It’s been six years since the state has executed a prisoner. In 14 cases, the condemned men have no legal recourse left and are simply awaiting the state to resume their lethal injections.
For some prosecutors, the wait has gone on long enough. All along the state, requests are being made to abandon the questionable three-drug lethal cocktail that had been used as capital punishment. That cocktail was subject to a successful lawsuit by one inmate who said that it can be so badly delivered as to force them to suffer cruel and unusual punishment.
The one-drug method has already been adopted in six states.
With the recent failure of Proposition 34, which would have done-away with the death penalty, prosecutors are saying that they have a renewed mandate from the state’s voters, and a single-drug method would comply with that mandate. However, courts are rejecting the requests for death warrants, pending federal court decisions.
Read the Associated Press’ story at the Oakland Tribune.