1992, and Bowling was convicted of shooting and killing a couple after a car crash in 1990.

Both men sued the state of Kentucky in 2004. Neither one is challenging his sentence before the court.

The last significant decision related to the death penalty was in March 2005, when the justices voted 5-4 to end the death penalty for juveniles. Since then, the makeup of the court has changed significantly. Chief Justice John Roberts has virtually no record on death penalty challenges, and Justice Samuel Alito's record is mixed. Alito surprised court observers when, shortly after his swearing in, he broke with his fellow conservatives on the court and stayed a Missouri inmate's execution. That inmate also argued that lethal injection was cruel and unusual punishment.

The justices hinted some time ago that they would revisit the appeals process for death row inmates, which they may well do here. Both Roberts and Alito have indicated a preference for a more limited appeals process.

The Kentucky cases are the first time the court will ponder whether the lethal injection method violates the Constitution. All but one of the 38 states where the death penalty is legal allow lethal injections with the same mix of drugs as Kentucky's.

Posted at 12:15 PM
Posted to: Capital Punishment, Constitution, Crime, Supreme Court
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