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http://www.foxnews.com/wires/2007Nov01/0,4670,LethalInjection,00.html
State Court Upholds Fla. Executions
Thursday, November 01, 2007
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - Florida's Supreme Court on Thursday upheld the state's
lethal injection procedures as constitutional, possibly clearing the way for
an execution scheduled for this month.
Ruling in separate appeals filed by two death-row inmates, the justices said
Florida's execution methods did not amount to cruel and unusual punishment.
Lethal injection procedures are under review by the U.S. Supreme Court. The
high court has allowed only one execution to be carried out since it agreed
in September to hear a case from Kentucky that raises a similar challenge.
The state court did not rule specifically on a request for a stay of
execution for Mark Dean Schwab, one of the two condemned inmates who
challenged the procedure. Schwab is scheduled to be executed Nov. 15 if the
stay isn't granted.
Schwab was convicted in the rape and murder of 11-year-old Junny
Rios-Martinez.
"At this time, there is nothing prohibiting Schwab's execution from taking
place as scheduled," said Sandi Copes, a spokeswoman for Attorney General
Bill McCollum.
Schwab's attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In Thursday's ruling, the state Supreme Court pointed to safeguards that
were put in place after a December execution.
In that execution, it took 34 minutes _ twice as long as usual _ for
convicted killer Angel Diaz to die. A subsequent probe found that the
execution, not the underlying procedure, was the problem: Needles had been
pushed all the way through Diaz's veins, reducing the effectiveness of the
drugs.
The state Department of Corrections made changes, such as improving staffing
and training for executions. Death penalty opponents argue the procedures
remain insufficient to prevent inmates from suffering painful deaths.
The court rejected Schwab's appeal the same day it dismissed an appeal by
condemned inmate Ian Deco Lightbourne. In Lightbourne's case, the Supreme
Court said the way the Department of Corrections administers lethal
injection is legal.
Suzanne Keffer, an attorney for Lightbourne, said the court didn't hear from
state officials on whether the people charged with executing prisoners can
do it correctly.
"We don't know what the qualifications of the people involved are. We don't
know if the executioners are the same people who botched the Diaz
execution," Keffer said.
Keffer said Lightbourne's lawyers were deciding whether to appeal to the
U.S. Supreme Court.
Schwab argued in his appeal that the chemical procedure can cause
excruciating pain, the same argument in the case before the U.S. Supreme
Court. Schwab also had argued that newly discovered evidence would show he
suffers from a brain impairment, a claim the state Supreme Court rejected.
A spokeswoman for the state Department of Corrections said Thursday that the
agency stands ready to carry out an execution if the courts don't intervene.
A date hasn't been set for Lightbourne's execution. Lightbourne was
convicted in the 1981 killing of Nancy O'Farrell after breaking into her
Marion County home.
State Court Upholds Fla. Executions
Thursday, November 01, 2007
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - Florida's Supreme Court on Thursday upheld the state's
lethal injection procedures as constitutional, possibly clearing the way for
an execution scheduled for this month.
Ruling in separate appeals filed by two death-row inmates, the justices said
Florida's execution methods did not amount to cruel and unusual punishment.
Lethal injection procedures are under review by the U.S. Supreme Court. The
high court has allowed only one execution to be carried out since it agreed
in September to hear a case from Kentucky that raises a similar challenge.
The state court did not rule specifically on a request for a stay of
execution for Mark Dean Schwab, one of the two condemned inmates who
challenged the procedure. Schwab is scheduled to be executed Nov. 15 if the
stay isn't granted.
Schwab was convicted in the rape and murder of 11-year-old Junny
Rios-Martinez.
"At this time, there is nothing prohibiting Schwab's execution from taking
place as scheduled," said Sandi Copes, a spokeswoman for Attorney General
Bill McCollum.
Schwab's attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In Thursday's ruling, the state Supreme Court pointed to safeguards that
were put in place after a December execution.
In that execution, it took 34 minutes _ twice as long as usual _ for
convicted killer Angel Diaz to die. A subsequent probe found that the
execution, not the underlying procedure, was the problem: Needles had been
pushed all the way through Diaz's veins, reducing the effectiveness of the
drugs.
The state Department of Corrections made changes, such as improving staffing
and training for executions. Death penalty opponents argue the procedures
remain insufficient to prevent inmates from suffering painful deaths.
The court rejected Schwab's appeal the same day it dismissed an appeal by
condemned inmate Ian Deco Lightbourne. In Lightbourne's case, the Supreme
Court said the way the Department of Corrections administers lethal
injection is legal.
Suzanne Keffer, an attorney for Lightbourne, said the court didn't hear from
state officials on whether the people charged with executing prisoners can
do it correctly.
"We don't know what the qualifications of the people involved are. We don't
know if the executioners are the same people who botched the Diaz
execution," Keffer said.
Keffer said Lightbourne's lawyers were deciding whether to appeal to the
U.S. Supreme Court.
Schwab argued in his appeal that the chemical procedure can cause
excruciating pain, the same argument in the case before the U.S. Supreme
Court. Schwab also had argued that newly discovered evidence would show he
suffers from a brain impairment, a claim the state Supreme Court rejected.
A spokeswoman for the state Department of Corrections said Thursday that the
agency stands ready to carry out an execution if the courts don't intervene.
A date hasn't been set for Lightbourne's execution. Lightbourne was
convicted in the 1981 killing of Nancy O'Farrell after breaking into her
Marion County home.
