Tennessee bans lethal injection

[Judi Lynn]

Source: BBC News

Last Updated: Thursday, 20 September 2007, 08:33 GMT 09:33 UK
Tennessee bans lethal injection

A judge in Tennessee has ruled the state's method of executing prisoners by lethal injection is illegal because it is a cruel and unusual punishment.
Federal judge Aleta Trauger said inmates were not properly anesthetised before the injection was administered.

This presented a "substantial risk of unnecessary pain" to inmates and violated their constitutional rights.

Tennessee is among 11 states in which executions have been postponed or blocked over concerns about injections.

Judge Trauger was presiding over the case of Edward Jerome Harbison, due to be executed next week for murdering a woman in 1983.



Read more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7004031.stm

[Nutmegger]

1. Maybe Tennessee will get rid of it completely?

Probably not.

At the very least these convicted inmates should not endure 35 minutes of painful death, no matter the crime.

Not. In. My. Name.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

5. Tennessee would be the most likely southern state to end it,

executions only resumed a few years ago and for a Southern state they are second only to Kentucky for having had the fewest executions in the South.

[provis99]

2. Maybe Tennessee will move to the guillotine or firing squads?

[jmowreader]

4. And what, precisely, is wrong with the guillotine?

A properly working guillotine is a thing of beauty and a joy forever. It separates the head from the body with speed and efficiency.

If you execute someone with a guillotine, they don't wake up and tell you, "it ain't working," such as what happened with Joseph Clark in Ohio.

[jmm]

3. Atleast it's a baby step in the right direction. (n/t)