State ordered to ensure Morales is unconscious before lethal injection
Bob Egelko, Chronicle Staff Writer
Tuesday, February 14, 2006
(02-14) 16:20 PST SAN JOSE -- A federal judge refused today to block next week's scheduled execution of Michael Morales for the 1981 murder of a 17-year-old Lodi girl. However, the judge said the state must place someone in the death chamber with medical training to make sure Morales is unconscious during the lethal injection procedure.
Lawyers for the 46-year-old inmate had argued that eyewitness accounts and medical logs from recent executions at San Quentin State Prison indicated that the state's procedures for administering a sequence of three lethal chemicals were not working as planned and posed a risk that the prisoner would suffer a slow and painful death. They asked U.S. District Judge Jeremy Fogel to stay the execution, scheduled for 12:01 a.m. Tuesday, and order a hearing that could result in changes to the state's procedures.
In today's order, Fogel said defense lawyers had raised a "substantial question'' about the administration of lethal injection in California. But he said the state's interest in proceeding with an execution for a murder committed 25 years ago could be satisfied without violating Morales' "constitutional right not to be subject to an undue risk of extreme pain.''
more...
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/02/14/MNGPNH8FQP4.DTL
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
