WASHINGTON — The
Supreme Court on Friday agreed to decide a case on the constitutionality of the new combinations of drugs that some states are using to execute prisoners and that critics say cause intense suffering.
The court will hear a challenge to Oklahoma’s choice of drugs even though the justices declined last week to stop an execution there that used the contested chemicals.
In April, Oklahoma botched the execution of Clayton D. Lockett, who appeared to moan and struggle after the drugs were administered, then died in the execution chamber 43 minutes after the injections had begun.
That led the state to suspend lethal injections and try to improve its procedures. Oklahoma decided to continue using the sedative now under legal challenge, but at a higher dosage.
The case will provide the
Supreme Court’s first evaluation of lethal injections during a time when the customary drugs have become scarce and states have tried new combinations and refused to identify the sources of the lethal chemicals.
“Lethal injections are a subject on which everyone deserves clarity, but the law has been thoroughly chaotic for the last seven years,” said Eric M. Freedman, a law professor at Hofstra University. “The court’s decision to address the confusion at last is welcome.”
The case the court agreed on Friday to hear, Glossip v. Gross, No. 14-7955, involves three inmates who said Oklahoma’s three-chemical procedure violated the Eighth Amendment because it posed a significant risk of terrible suffering.
The case originally included a fourth inmate, Charles F. Warner. He was executed on Jan. 15 after the Supreme Court denied his request for a stay by a 5-to-4 vote. Journalists who witnessed the 18-minute execution said that Mr. Warner did not seem to suffer great pain and that he appeared to lose consciousness quickly.
Source: The New York Times, January 23, 2015
